Broke Down on I – 64 Virginia: Looking for a Road Side Mechanic.How any body can create a principle that would absorb all the young people in Kenya and provide them jobs is mysterious. Yet that is what President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Jubilee coalition has promised to do. The word is, they will create an environment friendly enough to grow the economy in double digits.
One however must ask how. Kenyans and Africans in general are known to be like the birds I see on a tree near our house in my village. The mother bird goes out, spends time looking for worms. When it lands back on the nest, one can see the youngies lifting their beaks up to receive whatever the mother bird puts in their mouth.
Historically, Kenya has just opened its mouth to aid. In fact the deputy president just came from Japan and announced, yet again, that we cannot be able to improve our port in Mombasa. That Japan will drop money into our “mouths”. They will sell dept to us, which they have acquired by printing their money. No one in Kenya is discussing the fact that Japan is operating on a deficit of hundreds percent! Where are they getting money to help us? They are printing money; something the western world discourages Kenya from doing. Then giving us that paper to suck us dry in interest!
I drove around the country through Eldoret, Kitale, Kakamega, and arrived in Kisumu. In every town there are thousands of young people doing nothing. In Kisumu town, I stopped for gas at a Total Station. Some characters thought that I needed my car fixed. In Kenya, when you open the hood, several road – side mechanics show up. They all carry tools of some kind. Some of them are legitimate but most are looking for a part that their customer need. They see your car as a “store”.
I got stuck one day on Hwy 64 in Virginia. I was enjoying the view so much that I forgot to check the gas gauge. I waited for 30 minutes for the AA people to bring me some. That day I wished there were some boda boda or some road – side mechanics. But that is America. There, they print their own money, absorb all the young people into fast food restaurants, military, community colleges, and Grainger ware houses. They print their money and create employment. We can do the same. We have been waiting for mother bird too long now. Did you know we spend 46 percent of every shilling to pay back the mother bird? Go figure!
Teddy Njoroge Kamau (PhD), SYR Radio/TV, Director international Desk.
