The plight of the ordinary Kenyan can wrench anyone who has a heart. This clearly excludes the fat cats who don’t seem to see beyond their gold and diamond encrusted Rolex watches that the plight of a starving Kenyan is a huge shame on all of us as a nation. For them, as long as their expensive fleet of four wheel drive cars are fuelled, the luxury sedans are dropping their kids to posh and expensive schools and they dine at the finest of places, they don’t care about anyone else.

Fat cats can’t do not have a heart. They refuse to do anything to help others in need because ‘it’s not my problem or fault that they’re not earning like I am.’ You deserve a kick in your teeth for such a thought process. No one’s asking you donate a kidney or write over your ancestral (probably wrongly acquired) property. All that is required of you is to get off your high horse and open your eyes and mind to the pain and suffering fellow Kenyans go through and help find a permanent solution to this mess instead of lining your pockets with money earned by the hard working Kenyan.

We live in Africa. To many in the Western world, they think Africa is a country. As Kenyans we try really hard to do things to put our country on the map for right reasons. The most humiliating and embarrassing time when we were suddenly in the spotlight was when our dignity as Kenyans was shattered during the post election violence. We were out to destroy each other just because some control freaks wanted to take charge.

Unfortunately for us, we tend to be a little silly sometimes and blindly follow without questioning. We vote just because the promises and lies being thrown at us seem so glamorous and real that we, being the ever hopeful, positive bunch of people around, tend to get swept away. We like to see good in others because deep down we’re all good people wanting the best for ourselves and for this nation that we so dearly love. Not you lot, Fat Cats. You can continue licking your greedy lips.

So why is it that we can’t have a better standard of living? I fret for my mboch (house-girl) and the gardener. First of all both of them have four kids each, and the gardener’s wife is expecting another baby. Every month I force them to put away at least five hundred shillings from their salary for a rainy day. My gardener’s brothers threw him out and sealed off some property they all jointly owned. Being the youngest he says he was conned by his brothers and his frustrations became mine. I tried to help him as much as I could and in the end told him to stop relying on anyone. He had to get through life himself.

This is just one example. In this country there are millions of people with worse off problems. Money truly is the root cause of all evils, and lack of it makes things worse. Robberies are on the rise, squabbles and fights amongst loved ones are on the rise and we are terribly frustrated with everything! Our education is appalling, the roads are falling apart, cops stop you for the stupidest of things and don’t let you go until you don’t part with your hard earned money that was probably going to be used to buy milk for your child, your loved one is ill and needs medical attention yet no one will touch this patient until you don’t ‘know’ the ‘right people’.  And as usual we’re left asking ourselves what can we do to make this better? How can we raise our standard of living? How do we ensure our kids have a better future?

There’s just one answer to that. Use your voter’s card wisely.