It has been a long week for us Kenyans, and exciting too. On Monday we stood in lines under the hot scorching sun as we waited to vote in the much-awaited General Elections. At my local polling station I was there early to fulfill my civic duty and get back to East FM to my work duty.

As the day progressed, social media, especially Twitter, had us Kenyans talking about the day’s progress with pictures taken on our smartphones wherever we were, updating the world on our rather peaceful day despite a few incidences here and there. All of a sudden someone at CNN decided we’re having some sort of militia attack and airs this ridiculous story. When asked to verify, it was like a kid caught with a hand in the cookie jar.

Kenyans on Twitter (KOT) did not let this rest and gave a lashing the CNN reporter will probably never forget. They made ‘Tell CNN” a trending topic and had the rest of us in peals of laughter as pictures of ‘unrest’ were uploaded. My favourite one was the empty plate with spoons and a knife by someone who had just finished a plate of rice. That wasn’t the only one; the timeline was flooded and everyone tagged the irresponsible journalist’s twitter handle to vent the ire.

On my personal Facebook page I had posted a Before and After picture of Thika Road that was captioned ‘Kenyans let’s give credit where it’s due’. A lot of people appreciated it and shared the picture and then came that token geezer who has lived abroad for 20 odd years, decides to come back to the Kenya because things probably didn’t work out in the adopted country and carries on to tell me what is wrong with my country. There is no way I’m going to let someone say nonsense about my country. Especially not from someone who chose to be away for whatever reason, I really don’t care. You went abroad to make a living because you couldn’t earn one here? Fine, do what you have to but don’t come back and tell me what is wrong with my country.

How about doing something about it if something seems so wrong instead of sitting there whining away, giving your armchair philosophy, peppered with insults and put downs? It’s so easy to criticize and put down but when I told this person that if he was as passionate as his remarks about Kenya then he should get in touch with me and I could channel him to somewhere that would help make the difference he seemed to crave. He went quiet and never got back to me.

You see, this is what annoys me. Don’t sit there talking negative manenos about my country when your own adopted country has enough nonsense going on in their own backyards. Don’t sit there, pretty with your foreign passport, and then tell us Kenyans where we keep going wrong. If you are so concerned and disappointed with the way things are, why aren’t you here to help make a difference positively instead of just issuing put-downs? At least be loyal to the country you have chosen to live in because I hear enough whining going on about that too.

I’m totally saturated with the few people in the diaspora who have gotten in touch with me telling me of their disappointment at how things are going on in my country. Kindly go vent to someone who will listen because I’m not going to. I’m sick and tired of people living abroad telling me what is wrong with my country.  I’m not a political expert, nor am I one of those who can knowledgably talk about infrastructure and whatnot. I’m just a proud Kenyan who hates to hear nothing but criticism from people who don’t even live here. You want more information on the electoral process, go to the IEBC website. You want news about what’s happening around the country, you can scour the Star’s online news. Come to me only if you have something good to say. I’ve always had a positive outlook to life and keep away from people with negative afflictions because such people are like a communicable disease. I don’t want to be diseased with negativity at all.

I’m a proud Kenyan and will always remain so. My tolerance levels to destructive criticism are zero.