Alphonce SHIUNDU

Dear Mr President, It’s my humble duty to share in your disgust at the state of indiscipline on our roads. I agree with you that we are perhaps the ‘worst’ in the world, though; I am not sure what you’d say if you went (not as President) to Nigeria’s Lagos, Egypt’s Cairo or Pakistan’s Islamabad. I am even surprised that you know about how careless our motorists can be, yet, whenever you want to use the road, any road, it is cleared hours before you step into your limousine. Nonetheless, I am glad that you know what we go through and that it makes you angry. You sounded really peeved at the way drivers get “excited” for ‘doing’ the Nairobi-Nakuru (you called it ‘Nyaikuru’) stretch in less than an hour. Seriously, a motorist who achieves such a feat experiences a super feeling. He tastes, for that hour, what you Mr President, enjoys everyday --the speed at which your motorcade moves. There’s a day I met you at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. I don’t think you remember. You had j...

Happy New Year. I set this blog perhaps too early in the day, but then again, I was very optimistic about the new year. So as I worked a little harder over the normally "dry" newsroom season in December, I think the only thing I thought about was to go slow on the writing. Now, I am happy the season is over, but sad, very sad, that some idiots have decided to mess my new year. Day One at work, January 4, and I am not able to make it to work. It's because the public transport has been paralyzed after the operators of kenya's public minivans (matatus) decided to flex their muscles. They say the police are extorting money from them. Yes, in Kiswahili we say, mtenda akitendewa, huona kaonewa. That loosely translates to when you do it it is right, but when it is done unto you, ouch ouch ouch you scream....yeah this brings to mind the cliche' that the pot calling the kettle black. The matatus operate in a liberalised economy. The fares, although having a certain minimum...