We’re rich save we lack common sense

          The other day I was reading the story about the expansion of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport hyped as Green Field Terminal. However, soaked as I was, it baffled me to find that the total cost of the project is just $ 654 million. The terminal will enable JKIA that serves between two and six million passengers annually to approximately 20 million passengers. What a sound investment!

          After I was done with Green Field Terminal, I tried to revisit the map of corruption in the hunk. What came first was of EPA that sank 116 Richmonduli more than that and escrow 200. Wait. There is another coming known as Gas Pipe scam (GPS) I’m told it has already swallowed over $ 600 equivalent with the cost of expanding JKIA. What of our JNKIA? How many passengers it handles annually? According to president Uhuru Kenyatta after GFT is completed, it will propel Kenya into a middle income country. It’ll have 50 international and 10 local checkings, a railway and other facilities. The news of GFT sounds as haiku for Kenyans while a bitter pill for Bongolalalanders as they depend on cock-a-doodle-doo to get the answer in vain.

          To put it in our home context this means, we’re able to build more than two GTF shall we just use common sense. If you take $ 116M we lost to EPA without touching on Richmonduli then add $200M lost to escrow and $ 600M allegedly lost in Gas Pipeline minus over $ 500M we lost to corruption in local govts, you can see what I mean. We’re talking about roughly $1.5B. Had we “restrained” ourselves, as CCM would put it, from committing burglary to our hunk, we’re able to move over 1/3 of our paupers from stinking poverty. Again, where does this dosh go? To Swiss accounts or to the countries were many finks use as agents hail? Who knows? You know where our dosh goes. Feel the same shame you feel when you’re taken for a ride.

          Let me break a code of silence and say it. While our neighbours are boasting of being the hub of East and Central Africa, we’re busy in our bunga bunga biz of plundering! Interestingly, when it comes to corruption index, Kenya is worse than we are. Ironically, they’re ahead of the game albeit.  Everybody must ask. What’s always been wrong with our rulers? Are they real sane or something? I remember the story of two corrupt ministers one from Bongo and another from Singapore. When the Singaporean minister visited his counterpart in Bongo, he’s shocked to see the mansion the chinch was living in.  He jokingly asked him: How did you manage to build such an expensive castle? The dude replied, “Do you see that road project there? The cut I got from it enabled me to build this small house of mine. The Singaporean fella was fumbling and fluffing to see the road the swindler was talking about but ended up seeing nothing. He finally asked: Where's the road project you are talking about? The response was: What have you seen? The answer was: Nothing. The host quipped: That’s that.

          More than anything else, our helter-skelter polities, politics and policy are pregnant with corruption, nihilism and theft despite rulers’ braggadocios of umoja na ushikamano. How can we shikamana while others are robbing us pointlessly and wantonly?  To get into public office, one’s to bribe voters who shamelessly complain after goofing by selling their votes willy-nilly.

          Another gem, the world evidenced the drop of fuel price in the world market. Again, Tanzanians didn't enjoy this free fall. They’re still being robbed pointlessly as the govt sits and looks as if it has no biz with this rip off. Methinks. Consumers have to blame this logjam on the corrupt government that is in bed with swindlers raising monies for coming elections by allowing the thieves to rob our people. If anything, this must be one of the reasons why Tanzanians should vote CCM out. This needs no prefiguring or configuring. If Bongolalalanders would be true to themselves like boozers, we’d have had new faces in ulaji. It is as if Bongolalalanders are insane thanks to doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. To avoid being chortled, Bongolalalanders need to pigeonhole CcM if it goes on with its wishy washy headship.

          If those suffering fail to do something to see to it that the kit and caboodle of swindlers is not made to pack and jump into water, I won’t wonder to hear people calling them names such as dimwits, halfwits and nitwits. Change can find its home through interrogating and rebelling against the status quo. Boozers have though singlehandedly doing this. Are the Bongolalalander ready?

          In sum, what Bongolalalanders need to ask themselves and their honchos is: Why are we endowed with all these resources and yet we’re shockingly poor? Is it lack of will to change the status quo for bongolalalanders or the lack of common sense for their honchos? Au revoir pour aujourd’hui.