Uhuru Kenyatta’s decision to award musicians and artists ksh. 100M shows the president’s disconnection with the common mwananchi on the ground.
Recently, the Kenyan President H.E Uhuru Kenyatta said that he has decided to award musicians and entertainers a total of 100 million shillings so that they can continue entertaining Kenyans during this difficult times of Covid 19. Whereas the president’s intentions may be genuine, this shows that he is naive to the common challenges that are facing a typical Kenyan at home. Very few Kenyans will list “entertainment” as basic need but you will be forgiven if you assume that all Kenyans are after the luxuries of life like the president and his family are. Kenyans are always hustling to put food on the table for their families, to educate their children, as well as catering for basic needs like clothing and housing. The last thing Kenyans are worried about is a lack of entertainment.
The president of the republic of Kenya comes across as naive for underestimating the real challenges that are facing Kenyans right now. You can be assured that the 100 million shillings could be spent in purchasing healthcare supplies like ventilators, masks and gloves for the front-line healthcare workers who are struggling every day to contain the spread of corona virus pandemic around the country. The real question is: will an hungry Kenyan care whether they are entertained or not if there is nothing inside their refrigerators? Will a Kenyan who is unable to pay rent care that much about entertainment? Which would you rather have: clothing your children or watching Harmonize perform in an empty stadium?
There needs to be a needs assessment done before such a huge amount of money is carelessly spent in non-issue things that do not matter to Kenyans. The advisers to the president should have their priorities reassessed to ensure that any advice given to the president is valid and is geared towards the benefit of Kenyans. Such imprudent decisions like Uhuru’s are the culprit to as why Africa is poor. This is a wastage of the taxpayers’ money and shows gross incompetence on the side of the president and his advisers. Uhuru Kenyatta should know that there are numerous Kenyans that go to bed without food and whose children are stuck at home due to a lack of school fees among other financial problems. The last thing in these people’s minds is boredom and hence entertainment or a lack there of.
What do you think? Should Uhuru Kenyatta rethink and reassess the decision to award musicians and entertainers 100 million shillings? Let us know in the comments below.
