Ochieng did not even know that was her name until very close to their wedding since she was known as Sylvia in a sister secondary school where she was the girl that every boy in Ochieng ’ s class pined for and he knew that he really did not have a chance in the competition for her eye .
Raymond , a classmate of Ochieng , who was the most popular student and an accomplished sportsman , had set his eyes on her and on a few school outings they had been seen walking and talking together and apparently Raymond wanted the relationship to go to the next level by declaring his love interest .
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The truth is that it is actually corruption that causes poverty . The staggering statistic that over sixty percent of African nation ’ s wealth is held abroad in private accounts means that those funds are not available locally to finance development , they only benefit foreigners .
asked Ochieng to hand over the letter to Sylvia for him . locally to finance development , they only benefit foreigners .
That is how Raymond approached Ochieng , the class bookworm , because he had a way with words and asked him to compose a poem for Sylvia and send her a missive which would state his growing affection for her and that he wished them to become an item as dating was referred to then .
Ochieng took to the challenge with gusto and since he secretly admired Sylvia the words came out naturally and he was quite proud of his effort . He delivered the letter and the poem to Raymond who loved the content and Ochieng left it to him to post the letter .
As fate would have it , Raymond did not post the letter as he was savoring the content and soon a debate visit to the girl ’ s school was upon them . Raymond decided to hand deliver the letter but being macho
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Bribes are the bane to professionalism in that they skew the award of projects to either the least qualified or the most expensive . Whatever the case the country is the loser as it gets either shoddy projects or overpriced ones that make nonsense of budgeted returns on investment .
Ochieng was to learn later that Raymond , either from nervousness or excitement forgot to sign off the letter with his name before sealing the envelope . So Ochieng with panache delivered the letter which Sylvia mistakenly thought was from Ochieng and as they say the rest is history .
The best laid plans can come to a cropper simply by a turn of an unexpected event . Kenya has been on a campaign mode for so long that we no longer remember what the prize we are aiming for is . An obsession with an outcome by whatever means can sometimes derail the attainment of a goal .
The poignant tale of Raymond ’ s misadventure and subsequent Ochieng ’ s lucky break serves to point out the risk one has to bear on the choice of strategy one uses to achieve an end . The results may not be what one expects and that is what the Kenyan voter needs to understand .
When the campaigns hit fever pitch it became quite apparent that the central issues currently in Kenya are the levels of corruption and national debt which Kenyans are slowly beginning to realize is unsustainable and the main reason why Kenya is furiously running on the spot economically .
The old narrative that it is poverty that causes corruption has been largely debunked and the usual examples of a desperate policeman extorting a hundred shilling from a hapless motorist is a myth perpetuated by NGOs since the Kenyan Police is savvy and would actually ask for five thousand shillings .
The truth is that it is actually corruption that causes poverty . The staggering statistic that over sixty percent of African nation ’ s wealth is held abroad in private accounts means that those funds are not available
The funds are proceeds from ghost projects , bribes , inflated tenders , raiding the national coffers and many other corrupt deals that translate to the fact that no value is actually added to the nation which results in a double loss as the funds are syphoned with no corresponding project or incomplete ones .
Debt per se is not a problem , if the debt incurred is to boost productive capacity but in Kenya this is not the case as debt has become a subset of corruption in that the inflated project prices and the many incomplete projects are the main problem .
The incomplete projects mean that the intended economic activity is not realized and the inflated price play havoc with projected break-even periods . So projects that are meant to contribute to the gross national product become dormant and a drain the national coffers .
Bribes are the bane to professionalism in that they skew the award of projects to either the least qualified or the most expensive . Whatever the case the country is the loser as it gets either shoddy projects or overpriced ones that make nonsense of budgeted returns on investment .
The main campaign promise of the two main contenders is becoming increasingly similar , that is , whoever wins the August elections will jail the other side . For Kenyan voters it is starting to sound like a case of sending a thief to catch a thief .
The politicians are totally tone deaf to the real issues that the voter is grappling with in their total absorption of attacking each other . It has to be a really insensitive human being who condemns the lowering of the price of maize meal while there are queues to buy the cheaper product .