expelled forthwith but would not be allowed to resume school after delivery in any school under his jurisdiction. The girls had to choose between motherhood and education.
A nervous mother caused an uncomfortable laughter when she timorously asked if the boys who impregnated the girls would also be expelled. The ensuing silence and the PEO’ s scowl was sufficient to inform all gathered that that particular question would not be entertained.
What should have been a forum to discuss a provincial issue deteriorated into an arrogant monologue of a self-important official talking down to his administrative juniors with a total disregard of social decorum and basic manners.
Decades later Ochieng realizes that the official style of communication between the leaders and the led has not changed and the one-way edicts of official pronouncements is how a national discourse takes place. Public participation is a myth.
So Ochieng was not surprised to see the official guideline issued by the Nairobi County Government in response to the devastation arising from the experienced heavier than normal rains that were bound to lead to severe flooding.
To put this discussion in context, one needs to note at the outset that the forecasted floods had already claimed over eighty lives, the known ones, and therefore negates any pretense of disaster preparedness at the official level.
Ochieng also wondered if the warning message was sent out by an intern in the social media department at the city hall, if such a department actually exists or was the message meant to just tick a box rather than be of help to posthumously acknowledge the deaths.
The safety tips that were most likely composed by a ChatGPT prompt were not only impractical but proof of how out of touch the county administration was with the very people it was created to serve. An objective has to be achievable to be useful.
To give credit where it is due, at least the county government gave a semblance of concern quite unlike the national government which relied of the Red Cross to inform the citizens of the impending disaster while the politicians held forums to primarily insult each other.
The county safety tips during floods began by advising people to move to higher grounds if the floods begin in their area. Common sense dictates that they should have moved before the floods not when the floods had commenced.
But where exactly is this higher ground that they are supposed to move to? For Mathare, Mukuru and Korogocho informal settlements it would be Muthaiga and Parklands and for Kibera it would be Langata and Karen including the Army barracks or the cemetery.
And what about all those gated estates built on flood plains where people woke up to find their furniture floating in their living rooms? Does moving to higher grounds mean moving into the first floor of their still mortgaged maisonettes.
Nairobians aptly named their estates with charming names like Dam Estate and River-Bank Estate declaring that they actually knew they were building in dams and waterways and building approvals were surprisingly issued without mitigating measures.
The next tip asked people to switch off electricity if water enters the building. The tip further advises that one is to switch off at the main switch to avoid electrocution. The advice somehow suggests that water entering the houses is expected.
This advice is fine if one does not realize that the main switches are usually outside the house as meters are supposed to be easily accessible to the lighting company personnel. During flooding is one safer in or out of the house switching off mains?
The Nairobians experience is that when their houses are flooding it is likely that the electricity sub-stations are most likely submerged which means that over and above the tribulations of the floods the people are also in darkness.
The next tip asks people not to drive through flooded roads which is particularly disconcerting since Nairobi roads are flooded even during normal rains and often with burst sewerage lines to add to the discomfort.
Kenyans fear rain more than riots and when it rains people rush to get home and in the ensuing melee, they create monumental jams and the flood waters find them on the roads and proceed to sweep them away. The tip is really putting the cart before the horse.
There is also the daredevil Matatu culture that takes on risks as though they are on a Tik-Tok challenge. Both the private drivers and the matatu crews have the same insane urge to get home before the rains increase and hence the bizarre death-defying antics.
Ochieng can’ t fathom the next tip that asked people to check the water depth before stepping forward. Where and how exactly are the people supposed to check the depth and are they wearing gumboots or their usual walking shoes.
People are likely to use regular routes to and from work and most of them unless they walk to work are likely to be passengers in public transport. Are these Kenyans, who do not even scold an over-speeding matatu expected to ask the driver to check the water depth?
Immediately after being asked to measure the depth of the water the next tip asks them to avoid flood waters with a warning not to attempt to walk, swim or drive
The county safety tips on floods advised people to move to higher grounds if the floods begin in their area. But where exactly is this higher ground that they are supposed to move to? For Mathare, Mukuru and Korogocho informal settlements it would be Muthaiga and Parklands and for Kibera it would be Langata and Karen including the Army barracks or the cemetery.
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