Our House/Home Bubble, the Kenyan dream,has been shattered


Kenyans are known for their hard work and determination towards  prosperity.They believe that success is determined by an individual's ability and achievement,a clear indication why many school mottos stress on hard work  and success.It is for these reasons why many struggle towards attaining a better and richer life by seizing any viable opportunity.

The country also has a high number of self made millionaires,who,surprisingly started from very humble beginnings.These millionaires,mainly businessmen the likes of Njenga Karume,Chris Kirubi,S.K Macharia amongst many  have inspiring stories that are sought after and true to this,a lot of self made entrepreneurs have been born and are doing great.

Why many Kenyan struggle to achieve can therefore be attributed to their backgrounds,the humble backgrounds where you grew up seeing others living a good life in big houses,and therefore kept saying 'when i grow up,i will build a house like that one of Mr so and so'.Some people have found opportunities to excel out of necessity;'Necessity is the mother of all invention/innovation.' We know of people who,due to scarcity of basics,found themselves discovering something that later became their avenue to success.There are so many case scenarios that can depict Kenya's desire for success that we cannot exhaust them here.

Last weekend ,we all watched  with great shock when City Council bulldozers demolished palatial homes at Syokimau in Athi River.

I am not laying the blame on the government or the KAA  since there is enough evidence  that the owners had been warned against developing this land since it lies on the airport land.This makes sense given it may be a sitting danger waiting to happen in future,but what i cannot comprehend is just who were the people behind this?Those who even put government stamps on the documents?

I am a Kenyan and i understand so well how much we like shortcuts;for most us  most of the time,ends justify the means.We do not care about details and it is worrying to see people thinking of such worthwhile investment opportunities without considering legal procedures.

Many of these investors must have taken  loans to develop their lands and being faithful and responsible citizens,they must have been willing to reimburse their loans therefore contributing to the growth of the economy.They are all young people,all below 40,men and women who have worked hard to achieve their Kenyan dream,and yes,they stood there and watched as the same government that was supposed to be protecting them,the same government they pay taxes to faithfully,shatter their dream,one that has taken them years to build.

I may not identify with these peoples' disappointment since i am yet to achieve my Kenyan dream of having,say,  a good home,but i am afraid this will affect Kenyans propensity of hard work and achievement.Why work hard to achieve something and later have your dream shattered?Why not just stay idle and make no contribution to nation building,or go and rob those you feel have harvested where they didn't sow?Doesn't it look easier to rob rather than work hard?

Not long ago,many young Kenyans invested in the Safaricom shares,and a few years later,we all learnt with shock about the fall of the shares.Many investment banks have been collapsing with all full consent of the government,and who doesn't remember DECI?The NSE is long dead and no investor is willing to put their money there.So where the hell are we supposed to invest?

But perhaps our main problem in Kenya today is more of an ethical problem;we are lacking leadership that reflects our demographics.We have a young population with great economic ambitions that can push our country to great heights,but the older population does not believe in us,they do no give a damn about our genuine hard work since many of them  got their wealth illegally,They do no share our dream.

I am so optimistic that Kenya is a land of a  billion opportunities,and not a billion problems,but how can we tap these opportunities with the current leadership?

And here goes an upper for those who feel disillusioned;we still are a great people.Copy the link on youtube to watch the video.

http://youtu.be/D9_6G8J6VJg

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