The whole system is rotten,it is even manifested in hospitals whereby u have been a good citizen,u have obeyed the laws of the land,u have paid the tax that the government uses to to buy medicine and other equipment for public use.but surprisingly,u go to to a public hospital there is no drug at all.U are told there is no drug then u are referred to a certain private chemistry to buy same drugs that somebody has swindled from public hospital.is that high cost of living that make others embezzle excessive leaving others without basic needs?i dont think so.why cant somebody be contented with what he/she has?i think it is socialization.it doesnt matter whichever way u use to accumulate.so long as the end result is riches.that is what is killing us.....
Thanks everyone for the stories about the corruption. It isn't a total surprise - but what is a total surprise is that even among our educated group, the talk is, "yes it happens all the time but what can you do".
Everyone who takes part in corruption is part of the problem - and by everyone I mean those taking the bribes,
and those giving the bribes. To participate in the corruption for your own convenience (after doing a "cost benefit analysis", of course) is every bit as corrupt as taking the bribe. What is says is that you are prepared to jump the line in front of someone poorer than you. I find that abhorrent. Make a fuss, accept the delay - do whatever you feel you can do but DON'T pay the bribes and then lament the poor state of the country. What USAMommys' father did was good and understandable (no one messes with my kids either). Hopefully he took the view that he used his position and power to get what was right, but it is all too easy for that power to become overused also - which is also a form of corruption.
Oh and by the way, since 97% of Kenyans are followers of one form of religion or another - they are ALL doing this in front of their gods. The Christians (over 70% of Kenyans) are happily ignoring the 8th commandment and so on.
Now - who are you hurting. Well as I said this corruption immediately hurts the poor, who you push back in the line with your bribe. But then it hurts the country in terms of business because businesses will know there is a bribe cost of doing business there. It hurts aid when that is needed because the aid gets diverted into rich peoples pockets. So - this hurts all of Kenya, and is a common story in Africa.
I've said before, Africa is place where politicians and pastors get fabulously wealthy, while the people are in poverty. It is disgusting to me. I'm sure there are still some honest politicians and pastors that could be spreading this message so more of "us" need to be looking at ourselves and asking are we part of the corruption.
I'm quite sure this will make some of you uncomfortable - and whilst that is partly my intention I don't mean it as a personal attack on anyone. Anyway - sorry - didn't mean to divert the thread any longer. No need for anyone to reply to this - it is about personal choices and I am not judging anyone - just frustrated that this is considered "unfixable".
