HOW TO MAKE IT NAIROBI WHEN YOU ARE NOT PAID WELL.

‘Ma Narobi’ is a luo phrase used to chastise the rural folk who make it to Nairobi and find the going inimical much to their chagrin of a city that has become more sedentary and reclusive as the going gets tougher by day. Jobs are getting fewer to come by and the harsh economic times does not augur well for those whose hustling abilities have not been highly honed to make it in this dog eat dog unsympathetic city. The existential security threats and the overrated penchant for things illusory is quite mind boggling. Sham scams are the order of the day and everyone knows of a person who has been conned or swindled off their money because every being wants to make it.

The number of young men and women who spend their day watching the latest series and movies   by Americans is alarming. But you cannot blame them because many think that they are spending their hours productively while in the process incurring their guardians and parents a lot in terms of the ever increasing electricity costs. Watching pirated movies it appears is the best past time, in the process killing artistry all in the name of killing idleness. The rural areas are even better because you can get a job just like that.a

But as a prospective intern (I will write about the interview attended) and a jobless bugger in search for greener pastures, I normally take stock of the far I have got, where I am headed to and what I will have achieved. I am still lethargic about coming up with goals the night before dawn of the oncoming day to execute them on the given day.

Every time I sit down to write about the rigmaroles of a job seeker, I usually want some form of motivation which is elusive and in retrospect utterly absent. The average youth is full of vengeance at the protracted struggles he/she undergoes in order to make money. He is emaciated with the hope of ever getting to get there. He/she lives hoping things will change.

Nairobi is increasingly becoming callous and untoward to the average bloke on the streets. The yawning hiatus between the haves and have nots is widening as the day goes by. Some nondescript contractor is winning tenders to supply goods, build roads or houses and the list is endless. The government has no proper oversight because EACC is plunging day by day due to some forces beyond its tentacle rein. Those who want to eat are more than those who struggle to make ends meet. As such they make the lives of the majority harder because of the kickbacks they receive.  

Then there are chaps who are way above owning luxurious items. They can be said to be doing deluxe. Angelo Petrucci, Chief Master Tailor for Brioni landed in the country courtesy of Little Red. His stay probably leaves a sour taste in my mouth. He has orders from the filthy rich who know that money has no feelings and they therefore don’t give a damn about how much they spend to look chic, spruced and having a flair of a difference demarcating them from the common man. How comes a person (the likes of Ahmednassir) spend in excess of $.10000 on a designer suit while you are left to read about the trappings of the plush display of extravagance which leaves you with the mouth wide agape. Is that not tantamount to being prodigal?

Kenya has about 18 million poor people. Those that go a day without a decent meal. Yet a ritzy hotel offered a Valentine getaway of romantic rendezvous with a package of about Sh.2.4 million to a couple who probably got the shekels on sleazy grounds because the pay for most executives never exceed three million in most cases. In either way, chances are the room had been probably overbooked. While most think that this is a rara avis, in actual sense, most of the city godfathers have more money and James Mwangi’s Sh.440 million earning of bank dividends from his more than six percent shares in Equity bank was a laudable amount. The 2.4 million was just a drop in the ocean if he was to spend because it would have been like pocket change.

Talking of Equity Bank, there is a prodigy in being a member of the bank because they are the certified lenders of most money released through government exchequer. In other banks, you have to make to do with transfer fees and that means the pay you get only diminishes especially if it is meagre.

While economists have recalculated the GDP of the country through the revision of the base year from 2001 to 2009, the benefits have not trickled down to the common man. This means Kenya is the ninth largest economy with a gross national index of $.1160 meaning it has surpassed the threshold of $.1030.

Rasnah Warah posits that “Corruption, money laundering, fraud including fake shell companies, stock market manipulation, under-invoicing, poorly thought-out contracts with players in the extractive industry, organized crime, drug trafficking and other criminal activities have contributed to these illicit financial flows.”

Being jobless is not a crime, and it is the reason why I have decided to horn my writing skills because there is fulfillment in it. We cannot all be entrepreneurs, some people are better managers, others know how to execute their talents and so on an so forth. While our leaders may have given rise to a still birth economy, the lack of political will to address the plight of the youth and giving the masses empty promises because most people loved being lied to since politics is arguably about who tells the best lie convincingly even if the masses know that the utterances are sweet and gullible empty talk.

Anecdotal evidence however shows that Nairobians are a very witty people. They know how to survive the stormy weather even if times get fermented. They look at life in 3D and act faster like they have 4G in their brains. Many wish for a time when they will be financially secure. They come up with businesses that never see the light of day, most are under conception. They keep hope alive that someday things will go north. But a friend told me that it is very easy to be an overnight millionaire in Nairobi. How? He never knew. The likes of Dennis Itumbi made it through blogging and though many thought low of him, his street-wise intelligence made took him places.

In Nairobi anything is possible. The days when you are hustling are some of the best days. Some friends usually are of the opinion that they cannot take some jobs because they are paid wages and the tasks and responsibilities are debasing and demeaning. They are graduates who have set high standards. They know what they want. I loved one who said that Sh. 15000 was a paltry figure and not a salary but wages a domestic manager (read maid) is given for her productive services that are usually very burdensome in a whatsapp group I am a member. Then there is a master’s graduate who operates a motorcycle having been employed by his younger brother. Fukes!

It’s hard out here for a job seeker. Even the sentries know this and chances are there are some graduates among them with superfluous degree papers who are holding onto their jobs hoping that one day they might just be smiled upon by lady luck. And then the number of people writing to give hope to the youths and teenagers that getting good grades in high school to secure good courses in campus such as law actuarial science and medicine does not mean success in life. Woe unto you if you buy into the idea because grades sometimes matter on how successful one becomes in life.

If my reading serves me right, the richest people in the world have been to or were university graduates or drop-outs. If a person thinks that failing in high school will lead into something better in life, then he is all alone. Failing means the hurdle gets tough while you could lax it by just reading to pass exams if you have the brains and chance. But again it also inhibits one’s prospects if he or she has no nerve to fight it out in this ever changing world that is full of bustle. I hate it when a person thinks that school school is only about cramming and memorizing content to pass exams. Bulshit, if it was so, everyone with high potential in cramming would have gone to the course of his choice. Again passion does not mean you will do that which you wanted. Instead, people should grab opportunities and make a lemonade out of a lemon.

To make it in Nairobi, one needs to be very suave and humble. Like one pal who intimated to me on the dirty tricks he uses to make it to town on a daily basis. His daily spenditure averages Sh.100 exclusive of breakfast and supper. Out of the sh.100, he spends sh.40 on transport and the rest on a meal that is balanced. The meal consist of two chapattis served with beans which retails at Sh.50 and a banana that goes for sh.10. Other times, he takes a brunch and ends up spending only sh.40 on transport. This means he can change whatever he eats at lunch.

As a very witty chap, he adroitly knows how to ensure the receipt he is given on aboard the train is safely kept so that he uses it in the morning on his way to town. His adept at doing it has made him save a lot of money in the process. But again it has to do with being paid peanuts. You need to survive. Someone somewhere is benefitting from the fact that youths are unemployed.

Hitherto, I had never knew where the holoi poloi of Nairobi ate in. With prices in places like Club 36 having risen, it is just fair that someone had to come up with a cheaper avenue to address the delicate matter of issues to do with the belly. Arguably, the number of women selling cheap food has increased sporadically. They are street smart as they know areas where they have a target market who has not been adequately catered for.

But cheap also means the comfort and pride of an individual is compromised. The service is mediocre and there are no seats, one has to stand. Again, there is no surety of adherence to cleanliness especially at the point of preparing the meal. Hygiene issues aside and the fact that this is usually a makeshift eating avenue, the number of those who go to partake of these meals are also well a good number. For a paltry sh.50, you get a variety of meals that you will need to cough five times in places that are housed in that side of town. The place looks like a den and I realized that the number of women doing this brisk business is increasing by the day.

As guys who are hustling to make ends meet, we usually talk of going for mbuzi to our colleagues. We have created the illusion that we spend almost six times the amount we spend on the dish. The lady even knows us. While most people are required to pay before they are served. On our part, we pay after service. But when things get tougher, I usually ring one of my pals who is on the verge of exiting campus for lunch which is usually sumptuous because as a hustler, you never care about the quality but the quantity or other times, just what is enough to fill the belly so that it does not ramble.

Obviously, there are those fries next to Nairobi Aviation sold at sh.30 but most of the time the queue is usually snaking outside and one is forced to go through the discomfort of not only eating chips that are prepared using what people say is transformer oil, but most times, the chips is usually not very appetizing with stains of black spots. Reminds me of my first encounter with sossi which was a pathetic chow owing to the way the cook of the meal had prepared it. It tasted like poorly cooked mushroom. Sossi, however, is not meat. Campus taught me to substitute it for Nyama because it was cheap and readily available and my pal knew how to make a sumptuous meal out of the soya beans.

Safaricom is albeit a good friend for most hustlers. What with their ever friendly products that cater for the need of the plebeian in terms of loans through Mshwari and Okoa Jahazi. While I would have exited the mobile phone operator long ago, I am chained like a dog because they have held the hustler in me hostage. They still overcharge and even times when I have unsubscribed from their products, I usually find them very alluring. Kudos to their Research and Development Department, they know how to entice even when the going gets tougher. Some people however shirk paying their loans not knowing that the credit reference bureau is informed and in the future they might not qualify for loans because the will have been long blacklisted by the firm.

But the best ruse to maneuver in the city is to sometimes take a seat in the frustration benches and watch how it is frustrating to be a Nairobian. Never mind that the kadogo economy is giving you sleepless nights because inflation is on the rise. Lack of rains means the prices of most commodities are rising. While the prices of petrol may have plummeted, the cost of living is still high. A thousand shillings never lasts more than two days. Expenses are never reducing. Ideally, with more money, there are more expenses.

What astounds is the fact that a person who pursued his or her education in either Europe or America is given preferential treatment because Kenyan revere Jungus more than their own. You are never given a better chance because the other person can speak using his/her nose or the queen’s patois which is a plus in the negotiation table. Sad that we don’t trust our own.

What I came to realize is that most youths want better opportunities, they want to go to firms where there is competition which is productive. Competition never kills, it ideally results in making life even better. What most youth want is to work and gain experience that every employer wants before they can be employed. Most employers have termed the youth as half-baked though. As the jobs continue being elusive, the problem is that the number of people who will be inveigled into larceny will be not be abating. The number of abettors might mushroom and the portent of this is that most will end up six feet under or in penitentiary where they might be booked for the rest of their lives or even worse having to wait for the hangman’s noose hoping that one day the big man on the house on the hill will exercise his clemency powers and come to their rescue.

In the meantime, getting out of Nairobi is out of the question. Why? The best stories reside in the city, not forgetting women, cars, casinos and the list again is endless.

SITUONANE

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I WANT TO BE A WORDSMITH.

There are people who write and there are those who are wordsmiths. They write using flowery phrases with seamless segue and you never want to let go of what you are reading because it has some form of satisfaction to you as a reader because the word magician bossomly engages all the five senses subtly only a reader feels the vibe.

Being a wordsmith is not only an art, a talent and a technical skill, it also comes with a following or a retinue that earnestly waits. When you pen something down, everyone in his right sense is caught by the insane creativity and imagination and might even wonder how you did it.

Writing is a technique that spans ages. It involves intrigue, imagination, discourse and conviction. Just to mention but a few. With time it has evolved and will continue undergoing mutation.

That I have failed in my ambitions to be a wordsmith is not a contestable half truth or falsification. I only read more at the expense of writing quality mind boggling and invigorating art pieces that probably should edutaint. It is like am deviating from the norm that I had created when I challenged myself to be a wordsmith which tautologically has been kind of a personal missive. When down, I open and savour the contents like it was belonging to another being.

It's like being a journo gives one the best prelude into being an effective and congenial scribe. Especially print journos who are not afraid to play around with words and manipulate our thought process so that we have this illusion of their brilliantly nurtured inteligencia as they be paper chasing.

Some of the most intelligent people are known to have been great writers and readers and alas, thinkers. The likes of Albert Einstein, Shakespeare and Legion of other literary folks whose works we revere and apply to our day to day lives. As for Einstein his goose could have been cooked had he not made it to the Americas because Goebbels and the indefatigable Hitler would have been hot in pursuit of his obvious Jewish heritage. I am currently reading a Walter Isaacson biography of the world acclaimed genius in both science and art. Albert Einstein.

As I am scripting this piece of gibbery, I am lethargic and having obtunded reflexes because I am not sately inspired to equivocally do it right. Am still reeling from the aversión of mediocrity earlier on displayed by the former quandary that befell yours truly in a panel of uncreative experts who I fell like challenging but owing to my premiere, I thought better naught. Wish I could have done better or come out more brisk. Like having that sonorous baritone that gives me an edge to out manoeuvre peers at the blink of an eye leaving them wide agape. Or that height that transcends the rest to scuttle those vertically challenged into submission and petrifaction amid laxity in opening the mouth to vex about my posture. Height wise I think I am tad challenged. I yearn to be taller though.

Sometimes I usually want to be that beggar who rides on an unbridled horseback like a trained jockey full of illusory societal aspirations. Horses were for the prototypical bourgeois who used them as a transit contrivance in medieval times. Few laymen had the auspicious audacity to have one unless they were cascading the societal vertical ladder to supremacy. Their economic supresión having been a set back in their aspirations left most to be admirers of the draught beast mostly seen during occasional visits to jockey clubs to watch as the connoisseurs displayed their expertise amid cheers and ululations from the electrified crowd.

As a pragmatic individual, I always wish that writing was my Joie de vivre. Writing in 3D and capturing imagery like reading a Sydney Sheldon novel or listening to a romantic ballad that palpitaciones the intrinsic muscles of the heart to lam with uncondensating rapidity synonymous to how Hezekiah felt upon addition of fifteen more earthly years on the verge of his extinction from the vicissitudes of planet earth.

I am an average writer. I have the mettle even though the going is pique for reasons this blog can't explain. Yenning I am to burst from the cocoons of bondage and entrapment so as to explore the greater ability of immortality in the art of scripting.

Sometimes I make sense; otherwise I am a nonsensical writer. Many think I subterfuge yet I am always as realistic as required of me. Or is it that I have adopted a witty charm of dismantling the listeners of my plebeian anecdotes that most have ultimately thought of as foolish owing to my usual good first impression since am bespectacled and wear this big plastic rimmed glasses that give me the flair of a very intelligent scholar.

Many a times some people have told me about my boorish nature and acting puerile. I was once an actor, sometimes am forced to be callous. Damn, even primary school kids intimated the same because I know how to offend especially the emotional right side of their brain when provoked. I can't beat about the bush. Most of those who tell me so are mostly obtuse and inanely thick and as such, I usually try to make them feel at home because it is sanctimonious to be a pious snob when dealing with a person whom you view as a nincompoop.

As I work towards circumventing the barriers of making a wordsmith. My motive is to deride my critics and naysayers into a delectable submission. I want to dismantle their genial idiosyncratic avalanche of not exercising self-effacement at my own bauble alter of penmanship. To subdue their comfort at my behest into thinking their posse are malingering when in reality they are switching ground because they have no more cognate juxtaposition with their royalty.

I might suffer from disdain and being disheveled. But my zeal for a rendezvous is unmatched. That which is wholly defined by a petulant opprobrium and tenets of oblique harangue which is essentially undoubted since its premised by ostentatious misogamy of riley. Frivolously propagated by an evolving decapitation of our morality and the ethical premia we have failed to protect resulting in abrogation of our fragile traditions inherent from our yore folks.

Yet I despise the horrendous itinerary of being held hostage by a barrage of lexical argot intended to embody simple and tacit apprehensive comprehension in my endeavour of construal of my mundane nomenclature of being a deprived quintessentially skillful writer with unmatched renaissance into a new dawn.

Thankfully, the most beautiful thinks in the world are not seen but felt by the heart. I may be a bull in China shop. Because my aversion therapies of countenance buoyed by simplicity have been irrelevant so far. Partly I would never make a difference but slouching on a couch making meaning out of words is something I have to. The ado and reflexes are not as heated. They remain a precursor as I mirror on how best to ameliorate the music in my rhyme scheme.

I want to be that deus en machina who convolutes and gives headaches to the huffish scribes from their yolks of relishing the status quo devoid of being reprimanded. I am not casting aspersions. This is a deuce. Playing it safe and seldom shifting alliance with this innocuous artistry that borders on probity of candour.

SITUONANE.

[Photo Source: Openphoto]

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THE LONG WAIT: THREE ACTS OF STUPIDITY

Gemstone is an object that looks as if it is polished from the most elusive and valuable substance on earth. This valuable stone not only has a technical and scientific aura, but it has some complexity associated with it . The surfaces refracting and radiating sheen on the surface. There are so many gemstones that are found all over the world. The most distinct and notable gems are but not limited to; emerald, beryl, gold, platinum, sapphire, zircon and turquoise.

Here is an analogy I find most compelling.  More than 1000 years ago, an Indian farmer, let his camel rest for a drink on a stream of his property. And as he waited, he looked down to see a rock, that had been tumbled and kicked around more for a few millennia before that. But as he gazed at the black stone, he noticed that it had an eye that reflected the full spectrum of a rainbow. 

With his focused set, he noticed the same stone was strewn abundantly on his property. 

Diamonds. 

That's the legend of the discovery of the most prolific diamond producing sites in the world;Golconda, India. Golconda is origin and one of the richest areas where Hope and the Nassak Diamonds are produced all over the world. These diamond have been able to grace the crowns of monarchs for centuries. 

However Golkonda city is no more as the fort finally fell into ruins after a siege and its fall to Mughal emperor Aurangazeb in 1687 AD.

In Africa we have Blood Diamonds which fince insurgents in war tone zone in some areas where they are produced. The proceeds from the sale of diamonds go into the financing of the activities of the warlords who in turn have militias that rein havoc and amok in the realm that the oversee. 

Is there no difference between Golconda and Blood Diamonds in Central and West African countries?

While there are efforts to streamline the eradication of conflicts through Kimberly Process and Global Winess coupled by efforts of the United Nations, the situation is highly mitigated. Kanye West sung about the blood diamonds. 

The most expensive jewelery, watches and phones are made of diamond. 

Diamond aside, here are the things the acts of stupidity in my opinion

1.      Watching Nigerian movies with inconsistent plots

2.      Living in denial because life has failed to take off

3.      Never washing your hair because you are Rasta

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MOTIVATION, CREATIVITY AND WRITING

There is no one person on earth who qualifies to being idle. Perhaps you can say dolce far niente. The only idle things are statues and dummies that are stagnant until moved to a place of respite. It is only opportunities that are rare or is it scarce and therefore hard to come by. I have inkling that there is something that is not right or there is a prepotency that has not been accurately redefined to give some form of acceptance of that which has become elusive.

We are living in a world of fantasy. Fantasizing about what we aspire and never taking the bull by its horns like a matador to get what we are in need of. We are devoid of action and like being risk averse by reclining back to our cocoons of contentment. We want things on a silver platter and forget that there is a leeway in asking and starting towards getting there bit by tad.

Eating is a perfect example of how we should approach what we want. When one is hungry, he or she looks for a place to find food. Likewise when thirsty, you quench your thirst by drinking water (some bottled half litre bottles are charged as much as sh.600). Water is life because 70% of the earth and our bodies are water if geographers and biologists are to be relied on. 

Many a times, it is easy to brush things aside without taking any action whatsoever. I have been having a dream of introducing or is it marketing my blog to a newer crop of readers but I have found it very tasking and tasking. I am not a good marketer after all. Yet I know the components and principles of a good marketer. Say wasting education and letting it go to the dogs. Hope my mentor will help out, that is, if I ever make it to say Hi (Guess I am too busy).

I have no expert experience in doing it what I love. Albeit I desire to build a formidable network that I can rely on. It is sometimes good to make confessions. I am like Tarzan in the jungle. I look up to no one but the animals who are my company. I aptly have no idea of what my brand should be about (kind of vague). As such I am on a sabbatical leave to rediscover my prospects in life which should be studious and less preemptive. 

That brings me to what I should be really worried about. Motivation. There is power in motivation. There is energy and pep, and the fact that you can do anything if motivated is a plus. Motivation changes everything and plays a crucial role in giving one some form of nirvana. I know that burnout is a very crucial aspect in life. Writer burn out if not checked can be very piercing resulting in a tinge of resignation and exhaustion. Bet even the most prolific writers go through these phases in life. Ahoy, I am not alone.

Not caring as deeply as you did just moments ago can be a profoundly disconcerting experience. It ideally affects creativity and will power to surge on to the next level by transcending the previous one.

However, this is not a slog. My mental resources are not yet exhausted. I would have wished to be in a quilt and slumber my tribulations of having not yet got there but I cannot. My eyes are crimson out of the many hours spent behind a box that looks like it will become my home when I no longer have the motivation that could exonerate me from connecting the dots that have kept me far away yet am very near. It is like getting immersed in artistry at the end of a grueling day- you keep on losing and losing.

Every other time I take a matatu, I usually wish I would sit reclusively devoid of discompose from another passenger and mull over whatever comes my way. Then I can retrospectively reflect on the things observed and those that matter most to me.

Sometimes when I write, the flowery words usually come naturally without any ado resulting in seamless segues. Such times, ideas flow like they never have before and I get to like what I read even though I know of people who can never reread their script after scribing the content in their brains on black and white.

When I usually feel disillusioned, I know of where to commiserate. It is never easy at times to let out the frustrations but you have to let them out. Writing is one of the most intelligent ways to let the rage or irk fade away. Even if none will lay eyes on the piece of creativity, you sure are able to let out that which disturbs the mind.

When my brain and soul shuts down, my hands are like, “To hell with writing, nobody even cares about what I gibber about anyway. It’s too much work. Dude get a life.” But there is that feeling that rings at the back of my mind assuaging me never to give up hope but to get it write. Rome was not built in one day and that patience pays.

Sometimes I wish I could brew new stories. I take that coveted timeout to reflect more. To find out what I need to do different. I immerse myself in the comfort of books. I have left so many halfway due to my greed. I trust that time will heal the urge of my lethargy that keeps on shifting intermittently. Trying hard copies, I realized works magic. Even writing on a piece of paper is more magical and sensational. It’s more natural and fulfilling. Just like sipping a cold bottle of tusker malt on a hot Saturday afternoon watching some the exciting BPL.

Reading soft copies is tactically hard and laborious. You must keep peace at one point which is never easy. Your eyes get dehydrated of tears and you occasionally suffer from bouts of seizures related to being an onscreen nerd onsite a give point for long. The corollary of this is extrinsic motivation where a person acts upon beliefs that are not held by that person.

Writing to achieve a competitive advantage is everyone’s desire. It is soothing and helpful. Even amateurs like yours truly are usually wishing to make it big some day in life. Get an audience and build on them as they built a brand that is unrelenting. But again, the only probity I can offer is the lack of assertion on my part.

The toughest part is rejection burn out. No one seems to notice the time you take to come up with good content or lack of thereof. Even those you thought would appreciate your writing never do so. They are passersby on a journey seldom making sojourns. No one is a Good Samaritan (Read fan). Like the Levite, they never want to besmirch their status by associating with a low life. They are on the move, forgetting that the journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. Getting there is not easy, some arrive at the verge of their senility and resurrect their energy more strong that they make juggernauts that are have a formidable force to reckon with.

I am stilling working out on a cascade of inspiration to make it to be the best of who I aspire to be. Write well and creatively even if the motivation is that I will continue being the sole reader of my content and perhaps find a way of marketing my blog much better in a way that is gradual and geometrically with time. When I embark on writing my novel, I will do it with the steadfastness of a victor having knowledge that the going is never easy.

While I idle in this sea of the unknown, my premise is to therapeutically disengage when it is right and to find solace to get to the next level by making effort each day. I want to make writing my sprezzatura. It means effortless grace, all easy, doing something cool without apparent effort.

SITUONANE.

[Photo source: Openphoto]

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IT'S TOUGH BEING A JOBLESS GRADUATE.

I thought I was alone in the search for employment in this highly competitive world that has become callous in retrospect. Then I came to realize I am not alone (read KEPSA-KYEP Project). I am devoid of the lone ranger mentality. Even those people who have contacts are still hustling. So sad. They need to keep the fire burning though. Some were given jobs you would think their godfathers are only interested in exacerbating their already fragile plight of making them slide lower in the social ladder.

What however caught my ear were the anecdotes some of the graduates have gone through and some continue going through in the quest to find a good job that is rewarding and sustaining but still very elusive.

When a graduate resorts for an internship that pays for something just slightly above half the minimum national wage in the city, you know that youth unemployment is a ticking time-bomb that needs to be reigned on like yesterday.

The challenge that however remains is the old guard who have refused to let go of the lucrative positions they hold in some of the ministries that matter in the public service. They come up with archaic ideas to enrich themselves because they know they can get the funding by presenting a feasible proposal to would be donors.

Back in campus, I remember one of the lecturer alluded to the fact that some of the strategists and policy makers at the treasury were men and women who had served in the post colonial government and even though we have marked the golden jubilee, they still hold onto positions because of reasons best known to them. They shun the volatile and political posts that offer no security when a regime changes.

The public service has employed more aged people than the youth. Ideally, this is the year in which most youths should expect to be absorbed in the public service following a five year hiatus due to the extension of retirement age (most youths think it should be 50 years). What is frustrating is that some of those old-guards only want to continue lolling in the lucrative and prestigious parastatals because of easy money as a result of the unnecessary red tape and bureaucracy that has dogged most ministries since time immemorial (read being oiled by the ever short-cut seeking plebeian). 

They want to be retained on contractual terms on retirement and most due to their vast experience retain some of the positions much to the chagrin of newbies who have to be content with being casuals or working under the old dogs year in year out. Some of the newbies even forget that they need to be employed on permanent basis and the terms and conditions of employment properly outlined. But due to desperation, you accept whatever you are given because so many need that post.

There is this slogan being pelted to every youthful chap outside there by the proletariat who fear the unemployed like a Nairobian does the hobos who have their hands smeared with stool ready to attack. Uwi. It has to do with starting a business or engaging in entrepreneurship. My God! If statistics serve me right, very few youths want to hear of starting a business since they don't know where they are heading and how to go about it because they are not empowered. It is like crossing a river and the next point after that is a thicket with no vistas in place to give light on the probable next point of sojourn.

Again, very few banks and investors want to engage in the risky venture of seed capital even though you may meet some of the minimum threshold required to get the money.

My pal told me of a friend who told him of the minimum amount he should expect as a graduate (Sh.50000 net). Roughly, a mtu wa mjengo/ jamaa wa mkono is paid approximately sh.500 a day. That roughly adds to of minimum of sh.12000 exclusive of worship days if he works for 24 days in a month. Koroga days they are usually paid more.

Therefore, as a graduate, you need to be paid more. However you are doing half of what the person makes hoping things will improve. I beg to know the person who came up with the idea that irrespective of skills acquired or gained, one should be paid as a likewise those with no skills. However, Drake sung starting from the bottom. Likewise Ringtton.

The bugger who came up with the theory still wakes up at 1100hrs (earning 50k having gone to campus) and hopes to get a good job someday. The illusions of having been a campus graduate still haunt him not to take any job that nevr pays below his minimum requisition. He hopes to make it big sometime in life. Patience pays. Does it pay for those sleeping till eleven in the morning?

In fact, it has become prestigious to be employed. As long as you are taking something small at home, you are good to go. 

The lacuna between you and your friend who was lucky to be employed is real. The terse confab you engage in tells you precisely that things have changed. The bugger will tell you to continue hustling and probably give you a "kachwani" because your net worth and plight is probable to that status.Worse still, the frustrations are written on your face and in your grooming. On the contrary they are more preened, sophisticated, polished and only gibber in the Queens patois. Work ethic I tell you.

There was one graduate who went to look for employment and because of his patience, he got the job. I read somewhere that in order to be noticed by the receptionists as a job seeker, you need to be standing and noticeable. Seating may make the receptionist forget about you and as such not be able to communicate with the relevant authorities to either call security or usher you in.

The graduate (let me call him Innocent) being a patient person had reported in time. There were two positions to be filled.  Obviously during an interview, the number of people who turn up are usually very high. Five hours into waiting, no one had been called, hence they continued waiting. Some got tired and hungry and because the organization did not seem to mind about them, they walked out in protest.

At 1700hrs, they had not been called in for interview, but usual Innocent kept on waiting. Everyone went away because they knew that it was past working hours and there was no interview after all. 

At 1830hrs, Innocent was called by a certain jungu who was the CEO of the company. He was asked if he was among those who were in for the interview and he answered on the affirmative. 

At that moment, the jungu apologized for keeping him waiting and the next thing he was taken to a five star hotel, given his appointment letter, some cash and bought bruchupper (breakfast lunch and supper ).

The search for a good job is usually frustrating. Those who get employed early on in life also have their frustrations. Meeting deadlines, obnoxious bosses, inimical requirements and a host of other things that only God knows. Others are engaging in entrepanuaship. Lucky them.

Frustrations that groweth an individual are experiential though. They make one courageous and steadfast. They aid in giving one temerity and vigour so that you know that it is never easy even as you surge.

That reminds me of the story of a chap who squandered all the money his old man had worked hard to make. It was approximately Sh.60000 because it was meant for the purpose of the purchase of a good laptop that would serve for many years.

Days later, the dude rung the father that he had lost the cash and his old man devised a plan to teach him a lesson.

He was told that he had been secured a good job in a reputable firm dealing in sugar. Upon reporting, he was to be a porter, transporting 50 kg sack from one point to the other. Since he never wanted to quit because the father had intimated to it being a white collar and the fact that he would call his supervisor, the chap had no option but to go back and do the job because he was also on long holiday staying with the dad.

After two weeks, the boy could not keep up and he overslept after becoming zonked out. His father as usual called the supervisor and asked if the boy had reported to work. He never bothered because he had taught him a lesson. 

Months later, the boy got the courage to ask why he had been subjected to the torture. His father being very diplomatic told him he wanted him to learn that it was never easy making money in this world (sometimes you have to sweat). He also knew that he had messed up with ladies and used the money for buying a laptop to imbibe liquor in high end joints. Unbeknownst to him, his father had seen him because he had gone to catch some pints and saw him ordering for liquor like a boss.

Youths are really skilled and dexterous (some are a let down though). They are pursuing education as a means to an end. They forget that they also have talents. They want white caller jobs, they wanted to wake up and find that they have been employed in the most lucrative positions. They think that it is like the days of our fathers where form four leavers were hand picked to go and work for the organizations some realy wish they would be given a chance to go to. The worst thing is that being a policeman is so coveted to the extent that people part with hefty bribes to make it to the force. The military is also not spared either. 

Struggle people will struggle but the notion that Education is the only thing should change. The SW rule applies. This means after education, something will or something won’t happen in terms of employment. Hustling should be a requisite as things change. Successful people look like YOU and ME.

SITUONANE

[Photo Source: Goolge Images]

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