Let the rain beat us.

The rain has been beating us for years, even during dry seasons. Our clothes are wet. It will be hard, and subtly unnecessary, to seek to know the time the rain started beating us. The matter of great interest, requiring irrepressible urge to unveil, is why the rain keeps beating us. Us, in this context, is the people of Makueni.

The thought of getting swamped in a dry land is remote as much as it is absurd. Pressing the queen's language a little bit more, I'd say the thought is devilish.

But, when a letter is not answered, or acknowledged of receipt, something must be wrong. When issues are raised but end up as just that, raised, the county will keep mark timing for times, and many years, to come. On a different note, am grateful to the heavens that we are mark timing, at least. My friends from Kiambu county have not even changed to jerseys.

The rain will beat us as long as our leaders don't listen, as long as they take the concerns of the county citizens as the 'noise of the frogs which does not hinder the elephants from drinking water'. The rain will beat us as long as a website is a public relations tool, a portrayal of absolute ineptitude and a castigation to the IT whiz kids of our county. The rain will make our people whimper as long as a mail address on the website is just a mail address, never replied, perhaps never read, probably never existing.

When people can only be employed through connections and who knows who, then vetted by a county assembly which is oblivious of the underlying challenges in the county to the tune of seeking hefty pays in an age where good leaders channel their salaries to the citizens, there isn't a single refuge. People will walk out in the rain, get drenched, and wait for five years.

The recent death of Mandiba, which could in the best of terms be referred to as 'the passing of an eland', awoke the sub-conscious to the importance of virtue and passion in leadership and service to humanity. Every body quoted Mandela in this and that, but if no inspiration is drawn from the quotes, much will be left to desire. History has no kindness, the same history will teach you.

In the eve of elections, earlier in the year, many well-to-do and wanna-be leaders erected pages on Facebook in search of votes, and voters, only to vanish in not-thin-but-thick air, either after winning or losing. This is an indication of inadequate leadership talent, or know how. If lessons must be taken from the likes of Mandela, Luther Jr, Malcom X or even Raila, then leadership does not start or end when one is elected. It is a continuous venture within and without, it is a constant connection with people and identification with their problems, not just for the sake of identifying, but for tangible action to alleviate socio-economic problems.

I know bursaries will be allocated and disbursed. I spent years as a student leader while in college. Money was only awarded to the rich. I remember the painful journey i walked with an orphan student who had not received a single penny, the trips to the then CDF offices and the false promises, and even more painstakingly, the eventual call off of the whole semester. The student in question only needed 8,000, yeah, you read right, a meagre 8,000, but she had to go back to the village.

Another event which will never escape my memory is that of another student, born of two secondary school teachers. Mark you, in the county, high school teachers are models of means and adequacy. He had been awarded a bursary of 40,000 shillings, just because someone knew someone.

These acts of corruption will be there, I am certain about that. My request to the new government, the county government, is to reduce the rate of the vice. Let the poor boy and girl go to school first, divide the remaining coins among the rich parents and let them face justice in heaven, as Christians say, or down here on earth as the old Swahili adage asserts, 'Malipo ni hapa hapa duniani'.

Let the rain continue beating us, but wouldn't be right if you make sure that the stomachs are full lest the poor kids die of cold as they await freedom!!!