Of Zack and hunger stricken Kenyans

Raising money to help needy folks is a very noble cause. It is something that a lot of people would want to identify with and would even sacrifice their comfort for. Take the Kenyans for Kenya initiative that raised over a billion shillings to feed folks dying of hunger in Turkana (mind you, we don’t know how the cash was spent or if there was actually people dying of hunger in the first place) or the now famous “Bring Zack back home” (why he won’t just take a flight is beyond me), such good initiatives being done for all the wrong reasons. Before you all start frothing at the mouth and screaming about how evil I am, picture this; does the government collect taxes? Yes. Is the government responsible for building hospitals? Yes. Should the government be feeding the hungry in the country? Yes. Is the government doing a good job? No. Should we intervene through such initiatives as the ones previously mentioned? Hell no!

When a person is given a responsibility, they should execute it fully failure to which that person should be punished. When the government fails in its responsibilities, it should be punished too. The punishment can come in many different forms and severity but never should failure to execute responsibility be rewarded. Starting such initiatives is tantamount to rewarding failure. If the government has a health budget and the funds are stolen or misappropriated, should we raise money to build the very same hospital? Of course not. This means that the “bring Zack back to the chopper…” argument is invalid. Similarly, imaginary people dying of hunger in Turkana need government action more than Julie Gichuru and Jeff Koinange dancing to the tune of Gina Din and other puppet masters to collect monies that are never accounted for.

By contributing money towards such projects, we are condoning the bad behavior of government. It is like giving you child money to buy books and then he spends it on cocaine and then you give him more cash to buy another book.  I know this is painful but someone has to say it.

Viva la revoluciόn.