Kenya Power vs 'kanju' spat rekindles memories of village superiority contests

Urbanites may think growing up in the countryside was boring.

It was lots of fun, and I believe it still is. I say that with authority as someone who grew up there and only came to the city as a schoolboy. I have had the best of both worlds. 

The chores urbanites fear, like looking for firewood, cooking, milking, planting, harvesting, and more, were not boring. We knew of no alternative to compare with. Most of us had no TV or radio, and we knew of no other life.  Years later, we learnt that country life gave us a competitive advantage. We were hardened. 

We could endure more and do more. A few of us asked for an exemption from pre-university National Youth Service (NYS) training at Gilgil. Guess who asked and got the exemption. 

One competitive advantage is that we learnt to solve problems using available solutions.

If you needed a toy, you made one, not go to the supermarkets. For lighting, you made a lamp from a can, and if you wanted meat, you went hunting. For shelter, you got wood and build, and if you wanted to pass exams, you studied hard; private tuition was unheard of. 

With no video games, our games were real - football, wrestling, running, and boxing, among others. In these games, we always sized up each other on who was strong, a coward or bold. Mock fights and, at times, real fights settled superiority contests.  

Those who grew up in the white highlands must recall a unique method of settling superiority contests.

You spat on the back of your hand and asked your contestant to remove that spit with his hand (gutharia njata; knocking off the star). 

Ask a native language speaker and possibly not a Gen Z about it. If the contestant touched the spit, a fight would ensue, and superiority was settled physically. I don’t recall any serious injuries.  

Where am I going with this?  Last week, either Kenya Power or the Nairobi County government (kanjú) asked the other to tharia njata.

We saw what happened. We should not bother about who is right or wrong. The way they contested their superiority was an echo from a bygone era.  

Maybe we should find out how many senior managers from Kanjú and Kenya Power participated in the contest. That could explain their behaviour.  

Dumping waste, blocking sewer lines, and cutting off water and power was a blot on our national image. What did tourists visiting Kenya think?  

One question we should ask is how common this behaviour is. Is corruption not related to this behaviour? Is a bribe not extracted through a threat of “dumping rubbish” to deny you access to the services?  

The behaviour of both entities masks another deeper problem - we think debt is free money. How many countries, companies and individuals are owed money?  When shall we understand capitalism and its ethos?  Definitely not through gútharia njata.