A lady who is between 25 and 30 years old is living a great life. Many will not see it as a result of her hard work but as a ‘kept’ lady

A guy between 20 – 25 driving a nice car, living in a nice estate, flashing the latest gadgets is not seen as someone who works hard but if he is not a con or a thug he is then ‘kept’ by a sugar mummy.

Cases of individuals who have risen to the top known to many are as a result of what they literally gave and continue to give to be there. However, there are individuals who are at the top in what they do not because they had to part with some coins or through untoward favors but worked hard. Hard work pays.

Having said that, given person x got to where they are because they are ‘kept’ do you think the society will ever see person y any different and yet person y has earned every coin through sweat and hard work? I will call a spade a spade and not a big spoon. If the society thinks that the only way young people can ‘ball’ is by been ‘kept’ or they only way young people can be young and successful career people is because they had to be open to ideas then do not blame the person who is responsible for your career promotions for wanting ‘something’ in return for your promotion.

I am sure many are waiting for the low down on the above. I can imagine some have already seen a Vance ‘Kept’ equation. It will not come through today maybe some other time. I used the above reality so that one can understand where I am coming from below. People who drive around Nairobi often find the 50kph speed limit unrealistic. People who get driven around Nairobi don’t care or even notice. NTSA has since been on the receiving end from motorists but how many have stopped for a minute to think about where NTSA was coming from?

With the high penetration and seeming influence of social media in the country and individuals wanting to break news first and fast, one sees and tweets and waits for the retweets. There is nothing wrong with doing so if you are tweeting facts. Take a walk through your timeline and if you are as keen as I am, you will notice that close to 90% of accidents are blamed on speeding. Relating to the earlier part of this post, it is safe to say yes, there have been and continue to be accidents as a result of speeding, however not everyone who is involved in an accident was speeding. Maybe people have taken too literally the sexing up of a story to make it sweet, but such exaggerations end up killing the story. It is so bad that even the likes of Kenya Red Cross find it important to add the speeding part where they feel the person who reported omitted it.

The late Magu jumped in front of a moving bus. Reports state he was committing suicide. So given that most PSVs have functioning digital speed recorders and limiters the bus was doing say 80kph max. But someone saw it fit to say the bus was speeding and hit someone who according to reports commited suicide.

So if NTSA gets say 5 reports a day of accidents all attributed to speeding which may be or may not be the case, then do not blame them when they come up with unrealistic counter measures. I was driving around Nairobi the other day and saw this old car on a roundabout with a hand written poster, speed kills. Given the model, rust and other factors, if that car was in an accident it it would then follow that the cause would not be overspeeding but more of it’ss unroadworthy state. You will however not hear driving or riding in unroadworthy vehicles can kill but speed kills. Hey, a tortoise can walk faster than a running dog in this day and age right?

My humble request before we continue shooting ourselves on the foot is, speak and share facts. Think of what you speak as feedback for the relevant body to do the needful. The police will proudly say that cases of insecurity have sharply reduced. You on the other hand know the true account of events on the ground and blame the police for sleeping on the job. Quick one, how many report those incidences? If 10 people get mugged and none report, cops are not angels to just respond. If 1 out of ten responds, it will not be treated with the urgency as opposed to if 8 out of the 10 responded.

Your words and actions have a direct impact on decisions someone will make tomorrow. Help them make the right decision. Let it sink.