Dear Mr President,

Dear Mr Uhuru Kenyatta,

I hope you are well as you complete and contemplate about your one year at the helm of power in this country. As you do so, kindly allow me to introduce you to the two people who have known me the longest on planet earth. Meet the Nganga’s.

I have four siblings but through mergers and acquisitions we have increased to a number larger than that. We grew up in that cold place called Othaya and occassionaly visited our maternal grandparents who lived in that far far far off place called Londiani. To get there was a whole day’s journey.

Mr President, Let me tell you about discipline. Mrs Nganga and by extension Mr Nganga was and still is (curiously she excludes her grandchildren from this treatment) the toughest person(s) I have ever known. She is reknown in a radius of about 25 kilometers from our home for that toughness. She could look at you when you did something and all the blood in your body would collate into the mouth to clot there. My mother never beat us but she instilled such fear that when in a closed room alone you were sure she was watching you through the wall. If my mother did not like the company you kept, she would tell you bluntly” If I ever hear, see, think, or know you were with "fulani’s" child you will go to live with them’. There was no reprieve for indiscipline. You spoke the right way, walked the right way, ate the right way and generally lived the right way.

Her rules were written on stone. There was no chance to amend or go to a court of appeal. In fact if you reported her to my Father, he would look at you long and hard and answer “Do what your mother has said”. What they said, they meant . And they didn’t care to repeat for clarity. It was their way or the highway. This resulted in order and routine in our home that can only be equaled to that of the military.

My parents were not in the least bothered with pleasing us. If ndengu’s were served for supper and you didn’t feel like eating them –then you would sleep hungry. My mother never asked us what we wanted to eat; your business was to eat. And they took Tyler Perry’s  word very seriously when he said that your child is only your friend when you share your bills. In other words if you were living under their roof and in their pocket you were obliged (Sic) you had to follow their way. It is only after economic empowerment that you were allowed to come to the decision making table. They believed after economic empowerment you were grown up and independent enough to pay the price for our choices.

My parents did not believe in bickering or airing their dirty linen in public. Infact I was shocked to grow up and find out that marriage is not a bed of roses. My parents had successfully portrayed so and still do for over 36 years now. They either quarreled away from home or whispered since I have never been party to it. It could be naïve to think they didn’t quarrel. They also spoke from a united front even when you tried to play either of them. The minute one heard the other had said no, it didn’t matter how illogical their decision was, the answer was no.

Financial management was a class they must have attended and taken very seriously. We did not waste anything. Clothes in good condition were always handed down so were books and anything else. I have a feeling even if it was possible to hand down food then it could be done. A shilling was stretched to the last of its limit, beyond that it could burst. We were taught how to be frugal and made to appreciate what we had. If you wanted to have what the Jonesses had, she would calmly tell you to go and live with them. Shoes were worn to their end of walking capacity.

Finally they invested in our education. It didn’t matter whether you were interested or not or if you felt it or not.  They ensured we went to school and all other of our concerns were rendered useless if you did not abide by the education rules. My father could severally tell us in a very serious manner that you could only use his surname if you performed to your best in school. And when you failed he would tell us it was our business to fend for our school fees. They reminded us that education would make us think and act different.

Mr Uhuru Kenyatta, to be honest my parents are what you would call dictators. Whether present day behavioral scientists would group them as benevolent or malevolent dictators, I leave that to their expertise. But we lived within the confines of law and order. When you were disgruntled you didn’t shout to the whole world, you quietly asked for a reprieve. We didn’t have shouting matches and when we fought as siblings sometimes they punished both parties or ignored the fight completely. They taught us that some battles were not worth getting involved in. I think you should take the same approach and be as ruthless as you can, Michuki like  style and discipline will be instilled in every Kenyan citizen. Then and only then can we salvage this country’s glory and honor and meet our vision 2030 goals.

Your sincere daughter,

Sojourner.