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I have read the witty comments on
social media and the sober reviews in newspapers about President Kenyatta’s
promise of laptops to standard one pupils with rising distress. Though the negative
views are in the minority and easy to laugh at, they reveal the poverty mindset
the nation needs to abandon to move from “analogue to digital”. The point is
not that we believe what the president is saying is impossible; rather the
point is that many people have no knowledge of what must be done to bring about
national transformation.
If the president holds to his word, he will be doing no more than Moi or Kibaki who moved education forward with the 844 system and free primary education. At the time people said these initiatives were impossible, unwise or too expensive. I don’t think those who benefited from these changes would mindlessly call them a waste of time.
When President John F Kennedy
told Americans on 21st May 1961, “we shall put a man on the moon
before the end of the decade”, the people scoffed. The people could not see
beyond themselves and the cold war. But America did put a man on the moon in July
20 1969, less than a year before the end of the decade. Sadly, Kennedy did not
see that glorious day. However, Kennedy’s victory was not that commander Neil Armstrong
walked on the moon, but that America was transformed forever. Americans took a
great leap forward and believed in themselves once more.
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Admittedly, lollipops are cheap,
available in every village and provide ten minutes of sweetness. They are not
like laptops that are expensive, facilitate career development and provide a technology
window to a lifetime of opportunity. Our challenge as a nation is not that we do
not have lollipops or laptops, but that we must change our thinking from
lollipops to laptops. Just because sweets are affordable does not mean they
should limit our vision. To move from sweets to significance, we must be
prepared to sweat for success.
Allan Bukusi, April 2013
Author of How To Lead Corporate Transformation