Today, I revisit some of the seven
greatest ills Indian statesman Mahatma Gandhi spoke about; commerce without
morality and knowledge without character. Let’s call it core capitalism in a
society that is slowly but steadily degenerating into a theatre of the absurd
where extreme greed has subjugated national conscience.
In such a scenario, state
institutions tasked with safeguarding rights of both the producer and consumer
have proved too tepid. To them, words such as alacrity and service to the
nation exist only in a dictionary as traders turn into economic piranhas
devouring any slightest opportunity to its carcass morally or otherwise while
ignoring even the most basic ethics that rule any social set up including
corporate social responsibility.
Ignorant producers are subjected to
sharp fangs of profiteers who make optimal use of their situations and toil to
make mega bucks from gullible consumers. Remember that overnight celebrity,
Jane Adika, the sonorous voiced woman whose cries for help while marooned by
floods from River Nyando in the bowels of Kano plains in Kisumu tore many hearts?
Yes, the trapped and desperate woman
moved the nation to tears with her famous cry Serikali tafadhali, naomba unisaidie.
Hata watoto yangu sijaona, hata bwana yangu sijui alilawapi (I plead with the
government to come to my rescue. I do not know where my children and husband
are or where they slept) - a signature tune that has come to signify helpless
cries of Nyando people each time the rains come.
Transmuted by 15 minutes of fame,
Adika became an overnight national “sweetheart” dominating discussions in bars,
streets, taxis, churches, offices and schools and even social media sites. But,
that is where the rain started beating the woman whose misery was marked by
serendipity for some scrupulous ringtone vendors, club deejays and mobile
telephone service providers who quickly annexed the painful pleas, converted
them into ringtone and started milking the cow dry without seeking Adika’s
consent or giving her a single bite of the cherry.
This is immoral and cupidity at its
worst. It’s unfair. Where is their conscience? How come musicians, comedians or
any artist whose voice is used by the phone service providers get financial
rewards? Why was Adika’s case different? Was it an iconic case of ignorance
being the gift that keeps giving? That being the case, does it mean we are a
nation of fraudsters who will even trade a brother or a sister for a bowl of
soup?
Today, Adika’s voice is virtually
ubiquitous in every ringtone and as you ride in any public transport in major
towns, there is every likelihood the phone ringing next to you will have
Adika’s anguished plea for help tune—Serikali tafadhali…(government, please…)
Interesting is the deafening silence of the ever nosy and noisy consumer rights
lobby groups, civil societies or even intellectual property law experts in this
broad daylight robbery-with-silence, greater than any fraud in our intellectual
property history, I am even thinking this should be a declared crime
against humanity. Are we as a society too timid or just inconsistent and have
become winds fanning the flame of impunity?
Do we see evil perpetuated by
heartless economic vultures against a voiceless hapless Kenyan and sit back to
fatten it by buying the “blood” ringtone? A disturbing food for thought!
However, injustice anywhere is an eternal threat to justice everywhere. Even as
we pray for these economic saboteurs to compensate Adika, these telcos reminds
me of Charles Taylor who sold blood diamonds from Sierra Leone or even the
rebels who sell blood minerals from Congo.
Where are those Janus-faced
institutions that arrested Kenyans for “illegally” selling TV captions of
Westgate? Why can’t they arrest these ringtone hawkers for making a kill out of
Adika’s voice, why won’t these intellectual property thieves be made to pay? Or
like painting Icon Van Gogh deftly noted; “nobody recognises your genius till
you die”, maybe the phone firms will pay sadly after Adika is gone. Shame on
Kenyan middle class who saw this injustice but ignored. Adika could be you
tomorrow; it could be me as she personifies that lowly person trampled upon by
tricksters and capitalist piranhas.
Adapted from www.thepeople.co.ke
KPDI - Community Empowerment Project is aimed to support local
community Peoples Working Group, community leaders and all the communities in the
vast Kano Plains in order to build their capacities, institutional and advocacy
development strategies on right to manage and use the land and natural resources,
particularly, the land security for livelihood and promoting economic, social
and environmental awareness.
As the results of project, sugar cane farming, rice farming both scheme and
private land have been put into engagement. A number of Working Group have
cooperated and collaborated with local authority in recruiting other community
leaders. KPDI aims to be regional coordinator and still continues to publicly
disseminate and consult. This is done with an aim of bringing local community
to a strong and active level towards ownership and sustainability by use of empowerment
approach.
