This archive report was first published on 1 December 2019.
As I reflect on the recent exposés on NTV's 'White Alert' and 'Red Alert', I am left wondering what is left to eat in Kenya that is safe.
From the over-pumped meat in supermarkets to the poisonous maize meal, it seems that our food is a ticking time bomb. The mercury in sugar, sukuma wiki planted in raw sewage, and cancer-causing chemicals used to ripen bananas are just a few examples of the dangers lurking in our food.
But it's not just the food that's the problem. The lack of integrity in our society is a cancer that has brought our country to its knees. From the roadside potato sellers who fleece their customers to the hawkers who insert rotten oranges into their piles, dishonesty is rampant.
Even in our daily interactions, we see the effects of this lack of integrity. A parking attendant in my county offered to waive the parking fee, but when I asked her to give me a ticket, she became hostile. It's incidents like these that make me wonder what kind of leaders we are producing.
As the Editor of 'Society' and Magazines at the Daily Nation, I believe that the MP, governor, CS, or CEO stealing from the public coffers started small, just like that parking attendant. It's a slippery slope, and if we don't address the root cause of this lack of integrity, we will continue to suffer the consequences.
