This week, I had a horrifying dream. The setting was on a flower farm. After listening to the General Manager’s book of lamentations, a friend suddenly appeared and began to strangle me. I cried out, but no sound came out. Each time I struggled, he tightened his grip, making it hard to breathe and risking serious injury or death until I woke up.
This frightening assault inflicted both physical and emotional pain. I sprang up in shock, startling my partner. Why me? Please don’t kill me, why does it always have to be me?
Right away, I felt that something was off in the flower sector. For 26 years, I’ve mourned its devastation. Once again, I felt called to be the weeping prophet of doom, reflecting the emotional burden of the sector’s right to exist.
A friend then called and informed me that despite the burdensome levies and regulations from KEPHIS, HCD, PCPB, county governments, WARMA, NEMA, and KRA , the government was at it again. This time it has introduced a 2% Standards Levy through KEBS and a 55% excise duty on Kraftliners and Kraft paper for cartons.
The Kebs levy is based on gross sales, not profit, which is harsh and terrifying. Exporters already operate on thin margins and face unpredictable global conditions, including fluctuating freight costs, currency changes, weather risks, and strict compliance requirements. If this isn’t strangulation, what is?
But one question remained: who was this friend strangling us? I realized it was Mr. Chris Kiptoo, the former PS of trade, now at the treasury, the man we praised endlessly.
For this, I must paraphrase Okot P’Bitek’s Song of Lawino for our brother Chris:
Listen, my clansmen, I weep for my husband Chris, who has lost his way in the forest of Treasury.
When Chris was pursuing me, his eyes were bright and his vision clear; he had not yet lost his way.
Lawino reminisces about a time when she and Ocol would sleep close together, touching each other, and she would play her bow-harp, singing praises to him.
So, do we Brother Chris!