19/05/2024
The other day, I witnessed a rather interesting, or simply put, hot exchange on one of the local media houses' screens.
A government functionary was being taken to task by an aggressive journalist.
The subject matter as I write, is a wildfire in many Kenyan homesteads.
Implementing the proposed bill is a foregone conclusion of the matter as far as the government is concerned. On the other hand, the populace who elected them want to review some of the clauses.
As the exchange heated up, from the blues, bread, yes bread, landed on the menu to take centre stage of the conversation.
At the mention of bread in that heated exchange, I rolled back the years to them college days. Yes, I was glued to the screen but miles away in memory land.
You see, while in college as an upcoming entrepreneur, I dared to dream of organising a culture day for the college. This had never been done before.
I teamed up with two friends who had a great affinity for music and drama and together we lined up items to be showcased.
Culture day was a new item at this college. With my friends, I approached the principal and presented to him our proposal. After nearly a week of waiting, we received the green light to host the event.
The college would only provide the venue. we were to foot all the bills by ourselves.
Next, we embarked on a recruitment drive for participants. We had males and females for various categories to be presented.
There was a catch to this. None of them would show up without appreciation tokens on the table for the participants.
One of the appreciation tokens promised would be bread. We had none. As students, with no source of income at the time, we heavily relied on the little pocket money we had. This was not enough for this kind of event.
As luck would have it, one of my friends on the board introduced a friend who hailed from a family of bakers.
We were introduced to the bakers and all they wanted to know was what benefit the event was to them. We addressed their concerns and received their sponsorship. The little funds we had were utilised on other tokens for the event.
With that, the date was set for the big day. Them college days.
Fast forward to the present, glued to a screen, watching gentlemen discussing matters concerning bread. Some of the issues raised at this forum about bread were quite new to me.
Back then in college, one would buy a piece, apply a layer of avocado pulp and have it for breakfast, lunch, and even supper, with no health-related issues. To this day, the practice continues in most of our homesteads.
Going by this new information from the government functionary, matters raised are bound to raise alarm bells for this delicious and simplest of all meals on the menu.
This being a proposed bill, we don't have to go the tax route. We simply eliminate the offending ingredients and replace them with safer alternatives.
Bread is for the masses, leave it alone.