Thread by @MutemiWaKiama

Good afternoon class!

Our topic today is "COMPREHENSION". I will read you a story and we will discuss it after... (30 Marks)

A #PoliticalEducationKE thread by Kipruto Kertiony

Once upon a time in Kenya, a child was born to Mr and Mrs Mwananchi, whom they named Wanjiku...

Wanjiku was delivered at the District hospital through what the doctors called 'caesarian section'. Mrs Mwananchi was discharged after two weeks.

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His friends were surprised that Mr Mwananchi, a very thrifty man, was very happy despite spending money on buying shawls and other clothing for the baby, and hiring a taxi to take them all of 30 kms to their family seat. But those were his only expenses.

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Occasionally, Wanjiku would be taken ill. Mr and Mrs Mwananchi would take her to the District hospital. There she was registered, treated and given drugs at the pharmacy.

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One time when she got scalded, she was admitted in the paediatric ward for a week. She had a bed all her own, as did the other patients. She healed well, and Mr Mwananchi was a happy man as he withdrew money for taxi fare. It was his only expense.

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At 6, Wanjiku was enrolled at the local primary school. Mr Mwananchi was all smiles as he took her to the outfitters for her uniform. He also bought her a nice pair of shoes. In the evenings, she would show him her books, pencils, eraser and ruler.

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She was kept in good supply of those through the Kenya School Equipment Scheme. Mr Mwananchi smiled as he presented her with a sharpener. It was his only expense.

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Wanjiku excelled in her KCPE & was called to a top public school in another province. The journey was long, the fares stiff, but Mr Mwananchi did not even frown. He thought it good for his daughter to get to see the rest of the country, & this was a step.

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The school required him to buy her soap, toothbrush and toothpaste, plus underthings. For the first time, a shadow passed through Mr Mwananchi's face - he was counting out the money he was required to pay to the school bursar.

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But it quickly passed, as he remembered it would cater for everything else Wanjiku would need, including uniform, beddings, food and medicals.

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At the end of her Secondary & High School Wanjiku proceeded to the @UoNbi . Mr Mwananchi was all smiles. The admission letter had not a single mention of any payments he would need to make; it even relieved him of the necessity to give her pocket money!

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She would be paid the sum of Kshs 5000 (the equivalent of perhaps 30,000 in today's money) every semester, and she would never be required to pay it back. The university would accommodate and cater for her, and take care of medical exigencies as well.

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Now Wanjiku is employed. She has been for many years. She has children of her own. And when she visits her parents, Mr Mwananchi wears a woebegone face as she tells him of the money she has to spend to bring up his grandchildren.

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Of the changes that have taken place. 'Public' is no longer what it was. A new word has crept in - 'Free' - to describe the rare occasion some service might be rendered by the government without an apparent fee.

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And 'Public' is no longer synonymous with efficient service, but nonexistent service. So that Wanjiku only uses 'Private' facilities. But she pays more in taxes than Mr Mwananchi paid in his employed years.

"We have grown backwards," Mr Mwananchi laments.

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