We, Kenyans, are good at complaining. We complain about the current state of affairs, about poor services or even protest about an issue, but hardly do we address our complaints to the right channels.
Rooted from the ancestry of ‘ningependa kuomba serikali’, we cry about our issues to everyone except the ones directly concerned.
I have recently learnt that a complaint addressed to the right channels made on the proper platform is the most efficient way to make a change. I shared the ups and downs of my travels in Kenya last year. Honestly, if was not for my husband being a non-Kenyan and me wanting him to experience the best of what Kenya has to offer, I might have continued suffering in silence, too.
I am not saying we should all turn into Karens, but there might be some underlying point of reference. The name Karen is used negatively to represent obnoxious, angry, entitled, and often racist middle-aged white women. The Karen effect might stem from the overconfidence of white privilege, but it is also rooted in a culture of complaining to the right channels.
While I do not advocate for Karenism, I definitely think there could be a method to be drawn from the madness. In many instances, when a westerner feels wronged by the service industry, they are most likely to ask for the manager and complain to them.
Meanwhile as Kenyans, we would probably suffer in silence, complaining among ourselves or lash out at a powerless employee. We vent our frustration to the wrong channels. We must share our constructive criticism to the proper channels. This includes the administration, management and ownership, if need be.
Twitter has since been the most beloved medium of complaint among Kenyan social media users. While mobilising on Twitter to protest on certain social issues has been effective in some cases, Twitter will not bring about the change we want to see.
A few weeks ago, as I planned another vacation for my husband and myself, I made a note of asking if the resident rates would apply to my husband as I usually do with most hotels. This particular hotel was a boutique resort with limited capacity and catered to the higher-end clientele. Undoubtedly, I expected their service to be gold standard. However, as I was on the phone with the front desk making inquiries, the woman proceeded to laugh impishly at the notion of me having a foreign husband. Having the audacity to ask me if I was “married married, as in marriage-certificate married or…”
Listening to her cackle made me realise this woman was jeering at me for presumably being a foreigner’s chips funga taken on such a luxurious vacation. I literally had to wait for the woman to finish cackling to herself, the whole time seething inside. Never in all my travels have I been asked such a question, not even before we were married. I imagined all the other people who would go through the same rude behaviour, especially those who have foreign partners and decided I will not let it slide.
I emailed the management of the resort directly and expressed my disappointment at such an unprofessional experience. The management sprang into action, emailed me and followed up with a call, apologising profusely for the incident. The manager assured me she questioned the woman involved who said I misunderstood as she had been laughing with someone else on the side. As if!
Last December, I visited my brother in Nairobi and one weekend, we had no power in the block for almost two days. While the neighbours complained to each other on the neighbourhood WhatsApp group, I, the visitor, was following up persistently with Kenya Power. I finally asked to be transferred to the supervisor at the call centre. When the engineers arrived at the site at 1am, they called me instead of the 20-plus tenants that were suffering in silence.
This goes to show that we Kenyans do not complain to make a change, we just complain for the heck of it. So next time when you drive home on a road full of potholes, try seeking out your member of Parliament and address your constituency complaints to him. Instead of yelling at a waiter, find the direct supervisor and explain the incident. Instead of suffering in silence because you do not want to cause a scene, call the manager and speak to him directly.
Look for the person who has some sort of power to make a difference. Even if it does not change your feelings about the place or situation, you have consciously started a chain reaction that will better someone else’s experience in the future.