You cannot always control the factors that affect business

Eldoret residents donate blood for victims of the Westgate Shopping Mall terrorist attack. Photo/Jared Nyataya 

By DR FRANK NJENGA

Q: I am a middle-level manager in a creative arts and marketing firm. I have made an observation over the years whereby business enquiries and work orders tend to peak at certain times of the year when we hire temporary staff to help clear backlog.

My assistant suspects that the temporary workers bring fresh creativity that our established staff lack hence the erratic cycle of business orders that come our way. My permanent staffers are equally good but what could be the problem? Should I fire them?”

A: On Monday September 23 at 6.45am, I was stuck in a traffic jam at the Westlands roundabout. Matatus were hooting and rushing about, overtaking on the wrong side and large numbers of people were crossing the road, all seeming busy and serious in their daily activities.

Earlier, I had seen many primary school children on Lower Kabete Road, some running towards their schools and others waiting for their school bus.

In the meantime, the BBC was reporting from a hotel rooftop that heavy shooting was going on at the Westgate Shopping Mall. Explosions could be heard as we passed near the mall, as media crews beamed news of the siege live to the whole world.

There was no sense of panic, and Kenyans seemed determined to get on with their lives. The Kenya Defence Forces were doing their work, school children were on their way to school and matatus were doing what they do best — get the nation moving.

In the traffic, I felt proud to be a Kenyan. I feel part of a strong, resilient, courageous, creative and united nation.

I reflected on the intentions of the terrorists holed up in the mall and came to the conclusion that like us, they were on duty. What a horrific thought! The terrorists earn a living by doing what they came to do in Nairobi.

Their primary purpose is to disrupt the lives of people. This they do by producing fear and uncertainty and creating chaos. They also crave attention from the world and the reasons they prolong their actions is precisely because the world is watching.

They also plan the attacks to embarrass governments and create the impression of lack of control. Theirs is a mission to destroy those things we Kenyans hold most dear — freedom, democracy, justice and the rule of law.

It is not lost on us that the other intention is to discourage foreign investments in the country, and in particular as in the case of Kenya, tourism.

The choice of the Mall in Nairobi is deliberate and is intended to destroy the normal economic and social activities of Kenyans and the foreigners we host.

In their calculations and in determining the target of their attack, the terrorist plan to maximise on the disruption of the establishment and to cause as much chaos as they can.

Normal lives

With these thoughts, it became clear to me what Kenyans must do. We must all get back to our normal lives as quickly as possible, because not doing so would be victory for them. We shall defeat them by being “normal”.