It’s time to move on

What you need to know:

When you stand at the airport waiting to get served and someone is not bothered about you.

The last time I visited Nairobi was after the WestGate Shopping Mall terror attack. This cosmopolitan capital of about three million people was sombre. One year later, Nairobi seems to have regained its strength, it is once more vibrant.

Not only that, the grapevine says there are at least six new malls that are making their way to the arena, standing tall next to the existing ones.
Among these malls, I hear, one will be the largest in the sub-Saharan Africa and is said to include a very famous European hyper market chain.

What is fascinating is every time something goes wrong, it does not take long for Kenya to stand up, dust itself and move on. Even when a grave incident like the burning of the airport happened last year, it was time to start building new terminals, an overdue renovation job at an airport I witnessed unchanged since the 80s.

But the mood of the staff at the airport seemed laid back. As soon as we landed at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, and formed a queue at the visa section. It was time for the immigration staff change of shift. Those leaving did not wait for their colleagues to start their duties. They took their stamps, coats and left under the watchful and anxious eyes of passengers who wanted to pay $50 and enter the country.

Arrival of workers
Later, the arriving officers took their time exchanging pleasantries with their colleagues in the other sections before starting to serve the passengers. Annoying as this felt, I have to admit that itwas a rare happening in the many years I have travelled to Kenya.

As I met friends and discussed the situation after last year’s attack, none seemed concerned, instead they told me about a few developments in Kenya.
One was that, the number of upper middle class Kenyans has significantly increased. This was also obvious in the bigger number of luxury cars driven by Kenyans. And, a chat with a banker would also confirm the huge number of financial transactions done in this city, does not match the number of loans and mortgages acquired by Kenyans. This, they say, is an indication of a lot of cash flow available on the market.

Besides the agricultural exports and the tourism industry, the real estate market seems to be a new source of wealth and prosperity. Numbers are no longer quoted in thousands, rather millions and billions of Kenya shillings in a single transaction.

After a few days of being spoilt by the number of new eateries and entertainment joints, it was time to return to Uganda.

Passing through the super highway and back routes avoiding the jam of the town centre, I also caught a glimpse of how a city full of slums is moving towards modernisation. One can never stop being amazed at Kenya’s growth.
Before leaving, I heard that East African citizens do not pay $50, an overdue development I thought.

So, upon arrival at the departure desk, I asked the immigration officer if this was true, to which the disappointing answer was: no, not yet.

editorial @ug.nationmedia.com