Read Online A Guide to the Beasts of East Africa by Nicholas Drayson - Free Book Online

I use US dollars?
     – we’re talking millions, tens of millions, maybe even nine figures.’
    The minister sat back in his chair.
    ‘Go on, Mr Khan.’
    ‘Like I say, it’s a pretty big
     wad. It’s going to be big for Nairobi, and what’s good for Nairobi is good
     for Kenya – right? That’s why I’m here. I thought I should start by getting
     the advice of someone high up, someone at thetop. There’s going
     to be money in this for a lot of people. That’s why I came to you.’
    ‘I see. And
     this … er … advice?’
    ‘What I’m looking for is local
     knowledge. People who know how the system works, people who know the people who know the
     right people. For instance, the first thing we’re going to need is a
     site.’
    ‘Site?’
    ‘A building site. Somewhere to build –
     somewhere big, somewhere central.’
    ‘Oh,’ said the minister.
     ‘Well, I happen to know that there will be tenders out soon for redevelopment of
     some of the area around Kibera –’
    ‘Kibera – isn’t that the slums?
     With all respect, Minister, I’m not sure that’s quite the place for a
     five-star retail facility.’
    Brian Kukuya smiled.
    ‘We prefer to call it
     “unofficial housing”, Mr Khan. But I think I can see your point. Something a
     little more central?’
    ‘Right. So what I’m really
     asking is that if you do get any ideas, you give me a call. Like I said, for the good of
     the country.’
    ‘I think I understand you,
     Mr … Harry. Yes, I think I understand you perfectly.’
    It has sometimes been said that Kenya is
     not so much a nation as a collection of tribes. When nineteenth- and twentieth-century
     European invaders decided to carve up Africa, the borders between their agreed spheres
     of influence were not decided by nature or (strange thought) bythe
     people who actually lived there. They were decided by merchants and soldiers and men
     with maps in the faraway capitals of another continent. The border between British East
     Africa and German East Africa was a straight line with a small kink round Mount
     Kilimanjaro. The border between British East Africa and Italian East Africa similarly
     owed more to geometry than geography. The result of this is that even today the Maasai
     of Kenya have more in common with their brother Maasai of Tanzania than they do with
     their fellow Kenyan Kikuyus, and the Cushitic speakers of the north converse more easily
     with their Ethiopian cousins than with their Swahili-speaking coastal compatriots.
    The Hon Brian Kukuya was a Luo man and, if
     you could have delved into his soul, you would find that his loyalties were to his
     family, his tribe and his country – in very much that order. Had you been able to delve
     deeper still, you would have discovered that even above loyalty to family was a great
     love of and concern for the well-being of Brian Kukuya.
    ‘Ah, there you are, Jonah. You have
     shown Mr Khan out? Now, tell me, is there any more news about the
Evening
     News
?’
    ‘Ha ha, news about the news, Minister.
     The Minister is most clever and amusing.’
    Yes, thought Brian Kukuya, he supposed he
     was.
    ‘How is your –
our
– little
     plan going? I suppose there is no chance that the editor will be able to produce this
     certificate of registration?’
    ‘None whatever, Minister. You may be
     sure of that. I have taken care of it. It is already in my personal
     possession.’
    ‘Good, good. That will certainly be a
     thorn removed from the flesh of the government’s side.’
    ‘A most poetic and apposite analogy,
     Minister.’
    Apposite? Poetic? Yes, perhaps it was.
    ‘Well now, I have another little
     matter I would like to discuss with you.’
    By the time Jonah Litumana had left the
     minister’s office, he knew about the minister’s brilliant plan for a new
     megamall in Nairobi and was in no doubt that the building of this edifice would be good
     for the country, the city and the people. It would also be