THE STATE OF US- KENYA!!!

Whoever said that the leadership of any society reflects the moral standing of that society was quite correct. The leadership of any society is just but a sample drawn from the society, such that if a given society has a majority of corrupt members then the same will be reflected on the society's leadership. It was the moral standing of the society during Jesus' time on this world that made the populace to choose Barabbas as opposed to Jesus, condemning a good man to the crucifixion and giving the bad one absolute freedom. In Athens Socrates a moral and social critic, who has been defined as goodness in itself was killed for standing against  the moral ineptitude in that society.
I want to submit to us that the leadership of any society is a fruit of the masses, a good tree can never give bad fruits, as Jesus put it in Matthew 12:33, "Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit". Therefore its either we make the society good and we have a good leadership or we make it bad and we have a bad leadership. How can we, the people elect good leaders when we are evil. 
The Merriam Webster dictionary defines corruption as an impairment of integrity, virtue, or moral principle, and this is a very accurate description of our society as it is. When we claim that we want leaders with integrity, virtue and of sound moral principles, and then go ahead to practice the opposite of this, where do we expect these leaders to come from? When we bribe to get a job, don't we also expect the leaders to bribe to get a bigger position, when we compromise the people under us by

inducement to wrong by improper or unlawful means (as bribery), do we expect our leaders to be different. When we compromise the standard operating procedures (SOPs) at our work place, do we expect our leaders to be any different and respect the constitutional provisions stipulating what they should do. When we accept kickbacks for us to do that which is our responsibility and actually our job description, do we expect the leaders to be any better and extend governmental and public services to us without demanding bribes from us?

It is sad how we bribe our way to bigger jobs, how we bribe to get our children to better schools, how we bribe to get elected in our saccos, and other groups where we have subscribed membership and yet expect our leaders in the political arena to be any different!!!! It is sad that most of them have been doing what we are doing, failing to pay their bus fare if the conductor forgets to ask it from them, celebrating when the cashier mistakenly refunds more than he should, and very quickly pocketing someone's wallet if it falls on the way by mistake. Once this part of our population ascends to leadership they practice all this at a larger scale!
My friends if we want good leadership, we must practice that which we expect from them. It is hypocritical for us to expect from our leaders what we cannot give. The principle of preaching water and taking the same does not only apply to the leadership but also to us the so called commoners. The principle of doing unto others what you would that they do unto us should apply to all and sundry. The quagmire that our leaders often find themselves in is being expected to do that which they have never done in their lives. In a society where money is everything, where we have glorified material possession and the "respect and honor" that comes with the same, a society where as long as you have money, regardless of how you've acquired it, that alone grants you a right to leadership... with or without moral uprightness.
When it comes to ethnicity, we cry and condemn our leaders for their ethnic jingoism forgetting that we are as well deeply rooted in the same, when we recruit people to jobs based on their ethnic groups, when the first thing that comes to your mind once you meet a stranger is, where does s/he come from... in an effort to label them ethnically! Surely my good friends, our society shall remain in this pathetic state as long as we don't rise above these parochial and sectarian mentalities and perspectives. 
It has always been said that every society deserves the leadership they have, yes a society reeking in moral decadence gets a leadership of the same kind and it deserves the same, a morally upright society gets a good leadership responsive to their issues, and yes that is what that society deserves..... so what is the way forward, we need to change at the personal level, and to borrow the words of Mahatma Gandhi, "Be the change you want to see in the world" This, my brothers and sisters, is what will get us untangled from this quagmire we unfortunately find ourselves in!!!

US AGAINST THEM!

It is quite disheartening to see the direction that the politics of this great country of ours- Kenya- is taking. We are still stuck in our ethnic jingoism, ethnic cocoons, I am hesitant to use the word tribe because of it's negative connotations-tribe often implies primitive savagery-. I have been thinking a lot of late, and I cannot come to terms with the fact that we as a people can take up arms and attack one another on the basis of ethnicity. We have come to the level of "othering" others, creating an us from them. As long as someone is not from our ethnic group we automatically label him/her as an enemy, we see him as not one of us. What is it in us that is not in them. What is it that makes us think that our ethnic group is superior than any other and hence entitled to some privileges not entitled to any other. Have we ever paused and asked ourselves, who we are. Do we first belong to an ethnic group, then to humanity or is it vise versa. Why is it that as human beings we like to concentrate so much on our points of divergence rather than our points of convergence, we elevate our differences far much above our commonalities. It is so saddening to realize that any time we meet someone we want to know where they come from, not because that is what we are interested in but because we want to label them. Why should you insist on asking my second name if I tell you that I'm Frank? Simply because you want to label me and treat me as such. Does it have to be like that really? I beg to differ.
I want to submit to us that we can rise above these parochial perspectives and mentalities. We can choose our leaders on the basis of their ability to offer this great country the kind of leadership that will propel us to greater heights.  Our prosperity as a country is not anchored on one of our own- as we usually call those who belong to our ethnic groups- becoming the president. It does not make any sense to support anyone on the basis of their ethnic belonging. As we approach the march 4th elections, is it the policies that these leaders espouse or is it their ethnic belonging we will consider as we vote. I usually ask my friends, if today it came to your realization that you don't actually belong to the ethnic group you've always thought you belonged to, that you were mistakenly exchanged in the hospital where you were born, would this change your political persuasions? If it occurred to you that the tribe you so much hate is actually your ethnic group, Would you still hate that ethnic group or would you now change and start hating the one you thought you belonged to? 
Let us be objective as a country and not subjective, great nations have never been build by focusing on their differences but rather by concentrating on their strengths and diversities. Great nations have been build by exchanging ideas, by focusing on what benefits the country as a whole and not what benefits one group or an individual. 
Fifty years is not a short time for us to still be wallowing in poverty, we are still fighting what our fathers were fighting against, corruption, disease, poverty and ignorance, and at this rate our children and probably grand children will still be fighting the same. Fifty years down the line we should not be associated with phrases like, such and such tribe should never lead this country or we want to teach them a lesson. I really wish the intensity of effort and passion we employ in fighting one another could be redirected in positive projects that build the economy of this country. 
I want to remind us that the so called one of our own becoming a president does not guarantee prosperity of each and every individual in that ethnic group, Moi was a president for twenty four good years, yet there are people still living in grass thatched mud house in rift valley, Kenyatta was a president for fifteen years and Kibaki ten years, yet poverty levels in parts of central Kenya are alarming, in nyeri, Kibaki's backyard there are people infested by jiggers that are associated with poverty. We have perpetually elected people who were self interested in the name of one of our own. Not only at the national level but also at all other levels of leadership, how else would you explain our frustration with our parliamentarians. In 2002 we said that half of them would not get back, and for sure they didn't, unfortunately we were using the same phrase in 2007, and yet as if we never learn we are using the same phrase today, in 2013. 
It is time now, we elected our leaders on the basis of what they have done or can do given an opportunity. It is time we reviewed the qualifications we consider in choosing our leaders, because the ethnic card has failed us and miserably so. It is time we developed a mind like that of a child who loves or hates someone because of who they are and not from which ethnic group they belong to. It is time we discard our ethnic jingoism and develop a nationalistic mentality and patriotism. It is time we ask our leaders what their agenda for Kenya is and not which ethnic group they belong to. 
It makes me shed a tear when I see coalitions being crafted on ethnic basis, asking a leader what they will be bringing on the table in terms of numbers from his/her ethnic group, and not on the basis of the vision these leaders share about this country. It is time as the electorate we realized that we've been misused by our leaders for their personal gain and they have pitted us against one another for their own interests and not ours. It is time we wake up to the fact that we only have two distinct groups in this country, the poor and the rich, a majority poor who are poor because the rich have exploited and robbed from them and a minority rich most of who are rich because they have stolen from the public coffers and these are the ones who misuse the poor by dishing to them hand outs which blinds their eyes and you find these poor fellows praising them when they should be singing a national elegy.
Lastly I want to remind us that the concept of negative ethnicity was cemented to us by the colonialists, who employed the same to divide us, so that we may not unite and fight our common enemy- the colonialist. Keeping us busy battling one another at our own peril but as my friend Jeremiah Maina puts it now the trumpet summons us again, not to battle against one another but to take up our voting cards and to chart a new leadership for our beloved Kenya. It is yet time to wage a battle against our collective enemy: injustice, poverty, disease, illiteracy, tribalism among others. Forget the hogwash that is" our interests"," our community" and so on.
We are all sons and daughters of Kenya our motherland. Let us be sober and make wise decisions that we benefit not only us but generations to come.Surely our children should not be allowed to fight the same battles we do.
Stand up and be counted for a better Kenya.I AM FOR A SAFE AND PEACEFUL ELECTIONS.