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.
