Once in every quadruple of years the Kenyan compact majority comes
together for a time honored ritual; electioneering. Since the advent of
multiparty politics elections have become the biggest glaring manifestation of
the hubris nature of Kenyan society. It’s a badly kept secret that election in
Kenya is another way of gauging tribal affiliation and or an informal census on
the power of the tribe. This begs the question that was once articulated by the
‘professor of politics’, what does the common ‘mwananchi’ in the bowels of the
republic stand to gain once they elect a tribal baron into power?
Time and again we the
beguilable fools that you and i are fall for the same carrot trick, once one of
us is in power we will gain. Unfortunately 21 years after the wind of
multiparty politics blew across the frontier of the nation this hallowed dream
has yet to come. We decry the poor, selfish, lackluster and arrogant way that the ‘leaders’ that we elect
go about governing the nation, but still
few years down the line we don’t flinch when we give them the mandate to
continue perpetuating their tyrannical nature.
The truth is that we the youth of today hold the fate of our nation in
the crook of our palms. The birth of a better Kenya will only be actualized
when we turn our backs on tribalism. The whitened sepulcher that is our local
politics must be abandoned. The cycle of ignorant and don’t care leadership
must be forgotten and forsaken. We must sit down and have a talk as a youth and
ask ourselves, if consistently and without fail tribal politics have hit a
brick wall what next
Objectivity, idealism
and foresight should be the banners that we now ought to fly. The time for wait
and see is over, now it’s the time to act. The way to act is by a change of
mind and heart. We have to start judging people on their meritocracy. The value
of a person should be measured by the weight of his ideas, the punch of his
dreams and the pull of his vision. This is not an easy path, but the
reformation of our laws by the enactment of a new constitutional order, is the
torchlight that will blaze our way through the darkness of tribalism and
ignorance. We can either change or sit on our laurels and await change to
change us. The latter is foreboding as Egypt and Somalia may attest forced change
may destroy more than it builds.
Elections may be far
from our sight but the door for options and choices lies open. At the county
level may we start changing our mindset on how we view the local authorities
carrying out their duties? Let’s not allow a whiff of insolence and meritocracy
camouflaged as ‘our time to eat’ mantra throws us off the course. Let’s call
leaders to account on the basis of their performance and not on the prima facie
political or tribal outlook.
The longer we hold off
substantive change on our mindset, the more we cement the out modeled and outdated
backward looking ideals. A prosperous and better future for all of us lies
within our grasp, so let’s not put our heads in the sand like the proverbial ostrich
and hope that our shortcomings will be swept under a carpet by an unknown
benefactor. No, let’s arise and smell the coffee for the time is ripe to roll
back the colossal stupidity of the ruling tribal oligarchs and hand it over to
the responsible and developmental conscious members of the nation.
Tribe is only a badge
of honor to letting the positive ideals and achievements of our predecessors
propel us into a better future. Responsive and responsible leadership is the
substratum of development that lies just around the corner. All it takes, all
it needs and all we deserve to do for the future generation is simply a change
of mind. That’s the small push that we require to scale out of the mire that we
find ourselves in today; and for once let calm heads roll the dice for the future,
it is not a trivial thing to let the few swinging pendulums of society
oscillate us between abject hope and endless frustration.
By Dennis Nkarichia
University of Nairobi
By Dennis Nkarichia
University of Nairobi
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