58 years later, it’s not yet Uhuru
Kenyans attend Jamhuri Day celebrations at Uhuru Gardens in Nairobi on December 12, 2021.
What you need to know:
- The independence we claim today, resulted from an undivided struggle by our independent heroes and heroines.
- They fought to break free from the colonial fetters that made life unbearable and created a bright future that generations to come would appreciate.
A week ago, Kenyans commemorated 57 years since Kenya became a republic, and 58 years since gaining independence and majoritarian self-rule, and reasserting its agency to determine its democratic fate.
As a matter of observation, there was nothing remarkable connecting us to the spirits of our forefathers, whose fight with the colonial masters led up to the republic we know today. The independence we claim today, arguably flag independence, resulted from an undivided struggle by our independent heroes and heroines, with an immeasurable and unquantifiable sweat and precious blood as the currency.
Attaining self-rule was to our forefathers, reclaiming the central place of the natives in their social, cultural, political, and economic spheres and shifting places from the periphery to where the forcible occupation of our soil had pushed them. They fought to break free from the colonial fetters that made life unbearable and created a bright future that generations to come would appreciate.
Economic disenfranchisement
However, almost six decades later, we can witness and bear testimony to the evident disillusionment, political and economic disenfranchisement of Kenyans, and the subservience that have replaced the imagined successes with pitiable despair.
While we no longer have a white man for a master, very little has changed for the better in 58 years. Many Kenyans are trapped into modern economic slavery, perpetuated by runaway corruption enabled by the ruling class.
The nation is on an unjustifiable debt treadmill. The patriotic duty has shifted from building the nation to paying national debts. This explains the depressed mood and general lack of optimism during this year’s Jamhuri Day celebrations.
Kenyans are enveloped in a mess that is not of their own doing but largely the consequences of their elected leaders.
Time has come for the uncomfortable but urgent national conversation regarding the welfare of Kenyans. Kenyans deserve leadership that will consider getting them off the hook of economic jail moving forward.
The writer is a risk and insurance consultant at Half-moon Africa Holdings, and a member of the Association of Kenya Professional Insurance Agents
