Let’s lift our country from the quicksand of tribalism to solid rock of brotherhood

Kenya is at a tipping point. It is a make or break time. We, as a nation, are ripe for transformation but this is solely dependent on leadership. Just like John C. Maxwell puts it, everything rises and falls on leadership. It’s time for our leaders to stand up and be counted for courageously leading the fight against tribalism, corruption and impunity.

These three evils are slowly eating away at our nationhood and, if we are not careful, very soon we may not have a nation called Kenya.

Fifty-four years ago, our founding fathers and mothers defeated the worst of human indignities in history, colonialism, and brought us “political independence”. The singular purpose after this being to eradicate poverty, ignorance and disease.

But fifty-four years later, Kenyans are still not free. Fifty-four years later, the lives of millions of Kenyans are still sadly crippled by huge inequalities.

Fifty-four years later, the vast majority of Kenyans live on islands of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity.

POVERTY

Fifty-four years later, many Kenyans are still languishing in poverty, both in urban and rural areas. And I dare say that fifty-four years later, our politics is so tribal and opportunistic at the expense of development! Shame! We must re-examine ourselves and choose the higher way. The way of love, and selfless service to all.

The preamble of our Constitution begins with the words, “We the people!” When we promulgated our Constitution, we were signing the promissory note to which every Kenyan was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, women and children would be guaranteed the inalienable rights, privileges, benefits and responsibilities of citizenship.”

We must remind ourselves of the fierce urgency of now. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of marginalisation of some sections of the population and regions, to the sunlit path of equity for all. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksand of tribalism and bad leadership to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of us as God’s children.

NATIONAL UNITY

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. Now is the time to rethink our system and begin to foster national unity.

The level of tribalism and negative use of ethnicity, notwithstanding corruption, is a cancer that, if not nipped in the bud, will eat away at the fabric that holds us together as a people. 

It’s a shame that over 50 per cent of our population lives below the poverty line. This year alone, over 400,000 children are reported to be malnourished. On the other hand, unemployment is rearing its ugly head and, out of every 10 young people you meet, five are probably unemployed. These basics must be addressed with serious urgency. The politics of exclusion and marginalisation must come to an end now. We cannot wait any more. Enough is enough.

GREED

If the political elites are not ready to put aside their greed and exploitation of our diversity, we the people must rise up and show them the way. We must be the actors in charting the destiny of our nation. Kenya is too important to be left to politicians. In fact, the bigger challenge is not the selfish politicians and persons in positions of authority, the greatest threat to our existence and thriving is our ignorance as citizens.

We must seek after knowledge and understanding, find our voices and speak out.

We must reject divisive politics and mediocrity in the running of our county and in the management of our national resources. Surely the Kenyan nation is not bankrupt of good and responsive leadership. We have many a great role models, but we must allow them chance to show us the right way. The Kenyan youth and children are yearning for individuals and leaders of character and integrity to emulate and seek after. We mustn’t fail them.

DEADLY SINS

Mahatma Gandhi’s seven deadly sins - Wealth Without Work; Pleasure Without Conscience; Knowledge Without Character: Business Without Ethics; Science Without Humanity; Religion Without Sacrifice and Politics Without Principle; are so rife in our society today. This is absolutely tragic! We must move with speed to save the soul of our nation. Our values as inscribed in Chapter 6 of our Constitution are at risk of extinction.

The pursuit of dignity, social equity, love and happiness will only be achieved through collective effort of both those who bear the duty and those who hold rights.

This has been done elsewhere and we can do it too! The time is now.

Caren Wakoli is the Founder and Executive Director of Emerging Leaders Foundation. This article is inspired by Martin Luther King’s “I Have a dream” speech