State spends millions as real heroes’ kin live in penury

The Mashujaa Day celebrations were, without a doubt, swathed in functional hypocrisy. Don’t be fooled by the mind-whirring beautiful words President Uhuru Kenyatta (or his speechwriter) used to describe anti-colonialism heroes.  

The repetition of the flowery rhetoric year in, year out might have dulled our sense of outrage at the manifest ridiculousness of these celebrations.

But shame on us if we remain untroubled by the heart wrenching tales of freedom fighters’ kin. 

Field Marshal Dedan Kīmathi Wachiūri’s widow, Mukami Kimathi, cut a miserable figure in her wheelchair when she was featured on a local TV channel on Mashujaa Day.

She pleaded for the same things she always has: a decent burial for her husband, who’s believed to be buried at Kamiti Maximum Prison, and land for freedom fighters.

Miriam Muthoni Mathenge, the widow of Mau Mau war veteran General Mathenge Mirugi, lives a pauper’s life in Nyeri County.

She recently summed up her life’s experience in an interview with the Daily Nation as a betrayal. Apart from the land awarded to her by President Jomo Kenyatta, she has no access road to her home and no piped water.

The pomp and colour at the Mashujaa Day celebrations must have felt like a slap on her face.

Spending millions 

If the Mau Mau heroes rose from the dead, they would be astounded by the obscure logic of spending millions celebrating them while some of their kin are crying for only a fraction of that amount to survive. 

Sauti Sol might have had this premonition when they crooned: Barua toka Jaramogi na Kenyatta/ Wanauliza kama Kenya kuko sawa/ Nikawajibu Kenya tuko na disaster (A letter came from Jaramogi and Kenyatta/ they asked if Kenya was okay/ I told them there’s a disaster here) in their song Tujiangalie.

To be fair, the standards of the heroes recognised on Mashujaa Day were anything but disastrous this time round. President Kenyatta rightly feted Mau Mau freedom fighters, healthcare workers and young innovators, among others.

Now that it’s clear that Mau Mau heroes’ kin are not going to benefit from anything more than a mention, perhaps we should train our focus on the other heroes mentioned on Mashujaa Day.

The best way to honour the memory of the healthcare workers who lost their lives in the Covid-19 war-front would be to fix the problems that made them vulnerable in the first place.

Healthcare workers have been shouting themselves hoarse, begging the government to address systemic issues for years. 

The President also urged young people to “get off the wayside of pessimism and get into the arena”. What he did not mention was that the arena is hot, crowded and teeming with corruption and impunity.

This is the cue young innovators need to know that there’s no light at the end of the tunnel.

@FaithOneya; [email protected]