We are hurtling into the abyss

One day, the hyena was walking down the road. There were two feasts and he wanted to arrive early, before everyone else, and eat as much food as he could lay his paws on, certainly more than everyone else. So he hurried along, his greedy black hole of a stomach rumbling. 

Not long after, he came to a fork on the road. One road, to the left, led to one feast and the other, to the right, led to the other feast. He stood, transfixed. If he went to the left, he would attend the feast which was being held in that direction. But that meant he would not arrive early for the one in the other direction, which was out of the question. 

If, on the other hand, he went to the right, he would arrive early for the feast being held in that direction. But it meant he would not be early for the feast being held on the left, which was totally unacceptable. He had to arrive early at both feasts and eat more than any other guest, preferably even eat all the food at both feasts and laugh at the other, hungry guests.

He thought and thought and thought. Finally, he decided he was going do what he had wanted to do all along — which was to attend both feasts first. So he put two legs one way and two legs the other way, attempting to go in opposing directions at the same time. He stretched and stretched until he split in two and died.

Ultimately end in harm

The universe — or Creator — grants man free will and agency in this world. We have the capacity to decide for ourselves and to act in what we think is to our best interest. But sometimes, out of foolishness, greed, selfishness or some other frailty, we act in ways that are self-destructive, which will ultimately end in harm.

The trouble with Kenya is that it’s like the hyena. It has all the faculties to achieve its own prosperity, greatness and prestige, but it’s held back and threatened by the weaknesses of its people and their leaders.

We have become a nation of no values, driven largely by primitive acquisitiveness and incapable of even the simplest of virtues such as kindness, patriotism (we talk patriotism, we don’t do patriotism) and gratitude. Our behaviour is erratic — that is why an MP will talk one thing and vote another — and lacks the predictability on which stable relations are constructed.

Can you imagine what would happen in an institution if you staffed it with the wrong people? Take a school. Put a butcher as the headteacher, a plumber as the bursar, a barmaid as the matron and a sub-literate street preacher as the maths teacher. A farmer to teach physics, a policeman for chemistry and a miner for religion. The school, to say least, would collapse. Take this bad deployment and multiply it many times over and you begin to get an idea of what a mess the country is.

We rarely elect a president by properly assessing how demonstrably good they are at leading; we elect political formations, tribes, a capacity to steal (since we love wealthy politicians but don’t question where their money came from), waves and names. We’re quite happy to give the job to a person without a CV, a person who has done nothing of value in 15 years, a person with a history of theft, or rebellion, or lying, or laziness, or substance abuse; in other words, people who manifest the kind of vices we teach our children to avoid. 

Create a captive state

And in some parastatals and other key jobs, we pile important responsibilities on people who are not the best at what they claim to do. 

How, then, can the country be at its best?

As a result, we now have a republic without effect: A country that does not always punish deviance, reward achievement, protect its people, heal its sick, dispense justice, effectively teach its youth, distribute wealth equitably, enforce fairness, defend its interests or make just laws. We’re working really hard to create a bandit republic.

Our politics is driven by corruption and foreign interests. Tender barons finance our elections and mastermind the plots to rig them. In return, they are allowed to create a captive state: They get the carte blanche to rob the country dry by dreaming up, designing and implementing mega projects, which are of arguable utility or urgency and to supply crap-quality goods at prices that bring tears to your eyes.

As a result of mediocrity, poor or no reward for achievement, we’re slowly creating a desert of innovative revolutionary thinking. The thinkers we have are slowly becoming old and jaded, spending most of their time not on scholarship but living well, showing off and kissing politician’s boots. In any case, since good ideas don’t get you anywhere, there is no incentive to think. So we have a talking — not thinking — republic.

If we don’t gather ourselves, take a deep breath and do what is right, we will soon be a country with a bright future behind it, the most backward, conflict-riddled basket case in the region. Mark my words.

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