Wednesday, March 19, 2008

The Threads of My Essence: Full Circle

It has been a while since I last wrote here. In fact, it’s a first this year. And time has flown. My life has taken a cruel beating since the chaotic elections in Kenya altered my perception on things and destabilised my senses. And even more disturbingly, it led to the deaths of thousands and left hundred of thousands homeless. Simply put, Kenyan burnt and as it did, I lived a full life, of pain and sadness but also of love and faith. In order to understand the correlation between this event, my life and that of many others, a bit of background is essential.

I was only 14 years old when the Rwandan genocide occurred. That dark period saw the slaughter of up to one million Tutsis and moderate Hutus, as the world stood aside and watched. I only understood later that my new found Rwandese friends were refugees and that the reason Uganda’s economy performed so poorly was due to the barbarism that Idi Amin unleashed on his own people. Fortunately, ten years later, I was at the University of London, well equipped as a lawyer to investigate the international community’s ambivalent attitude towards Africa.

And I do remember the particular day that the UN Secretary General stood at the Memorial Conference on the Rwanda Genocide in 2004 to mark the 10th anniversary of the 1994 genocide and express his deep sense of remorse on behalf of the world. And I remember it so well because as the Kofi Annan gripped his audience with his well know eloquence, a somewhat similar catastrophe was underway in Darfur region in the Sudan. And it was then that my mind was made up to write an essay on the Darfur for my LLM. Not only did my paper score a distinction, it has literally shaped my life.

But who would have thought that images of Kenyans hurling machetes at each other would be screened across the globe, and with such intensity? And how would I approach such an analysis given the combination of my own innocence, naivety, education and pride of being a Kenyan? What I learnt with regard to Kenya and the face of utter horror within the last few months has transformed me into a maturity of contradiction. Now with a clear mind, I can look back and reflect on the lessons learnt and uncover the blur that prevented me from updating my blog. There are many stories to be told, and so I share mine, before convicting Kenyans of complicity, if not active participation in turning the island of peace to utter hell.

I am one of the people who went back to Kenya to vote. And you can imagine how excited I was having missed the huge celebration of 2002. For me, December 2007 was going to be the first time to vote as I was too young in 1997. I couldn’t wait!! Armed with the voting card, I queued with Kenyans. We joked and laughed as well as helped old women to vote, indeed a show of Kenyan spirit. That was the last positive thing I thought of Kenya. And up to this day, I have been unable, even having tried, to say anything positive about Kenya. I can talk of the beauty of Maasai Mara and the Great Rift Valley, but that is not Kenyan, it is God's work of art.

For a start, the majority of Kenyans rarely consider education, health and sustainable development as a platform from which to vote for their future. I will not lecture on the importance of these concepts given that we, especially those in the Diaspora, know they shaped the developed world. Instead, Kenyans largely vote on ethnic grounds. The educated lot are generally the most hypocritical of them all. They will talk about the economy, employment and then rally behind their tribal leader as having the best vision for the country. Our fallen heroes and all others that fought for our freedom must turn in their graves.Kenyans let themselves down at all levels. The country's new found resolve must go beyond mere power sharing agreements.

Until then, for me, and with all due respect, the fact that neighbours turned on each other on account of their ethnicity, neutralises any past glory. Kenya needs an overhaul of the education system, one that buries the primitive hatred on account of ethnicity. The country also needs strong anti-tribal laws and a new culture based on diversity as a national heritage. Most of all, the nation need leaders that will deliver the Kenyan promise and complete the liberation of Kenyans that commenced time immemorial. In the end the citizens will be governed but such rule can only based on their own aspirations, hopes and dreams. God Bless Africa.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

You nailed it squarely when you wrote and I quote "The educated lot are generally the most hypocritical of them all". One question I ask Kenyans is how their preferred leader has improved their personal lives or that of other Kenyans most have no answer to that. By improve I mean through parliamentary debates that help create better laws that will create an enabling environment for job creation. It is time that we stop looking at MPs for support in projects and cash handouts.
My take is that the educated should be at the forefront of making sure our leaders are held accountable for their actions while in public office. We should analyze what our leaders are doing for us and educate the populace so that they can make informed decisions.
I was in Kenya after the elections fiasco and I could not believe how fractured our once great society was. Even the younger Kenyans could not hide the prejudices that seem to have been drilled into their minds. What a shame. I'm a believer that the crisis will make Kenya stronger because the violence has shamed most of us. The struggle continues for a better Kenya. I long for a Kenya where a Luo could become MP of Othaya or a Kamba could become MP of Shinyalu strictly based on what they can do for the people. I hope that is not too far fetched a dream.

1:07 PM  

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