Cry my beloved Country Kenya

This country is bleeding. Everything feels shattered and blank; as a nation, we have lost the plot. You see tens of thousands of graduates with no work and no job prospects in the foreseeable future. Patients are abandoned in the hospitals because of government’s failure to negotiate with nurses and doctors over pay dispute. An attempt to understand what has gone wrong gets us to our brand of politics – petty, silly, irresponsible, irrational and above all gravely ugly.

As a consequence of wretched lives and hopelessness, there is a growing cynicism about politics and politicians. Kenyans are clearly disgusted with our brand of politics where it’s characterized by a frightening addiction to money and power. Kenyans are disgusted with those in charge of the republic who so often boast about money and boisterously use it to hide the inadequacy of their leadership credentials. Kenyans are appalled that their society is being corrupted by a political culture that defines political discourse in terms of one’s ability to do fraud and get away with it, mocking the law enforcement agencies and the judiciary.

The media report that over 4 billion shillings were looted or misappropriated by over 273 current members of parliament rubs the salt into the wound of millions of Kenyans. Kenyans are still seeking answers to what happened with the NYS money. Who can account for millions of shillings lost at the ministry of Health? Who stole 51 million shillings from the accounts of Kilifi County? Kenyans demand answers from all those accountable. It’s a shame though the blame game being played by politicians making the loudest noise by apportioning blame to their opponents.

Who will alleviate the misery of thousands of sick Kenyans seeking medical attention in public hospital? Is someone keeping a track of the countless times nurses and doctors have been on strike? Must innocent Kenyans die due to negligence and as a result of a disjointed political class and a government that is slow to act?

The people of Kerio Valley have never enjoyed peace and tranquillity. They continue to suffer from constant attacks by cattle rustlers who leave a trail of destruction including killing innocent villagers. The best politicians have done is to take advantage of the fragility of this innocent Kenyans and play politics with their security only to disappear until when they hear of another attack.

It is now apparent that the current presidency, parliament, and indeed all politicians have pursued politics of collective irrationality, targeted marginalization, and violent hatred of critics and opponents. The essential feature of this brand of politics is a political discourse which does not reflect the lives and realities of ordinary people. This brand of politics is premised on blaming and portraying victims of state failure and targeted marginalization as the architect of their own downfall; that their poverty and low life is down to their choice of political home.

It has been said that the difference between a politician and a good leader is that a politician thinks about the next election while the good leader thinks about the country and the next generation. Our leadership has lost a sense of responsibility to the nation in pursuant of a narrowly defined goal of political survival. They have become attention-seeking egomaniacs who display absolute cluelessness on realities of the nation in which we ordinary people live. They have virtually stopped governing in preference for crisscrossing the countryside using public coffers to charm the small man into hero-worshipping them. They have abandoned the value of responsibility and duty to those they lead and their obligation to the nation. They have made it known that they are not leaders for all those who live in this country but only those who belong to the governing political party. This has alienated people who are opposed to the governing party’s policies to the extent that they are considered less than the average citizen or even illegitimate persons.

There is a grave danger that Kenyans have become immune to pain. Our sensitivity has become hardened to a point where our leaders have become psychopaths with no empathy whatsoever, while our people derive pleasure from laughing at those who are struggling to make ends meet. In the process, we have lost a sense of value for life and caring for others.

That a considerable number of Kenyans have arrived at the conclusion that their country is trapped in an era of despair is proof of a society that has lost a sense of humanity. When the leadership of a republic finds it morally acceptable to use cash and goodies to woo voters, the end is near. When the leadership of our republic finds it morally acceptable to publicly suffocate development to communities that support or are sympathetic to the opposition, it means our nation is doomed. Our leaders are a dangerous joke, mainly because they are brainless and have surrounded themselves with incompetent, vulgar, discourteous and equally dangerous and greedy advisers who are more clown than distinguished persons. Kenyans cry for your beloved country!