By Wanyonyi Wambilyang
Last weekend, while attending a cultural festival to inaugurate the chairman of the Batecho clan in Bungoma, I learnt something interesting. To know where you are going you ought to know who you are.
These are the words of a senior Batecho clan member. This philosophical statement has rung in my head since last Saturday and I shudder that as a nation we do not know who we are.
What ties bind us? From where I sit there is no such thing otherwise a politician would not threaten his constituents simply because they hold a different opinion. A politician would not quit a party and insult the structure he built simply because he was not given the bigger potato.
A politician would not shout himself or herself hoarse in a ‘Yes’ rally during the day and fund activities of the ‘No’ camp at midnight if they respected values. If such politicians were in parties or causes because of conviction, ideology and reason then at stake would have been their conscience and not their ego or tummies. But it is not just the politician; when the grenades went off in Uhuru Park our very essence was threatened.
As a people we were exposed to harm, humiliation, and contempt. And what do people, who we think are leaders, say? It was the other camp, this is politics and security agencies must be involved. Simply put as a society we do not know what should be dear to our hearts.
While at the Batecho coronation I read Columnist Barack Muluka’s article on where, possibly, the rain started beating us. He blamed it on today’s intellectuals who would relish burning a university library than interrogate societal issues. This is true but the intellectual today is a product of those of yesteryears who chose to fill their bellies than satisfy their conscience.
The so-called intellectuals became so pre-occupied with making money and undoing structures that toddlers were left to fend for themselves. In the name of seeking political asylum some intellectuals fled the country to perfect capitalism. They are now minting millions of dollars abroad and do not care much about the developments back home. If we had common goals and values as a nation it would have been different.
Leaders of a teacher’s union say they had made a resolve to vote for the Proposed Constitution but if their 60 per cent pay raise is not factored in the budget they would mobilise their members and vote against it. This is dreadful behaviour. Do these folks know what a constitution is? Do they understand its impact on a nation?
They definitely do not and given that they are not so young what happened to the intellectuals?
Our undoing is we never defined who we are as a nation before we embarked on where we want to go. Our society is devoid of morals and values that is why a pastor will go on television to curse children and their unborn offspring in a fit of rage. Isn’t it the duty of this ecclesiastic to preach forgiveness and tolerance? The most logical question is what would Jesus have done had he been in the pastor’s shoes? It would have been the exact opposite. Isn’t it a value less society where a teacher defiles his student repeatedly then expels her from school and when the media are trying to expose the malaise villagers gang up and expel the reporters to protect the randy teacher.
They of course forgot that it was their daughters who the teacher was tormenting and darkening their future prospects. Had these villagers, for a minute questioned their value system they would have reined in the teacher much earlier. While it is not all lost we need, as a nation, to define our identity, to be patriotic because of our values and not what size of bread my people will get, and extol our shared values.
—The writer is Standard’s Chief Sub-Editor Weekend Editions.
