As the curtain falls on the 54th edition of the Kenya Schools and Colleges Drama Festival in Mombasa one cannot help but reflect on the rich milieu of art and how the young artistes beaming with energy and unlimited creativity expressly raised many societal issues including, tribalism, alcoholism, drug abuse, terrorism, equality, equity, gender concerns, fair resource allocation, devolution, the fast approaching Millennium Development Goal deadlines, corporal punishment and infidelity just to mention but a few.
What was of particular delight was to see the face of the future of this nation call things just the way they are without regard to bias, tribe, religion or any other social affiliations.
Theirs was separating grain from chaff, distinguishing good from the bad and suggesting a mutually respectful way forward. Amazingly children as young as four years from ECDs shared the same stage with their university counterparts bonded by the same theme ‘Performance for National Healing and Reconciliation’.
The next big thing
While this was going on our political class was busy bickering on issues of the belly, ever trying to push the youth and women agenda in their manifesto even if only to win young voters’ support.
Instead of the paperwork and many research reports gathering dust on government shelves, policy makers should have just made time to commune with this festival that saw nearly 10,000 young artists perform.
To give him credit President Uhuru Kenyatta hosted the winners at a State House concert in Mombasa and even giving standing ovation to one of the youngsters Daniel Ouma of Highway Secondary School after he presented the narrative Otonglo Time.
In his address beamed live on national TV President Kenyatta promised to construct an ultra-modern National Theatre and a national Film School as a way of absorbing and further tapping the innate talent.
It is also encouraging that the President on whose election platform youth was central, revealed that his government was keen on turning the festival into the next big thing after the Big Five wildlife attraction. This is significant as World Intellectual Property Organisation statistics show Kenya’s creative industries contribute to over 5 per cent of its GDP.
As we welcome these brave announcements from the President, it is also prudent to be cautious with early celebrations especially because the pronouncements lacked a timeline.
It is also not lost on the casual observer that the National Talent Academy established a few years ago has had little impact, if any, with regard to millions of shillings poured in there from government and Unicef.
Any monies set aside for art projects must be guarded jealously to the last coin because art may just be the panacea to our dangerous unemployment question currently approaching the 50 per cent mark.
