Why this talk about revolution, if only imagined, is dangerous and must stop

By Peter Kimani

Kenya: Folks, Happy St Valentine’s Day! I wanted to relate a memorable encounter from long time ago, before the onset of mobile phones.

Planning was usually meticulous, weeks ahead of the day, and that included securing a confirmation with whoever was going to be your date on that auspicious occasion.

We know anonymity is the hallmark of the day in Western culture, and that one is only supposed to receive hints on who could have been the secret admirer that gifted you with flowers or chocolate.

But since we are Kenyans, we like full declarations. In that memorable year, a secret admirer declared her sudden interest, even though another lass had earlier committed to be by my side.

The only appealing option was to shift base instantly, but since the other lass knew all my favourite haunts, and they were not many, she had no trouble smoking me out in no time.

I still remember the foolish grin I flashed on being discovered because nothing could adequately explain why I wasn’t where I was supposed to be, or the pretty young thing in my company.

But instead of telling that silly story, my mind is preoccupied with something more urgent, and the fear that I am about to be exposed yet again.

This time, we are not dealing with beautiful lasses but some ugly entity called National Security Advisory Committee led by one Francis Kimemia.

Kimemia has been spreading rumours that some elements in our midst are plotting to overthrow the Government. He says his agency is in possession of “credible intelligent documents” that confirm the conspiracy.

I like the word “intelligent” here because from the Westgate debacle, we know our intelligence is nothing but intelligent, so their insistence on the adjective reaffirms its absence.

The masterminds of this revolution, Kimemia says, are Boniface M and one John G.

“Completion of investigations will reveal their full identities,” reads the statement.

I am surprised my name is missing from Kimemia’s list. I had dinner with one Boniface Mwangi this week. Last week, I had lunch with Prof Maina wa Kinyatti, the historian with a bit of experience in clandestine organising.

The good old professor was a key plank in the Mwakenya underground movement, whose activities he documents in a new book, Mwakenya, the Unfinished Revolution, to be launched next Tuesday at the Kenya National Theatre to coincide with the anniversary of Dedan Kimathi’s hanging by British colonialists.

The resurrection of the spirit of freedom that Kimathi represents, and which Kinyatti and Mwangi and his generation appear ready to continue, explains the rabid hysteria that Kimemia is spreading.

I hadn’t considered introducing Kinyatti to Mwangi because what the latter does is out in the open. Toppling governments, after all, is not the business of unarmed civilians demanding accountability of their Government through street protests.

Rev Timothy Njoya was scheduled to give a sermon at the protest. I fully concur with our intelligence men that it’s a dangerous mix when young men draw support from old men.

It means there is continuity in the tradition of struggle that was long established by our forebears during the British occupation.

So this talk about revolution, whether invoked in vain by the Kimemias of this world, or exhorted as a rallying call by those committed to bringing social change for the good of the country, is a dangerous prospect when the word gains acceptance in conversations of every day.