Elections or no elections, over time, the political class has undone the esteem, the respect and ceremony granted to such national occasions.
Ideally, the political leadership ought to use such occasions to rally the country together; exhorting them to look back through what the country has gone through, acknowledging the successes and the pitfalls therein and preparing them to face the challenges that lie ahead.
And most importantly, to celebrate who we are as a people united in diversity; to care more about the less fortunate in our midst and generally, to accommodate one another. We have seen less and less of that.
Instead, we have witnessed as the base of grandstanding and masterful chicanery take centre-stage while politicians score off each other on a day reserved for self-reflection and self-renewal.
Leaders who disrupt a national day undermine the very notion of nationhood. To them, values like humility and kindness and respect for authority don’t exist. Their defiance speaks of impunity that reigns within the political ranks.
At the national level, the ruling party has used the platform the celebrations offer to chastise the Opposition. Yet that should not be the excuse for the Opposition groups to stay away from what really is a day that cuts across political leanings.
On such a day for example, the politicians should have spent more energy espousing the ideals that we hold dear as a people; unity, perseverance and a deep sense of self-renewal in the face of great adversity, kindness, courtesy and decency.
We ought to have heard more about how to make our society more inclusive and more equal; or the new measures the political class is deploying to beat the scourge of corruption that is denying millions opportunity; or how the politicians plan to address growing unemployment that they all agree is a ticking time bomb, or what they are doing about growing poverty, despondency, tribalism, and the loss of self-respect... the very things our forefathers fought against in the Independence struggle.
Alas, what we heard and witnessed must make them turn in their graves. The actions and inactions of the political class is a real threat to the Republic.
In truth, some Kenyans exist in situations worse off than those our gallant freedom fighters fought to escape; situations that have robbed them of self-pride and dignity that held out at Independence. The absence of that, if nothing else, is a grave indictment of the current political class.
Actually, many feel left behind by an uncaring, self-absorbed ruling elite that is keen to self-preserve. To many people, Government still remains unresponsive and unaccountable.
A national fete like Jamhuri Day could have been the occasion to discount that. Pitifully, that didn’t happen and Kenya is the worse for it.
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