What the no-show at Jamhuri fete says about ourselves

President Uhuru Kenyatta addresses during the 54th Jamhuri Day celebration at Kasarani Stadium on 12/12/2017 [Boniface Okendo,Standard]

This week’s mashujaa day celebration was marked by very low turnout. It is like people have lost interest in attending gatherings organised for such events. This is contrary to political rallies were people are actually paid to attend. Lets compare our mode of celebrating our fallen heroes to what happens in other countries.

On November 11 every year, many countries around the world remember those who died in World War I. In the United Kingdom, celebrations are organised to mark the anniversary of the start of the first world war.

Britain alone lost more than two million people in the war that some claim took  over 37 million lives. By coincidence, I happened to be in London when the people of England assembled in various cities.

The highlight of the remembrance was at the Tower of London, where millions of maroon poppies were laid and could be seen clearly from the Tower Bridge, but it was something else that attracted my attention; the silent manner in which the celebration was conducted made me think about our own national celebrations. National holidays in Kenya are very costly.

In addition, we have introduced too many holidays that keep people away from their jobs. We probably lose billions of shillings simply because businesses are shut down. Our national days lack innovation and as a result, the celebrations are routine and boring.We seem to have got stuck in the past.

Modern ways

Times have changed. Contrary to the days of one-party rule, chiefs can no longer force people to listen to the Presidential speech.

In contemporary Kenya, the Constitution has empowered mwananchi so much that they understand their rights.The purpose of remembrance celebrations is to help citizens realise the importance of honouring those who died so we could live in peace and freedom today.

Those supposed to be at the centre of attention are the war veterans who are still alive and among us.Unfortunately, our celebrations have lost focus. Instead, leaders dwell on general policy matters and sometimes, such gatherings turn into a place of political contest.

It is time celebration committees’ started finding innovative ways of making celebrations more relevant for the present times. The current format of congregating at the municipal or sports stadium does not belong in the current world.

During colonial days, such gatherings were necessary because it was the only avenue available to pass a messages to the general population on where to pay poll taxes, how to inoculate their children and so forth.

Modern times demand that we make better use of these national holidays so that instead of leaders spending a whole day at the sports stadium, such a day could be spent visiting the sick, the aged and orphans.

Options

The day could even be used to raise funds for charities. In fact, we could borrow a leaf from the British where in this centennial remembrance day, millions of poppies were laid at the Tower Bridge with the intentions of selling them at £25 (Sh3,550) per piece for charities. The organisers hope to raise more than £40 million (Sh5.6 billion).

That is a better way to remember the War Greats. In Kenya, such an amount of money could easily resettle all the post-election violence victims or pay for the education of needy children for a year, or help equip a hospital in a far-flung region with solar for heating and refrigeration.

Unfortunately, we are busy trying to make a quick million in the organisation of these events (remember the tender to airlift speeches?).

In any case, the way we conduct our celebrations needs a total overhaul. One way of looking at it is to turn our celebrations into a tourist attraction fete to raise the number of visitors.

In other words, show-casing ‘utamaduni’ (culture). Instead of forcing people to bear the scorching sun in a stadium, we could encourage them to organise major cultural festivals surrounding their communities that attract tourists, with proceeds from such celebrations going to charity. And yes, not all the public holidays have to translate into time away from work or business.

 Mr Guleid is a Governance consultant. [email protected]