Let’s address our challenges but not for greedy self gain

Eventually, Kenya witnessed a dignified celebration of a national day, this week. I do not know whether to put it to the weighty military dose in the event. Or is it just a new spirit in Government? Military activities come with precision and discipline. They have no time for puerile sideshows. Nor do they brook sundry political baloney. Hence, Kenyans saw Uhuru Kenyatta turned out in his twin roles of President and Commander-in-Chief. He did not disappoint. Nyayo Stadium was alive with civility. Focus and decorum was its name.

Occasions are noted for both style and substance. What is said and done is just as important as the manner in which it is done. You can’t fault the style of this year’s Jamhuri fete. Accordingly we have an astute opportunity to focus on the substance, without the burden of diversionary antics. The interlopers who have previously spoken on such occasions have usually watered down the import of a national event. They have made it look like a hostile partisan affair. It is noteworthy that even Deputy President William Ruto refrained from the confounding lectures that he has tended to give, even when the boss is present. Rule of thumb, say very little when the boss is there. It is his show and not yours. Ruto, however, attempted to drag in a measure of levity with comments on the Commander-in-Chief’s regalia. You don’t do that. This is a sacrosanct moment. The DP will want to remember this.

Away from style, a number of issues in the presidential address must disturb us. Foremost is what we have done with 55 years of independence. At the very start, the President hails “our beautiful flag, our 55 years of independence and our identity as a free people.” He also speaks of “our blessed land.” It was the late Kung’u Karumba, then a member of the Jomo Kenyatta Cabinet, who told Mzee that citizens did not eat flags. The flag is good to the extent that it reminds us of our sovereignty and marks our space. But have we tended to abuse this sovereignty? When we have gone overboard to commit atrocities, the international community has dutifully pointed this out to us. Our response has invariably been that we are an independent people. We should be left alone. Is independence about unbridled freedom to mess up ourselves?

Have we also sacrificed national identity at the altar of ethnic merchandise? A national day like Jamhuri is an astute moment for national soul searching. When he speaks of “our identity as a free people,” the President falls short of acknowledging the failure of successive regimes – his included – in imbuing the citizens with a common national bond. This is especially so when he invokes the national anthem. For, the anthem talks about the bond that unifies us. Going forward, the Presidency must help us to go beyond “beautiful flags” and anthems. It must carry the nation beyond promissory sounds to actualisation of promises.

 

Fifty-five years after Uhuru, we have yet to begin that journey. We wallow, instead, in the slough of despond. Hence, a person who is a deputy president may – for example – contribute his tribesmen to head a significant number of state corporations. When they are indicted for obvious failure in the entities, some of “his people” will complain that the tribe is under assault. How he would expect the culprits to be from a different community beats logic. How do you get culprits from a different tribe when none work in that entity? You witness instead early signs of mobilisation for hostile ethnic engagement. If independence has yet to solidify a common bond among Kenyans, the political class is squarely responsible.

Where the President talks of “the oppression and indignity of colonialism,” the converse today is “the oppression and indignity of poverty and tribalism.” Where he hails the “daily routine of building our nation,” the converse are the “corrupt cartels” – and especially those in government. Fortunately he has put them on notice. He must now, however, walk the talk. The President also, rightly, talks of “our new enemies.” These go beyond the terrorists who kill us every so often. The worst of them are the tribal saboteurs of the economy. These must be brought to destroyed, not “shunned.”

Is the President wrong when he says that transforming a nation from poverty to prosperity requires more than a single generation? A generation is just about 25 years. It has been done elsewhere. It can be done here. Indeed even the term of one set of leaders is long enough to place a country on the right path. One chapter that must remain eternally shut is that of terms of office. President Kenyatta must not appear to be cleverly opening it – especially not on Jamhuri Day.

Finally, the President correctly observes that our challenges should not make us cynics. We should instead see in them opportunities to contribute solutions. We must use our independence to address these challenges and not for greedy individual gain as has tended to be the case. If the President leads, the country will follow.

 

-The writer is a strategic public communications adviser. www.barrackmuluka.co.ke