We have two options, hold national dialogue or slide to self-destruction

When you write as I do, you keep praying for the day the country’s leadership will give you something positive to write about. It almost did, last week. Leaders demonstrated rare camaraderie at the All Saints Cathedral.

They said the person whom they were mourning had taught them a lesson in unity and tolerance. Henceforth, they said, they would seek dialogue. In the words of President Kenyatta, they would seek to talk to each other and not at each other.

For my part, I remained skeptical. I thought their amity was a passing cloud. It was only the false lull in the middle of a storm. For the leadership of this country can only unite when someone like Fidel Odinga or Joseph Kamotho dies. We would need to kill a Fidel or Kamotho everyday for us to find lasting unity of purpose. The merchants of verbal violence are back, in their element.

While President Kenyatta was clear that he would listen to Opposition leaders, the Jubilee attack dogs will not be outdone. National Assembly Majority Leader, Aden Duale, has come out with all barrels blazing.

For the second time in less than a year he has countermanded the President. He says there will be no dialogue on the health of the nation. He states that the call for dialogue is a red herring – that CORD’s top leaders are angling for a place in Government.

There is a saying in Emanyulia where I was born that a noble man may refuse what you tell him. But he does not refuse to listen to you. In that land of peace, therefore, a man cannot refuse to listen to his children if they respectfully ask to talk to him.

When CORD leaders first asked for a national dialogue in May last year, this column censured their menacing method. They told the President if he did not make room for dialogue, they would shave him with broken bottles. That was blatantly rude. This column thought they were not being genuine in their call for dialogue.

It is different this time. CORD leaders, Raila Odinga and Kalonzo Musyoka, have asked for dialogue without the menaces and conditions of last year. They have also made it clear that the quest for dialogue is not for a two-way engagement between CORD and Jubilee.

 It is an all-inclusive conversation that should bring other players to the table. These may include teachers, religious leaders, trade unionists, industry leaders and such other critical stakeholders.

Regrettably, the usual cacophony and shameless political theatrics have taken over. And so I must write again with the pen of sadness and despair. As a Christian gentleman I am reminded, at times such as this, of Prophet Ezekiel where he was told, “Son of man, speak to your countrymen.

 Say to them that when I bring the sword against a land . . . and their watchman sees the sword coming against the land and blows the trumpet to warn the people, anyone who hears the trumpet and fails to obey it will have himself to blame when the sword lands upon him (Ezekiel 33: 2 – 3).”

 

I have read further where the man of God was told, “Son of Man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. So hear the word I speak and give them warning from me.

When I say to the wicked, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not speak out to dissuade him from his ways, I will hold you accountable when the wicked man dies for his ways. But if you speak to dissuade him and he does not listen, he will die of his own accord and you will be without blame (Ezekiel 33: 7 – 9).”

Kenya has only two options. It can either choose to hold a sober national dialogue today and stem the tide towards destruction, or it can wait for the ongoing slide to reach its worst. Then another Kofi Annan will come over to assemble us around the talking table. Make no mistake; Kenya is sliding into the abyss.

When MPs desecrate the sanctity and dignity of the House by engaging in an orgy of physical violence on the floor of the National Assembly, the Armageddon is not too far away. When these people post ethnic hate messages on social media and reach into each other’s inner garments on the floor of the House, then we are staring into the fog of the seasons’ end. You cannot begin asking boorish questions like, “Dialogue on what?”

My friend, for the second time in seven years, your country is courting disaster. In 2007 this column cautioned about the mayhem ahead. And the naysayers proclaimed, “Behold, prophets of doom.” The levels of inter ethnic hate are reaching worse than worrying proportions.

When the President cannot visit parts of the country or have his messengers listened to, know all is not well. No President should be an outlaw in any part of his country. When industrial unrest is the order of the day and violent crime a normal thing in our homes, in the streets and even in places of worship, the nation is staring disaster in the eye.

When the merchants of terror hit us at will amid massive unemployment among the youth; when religious leaders have lost respect and credibility and seem undisturbed by the fact, then the sword is surely upraised against the land.

It is irresponsible for anyone to say you don’t need dialogue. Even at home, you don’t dismiss your children if they wish to table some unknown agenda before you. You don’t scream at them and say, “What is it! Say what you want quickly! Am I not your father? Have I not paid your fees? Have I not given you money? Now what do you want to talk about?”

Nor do you say to your spouse, “Am I not the head of this house? Have I not given you children? And don’t I buy food and pay for everything? Now what do you want to talk about? Do you also want to be another head of this house? “

Soon you will have no family to scream at. Kenya is fragile and polarised. We are tottering on the brink of disaster. We must address the negative energy in our country. The time to show leadership is now. Tomorrow might be too late.