What, pray, do these politicians mean when they say ‘the people’

The priceless phrasing of the United Nations Charter was crafted by Jan Christiaan Smuts, a distinguished Commonwealth statesman from Africa. The UN charter encased as the Covenant of the League of Nations begins with the words “We the People” in reference to a global citizenry collectively intent on living within the dictates of purist civility and reciprocal commonality. Indeed, the very essence of patriotism and nationhood rests on functional harmonisation of the quintessential will of a people.

Some weeks ago, my daughter and I were watching news the other day when an opposition chief appeared on-screen and declared that the people would not go to work on Monday and will instead take to the streets to remonstrate against injustice. She turned to me and asked what I would be doing on that Monday now that people would not be working. When I retorted without hesitation that I would indeed be going to work, she posted an immediate inquisitive rejoinder seeking to confirm if I am still Kenyan because in her virgin mind, the people that the opposition doyen was making reference to are Kenyans.