Why I won’t give in to Jubilee and NASA demands

After this year’s electoral process that has left us deeply divided, we must restore our capacity to reason and act as one people. We must restore our collective ability to surmount seemingly huge odds and surprise ourselves.

For if truth be told, there is nothing fatally flawed to resist as NASA would want us to. Equally, there is little fundamentally strong for us to resume as Jubilee would want after this greatest test to our ‘Kenyahood’. We must re-engineer our nationhood for us to move ahead.

The fissures are all over — in social, residential and even work places. Things have changed and it cannot be business as usual even after President Uhuru Kenyatta was sworn in while his archrival Raila Odinga has vowed that his coronation is on December 12.

Still, divisions after a grueling electoral process are not unique to Kenya. All democracies must contend with divisive campaigns because elections are not a beauty contest, where the winner smiles sheepishly as the loser simply grins, then they embrace each other. Elections are bitterly fought contests in which the winner takes all, while the loser must lick his wounds and prepare for next time.

However, we have a nation to build and lay down strong foundations for our children and future generations. We all want a nation where our children will not be denied opportunities based on their ethnicities and political affiliations. We want a nation where the so-called Jubilants and Nasarites can engage constructively on other matters besides politics.

And that is precisely why we should reflect on what brought us to this near breakaway point. How did we get our radar so wrong that nearly half of us want to dismember the country as we know it? How can we make every Kenyan feel part of the whole?

President Uhuru Kenyatta must reflect on why a whole region not only refused to participate in the repeat presidential election, but also vowed not to recognise him as their president. What crimes did his administration commit to earn such wrath?

Similarly, the enigma of Kenyan politics, Raila, must reflect on why the other region was so quick to vote against him although he had withdrawn. Why did they have to participate in a seemingly non-contest?

For ordinary Kenyans, we must face the mirror and confront a few truths. For every shout of joy from Jubilee supporters today, there is searing fury in NASA followers. We must hold the centre together, only through reflection, not resisting or resuming.

For every time a Jubilee supporter accuses a NASA member of blindly backing secession calls, he or she is also guilty of the same by displaying a sense of entitlement. This nation belongs to all of us and we must find ways of accommodating each other. We must urgently mend our social, political and economic fabric to bequeath our children a stable country.

We must actively review our local narratives that keep dividing us and while at it, we must reflect on our electoral process. Why does the presidential election polarise us every five years? Is the electoral commission incapable of conducting an exercise that is believable across the board? Failure to do so, your guess is as good as mine where the 2022 contest will lead us to.

We must also reflect on our institutions’ role in our politics. The police have particularly been singled out for their highhandedness and brutality meted out on innocent children and women. Should the police be that callous on the Opposition?

Finally, should we distrust our neighbours, colleagues and friends — based merely on one’s surname — when the electoral cycle is upon us? When all is said and done, we are better as a whole Kenya and not sections of it. President Kenyatta should be at home devouring a meal of fish and ugali at Kisumu’s Lwang’ni beach today, just as would Raila Odinga be enjoying his githeri at Kiambu’s Gatundu market. For that to happen, dear Kenyans, let us restore our Kenyaness: don’t resume, don’t resist. RESTORE!

 -The writer is revise editor at The Standard, Weekend Editions. [email protected]