Remove the log in your eye before you blame others

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Whether by nature or out of habit, Kenyans are extremely critical. You only need to read the stream of comments on social media regarding current affairs, or sit with football fans to witness criticism in technicolour detail. No manager, coach, forward or keeper is good enough, which is why crucial games are lost.

Likewise, no national leader seems able to do whatever job they were elected or appointed to do. And so ever since the last General Election, the atmosphere in Kenya has been full of nothing but negative criticism.

A lot of it is undoubtedly justified — since the last elections, Kenyan citizens have been treated to a consistent diet of insecurity, rising inflation, food shortages, financial scandals and other issues that have left everyone feeling dissatisfied if not anxious.

However, it is important to note that whatever we can see at a national level is merely a reflection of what is happening at individual level. Indeed, every household in Kenya can be said to be a small nation, and every adult in that household the leader of that little “Kenya”.

But how many of these Kenyan critics – many of who go by names like “mzalendo” or “justice now” – can honestly say they are leading the model lives they so badly want their leaders to demonstrate?

Let’s take debt, for instance. Most Kenyans are aware that the country owes a huge amount in debt (Sh52 billion in fact) and has even been trying to buy more time to repay it. But how many at a personal level can claim to be living debt-free or at least effectively managing their debt? How many household “presidents” and “deputy presidents” are on top of their rent or mortgage payments? How much do you owe the lady who operates a kiosk outside your compound? Are your children’s school fees payments up to date or have you stopped answering the school accountant’s calls?

It is a fact that too many Kenyans are living beyond their means. It doesn’t help that there are so many loans available for things many of us don’t really need. But in order to maintain a certain image or lifestyle (the Government would say in order to deliver on election pledges), there are Kenyans who are up to their eyeballs in debt. The difference is that no one except them and the people they owe know. Do these people really have a right to air their opinions on Government debt?

Many Kenyans have also been up in arms about the poor legacy unfolding for future generations of Kenyans. What legacy are these Kenyan “experts” building? Is it one of integrity, hard and honest work, never giving up, and taking care of one’s personal environment? Are they teaching the younger generation about complying with the law regardless of what the people around them might be doing?

Sadly not. It is all too common to hear these critics bragging in the bar about what their clever brains did to beat the system at its own game. That will often mean they bribed their way into or out of something. And then, in the next breath, they dismiss national leaders who are implicated in any way — whether rightly or wrongly — in corrupt deals.

On matters security, how many of our Kenyan critics can say their spouses and children are safe from domestic abuse? How many of these men and women are raising children who are confident, secure in their identity and ready to take on the world? How many are actively securing their children’s future? Is their wealth properly divided between legitimate beneficiaries? Or are there shady business deals going on that could end up with people in jail and unable to fend for their loved ones? Indeed, how many of these national security-conscious Kenyans are keen about keeping their spouses safe from sexually transmitted diseases?

In other words, are all these men and women who love to point fingers at the Government doing their personal best for those they profess to care about in their own households? Are they meeting the rights that the Constitution provides for their families to healthcare, food, security and education?

If the answer is no, then one is forced to wonder where their right to criticise the Government comes from. It was a wise person who said charity begins at home.

The writer is a Revise Editor at the Standard