Study Report Card 2010 as you make merry

Noel is here again. Yuletide, others call it. And for billions, a time to slurp, engorge, pray, give thanks, banish all inhibitions and have a whale of a party.

That is all well and proper through this long weekend ahead. Apart from academicians, no one will dwell on the origins of this great bash. Whether it is truly off the Christian calendar or has origins in a rather dark and pagan ritual to appease certain gods and goddesses of yore is a moot point. It is there and coincides with closure of the year.

And that is perhaps, what should define Christmas.

As we tackle heaps of food and clink the wineglasses, will we spare a thought for the millions who shall go hungry? Will the furrowed forehead of the farmer and trader displaced in 2008 remind us of the milk of human kindness? The destruction of our intolerance of people that do not share our mother tongue, surname, race or religion?

As we prepare to send our children to school in a few days, will the child next door, who will miss a classroom place because some functionary stole donor money meant to build a new block, cause us distress?

Have the ministries of Agriculture, Special Programmes and Co-operatives prepared for a new season so that a milk glut does not feed termites for lack of proper markets? Will a bumper grain harvest be destroyed by aflatoxin because the authorities cannot agree to pay a decent price?

suffering Somalis

Neighbours Southern Sudan and Uganda are going to the polls. Will the outcomes be a Kenya- or Ivory Coast-style disaster to open the floodgates of refugees and another humanitarian catastrophe?

Even as we pray for prosperity and peace in our homes, have we spared a thought for Somalis next door? Have they not suffered the indignity of being refugees in our urban centres for far too long?

And when will national leaders learn that a polarised Parliament is a recipe for chaos? Current debate still concerns contentious matters that are decades-old on the Constitution, high-level impunity, high-handedness, nepotism, "our people syndrome", old boy networks, skewed tendering and procurements and self-aggrandisement.

Have we forgotten the price of peace and nationhood, a reminder of which we were so rudely given after the last General Election?

Even as the country prepares to embrace a government devolved to the grassroots, how prepared are we for the new realities of regional self-government?

Won’t the ills of the current central government be ‘imported’ to the counties with devastating consequences? Will all new institutions work as smoothly as the Interim Independent Electoral Commission whose exemplary work has been the toast of the new dispensation?

While drivers, public and private, hurtle down the highways as if they harbour an irrational death wish, who will stop to remember the injured spending the holiday strapped to hospital beds and families that shall grieve through the season’s festivities?

Is your Christmas going to be filled with reflection on everyone’s contribution to nurturing a just, free and prosperous society? Or is it only going to be one long, alcohol-fuelled testimonial?

Wasteful indulgence

The First Family led the way by cancelling all State House end-of-year partying. The funds that would have gone to these festivities are instead being channeled to assisting IDPs who will be spending their third Christmas adrift.

The Vice-President’s foundation, too, has led the way with donations of food to the needy.

This is the true spirit of Christmas so that as people celebrate their good fortune, it is imperative that the less endowed, the suffering, the sick and displaced get a hearing in our hearts.

Commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ in Christian tradition, should signal rebirth and growth, of new beginnings and resolve to discard repugnant and wasteful indulgence. Then only can a people say they have truly celebrated Christmas Day.