Patriotic Kenyans should stand up for a nation that needs them

Just over a fortnight ago, a small group of men and women, from various sectors of society, gathered at Kenyatta University for the launch of an initiative dubbed Hesabika. This was a coming together of professionals, business persons, politicians, and university and college students. These men and women felt tired of the direction our nation has taken over the last several years. They came together to challenge one another to rise up and do something, each in their own spheres of influence. Instead of complaining and pointing fingers, the initiative was a call to stand up and be counted — to Hesabika.

Held in the backdrop of the unfortunate death of so many innocent people in the collapsed residential building in Huruma, few needed to be persuaded that something is drastically wrong with our motherland. The building tragedy served as clear testament that the nation is in dire need of transformation. Thankfully, unlike what happens in many such gatherings, the Hesabika group had not gathered to name and shame those deemed responsible for taking our nation south. Instead, this was a sober reflection on how each one of us has contributed to current state of affairs and how we might be part of the change.

Edmund Burke, a member of the British Parliament in the 1700s, once said, “When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.” In Kenya, bad men have combined. They have combined in politics, in business, and even in the civil society. Sadly, they have also combined in the church and other religious communities.

The big question is, why have they continued to succeed from one generation to another; through one regime to another? Burke is clear: When bad men combine, the good must associate! So what has happened to the good men — why do they not associate? Burke’s second quote is profoundly relevant and sheds some light: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Whereas bad men will do all that is within their ability to combine, the good do not associate. Instead, they have entered into a conspiracy of silence. That is why corruption threatens to bring a nation down yet no one is intent on stopping it.

We remain silent as drug lords invade our schools and campuses for the souls of our children. In silence, we watch helplessly as nepotism and tribalism tear into the very fabric of our nation. Silence is the conspiracy behind the mediocrity with which government services are delivered and projects are implemented. It is similar silence that has seen hundreds of Kenyans die in collapsed buildings. Yet, this silence is often borne out of fear — a fear of the possible repercussions for taking a stand.

But, Martin Luther King Jr put it aptly: “A man who won’t die for something is not fit to live.” Unless an individual has a purpose that so consumes him or her enough to die for, that person has lost the very reason for living. History shows that transformation can never be brought about by spineless wimps who love life more than death. Those who have made a difference in their generation have always been men and women with a daring spirit.

When slave trade had become an economic necessity, Africans were not even considered to be human beings. But very few voices, even in the church, spoke up against this evil. But, God raised William Wilberforce, and at the age of only 25, he became an MP in the English Parliament, where he fought gallantly until parliament finally voted for the abolition of slavery in February 1807.

At the forefront of the struggle against apartheid in South Africa were men like Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Our own so-called second liberation was initiated and led by men and women like Bishop Okulu, Bishop Muge — who lost his life in the struggle. Later there were Archbishop Ndingi Mwana Nzeki, Bishop David Gitari, Wangari Maathai, and others. All these men and women had a holy daring. They loved not their lives unto death. That is why Hesabika is a wakeup call — a call to stand up and be counted. A call for good men to associate, else we fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.