Finally, a mild breeze sweeps across our beloved land

It is strange — is it not — that though the aroma of coffee is the defining aroma of Kenya, the best coffee in the world has Italian names.

Cappuccino, Espresso, Latte? Or that, in as much as the Kiondo and Kikoy are Kenyan, they have been appropriated by some other nations?

And it could be — could it not — that the time has come for this nation to look right into the eye of the rest of the world and reclaim its very best legacies?

For, if you ask yourself, what is there to stop we the people of this reborn republic from asserting our rights and standing up to the rest of the world and saying:

“We have been the lesser brothers for far too long; we have been living in the shadow of a constitution that was not truly of our own-making and now we have found our feet as a nation and we are doing away with the past and are ready to walk on into the future, having cast off the shackles of colonialism, neo-colonialism and all shades of repression?”

The answer is that there is nothing. When the people of Kenya cast their eyes to the skies on Friday, they will not just see the sun and the clouds and the birds flying leisurely to distant climes.

They will, or at least ought to, see the limitlessness of the possibilities that will define them from this moment on. Kenya, no doubt, is one of the nations with ample room for growth and self-actualisation.

It has so much idle land that could be put to productive use to feed its people who are equally up to the task of transforming themselves and their country into a land of opportunity, a land in which the people have the freedom to pursue all that is good and all that is noble; a land in which we all have a renewed chance to achieve our highest ideals without having to worry any more about whether our names begin with an ‘O’ or a ‘K’. In short, a land where flowers of all shades, shapes and sizes flourish side by side, contented not just in the unique flagrance of each but also in the beauty that is their diversity.

For a long time, the people of Kenya have fought for freedom and, this morning, the day has dawned when the weatherman can report that a mild breeze has swept its way across the nation.

But — it must be said here and now — that in the same breath that we holler our lungs out in celebrations, we must also commit ourselves to live by the new constitution, to internalise it in our systems and make it as inalienable a part of our lives as the wind blowing the seas to our shores and the grass growing in the hills that dot our land.