Letter to Kibaki: Leadership is action, not position

• In 36 months, we must break our ‘beak’ and pluck out our ‘feathers’

This is a letter to President Kibaki. Good sir, my respects and prayers. Now with your indulgence, I will go to the point.

According to Niccolo Machiavelli, those who live on the hill tops have the best view of the valley. And those who live in the valley have the best view of the hills. I write to you as one of the ‘‘earthlings’’ living in the valley below.

I will be candid because to lie to the ‘‘King’’ is to commit high treason. Sir, we are losing faith in you.

As the country degenerates, you look paralysed and powerless. You are like the driver of this matatu which left the road and headed downhill.

Asked by the passengers where he was taking them, he said “… I don’t know where we are going; all I know is that we are going there very fast!”

From the valley, sir, it looks like you don’t know where you are taking us. The question is: do you know that you are taking us there very fast?

With your indulgence, sir, I submit that the destination is not the issue; the driving is the issue.

I say so because, as a country, we are experiencing decay. In fact, the decay is from the core; and to the core.

And no matter how hard we try, we cannot reverse it. In sum, and like the matatu, we are headed downhill by design.

However, depending on how you drive us there, we can either crash or land safely. Put differently, we need to rebuild the nation.

But we cannot rebuild it without tearing it apart first. To tear it apart is to take it downhill, but for a purpose. To refuse to tear it apart is to kill it slowly. And nothing illustrates this better than the life of an eagle.

At the age of 40, an eagle cannot survive. Its talons (claws) are overgrown, tired and weak; they cannot grip its prey. Its beak is dull and bent. It cannot pick or peck. Its body is overgrown with feathers; heavy, sticky and useless. It cannot fly.

In this condition, the eagle has only two options: to wither away and die, or to renew itself through pain. If it chooses the path of pain, it retreats to the mountain tops alone.

There it hides for a period of five months renewing itself. First, it plucks out all its feathers. Then it plucks out the talons from its feet. Lastly, it knocks off its beak by banging it against a rock until it comes out.

Defenceless, it waits for its feathers, beak, and talons to grow back. Other eagles fly overhead, scaring off predators, and bringing it food.

In the mean time, an oil sack grows on its chest, over its heart. When its beak and feathers have grown back, it pierces the oil sack and spreads the oil on its feathers. Many eagles do not survive this process, but those who do become as good as new: they leave to 70 or even 100 years.

Our country, sir, is like this eagle. At 46, its ‘‘beak’’ is old and bent; its claws are blunt and useless. In this state, we have two options: to wither away and die, or to seek a re-birth through pain.

It looks as though there is a disconnect between what you want, and what we want. Kenyans crave for a re-birth; even a painful re-birth. We want to go to the mountain tops to pluck out our talons and break our ‘‘beak’’.

This is what the 93 MPs who voted against you in Parliament this week were saying. But such bold moves require bold leadership.

You, sir, are far from bold. And, given the groundswell against you, a brave fellow, maybe a demagogue, will offer to take us to the mountain top in search of re-birth. If this happens, you will go down in history as the man who took us to the brink of civil war.

Not out of malice, but out of sheer neglect. The question is whether we will allow you to expose us to civil war in 2012?

From the look of things, sir, you have done nothing to arrest this possibility. The matatu driver has lost control and all we hear is this: “… I do not know where it is going, all I know is this: it is going there very fast!”

In the alternative, sir, you can decide to take us down the path of pain. And, in my view, this is the role the ‘‘gods’’ have called you to.

In order to re-build the country, you must first tear it down. As such, you should forget the constitution, the roads, and reviving the economy. You should fix our politics. In so doing, the first step is to release the Waki List to the public. This should be followed by mass sackings from the Cabinet.

The result will be protests and possible unrest. And what is more: those who want to protest should be encouraged to do so. I say so because we must fight out our differences before 2012.

For the next 36 months, we must break our ‘‘beak’’, tear off our ‘‘talons’’ and pluck out our ‘‘feathers’’. Instead of civil war, 2012 should, therefore, be the year of releasing the renewed eagle. The question is: will you take us through this process?

I have two thoughts on this. One, you have no choice: The country is in decay. And the issue is not whether it will explode or not. The question is when it will happen and how you will manage it.

Anatole France puts it very well in Penguin Island: “…do you see, my son … that madman who, with his teeth, is biting the nose of the adversary … and that one who is pounding a woman’s head with a huge stone? ... They are creating law, they are founding property, they are establishing the principles of civilisation, the basis of society and the founding of the state”.

Sir, in the next 36 months, your task will be to supervise such madness. Two, and at 77, you have nothing to lose.

Down here in the valley, ‘‘earthlings’’ your age are eating mashed potatoes with their toothless gums. You are in your position, therefore, for a purpose. Am I out of order, sir?