We behave as if we are not proud to be Kenyans

What makes people patriotic or otherwise? Why did those gallant freedom fighters give up all their comforts — and some their lives — and go into the forest to fight the colonialist?

From my own experience, there are moments when one feels really proud to belong to a country like Kenya.

It is that pride of belonging to a particular nation that makes one do only those things that would bring honour to his own country. The way we live our national life should therefore be filled with more activities that we are proud of and not otherwise so that we build a strong value system of patriotism.

The time when Kenyans got together and kicked out the Kanu regime was a moment of pride. That was followed by a period of opening up of a political space that had been tightly locked up since independence.

This introduced in most of us a feeling of well being and a sense of pride in being Kenyans. Then came what I consider the most glorious moment of our political history when after more than two decades of negative political gymnastics we promulgated our own homegrown constitution.

There are many such events and moments that would make us proud and want to honour our motherland.

The freedom fighters were ready to give up their comforts and even lives because they were proud of their heritage. The land they were fighting for was a source of pride because it had been bequeathed them by their parents and grandparents.

Their sense of pride and attachment to what was their own as well as the fear of failing their ancestors overwhelmed them. I sometimes wonder if we have honoured this courage and sacrifice enough during our time as an independent nation.

DENIED REPRESENTATION

Some of the activities that are going on today are things that would certainly not make one so proud of belonging to Kenya.

Take the noise about insecurity or the hullaballoo about who dished out what land and to who or even the talk about the issuance of immigration documents.

There are even other phenomena like the matter of representation of the people of Kenya. Our supreme law says that sovereign power belongs to the people of Kenya and that they can exercise it through representation.

When a whole section of the people is denied representation as happened recently in Gatundu, one does not feel so proud.

It is neither noise about intended referendum nor the practice of raw power that will make Kenya a nation we can all be proud of and therefore protect patriotically. Only the rule of law will promote true patriotism.

Father Wamugunda is Dean of Students at the University of Nairobi: [email protected]