We must all take blame for pushing our country to where it is now

Supporters of Jubilee Party clash with rival supporters of the opposition-led National Super Alliance in Nairobi on October 11, 2017 during street protests by NASA to call for the resignation of Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission officials over claims of bungling the August 8 presidential vote, which was nullified by the Supreme Court. PHOTO | TONY KARUMBA | AFP

What you need to know:

  • The colonial people had pitched the “smaller” tribes against the “larger” tribes.
  • Today, fifty four years after our independence, I am crying for my beloved country.

We do have a great country Kenya which, whether some of us believe it or not, has certain aspects that are admired and envied around the world.

That admiration and envy is probably what our problem is. There may be certain outsiders or outside institutions whose mandate is to look for fertile ground like Kenya for whatever their interests are.

Since they have those specific interests – and surely one cannot blame anybody anywhere for trying to further their interests - they may have targeted some of our people who occupy internationally recognizable space who can become their partners in creating confusion.

Those international types should and must never be our focus of interest. This country is not theirs. It is ours. That means therefore that the fundamental problem is us Kenyans.

When I was growing up in the early 1960s, I used to hear about KANU and KADU. It became clear to me – young though I was – that in Kenya there were two factions that we had to contend with.

HISTORY

It was much later in life – after I had read a bit of our history – that I got to understand what had happened at the beginning of our independence.

In fact, my real interest in this matter arose during the President Moi regime and specifically after the 1992 fracas in which we witnessed terrible suffering.

That is when I got to learn that violence for politics was an in thing at the very foundation of our nation.

The colonial people had pitched the “smaller” tribes against the “larger” tribes. Of course they quite did not want to go. The writing was however on the wall that their time was up. Dividing Kenyans was part of using whatever means to remain.

Today, fifty four years after our independence, I am crying for my beloved country. It is beloved to me because I have no other and I am not taking any other.

PROTESTING

When I saw the havoc visited upon the city of Nairobi last Wednesday by young people – not their leaders – in the name of protesting against the IEBC - I felt sorry for my motherland.

Kenya in my view must not remain where it was in 1961. We ought to be proud that we are considered a serious contender for a leading economic hub in our region.

We have to do our politics in a manner that does not scare both our fellow citizens and whichever foreigner may want to invest among us. At this point I feel that all our institutions – the political, the judicial, the legal, the civil society and anybody else who matters in that continuum including us the fourth estate – have scared everyone away. We all belong to Kenya and must take responsibility.

 Writer is Dean of Students at the University of Nairobi; [email protected]