Our celebration may be still-born if we do the wrong things for the right reason

The Dedan Kimathi statue on Kimathi Street, Nairobi, is decorated with miniature flags and Kenya@50 flyers as the country prepares to celebrate 50 years of independence this month. The highlight of the Silver Jubilee celebrations will be marked at Uhuru Gardens in Nairobi, where the Union Jack went down and the Kenyan flag went up on December 12, 1963. PHOTO : Phoebe Okall | NATION.

What you need to know:

  • Few will remember the true heroes who have made a difference in their lives, like the elder sister who decided to forgo college so that her sibling could acquire secondary education.
  • Sadly, politicians have conditioned us to think about them when the word heroes is mentioned.
  • Many Kenyans have little to celebrate about and it is not difficult to see why.

Have you noticed that all the indicators for democracy, Perestroika and Glasnot are pointing south at a time when the country is gearing to mark its golden Jubilee of freedom and all things nice?

Were it possible to plot Kenya’s progress on a graph, the arrow for democratic gains would be pointing sharply towards the X axis.

And there is a real risk that we will cross into the red territory before we can say “Jamhuri Day”.

As we speak, the Judiciary is engaged in a war of supremacy with both the presidency and the Legislature. On another front, the combat between Parliament on the one hand, and the media and civil society on the other, just escalated and very soon, it could be headed to the courts for constitutional interpretation.

Yet, Kenyans are being asked to look around for the heroes they can celebrate as the country prepares to mark 50 years of independence.

As invariably happens, Kenyans are hard pressed to find such heroes because whenever such a challenge is posed, they look to the players in the public arena, many of whom are villains though they may look innocent.

Few will remember the true heroes who have made a difference in their lives; be it the guardian who sacrificed to send a child to school, the elder sister who decided to forgo college so that her sibling could acquire secondary education, or the spouses who egg on their partners to success.

Sadly, politicians have conditioned us to think about them when the word heroes is mentioned.

Although they would have us believe that all these battle-fronts they have opened with independent institutions are well-meaning, their body language says something entirely different. Kenya will soon earn the dubious distinction of being the only country where we pass bad laws with good intentions.

Two things are happening that should make Kenyans of goodwill resist the slow erosion of all that is dear to our nationhood.

The first is the forthcoming national celebrations. Although Cabinet Secretary Hassan Wario wants us to party all night on the eve of Jamhuri Day and has even offered to extend the time for merry-making, we should convert that anniversary into a time of national introspection.

Many Kenyans have little to celebrate about and it is not difficult to see why. Government is becoming too big and too demanding. Although we are building world-class highways and have embarked on grand railway and airport projects, the roads to our villages are impassable.

Similarly, although health and education are free, the quality of services in public institutions remains lamentable.

In short, the national happiness index is not where it ought to be. Although we will have four days of celebrations even before we get to Christmas and New Year, we should recall the tale once told about slaves.

According to the legend, slave owners would give their chattels freedom on Christmas Eve. And because they had nothing better to do with their lives, they would spend the day drinking and making merry.

On the morning of Boxing Day, many a slave would go grovelling to their masters, begging to be re-admitted into bondage because freedom gave them terrible hangovers. In a word, they were being told that if they thought bondage would kill them, they should try freedom.

We are a free people. It is in our DNA. Our forebears broke the yokes of colonialism. Many in our generation stood up against totalitarianism even when we were too young to appreciate its full import.

But, like the men of Crete, who were known for their stoicism and willingness to fight for what was good and true, we may be required to make our way back into the battlefields to reclaim our democracy.

And this brings me to the second point. In the last 50 years, there have heroes and heroines who have not been afraid to stand up for a principle even when all indications were that they would be better off holding their peace.

There have been others who spoke out when it was not in their place to speak truth to power. We can be them. There is nothing to stop us.

It could turn out that our destiny is to strike this blow against emerging tyranny. Our children can thank us in 2063.