To destroy a country, start with the professionals

Kenya is sitting at a crossroads. A very dangerous one. In 1959, a 28-year-old visionary, one Tom Mboya, had the foresight to understand the need of professionals in the building of a young, soon-to-be nation, as he believed in independence coming soon. While the frontline dissenters and freedom fighters were cooling their heels in jail, the young man had understood the extremely important need for education in moving a country forward.

This is how the 1959 to 1963 Kennedy Airlift Programme was born. Hundreds of young people who had a secondary level education from East Africa had a golden opportunity to acquire a higher education in the United States and Canada, under the auspices of the programme.

The programme was supported by the African American Students Foundation (AASF); the Joseph P. Kennedy Foundation, through the then Senator John F. Kennedy; educational institutions in the US and Canada; and a host of African-American celebrities such as Martin Luther King Jr, Jackie Robinson and Harry Belafonte.

Despite the political undertones to the programme; the possible contribution to J.F. Kennedy’s win in the 1960 presidential election, and Britain’s disgruntlement with the US for the academic empowerment it was according the British colonies; almost 800 young men and women from Africa crossed the Atlantic in a quest to gain education.

For Kenya, the programme birthed amazing personalities who laid the foundation for various aspects of professional development in the country as an emerging state, establishing its sovereignty after gaining its freedom from Britain. Prof Wangari Maathai, Prof George Saitoti, Prof Leah Marangu, Prof Miriam Were, Dr Ng'endo Mwangi, Prof Washington Aggrey Okumu, Prof Reuben Olembo, among others, set the country on a pathway to establishing professionalism, academia and public service.

Our foundation as a young country was solid. We were off to a good start. Despite multiple challenges we have experienced in the past six decades, the growth of various sectors of our country have relied heavily on professionals, not just at the ministerial level, but the cogs that keep the wheels turning at various levels, be it service delivery, regulation and strategic implementation.

When the airlift was happening, many of us were not born. However, we came into a country that clearly defined education as the ladder to not just personal success, but also success as a nation. I did not witness the founding President’s rule, hence may not speak to his motto, but I grew up in the Nyayo era, where the second President of Kenya was very consistent in his message on the importance of education, leaving a legacy of a string of education institutions in the country bearing his name.

We were raised to firmly believe in pride in one’s profession. We may have disagreed over the years on the remuneration of various professionals in the country, but what was never in contention was the sanctity of the professions themselves. Progress in education was purely on merit. The pathway from classroom to transition into the professional sector was very clear.

We identified and respected our teachers, the backbone of any country, because we all become professionals as a result of the dedication of this special profession. We all held our health professionals in awe, most especially the nurses. Dotted across the country were little dispensaries and health centres owned by the government or by faith-based institutions. These were primarily run by nurses, the pillars of the communities, who were the first contact with patients. Many worked in their home villages, providing care to their extended families and communities at large.

As a country, we hold in high esteem our architects and engineers, who gave rise to national treasures such as the Kenyatta International Conference Centre, monuments built to last generations. We pay our respects to our learned friends in the legal fraternity, who have time and again championed for our rights to freedom of expression through the courts, the streets and in Parliament.

We idolize Prof Wangari Maathai, a true warrior for our children’s future. May the warrior spirit in her forever rest in peace. We do not hold back out adoration for our academic giants who set out our institutions of higher learning, bringing America home to the millions of Kenyans who could not get on a plane in search of the prestigious degrees; kudos Prof Miriam Were and your esteemed peers.

Yet somehow, as a country, we have gone through a degeneration in the past decade that has never been witnessed before. We are in a mudslide to hell and despite knowing this, we cannot seem to skid to a halt, let alone attempt to reverse this trend.

We have allowed the desecration of professions in the country as if we do not recognise just how critical this pillar is to the development of our country. We have idolised politics more than our own lives. We are hell bent on destroying this country, as if we have a spare one coming up shortly to replace the Kenya we live in.

Last week, we witnessed a cabinet secretary, a university graduate at that, make utterances that should be inexcusable anywhere in the world, with regard to doctors, and by extension, the entire health fraternity. The irony of it is that the same is a very recent beneficiary of the same sector in a big way. This was to the utter dismay of the nation, as he made proclamations that should never originate from a public servant appointed to serve the nation on behalf of his president.

It is inconceivable how a country that has made amazing strides in the health profession would stand by and watch all this progress wash away in the drain as a result of careless sentiments made by the very people elected to ensure that all Kenyans have access to the highest attainable standard of care, as guaranteed by their constitutional right.

It is time to call this circus to a stop. This is what happens when people in positions of power fail to realise the responsibility that comes with the office. Leadership is a service. It is unfortunate that leadership has been so trivialised that political affiliations are far more important than professionalism, competence and humility in the appointment of the office holders. Belittling professionals in their line of duty by the highest holders of office is the beginning of the end for Kenya.

In the famous words of Nelson Mandela: “Destroying any nation does not require the use of atomic bombs or the use of long range missiles. It only requires lowering the quality of education and allowing cheating in the examinations by the students. Patients die at the hands of such doctors. Buildings collapse at the hands of such engineers. Money is lost in the hands of such economists and accountants. Humanity dies at the hands of such religious scholars. Justice is lost at the hands of such judges...The collapse of education is the collapse of a nation.

Dr Bosire is an obstetrician/ gynaecologist