Embrace citizenship to save the soul of our nation

Recently, President Uhuru Kenyatta rebuked leaders who always push for salary increases at the expense of other Kenyans.

He said: “With all due respect, everybody wants to live a good life, but before we as leaders live a good life, we should make sure that our people get the best.”

I was highly impressed by this statement but it was, sadly, rejected by MPs when it was reported in the dailies, “MPs defy President Kenyatta over push for higher perks”.

It reminded me about the concept of “citizenship” so eloquently championed by Theodore Roosevelt, touted as America’s first progressive president (1901-1909).

LOFTY IDEALS

In the well-researched book, Theodore Roosevelt and the American Political Tradition, authored by Prof Jean Yarbrough in 2012, Roosevelt is quoted as declaring that aspiring statesmen should be animated by “lofty ideals” that would speak not only to “the things of the body” but also to the “things of the soul”.

Roosevelt is well known for his insistence on the need to embrace citizenship for the good of the nation, having stated: “No nation can permanently retain free government, unless it can retain a high average of citizenship.”

Citizenship is a vital missing ingredient in the challenging quagmire of our clueless and directionless leadership paradigm obsessed with an extractionist mentality and suffering the disdain and loathing of discerning Kenyans.

AGGRESSIVE HONEST

Roosevelt suggested that qualities of good citizenship fall into three categories. First, it requires honesty and decency. Honesty should be understood in its broadest terms, “not merely the honesty that refrains from theft, but the aggressive honesty that will not see a wrong without trying to right it”.

The President saw the push for perks by the MPs as a wrong that would be perpetuated on the people of Kenya and set out to right it. There are many other Kenyans showing honesty and decency as they take action to right the wrongs in our society.

ANTI-GRAFT FIGHT

Without being exhaustive in this regard, I am impressed by the media’s eye-opening campaign to expose the underbelly of the mind-blowing corrupt dealings.

Secondly, citizenship requires strength and courage. It does not matter how honest a leader is; if he is timid, there is little chance of being useful to the aspirations of a better nation as “good work can only be done by those who are not afraid to step out into the hurly-burly to do their part in the dust and smoke of the arena”. He lamented good people who only complain from the comfort of their parlours. We have an increasing number of men and women embracing citizenship. The great efforts being made by the DPP, Mr Noordin Haji, in the fight against corruption is an unquestionable display of citizenship.

COMMON SENSE

Thirdly, citizenship requires the saving grace of common sense. People need to embrace not only the virtues that teach us to refrain from wrongdoing but also those that teach us to progressively and aggressively do right and pursue the ideals with prudence and consistency within our sphere of influence.

Despite the many acts of wickedness that keep on being perpetuated on the citizenry, let us develop in us the lofty ideal of citizenship and with courage admonish and ostracise those who display the common antithesis of citizenship through greed and unchecked self-interest. Then, and only then, shall our nation be truly great.

Dr Mwangi is the managing director, Centre for Personal Leadership. [email protected].