It’s time to stand up for nation’s dignity

The fascinating thing about time is in the way it is never enough.

We can freeze it in photographs, capturing moments we dare not forget but yet, not is not enough.

It’s like a charm they say. I am a staunch believer in what time does, particularly in the way it re-aligns the impossible.

Un-doctored history will teach you of a time when Mau Mau wasn’t just a rebellion.

It was a way of life, birthed by freedom fighters; the very first liberators.

Behind these brave men and phenomenal women is the element of time.

It was never rife for them to rise above colonial chains but they did it anyway.

They didn’t speak the white man’s language nor understand his ways, all they knew was that it was time.

With seamless tenacity they put down the Kipande.

People had had enough, the future needed protecting or else, I wouldn’t be here writing this and you wouldn’t be there reading it.

Clearly, the blood which soiled our nation wasn’t in vain.

Then there’s a time when speech wasn’t so free.

The ‘adults’ were whisperers of truth. In hushed tones, behind closed doors and only amongst trusted allies could one vocalise the disgust within them.

VERY SOON

They were united by the fear they felt, which they couldn’t do much to correct.

For two decades, one man was at the pinnacle of hegemony, ruling with an iron fist, even school children recited a loyalty pledge.

Time has made its mark, recording moments that no one envisioned.

I remember demands for a multi-party democracy by the second liberators, the fall of President Moi, the reign of President Kibaki, the inception of the 2010 Constitution and many other things, some of them good and some horrific.

Most of these happened because of the inevitability of time.

Our current reality is the endless seeking of a new dawn.

We are a people wanting a new way of being governed and it’s only a matter of time.

I have met and engaged Kenyans who are ready for better.

I have spoken to persons who love Kenya and understand that the time is now to not only take a stand but to stand up.

In the midst of our hopeless state, there’s a new energy trickling in.

It is an unusual sense of collective responsibility for the future of this great nation that is slowly growing within each of us.

Strange though truth is, when you realise how far we have come as a people, you will refuse to be defeated.

You will deny a few opportunistic personalities the space to destroy what was legitimised by the blood of heroic Kenyans.

We must refuse to be ridiculed and disrespected by a small group of elite minority.

STAND AND FIGHT

We must endeavour to start doing the extra-ordinary by showing up and adding our voices.

Only together can we redefine these trying times. It is time, my people, enough must be enough.

The disgust we feel towards the shameless theft scandals ought to be transformed into action. This should be our defining moment.

We plan to walk on the 12th day, of the 12th month of this year 2016, to regain our sense of pride as a people.

We plan to revive Article One of our Constitution and breathe much needed life into sovereignty of the people.

On this day, we shall walk together as one indivisible unit; speak in one voice like never before.

I want a better Kenya for myself, for you and all others. I can’t have it alone, so I ask you to walk with me.

Let’s walk for the high cost we are paying of corruption; lives we have lost to terror attacks, for the uncountable lives we have lost to a stinking health sector, for the exploding number of unemployed youth, for the rape victims who don’t know justice, for the increasing cost of living, for our family members who have lost jobs because of unbearable economic environment, for the unsafe buildings we live in, for those silenced while fighting for justice and, finally, walk for sanity. We all need it.

Scheaffer Okore is a programme officer for civic engagement at Siasa Place