This Country, Kenya

My dear beloved countrymen from Kenya are sick of this disease called ‘this country’, especially those who have been lucky enough to go to school and know that tribalism, corruption, and politicians are the Achilles heel of a nation in crisis, even though a good number of them practice it like it is the new world order. This country needs a new breed of young leaders, this country needs a new constitution, this country needs this, and this country needs that. Everybody knows what ‘this country’ needs to do in order to get out of this or that crisis. The problem is this country is made of people who are always talking about this country, a bit like in football. We, the fans know which pass should have been or should have not been made, who should have been chosen to play and who should not have played. The good thing is fans do not play football. Unfortunately, Kenyans who talk about this country are the same Kenyans who badly need to do something about ‘this country.’ Two years after the worst political crisis in the history of Kenya, the country is awash with political angling for twenty twelve. You will be hard beaten to think that twenty twelve is just 2012, not a pacific tsunami or a hurricane. It is just a year, one in which this country will go mad because some people demand to exercise their perceived right to political power, whether others like it or not. But no, Kenyans walk, eat, sleep 2012. Who is allying with whom? Prime time television news is a full blown political campaign, three years before the real event. Those who won haven’t even finished celebrating their political victories. There is just not time for such mundane things. Is it KKK – Kalenjin, Kikuyu and Kamba? Is Prime Minister Raila Odinga able to hold together the mean political machine that the Orange Democratic Movement was in time for a second stab at power? How come everybody is bashing Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka for suggesting that he and Agriculture Minister and Rift valley ODM point man are aligning themselves for 2012 – kujipanga, yet everyone has literally turned every burial and fundraising ceremony into an opportunity to speak well of self and ill of others? This country is at best like a wayward scene in a Spanish soap opera, with dangerously high doses of malice, political intrigue and backstabbing and never-ending political anxiety. Now, the jailed head of Mungiki, an illegal mafia-like outfit of young Kikuyus that have committed atrocious crimes is suddenly let free and runs straight into the arms of a Kikuyu preacher-cum Member of Parliament of a Nairobi seat, on an ‘enemy’ ODM ticket, while the government is curiously silent and unruffled. Clearly, the story is not yet over. On the same day, a grandson of the first white settler to introduce exotic diary cattle in East Africa and one the richest landowners in Kenya is released from a jail sentence of manslaughter five months into it, for “good behavior.” But because there is bigger story from Mungiki, the press, the people and the crafty politicians sit silent and ignore a matter that would have been otherwise another national crisis. Curiously enough, the man in the driving seat could as well have gone on holiday to the Bahamas, as chaos reigns, political jostling and mudslinging intensifies, macabre events happen, like a goat bearing a kid with a human face. Perhaps that is the reason President Kibaki remains in charge – letting everyone do what they are supposed to do, say what they want to say, while you sit back, plan wisely, work smart and sleep soundly! Meanwhile, the International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor with a curious Luo-ish O-name, Luis Ocampo, sends shivers down the spines of the rich and mighty. Forty days of playing bloody political violence like puppet masters, and cashing in on their careless actions, might put some of them on the spot. I hope Ocampo has done his homework well or else he will sink into a deep murky mud, having no time to collect tangible evidence against perpetrators of post election violence. A word from one Koffi Annan on the habits of the political principals and their loyal dogs might help. At the same time, a constitutional referendum and a redrawing of constituency boundaries which is a crude repositioning for a possible parliamentary political dispensation in on the cards, and finally, God forbid – the possibility of Oil reserves. Perhaps, the almighty has simply spared most of the world’s drama for this country, Kenya. Or may be, it is an overdose of an unhealthy mix of illegal drugs that Kenyan politicians and the mighty have prescribed for my dear patriotic Kenyans who know everything that this country needs, from changing the status quo – make the rich richer, the poor poorer and therein is the this country’s problem. Or may be, this country, Kenya is in the final teething stages of a vibrant, homebred, true African democracy. Only this big thing called twenty twelve that is too far away for anybody’s liking, will tell. kelviod@yahoo.com