State of the Kenyan Nation: What is the way forward?

Fellow Kenyans, as I write this post I feel tired. Very tired.

In fact am down right mentally exhausted by what I see and read about our country almost daily since the beginning of this year.

Everyday, I listen to the news or read with despair about a parliament that refuses to be taxed, the high cost of basic foodstuffs, a hungry population and leaders who want to escape justice from the Waki report. Sometimes it can get really annoying. And when you listen to other Kenyans talk about these issues, all you get is complaints after complaints summed up in pure frustration.

Something is going to give. Soon. And we may not like the consequences.

I’m not going to repeat here what has been discussed a great deal in other forums, but Kenyans must now draw a line on where they want the country to go. Without a shadow of a doubt, we do not have any leaders worth talking about at the helm of this nation.

It’s quite clear that the leadership philosophy in Kenya is still based on the personal accumulation of wealth and nothing else. There is no visible commitment to a higher vision (despite the launch of vision 2030), no dream, no nationalistic desire to improve citizens’ welfare, but just a primitive accumulation of personal wealth by all means possible.

We can count well-documented corruption scams in this country for hours. I’m not about to do it here. The site www.marsgroupkenya.org provides well-documented corruption reports for any Kenyan who needs to read about the big political names that always get away scot free.

The big question now for all of us who care about the future of our families in Kenya remains – What are we going to do about this state of affairs?

Complaining and verbally ventilating our anger regarding the Kenyan leadership does not help one bit to change the country for the better. People simply need to take charge of their destiny through actions.

When I ran for a civic seat in my residential ward of Kileleshwa last year, I was trying to make a profound statement that one can actually effect positive change in Kenya right from the grassroots level. It wasn’t easy. In fact it was one of the most challenging and frustrating undertakings I’ve ever done in my life. Some of my peers and relatives thought I was crazy.

Though I lost the elections to an ODM nominee, I was happy to have introduced a fresh approach to local politics and shared with voters a glimpse of what is possible with a committed leadership at the grass roots level (see my campaign posts of 2007). I still meet lots of people in the ward who tell me they respect what I did last year.

What do we do now?

My challenge to fellow Kenyans who are increasingly frustrated by the state of the Nation is not to sit there and moan, but to start doing something about it. We are fond of ranting and raving about the leaders, especially in our homes during the evening news or in our favourite local pubs. This just raises our blood pressure but changes nothing on the ground.

Lets not send or forward angry emails that don’t change our lives. We need to get out of our office chairs and do something to change the situation. This is the point where many Kenyans often ask: “Surely, what can I do? I’m just an ordinary Kenyan trying to survive.”

As I saw for myself last year, there’s a lot one can do if they apply their minds to it, even in a small way. For instance, one can even organise neighbourhood meetings, reach out to like-minded peers - begin a culture of holding meetings in small halls or rooms to discuss and implement a way forward for our Nation. It is these little things that eventually build up into something big. This is far much better than doing nothing.

The guys who participate in forums such as ‘Bunge La Mwanachi’ or peaceful street demonstrations are admirable Kenyans who have decided to do something for their country, rather than complain endlessly waiting for an ‘Obama’ to emerge. I really respect their courage against great odds.

The intriguing question for all of us remains: Why must we always wait for someone else to emerge and take the lead, someone else to demonstrate, someone else to speak up, someone else to sacrifice by putting his career or family on the line?

I submit that perhaps we don’t want to rock our comfort zones or our safety cocoons. Or perhaps we just don’t care that much.

Allow me to pose one more question: Do many working professionals hold the attitude - “Let someone else, with ‘little’ to lose do it for me?” I definitely think so and I will explain this very briefly.

Just recently on October 6th, I attended a City Council public meeting to discuss LATF funds for Kileleshwa Ward at St. Marks Church Westlands. These Ward meetings had been advertised severally in the newspapers and through posters (see image). Apparently this didn’t work very well. Besides myself, my two pals, and Councillor Otieno, no one else from the Ward turned up for this crucial meeting.


The meeting was organised to discuss the LATF allocation of nearly Ksh. 4M and determine priority projects for the ward next year. Our deliberations with the Councillor saw the funds getting earmarked to begin the construction of the Waruku Health Clinic (one of my key campaign pledges).

It was a big shame that the Kilimani Councillor, Linnet Mirehane, had no single voter from her Ward to discuss the use of these funds.

I’ve provided this episode to illustrate my point – an overwhelming majority are waiting for someone else to take charge of the country’s destiny and will not bother to step in, even at the most basic level. And we still complain loudly when things don’t work in Kenya.

Perhaps, we are just cowards, content to complain from a distance rather than face our visionless leaders. And if we are a people who lack the courage to confront our corrupt and inept leadership, a leadership that is very likely to destroy our future, then surely we deserve everything we are experiencing now.

If we are not going to do something about it, lets just shut up and get on with our difficult lives.