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| Image source Jamii Forums |
“Today is rightly a day of great rejoicing. But it must also be a day of dedication. Freedom is a right, and without it the
dignity of man is violated. But freedom by itself is not enough. At home, we
have a duty to ensure that all our citizens are delivered from the afflictions
of poverty, ignorance and disease, otherwise freedom for many of our people
will be neither complete nor meaningful. We shall count as our friends, and
welcome as fellow-citizens, every man, woman and child, in Kenya— regardless of
race, tribe, colour or creed –- who is ready to help us in this great task of
advancing the social wellbeing of our people.
Freedom also means that we are now a member of the international
community, and that we have a duty to work for the peace of the world. Abroad, we shall count as our friends all
those who strive for peace.”
-- Jomo Kenyatta, December 12th 1963.
48 years later....
and our implicit
some of us may wonder,
The children hear us. Listen to their
But, what war?
For most Kenyans, the predominant worry is
Especially if you live(d) in Sinai, until death became part of your daily Ritual.
If not Sinai, other places, where life is itself is a roulette of danger:
Back to the future, Kenyan style.
In Kenya, violence is love, women are often told.
Hence, the shifting rationale, ambiguous purposes and strangely incoherent execution of our 'incursion' into Somalia.
Meanwhile, in the middle of rising unga prices, cooking gas shortages, rampant unemployment and the news that our multi-billion-shilling overpass to the Thika floods in heavy rains, should we mention the internally displaced Kenyans?
We are very good at saying we don’t leave a single stone unturned, but we
don’t turn a single stone. Maybe we turn pebbles.… Small stones are turned.
The big ones, no one dares.
—Kalenjin elder, on the lack of justice following post-election violence, Eldoret, May 27, 2011
Four years after the onset of Kenya’s 2007-2008 post-election violence—and with a new election campaign underway—Kenya’s government has done little to provide justice to victims. The government has failed to ensure the prosecution of perpetrators in all but a handful of the 1,133 or more killings committed during the violence, which pitted ruling party supporters and the police against opposition-linked armed groups and civilians. Victims of rape, assault, arson, and other crimes similarly await justice.
--"Turning Pebbles: Avoiding Accountability for Post Election Violence in Kenya," Human Rights Watch, December 2011.
But, today is a special day.
Power, Arendt said, is the capacity not just to act, but to act in concert.
The military can certainly do that.
On television, for the Jamhuri Day celebrations, our military displays all the different speeds at which men in uniforms with unfashionable trousers can walk, turn abruptly, hold sword to mouth, stand absolutely still and then move suddenly for no reason at all. They can also take off their hats in perfect unison and shout 'hip hip hooray.'
Nation Building.
Je, wewe pia unajivunia?
1 comments:
Viva Kenya!
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