Never a Dull Moment in Kenya

The last week and a half has seen Kenya wade through a weird path of pride, glory, controversy, honour, glory again, and the list goes on.

In the week that our new Constitution was signed into law, Kenyan athlete Rudisha broke the record for the 800 meters race – not once – but twice!

Funny story, at the promulgation of the new law, we were graced by the unannounced visit of one Al Bashir, the President of Sudan, much to the chagrin of the international community – ouch! See, the terrible human atrocities at Dafur have earned Bashir an ICC warrant of arrest.

Not to worry, a week or so later the national census results were released, apparently perfectly according to the UN requirements and format, within a year since the counting exercise. And we scored marks there…

Only in Kenya do things take such sudden twists and turns, from good, to bad, to worse, then back to best again. One minute the world is singing our praises and we are on top of the moon for yet another milestone surmounted, the next we are being threatened with UN action.

To be honest it no longer feels strange any more, we’ve gotten used to powerful nations telling or wanting to tell us what to do. Patronage is a word and attitude we’ve gotten used to by now. Foreign diplomats go around the country talking to the general populace about all sorts of political and leadership issues and one wonders for goodness sake who rules our nation any more? And whatever happened to diplomacy?

Back to that arrest warrant, since it was issued, why hasn’t the ICC simply walked to Al Bashir and arrested him? Of all the places he has been to since, why must Kenya be the one to do the arresting? And did he not share a platform with many of the Western diplomats on that day? Why not come and whisk Bashir away instead of requiring Kenya to do such a task which is obviously rather undesirable for any African government?

Well, Bashir is an international issue, but the New Constitution is a Kenyan issue. So we will just concentrate on implementing and enjoying our new law, hoping it brings with it the much talked about freedom, democracy and development. And we will continue scooping athletics golds and setting new records.

Kenya will live, despite everything. That’s our spirit, our culture, our DNA. We survive the worst; resilient we are. We’ve seen it all yet here we still are. Kenya will live!

Related Posts
Sweet Moments of Glory
Magical Day for Magical Kenya
Bravo, our Athletes and Inspiring Audience
Kenya's New Constitution - the Journey Ends