Which Way Kenya?

Four years can fly by quite quickly. Four years ago it was – well, almost – that Kenya held its national elections with the resulting melee. A lot has happened since then, both good and bad. We have a new Constitution, the implementation of which is under much debate, still unconcluded and, quite frankly, not going the way it was supposed to. The necessary bills are yet to be debated and passed in parliament, less than a month to the first anniversary since Promulgation (how quickly time flies!).

Now there’s a reason for this delay. Besides the fact that there wasn’t total agreement about the new Constitution, meaning the implementation of the same is not exactly everybody’s cup of tea, the greatest obstacle is probably the fact that our leaders started campaigning for the next election almost as soon as they were sworn into office in 2008. Now, with the long awaited elections due next year (2012!), campaigns are at fever pitch. Strange when you think we’re nowhere near the officially accepted campaign period.

It’s no wonder then that so much has gone wrong that should have been a walk over. Food and fuel prices, literally the price of all basic commodities, have skyrocketed, Kenyans are dying of hunger, crucial projects have been halted; there’s so much acrimony amongst the parties that little is being done any more in way of governance. Congratulations to those ministries like Tourism and Communications who, despite this climate, are somehow still achieving much in their area. I doubt much is going on in most Constituencies as leaders fight for all sorts of newly-created positions, that is, when they are not wrangling within their own parties.

Like a marriage of convenience, it seems all everyone is waiting for now is for this year to drag past so the marriage can be annulled and fresh elections can give us a clear winner with a homogeneous government, not this mix and mismatch of parties and ideologies. Which means you can expect pretty little to happen in the meantime in way of development or policy formulation.

Thank God for those first two years or so when our leaders needed to prove to us that they were better than their rivals and therefore they worked with quite a bit of energy and together achieved much. With time this was overtaken by perpetual disagreements and corruption scandals which meant the gloves had come off and Kenyans could see all of them for who they really were. Seeing no need then for any more pretence they decided to go full throttle into what they know best, campaigns, wrangling, corruption, sabotage, hence our current predicament. Whatever fruits we have reaped from this group of leaders is then confined to that brief time period, and I thank God for, for all it’s worth, they did give us a new Constitution.

I firmly believe the new Constitution is the main reason God organized for Kenya to have a coalition government. Given the divisions and mood in the country for the last few years, given the constant struggle for power, I doubt any side could have achieved a new Constitution without the other. Hence the grand coalition, in Divine Wisdom.

So Kenyans should consider this a transition period separating our past from our future. And, despite what we may think, our current leaders were the best God could find to manage this transition. Their roles are different and some even dubious, but all necessary in this valley of decision that Kenya now finds herself, confronting both her past and future, and deciding how she wants to proceed.

We have everything we need to build a new country. We have a Constitution and are doing what we can under the circumstances to see it implemented. We have systems and policies and are busy formulating others, we have devolvement, County governments, we have serious infrastructure development and continuing - fibre connectivity and good roads right there on top of the list - we have free basic education, Universities galore, an ever growing middle class, ever expanding foreign investment, an intelligent populace, freedom of expression like we never experienced before…. We have what it takes to put a clear divide between our past and future, and determine to build a new and progressive society and economy both for ourselves and our children for ages to come. This present valley, whatever problems we went through, whatever more we’ll go through, this current transition is the seed on which a new and blessed Kenya will spring. (Not that we are not blessed now but we’ve kind of muddled that with lots of human error, too much human error).

And so we wait with bated breath for a new era, a new dispensation. We urge our leaders on in passing the necessary bills needed to implement the new Constitution (they are the only leaders we have for this). We look forward to a new age where our country will be run through effective and just policies and systems, where we shall all be Kenyans, where regions, tribes, parties, personalities come an invisible second to peace, development, cohesion, justice, equitableness, Nationalism.

We look forward to Kenya as we know it, Kenya as we have always wanted it to be.

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