POLITICAL REBIRTH IN KENYA IS BECKONING

Friday, December 05, 2008
Story by: BY JOHN CHERUIYOT

ODM supporters celebrated the absolute sweep of top posts in parliament by ODM. The post of the Speaker of National Assembly went to Kenneth Marende. Many Kenyans knew little about Marende. The people concluded, however, that he was a servant leader. A great reformist. He promised to make parliament the most dynamic and revolutionary institution in the land. But his recent utterances have surprised many Kenyans more particularly the ODM fraternity. He candidly stated that by law it is illegal for MPs to pay taxes!

That those who feel philanthropic enough and charitable enough should only contribute from their emolument not as a tax. If a pauper earning Sh7,000 pays taxes how on earth should an MP fail to pay tax when his gross income is nearly a million shillings a month? Kenyans are today proud of Johnston Muthama the MP for Kangundo who did them proud by paying taxes to KRA. He stood by the people and by his conscience and that of the nation. Kenyans are now assertive.

They know from Malaba to Mandera, from Kilifi to Kisumu: that the ruling class is the enemy number one of the nation. They also know that all the parties are empty shells bereft of ideology and philosophy. Indeed Kenyans are slowly graduating from the school of ignorance and naivety to empowerment and enlightenment.

If all the 42 communities and all the 210 constituencies in the country will do their home work Kenya will sooner than later be an economic tiger of Africa. It is now time to elect men and women driven by vision and mission to serve the people.

I see a Kenya where sons and daughters from every tribe, every tongue, every race, every religion and every region will join hands to build a new order. To build a just Kenya and a corrupt-free nation. They will uproot tribalism, nepotism, favouritism, corruption, poverty, ignorance, disease and backwardness.

They will build new institutions and systems that serve all the 42 tribes and all the regions equally. They will unleash patriotism never seen in the living history of Kenya. The Boran will embrace the Bukus, the Luhya will do the same for the Luo, Kikuyu for the Kamatusa, the Kamba with the Giriama. The new generation will do what colonialists and post colonial administration failed. Kenya will become a great nation and a great economy. The Obamas, the Mandelas and the Gandhis of Kenya will arise.

The dreams of JM Kariuki, of Tom Mboya, of Koitalel, of Kimathi, of every Kenyan who died for the freedom and liberation of the nation will be realised. Never again will a Kenyan rise against another Kenyan. Never again will the Kalenjin rise against the Kikuyu, Luo against the Luhya. Kenyans will be proud to be born Kenyans. Kenyans will build world class schools, world class universities and world class digital industries. Poverty will become a thing of the past--a museum case.

The opportunistic and greedy leadership will melt away. That moment for the rebirth and renaissance in Africa and Kenya is beckoning. Those who were born in this generation will marvel and praise God for the new dispensation. The Obamas of Kenya will like Obama say "I was not born into money and status. My family gave me love, they gave me education, and most of all they gave me hope--that in Kenya, no dream is beyond our grasp, if we reach for it and fight for it and work for it". Kenya and Africa have suffered for the lack of leadership and passion for excellence.

Africa and Kenya have been slaves of the devil and his demons. The poverty and cruelty now ravaging the continent are but the actual manifestations of the powers of darkness in high places. Africa has for centuries been the home of evil spirits sent to rule with an iron fist and raw evil.

The rise of Obama in America as the most powerful president on the planet has revived hope in Kenya. This was what Africa has been waiting for, for centuries. For a daredevil leader who would defy tradition and the myth that the moneyed and the privileged are the anointed for leadership.