LOOKING BACK, LOOKING AHEAD AT 50 YEARS!

The nation is still basking in the eerie of turning 50 years! Yes, half a century since we took charge of our destiny and determination, away from the yoke of colonization. At a packed Safaricom Stadium Kasarani (formerly Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani), H. E President Uhuru Kenyatta led the nation in marking this auspicious event. Our first birthday since, the late Munyao Kisoi lowered the Union Jack and raised the Kenyan flag, atop Mt Kenya on December 12^th 1963!

Pomp and color best described the day! We let go of our daily troubles as a country and put on brave smiles that braved even the chilly weather around the country! Kenya had finally turned 50 in the year of Jubilee, under the Jubilee government! The day when Kenyans forgot tribalism and ethnicity and threw them into the gutter, their rightful home! Kenya shone brightly and stood tall, as the entire world joined us in the celebrations and world leaders trouped to Nairobi.

Indeed, as a nation we have come far, education, infrastructure, technology, democracy and economic well-being, among other spheres of life, Kenya has indeed grown. A country of multi-party democracy, access to elementary education and higher learning institutions has reached great heights, we have the Thika ultra-modern highway and our road infrastructure is by far the region’s best. We have adopted the democracy of accommodating divergent political views and opinions and our politics, even though greatly pronounced along tribal and ethnic overtones, have never led us to a civil war, unlike what most of the African countries are used to. We have grown into being the region’s economic hub and yes across the globe, Kenya has earned her respect.

However, as a country, celebrating 50 years, we have had the negatives that have hindered our efforts to make Kenya the country that our founding fathers and independence champions dream of. Poverty, ignorance and communicable diseases ail the country, half a century since her birth. Add corruption, negative ethnicity and tribalism, nepotism, plundering of the nation’s resources, divisive politics and the disgusting culture of impunity and you get the perfect reasons why most Kenyans at large, do not have much to show for and celebrate, 50 years down the line. These have been the Achilles heel that has held our country hostage.

It is at best ironical that as we mark 50 years of self-rule and determination, the very problems that we experienced at independence, are what we are still fighting. The jiggers that torment our brothers and sisters in parts of Central Kenya and other parts of the country are a shame. Kenyans have died of hunger in recent years, our marginalized Kenyans in the Northern Frontier still shed blood over water and pasture for their livestock, cattle rustling is not going away anytime soon, the girl child in the marginalized parts of Kenya is still faced with the chilling fangs of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), forced marriages at tender age and some outdated traditions still deny her access to education.  Poverty is biting even harder in the slums that have mushroomed in our cities, the cost of living has skyrocketed and basic commodities are slowly but surely becoming a strain for Kenyans who are falling deeper and deeper into poverty, with every dawn of the sun.

At 50, Kenyans have become disillusioned about this beautiful country. Pregnant with expectations as the sun rises, yet as night falls disillusion sets in. The daily hardships and challenges have almost chocked the spirit that lives in the hearts of Kenyans. From bad and divisive politics to unnecessary leadership wrangles in our county assemblies and power fights, Kenyans have just had to take in too much. Most of the leaderships have clearly failed and the politics of recycling are the order of the day. Those who failed to deliver while in office, camouflage and come with party clamor, and due to politics of euphoria, they get back to office.

As we jubilate and eerie at reaching the 50 years milestone, let us be true and patriotic to our nation. We have reasons to celebrate but again, we have daunting challenges and hurdles that besiege us. True love for our country demands that we must sit and objectively look at these two sides of our nation; the side of successes and the other one of failures. We must uphold the rights that we did to achieve these successes and even do more. On the other hand, it will be suicidal to ignore the failures and why they happened. This is the way to realize Vision 2030 and also make sure that in the next 50 years, we all have reasons to smile and be proud of our beloved nation!

We must appreciate our Harambee Stars for gifting us the perfect present as we marked our birthday. Their victory over Sudan, not only confirmed them as the region’s best, but also gave us all reasons that the African Nation’s Cup in 2015 to be held in Morocco, is a dream that is closer than ever. Apart from fan’s apathy especially in Nairobi, the team under Belgium tactician, Adel Amrouche, displayed some attacking football that we had never witnessed in recent years!

Happy Birthday Kenya!

ADIOS TATA!

BYE MANDELA! Screamed the Saturday Standard of December 7, 2013. Kenya through her media and leaders had paid tribute to the legendary statesman from South Africa. The Daily Mail captured it all in its headline, DEATH OF A COLOSSUS. The Sun, eulogized President of the World. The MDIBA, a television channel went on air since his death, solely eulogizing and paying tribute to Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, the father of the nation!

Politics and the sporting world once again came together, just as Tata had joined them in his life. The entire world and all her leaders paid tribute to the respectable man who lived up to every bit as a statesman. The sporting fraternity too paid to the man who was instrumental in ensuring that South Africa hosted the 2010 World Cup. Born in August 18 1918, he passed away on December 5 2013, at the glittering age of 95 years! He experienced the chills and horrors of the apartheid regime, fought them and united South Africans, away from the racial differences. The revered man, fondly referred to as Tata Madiba, the man is no more.

He was a unifier from the moment he walked out of prison; these are the words of fiery South African cleric, Archbishop Desmond Tutu. And yes indeed, Mandela exemplified this in his struggle to fight for the independence of South Africa, fight against apartheid and the fact that he united the country. He broke the racial lines that were the trademark of the apartheid regime! After 27 years in a prison on Robben Island, as a result of the ideals of freedom, equality and justice that he believed in  alongside other leaders like Walter Sisulu and Steve Biko among others, Mandela served only one term as president; from 1994-1999, then handed over power to Thabo Mbeki. Now this was humility and love for the nation. He chose not to cling on power as most African leaders do. Mandela did the complete opposite of the African trend whereby presidents hold on to power for as long as they breathe, not bearing in mind their ailing health and age!

Mandela was the enduring figure in the war against apartheid in his home country. A battle that he won and on his ascension to power, chose magnanimity over revenge, he forgave his oppressors.  Through him, the Rainbow nation was united and the apartheid was defeated. He dismantled the legacy of apartheid by tackling racism, poverty and inequality and fostered reconciliation of the black and white races. This set South Africa on the right footing to development and better lives for her citizens.The African son who believed in the cause of a better Africa for all.

From the Rivonia treason trial in 1964, where Mandela delivered a moving speech from the dock about ‘this struggle by the African people for a free and equal society, where all people had equal opportunities and lived in harmony. Later, these words captured from another speech … an ideal that if need be, my Lord, I am prepared to die for……,  showed the resolve by this man in his quest for a better South Africa. He was defiant and prescient, even as the shadow of death loomed so near every second of his bitter and treacherous fight for his ideals and cause.

Mandela chose to live his better part of life in trying to make his country better for all, and break the inequities that were so pronounced along the racial lines. Out of his 95 years alive, Mandela lived only 22 as a free man! And yes indeed, Mandela won this battle, however in a journey that was gruelling and even earned him the tag of the most famous political prisoner of his time.

In the sporting sphere, a year into his presidency, the South African rugby national team, The Springboks, won the 1995 Rugby World Cup, at their first attempt as a unitary state. A red-hot Jonah Lomu-inspired All Blacks lost to a Mandela- inspired Springboks.  President Mandela was on hand to the Ellis Webb trophy to the then South African captain Francois Pienaar. Three years later, the national soccer team, Bafana Bafana (The Boys) won the African Nations Cup, in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. …Sport laughs in the face of all discrimination’, Mandela once said. Truly incredible performances from a nation that was barely ten years old as a democracy! South Africa was fast blossoming in politics, social and sporting spheres!

However, as we join the entire world in mourning the death and celebrating the life of this legendary statesman, we need to revisit the leadership lessons that he taught us.

After a 27-years incarceration on Robben Island, Tata came into power in 1994. But he did one incredible and unique act of leadership. He chose to forgive the very tormentors who had made his life hard alongside other freedom fighters like Walter Sisulu and Steve Biko, among others. He chose magnanimity and humility in his five years of presidency and broke the bitter racial lines that South Africans had known. This is what African leaders should look into and break away from the nepotism, ethnicity and politics of division that they hold onto while in power. This would be a giant step in curing the African leadership of these ills of division that they sow with unyielding determination.

He chose to hand over power after just one term in office! This is perhaps the greatest legacy of the Mandela leadership that most African presidents have dismally fallen. Relinquishing the trappings of power, after just a term in office, despite the bitterly painful struggle and fight against apartheid and colonisation, is simply incredible!  It is only in Africa where we have presidents for life! They hold onto power for decades and abhor any sign of change. Political intimidation and constitutional violations are two key weapons that they use to cling on power. This is done at the expense of a nation’s peace and the social-political and economic well-being of the citizens. This high office is mainly used for personal and selfish gains. As a result, African is lagging this behind in development due to these poor leadership patterns; a continent that is the richest in natural resources. Mandela set the ball rolling in the right direction but successive leaderships across the continent have lost the plot.

As a continent, very rarely have African presidencies adhered to these great virtues of responsible leadership and service to humanity that Tata Madiba taught us, all through his struggle and then in his one-term presidency. The greatest respect to Tata would be for the African leaders to follow in his footsteps of leadership. That way, Africa would get back on that track that Mandela, Mwalimu Nyerere, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta and Kwame Nkrumah, among others envisaged as they waged the battle to attain self-determination and a better continent for all her sons.

You will always achieve more in this world through acts of mercy than you will through acts of retribution’’ Nelson Mandela once said on revenge.

Rest in Peace Tata Madiba.