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 12th 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!
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