Is This the Kenya We Want?

Surely, what has become of my beloved country? Has she degenerated into a country of sheer crime and impunity? Has she lost all value and regard for morality and our good African socialism? Has taking the life of a fellow human being become such a simple act? What happened to the respect for each other as humans?

To answer these questions, I will begin from where I stopped last week: that society produces what it has. If this premise is anything to go by, then the Kenyan populace is squarely to blame. But is this really the case?

A political analogy first: once there was a philosopher by the name John Locke. He sought to explain the origin of government. In this undertaking, he came up with the Social Contract Theory.

In it he begins by explaining the nature of the pre-political state. This state was characterized by “peace, goodwill, mutual assistance and preservation. Men were free and equal. They were also subject to the vague law of nature; that is they enjoyed the inalienable rights to life, liberty and property, but which entailed corresponding obligations:-men had to respect the rights of others.

This state of nature was however replete with fears and continual dangers. Reasons? The laws of nature were not clearly defined; there was no way of enforcing the decisions jointly taken by men and there were no judges to settle disputes. Further, the prevailing peace was disturbed by the “corruption and viciousness of degenerate men”, in pursuit of their self-interests.

There was need for a solution. It lay in two contracts namely the social contract and the government contract.

To form the social contract, each man surrendered to the entire community his “single power of punishing”. It was to be exercised by a single authority, as would be appointed by the community. This gave birth to the civil society. The civil society now went ahead to create an authority to enforce decisions, hence the government was born. In case the government acted contrary to the ends of the civil society, the community had the right to get rid of the government and set up another.

And that is it! That is the problem plaguing our beloved country. The “civil society” on March the 4^th of 2013 ceded some of their rights to the government that they elected on that day.

The recent wave of violence and killings of innocent Kenyans around the country is and deserves condemnation in the strongest possible manner. The fact that this is happening right under the nose of the government shows that somebody somewhere is “sleeping on their job”.

In legal terms the “sirikal” is blatantly breaching the contract between it and its “wananchi”, yet we want to be counted as part of the Homo sapien sapien race? Living in a country of a democratic and modern era?

In light of the above government inability to fulfil its side of the deal, the Kenyan man is playing it real. In the innate spirit of self-preservation, he is providing security to his people. Hence the spate of retaliatory attacks, the results of which have left more bitterness than sweetness in people’s minds and feelings. If you who are in charge of the state’s security have not been touched, let alone appalled by these events, then, Christ have mercy. You are no better than the Neanderthal pre-political man, savage as he was; no wonder Locke described him as degenerate!  

The value of the life of a man in Bungoma, is equal per se, to that of a child in Garissa and to that of a woman in Kwale…well according to my knowledge on human rights and according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, articles 1 and 3.

Reacting thus by sending KDF or the GSU to go and do what they do best-to terrorize people in the guise of disarmament and peace keeping, is utter abuse of the coercive power of the state by the “sirikal”! Excuse me, Hate the Game and Not the Player!!

I can see you raising eyebrows. Please do not misunderstand me. I am not in support of those carrying out retaliatory attacks based on their human centric instincts. Not at all. All I am trying to put through to you who form the government is, it’s high time you took responsibility of your duties and obligations, security of the citizens ranking highly among them. Stop acting like the bulking toad. After all, you are not “churas”, and will never be. (All due respect observed)

You see, scientists have proved that you cannot put this amphibian in hot water. It will very quickly jump out in fright. Should you put it in cold water though, then warm it slowly, it gets comfortable and complacent. In fact, it gets more and more groggy and less conscious as the water approaches boiling point. Finally, it succumbs, literally boiled to its end.

This is my advice to my beloved president and his deputy, the social Uhuru and the eloquent Ruto, respectively, you have begun on the wrong footing in as far as security is concerned. And for that, you cannot afford to be complacent. Not at any rate. Not unless you are desperate to have your tender skins boiled live by the “boiling water” called the wrath of the people. The fact that your government is still young in office will not exonerate you. Both your own people and history will judge you harshly if you do not act, and act rationally and mindfully.

Just to remind you, that is if u have already forgotten, I have previously stated that the current breed of Kenyans is a very enlightened lot. They will not “keep” you, as my guy in “muchatha” would put it. Precisely, they will not wait to fatten you for your final fall. They will instead “fall” you in broad daylight. If you do not want to believe me, consult the man from Sirte, one Muammar Gaddafi, that is if u can.

In the meanwhile, Kenya has become a state guided by the doctrine of Summam Bonum, that is, Survival for the fittest, “with elimination of the weakest”, as one Charles Darwin put it. With this in mind, Mr. President, act or perish! Read between the lines.

As for my fellow Kenyans, restraint is the best policy. That is why the word diplomacy exists. After all, any international relations scholar will tell you that diplomacy is the ‘continuation of war by other means” according to Zhou Enlai. That other means is peaceful negotiation and mediation. Even if the Swahili say that the “medicine for fire is fire” (dawa ya moto ni moto), it is worth remembering that violence breeds violence; it never brought any peace to anyone. Let us not be driven by the pursuit of our own selfish interests…well I know that this cry may as good as flogging a dead horse especially in today’s capitalistic world.

But I know it will change a soul somewhere. I write this drawing my inspiration from the Chinese proverb, “a single conversation with a wise person is worth a month’s study of books”. Cheers to y’all.

(Article written at the height of rampant insecurity around the areas named within it)