If only God would speak…

Many Kenyans will agree on these few points:

• Unlike any other General Election in Kenya, the one just ended was hotly contested.
• Rigging was done both by PNU and ODM
• The ECK slept on their job, and by the time they woke up, Mwai Kibaki had been sworn in as the president of Kenya.
• Some Kenyans are disatisfied and feel cheated
• Hundreds of Kenyans have lost their lives, others maimed, and thousands displaced
• Properties of both individuals and businesses have been looted, destroyed and burned to ashes
• Raila Odinga cannot bear the thought of the phrase ‘not in power’
• Mwai Kibaki defiantly sits tight and won’t burge
• Odinga will not hear of it, won’t go to court, and believes that by organising mass rallies, he will force Kibaki out of State house.
• Meanwhile, our economy continues on a downward trend. Farmers cannot sell their produce, hotels in the coast have laid off staff, sugarcane was burnt in the fields, need I say more?

The truth is that, many Kenyans want to carry on with their lives; take their children to school, earn a living, get treated in hospital, pay a visit to their grandmother, build a house, marry, bury their dead, give birth; and they want to do this in an environment of peace.

However, the longer the political climate in Kenya persists in uncertainty, the better chances we, the ordinary Kenyans have to reflect on what we really want from our government. Our leaders have shown us their true colours. Do they really care about Kenyans, or just about themselves?  This is the best time we have to ask ourselves, “What is it we really want for Kenya, and of our leaders”? Now that seeds of tribal hatred have been planted, what does the future hold? 2012 may seem a distance away, but it is just around the corner, what lies in store? Should we begin stocking up on machetes?

I still maintain, the tribal hatred we are experiencing was brought about by politicians as a campaign strategy. Ordinary Kenyans fell for it. We have all seen the consequences, and who continues to suffer? The ordinary Kenyan!

My call to the younger generation,  is to wake up and realize that neither Kibaki nor Odinga hold the key to Kenya’s garden of Eden. Nor the clout that sorrounds them. We can change the way Kenyan politics is conducted. We can get things done, effectively and efficiently.  But we cannot do this in the prevailing circumstances that are laden with hatred, malice and suspicision.

To the best of my knowledge, no leader has addressed the question of poverty sufficiently. Yet every politician uses that line, as their key bargaining point. Year after year, Kibera and Mathare slums continue to expand. The gap between the rich and the poor continues to widen. And what do Kenyans do, after listening to the poison breathed out by the so called leaders, we kill each other, and spoil the very enterprises that earn us income. This will lead us nowhere. When 2012 comes, the same clout, (in different outfits and alliances ofcourse) will stand-up on podiums and bemoan how poor Kenyans are and how the will implement change! Hot air, nothing else.

Just like in poetry, there is always another angle to everything. There is always a hidden meaning in every line. There is plenty that I (we?)do not know, and there is plenty I (we)have read and heard that was surprising, shocking, or plainly put, doesn’t add up.

That is why I wish God would speak, to all of us Kenyans.