Mind Boggling
By Njeri Mucheru-Oyatta
Chapter 77
Letting go of power is an extremely difficult thing as has been very ably demonstrated by our president. Kenya is in chaos and our president has not uttered even one word about what is going on. The last we heard from him was a new year message assuring us that he is the president of us all. Is he really? Not even a condolence message surely?
The point which everyone I listen to on tv and radio are missing is that both those who are fighting as well as the victims of the fighting are united by one thing. Our president. Yet, our president is nowhere to be seen! He is speaking to us through supporters of his political party some of whom were voted out during the last general election. Why can he not just come out and talk to his people and listen to what their grievances are? For those who are crying for Raila, he should ask them what it is they think Raila can do for them that Kibaki cant and assure them that he can do it. For those who are supporting him, assure them of their safety. Our president cannot think of such a simple thing because he is in reality not the president of Kenyans. As is clear from what his agents are saying, those who are causing mayhem are supporters of the opposition party and therefore the leaders of the opposition party are the ones responsible for the actions of those people. How can this be when we have a president in power? The supporters of the opposition party are Kenyans and their president is Kibaki not Raila or Kalonzo or Ruto.
I hear people saying that the youth are being misused by politicians to cause mayhem. This to me is based on an erroneous presumption that those youths have something better to do than be involved in the protests.
I believe that everything that happens in our lives, happens for a reason. That reason is a lesson that needs to be learned. Whenever I am faced with a difficult challenge or a crisis in my life, I know that the only way to get out of that situation is to search for the lesson which I am required to learn. In the crisis facing our country, there are two lessons that Kenyans are required to learn:
The first lesson is that normal life in Kenya for majority of our population which is poor is not peaceful and happy. Majority of Kenyans who are the ones we are watching on our television screens protesting and killing each other are unemployed, hungry and battered people. Telling them to go back to normal life is a ridiculous request. Those of us who have jobs and enough money to put a roof over our heads and food in our stomachs should use this experience to learn what those statistics telling us how poor Kenyans are really mean. We need to appreciate that what we have always regarded to be normal life is actually a life of misery for most of our brothers and sisters. It is only once we have appreciated this fact that we can understand what the “change” that the Kenyan people are looking for really means. It means that poverty must be made a first priority by our government, something Kibaki’s government has never realized and something that the poor do not believe Kibaki will ever be able to understand. I say this because Kibaki’s government’s policies during the last five years were based on finding out what the needs of the rich are and satisfying them assuming that taking care of the needs of the rich automatically takes care of the needs of the poor. In fact, our government’s policies should be based on finding out what the needs of the poor are and satisfying them. Giving the poor spending power automatically takes care of the needs of the rich who supply the poor with what to spend on.
The fact that Kibaki, as communicated through his agents, does not regard the protesters to be his people and sees them as supporters of the opposition is sufficient evidence of why the protesters are aggrieved. How can we unite as a country if our president is perceived and behaves as a president of the rich or perceived rich? How can we unite as a people when the minority who control the resources of the country cannot understand that the anxiety and despair they are experiencing with the boredom and the inability to go to work and to leave their houses is what normal life really means for majority of Kenyans?
The second and most important lesson that Kenyans need to learn is how to tell the difference between good and evil. Everyone in our country now knows without a shadow of a doubt that the swearing in of the president was premature and illegal because the chairman of the Electoral Commission has made a damning admission that he did not know whether Kibaki actually won the election. He has also stated that the original records for the vote tallying have been tampered with making a re-tallying of the votes impossible. Once everyone agrees on that point, two divergent views then arise:
One group says that the irregular vote tallying process is now irrelevant because there is no legal provision by which a rectification of the process can be made. They advise those who are aggrieved to accept the result and if they deem it advisable, go to court to have their grievances addressed. This group is unable to see that the irregularities of the vote tallying process are the cause of the protests and killings going on. They say that the protests and killings are a result of incitement by opposition politicians.
The other group has refused to accept the president and insists on the elections being repeated. They say that the protests and killings are a result of the confirmed irregularities in the tallying of the presidential votes.
How can one tell which of these positions is the position of good and which one is the position of evil? This puzzle has been documented in the Bible when the Pharoah of Egypt was faced with the demand by Moses that he should let the children of Israel go. The only means by which Moses was able to convince the Pharaoh to accede to his demand was by performing miracles. Initially, the miracles that Moses performed could be replicated by the Pharoah’s own wise men and were therefore not convincing. It was only after the Egyptians had suffered ten plagues which left the country on its knees that the Pharoah finally acceded to Moses’ demand. When the eighth plague of locusts was unleashed on the Egyptian people, Pharoah’s advisers begged him to let the Israelites go telling him that the country was destroyed but he refused to listen. The Pharoah’s own people were plagued by: waters turning into blood and the people having to dig around the river for water, frogs, lice, flies, diseased livestock, boils, hail, locusts, darkness and finally the death of all their firstborns. The Pharoah repeatedly deceived Moses that he would let the Israelites go if Moses prayed to God to take away the plagues but once the plagues were taken away, he would renege on his promise. The amazing thing is that even after the Pharoah finally let the children of Israel go, he pursued them to the Red Sea. Good prevailed over evil and the Israelites managed to free themselves from slavery.
To me, Kibaki is in exactly the same position as the Pharoah of Egypt. The poor in Kenya are demanding that Kibaki should let them free to determine their own destinies because just like the Pharaoh of Egypt could not understand that slavery is not the destiny of the children of Israel, Kibaki cannot understand that poverty is not the destiny of the citizens of Kenya. The poor in Kenya are so poor they might as well be regarded as slaves. Labour in Kenya is so cheap its amazing how people survive on the low wages they are paid. Employment law in Kenya does very little to safeguard the interests of the employees. The Pharoah was willing to sacrifice the lives of his own people to retain the Israelites in slavery, just like Kibaki is sacrificing the lives of Kenyans to retain his position as president.
As a Kenyan, I am wondering whether I should side with the group that is asking us to accept Kibaki and get on with our lives or the one insisting that the election must be re-done. At this point in time, the president I voted for is irrelevant. I want to know how to bring peace to our country, how to unite Kenyans, how to resolve the impasse between our leaders. God is Love and Love is acting in the best interests of others and disregarding your own interests if necessary. Jesus commanded us to love our neighbours as we love ourselves and to put God first in everything that we do.
Is it good for me to ignore the cries of the protesters that their right to a free and fair election has been violated? Is it good for me to ask the protesters to take their protests to court when I know so well how corrupt our courts are? Is it good for me to lie to the poor and pretend that Kibaki cares about them when I know so well that if he cared about them, he, as the president, would have at least said or done something about the protests and killings we are experiencing by now?
The choice we have now as Kenyans is not between Raila, Kibaki or Kalonzo anymore. The choice we have is whether to accept Kibaki as our president. I cannot accept him. To me, Kibaki is the reason for the crisis we are in.
By Njeri Mucheru-Oyatta
Chapter 77
Letting go of power is an extremely difficult thing as has been very ably demonstrated by our president. Kenya is in chaos and our president has not uttered even one word about what is going on. The last we heard from him was a new year message assuring us that he is the president of us all. Is he really? Not even a condolence message surely?
The point which everyone I listen to on tv and radio are missing is that both those who are fighting as well as the victims of the fighting are united by one thing. Our president. Yet, our president is nowhere to be seen! He is speaking to us through supporters of his political party some of whom were voted out during the last general election. Why can he not just come out and talk to his people and listen to what their grievances are? For those who are crying for Raila, he should ask them what it is they think Raila can do for them that Kibaki cant and assure them that he can do it. For those who are supporting him, assure them of their safety. Our president cannot think of such a simple thing because he is in reality not the president of Kenyans. As is clear from what his agents are saying, those who are causing mayhem are supporters of the opposition party and therefore the leaders of the opposition party are the ones responsible for the actions of those people. How can this be when we have a president in power? The supporters of the opposition party are Kenyans and their president is Kibaki not Raila or Kalonzo or Ruto.
I hear people saying that the youth are being misused by politicians to cause mayhem. This to me is based on an erroneous presumption that those youths have something better to do than be involved in the protests.
I believe that everything that happens in our lives, happens for a reason. That reason is a lesson that needs to be learned. Whenever I am faced with a difficult challenge or a crisis in my life, I know that the only way to get out of that situation is to search for the lesson which I am required to learn. In the crisis facing our country, there are two lessons that Kenyans are required to learn:
The first lesson is that normal life in Kenya for majority of our population which is poor is not peaceful and happy. Majority of Kenyans who are the ones we are watching on our television screens protesting and killing each other are unemployed, hungry and battered people. Telling them to go back to normal life is a ridiculous request. Those of us who have jobs and enough money to put a roof over our heads and food in our stomachs should use this experience to learn what those statistics telling us how poor Kenyans are really mean. We need to appreciate that what we have always regarded to be normal life is actually a life of misery for most of our brothers and sisters. It is only once we have appreciated this fact that we can understand what the “change” that the Kenyan people are looking for really means. It means that poverty must be made a first priority by our government, something Kibaki’s government has never realized and something that the poor do not believe Kibaki will ever be able to understand. I say this because Kibaki’s government’s policies during the last five years were based on finding out what the needs of the rich are and satisfying them assuming that taking care of the needs of the rich automatically takes care of the needs of the poor. In fact, our government’s policies should be based on finding out what the needs of the poor are and satisfying them. Giving the poor spending power automatically takes care of the needs of the rich who supply the poor with what to spend on.
The fact that Kibaki, as communicated through his agents, does not regard the protesters to be his people and sees them as supporters of the opposition is sufficient evidence of why the protesters are aggrieved. How can we unite as a country if our president is perceived and behaves as a president of the rich or perceived rich? How can we unite as a people when the minority who control the resources of the country cannot understand that the anxiety and despair they are experiencing with the boredom and the inability to go to work and to leave their houses is what normal life really means for majority of Kenyans?
The second and most important lesson that Kenyans need to learn is how to tell the difference between good and evil. Everyone in our country now knows without a shadow of a doubt that the swearing in of the president was premature and illegal because the chairman of the Electoral Commission has made a damning admission that he did not know whether Kibaki actually won the election. He has also stated that the original records for the vote tallying have been tampered with making a re-tallying of the votes impossible. Once everyone agrees on that point, two divergent views then arise:
One group says that the irregular vote tallying process is now irrelevant because there is no legal provision by which a rectification of the process can be made. They advise those who are aggrieved to accept the result and if they deem it advisable, go to court to have their grievances addressed. This group is unable to see that the irregularities of the vote tallying process are the cause of the protests and killings going on. They say that the protests and killings are a result of incitement by opposition politicians.
The other group has refused to accept the president and insists on the elections being repeated. They say that the protests and killings are a result of the confirmed irregularities in the tallying of the presidential votes.
How can one tell which of these positions is the position of good and which one is the position of evil? This puzzle has been documented in the Bible when the Pharoah of Egypt was faced with the demand by Moses that he should let the children of Israel go. The only means by which Moses was able to convince the Pharaoh to accede to his demand was by performing miracles. Initially, the miracles that Moses performed could be replicated by the Pharoah’s own wise men and were therefore not convincing. It was only after the Egyptians had suffered ten plagues which left the country on its knees that the Pharoah finally acceded to Moses’ demand. When the eighth plague of locusts was unleashed on the Egyptian people, Pharoah’s advisers begged him to let the Israelites go telling him that the country was destroyed but he refused to listen. The Pharoah’s own people were plagued by: waters turning into blood and the people having to dig around the river for water, frogs, lice, flies, diseased livestock, boils, hail, locusts, darkness and finally the death of all their firstborns. The Pharoah repeatedly deceived Moses that he would let the Israelites go if Moses prayed to God to take away the plagues but once the plagues were taken away, he would renege on his promise. The amazing thing is that even after the Pharoah finally let the children of Israel go, he pursued them to the Red Sea. Good prevailed over evil and the Israelites managed to free themselves from slavery.
To me, Kibaki is in exactly the same position as the Pharoah of Egypt. The poor in Kenya are demanding that Kibaki should let them free to determine their own destinies because just like the Pharaoh of Egypt could not understand that slavery is not the destiny of the children of Israel, Kibaki cannot understand that poverty is not the destiny of the citizens of Kenya. The poor in Kenya are so poor they might as well be regarded as slaves. Labour in Kenya is so cheap its amazing how people survive on the low wages they are paid. Employment law in Kenya does very little to safeguard the interests of the employees. The Pharoah was willing to sacrifice the lives of his own people to retain the Israelites in slavery, just like Kibaki is sacrificing the lives of Kenyans to retain his position as president.
As a Kenyan, I am wondering whether I should side with the group that is asking us to accept Kibaki and get on with our lives or the one insisting that the election must be re-done. At this point in time, the president I voted for is irrelevant. I want to know how to bring peace to our country, how to unite Kenyans, how to resolve the impasse between our leaders. God is Love and Love is acting in the best interests of others and disregarding your own interests if necessary. Jesus commanded us to love our neighbours as we love ourselves and to put God first in everything that we do.
Is it good for me to ignore the cries of the protesters that their right to a free and fair election has been violated? Is it good for me to ask the protesters to take their protests to court when I know so well how corrupt our courts are? Is it good for me to lie to the poor and pretend that Kibaki cares about them when I know so well that if he cared about them, he, as the president, would have at least said or done something about the protests and killings we are experiencing by now?
The choice we have now as Kenyans is not between Raila, Kibaki or Kalonzo anymore. The choice we have is whether to accept Kibaki as our president. I cannot accept him. To me, Kibaki is the reason for the crisis we are in.
In my view therefore, to resolve the crisis we are facing, we must have a fresh presidential election done as soon as possible when we can choose from the group of candidates who we are presented with.
This crisis Kenya is facing will not be resolved until such time as we can all learn the lessons it has brought to us. Perhaps the lessons are more than appreciating the plight of our poor and learning to tell the difference between good and evil. What we all need to do is to think deeply about this crisis and find ways and means of communicating with each other and finding a middle ground to stand on together as one nation.
Thankfully, nothing, whether good or bad, lasts forever. This crisis will end some day, hopefully sooner than later. Is it possible that our country will find a lasting solution to this crisis and we shall get ourselves a leader who is truly a president of all Kenyans?
If you ask me, I would say that is IMPOSSIBLE. Is anything really possible with God? I am praying that God will show me that even this is possible.
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