Friday, January 15, 2010

Its not Kibaki's, Raila's, Ruto's or UK's country; its yours

Everytime I work up myself to do a blog about Kibaki's extremely non-existent leadership qualities, I am reminded that, I've campaigned for him twice despite no evidence of any leadership skills especially when we neded them most i.e. in the 80s.
Everytime we work ourselves up to write or whine online about his laissez-faire attitude towards corruption, we should look at his ambivalent past record when he had the opportunity to do something about corruption (KREN).
Everytime we sit around asking when he'll show cohones, lets reflect on why the General Kiguoya title coined by Waruru wa Kanja fits Kibaki so well.
Everytime we whine about m-o-1's extremely backward years as president, lets recall that we kept him there for 24 years. He didn't rule alone, we were always the majority. And changing leadership shouldn't just have been about waiting to go to a fair ballot. There are many others ways that we could have gotten rid of him. Just look at how they do it in countries like South Korea, Thailand, and even Russia. Mass movements where young and old march to the capital or to the palace and show their leaders a red card.
We whine endlessly about tribalism, yet in 2008, they had to shutdown Mashada and probably should have closed You Missed this or that given the tribal stuff it propagates.

The simple facts are that, if you were to tell a foreigner that Kenyans were proud of their country and took ownership of problems, he'd ask you why then do they have to wait for Raila to lead them to planting trees on the Mau? Don't they have their own or their parents or their uncle's or grandparent's farm theat could do with planting some trees?
We talk about the need for change but most of us will only talk about it online or in the pub as they sink pints. Why not join Mwalimu Mati, Ombaka and others when they are matching to Harambee House or to bunge?

10 comments:

KW said...

True. In our quest for change we have to look in the mirror before we look out of the window.

Unknown said...

Cool, now let's whine about our whining... Someone will listen and do something.. hehehe (on a light note)

:-)

Blanket condemnation doesn't help. There are many Kenyans who are doing positive things. We should also be proud that we removed Moi peacefully. Radical action can have radical consequences (as you saw in 2008).

Granted Kibaki may have some major weaknesses but lets be fair in our criticism, he has done so much more to uplift Kenyan's livelihood in 2 terms than Moi did in 24years.

Let's preach peace and harmony. Let's not feel powerless when faced with challenging situations.

If you and I do something to change our circumstances and then spread the word, am sure other Kenyans would follow suit.

Like our cousin Obama famously said... YES WE CAN!

Then let's do it. Make that small change. LEts make Kenya better. If not for us, let's make it for our CHildren!

The Black Mamba said...

Kenyans prefer status quo and are usually suspicious of anyone who promises to help them.

MainaT said...

Maishinski-I've detected a note sarcasm creeping into your comments of late. Ama its humour disguised as sarcasm? Whichever, please a come for your clip round the ears when ready.

Unknown said...

lol... guilty on both counts.

:-)

Unknown said...
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Unknown said...

Ssembonge... Not promises. Deeds. Help somebody whenever you can. It doesn't have to be monetary.

===========================
e.g. I have made resolutions to:
===========================
1. Show more goodwill to strangers.

2. Be more tolerant of other cultures and encourage those i know to do the same.

3. be more independent and critical in thought and opinion

4. Take leadership role in diffusing tensions / conflicts in the community.

5. stop saying "someone should..." and start saying, "hmmm.. what can i do to change/fix this?"

6. Give balanced feedback. Not just focusing on negatives.

7. Forgive.

8. Give people a second chance if they genuinely ask for it.

etc.. etc...

Unknown said...

Hi MainaT, apologies if the sarcasm offended... I was actually making an (obviously unsuccessful) attempt at wry humor.

I think you have raised pertinent points in your post and though I may not agree entirely, I can see we share a lot in common - especially with regards to our motivation to do something good for our country.

Cheers Bro!

tornado said...

@maishinski, kibaki has done nothing to lift kenyans standard of living, with globalisation, this was bound to happen anyway, we also forget that a major player the developments in kenya are effects of money laundering, from moi's & kenyatta's time plus illegal stuff going on. open your eyes. these leaders have let us down. I watch Haiti and it is reminescent of kenya. Only that we are in a worse state and refuse to accept. We need inspiring leaders and a whole new social ethos