The Day I threw in the towel on tribalism....

I have been a nationalist from a very young age. I don't know at what point I became politically conscience, by the age of nine- I had taken a campaign poster and pinned it in my room. When my age mates at thirteen idolized Bobby Brown (oh yes) and the likes, I could recite the whole cabinet then. It was all capped by the murder of Robert Ouko. Then the young ambitious man from Arkansas Bill Clinton put a toast to it as I completed primary school.

My time in High School was rather slow politically, but I followed the goldenberg saga like I will be examined in it. I spent this time reading Ngugi wa Thiong'o and other African writers as well. By the time I finished high school, I knew what the problem was, I just did not know what to do about it. Independence had not changed much, not just in Kenya but Africa in general.


It all came out in University when I got into student activism. I got into the student union executive and the hunger to see change in society was up to my neck. I believed that my comrades in this struggle were in it for the conviction that things will change, but no. We got suspended for three years, on readmission I realized people had changed or rather suspension had changed them.


We coined the name jackpot in campus, where proposals would be written approved and funds released all in the name of funding student projects but it would end up in someone's pocket. Another way for paying ourselves for the job done and suffering we had undergone.


Then on completing our studies, I met one of my comrades just before the 2007 elections. I believed him as one man who has the desire to see a better Kenya. "Kenyatta, I don't want to lie to you. I don't like Raila but because everyone is voting for 'their' man, I am voting for Raila." He told me with a new found conviction.


Most of the students who were suspended were Luos, and we all had a problem with Raila. To say the least, one of the reason we were sent home was our association with James Orengo and mageuzi. For my friend to say that as his reason for joining the crux of Raila and ODM campaigns, I gave up on Kenya ever curing the cancer of tribalism. If the young people are getting swallowed it the mire.


Later I realized that having sacrificed 1,000 days for a cause we did not win- liberation fatigue cropped in. We felt that sacrificing for this country is not worth it. This is what has gotten to many people with the hunger for reforms, it is not worth sacrificing for this country.


Yet, for change to come, a generation must be ready to sacrifice for the sake of the next generations. We are busy creating problems for the next generation. We behave as if children will not grow, like they will not make demands soon. Demands that we will not be able to meet. The children in schools currently are preparing for jobs that are non-existent at the moment. That is a disaster waiting to happen.

America is a country that has developed solely on their strength to embrace diversity. This did not come on a silver platter, there are still many white supremacists and social hatred. Freedom, to those who have fought for it know that it is not a destination but a state of mind, a process that must be watched and protected daily.


Somewhere deep down my heart I still believe in the Kenyan dream. Especially after experiencing the 2008 post election violence. I have read a lot on the Rwanda story and I know, genocide did not begin in 1994. Whenever a politician utters ethnic bigotry words, I know a genocidal seed has landed in the soil of someone's heart.


 Every generation has a responsibility, and we must be that generation that set Kenya on the road to prosperity. I am watching this years election closely, because I know it will be a step towards winning or loosing the war on tribalism.


Like the graffiti at City Market wall in the heart of Nairobi says "..the idiots will still vote for me" -knowing very well that I am a corrupt and tribal political leader.


Kenyans- we can change this, all it needs is a few individuals to stand up and say- NO, in truth and in love. The kind of love that breeds righteous anger.