Kenya is barely sick, not dead as a nation

Makau Mutua, professor of law, I take pride and love reading your punchy and educative articles. My tribesman, you have got what it takes to say it all impressively. But this is so until in your last article when your intellect betrayed you.

For, what qualification did you use in your recently published article, Tanzanian President John Magufuli embodies his nation’s quality of virtue, in this newspaper that justifies you dare cry, “Kenyans really don’t exist. The people of Kenya belong to ethnic groups – they aren’t a nation.”?

In your obsession with Magufuli, unlike Kenya, Tanzania is a nation. But what about Uganda and Rwanda? The Kenyan nation could sue you for such atrocious defamation. Professor, Kenya is merely a sick nation but not a nonexistent and dead nation.

In Africa, what you call a nation is relative in quality. First, I must stand in defence of Kenyans by categorically stressing that Kenya is a nation occupying a definite geographical location in Africa. The quality of Kenya as a nation is what should make you cry. Literary speaking, Kenya was made a nation by the British colonial kleptomania. The German missionary, Dr Kraft used the Akamba name of Mount Kenya, “Kinyaa” to sell the territory to Europe.

Literally speaking, all African postcolonial nations are federal states of tribes. However, the Tanzania of Magufuli is barely following the Nyerere nyayo. Nyerere did a tremendous job in cohering the Tanzanian tribes into a common political purpose of development.

However, what your professorship does not recognise is that Nyerere took over a nation that had been given a development ideology substantially by the German colonial government when Tanzania was a German colony. Germany did whatever was necessary in dismantling changanya ethnic enclaves. That explains why it was called Tanganyika. Nyerere picked up the German threads and continued to form a united community by selling to the nation the ideology of Ujamaa socialism. In other words, Tanzania kicked off with an ideology in which Magufuli is politically breathing.

For 70 years, the British Empire ambitiously used tribal enclaves to colonise Kenya.

During that time there was not a single move whatsoever to unite the tribes. The British did everything possible entrench to ethnicity or tribalism.

Unlike Nyerere, when Jomo Kenyatta got power from the British, he inherited a shadow or phantom federal states of Kikuyus, Kambas, Luos, Kalenjins, Maasai, Taitas and the rest.

Instead of using the original Kanu ideology of restoration of human dignity upholding cultural values which would have helped him construct a meaningful and workable federal State, Jomo Kenyatta followed the British nyayo of governance. While Kenyatta followed the British nyayo, Moi followed Kenyatta’s nyayo, Kibaki followed Moi’s nyayo and Uhuri is following Kibaki nyayo. That’s where we are while Magufuli is following Nyerere’s nyayo.

There is the saying that he who feeds you can beat your mother while you watch.

Change this metaphor in Kenya to say those who have been feeding the nation with leadership have been beating our Integrity-Mother as we watched.

The political mutilation exercised by our leaders since independence has made the present nation learn from hardship that their leaders, not the nation, have been wrong.

For if the livestock destroy peoples’ shamba the blame should not be put on the livestock but on the shepherd. The nation was carried on the back and any child on the mother’s back does not dictate to where the mother should step.

Professor Mutua, you know too well about it, that Kenyans are experiencing a powerful national sense of political purpose. Neither Kenyatta nor Moi nor Kibaki nor Uhuru is the nation.

The national spirit is deeply rooted. The people are not devoid of ideological thinking. They know where they want to go and how to go there.

Their problem is only one. Lack of an ideologically armed leader to get them there. Elder Mutua, could you be the long awaited Moses?