Kenya is preparing for general elections next year and politicians are already campaigning even though the official campaign period has not been declared.
Battle lines have been drawn with individuals and their supporters getting into brawls. As usual, the ordinary citizen is just sitting and watching the comedy of errors that is Kenyan politics.
While leaders are supposed to be role models, the breed of leaders in Kenya, whether elected or not, is anything but an example in responsibility.
Instead, we have a strain of leaders whose sole objective is to gorge themselves on national resources at the expense of the voters.
It seems as if the single most important qualification to be a political leader in this country is to lack shame or the ability to feel embarrassed.
Men and women fight those who disagree with them, utter profanities in public, lie shamelessly, steal public funds brazenly, and have the audacity to demand public respect and trust.
They claim to be national leaders, shapers of public thought, yet they blatantly divide Kenyans along tribal lines.
The saddest thing is that these vices are not the preserve of political leaders — the church, the education system, and other sectors are suffering from the same disorder.
Who will rise up and set the pace for a responsible citizenry?
Who is willing to follow the straight path so that future generations of Kenyans do not fall into the deep hole of theft, carelessness, tribalism, nepotism, greed, and other social ills that today’s leaders are busy digging?
Who will teach the young that the quickest way to riches is not through running for political office? Who will tell them that corruption is not a form of entrepreneurship?
Who is willing to teach the youth that tribalism has no place in the making of a united nation? How will our young people know that leadership positions should not be determined by one’s ancestry or the depth of their pockets?
H. B. Manyora’s novella, Yesterday, Today was Tomorrow (Hillman, 2014) is a creative attempt at teaching the Kenyan youth about the value of responsibility, love, cohesion, and integrity.
The novella, which targets young people, tells the story of a young girl, Kageha, who contracts a strange disease while living in Nairobi.
Her sister, unable to get help or a cure for Kageha in the city, takes her to their village hoping that they can get help for this ailment that has defied all attempts to cure it. Kageha’s presence in the village is unwelcome and many see her as an abomination. The medical officer of health declares her a health hazard and warns that no one, not even family members, should get close to her.
Her food can only be passed to her using a long pole. The provincial administration, led by the chief, leads in seeking the girl’s expulsion from the village. Police officers are deployed to ensure that the villagers do not get into the homestead.
The head of a nearby girls’ secondary school joins the chorus for the Kageha’s eviction from the village claiming that her bizarre screams are scaring the students in her school.
The District Officer decrees the expulsion from the village not only of Kageha but also her family claiming that it is in the interest of other villagers.
VILLAGE ELDERS
In fact, they start referring to Kageha as a “thing” to indicate that her illness has made her behave like a strange beast.
However, the village elders and the secondary school students are against the banishment of Kageha and her family. The elders begin deliberations on how to hide the girl, as they look for a solution to her illness, so that the authorities may not find her.
The girls also liaise with the elders to find ways of helping Kageha. The students’ attempts to help her take place in the backdrop of students’ elections.
The school administration is determined to have Susan win the school captain position despite the fact that the girls are keen on having Kenani as their leader.
The principal uses school resources to bribe students to support Susan and is categorical that Kenani should not become a school captain because she belongs to a different tribe; she is a “foreigner.”
Susan is quick to use her father’s wealth and influence (he is a local politician) to buy her schoolmates’ support but Kenani rejects her father’s offer to fund her campaigns claiming that she can convince the girls to vote for her.
Kenani helps the girls put aside their “political” differences to secure help for Kageha and they actually find a way of curing her strange disease.
Kageha’s illness is a metaphor for our country.
We are ailing from tribalism, corruption, greed, and selfishness. The authorities, instead of trying to help Kageha, are only interested in keeping the image of their village clean by banishing the family.
Who, between Kageha and the authorities, is sick? The school headmistress, who is portrayed as a greedy administrator who steals school resources, is a rotten leader who has no qualms about teaching teenagers to be corrupt and tribalistic.
She is so sick that she bribes one of the girls with food and the girl ends up eating so much that she collapses.
Again, the metaphor of food here becomes quite powerful as it reminds us of leaders whose main concern is their stomachs. The authorities are so consumed with evil that not even the plight of a young girl will stop them from executing their wicked plans.
Kenani, the student who spearheads the efforts to save the sick girl, and who is willing to drop her bid for school captain in the interest of the students’ unity, becomes a symbol of selflessness in leadership.
That it is a young girl who offers lessons in sacrifice and being our brother’s keeper is a strong indictment on our society.
YOUNG KENYANS
Kenani’s speech at the school debate organised to have the contenders outline their manifesto puts to shame the principal, teachers and other school administrators who are keen on ensuring that her competitor wins the position by virtue of her tribe and because her father has bribed the principal.
This novella is the kind of story that young Kenyans should read to give them lessons on leadership and that adults, especially those running for office, political or otherwise, should read to understand the meaning of the word “responsibility.”
The character of Kenani is a reminder that society is ill because it refuses to care for its less fortunate — that we are rotten because we only think in terms of “my tribe” or the person who can give us the highest amount of money.No one cares about poor people such as Kageha but we mill around those who have deep pockets such as Susan’s father.
Think about it: dozens of poor people died in Huruma the other day and not a single religious leader has offered to conduct mass or a service to condole with the families of the dead or the missing yet other buildings that stand on riparian land remain intact because they belong to wealthy individuals.
Where are the authorities to protect innocent Kenyans from the ravages of floods caused by illegal constructions?
Those in positions of authority have completely abandoned their responsibilities and the young have been left without a guide.
Those who should be helping cure the society are really the sources and transmitters of illness.
It is a shame that a teenager should be the one noticing our moral bankruptcy as a nation.
However, it is also a symbol of hope that perhaps our youth will see us for what we are — a sick society — and forge a better future for Kenya.
