As Kenya celebrates 53 years of independence, we have to remember that the dream of the country at independence was to eradicate ignorance, disease and poverty.
Kenyans had lived in abject poverty and lacked of knowledge during colonial times. Indeed, the introduction of Christianity and Western education to Kenyans by the colonialists led to a great desire by some families to have their children learn the ways of the colonisers so that they could, in turn, help their relatives.
For such families, education was the only sure strategy out of the poverty.
However, there were also families that were suspicious of the coloniser’s education and religion and kept away from the missions, schools, hospitals and other facilities they introduced or managed.
Nevertheless, by the time Kenya attained independence in 1963, many people had come to accept that the white man’s education was necessary for setting a firm foundation for the new nation
Over five decades after the Union Jack was lowered and Kenyan flag raised, it is worth evaluating whether or not we have achieved the dreams we had at independence.
Has formal education made us a better society? Have we eradicated poverty, ignorance and disease?
Reading Peter Kareithi’s novel, Komu Fights for Change (Longhorn, 2015) makes one think deeply about the state of our nation with regard to the dreams we had at independence.
Set in colonial Kenya, the novel tells the story of a young boy called Komu who grew up herding his father’s goats. His mother died when he was barely five and he and his siblings had to learn to take care of themselves.
Komu grows up in a village where everything white is treated with suspicion and only one family in the entire area takes their child to school.
Komu, however, gets pretty intrigued by the school boy’s clothes and school bag and he develops this desire to join school like the boy from his village.
Unfortunately, he knows only too well that his father will not allow him to attend school since he needs to herd the family’s animals.
He therefore decides to run away and attend school without his father’s consent. Eventually his father accepts that his son might be the one to raise the family’s fortunes if he goes to school.
He is a poor man but he decides to educate his son much to the chagrin of his wife who is opposed to spending the scarce family resources on the step-son’s education.
The novel addresses the conflict between western and African cultures. The newly-converted and educated natives want nothing to do with their “dirty” relatives whose ways they consider satanic. This is the conflict Komu finds himself in when he later gets a job at the mission centre, gets married and has children.
He discovers that Christianity and education do not offer him the satisfaction and happiness he had hoped for. The salary he earns as a carpenter at the mission is hardly enough to sustain his family. In the end, he is poorer than his village mates who never went to school and, worse still, he is fired from his job for behaving in an “unchristian” manner.
He has to return to the village and depend on his relatives, the very people he had disregarded because they were uneducated non-believers, for help until he can settle down and cultivate crops to feed his family.
The disillusionment that Komu experiences is a reality in Kenya today. The dreams that we had at independence have turned out to be a mirage.
Learn Under Trees
The happiness and freedom we hoped for have been nothing but an illusion, sacrificed at the table of greed and selfishness by the ruling elite. Millions of Kenyan youth languish in poverty despite having acquired a decent education — often leaving their families destitute as they struggle to raise school fees.
We have seen, in the 21st Century, Kenyan children sit on stones and learn under trees, and that is if they can make it to school after crossing rivers.
How can it be that a child in Kenya today would be experiencing the same problems that Komu experienced several years ago? When will we eradicate ignorance if by now we cannot claim to be offering every child free education up to, at least, secondary school?
The proposed laptop for schools programme is completely worthless when there are no classrooms. What Kenyan children need are better school facilities, books, and teachers.
It is very unfortunate that the authorities, who should know better because they went to school and received proper education, should be the ones giving poor Kenyan children a raw deal. The result is that certain sections of this country will continue to be marginalised while other parts constantly enjoy fruits of independence.
Children are still dying of curable diseases because funds meant for drugs and equipment in medical facilities have been pilfered.
The ruling elite can access medical care in pricey facilities, but the ordinary Kenyan has to queue for long hours to receive appalling services at public health facilities. How is that a strategy for eradicating disease?
It is time to rethink our strategy. Kenyans, we need to wake up from our slumber and examine where we lost the direction.
The ruling class is comfortable with the status quo — after all, they do not suffer poverty, ignorance or disease.
Yet, every five years, this shameless group of people flies around the country in choppers reminding us of our sufferance and promising to deliver us to the Promised Land.
They pretend not to know that they are the ones who ensured that we remain poor, ignorant, and sick because in such a pathetic state, we will continue to vote them in.
They thrive on our poverty, flourish on our ignorance, and blossom from our disease. It is time to reclaim Kenya’s dream.
