The time has come for all of us to embrace the words of William Clay, "This is quite a game, politics. There are no permanent enemies, and no permanent friends, only permanent interests".
Just like in football, each of the team's interests is winning the game. The hard tackles should never be mistaken for enmity. In the 2006 World Cup, Cristiano Ronaldo helped to see his Manchester United's Wayne Rooney sent off as England and Portugal faced each other in the quarter-finals. Portugal ended up beating England in the decisive penalty shootouts. Ronaldo was caught on camera winking at the Portuguese bench once Rooney was given his marching orders. Everyone thought Rooney would be mad at his Manchester United counterpart, he later said he held no grudge against Ronaldo. He went ahead to say that he actually told Ronaldo that he moved on straight after the game. Rooney knew it was just a game of interests, not enmity. He knew very well that just like him, Cristiano wanted to win the game for his country.
In the same vein, politics is just but a game of interests. Any political party only wants to win elections and form government. Candidates may at times resort to name-calling and all manner of tricks to win. We have all witnessed heated elections in the past. They, however, do not mean enmity. Retired President Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga were very good at calling each other names. One would have thought they were enemies. But they went on to shake hands in what is commonly known as the 'handshake'.
In addition, after convincing everyone that Uhuru was his worst enemy, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua declared the other day that there was nothing personal between him and Uhuru; that it was "all politics" and he was ready to have a cup of tea with the former president. Such 'brotherhood' confirms that politics is not a game of enemies but interests.
Elections are now over. We have Cabinet secretary nominees. This is an indication that the game is over and our shared interest in nation-building is taking shape. We, the political supporters, must stop teasing and calling each other names. Let us join hands and build our nation. Our government cannot deliver if we keep fighting each other in the name of, "your team lost and mine won". Nobody lost; we all won.
Let us forget about the hard political tackles and build our nation. As a patriot, I look forward to the day when the Opposition will not just wait to question and oppose, but also to share ideas that can take our country forward. We want a working nation whose economic growth story will be told for generations to come. Let us help the government implement its bottom-up manifesto so that every person can grow and enjoy the fruits of our country.
When insecurity threatened to bring us down, the late Joseph ole Nkaissery, a member of ODM, joined the Jubilee government as a security expert to help restore peace. General Nkaissery knew that what mattered was national building, not hard political tackles. We need more Nkaisserys to build this nation. We are living in hard economic times. The Covid-18 pandemic really shook our economy. So many people lost their jobs while others were rendered hopeless. We need to change our economy.
As much as we are all happy that we lost zero lives and destroyed zero property during this year's elections, let us demand more from ourselves. Let us avoid social media hard tackles and embrace each other. Let us pool both our skilled and unskilled labour together regardless of party affiliations and build our home, our country. If we have great servants who supported Azimio, let us not tag them as traitors when they join Kenya Kwanza to build our nation.
Let Kenya Kwanza equally not shy from getting leaders from Azimio if that will help grow our nation. Politics is a game of interests, not a game of enemies. We can do it. Let us do it
