Opinion: Secession threat sign of growing despair

Deputy President William Ruto Photo:Courtesy

Kenyans reacted with mixed feelings about the recent intellectual discourse on whether the country should split through secession or not. As weird and reckless as this separatism idea-- which by the way is not new in Kenya-- may have appeared to some, it however spoke volumes about the rising despair in the country which is a ticking time bomb that we need to confront before it ultimately explodes.

BAD POLITICS

In actual fact, the stultifying behaviour of the political class; the interminable economic unfairness in the country, together with our fading social cohesion are some of the key undercurrents that are mostly likely to have triggered the reemergence of the despairing thoughts of withdrawal from the political state as was previously wanted by the Mombasa Republican Council, a separatist group based in the coastal city of Mombasa, and another one of many decades ago by the leaders of what was known as the Northern Frontier District, which formed what is today my home region, the North Eastern part of Kenya.

The political class in the country has enormously failed to steer the nation towards the path of togetherness and shared prosperity.

Their politics, starting from the time of the first postcolonial government has by and large centered on tribal insularity, avarice and toadying.

 This has frittered away some of the opportune moments that we have had as a country in order to build one inseparable national society. What’s more, some of the lot that we sometimes refer to as the “fresh blood” in Kenya’s politics is also proving not to be different as they only regurgitate the regular views and replies of their superiors in the political space.

Disturbed by this petty-mindedness and toxicity in our politics, an uncle of mine who lately arrived from the US told me that he had decided to forgo local news to avoid the displeasure of hearing, watching or reading the revolting things that some of our politicians utter or do at the detriment of the national good.

RICH-POOR GAP

The country’s economics also has significant malfunctions that contribute to the growing hopelessness, particularly among the financially struggling stratum of the population.

From the bulging gap between the rich and the poor to the grinding corruption and mismanagement of public resources at both the counties and the national government, the vortex of economic unfairness is killing productivity and numerous employment and empowerment opportunities that would have benefitted the young people who are rendered idle after finishing secondary and tersiary education had the stolen monies been correctly consumed.

Still, a foreign commentator once said that even the structures that are put as development in kenya do exist inadvertently at times because the main aim of those works are to act as conduits for looting public money through inflating the construction expenditures.

Equally, the traditional system of egalitarianism among the Somalis, which has always been useful in cushioning members of the community from the negative effects of poverty through intra and inter-familial assistances and remittances is also slowly collapsing as a result of the high cost of living and competing commitments on the side of the benefactors, and through the consequential neglect many young Somalis in the North Eastern region are dropping out of schools and are beginning to experiment with drugs due to frustration while others join extremist groups such as the Somalia-based and  Al-Qaida-linked militant group, Alshabab.

JUSTICE VERSUS DEVELOPMENT

On the social front, our different tribes and clans have been misrepresented for a long time to set us apart from each group. This has made many people to lose the closeness that comes with our enriching diversity and make some tribes to look less equal than others.

As the recent elections and the manifestoes of the two main political parties revealed, there are those parts of the country that want justice more than development and there are others that want the opposite.

It is within this context that I found the statement by Deputy President William Ruto on forgetting the TJRC report during the previous political campaign quite disappointing.

Although I do not personally believe that secession is the best way out to these problems, we should however not ignore these frustrating challenges as they are serious obstacles to the Kenya we want