Opinion: Let’s embrace handshake to kick-start economic growth

Former MP Dennis Waweru

The timeless words of the greatest poet of all time now rings loud and clear to Kenya, more than ever before. “There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries.” - William Shakespeare 

In January, the country was wallowing in the miasma of economic turbulence, political turmoil and social strains, which threatened the very existence of the republic as we have known it since 1963 and before.

Successive years of cutthroat political competitions - do or die affairs - in which competitors bared their all to win at the expense of everything else, reduced the country to a shell of its former self.

From the region’s strongest economy, we were quickly becoming the region’s laughing stock. Historically weak neighbours began to steal the thunder from us, making enormous strides as we made shameful and backward steps.

The economy began to shrink at the time when our neighbours where growing exponentially. It became difficult to roll out national development programmes without them being viewed from the prism of our divisive politics.

Kenya began to die a slow and painful death. And then on March 9th came the magic handshake, the tide in the affairs of our country changed. The union of the two parallel political forces of President Uhuru Kenyatta and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga is epochal in many respects.

SECTORS OPEN UP

The cathartic effect it had on the economy may not be felt right now but will become apparent in the next few months and years when growth is registered, jobs bounce back and sectors open up. No economy can thrive in the face of political chaos and anxiety.

The promise of opening new paradigms in terms of access, retention and organisation of political power is an important feature of the handshake that has been misunderstood by some. In the past, our darkest moments as a country heralded the best opportunities for us to soar.

The handshake affords us this rare opportunity to fix the wrongs of the past in terms of our political structure. When the roof is perpetually leaking, and you want to ignore this fact for convenience sake, you will be wet all through. The two gentlemen have taken it upon themselves, at great personal cost, to close down this shameful history of our country once and for all. In their twilight of their political careers, they have agreed to put their great names to rest with this shame.

And with it, Kenyans are being granted a blank cheque for brand new beginnings for the republic. It is a chance for the country to stoke up fresh ethos to sustain us through a new era of inclusiveness, unity, peace and happiness.

The President’s Big Four agenda has every chance of tremendous success and with it his legacy. At personal level, the two have nothing much to gain by walking the country on this new path of reconciliation, political reorganisation and rebirth of the country.

Every reasonable Kenyan who stands to gain most from this ought to support the two in this endeavour and do all that will be required of them to ensure the success of ‘Building Bridges’ initiative. The doubts, the cynicism, the backstabbing and the destructive politics of the past must remain in the past.

Kenyans must make it clear to their leaders; that those who oppose this national project which is offered for free, will be swept aside by the new consciousness.

The time to play poker with the essential national projects such as this ended with the 2010 Constitution. Kenyans must now set themselves about to punish those who intent to hijack this project to serve selfish political ends.

Already, the fissures have begun to open up for those who want to tie up the handshake to 2022 politics. They want all the good of the handshake to be lost in the whirlwind of the divisive succession politics. They must not be allowed to succeed against such a strong tide. If we allow such short-sighted view to persist, we will have ourselves to blame sooner than later.

As I began with the words of the poet, let me finish with them and hopefully pass a strong message to the country: “On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures.”