‘When life hands you lemons’

Prof Jacob Kaimenyi's book Move On, bounce back from life's destabilizing setbacks. [Wilberforce Okwiri, Standard]

“Life,” singer John Lennon once aptly observed, “is what happens to you when you are busy making other plans.”

At no other time was his pithy wisdom better observed than when the pandemic struck, throwing the world as we know it into a spin as many of us were busy making other plans.

Within a few months, the social, economic and health disruptions brought traditional ways of doing things to an abrupt end and many were the people who were ejected from their comfort zones of predictable routines.

Though these disruptions left the world topsy-turvy, they also brought out the unconquerable resilience of the human spirit. Those who were laid off from their jobs found new ways to earn a living. Those who were in the front line of fighting the pandemic found innovative ways of keeping themselves safe.

Many who managed to overcome the seemingly insurmountable challenges bounced back in unexpected ways and today, as the world learns to cope with the pandemic, many have started rebuilding their lives, finding a light of hope in what initially looked like an endless tunnel of despair.

And this is the point that Prof Jacob Kaimenyi has revisited in his latest book Move On, and aptly subtitled; Bounce Back from Life’s Destabilizing Setbacks.

In a way, Kaimenyi has been there and done that, having served as a Cabinet Minister in the first term of the Jubilee administration before he was relegated ambassador in 2018, just months into President Uhuru Kenyatta’s second term.

Kaimenyi is not new to controversy. When he was appointed Education Secretary in 2013, he faced numerous challenges, which he took head-on, often ruffling many feathers, be it by banning holiday tuition and bringing to an end the decades-long practice of ranking candidates and schools based on their performance in national examinations.

Despite these challenges, he always found a way to move on to the next challenge and bounce back from setbacks, which came his way fast and furious, eventually culminating in his being dropped as a minister and appointed as Kenya’s ambassador to Belgium, Luxembourg and the European Union.

In this new role, he had to learn new skills, like how to dine with kings and measure his words for diplomatic etiquette. It would probably have been easier for him to reject the posting, having been used to the perks and power of being a minister.

Instead, he chose to move on and, in his own words, serve the country. However, he still had to confront the reality of his loss of power, esteem and privileges as a minister.

“It is tempting to think that the hardest thing in life is the adversity that brings loss to our lives,” Kaimenyi writes in his book, in which he advises readers to avoid pity parties when they face life’s daunting challenges.

“Moving on,” he says, “is about taking care not to remain at the same spot long after facing disadvantageous experiences.”

In his view, life and nature abhor stagnation and that is why each one ought to find a way to bounce back from devastating realities; loss and other disadvantages that we may encounter in life, be they ill health, loss of income, and other challenges that crop up in our way from time to time.

In the final analysis, he has a pithy nugget of wisdom for all who are going through tough times. “If you should ever encounter a shipwreck in your path to greatness, remember to borrow from the wisdom of the old saying, ‘it is not a mistake to make a mistake, but it is a mistake to repeat the mistake.’”

One of the serious mistakes he warns his readers against repeating is failing to visualise their comeback when they are down.

“Great business people, innovators, leaders in social and political circles, successful fathers - all these people have endured multiple discouraging and even life-sapping moments that brought them to the brink of despair,” he writes.

“If they were to be honest, they would tell you that they died many deaths.”

Kaimenyi’s book was launched in mid-December, as was his sixth title, The Unending Surprises in Marriage.

Chief Justice Martha Koome was Chief Guest. In her speech, she highlighted the need for one to bounce back and move on from challenges. 

“I have been devoured and vomited,” she said of her own experiences in her early days as CJ, when she was criticised for her handling of the various crises that confronted her, particularly her controversial handling of the Executive’s failure to appoint six judges.