The more I ponder over this matter,the more I realize just how true and defining the word ‘peculiar’ is for Kenya and her people.
Mine is the second generation since independence. All we know about pre-independent Kenya is from classroom work. Our parents were born right around that once monumental time so even they learnt all about it,never much experienced it.
My generation,on matters Kenyan,is lethargic and almost apathetic. We have our justifications all intact. I have read books(truthfully,it was cramming in History class),on the freedom struggle and what not,more recently,watched Hilary Ng’weno’s ‘The Making Of A Nation’, a 7 hour,captivating recap of all that happened since Kenya was colonized,up until multi-partyism….to take that journey. In the end, I was angry and infuriated. You’d have to watch it to understand my sentiments.
However,for all their shortcomings,our forefathers,in their youth,were vigorous in leading Kenya to her independence. They were passionate,almost arrogant as they went about their agenda. And they reaped the fruit of their efforts come 1963.. anyone who’s gone through 8-4-4,simply insert your own flashback to History class.
Back to my point. That baton clearly has either not been passed on to us,or we have altogether dropped it. And it makes me wonder if a common struggle is what might rejuvenate said qualities. Would we defend our country if it meant giving up all we had? Kenya’s honour, have we upheld it of further contributed in trashing it?
We are in a dangerous place,sitting on a volcano,and some of us know that,some of us don’t. Some of us are busy planning our disaster management tactics, some of us are waiting for someone to do something,very few of us are doing that something,as regards the nation’s welfare.
The generation before us,Lord bless them,have had the unfortunate role of always playing catch up. They and the nation are age mates for the most part. They had the remarkably difficult task of keeping up with both the old school of thought from their parents and the new one that came with colonialism. Just when they seem to have struck a balance, their children,with their even greater level of exposure,have injected into life as they know it,newer,more foreign ways. Not only that,then they have to play catch up yet again? Sitting in classrooms with their children,having their children coming after their jobs; it’s no wonder then,that they refuse to let go of the country’s reins!
We are quick to criticize them, I have chosen to try and understand why they collectively are the bigger problem in Kenya right now. They just haven’t heard their turn. Not to come to their defence,but to simply point out what is clearly the not-so-obvious.
I wonder what that means for the generation after us. What shall they come bearing?
Kenya’s generational structure is warped to say the least, and the anomaly has to stop somewhere. Where shall the fullstop be put and a new sentence begun? What will it take to put the metaphorical conjunction, shall it be bloodshed? An upheaval, a revolution of sorts? More importantly,in how we are handling the matter,what is our stand?
A peculiar nation we are.
