Like many of you [maybe], you have a special place for one Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, or simply Mahatma Gandhi, if not for anything else, at least for his special grip on humility and commitment to peaceful revolution. It is him to whom the world credits a lot of wise sayings and counsels streaming in all areas of social, economic, and government operations. In one such sayings, said he: “Intolerance is itself a form of violence and an obstacle to the growth of a true democratic spirit”
In a span of five years, that little symmetrical country on the Indian Coast called Kenya has gone full circle. The recently concluded general elections will most certainly remain in the minds of many as a landmark event for reasons way more than one. My pathetic social memory does not sometimes make me so fond of statistics, I have to admit. Be that as it may, Kenya stands aloof as the first African Country to have publicly inaugurated a New Constitution without necessarily being in a constitutional crisis moment; it is the only country in Africa which revolutionalized its judicial, executive, and legislative arms of government in half a decade; Presidential Debates in Africa? Now that only happens in Kenya; Where else in Africa has a leading Presidential contender defeated against the expectations of many (and by many I mean, even the International community) quietly file a petition against the Election’s board and subsequently accepted the verdict of the Supreme Court against him without as much as a rumble in the tummy? There is an ounce of pride and National Heritage that I have to admit makes me big headed when I therefore tell you that I am a Kenyan; living in this blessed dispensation.
I read Daniel Nengak’s article, Reconciling Democracy and Justice; The Great Kenyan Dilemma, with great fondness and appreciation of the way he captured the Kenyan dilemma. The cycle that the Kenyan populace has gone through since 2007 has been very foundational and actually set a precedence for most of the social revolution that followed in the ensuing years in Africa (Egypt, Tunisia, Libya) and parts of Asia. The statistic of over 800 000 dead and millions having turned vagrants as Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) was actually something worrying to everyone. Issues of historical injustices and tribal fights have been concepts that have had the Kenyan history well lit just as much as littered. All electioneering years have had some sort of expected surprise for the Kenyan people and indeed, that is not a preclusion of the Kenyan state as a stand-alone occasion in Africa. Most African countries do not consider political power a source of opportunity to provide service to the citizenry but rather an opportunity for self-perpetuation and wealth creation for who-is-who within the lines of the elite. The late Maumar Gaddafi was perhaps among the many African leaders who considered their ascent to power as a God-given privilege solely destined for them and no other. That is why power exchange in African countries continues being a matter of life and Death; the cost of lives incurred being simply brushed off as collateral damage. How sad!
Now this is the very reason that the events of the March 2013 for Kenyans and Kenya will remain remarkable. There are media records of an EU journalist who confessed to the fact that most of his counterparts from the International Community had come anticipating to cover compelling stories of massacres and senseless killings and left with some sort of disappointment when they didn’t find any violence to pontificate their already pre-written editorials. That an election that attracted eight candidates from all walks of life – teachers, engineers, lawyers, economists, and CEOs – could end without as much as a mention of bloodshed, was something very unpredictable. But as is the case with statistical projections, there is a level of unpredictability that is quite predictable; and that is what I would call process.
Processes are always predictable; it is on the basis of this predictability that mathematicians can devise long and tedious series and progressions spanning hundreds of even thousands of predictable numbers. Even chemists and biologists also have their day in statistics! Chemical processes can be predictable based on previous experiences and behaviours of given components or reactions. Well, I am not as confident in Chemistry and Biology as I would have wanted to be, thanks to the fact that all the lectures came after lunch and sleep was a more convincing option that listening to stories about bones, skulls, tendons, and coccyges, (whatever that is!). But the fact is – predictable events have a determinable way of ending and the Kenyan case has been very compelling for me.
One of the greatest contributors to this high level of maturity in Kenyan politics has been the increasingly growing media presence leading to higher information dissemination. This for the past decade has been evidenced by the growing level of activism which has had activists criticized so harshly even the highest office in the land – the presidency. What would be a suicidal taboo in many countries in Africa is a norm in Kenya. Any newspaper reading Kenyan knows the likes of Okiyo Omutata, Mwalimu Mati, and John Githongo who are just a few of the modern-day activists whose championing for social and democratic change has known no boundaries: from chaining themselves to the doors for the high and mighty, to high profile use of technology burging government officials in unprecedented whistle-blowing efforts, the Kenyan social media has been greatly strengthened. Long gone are the days when the media was used as a state tool to propagate government propaganda and maim the opposition, it has become a formidable force in Kenya oozing with a considerable independence that has encouraged privatization going by the large number of media houses springing up in Kenya today.
These developments have been costly; they have been tedious for those directly involved. Sitting back and enjoying the fruits of these developments can almost make one oblivious of the fact that democracy is an expensive affair and champions of change have done so at great personal costs. The Kenyan context is very significant for this school of thought especially considering that the menace, horror, horrendous scares that the 2008 Post Election Violence left us with. Political maturity is therefore a long process that is as deliberate as it is definite for the citizenry and whose success can never be quantified. When the former Prime Minister of Kenya, Hon. Raila Odinga, (we call him Agwambo – fighter) made his maiden speech after the decision of the Supreme Court ruled against him accepting the verdict, there was great pride and political maturity in his statements and actions. The culmination of this national acceptance, the sporadic but expected condescension from sections of the public towards the Supreme Court Ruling notwithstanding, is a sum total of liberating events that have characterized Kenyan political landscape for years now. These are not just things that happen out of spontaneity; they are occasions predicated on longstanding commitment to social change which is the sole source of true liberalism if you ask me. As a Kenyan, change is a real process not an event; I should count myself lucky to have lived through this dispensation. This is a truth that African states have to embrace in their lofty quest of attaining a sustainable level of political maturity and advocacy for greater room for social freedom. I guess Gandhi would sum it up by saying that, “the truth is by nature self-evident; as soon as you remove the cobwebs or ignorance that surround it, it shines clear”, Oh how true, how true indeed!
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Opara Jacob
Opara Jacob is the youthhubafrica correspondent for Kenya. He is a Mechanical Engineering graduate of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) and a Community Development Entrepreneur who also doubles up as a professional content and academic writer. Among his notable writing works include the 2010 Award Winning Coffee Table Book profiling High achieving men in Kenya called “Life Journeys – Scaling the Heights: A Conversation with High Achieving Men in Kenya” published by Footprint Press of HDP Africa. Read his full profile here
