By Silas Nyanchwani
Back in 2010 or thereabouts, we cornered Prof. Micere Mugo at the University of Nairobi after her public lecture and asked her: ” How can we be the next Ngugi was Thiong’o”?
In her calm, ever sober, and with grandmotherly charm she told us,
“The problem with you is that you deify this people. Be the next you…”
A very important lesson.
My man, Bantu K this morning said that we should aspire to ‘humanness’ as opposed to godliness. And I want to assume he was using the word godliness in the mindless deification form that as human beings are wont to do with celebrities and superstars(Maradona once formed a church in which he was good, some have called Beyonce god). Apostle Peter urged us to be godly (as in to be good in a way that wants us to be.
It is with this in mind that we are insisting when judging historical figures, we must do so from a human perspective. Some of the self-righteous folk, ever so quick to diminish and dismiss other people’s achievements have never even contested for their chairmanship of their cattle dips.
These leaders exist within certain historical, political, social and other contexts that force them to act in the manner they do.
To expect Obama to fix all the problems of the black folk in America within 8 years, as in to fix 400 years of institutionalised racism is to be stupid.
To expect Mandela to undo the apartheid mess in five brief years is a bit naive.
Expecting Annan to alter a genocide that has been 100 years in the making withing a short period, when you all know that UN is not his personal property is a expecting too much for a black man employed at a White man’s institution. He who pays the Piper, calls for the tunes.
You can’t elect buffoons, who can’t even constitute proper institutions at the AU to stop recent genocides like in Burundi and South Sudan, but expect external intervention for the mess we find ourselves in.
When ICC tried to end impunity in Kenya, we fought back by electing indicted war criminals.
We have not solved the problems and if we go back to war, seriously you can’t blame whoever who will be at the UN at the time.
These leaders could have done more, they didn’t. Now that is for you to fix. Get off Facebook and even organise a demonstration against unfair tax policies of the government or against extra-judicial killings then we can listen to you.
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