VITAL LESSONS FROM THE PANGANI SIX.
The recent incarceration of MPs at Pangani Police Station cell 4 might have been a blessing in disguise. They were remanded in custody for hate speech and experienced first hand the tribulations many ordinary Kenyans go through. It was quite humbling for our leaders who are used to dining and wining in five star hotels, being driven around in fuel guzzlers with multiple body guards in tow.
You would have imagined that locking up Moses Kuria and Johnstone Muthama in the same room would be a recipe for violence, an armaggedon in the making. Not so. The guys became instant buddies, speaking in one voice, united by the appalling conditions in the cell, humiliated and shunned by the Executive.
They had to contribute to buy a mulika mwizi worth kshs 3000, smuggled in by an inmate! In the infamous cell 4 there was no Cord and Jubilee. All of them, including Moses Kuria, fell over themselves to speak to the outside world, their families and, yes, you heard it right, Raila Odinga. I hear they even had lunch date with him today. They are now referred to as Pangani six!
These guys were in the cell together as one, cossy, speaking with one voice, yet on the ground we maim and kill each other for them. Kenyans who have lived as neighbours for decades suddenly turned against each other with machetes and other crude weapons because somebody’s victory was stolen. Raila and Uhuru are best of friends. Whenever they meet, they exchange warm smiles and genuine camaraderie.
In the day politicians go at each other hammer and tongs. They work up the crowds and incite them to violence yet at night they retreat to their exclusive entertainment joints. They are business partners. Heck, they even share penthouses where they sneak in young girls for pleasure. I bet when they meet they mock and laugh at us.
Deriding us for being so gullible. The Aristocrats, whether Cord or Jubilee will always conglomerate together to protect there interests, their ill gotten wealth. They protect their wealth against the Holloi polloi. The have nots must wake up and stop viewing each other with suspicion, hatred and disdain. We should unite across the board and put our leaders to account. We should refuse to be divided on tribal lines. When the bourgeois steal from public coffers they do not share the loot with their tribesmen, yet when they are put to task, they whip up the tribal card to get sympathy from the masses.
Kenya will be a better place for all of us if we realized that a Kikuyu or Kamba or Luo is not the enemy. The enemy is poverty, disease and ignorance. Those are the things we should expend our energy fighting, not fellow Kenyans. We should take a cue from Tanzanians. There are more tribes in Tanzania but we hardly know any, apart from the Chagga, who have invaded Gikomba and have similar characteristics with a certain community here!
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