By Dorcas S
There is this narrative being peddled by Jubilee that NASA and its supporters want to ascend to power so as “to eat”.
I will confess, there is some truth to that. Observing President Kenyatta, his wife, sister, cousin, niece, William Ruto and his associates partake in the toothpick-necessitating exercise over the last four years, I can understand NASA’s desire to experience the same – eat meat that is. Let me also say that this narrative of seeking power to “eat” is significantly less insidious and more benign than the one about NASA seeking power to “address historical injustices on the backs of ‘hardworking’ people”.
White Americans also formulated the same narrative in 2008 when Barack Obama first run for office. Led by the relentlessly anti-Obama rightwing talk radio (Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Alex Jones etc.), they pushed the narrative that an Obama Presidency will allow African-Americans to mete out revenge on them; on the racist system that enslaved and exploited their parents and grandparents!
I don’t know any African-Americans who would love to exact some “revenge” on their racist/bigoted and outright disrespectful “white privileged” colleagues. I also haven’t met any who feel that America owes them reparation for the many years of pain and suffering endured. All told, most African Americans have made peace with their country’s dark past even as they continue to struggle – this as evidenced by the on-going incidents of police brutality – among other incidents of discrimination.
(On a separate but related note, I read somewhere that descendants of the MAU MAU recently received payment from the British Government for “abuses, torture, ill-treatment and abhorrent violations of human dignity that took place and…..marred Kenya’s progress to independence.” I wonder whether that’s a model Kenyans can use to pursue crimes committed against some since the Brits left.)
Anyway, it is very telling when someone offers what is in fact transference (or projection) of their thinking onto others.
MEMO TO JUBILANTS:
Just because y’all seek power to “eat” does not mean everybody does the same. Not everyone seeks power to engorge themselves or to acquire “stuff”. After all, you won’t take it with you when you die – just ask James Kanyotu, Gerishon Kirima, Njenga Karume and the likes who set about to “nyakua and kula matunda ya uhuru”. Heck even Jomo Kenyatta’s family furtively looks over its shoulder despite their millions!
As foreign a concept as this may sound to Jubilants, there are people who seek and have sought power, not to enrich themselves, but because they wanted to better the lives of others; oftentimes others OUTSIDE their immediate sphere of influence!
For all the talk about “so-n-so being at the forefront of the fight for independence” or “baba wa taifa aliteswa…..”, individuals such as Raila Odinga have actually spent their lives doing the hard and dangerous work necessary to improve the lot of ALL Kenyans; this with little material accumulation to show for his sacrifices – certainly not at a level commensurate with his contributions towards democracy and multi-partyism in Kenya – Period!
If you have to ask or wonder how one can give more of themselves THAN they take for themselves, you will NEVER understand. I also don’t have the time to explain it to you.
The August 8th 2017 checkpoint is just the latest stop in Kenya’s journey of 1000 miles.
On one lane is a group that has, since independence, TAKEN for themselves, the sweat and hard work of those on the other lane who have GIVEN of themselves.
Which lane do you belong in?
Leave a Reply