Sunday, January 13, 2008

'Rev' year opening

After staying indoors, consuming acres and decibels of media both foreign local and diasporian-local blogs on the sorry state of our democracy (or is it dictatorship?) i eventually decided time was ripe to listen and watch Musa Juma do his thing. the crowd was small and rather cautious. most tables had just two or three patrons almost whispering not the often happy lots that patronize this joint. it was clear that throats had suffered a great deal during the house arrest of the past two weeks. the stage was set by Musas band who belted instrumentals of some of the best kenyan productions of the past decades done by musicians across the country. then Musa went the well known path of his numbers. but it was when he took a break that things really did change, the DJ started with one of the most famous campaign songs praising Raila Odinga. the rather long song that goes through the history of ODM from the Kivuitu announcement of ndizi na chungwa during referendum, the squabbles in ODM, the Kalaonzo betrayal, the presidential nominations till the launch of ODMs campaign in the day of the thunder, got everyone on the feet. it is a deeply emotional praise for a man. you could almost touch the emotions of the people reminiscing on what would and should have been. the revelers danced almost unnaturally as if to get rid of the spell it had cast on them during the campaigns, or as being controlled by the mysterious spirit of the composition.

but elsewhere, the situation still doesn't let pple 'rev' instead, people still cant believe that their long time neighbors could rise against them. but i also met one of those neighbors from the 'bad' areas who also could not believe that their long time neighbors could betray their collective cause. they thought that all those who had lived with them for 30 years of govt neglect, without proper roads , hospitals, schools, etc would vote with them for change. they could not see why the neighbor would vote for Kibaki when they both suffered the lack of proper services , resources and equality. what informed their choice of Kibaki? i was asked. "you can see for yourself, the bad roads, the lack of basic amenities and so on" so why would someone living in this area not want change? thats why we asked them to leave. if they cant see our problems then we dont need them!!!"

Well now i know. but elsewhere, disturbing reports are reaching the country that museveni has sent his troops to Kenya, i have recieved several of such messages. even one claiming that Jimmy Kibaki was shot by his mum for asking the dad to step down. i never forward those things. but am not only getting those sides of the rumor. i also get smses suggesting very nasty things about Raila and his purpoted coup plan, even nasty ones about his sexual life and one comparing Raila with Congo. how does one man compare with a whole country , i dont know.

it only scares me that the nasty hate smses that characterized the campaign period are still very much alive. this is a very sad situation only made worse by insistence by the authorities that things are normal. THINGS ARE NOT NORMAL! quit burying your heads in the sand and act!

8 comments:

  1. I agree, things are NOT NORMAL, and it's impossible to go back to business as usual. This whole thing makes me wonder, are we, as a nation, mature enough for democracy? A true democracy allows for freedom of opinions, views, religion, and ofcourse, voting. If we're still at a level where a neighbour can loose his life for having a "different opinion" at the voting poll, then we do not have a democracy. I don't think political education has reached the masses. If my neighbour expects me to always be in agreement with his/her opinion, then I think "Ujamaa" would be more fitting for our young nation.
    And on the roads issue: We vote in MPs to represent us in parliament. If the MP for an area is not advocating for his/her constituents, or if the Permanent Secretary and Minister for Roads is not doing his/her part in advocating for all areas, why does the blame lie squarely on the president (I'm not an EMK supporter, just posing a scenario here). As CEO of the company (Kenya), EMK cannot be expected to micro-manage; what are the junior officers (MPs, PSs, Ministers etc) doing? And although I don't support the guy and did not vote for him, I think we keep forgetting that he has only been in power for 5 YEARS! These roads did not fall apart just in the last 5 years. The guy inherited a disfunctional system and it takes more than one person to fix it.
    The other side of the coin would be for a Lang'ata constituent, (of which I'm one), asking what RO has done for us in 15 years. I voted for the guy, but those who didn't rightly pointed out that if he cannot fix the squalor in his own constituency in 15 years how do we expect him to fix the country.
    OD, some of these questions are just rhetorical on my part. No one has answers. We all have fantastic ideas on paper but for some reason, these never translate into action in our beloved Kenya.
    Thanks for allowing us the platform to vent and brainstorm. I truly think that if most of us, on this blog in particular, held political offices, we could probably make more tangible change in Kenya than we have seen from any of our politicians.

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  2. @no-spin, very eloquent. i was thinking like you. that is a very clinical thought, scientific and academic. But thats not how the other millions of Kenyans are thinking unfortunately. you cannot placate a people unless and until you are able to look at the world the way they do.

    i was taught that great leaders start with what people have/know build with that in order to change a people.

    i also agree that what you asked was all rhetoric. if you have lived in this country even the last 20 years , you know how it works. you have seen electricity poles being taken away by the government when they fail to get the vote and so on. secondly, how come the government never waits for the MPs to ask it to collect taxes from the people they represent if the MPs must 'beg' it for basic infrastructure?

    again, by kibaki failing to rein in on past crimes such as murders , corruption and tribal clashes,by his espousing the Moi's legion of negative advice, he directly inherits the liabilities of past governments. and thats the way it is. so Kibaki is henceforth assumed to have been in power from independence.

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  3. ".......the Kalaonzo betrayal... HE HE HE HE Get the hate and denial out of your system. The GAME is OVER learn to face it it's all OVER. Kalonzo was God's gift to this beloved nation of yours. Long live S.K.M Come 2012 the GEMA will be solidly behind you for another miracle.

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  4. You want "justice" done yet ur so quick to delete oppossing posts. Kweli nyani haoni kundule.

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  5. kalonzo betrayal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! asi!

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  6. @anon, am talking about the song bwana! its a reported post not a comment!

    meanwhile it will be quite a refreshing change for Kiuks to vote a man other other son of mumbi for a change. come 2012, i will be happy with that! he he

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  7. @2nd anon, you are right of nyani not being able to see that.

    but remember that we are now officially in a dictatorship under one old dictator kibaki so am allowed to dictate whatever appears on my blog. if you dont like it, heed kibaki's advice and GO TO COURT!!!


    . . .he he

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  8. @3rd annon, asi ! asi! asi!

    on a serious note, people should apply a lil bit of intelligence when reading blogs, be it this one or others

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