As much as I hate to engage in tribal dialectics, the purpose of this post necessitates that I do so; so bear with me.
Yet this gentleman whom I hold in high regard is still ODM damu. His support for the ODM is rooted in the great disillusionment that blanketed the country after Kibaki's euphoric triumph in 2002 had been turned insipid by the Anglo Leasing and Armenian Brothers scandals and the president's dismal failure to keep the country united by making agreements he never meant to honor without appreciating the national implications of such callousness. I was hit with the ominous realization that Kibaki's performance had been poor enough for people to ignore whatever imperfections his opposition might have had.
While still not being convinced that it would ever make sense for a Kikuyu to empower a guy who had openly referred to them as "adui," it begun to make sense to me why people from other tribes, people removed from the victimization of this hate without being necessarily hateful themselves, would find an appealing candidate in Raila. Essentially, for anyone who had been disappointed with Kibaki's performance, Raila was a very easy choice, an easy enough choice for even people he had on his sights to consider voting for.
The reason why I bring up that story is to encourage people to every once in a while, put themselves in the other person's shoes, to get curious as to what the motivation of the other side might be. Of course being conscious of the opponent's grievances does not necessarily mean giving in to their thinking and neither can we rationalize every cause but we must always be awake to the fact that the one opposing you could be doing it entirely out of good faith.
11 comments:
You know what is amazing Cicero, with a wise stroke of a pen you have managed to discuss a potentially explosive political issues with impartiality that shows a very mature and balanced person. you have passed a message across that so many a blogs built on politics have failed to do.
i think you are a very smart person.
keep up since these are the kinds of posts that will help heal the hatred generated by other not so sensitive blogs and the Kenyan media.
Rose
Rose, as usual much thanks for stopping by and taking the time to make those gracious comments.
Kenyans have a unique advantage of having been given a sneak preview of what might bring about their Armageddon; it is like on 2007 we threw on a pair of Imax goggles and watched the forecast of our demise.
It is therefore upon us to decide on how to act on that intelligence. The memo has landed on our desk; do we sit complacently and hope the same ingredients which ignited the inferno of Dec 2007 will not do so in future because...just because...or do we (like our erstwhile blogmates), concertedly channel the very same elements which we know led us to the brink, or do we, as it should be expected of anyone who calls him/herself a citizen of a nation, act in whatever humble way to at least DO SOMETHING to avert this certain catastrophe?
I am encouraging any progressive thinking Kenyan to make an effort of promoting this blog and sending in their thoughts through emailing future4kenya@gmail.com.
I am not a professional blogger with "inside sources" on DECEPTION, FRAUD or NATIONAL LIES. Neither I'm I big enough to be haunted by the big boys who lurk in cyberspace. I am a regular person like you who like Malcolm in Macbeth thinks:
our country sinks beneath the yoke/ It weeps, it bleeds and each new day, a gash/ Is added to her wounds.I firmly believe that my conscience will pay a price should I stand aside and fail do whatever is within my means to stop the hemorrhage.
Same Cicero that spreads hate on Kumekucha?
"Kizuri chajiuza, kibaya chajitembeza."
The rally cry was never against the "adui" as it was propagated, it was about REFORMS and PROGRESSION prior to 07 that were disregarded, that were the cornerstone of NARC that catapulted Mwai Kibaki to power.
Had they been honored, as clear as night and day, PEV 07/08 would not have happened? At best we take an educated guess, based on the facts, cause and effect.
Who reneged? One Mwai Kibaki, who STOLE the election and was sworn in at night? Your guess is as good as mine. Who blatantly disregarded the WILL of a people?
At least Moi had the fortitude to hang up 'em up when the deck was stacked against him. So the peaceful transfer of power in 2002.
Had Mwai Kibaki at least not "misunderstimated" (G.W.Bush) the will of the electorate, and minimally saved face and asked for a recount, Kenya would be on a totally different path as we know it.
Maybe better or worse, but at least it would have been the CHOICE of its electorate.
The PEV 07/08 as you well know it was blatant disregard as previously exercised of a "PEOPLE's WILL", who chanted and cheered on the perpetrator? ONLY one province in Kenya, so here we are today, wondering where we went wrong, really?
I expect if you are going to accuse me of spreading hate and expect people to believe you, you might want to copy and then paste here anything hateful that I have said...please?
On election violence, firstly, you apologists of such savagery need to get one story and stick to it. Your famous blog is currently running on the theory that Kikuyus were killed because of their "attitude;" you know exactly where to lift the passage that contains that quote. So now you are telling us it was because they "chanted and cheered" when Kibaki was declared the winner of the election.
That right there exposes your foolishness and a lack of appreciation of a concept called Democracy, which also happens to have been one of the excuses given for the savagery at some point...(you can't keep your story straight)
Now when people vote for a candidate and that candidate wins, they tend to be happy about it and one way of the expressing happiness is through "cheering and chanting."
Whether the elections had been rigged or not did not have a bearing in their "cheering and chanting" and neither did it carry a death sentence. They cheered and chanted because a candidate whom they thought was best fit for the job had won. (Please read my post on the need to acknowledge that sometimes your political opponent could actually have genuine motives).
If you argue that those peasants had prior knowledge that the elections had been rigged and that they had been in concert with the riggers and as such elicited such strong reactions when they cheered for one who they had helped rigged...then I can begin to see you making sense.
Otherwise you can go back to Kumekucha where truth and facts are not relevant.
I thought this was meant to be a more progressive blog, why hurl insults if you do not agree with the post?
Why not just argue your points to be agreeable and disagreeable?
Isn't that the reason KK is going to the dogs? Different blog, different name, same cast of insane madmen.
I'm out!
Theater of the absurd perfected! LOL.
A guy complains:
"I thought this was meant to be a more progressive blog, why hurl insults if you do not agree with the post?And then signs off:
same cast of insane madmen.The sad part about it is that he does not see any inconsistencies at all in what he posted!
FYI, Kumekucha is turning people off not because of insults but because of their concerted effort to re-ignite tribal warfare in Kenya. Insults are benign and sometimes funny; any adult should be able to dust up and recover from an insult but the brand of Kumekucha journalism wrecks a nation.
Do I condone insults, of course not. Unless when they are funny and not directed at me.
What is an insult? If you say something foolish, I should be able to point it out just as long as I can substantiate "my insult."
I think that this blog will run the risk of becoming one of the many that we already have. Change does not come about by perpetrating the same notions that we have landed us where we are today. I do not see why mature kenyans should sit down and dwell on who between Raila and Kibaki caused the post election violence and how.
I say this because I firmly believe that when Jesus was crucified, the world changed not because of the events of that day, but because of what the outcome represented. In other words those who have deep divine understanding tell us that when Jesus died he went to hell and retreived the Key's of life, hence we became saved.
Now, whatever happend on that fateful period in 2007 is history. The question is what does that represent for our future.
Who will stand up and be the agent for change and unite kikuyu and luo, kalenjin and kamba? Who will stand and make downtown siaya a place with the kind of serene neighbourhoods that we see in movies?
Who will lead kenya to a future where each willing and able kenyan is guaranteed a minimum wage enough to sustain a meal for 4 per day?
These are the issues we should be discussing. For far too long, kenyans have been misled by our leaders through mud slinging and slunder and I am afraid that is what this blogs are becoming.
We want a robust discussion about the future not events, characters and blogs!!!!
Anon 3:15pm,
You are entitled to your opinions and thanks for stopping by to share them.
Your prescription for what we ought to do is fundamentally flawed in the sense that you want us to talk about the future as though it were some romantic idea suspended in the netherworld; completely detached from what happened yesterday what is happening today and the individuals, the events and yes the blogs (read my latest post) which might have a bearing in determining or foreshadowing that future.
We cannot discuss how to deal with future acts of terrorism for instance, without mentioning Osama and the event of 9-11 a word or two on the existence of Jihadist blogs might help too.
I do not want people to get all timid and shy away from genuine heartfelt debates in the fear that this blog will degenerate into the sewerage of the you know kina nani...we can disagree on policies, politicians etc but let us draw a line when it comes to making generalizations about tribes.
It wouldn't bother me if you called Kibaki an ape because you might know something I don't but if you call Kikuyus apes then I have a problem with that because I happen to be one and I check myself every now and then to make sure that I am not an ape. If you similarly called Raila a whale, I would let you be because I don't know the guy well enough to vouch against his whaleness but should you call Luos whales, then I would have to stand up and say something because I happen to have good Luo friends (including some that found me here) whom I hold in very high regard and one of my prerequisites for respecting someone is first making sure that they are not whales.
Nevertheless, your thoughts anon 3:15 (I wonder if the biblical ring to that is a coincidence or if God is trying to tell us something about our bearer of good tidings here!) are welcome.
I do not want us to talk about the future as though it was far removed from what we are trying to talk about here. What I think is we need to be constructive.
Sometimes I wonder how talking about the obvious would change anything. For instance, PEV 2007, happened as it did. It is clear and simple that institutions failed begining with the institution of the presidency, the electoral commission, police etc etc. Now, that is known to Kikuyu, masai, luo and Foe alike. That is what is failing us. America is great because of like Licoln and other fore fathers who preached sacrifice and service to country as fundamental pieces to a country's foundation.
Kenya lacks in that out past is riddles with leaders who have spelt greed, malice, tribalism and corruption as a means to achieve an end.
That is reality, and its a fact. Now, common folk like me and you need not be concerned by these mere traits of a failed state, but by who amongst us and how amongst us we can reform our people.
Dialogue is good, but exchanging ideas in what politicians want us to be talking about is missing the point...i think!
Very well ex-anon 3:15.
If you want me to "headline" any of those ideas, feel free to email future4kenya@gmail.com
Cicero, I cannot pretend to have all these ideas in my head, but would like to congratulate you for what you are doing and the concept behind it.
'Constructive' is what I am concerned about and in your latest blog about mobile phones as a medium for change, I feel that futureristism is truly and surely captured and that such bright ideas are what is going to lead us to a better society.
Kudos!!!
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