“There can be only one permanent
revolution — a moral one; the regeneration of the inner man.” - Tolstoy
The clamour for a better leadership in Kenya has never reached such a crescendo in the past. A people pushed to the edge of the cliff are now determined to stand up and say enough is enough. The tide has now turned on those who in the past have dictated to us who the right leaders are for us, who ought to exercise government on us and such like myopic lies that have been fed to us over and over again till they've almost become true to us.
Even as we match on towards cleaning our act at the
top, hard questions are inevitable to us as individuals. What makes it so easy
for us to accept the status quo? What makes it normal for us to condone abuse
of public office without as much as raising a finger? What ails us at personal
level and translates to the choices we make at national level. I sought to explore the man in the mirror
hoping I could unearth answers that might finally lead to a change in the
individual first…
We’ve all been in positions of leadership at some
point in our live. How we handled ‘little’ power has a great bearing on how we
would be able to manage real power when it is entrusted upon us. Whether it’s
in a school set up, the corporate world, in family set ups or in public service. Power should come with a 'Handle with Care' warning coz naturally, any form of power corrupts and absolute power does corrupt absolutely…
in a school set up, the corporate world, in family set ups or in public service. Power should come with a 'Handle with Care' warning coz naturally, any form of power corrupts and absolute power does corrupt absolutely…
You might once have been a class prefect in primary
school. Whenever a teacher demanded a list of noise makers and you’d always
have a ready list made up of the unpopular kids and your class ‘enemies’, you
were perpetrating an injustice.…
In high School the roles came with more power. We
assumed it was time to be kings in our small realms, we dictated who would get
a piece of meat on meat Wednesday and Saturday, all the extra slices of loaves
went to the prefects and/or fourth formers. In all these, the voiceless, read
form ones and twos, suffered the consequences of our greed and individuality. We
looked the other way if a friend wanted to sneak out and raised a hailstorm if
it was someone else. Smoking, illegal gadgets and other vices went un-addressed
as long as they were being carried out by us or friends in our circles. We attended
every school outing just because we could influence the list. We skipped preps
because we could…
In college we are all grown and fully responsible
of our actions and choices. Taking advantage of strikes and destroying
institutions property extensively. Taking advantage of our numbers and ‘student
immortality’ to terrorize motorists and loot from business enterprises. Getting
into a hotel and ordering the best dishes on the menu then walking out without
paying because you are students and you are untouchable. Did we not buy beef stew corruptly at 20 bob instead of the
official price of 50 bob? How different is this from a minister who awards a
30 million tender at 50 million as long as the 20 million is paid to him
privately?...
Men have neglected their homes leaving women to
fend for and take care of the family. The clobbering of men in Nyeri, The
drinking of illicit liquor until you drop death that has been replicated in every village and
hamlet across Kenya. Materialism that has characterized how relationships are
formed and the poor morals that we are passing on to the next generation of
Kenyans in our care. Away from politics and governance, our social lives drips
of vitriol that flows into tributaries and culminates into a mighty river of
tribalism and individualism…
Do we ask for too much from our politicians yet
they are extracted from the same pot that has poisoned ingredients in it? Isn’t
the same principle used to defraud your chama members of 10,000 KES the same
one used to defraud the public coffers of 1,000,000,000 KES? The communities we
live in are a reflection of the families raised within it. This reflection goes
all the way to the national platform…
A Summer's
Disregard, A Broken Bottle Top, And A One Man's Soul, They Follow Each Other On
The Wind Ya' Know, 'Cause They Got Nowhere To Go, That's Why I Want You To Know…
Change is never
easy. It takes a great deal of will power and the more a habit has been
entrenched into the core of the being, the more it becomes difficult to change.
Governments must change with the times, corporations must change to keep with
the changing consumer needs, civilizations ought to change to avoid extinction.
But change is never stumbled upon. It starts from an individual and builds
outwards to the wider society. We all dream of change and how it would impact
us but “in our world everybody thinks of changing humanity, and nobody thinks
of changing themselves.”
The Mirror
I'm Asking Him To Change
His Ways
And No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
Take A Look At Yourself, And
Then Make A Change…
Kenya as a united republic is made up of our various societies which are in turn made up of individual family units and then basically from the individual being. We must purpose to change from this core of the whole. We ought to shift from individualistic mentality; the me and my own syndrome, we refine our individual expectations of those who run our public institutions; those who expect nothing cannot then hold the provider to any standards, can they….
I've Been A Victim Of A Selfish Kind Of Love, It's Time That I Realize, That There Are Some With No Home, Not A Nickel To Loan, Could It Be Really Me, Pretending That They're Not Alone?...
It’s upon us in this current generation to raise
the next generation to a high code of moral conduct. The values we pass on to
our kids will determine the kind of future citizens they’ll become, the kind of
values they’ll take with them to leadership positions when they grow. The
integration or disintegration of a society begins from the time values are
passed to the next generation. Stand before that mirror and ask yourself how
you are impacting the future of the youngsters in your life. A Willow Deeply Scarred, Somebody's Broken Heart, And A Washed-Out Dream, They Follow The Pattern Of The Wind Ya' See, Cause They Got No Place To Be, That's Why I'm Starting With Me…
Government As Usual will not be changed by how loud
we shout in the streets for change. Leaders of unbecoming conduct and character
will not be driven out of office by mere articles and political analysis on
leading media. Political liberation and change will not be granted to us as a
wish by some mythical genie in a bottle.
We must initiate change from its
basics.
Let’s change ourselves first.
By changing we liberate our minds from
mental slavery,
By liberating ourselves we equip ourselves with the resolve to
engineer our destiny,
By engineering our destiny we vet our leaders honestly,
By vetting honestly we go out and make our votes count diligently;
By voting diligently
we change the destiny of our republic and by extension the world.
And yet the question would beg; how do we progress from here?
I’ll answer in Leo Tolstoy’s words. That “Progress consists only in the greater clarification of answers to the basic questions of life. The truth is always accessible to a man. It can't be otherwise, because a man's soul is a divine spark, the truth itself… Progress consists, not in the increase of truth, but in freeing it from its wrappings. The truth is obtained like gold, not by letting it grow bigger, but by washing off from it everything that isn't gold.”
I’m not asking you to clean the whole world; sweep your backyard and ask your neighbour to sweep theirs.
Start with the man in the mirror; and everything else will fall into place
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