THE POLITICS OF SELF DESTRUCTION
BY: Juma Hemedi
6/1/2020
Over the last few years if not months we have seen Kikuyu artists and politicians from Mt. Kenya region throw words at each other on behalf of their 'people' and depending on which side of the fence one is from.
One of these sides has accused the other of "selling" the community to "outsiders". This is not the first time Mt. Kenya people are accusing each other. History that has been passed on to people of my generation informed us that there were some "enemies" within who were siding with the Colonial Government during the "Maumau" uprising.
Those with the history said that after all the struggles to gain independence by those that went to the forest, it was those who "sold" the community that ended up running the country and that the "sellers" and their children continue to oppress the "fighters" and their children.
A few months back I met a friend who is in his mid Thirties who told me that it is time for the children of "Maumau" and "fighters" to be in power. He told me that there is a general plan of making sure that a son of the "poor" (read hustlers) do not ascend to power.
What he was essentially saying is that we should come together as the children of the "oppressed" and live up to the ideals of "our" Maumau grandfathers and fighters. Was it not for the fact that I had served with this friend in one of the Boards as his Chairman, I would have thought that he has just come out from the forest where he had been hiding to hide from civilization.
What bothered me most was the age of my friend. He was young but had a very old state of mind. He was a prisoner of History.
Back to our politicians, these accusations and counter accusations over who is a "sack" and who is not. This pissing competition over who can piss the furthest or the highest is not helping anyone. It may get you into the newspaper headlines but that will be the end of it. You will trend on Twitter and other social media platforms, but beyond that it will not deal with unemployment, health crisis, education, agriculture. It will definitely not help the country move to the middle income countries.
To also think that an entire community of people from the Mountain can be hoarded into a market where the highest bidder will take the community home, is to have false hope on yourself and to think overly highly of yourself.
Many counties in the mountain region sent home over 85% of the people they had elected in the first phase of devolution. From MCAs to Governor, senators and members of National Assembly mostly for non performance and chest thumping.
To imagine that those holding positions now will have such a hypnotising power to choose which market will suit the entire mountain community, is a mockery of their popular feelings.
The best thing these leaders should do is speak very little and concentrate very much on the mandate their people gave them. They should ask those leaders that were voted out how unforgiving the electorate of the Mountain area are.
They should also stop passing their narratives and bad blood to the younger generation and make them prisoners of history. But there is nothing you can do to stop one who voluntarily wants to become a prisoner. A majority of those blogging and attacking each other are indeed the youth.
I'm yet to see a sixty something year old blogging hatred and spending the whole day hurling insults on social media. The youth have a duty and responsibility to liberate themselves from their mental prisons.
Juma Hemedi
6/1/2020
Over the last few years if not months we have seen Kikuyu artists and politicians from Mt. Kenya region throw words at each other on behalf of their 'people' and depending on which side of the fence one is from.
One of these sides has accused the other of "selling" the community to "outsiders". This is not the first time Mt. Kenya people are accusing each other. History that has been passed on to people of my generation informed us that there were some "enemies" within who were siding with the Colonial Government during the "Maumau" uprising.
Those with the history said that after all the struggles to gain independence by those that went to the forest, it was those who "sold" the community that ended up running the country and that the "sellers" and their children continue to oppress the "fighters" and their children.
A few months back I met a friend who is in his mid Thirties who told me that it is time for the children of "Maumau" and "fighters" to be in power. He told me that there is a general plan of making sure that a son of the "poor" (read hustlers) do not ascend to power.
What he was essentially saying is that we should come together as the children of the "oppressed" and live up to the ideals of "our" Maumau grandfathers and fighters. Was it not for the fact that I had served with this friend in one of the Boards as his Chairman, I would have thought that he has just come out from the forest where he had been hiding to hide from civilization.
What bothered me most was the age of my friend. He was young but had a very old state of mind. He was a prisoner of History.
Back to our politicians, these accusations and counter accusations over who is a "sack" and who is not. This pissing competition over who can piss the furthest or the highest is not helping anyone. It may get you into the newspaper headlines but that will be the end of it. You will trend on Twitter and other social media platforms, but beyond that it will not deal with unemployment, health crisis, education, agriculture. It will definitely not help the country move to the middle income countries.
To also think that an entire community of people from the Mountain can be hoarded into a market where the highest bidder will take the community home, is to have false hope on yourself and to think overly highly of yourself.
Many counties in the mountain region sent home over 85% of the people they had elected in the first phase of devolution. From MCAs to Governor, senators and members of National Assembly mostly for non performance and chest thumping.
To imagine that those holding positions now will have such a hypnotising power to choose which market will suit the entire mountain community, is a mockery of their popular feelings.
The best thing these leaders should do is speak very little and concentrate very much on the mandate their people gave them. They should ask those leaders that were voted out how unforgiving the electorate of the Mountain area are.
They should also stop passing their narratives and bad blood to the younger generation and make them prisoners of history. But there is nothing you can do to stop one who voluntarily wants to become a prisoner. A majority of those blogging and attacking each other are indeed the youth.
I'm yet to see a sixty something year old blogging hatred and spending the whole day hurling insults on social media. The youth have a duty and responsibility to liberate themselves from their mental prisons.
Juma Hemedi
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