I would want very much to keep politics a bay but it’s just inevitable. In my personal view, politics is a necessary gentle art of getting votes from the poor, and the election funds from the rich by promising to bridge the gap between them. To explain the concept of valuables in 2012, we start from the thought that all the constituents of SE have a desire for prosperity as well as capacity to make decisions to pursue this prosperity. Towards achieving this goal, under normal circumstances, powers gradually develop around issue areas like trade and commerce, social relations, communal responsibilities and so forth. In a typical Samburu setting, these powers were universal and encompassing. For instance no one ever disputed the importance of Muratare (circumcision in Samburu); to all and sundry it is done the same way and for same reasons. Overtime these standards of practice will come to represent values of trust, responsibility, respect and honor. So how do these values relate to the social well-being for instance? If a boy gets a prize-promise during initiation, how, when and in what value form should it be paid to him? In a typical Samburu setting this defined the basic standards of values and they were pursued religiously for generations. So how does this value system impact on our responsibility today as SE residents? Does it have any significance of how we should demand to be governed, how our share of the so called national pie, however meager it is, should be managed? I do not have a definite solution to this unfortunately; I have a suggestion though, on how we can demand the effectiveness of the institutions of governance in place whether we were part of the ‘dirty game’ or not!
The enormous gap between the rich and the poor in SE today is so evident and growing. Therefore, something must be done but differently. The structural inequalities are so pronounced, unbearable and it goes beyond clan, geographical location and sadly the political class. The rules of the game (eat while you still can!) have conformed to the norms beyond clan, age, educational level, religion and most of all to the all-important tenet the ‘sanctity of public coffers’. In short, in SE you are either poor or rich, Period! Poor in the sense that at this age and time you get sent home from school to pay your school fees (more precisely SE students in Diaspora), while millions of funds are spent on building classrooms in areas with no kids to take to school; poor in the sense that despite being the ‘least populated’ tribe in Kenya, your priorities as a minority still takes back stage where national issues are debated; and poor in the sense in a district in which there is a constant threat of death due to prevalent hunger and systemic poverty, CDF contractors get paid upfront to complete non-existence projects and by extension four-wheel drives are bought to further this unscrupulous regimes interest in preparation for next general election in 2012. In the process all system values break down and we are staring at a counter-revolution where wealth rules, money talks and buys votes and worst still power is put in the hands of few ‘elite’ who have no respect for you as a person nor your right as a the rightful owner of that power they bask in. In essence, our inaction has put in place a primitive capitalist system with its bourgeois money-wielding, chest thumping and arrogant class of very few individuals controlling well over 80% of SE wealth. Welcome to our world; man eat man, unforgiving and unscrupulous pursuit of wealth at any cost. How did we get here? What happened to our society? Is there any hope for our future? Well, wake-up. This whistle goes especially to those in Diaspora who have been marginalized and neglected by many regimes for far too long. What wrong have we done to warrant us this? Yet, huge amount of money is lying in SE CDF kitty unused. What’s this money waiting for, and yet many challenges go unaddressed. In my opinion, a wrong and incompetent system is in place. I mean, how about a project manager to foresee all the projects and ensure equitable distribution of these very resources between both Archer’s Post and Wamba? Something is definitely wrong somewhere. Well, call it politics but I will call it the valuables for 2012.
Well folks, things are grim and we are at this point in history at the brink of extinction literally. If we survive the talons of this bourgeois class of man eaters, and their scramble for every little penny left in our CDF account; if we ever rise from the ashes of clan madness, sectoral politics, and generational tensions; if we ever want to move on as one and defeat these age of madness, well we need more than mere talk, endless meetings, clan affiliations and ever raging hullaballoo. We need more that wait for the so-called clan chiefs to organize meetings for us, set the agenda, set hollow unity protocols and then retire to sectorial meetings in the dead of the night at some dingy night club. We need more than feeble attempts to hit at clan barons and then coil into our shells like snails at the first challenge. We need to wipe the tears of every child who ever cried for help and instead got a blank stare of disapproval; we need to restore the faith of mothers, eroded by sleepless nights of worrying about insecurity, hunger, sickness, lack of education…; we need to earn once again the respect of the elders of this society that ours is not a lost generation of arrogant upstarts with an eroded, corrupted and misguided values. We need a revolution against this oppressive system of running things!
Therefore, can you make a difference? YES YOU CAN. However, I don’t have a definite answer to this question, but what I know for a fact is that deep down in every SE residents’ heart there is the feeling of an urgent need to make things right, the urge that tells you that it is important for things to be better than they are; the conviction that things must not just be done, but done right and in a fair manner. Well, I am telling you IT IS POSSIBLE and it can be done in our lifetime. It all goes back to the all-important value system, the guiding principles of our fore fathers, the bedrock on which just societies are built; the foundation of all prosperity, power and justice. My 2012 value system proposal is simple: fair allocation of resources, need based priorities, inclusive decision-making and above all these; honesty, honour, dependability, trust, responsibility and respect for the sanctity of public coffers. Simple and straight forward. I know it is not hard to live to these ideals; yes it can be done. More importantly, SAYING NO TO RELIEF FOOD in replacement for agricultural practices with modern tools and turning SE to be a haven for FOOD and PEACE. Tough times call for tough decisions but with the right leadership in place.
To expect everyone in our society to live up to the expectation of these ideals is utopian; doesn’t every market place have its own mad men? But it’s a little sacrifice for all who have seen the injustices perpetuated by the power barons from hell; it is our prize for a better world order in its most basic form. I want to correct the notion that politics is a dirty game. Aristotle asserts that man is indeed a political animal. If politics to you is in engaging in governance, electoral and campaign issues, you are wrong. Did you know that making ordinary decisions like choosing which friends to hang out with, which materials to read (non-academic), what things you consider important in life, are all basic political issues? So which aspects of these things do you consider dirty, or even inappropriate? Just as much these things are important to you, so should electoral, campaigns, and leadership and governance issues. It is your fundamental human right to get involved in the things that will adversely affect your life, and so the duty to ensure your voice counts in these things. The MOVEMENT FOR CHANGE is sweeping across many societies, and SE shouldn’t be left behind. Reflect on what happened in Egypt and Tunisia. The list is long and could just be a momentous call for a likewise change in the old ways of doing things in SE comes 2012.
In my view, reclaiming the power from this local bourgeoisie is important if for no other reason than that it highlights the place of ethical, moral and just management of the SE CDF. The value system helps us to articulate one of our deepest moral impulses about our responsibility in ensuring resources are used prudently feed the hungry, educate the poor, care for the sick, disabled and look after the welfare of the SE people: that the voices of the electorate is valuable. The question of whether, if we survive this oppressive class we can move forwards as one, is beyond the scope of this article at this point, however time will tell. What is clear from the terrain of the current political dispensation and by extension its successors, is that the value system mapped here has been seriously lacking and/or wanting at best chronically insufficient; our value system is to introduce and continue to articulate a shared/common moral purpose; that it must be compatible with a mission and vision of community empowerment aimed at self-determination in terms of resource utilization: a community respecting values.
Why should you care? Because you should, it’s your responsibility as a constitutional right. You have a duty towards the attainment of this common goal of institutional effectiveness, accountability and voila! Prosperity. Your role is your commitment to the common values. You have the power and I ask of you to share that power and realize how good and powerful we can become as one. If you share this and believe profoundly in it, then welcome home we belong to one clan; the poor, the oppressed, the unheard ‘bottom thousands’ of SE constituents. You are my clan because we share the same values; trust, respect, accountability, honor and good judgment, building peace in justice; you name it. THESE ARE THE THINGS WE MUST VALUE COME 2012.
End.
The writer of the article is a Postgraduate student in Oslo, Norway.
Lesiamito Malino John, Postgraduate Student in Oslo, 16.March 2011
He can be reached through email: Lesiamito@gmail.com
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