BY DICKENS WASONGA – FREELANCE JOURNALIST – KISUMU, KENYA

Tel. +254721784774

With the recent signing of an historic power-sharing deal between Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga, relative calm has now returned to many parts of the country.

It is true that many Kenyans were anxiously waiting to begin to settle down after the month-long violence which rocked the country following the disputed poll results.

Our political leaders from both sides of the political divide have also shown maturity and have taken commendable steps following the signing of the agreement. For the first time they seem to have realised the need to have a peaceful and united country. They must also have realised that this country is bigger than an individual and that there comes a time when the interests of the nation are greater than that of any one of us.

Whether they did so willingly or through other means may not be a matter of much concern to us now. There is a need to caution leaders to be carefull with their statements.

I want to believe that no single Kenyan would wish to see a repeat of the kind of turmoil that we just went through. While we all agree that Kenya must not go back to what we just witnessed, it is important for all of us to ask why it happened and whether it could have been avoided.

Careless statements like the one issued this week by the head of civil service and secretary to the cabinet Mr. Francis Muthaura must not be allowed since they can ignite fire amongst our people.

Every Kenyan must have learnt something from the violence. I wish people like the Muthauras of this nation also did.

If you thought your neighbour was the problem, then you can today confess whether you were indeed right. Whether you hd a godfather in the civil service did not matter much. Many realised that only evil and acts of violence are willingly and equally distributed unlike wealth.

We have taken that road before and please, Mr. Muthaura, what we want now is peace and not clarifications of facts we already have.

If you were in this country when the news of the agreement was made public and saw the way that Kenyans recieved it, then you should have known that it was what they were waiting for. Muthaura aside, I must hasten to point out that this country needs more honest and patriotic politicians than ever before.

As Kenyans, we cannot escape blame because for a long time we have allowed politics and politicians to dominate every sphere of our lives. Agreed, politics and development do go together, but can’t we now force these fellows to polish a bit and show them how we want politics and dvelopment to co-exist?

Not all of them are bad. Not every politician is waiting for the slightest opportunity to incite people to war.

However, a good number of them must style up and exercise a little control on how they play politics so that we do not plunge this country into chaos once again.

I am not suggesting that we go back to the dark old Kanu days of dictatorship where divergent opinions were not tolerated. However, Kenyans must bring sanity back into politics by rejecting people who want to preach hatred amongst us–people who do not get tired of reminding you that you are poor and jobless because you belong to a certain tribe or that some people cannot lead because they are not circumcised.

These are the people who fan ethnic haterd which, if unchecked, leads to what we just went through in the past few months. They must not get a chance to talk to us.

Some of them have made it literally impossible for other Kenyans to be able to work and earn an honest living. You cannot be employed simply because you cannot be trusted anywhere within his family tree and that is all over the country.

We have placed all our hopes and wishes upon our politicians. This must now change for I think it was a grave mistake. As citizens of this great nation, let us try another method for they have let us down many times.

We must now ensure, as Kenyans, that nobody will at any time go for his neighbour’s neck. Never again wil we feel scared simply because someone belongs to a particular community.
Politics of division must not find relevance in our midist. No MP should tell a fellow Kenyan why he or she has no job or access to things like electricity in their homes. Instead, Kenyans now expect an MP who will not only identify a problem but get a solution to it for they can nolonger find solace in blame game when the country is bleeding.

If MPs can agree to hike their pay regardless of their political affilliation then we expect them to also agree to pass laws that will serve the interests of all Kenyans at any time that such a legislation is brought to the floor of the house.

Issues that are so dear to us, such as unemployment, must also be fully addressed. We want to see all Kenyans who qualify for any position given equal consideration whenever there is an opportunity for employment.

Many people believe that many of the much talked about injustices were committed because our system of governance allowed it. There is an urgent need to strengthen our systems by creating strong institutions.

Creating such institutions calls for greater participation by our law makers. We also need to ensure that we build public confidence in these institutions and that they are allowed to operate within the provisions of the law and without external interference.

The truth is that many Kenyans have little or no faith at all in many of our institutions. This is because of the way they have been managed before. Corruption has eaten up a number of them. This is the time to put corruption in reverse gear.