It is quite in order to say congratulations to Kenyans especially those who voted “YES” in the just concluded referendum and gave Kenyans a new constitution. You have been patient like an overdue expectant mother, but today a new baby is born and we all deserve to celebrate with song and dance. Congratulations.

Perhaps in the most well-known and most quoted address by Dr. Martin L. King, titled “I have a dream” is a statement in the concluding remarks I find fitting to our situation today, after our participation in the historic August 4, 2010 referendum. He states ‘“And when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and hamlet, from every state and city, we will be able to speed up that day, when all of God’s children-black men and white, Jews and Gentiles, Catholics and Protestants, will be able to join hands and to sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “free at last, free at last; thank God almighty, we are free at last”’.

For a people who have suffered several decades of various forms of injustice and systemic oppression by our own, we sure must feel a sense of freedom. And so with this historic achievement, Kenyans must begin to claim the real promises of democracy that we have missed for so long. We must begin to live the essence of the message of our national anthem. With this rebirth of our beloved nation, Kenyans must bring renewed minds for us to make real the meaning of this moment. Unless we make a clear distinctive departure from the evil past that crippled our nation, and embrace the new constitution with a vigorous burning desire to serve the good for and to every Kenyan, the new constitution will not in itself bring real meaning to us. We must walk away from tribalism and encourage brotherhood. We must walk away from corruption and corrupt tendencies, and befriend work with commensurate remuneration. We must walk away from those who lord over us, and encourage leadership. We must forsake all forms of distrust and hatred that put us in bondage before, and unite as a people of one nation. And that we shall not loose the momentum that this new constitution has brought until every Kenyan enjoy the new form of freedom, justice and equality.

As we welcome the new constitution and rebirth of our great nation, we too must be born again in our minds to fight poverty to its core, and any form of isms that may divide us. Until then we cannot say “I am proud to be a Kenyan!”.

One more time, in the words of Martin Lurther, I want to submit to you that with this historic achievement, we must aspire to “work together, pray together, struggle together, and to stand up for freedom together”. And as we do this, we should never loose focus of that day, when the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

May God bless you and our great nation Kenya.

Mordekai Ongo
Michigan, USA.