Let us be realistic and not just face the lies of our realities. We are living in a highly volatile world, very wild indeed. It is true that Kenya needs peace and she needs it now, especially this time when we are headed for elections. As we lead and attend these workshops and conferences, the questions we fail to answer are: What is the cause of all these unrests we experience during the elections? How, in our very own way, have we tried to address the causes of upheavals in this country? Are we really serious that we yearn for peace? Are we in a state of peaceful coexistence before we scream for peace in other circles? How then are we going to call for peace and yet we are stepping on our brother’s toe?
These fundamental questions have no answers in my own point of view. Why? Because we are not yet ready to answer them. Those of us who talk about peace in this country are either hypocritical or do not have an idea of how to squeeze money out of the taxpayers and dip them into doing something that can be looked as fruitful. We do not just need peace in this country, we need understanding. We need to loosen up our grip on the illusion that we know yet we do not know. We need to, for once, sit on our mouths and open our ears and listen to the voices of the downtrodden.
When we go around speaking about peace we sound outrageous, uneducated and unreasonable. Talking about tranquility means addressing all those injustices that were committed; and reaching a state of compromise. Kenya has a bulwark of injustices that have never been fully addressed. A good example is the post election violence, where IDPs are still languishing in the camps with intolerable conditions. Well, even if it were me, if someone came to me calling for peace, I would be the first to cast the first stone.
Why then Am I not attending these peace ‘things’? Essentially, it is useless for me to yawn through a meeting that has more talk than nothing for hours listening to that humdrum talk about peace. I would rather stay in my garden, tilling and listening to the peaceful song of the birds. One thing that you notice when attending such functions is that awkwardness among the speakers, especially if they are drawn from the political class. You see the wine glass in hand while they are dishing out water. You see the mask hiding the devil within since these devil forgot that the mask does not cover the eyes!
As for those other individuals, who are not politicians, you see the wringing of hands in their voice since they do not know what they are talking about. There is some kind of mischievous fallacy being played before us in the guise of preaching peace.
The attendants on the other hands are always a total comedy. Some of them maybe attended because of the excitement of seeing a certain celebrity. Others maybe attended because they expected some handouts. And still others came to pass time. The best group is that of those who came because they wanted to see what is really going on, ‘the out of curiosity group’. With such an audience, goats would do better.
Secondly, I believe in the notion that, peace cannot be achieved on an expectant and hungry stomach. Picture this, you have a dog that is hungry and is creating so much fuss, you go out there peeling the last bits of meat on the bone and talking calmly to the dog, “come down boy, come down.” Am not sure if you will survive the onslaught. The point I am trying to make is this, instead of wasting money on mundane projects like peace initiatives, let us come up with projects that could generate some activity on the idle minds. Kenya has enterprising and innovative citizens. If only these citizens’ products could find a market, a mentor and capital I don’t think there would be energy to raise a finger. Why then don’t we redirect ourselves to those potentials instead of singing the same song of peace? Talking about peace is like massaging an area that was pricked with a thorn and not removing the thorn itself. Ouch!
My third reason is, in reference to the blog I ran earlier, LET KENYANS WIELD THE JEMBE, RECONCILIATION IS A BOARDROOM TALK, (http://mwashy.blogspot.com/2012/03/let-kenyans-wield-jembe-reconciliation.html) I don’t think Kenyans on the ground are disunited. Walk to Nairobi’s slums and you would be shocked at the peace that prevails from a neighbour upon neighbour. You would not even believe that this neighbour will turn against his neighbour with a rungu and machete. For this neighbour to get on the neck of his neighbour there must be something venomous, since, this is the neighbour he/she has been rushing to with a bowl to borrow flour, beg for salt even ask for a favour of looking after the kids. Now, the venom that causes such animosity is fuelled from years of neglect, bitterness and bad leadership that stems from the tribe which is dear to a Kenyan, even the foreign born. One thing that I have never come to understand is how deep the village was planted in us. It is like that thorny tree that has grown close to our hearts that any pull or push causes untold pain.
Frankly speaking, it is the leaders we need to preach peace to. That is my honest opinion, we need to sit our leaders down, tear their vices in their own faces and point blankly tell them that we are not pleased with their stepping on our toes with stilettos and pointing innocently to our neighbour forcing us to slap the innocent and let the real culprit go free.
I will attend the next peace conference only when we shall be ready to listen to and address the grievances of the people or when we shall sit down our leaders and preach to them peace or maybe when we shall remove our sheep skins and show case our wolfish behaviour ready to confess that we are changing for the better. Call me to that meeting and I will gladly attend.
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