A few days ago, I got together with a friend by a river bank, to lay back and take stock of a week of slave labour in Kenya’s corporate world, over a smoke. Where does the dignity of the Kenyan Youth lie? Was a burning question in my mind.
“We’ve been fighting a war for more than two fortnights now, on and off the streets to bring back sanity in our government. However, it is clear now where our dignity is held by the political class. How far is the finish line? Will things get better?” I mused, admiring the hawks gliding effortlessly against the blue sky.
“Why live in real life? It’s better to dream. One can dream the most delightful things, but real life is a bore.” Shawn said stretching lazily on the rock. I couldn’t help but relapse back to my silent brooding. Extrajudicial killings, abductions, torture, and wrongful detention, are the reality of a Kenyan Youth fighting for a better life, I thought.
“Our politicians purport to be rich and noble, clever and talented, well, let them be so. God bless them. I respect them, but let them know that we too are Kenyans. By the very fact that we respect them and call them honourable without envy, we prove our dignity as Kenyans.” Shawn started, reclining into a leaning position.
“But do they respect us? The blatant lies they peddle with the lowest ignominy, misuse of powers vested in the offices they occupy, and pure evil sanctioned at their whim are revolting.” I ventured. “We are taught from a young age that truth is the defender, yet when I look at the disintegration of the ruler’s court, my heart can’t help but weep for the impending doom of our future.”
Public dissent against the government cannot be credited to the Finance Bill 2024 but to the systematic breakdown of the public sector by the entrenchment of impunity over the decades since independence. It is true and evident that the older generation has failed the nation. Their condemnation is owed to their actions and ways of gate-keeping positions against the increasingly ambitious and smart young population which is growing exponentially.
Besides, the target just got bigger; “A government of National Unity,” so the political class calls it after bleating yesterday at the KICC about a multi-sectorial dialogue team. Committees and teams, dialogues and talks, I call them derailment of civil concerns. The issues affecting the nation are out in the public domain, championed in every conversation. Do we need a committee to table them? Blatant disrespect of the citizenry!
I believe we cannot depend on the current class of elites to understand our predicament. The Kenyan youth has proven to be proud and understanding of his rights. Now I ask, how is the dignity of the Kenyan Youth from a politician’s perspective? Do they take us for the future, or a scramming mass of imbeciles to be assuaged with pressers and committees?
They need to be afraid, very afraid, for the stupider one is, the closer one is to reality. The stupider one is, the clearer one is. Stupidity is brief and artless, while intelligence wriggles and hides itself. Intelligence is a knave, but stupidity is honest and straightforward.
