A look through the lens

     Greetings. Seeing as this is the first post off this new blog, I'd like to thank you for taking the time to read this. I have not written anything other than music and poetry for a while now but over time an insatiable hunger to write and speak out has been gnawing at the walls of my belly and it now seems quite apparent that something wants to come out. 

     Recently, we had Kenyans on twitter putting MPs in their place about their contentious bonus issue. I applaud all those who let the strength of their voices echo through social media and into the ears of the masses. As I was scrolling through the tweets, I could tell that there was a genuine sense of distress from the citizens of this great republic. I could almost see those incensed marching even before they did. I knew a shaking was on the rise. 

     All this time a question was raging from within me: who is the enemy we as a country are fighting? The strange thing is I thought I had always known this answer. I was cemented in the belief that it was the police, the corporate world, MPs, etc.  It had to be. The impunity in our institutions as devolved from the seat of power was a rot in our once healthy bones and decay in the marrow of our nation. As a result, someone has to take the blame. From my myopic viewpoint, I thought that individuals and systems were the problem. The people in power had misused us for so long that it simply had to be power that was the poison. If this theory I had (and that most of us have) is to be held as true, we are then robbed of every ounce of hope as power is a constant even in a world lacking politicians. 

     So what is the problem? Well, if you may allow me to chisel out the truth, I shall do my best. We are all born fallible. In the journey of life, we pick up individual traits that are selfish, defiant, malicious, and just to call a spade a spade; sinful. We believe that the fight is everywhere else apart from within us. Recalling a conversation I had a year ago, I engaged a young man visiting Kenya with the question ‘what is your reason to wake up every morning?’ He told me that he lives to ensure everything in the world becomes better. As noble as this sounded, it had a problem. I replied to his answer with another question: ‘so if everything in the world becomes amazing, you will no longer have a reason to wake up?’ It seemed that if everything in the world was better, everything in him would be as well. Who would have vanquished our internal struggles? Slightly puzzled but considerably excited, my friend immediately understood that truly there had to be something deeper than what is without us. Using this as a reference point, I shall cease my digression and return to the matter at hand. 

     The biggest problem we face as a people is our self. The biggest giant facing us as a people is indeed our character. The politicians are not to blame due to their position as the biggest hindrance in leadership is a character problem and not a positional problem. The fastest way to rectify this is to take responsibility as an individual. We will never be able to move forward as a people if individually we are tolerating stagnation and a scapegoat culture in our lives. We need to cut off all the traits within us that bring our country to shame. It starts with us. Corruption, tribalism, impunity and any other ailment to our nation are not just in the people visibly doing the action, but in the mind that secretly condones the act. Each one of us has to turn the pitchforks to our character flaws so that by the time we are turning them on others, we may have the capacity to be an example to our leaders. 

     So my friends, both new and old, I beseech you, let us stop flaunting our skin as if it is flawless knowing very well that our bones and marrow are rotting. If we want good leadership, we must start in our homes, our friendships and all the other ‘little things’ that we overlook. We simply must. Finally, I know both the problem and the solution. I have not been a good man but I have to become a better man, for the sake of my generation. What will you choose to do? It all begins with us.