At the turn of the 19th
century a virulent epidemic, which swept the eastern shores of a lake then
known as Nam Lolwe, decimated half of
my grandfather’s family. Later, a young officer of the British Indian Army
discovered the lake and renamed it Lake Victoria.
My grandfather gathered his
family and fled death, abandoning the artisanal fishing business. This was an
improbable journey. But he was buoyed by the solemn duty to preserve his
family. He found a new home for his family up on a plateau to the east of Lake
Victoria.
My father was born just before
the end of World War II. My grandfather enlisted as an unskilled laborer when
the colonists built the first bridge across the Sondu-Miriu River. My
grandmother worked the land and raised six children. My grandparents were
illiterate but in a changing world they understood the transformative power of
education. My father worked on the land and went to school in colonial Kenya. Through
hard work and perseverance he qualified to enter a teachers’ training college. During
the holidays he worked in the tea fields of Kericho to provide for his family
and pay his way through college.
I was born after independence.
Both my parents were schoolteachers, folk of modest means. But I had all the
joys of childhood; toys, a dog, and the honor of herding my grandfather’s
cattle. Like my grandparents, my parents believed that through merit, borne out
of hard work, any child could attain their dream. My grandparents are both deceased
now. But that their grandson would attend the best schools, attain the highest
level of education and write a newspaper column must make their departed souls
truly glad.
My story is not unique. It is the
quintessential Kenyan saga. It is the story of hope and triumph. My story and
that of many families like mine affirms the timeless proclamation made fifty
years; a pledge to fight poverty, ignorance and disease. That today no one in
my family is poor or illiterate or infirmed by preventable diseases affirms
that progress to realize the ideals of our independence struggle are alive and
on the march.
But for many of our fellow
citizens the dream and promise of independence is a bill of goods. I followed
last week’s presidential debate in the naïve hope that it would be a contest of
ideas about how hew out of the mountain of national despair, a stone of hope.
Like many of you I was astounded
by how little the lady and the gentlemen who seek lead our country knew about
what is needed to restore faith in politics and build our economy. I was also awestruck
by how unserious moderation could dumb-down a historic national conversation.
Half a century later, the path
out of poverty is pretty uncertain for millions of Kenyan families. Mothers and
children, infants and senior citizens cannot afford the life saving medicine
they need. Our healthcare system delivers not healing but more suffering and
debt. Moreover, we are unsafe, in our homes or on the streets
Half a century later, punitive
tax and investment policies, an epileptic energy system, decrepit roads,
inefficient ports and a moribund railway network all converge to annihilate
business and enterprise. Our natural capital is in decline; our hills are
denuded and our scarlet rivers foul our lakes. Agriculture is comatose.
Manufacturing is dead. We have become a warehouse economy; holding and trading
cheap imports from distant shores, spiriting away billions of our meager but
had money to create jobs in foreign lands.
Half a century later, our teachers
spend more time not in the classroom but on the streets fighting for better
pay. 25% of the over 800,000 kids who finished primary school in 2102 will not
transition to high school. The path to gaining skills and competing in a
knowledge economy does not exist for a majority of our children. Only 6.25% of
those entering the job market can find well paying jobs. Inequality is
staggering; the richest 10% of households spent on
average 14.3 times more than the poorest 10% of households in 2011.
This election must be about
delivering the promise of independence. It must be about electing a government
that can work on behalf of the many, and not just the privileged few. It must
be about a government that opens the doors of opportunity for every child
across this land, regardless of their last name, rich or poor. Our politics
must be about things we can touch, feel and see.
It is a pitty that our politicians and especially the prrecidencial candidates are unable to deliver a true dream to Kenyans. What the debate was a flaw. Can we have leader to deliver the independence dream?
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