Kalenjin Excerpt: Are we too obedient for the corrupt?

Kalenjin Excerpt: Are we too obedient for the corrupt?

I am a Kalenjin and for that matter a true patriot entitled to a piece in the war against corruption, whoever can argue to the contrary or seek to defy the default should write a clarification order to ‘Asis’ the supreme GOD. I have refused to be and I will not be a victim of “Ingen Mengit” (the ram knows where the sheep are headed). We are already in the ditch and some folks are telling us to postpone life until we get to power? Pope Gregory 1 in 590 AD warned his followers against the seven deadly sins “lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride – as a way to keep the flock from straying into the thorny fields of ungodliness.”        In addition Mahatma Gandhi warns us against 7 social sins and the two most striking in our community are “Politics without principles and Wealth without work”.  When did we begin harboring and rewarding robbers and looters? Are we to say we are scared of people with big cars and that wealth without integrity is unquestionable? We are not clean and therefore we are not eligible to begin cursing our enemies yet, we are tangled in extreme mud and now we have blood and tears in our hands because we have led our leaders commit evil in our watch and cheering.

Be cautioned because this piece is not about them, but ‘WE’. When the country is riding on this rough road are we the cause, the problem or the solution. In my own exact observation, it is our extreme obedience to those who pretend to be leaders that has placed us in this state of anarchy. Perhaps down the road we have replaced our cultural norm of respect to the elders with obedience to leadership. Will there be a solution? Yes, let us all go down the river to curse the corrupt and as a culture we have to ‘wenygei’ and check ourselves whether we are clean. We have leaders who have robbed the country in our name, we have people who have killed in our name, and we have money sitting in individual pockets in our names but we aren’t part of the loot? Kalenjin’s are a great people since time immemorial, they  work hard to make ends meet, our greatness is in hard work and our ability to distinguish what is wrong and right culturally/morally. They win justly in that which they have set eyes on, they win on the streets of London because they work hard.

With that mentioned, let me be a bit realistic. As Kalenjins, we are the second and if not the first community with a few heartless corrupt individuals riding on our obedience and worship of power.  These are the facts according to me:

1. The period I would assign ‘block 7897’, we as a society created goons out of man, who became millionaires at all cost, buried our intellectuals, replaced and engineered an obedient population packaged in one bag and traded for political gains.
2. Our children lack quality education because teachers are under paid and therefore lack motivation.
3. Our so called leaders have thousands of acres of land while the unfortunate are IDP’s and many others are chased around because of the sins of AFC’s loans.
4. A lot of money in our name exists in ‘foreign’ banks but we blindly protect the thieves because of our tribal blindness, we are in fact planning for them to enter higher office.
5. In our communities, we have a number of police/military heads and yes their friends and relatives have a leeway to the same unjustly while the masses are duped for a pay.
6. The majority of our leaders bought for their positions and therefore have nothing to do with us.

 

I suppose in the interest of our children and grandchildren and before we engage in the battle against corruption, we have to ask whether we are cleansed, for the Kingdom belongs to the Holy. Our pretense and greed has put us into a collective responsibility over a few individuals who have amassed wealth irresponsibly and hid in our backyards. Let’s face the devil in the eye and ask. “What really happened to Seroney, Chemorei, and Bishop Muge etc. who really owns Safaricom? Who is behind the taxation of Athletes? If wiki leaks are true, then we have owners not leaders. Optimism as Voltaire says “is the madness of insisting all is well while we are miserable”. We are faced with real time challenges and before we stick our noses to our neighbors, let us find and kill the jigger within and if need be ask Museveni.