It's been barely three months since the BBI report was launched in a well-attended meeting at the Bomas of Kenya. The report, as we were told, was supposed to reconcile the country and fix our challenges once and for all.
Speaking in their usual Kenya-is-bigger-than-all-of-us parlance, our leaders registered their support to yet another noble idea to unite Kenyans. 'Noble' was the word that was used to describe the report, speaker after speaker.
President Uhuru Kenyatta led other leaders in reminding us that we had reached a point of no return. That Kenyans had to move forward as one indivisible people. And that the Building Bridges Initiative report was the ticket to 'the land of milk and sunshine'.
It didn't take us long before we found ourselves between the devil and the deep blue sea. We Somehow found our way back to where we were in 2017. It's increasingly palpable that the much-vaunted noise about reforms and unity was a mere act. A creative way of playing with the gallery. We have to give it to our politicians for such skills.
Kenya is more polarised than before the BBI report was made public. There are two easy lessons that we could glean from the ongoing show of political might in the country. First, we–the people–are not ready to fix this country. Second, our leaders are not prepared to get us out of the woods, because, basically, they don't want to.
That is why they promise reforms with one breathe and take it back with the next. The BBI report has morphed from a panacea rated higher than Waki, Ndung'u and Kriegler reports to a spark that is ready to ignite the firestorm.
It's high time the people intervened by deciding what course is best for us. This, we can do by calling a spade a spade and ejecting leaders who seem to want to cause rifts.
Because, for sure, how do you collect views at a rally? How do you muster individual views to arrive at a common position in a gathering of 5,000-plus people? Any sober data specialist will tell you it's not possible. But we continue to turn up in large numbers to listen to empty rhetoric and organised propaganda and call it a consultative meeting. A consultation between who and who?
The trouble with Kenya is deep and complex. We–the people–should make a choice whether we want to fix our problems on our own or we are happy to live in a country where lies, chaos and lawlessness reign.
Journalism student, MMUK
