Good morning, 254, the nation of wonders, innovators, wokeness and progress. I hope you are well wherever you are as you pursue your day-to-day chores of nation-building.
Kenyans are an enterprising lot, and many people will tell you that the only thing they need is space to work, and they will never ask for anything. This is very true to a considerable extent, evidenced by the early movement of people and goods from as early as 3 am in all corners of this beautiful republic.
As we go about our daily routine, something is gnawing at my conscience, and I believe my writing bug pushes me to “out” some of these issues so that we can all ponder over them as people and improve on one or two things.
An excessive number of people air negative remarks and opinions that touch on many issues that affect our national well-being. To get us rolling, let me pick a few and try as much as possible to be simple and easy on my narration so that I don’t lose you on the way.
In this country of Kenya, almost to a man, nobody believes that someone can grow wealthy through hard work. The political class, accustomed to primitive accumulation and ostentatious display of wealth, has eroded the virtues of hard work in the people of Kenya.
For instance, it is not common to come across people of all ages and regions discussing and glorifying corruption gains as being enough to pay your way off and live comfortably forever after. This sad state of affairs has gone to the point of making hard-working people the target of hate attacks and other negative incidents.
It is hard to be a genuine investor and entrepreneur amidst a populace always inclined to believe you are up to something to make your gains or progress.
Another very sad and sorry state of mind that is pushing us backwards is the stereotypical attacks on our sisters who have made it big. Apparently, it is not “acceptable” for you to be a woman, hardworking, beautiful high achiever in this country without the masses attaching your achievements to the ceiling inspectorate department.
This hurts more when the drivers of this nonsense are, to a large extent, the very same women who are crying out for equality and equity in society. Dear sisters, who art thou, who hurt you? Why go for your own with all the tools in your yard? What happened to sister-to-sister support?
How do we raise our daughters in this kind of negativity and still build confidence in them to excel and push beyond? All these beat me, but well, let me branch out a bit to another area that’s more formal but troubling and worrying.
Every year, we have our young ones writing exams across different levels of the educational structure. This goes well until the results are published. As soon as this happens, the whole public gets into excitement mode, with celebrations scattered across different areas characterised by the ubiquitous shoulder-high rides for the top candidates and hooting school bus tours with boda-boda outriders.
Amidst all this fanfare, another online bridge comes to life like a zombie apocalypse with the unkindest words for the achievers. We are one nation, and all children belong to all of us. Why fully grown and sane people will dedicate their time and resources to fighting young children by questioning their academic achievements under online anonymity is something that we need to reflect on.
It seems that we have quite a number of people who believe that academic success must come from specific schools or geographical locations, and anything to the contrary is treated as questionable. Due to editorial space, I will only highlight these three, but there are many incidences out there.
Sadly, the average Kenyan has normalised not accepting some obvious realities happening in the space without associating the same with long-held obsolete perspectives that have no known foundational or logical basis. It cuts through my soul when high-placed members of society with solid academic foundations and a good grasp of factual information exhibit these Neanderthal attributes.
I cringe whenever I am having a normal conversation with someone, and out of the big blue sky, a stinging comment comes out, either targeting someone’s tribe, gender, race or such. In many cases, I try as much diplomacy as possible to ease the situation, and this whole episode hurts my soul.
Dear Kenyans, will it be too much to ask you to change your perspective and bigoted ways? Is it too much to show respect to our sisters at all times and support them when they climb the corporate ladder? Do you have to preoccupy yourself with somebody's language or origin instead of engaging professionally in a more civilised way?
Let us work on our national psyche by individually taking the responsibility of removing this negativity from our souls and minds so that we can run the country as one big family. Deep in my heart, I believe I am not beyond time or pushing matters but stating a virtuous good for the betterment of the whole nation; let us start the change and strive to be; it is possible. God bless you, and God Bless Kenya.
Career educationist, researcher, digital content and curriculum developer
