- You are well known for tech innovations such as the M-Pesa mobile money that has revolutionised the banking sector ushering in a cashless society.
- You have also given Kiswahili to us, a language that was born in Mtopanga, and now it’s slowly becoming the lingua franca of the African continent.
Image: EZEKIEL AMING'A
Happy 60th birthday dear Kenya.
You are now a granny, with more than 50 million children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. You have been a great caring and wonderful mother to us all. It’s true that over the years, you have fed us, taken care of our needs and even when we differ amongst us as your children, you have always been there for us to remind us that you are bigger than our differences.
You are known the world over for your hospitality, generosity and vivacity. Many nations admire your for your resilience and uniqueness. Indeed when some come to see you, they don’t want to leave, for your ambience serenity and dynamism is so alluring and magnetic.
The quality of your tea is legendary. In fact, it’s used to blend other teas in order to improve on their quality. You have the biggest tea auction in the world, for every morning mother earth wakes up to the aroma of your cup at a breakfast. Your coffee is the best and its proceeds have fed so many a family, taking little children to school from the pay off its cherries.
Townships, neighbourhoods and indeed burgeoning cities like Tatu City, have been born out of coffee plantations, an example of how influential this plant has been dear motherland.
And your lush landscape full of flora and fauna, have bequeathed unto us the all too famous safari in the wild. Millions of people from other motherlands come to see this endowment. Many documentaries and films have been inspired and made out of this wild that belongs to you. Indeed, you rekindle memories of paradise, where both human and wild co-exist in perfect harmony and unison.
It’s not surprising mother Kenya, that you have been identified as the possible cradle of man. That thousand years of yore, the original man was born off your ground. Yet this in itself gives pre-eminence of the potent potential of your greatness, if only well nurtured and harnessed.
Indeed a case in point is that the gold, silver and bronze for the great races of the world, are a preserve of your sons and daughters as Athletics has become synonymous with you. The greatest marathoner of our times is our brother Eliud Kipchoge, and others like Paul Tergat are role models for great presidents and rulers of the world.
It’s not only in athletics, but also your descendants have raced to lead the world in places unfathomable heretofore! The great Barack Hussein Obama, whose father was Kenyan, became the pride of the world, when he was elected the first black president in the history of the US.
As if that was not enough, Rishi Sunak, whose father was born and raised in Nairobi, has recently become the first British premier of Asian and African origin. This is indeed incredible, that your children’s children, can go ahead to rule great lands of America and Britain, your former coloniser if not forces of global dominance.
As the world is racing towards the fourth industrial revolution, you are not left behind, as your internet connectivity is amongst the best in Africa and the world.
In fact you are well known for tech innovations such as the M-Pesa mobile money that has revolutionised the banking sector ushering in a cashless society. You have also given Kiswahili to us, a language that was born in Mtopanga, and now it’s slowly becoming the lingua franca of the African continent, a mother tongue to unite the African race!
You are also the only one to host a UN headquarter — UNEP — in a developing country. And your daughter, Wangari Maathai, was the first African woman to receive a Nobel Peace Prize award on account of taking care of you and indeed the earth, way before climate change became a clarion call.
You have suffered, war, your children, led by Dedan Kimathi had to shed blood to gain freedom. Your sons and daughters like Kenneth Matiba, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga and many others had to be detained for you to get second liberation.
You have gone through famine and drought, outbreak of diseases, post-election violence, floods and El Niño, yet you have remained unbowed, unbroken.
In your 60s, you are becoming, a beacon of hope unto prosperity. Though ravaged by bad economic times, chocking public debt, post-Covid-19 and post-election recession, you remain strong, ready to bounce back to the greatness that you are, Kenya our dear motherland.
It may be inconceivable to some, and unfathomable to others, but Kenya you remain great! Other nations look up to you for inspiration. They admire your resilience. You demand respect when others denigrate you as a hotbed of terror.
You have come too close to the edges of the precipice, but you steadily roll back to a greater direction.
Your population is great, it has won accolades in many disciplines and your workforce is helping steer the economies of many a country in the diaspora!
Great is your strength, wonderful is the land that gave us our country, our motherland, our nation Kenya.
We promise to take care of you and to help you become even greater in the community and comity of nations.
Happy 60th Madaraka Day
Happy Birthday, Kenya