Why Kenyan Patriots Must Think and Speak Tragically
I took time to reflect on Wandia Njoya’s thoughts on tragedy and why many people will
rather stay clear of tragedies in our society. This provocation happened due to
recent conversation that Kenyans like focusing on negativity following
revelation that a section of the standard gauge railway (SGR) that is under construction
from Mombasa to Nairobi collapsed under the weight of ongoing rains in the
country. It is not the first time this is happening though. There are many
incidences where a section of Kenyan society has insisted that we embrace
positive thinking; that we highlight the positive things that happen in society
instead of always looking at the negative. Those in support of the government
of the day have particularly excelled in this philosophy. Of course, they would
rather be praised to death than critiqued to salvation! Corruption is our
biggest tragedy. Until we think tragically, we shall never decisively deal with
it and sure it will consume us.
It does not surprise me because we live in society where
people hate and run away from things as simple as a thought of tragedy. People want
to hear and to think and to see and experience nice things happen. They do not
want to imagine or experience tragedies. So when you hear a loud bang, you want
to believe it is something like a car tyre burst; not a bullet bumped right into
a living mortal rendering its body lifeless! Unfortunately, and quite
tragically these tragedies that we do not like to hear or see or experience or
think about are part and parcel of the same life that we must live; they will
always happen and pretending to run away from them is tantamount to running away
from life itself. We simply must figure out how to live with them, not how to
avoid talking about them. We must think and talk about corruption tragically
because it is a tragedy.
In Wandia’s thoughts, every time
a social issue is raised, like extra-judicial killings, gender discrimination,
the typical "second side of the story" is that not all cops are like
that, not all pastors are like that, not all men
are like that, not all Kikuyus are like that, not all (fill in the blank) are
like that. Then she says this is why she will keep talking about tragedy.
Tragedy. Tragedy considers innocence less important than power. It kills the
king because the king matters enough. Tragedy says - yes you are a good cop.
But if some cops go rogue and kill wananchi, you are implicated, good as you
are. Yes, Mr. Uhuru Kenya you appear to be a sweet president who wears rugby
shirts and drinks sodas at kiosks and accepts gives of sugar canes from common
folk on the roadside. But then again Mr. President corruption is a tragedy you
cannot avoid. Some Cabinet Secretaries and top civil servants steal from the
public. You are still implicated in everything that goes on in Kenya as long as
you wear the badge of president. And we must think tragically when you throw up
your arms and tell us you have nothing to do about it. You must be wrong on
that. Very wrong and that is a tragedy.
Wandia
says “I am a lecturer; I know fellow lecturers who are rogue. I am implicated.
My response should not be that I am one of the good ones.” The response in her
view should be to fight for an education system that encourages lecturers to do
the right thing. Because as long as she still wears that gown on graduation and
claim to have the powers to read and do what appertains to whatever, she is implicated.
The President cannot claim he is clean; he is a good man; he is a victim of
circumstances; he does not have what to do. There is something to be done.
Meanwhile we shall keep on thinking tragically for indeed the tragedy has
befallen our land.
It cannot be that when there is
time to take pride in the work of an institution; it is shared but when it
comes to responsibility; we shy away. In Wandia’s reflections; as long as you
wear the badge of institutional power, as long as people carry out actions in
the name of your gender, your ethnic group, your profession, or any other
identity you ascribe to, you are responsible. You are implicated. The reply is
not to say I am one of the good ones. It is to tell those who carry out those
injustices: NOT IN MY NAME!
Wandia concludes by asserting
that “to think tragically is to be an adult, as my friend Lewis Gordon says.”
That is maturity. So we cannot become a middle-income whatchamacallit without
tragic thinking as a nation. We can't have so much evil going on and no one
being personally responsible, but everyone being innocent. Shirking
responsibility is the thinking of a colony, not of an independent nation. Can
we therefore, stop this narrative of “stop focusing on the negative” for indeed
the negative is what is robbing us the opportunities and possibilities of ever creating
a nation out of a balkanized Kenyan society. Corruption is a tragedy; let us
think and talk about it tragically.
Why Kenyan Patriots Must Think and Speak Tragically
Reviewed by Ibrahim Magara
on
November 24, 2016
Rating:
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