UNE VERITE BIEN ECRITE...WELL SAID, WELL WRITTEN

Lu dans la presse kenyane de ce jour, au lendemain des elections...

There's need for civic education

When Kenya got its independence more than four decades ago, we were told that our greatest enemies were poverty, ignorance and disease. The new government promised to wage a full scale war on these enemies of the people.

Fourty-four years later, I cannot see any battles that have been won. This is particularly true of the first two enemies, namely ignorance and poverty. I blame this on Kenyans themselves. This is mostly because they seem to have left the political class to be their warriors in this war

However, if what we saw during the campaigns for this year’s General Election is anything to go by, I do not see us winning any battle against these enemies in any foreseeable future.

This is because politicians are relying on these enemies of the people of Kenya to sustain them in power. The political class is also taking advantage of ignorance and poverty to assuage bloated egos.

During the campaigns, the politicians spread lies and cheap propaganda to achieve their ambitions. Knowing Kenyans very well, these politicians knew that they could say anything and get away with it.

It is the ignorance of some Kenyans which makes it easy for them to be manipulated during elections to vote for certain groups, whose only interest is to gain power and get elected to Parliament or a local council. These gullible Kenyans are also easily incited to butcher one another in the name of defending tribal interests.

Poverty is also proving to be a very powerful ally of politicians as they go out hunting for votes. During the campaigns, I came across groups of men, women and children wasting a whole day waiting for politicians come and give them as little as Sh20.

This bribery happened in the poorer rural areas and slums in towns and even in the well-endowed areas such as central Kenya.

Nobody can dispute the fact that Kenya has made giant strides as far as democratisation is concerned, and especially since the restoration of multi-party rule in the run-up to the 1992 elections. However, this will be an exercise in futility if steps are not taken to eradicate ignorance and poverty.

IT IS A FACT THAT THE POLITICIANS who have amassed obscene wealth during the reign of previous governments are using these resources to manipulate voters so they can retain power and influence in society.

It is for this reason that I believe civil society must embark on an aggressive campaign to impart civic education in the people in every corner of the country. We cannot rely on the political class to eradicate poverty and ignorance as long as they are the beneficiaries of the status quo. This is particularly urgent taking into consideration how the politicians conducted their campaigns for 2007 elections.

Every right thinking Kenyan will agree that many of the politicians played the tribal card to rally support.

The politicians in power make their people feel that their tribe is under siege. And those gunning for power make it look as if the tribe from the incumbent leader have had it too good.

Kenyans should be educated to say no to this divisive kind of politics. Civil society should educate people so that our people reclaim their dignity as human beings and shun the culture of selling their heritage for a song to politicians.

The people should be taught that they can “eat” money from politicians and still have the last laugh at the ballot box. Land grabbers and looters of public coffers should not be voted for at the expense of worthy men and women who can make this country prosper.

Unless this happens, we will have no business bragging that we are a most democratic country. And it is because those who call the shots today merely take advantage of the poverty and ignorance of our people. Unless we can change the current state of affairs, our independence will literally have gone to the dogs.