Several seeds have been planted over the years by many people, from politicians, council of elders, professionals, opinion leaders and even youths. Some were seeds of nourishing grain but some were seeds of virulent seeds. In fact most were not seeds at all but rather the seeds of venomous reptiles and stinging insects.
Over the years, those seeds have germinated and those eggs have hatched – and we have harvested the products of both; but our harvests of hatred, division, ‘kietism’ and unabashed lies have exceeded, one hundred fold, our harvests of oneness, progress and integrity in public life. The progeny of the seeds of weeds and the eggs of snakes and toxic insect plagues have come to define us as pokomos!
It is no doubt that the seed of ‘udzuu na unsini’ was planted and well watered before 2013 and it cost us dearly. We lost all the seats. Who ever imagined that the largest tribe in Tana would loose all the seats save for some 5 MCA seats (elected plus nominated) out of 26 MCA seats. While we capitalized on trivial issues like past historical injustices that we cannot even prove their authenticity or perhaps committed by people who are not affected by the repercussions of our divisions, the opponents took advantage of vulnerability and formed a united front against us. And the nation paid a heavy price.
After loosing the elections, we acted in a manner to suggest that we had realized our mistake and were keen on correcting it. We sung ‘sikuye’ to signify that 2017 is not far and we are going to unite and take over Tana River County leadership as a united pokomo. And the nation appeared rejuvenated, and there was new hope and world-beating optimism. And we knew it would not be be business as usual; do you remember the time when pokomo united stood in solidarity with Mandela when he was arbitrary detained? But that was just a delusional respite from the tedium of the life we were used to! And the stinging insect of deceit and double-speak hatched in overwhelming inglory! Perhaps People were preaching water while taking wine? factually, the tree of insicerety and betrayal was liberally showered with waters of disillusionment, a volatile mix that catastrophically exploded last year.
In the words of Abraham Lincolin “you can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time”. As we approached the elections, our true colours came out. The more we neared the electioneering period the more divided we seemed. In 2016, the egg that would hatch into the viper of hatred was laid. however there was still hope as the nation looked at the gasa for direction. As much as people had interests, they were hopeful that the gasa and or the aspirants would unite them by giving direction or rather a line up. Several meetings were held at YWCA, Friends Motel, Voi and Hola primary in a bid to get one candidate per seat. The final try was at the famous basket of hope where we laid yet another egg... the egg of ‘udzuu na unsini.’ The tree of dialectal differences was strategically planted sheltering the weeds of ‘kietism.’
Since then, the RPN was defined by insults, hatred, name-calling and mockery. Everyone was judged based on where he or she came from. Die-hard supporters resorted to attacking some ‘vietis’, villages or regions as a way of selling their candidate of choice other than selling their candidates manifestos. RPN Bloggers showcased their writing skills by posting propaganda and spreading hate against the other camps and personalities. The politics of personality, sycophancy, praise-singing and ‘unswerving loyalty’ were elevated to new levels and everyone forgot about the plight of the nation. (the status quo has been mantained to date, can you imagine?).
Sadly, everyone forgot about the uncelebrated heroes who tried their best to ensure unity of the RPN. We forgot the efforts of the people who had sacrificed their time and resources to salvage the RPN ship from sinking by moving from one village to another preaching unity. We suddenly forgot about the professionals who had spent hundreds of thousands to fund the council of elders who were expected to give direction. We forgot all the efforts to save our people who are currently in jail for fighting for the nation. There was a lot of effort to achieve unity, but in the toxic political environment, we forgot about all these efforts. We have forgotten about everyone who put effort and our love or hate for one another is based on which camp one belongs to. As is naturally human in the circumstances, we did not see the village beauty’s dimple’s but only the pimple on the tip of her nose.
The 2013 loss did not knock us back to our senses- we hugged the pain, we nurtured the anger, we nourished the bitterness, and we cynically mined and exploited the tragedy for our political selfishness. And from this has emerged an RPN with great divide. A nation that is blessed with intelligent minds and numbers, but neither calm nor peaceful; a nation with immense prospects but little hope.
Pokomos are in need of inspirational leadership. We are in need of a leader that shall resolutely reach across the divide even as his hand may be repeatedly slapped aside. We are in need of a leader who knows he may have won the election, but he must now win all the people. We are in need of a leader that will do what needs to be done to unite the pokomos.
Pokomos are in need of a great leader – one that will reject hatred based on vietis; A leader that will show us that indeed the old is gone and we are truly a NEW AND UNITED POKOMO NATION. Yes , we are in need of an avant-garde leader, an open-minded person, an intrepid captain; a Governor that we will appreciate. Going to canaan does not only mean taking over TRC leadership but also uniting the RPN. We need a leader who can unite us. Who is that leader? #ISupportPokomoLiberation #UnityIsKey #LoveNurtersUnity#Nahujamaneni
Going by your sentiments, it will necessitate a God’s sent prophet to unite the RPN. Another apposite recourse is to form a squad, which will be free from egocentric philosophy, to study the norms/principles established by our forefathers and redefine them (taking into account the interests of all tribal sub-clans), if need be, to be acceptable by the RPN. By doing so, I am more assertive that sanity will become apparent – a win-win situation.
ReplyDeleteWell said and articulated. How i wish these people wake up from their deep slumber and sleep and see the truth.
ReplyDeleteInteresting piece... of all blogs I have read, this is frank, unbiased and honest to the core... To our political direction, we can only hope. But for ur writing skills, am anxiously waiting for the next piece. Cheers.
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