MLAVIDAVI CHRONICLES: IS THIS THE WAY?

By Julius Jumah

Reporting Crime in Africa

It is crystal-clear that Kenya and the African continent at large have unapologetically continued to lag behind as other factions of the world have made tremendous progress, more so in the recent past. Corruption is entirely to blame for this. But the big question that remains unanswered is who is corrupt? Our leaders? If yes, political or religious? Or the corrupt are the people they lead? Are the African systems the ones that are corrupt? Or is it our minds that have been corrupted?

Should we be allowed to vote?

In the fullness of time, we must embrace what is happening in Africa. Corruption is something that we talk about, it is something that we complain about, it is something whose negative impact we recognize, and it is something that even the corrupt acknowledge. The irony is that those who engage in corruption love it. Those of us, who do not engage in it directly, accommodate it be it knowingly or unknowingly; we do it out of will.

We hold elections in Africa on regular basis. The electioneering process is meant to serve one major purpose to the governed- to present them with a chance to replenish their leadership bowels. Let us assume that all these leaders do not rig elections to get into leadership, the most obvious picture that surfaces is that we, the hopeless, still elect these corrupt, bossy and selfish individuals. 

The tragedy of Africa

Our rich men and women are them that occupy public offices. We live in a continent where we celebrate thieves, and vilify good men and women. That is the tragedy of Africa. While any other continent in the recent past has moved in the right direction, Africa still remains in the words of the former United Kingdom Prime Minister, Tony Blair, as ‘the scars in the conscience of humanity.’ 

Mlolongo Voting System

It is in the nature of the African man to harm the small thieves and to elect the great ones into public office- the sole reason why Africa remains the poorest continent on earth. In Kenya, it is understandable if you vie for a gubernatorial seat in general elections after being flushed out of a ministry where you masterminded the loss of millions of shillings. 

The big question remains, should we be allowed to vote in the first place? Anyway, these are the effects that come with democracy bestowed on educated yet illiterate masses. With democracy is makes sense to be supported by twenty fools than five professors, learned critical thinkers.

We have fallen short of His Glory

All sectors of the society are not spelled; even the church of Christ, the mosque, not to mention the temples. So are individuals who assemble in them on weekly intervals. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory God, and the expectations of our founding fathers. We need to soul search, re-energize ourselves, get our footing right and head in the right direction shrug off the tag that Africa has lost 50 years.

 Are we going to gain Africa by mere pronouncement? Or we must change ourselves? We must change our behavioural DNA, so that we are no more attracted to that which is bad and evil.  Are we ready? Do we say with our mouths what we do not believe in our hearts? Are we going to wait for outsiders to tell us to do what we ought to have done? Are we prepared to sacrifice our lives, for that which is good and right? If we are ready we must do that which is good and right. Are we children of a lesser God? No. We are not, but we have allowed ourselves to be corrupted in our morals and in our ways.

They Bloodily Steal From Us....

Our leaders steal from us and hide the money in foreign bank accounts far from Africa. The question is for how long shall we allow this to happen? It is the God-given nature of hyenas to feast on goats. But we, the vulnerable (goats) do give hyenas a chance to take care of us. It defeats logic if a sane individual can prescribe for oneself poison as medicine. Are we killing or are we saving? Are we doing justice to the creator who gave us the freedom of choice? This is for sure blasphemy. 

Let us be black and white, what is the essence of giving an armature a plane to fly when we all know what is to happen next- suicide. I wish God could re-embark on the recreation process and this time round ask the African man for justification as to why he should be given the privilege of making choices let alone being created in his likeness.

Donor funds end up in their Pot Bellies

It is definitely due to this fact, that our colonial masters laugh at us and regret why they allowed us to govern ourselves in the name of independence yet we do not even know the definition of governance. No wonder some came to Kenya and shamelessly declared themselves as the first to see mountains and lakes that had existed for centuries and to add salt into the wound, named the same lakes and mountains after themselves.

We have become desperate beggars

Corruption has made us to look at our colonial masters for anything. If you are Kenya and Uganda, you look up to Great Britain, if you are Congo you look up to Belgium, if you are Angola you look up to Portugal, if you are Ivory Coast you look up to France and if you are Rwanda and Burundi you look up to Germany and Belgium. We have made fun of ourselves. We have made ourselves the laughing stock of all the other continents.

You can't arrest professionals & survive

We have education systems which the political class do not trust. Any African politician would opt to take his/her child to study in Europe than study in the so-called best schools of Africa. When some of our leaders are accidentally hit by a mere tear gas can, they fly abroad for specialized treatment yet they can afford to allow doctors in their areas of governance to go on strike for more than 100 days, allowing innocent tax paying citizens to die very painful deaths.

I do not want to look or sound like a Greek prophet or a relative to any, but from the look of things immediate benevolent change in Kenya and in Africa is necessary. We have a chance to do this, me and you. Whether motivated by ourselves or by influential personalities in history like Jawaharlal Nehru of India, Mahatma Gandhi of India or Martin Luther King Jnr of the United States of America.

In his famous speech that led to his assassination in 1968, the famous American minister and activist Martin Luther King Jnr is quoted saying:

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

I have a dream, the Mlavidavi Declaration

King had a dream, a dream that he longed to see its actualization which he actually did not. I too have a dream- a dream for this continent, a dream for this country. It might not be an exact portrait of King’s but it is in many aspects similar.

I have a dream that the men and women elected in public office shall not make it due to the size of their stomachs and pockets but their big hearts. I look forward to the day, when our government ministers will have smaller stomachs, because they engage in anti-corruption activities, I look forward to the day, when we Kenyans, East Africans and all of us in Africa will be known for the right things. That is  the gist of my declaration. Get yourself a copy of the Mlavidavi Declaration of 2017.

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Bye bye, until then.
Special Thanks to the Director of The Kenya School of Law, Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba.