Our Moment..

                                    OUR MOMENT IS NOW, KENYANS

[Thank you, Tana for that generous introduction. I am grateful for the work you have done and continue to do with your humanitarian organization in Kenya; intimately working in improvised communities to effect change. It’s indeed a noble, often unrecognized but highly rewarding course. Thanks once again. We love you. I would also like to thank the representatives of Amnesty International who are gathered here in this cold. It’s hard getting out and mobilizing people on such a short notice and in this chilly weather. It’s symbolic that we are gathered at the foot of the horse. King Vaclav is the indisputable architect of modern Czech Republic and I know he would be glad to see what a strong country Czech Republic has turned out to be.]

One Thursday ago, Kenyans went to the polls to elect their leaders. People woke up as early as 4 am and it must have been a sight to behold. Old men, hunched over their walking sticks, blankets wrapped over their frail frames… women with sleepy babies on their backs and young men talking excitedly about the prospect of forging their future and putting their stump into the collective aspiration of a nation. It is said that they came in great numbers and long queues stretched around churches and schools that were used as polling stations. It was a great moment for Kenya. It was a celebration of freedom, renewal as well as change, for Kenyans held in their mortal hands the power to choose their next set of leaders. It was a Kenyan moment, the kinds of moments that every generation should experience at least once in their lifetime. Victory was in the air, not a victory of any particular party or Individual, but a victory for freedom and liberty…a victory for democracy and a victory for Kenya…Then…then it happened.

We have a saying in Kenya, ‘a boat capsizes when it’s just about to reach the shore’…The counting process took a long time… a very long time and this basically stretched the patience of Kenyans to the breaking point and in doing so cast a long shadow on the electoral integrity of the whole process. Allegations of deliberate tempering with the votes and accusations and counter-accusations soon gave way to a shouting match between the Government friendly parties and the opposition. It was a circus and it was live on TV. By the time results were announced, a President hurriedly sworn in, it was clear to any keen observer that what happened in KICC would not remain in KICC. And so Kenya, one of Africa’s jewels, a political and economic power house in East Africa, began an inevitable descend into chaos. There are quick and easy answers as to how we came to this point. And like all easy answers, they are partly true but that’s not why we are here this evening.

This is NOT a demonstration AGAINST any party or group of individuals. This is a demonstration FOR democracy and liberty. It is a clarion call for Human Rights and Dignity, for we have watched with sunken hearts at the plunder of property and lose of life. The images we have seen on cable channels might create the impression that this is just another sub-Saharan African country embroiled in turmoil and ethnic rivalry. I beg to differ. This is Kenya. Kenya as a nation didn’t come easily. The struggle for democracy wasn’t a walk in the park. It had been forged in blood and sweat, water cannons and tear-gas, in hunger strikes and long stints in water-logged cells. At each juncture in our history, the genius of our fathers has always been to choose Unity over division, we have strived to be our brothers and sisters keepers and we have done relatively well. What has been remarkable to me personally has been the reaction of the international community; the disbelief and disappointment that greeted the announcement of the election results. From my experience, people only get disappointed if they held you to a higher standard in the first place. They get disappointed if they feel in their bones that you can do better. Kenyans, we can do better.

This generation…our generation…this is our moment. Kenya, our moment is NOW. We will comfort and wipe away our tears and disappointments. We will put away our sheer frustration and fear, roll our sleeves and get back to work. Brick by brick, town by town, from one village to the next, we will rebuild our democracy and our nation. It is a debt we owe to our fore bearers, ourselves and the promise we make to future generations, the essence of which is best captured in our National Anthem:

Natujenge taifa letu
Ee ndio wajibu wetu
Kenya istahili heshima
Tuungane mikono pamoja kazini
Kila siku tuwe nashukrani.

YES, we must continue to demand and vote for responsive leadership and NO we should not abdicate our civic and moral responsibility towards one another especially the less fortunate of us for our nation’s strength is not measured by the strongest of us, but by the weakest amongst us…the least of these…We should never give up our seat at the table of democracy. We must harness the unlimited potential and creative genius of the people of Kenya to better our lot and take advantage of this globalized world.

Let’s not let the Kenyan boat capsize! Kenyans, our moment is NOW. Let’s seize it. Thank You and God bless you and your families.

Fredrick Collins Odhiambo,

Kenya Yetu, Czech Chapter