As 2017 Comes, Will it Be the Bullet of the Ballot?

Peace is as old as a Nation. It is echoed in the Moi’s philosophy; PEACE  Love and Unity. It more so blown loud in one of our National anthem lines, may we dwell in unity PEACE and liberty, plenty be found within our borders”

Peace is important as kenya moves towards the 2017 general welections. It explains why we need it in plenty even as the political temperatures continue to rise in the country. It is no longer time to engage in tribal politicS, a common phenomenon in the country, neither is it time to give room for party politics, the way it has been with the case of Jubilee and at some point the president mssing the point.

Kenya deserves good and recommendable leadership that will see her grow and achieve her set objectives including Viosion 2030 that sometimes seems visionless too. It is hard to end tribal politics in Kenya but it must and it has to. President John Pombe Magufuli recently said that and i paraphrace, everything in Kenya is perfect but the problem is tribalism. He said if wanted Kenya to go forward, then jaribu mmalize ukabila (Try and do away with tribalism).

Many atimes in the Kenyan political history, the violences that have erupted are majorly politically instigated. The 1992 tribal clashes for example were as a result of political differences that ended up creating enemity among tribes and hence innocent blood was shed, property destroyed and people displaced. The aftermarth of that is still felt till today.

The 2007-2008 post elections violence saw Kenya go down the darkest road ever troden in history just because of self-centred politics. This came as a result of the failure of the Kenyan tink tank in making decision and in the process, failing to recognize between the interests of a nation and those of an individual politician, what came first. People are still living in camps like refugees in their own country, the graves of those who lost their lives are still fresh and grass has not lasted on them and the wounds are yet to fully heal.

The General Elections in the country are less than 10 months away. The ball still rests in the hands of Kenyans and it is them to decide when, how and which way the country should take. Already, politicians have started vomiting venorm. Voluminous poisonous words are flying around and the air is now conjested. It like the drums of war have started beating and instead of Kenyans mourning, they are singing and dancing to them.

Let us choose peace and only peace. Nothing more and nothing less. Let our national anthem find residence within our hearts so that whatever thing we find to do will even give honor to our own song, nation and humanity. As George Saitoti once said, there shall come a time when a nation shall thrive over personal interests. Kenya is bigger than an individual.

(This Article was written by Suzan Tuwei, a communications’ student at Masinde Muliro and editted by Juma Fredrick)