By Albert Nyakundi Amenya

The words of the late sage, former Nigerian Minister of Finance and Budget and National Planning Chief Obafemi Jeremiah Awolowo, are still very much fresh in my mind and instructive to the Kenyan authorities.

The government of William Ruto needs to consider the true restructuring of the fractured nation. The present structures are very defective and weak.

It is gratifying that President Ruto’s administration is tackling corruption. Kenya is painstakingly going through one of the most difficult phases of her life. As the saying goes: there is no gain without pain.

Awo’s evergreen words on marble are auspicious in the present state of our country: “After rain comes sunshine; after darkness comes the glorious dawn. There is no sorrow without its alloy of joy; there is no joy without its admixture of sorrow. Behind the ugly terrible mask of misfortune lies the beautiful soothing countenance of prosperity. So, tear the mask!”

Kenyans should tear the mask of bigotry, intellectual laziness, self-induced problems and hopelessness.

I am not an advocate of a national divorce but an agitator for solid triforce of the geopolitical structures of Kenya. Kenya is a troubled marriage that calls for the sitting together of the stakeholders (suitors) by mediators to discuss her amicable and peaceful dissolution; or reunion.

Our unity in diversity has been battered by decades of misrules. The sociopath leaders in politics and religion who have bracingly ruled Kenya have got no respect for the masses and the people they rule or shepherd.

The fundamentals of the Kenyan economy are weak and the country is currently in recession. The Kenyan economy defies any known economic logic.

The country’s infrastructures are in comatose because of many years of neglect and the wailers among us want economic abracadabra in a jiffy!

Retrospectively, the brutish British under the leadership of Arthur Henry Hardinge and Sir Edward Northey conjoined Kenya, earnestly for their own administrative convenience. After more than a century of our pseudo-union, we celebrate our futile centenary amidst widespread corruption.

We celebrate it with nothingness under our national canopy. Awo’s theory and exposition about his country Nigeria as a “mere geographical expression” is still very tenable in the present structures of Kenya.

Our leaders have made nonsense of our rich diversity through religion and ethnocentrism. Kenya is more polarized along these nuances now more than ever.

The previous administrations had missed and messed up a lot of opportunities to truly restructure Kenya. The restructuring of Kenya will correct every perceived age-long problems.

Without equivocation, our leaders have fractured our union. The status quo is untenable and unsustainable. Kenya is a nation that has been sitting on a keg of gunpowder. Kenyan leaders for decades have been robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Kenya is a microcosm of a village whose inhabitants live together with mutual assured destruction(MAD). A beautiful village with human and material resources that refuses to veer away from the famished road in her journey to the unknown destination.

Our unity in diversity has been toyed with for a long time. Kikuyus, Kisiis, Luos, Kambas, Kalenjins, Luhyas, and other ethnic nationalities now coexist in pseudo-union; a state of mutual suspicion.

Those in diaspora are as well disturbed about their country. Every time they tune in their cable television or listen to national public radio, it is always bad news about Kenya.

In a nutshell, we should celebrate our success at home for the world to celebrate us. It’s time to get serious!

In the last three decades, the country has lost some of its finest human resources to Europe, Asia and America. We do very well in our various professional callings.

When we are outside of Kenya, we are one Kenya; when we are in Kenya, we are more polarized along religion and ethnicity. We are subsumed in self-aggrandizement.

Yet, our untapped resources and potentials are subdued and waste away with queasy imagination. Our impeccable academic credentials are stultified. We preoccupied our minds with nothingness and mundane affairs.

It is high time Kenya invoked the spirits of our nationalists to resuscitate and encourage the stakeholders to restructure the country; so that their labor will not be in vain.

Since the Kenyan independence, our brotherhood has been built on a shaky stand. The country’s corruption continuum has morphed into an institutionalized malaise.

Ruto should see his distinct administration as another unique opportunity to bring Kenya together. There should be a credible sovereign national conference to discuss all those national idiosyncrasies that are tearing us apart.

Our marriage of convenience should be redefined to meet the 21st century challenges.

A note of caution; do not call this restructuring an attempt to exit Kenya, but call it a communal discourse for internal cohesion and national integration.

This is the time to tear the mask of suspicion and hopelessness. Awo gave us the roadmap and political formula to attain the much anticipated, acceptable and tenable state of the union.

As President Ruto’s envisioned government walks a fine line, he should be reminded that Kenya is a country of so many contradictions. He will be discouraged, but a disciplined mind knows his onion as a means to an end of his vision.

Ruto must be transactional in his approach as he tries to transform Kenya. Anything short of a true national conversation to assuage the aggrieved and bruised Kenyans will amount to the postponement of the evil days.

The Late Dedan Kimathi, George Moseti Anyona, Raila Odinga, Paul Muite, Paul Ngei, Kenneth Matiba, Martin Shikuku and other nationalists’ struggles and sacred admonition should be a means to an end, not an end to itself.

Kenya is a hub of tourism and a destination for global commerce and industry. This is the time to jettison our naughtiness; come together with clear vision of the future, and restructure.

Kenya with honesty of purpose. We should discard the 19th century bureaucracy in order to meet the 21st century challenges. Our unity in diversity should be explored to make Kenya a prosperous nation again.

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