Why should I care?

I know I should care that the Kenya Defence Forces are engaged in operations in hostile territory, but I don't. I know that I should care that the President and the Prime Minister have demonstrated resolve, and are united in formulating a strategy to take the fight to al Shabaab deep inside Somalia, but I don't. I know I should care that Nairobi and, indeed, other parts of the country are on heightened alert because of the war with al Shabaab, but I don't. What I care for is the fact that I have been royally screwed by my Member of Parliament, and his colleagues, and that these hyenas show no remorse for the manner in which that have handled (and mishandled) matters of grave national importance.

Celebrating Mashujaa Day yesterday should have been a moment of pride in both my government and its leaders, but it wasn't. The spectacle of the last living members of the Mau Mau in their Sunday Best, but quite clearly poverty-stricken and ill, is the final sign of humiliation that I am willing to bear. How can it be that Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, who benefitted so greatly from the activities of the Mau Mau, betrayed them so egregiously? Crude as this may sound, but the Mau Mau was formed primarily of residents of the Mount Kenya region dominated by the Kikuyu and yet, in a government dominated by Kenyatta and other Kikuyus, they saw nothing of the fruits of their labours. 

Twenty-five years after his death, another Kikuyu in Mwai Kibaki was elected president, and still they continued to be treated as unlettered pariahs in need of the occasional alms but no official recognition. Ironically, it was the colonial government that outlawed the Mau Mau, and this decision was not rescinded until well into the Kibaki presidency. And yet, even then, when the last of the Mau Mau decided to sue the British government for atrocities committed by the colonial government, the Government of Kenya did nothing to support or facilitate their claims. To this day the true heroes of the Mau Mau rebellion continue to be treated with callous disregard by a government that would not exist without their blood or sacrifice.

When Mwalimu Julius Nyerere described Kenya in cannibalistic terms as a man-eat-man society, he could not have known that we would sink even lower. The system of conferring national awards on ne'er-do-wells simply because of their political affiliations has a long and disgusting history in Kenya. Witness the thousands upon thousands of quislings that were officially recognised by the colonial British in Kenya. Witness the thousands upon thousands more that had national honours conferred upon them by not just the Kenyatta and Moi governments, but also the Kibaki regime who have nothing to commend them but the amount of money or 'political assistance' they can bring to the men and women in power. 

Yet, the true heroes - the men and women who bring honour and glory to this nation - continue to sit on the sidelines like spectators at a Gor-AFC clash, with the attendant innocent-bystander injuries to show for it. Men and women who have not only run down national institutions, but have lied, cheated and killed their way to national prominence continue to enjoy the official recognition of the Government of Kenya, while the men and women who have run marathons in record-breaking, award-winning times, the men and women who have volley-balled themselves into world championship status, have been ignored and treated with contempt, their running tracks and stadia taking second place to edifices of official corruption and impunity erected in every political back-yard, from the Turkwell Gorge on down.

I know I should care that the Kenya Defence Forces are engaged in operations in hostile territory, but I don't. I know that I should care that the President and the Prime Minister have demonstrated resolve, and are united in formulating a strategy to take the fight to al Shabaab deep inside Somalia, but I don't. I know I should care that Nairobi and, indeed, other parts of the country are on heightened alert because of the war with al Shabaab, but I don't. Why should I when I know that no one else does? Why the hell should I?