Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya’s first president, once said that: “Our children may learn about the heroes of the past. Our task is to make ourselves the architects of the future.”
While the task of achieving independence has long since receded into the distant past, Kenya is yet to reach full maturity levels.
We have known too much strife; our economy works for too few people and corruption is still considered by many as parts of our daily existence.
The Republic of Kenya has to be constantly rebuilt until it reaches the place its founders envisioned.
At the root of almost all of our challenges and dare I say failures is a lack of unity. This is why President Uhuru Kenyatta, in devising the nine points for the Building Bridges Initiative, placed unity as the foundational for almost all of the issues.
This was embraced by the people as the BBI team traversed the country to provide their input. Unity was one of the words most expressed by those that met with the team.
While the BBI has slightly receded into the background as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, unity is necessary now more than ever before.
President Kenyatta has reached out to political opponents. First there was William Ruto to form Jubilee, then Raila Odinga to form the BBI, and now he is bringing on board Kanu’s Gideon Moi, and possibly Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka.
Unity will always have its detractors. Even now, there are plans afoot to see that handshakes fail.
We must call on all politicians to put the nation above their own interests. We should celebrate those who support unity.
Only through unity can Kenya get through short-term crises like Covid-19 and graft.
The architects of unity have already found many blessings and Kenya has seen many successes in recent years.
We have not seen tribal and political violence that has marred our past. We see a fairer and more equal society, where rich thieves have their day in court.
No one should be afraid of national unity. Kenyans of all backgrounds need to feel that they have a stake in governance so their representatives should have a seat at the table. If the table isn’t considered big enough, the table needs to be enlarged.
Unity must be the infrastructure of a better future for Kenya and we expect all leaders to be architects in this national venture.
