The First of June was Madaraka day. It was a day to celebrate Kenya and being Kenyan. It was a time for us to revel in our Kenyanhood and Kenyanness.
And just like everyone else I was then, and I still am now proud to call Kenya Home and Motherland. Many of my friends question this, what with my stinging critique and wholesome derision of the Government. What I tell them is my love for my country has nothing to do with Government.
And just like everyone else I sat down and watched the first few minutes of the festivities. However this was where we parted ways with everyone else. Most people watched with pride as teachers, soldiers, firemen, policemen and even girl guides and boy scouts marched past the presidential dias. Me? I viewed it with acute resentment.
And at a given signal, each and everyone of the marchers would look to the right and salute the dias.
The straw that broke the camel’s back. I viewed this as a slap in the face — a mockery of the hard working people that ARE Kenya.
All of us have at one time or another have participated in a parade. It may have been at those ubiquitous national day celebrations or it may have been at school. Remember if you will standing under that hot sun, in the sweltering heat, waiting as endless speeches were read. Allow me to draw your attention to one fact — that there are a group of people WATCHING the parade, nestled comfortably under tents with cold drinks in hand.
This invariably was the school administration. At the very front were the headmaster and his deputies. Behind them were the other teachers. Behind those were the support staff. And finally the lucky parents who could fit in the tents. The other parents would sit on benches usually occupied by riotously shouting boys singing unbelievably dirty rugby cheering songs, or on seats brought from the classroom.
Similar parallels can be observed in history. Look at the conquering Romans under the leadership of men like Hadrian, Augustus, Trajan and Domitian. Over aggressive expansion programs, or while securing their borders, they build stadiums, collosseums and ampitheates. OUTSIDE their garissons — for the locals.
These stadiums were designed along George Bush -esque lines — to shock and awe the dominion. Of grand construction. Villagers and soldiers would parade and march before interesting activities like gladiators fighting to the death. The subdued would watch all this opulence and strength and discipline and the urge to resist would be silenced. They would hear from the lips of the Romans just how much better life was under them.
And then there would be the fights to the death of the gladiators, and for innovative emperors like Domitian, conquests between women and dwarfs.
And all the while the emperors and centurions and other officials would sit on an elevated, shady pavilion, safely out of the reach of those pesky villagers and mere soldiers. These pesky elements would then provide the entertainment, be it song and dance or butchering each other while blindfolded and tied together.
And some 2000 years later here I am watching the exact same thing, identical to a T.
There is a presidential dias, where the president and the upper echelons of his cabinet seat. Behind them are lesser cabinet ministers. Behind those are other officials and diplomas. This segment is barricaded. They sit on seats emblazoned with the coat of arms. They are shaded from the sun. They are provided with bottled water and snacks.
And below them sit the common man, on the hard stone of Nyayo Stadium. Completely exposed to the elements, cheering and whistling. With their sons and daughters on their shoulders, celebrating wildly but deep inside not exactly sure what they are celebrating.
And then on the stadium tracks themselves, the “soldiers and villagers”. Army officers, policemen, farmers, civil servants, firemen, boy scouts, girl guides, brownies — who have been preparing for a whole week and are now proudly marching under the approving eye of those under the presidential dias.
I don’t know about you but strikes me as a very clever subtle reinforcement of the class divide between the ruler and the ruled. A stark reinforcement of the ruler and the serf.
For a moment there the gulf of 90 AD and 2006 AD was breached and there was absolutely no difference between Mwai Kibaki addressing Kenyans and Hadrian addressing Jews.
And after the serfs have marched past, the ruler takes to the podium and very eloquently proceeds to elaborate just how he, the ruler, has made life easier for the ruled. How much better life is under him than it was before. How much they owe their better life to his benevolence. The ruler will even have the temerity to take credit for things that the ruled have done themselves.
And finally the ruler will step of the hot sun and settle in his comfortable chair, where he will be handed a cold drink. Then he will watch the ‘entertainment’ by the locals. Whether this is sword fighting or gladiators or songs or poetry or comic skits is a moot point.
Those in the dias will laugh, and those performing will take it to be a testament to their talents. I don’t blame the performers. It is generally difficult to know when someone is laughing with you or at you from a distance.
Were any of Kibaki’s grandchildren marching in that sun? Or any of Awori’s doing traditional dances? Were any of Michuki’s children marching in their full uniform? Were any of Karume’s children playing instruments in the army band? Were any of Odinga’s & Uhuru’s children performing traditional dances to amuse the masses?
If you were there did you enter or leave using the same entrance as your MP? Did you park in the same parking? Were you escorted to your seat?
Was it just me who was insulted some occasion back when the government benevolently hiked the minimum wage by a few token thousand shillings, the same government that has no qualms about awarding itself handsome pay hikes and then backdating them to the tunes of millions of shillings?
The same government that can rationalize meetings in Mombasa because the MPs “don’t want to be harassed by their constituents” © John Koech?
And these people sit from shaded podiums making a mockery of the industry, drive, determination and passion of the Kenyan man and woman who breaks his back with toil to keep the in their opulence.
Mwai Kibaki and Moody Awori and everyone who took a mike proudly declared
Najivunia
kuwa
Mkenya
A laughable attempt at solidarity with the common Kenyan. With a million shilling plus in monies you don’t even earn, a chronic myopia to the realities on the ground, i doubt they know the first thing about life as the common Kenyan.
It is the ability to square your shoulders and rather walk 20 kilometers to work that refuse to give in to matatu cartels. It is the ability to wake up, get dressed and go to work, even though your own government has no qualms sending masked, armed goons to harass, beat and racially insult you. It is the ability to overlook the blatant bribes to buy our votes at referenda and cast our lot with whatever we feel we want.
It is the ability to take the government to tasks on its actions and no longer tolerate the all knowing, all powerful mentality of government. The ability to demand and expect people who have stolen our hard earned money to go to jail.
It is the ability to smile and say hello to total strangers we meet in the course of our day. The ability to laugh at ourselves when we go wrong, pick up and move on. The ability to help our friends in need when we can.
The ability to roll our eyes and laugh when yet another task force or committee is set up to chase its own tail.
And above all, despite our hardships, the ability to be able to smile at the end of the day, wake up in the morning and do it all over again.
Yes sir, I am proud to be a Kenyan.
But you’ll excuse me if I refuse to watch crass displays designed to put me in my place and stifle my spirit and independence.
AOB
This post should have gone up on Madaraka day … but stuff happenend
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Paraguay have scored one goal, and now England is in the lead”
PIC OF THE DAY
The finest cuisine at Olepolos
Mario – Franco
Ok first off, did you have to put that Nyam Chom out here *veers off course while remembering the good times*
Two: Mario by Franco *starts singing in head while trying to generate a worthy comment*
Hi M :D
This is proper proper – well written, thought provoking and oh so on point. You truly are a ‘true’ Kenyan and its a shame that the people who should be reading this are too busy fencing themselves against the people they are supposed to be serving. I remember that pic of the girl guide saluting the presidential dais from MKNN (Ms K News Network) and the innocence of those children just caught me.
How are these same kids going to feel 10yrs down the line when they are looking for jobs and realising that the ‘patriotism’ they proudly presented and believed in then had a ’sell by’ date – or rather, sell to – well, we can only hope that a decade from now things would have been sorted. It is painful that patriotism is two tiered – those who are proud of it and those who are proudly selling it in the name of working for those under them.
Anyway, I am aware that I am not saying anything that hasnt already been said a million times over (albeit more eloquently).
Oh and I am also aware that my opinion is a bit tinted with rosy glasses of nostalgia so forgive me.
Good one M
Reminds me of a particular scene in Visiki. Where the rich man views the squatters on his land and plans on evicting them. As we match on like robots infront of our dishonorables they are slowly planning on pilfering the little we have. WaKenya are you watching, listening, learning and planning on 2007?
Your post reminds me of that old statement from one Kenyan,
“Kaeni hivyo hivyo no mungu awabariki”
Just classic! even when not explicitly said, is still pretty much implied.
Insightful post!
We are planning on 2007, may not get exactly what we want but will be in the general direction we want to go, so our children and our children’s children can say ‘najivunia kuwa mkenya’ without wincing and feel cheated.
When some one gives you a raise of 50 kenyan shillings and expects you to be happy they are laughing AT you, no mistake about it.
I made it to the Top 10!Woo hoo!!!!!Off to read!
I recall reading a book in high school that said, “all animals were created equal but some were created more equal then others”
I think that is one message that is passed out by our leaders.I know not everyone can be under a dais but is it a bit too much for me as a Kenyan to expect that the masses that trek miles to Nyayo to feed on the crumbs from the master’s table could at least have bus fare to allow them to do that.Not all Kenyans can be rich, but the sheer expanse between the rich and poor in Kenyan is stupefying and unacceptable!It disgusts me that our leaders can let a bunch of foreigners come in and run roughshod over our sovereignity so as to further their own selfish goals.The mystery of the Armenians may never be fully solved but the fact that they could gain Kenyan passports and appointment letters to the police force while they did as they pleased goes to show that some in power have decided to sell Kenya to the highest bidder.
What is worse is that our legislators are doing as little as possible to address it.As the scouts and girl guides burn in the sun saluting the leaders of our great nation, is it too much to ask that when they finish school that they be able to find a job to put food on their tables and clothes on their backs?
Why is it that solidarity with the common man only emerges when the cameras are on and mostly during times when ballot boxes need to be filled?
But I agree with you that we as Kenyans are a hardy people who can still afford to smile in the face of adversity when many others would have given up or revolted.
Your blog isn’t the first one that I have seen Nyam Chom on today.I think it is a divine sign that I should go to a local pet shop, buy a goat and do the neccesary!
ps:Mario rocks!I have it on my oldies play list!
pps:Why is some of my best work done in other people’s comments sections and not on my blog?
sentiments equally echoed here
The Nyama is yum yum. Off to Olepolos next weekend.
The salutation part is a bit risky coz i really love watching them marching. Thats me.
Am ashamed to admit that the only parade I look forward to seeing is the motorcade of the president, cabinet, diplomats and other officials on the road outside the stadium.
M
Si you run for parliament next year? Logistics zikikushinda, just holla and I’ll do the groundwork … your passion is contagious.
This has always been happening and no one cares about these people. What about those people who come from the rural areas to entertain the prez its such a pity that we have not grown from where the colonial rulers left us.
True Aco and Kabinti Visiki and Shamba la Wanyama predicted the true kenya of today.
No wonder literature is a mirror.
sad place we live in…but thats why olepolos is there!….saliva saliva…!
Don’t hate on the marches, thats the only way the elite can gauge their might, there’s some money to be made on the side (at least tax free)
Hell, its the only day that they (read: elite) can come face to face with the lies they peddle!, only problem is, they dont see the grim picture they paint with their expensive entourages; with the hungry waving at them as they pass by.
Lakini, am proud to be Kenyan (said with true conviction),
before i sink my teeth into nyamchom,
without caring for animal rights,
Ama cooking hygeine,
Si iko kachumbari?
Dude,
relax. You take shit too seriously. No one forced the ’serfs ‘ to go and parade.
They are probably doing it out of self-interest.
You seem to forget that Kenyans are also very capitalistic.
M well said, maad nostalgia… can’t help but remember how special ‘I’ felt when chosen to be one of the girl guides doing the march, after that we used to be taken to Statehouse to feast on pilau & milk … oh the days of innocence.. now long gone :-(
That nyam chom photo is just wrong! Can I get the hook up!
Favorite part of the post “…..With a million shilling plus in monies you don’t even earn, a chronic myopia to the realities on the ground, i doubt they know the first thing about life as the common Kenyan”. M
How true and sad! Great post though.
Heya M.
Haiya, your blog forgot me. Sigh!
I hope you are keeping well. You raise wonderful points in this post.
“A laughable attempt at solidarity with the common Kenyan. With a million shilling plus in monies you don’t even earn, a chronic myopia to the realities on the ground, i doubt they know the first thing about life as the common Kenyan.”
Hear! hear!
This is one of the discussions that makes my eyes tear every single time. That there is a group of people who have chosen to take advantage of Kenyans, so immesely that, at some level, it has almost stopped being outragoues…. it is almost normal….that we, the common folk have to sit back and go through the motions despite the glaring injustice of all this. And it irks, the helplessness of the situation…almost sitting there, watching things happen, and being unable to do much, except wait for 2007, to take them out, and bring in another bunch of hooligans.
It pains, that some people have chosen to relentlessly enrich themselves, at the expense of a country, and its people…and they do this, without batting an eyelid, sans remorse.
How would I share the phrase “jivunia kuwa mkenya” with people who, while I walk, they is chauffered around in a Prado, with the same people who make me pay my taxes, yet use them to enrich their own selfish ends while, I remain in the dumps? Where even would I start to share a common ground with that kind of person?
I am also very proud to be Kenyan, but Gimme me my Gaddamn break already you pretentious, tow faced, back stabbing venomous shit faces!!!
**sorry, temporary errrr, flash of pent up emotion there**
Maybe I am the feeble kind. I do not understand how they sleep at night, I do not understand how they could possibly want more that they have taken out of the cookie jar. At what point does mere, basic, very basic human conscience replace this insatiable greed?
And yes, the whole Prize giving Day, some parents in the tent, the rest of us sweltering out in the sun is very very nostalgic.
I hope you are keeping well duuuuuuude!? Eh? are you?
Duude brilliant tirade!!
Well, sadly there will always be them and us. Even in the US, “them” sit in airconditioned/heated boxes way up there, and the “watus” sit on the bleachers.
Now what can we do?
Lakini me I loved the kids marching past and saluting. For me, it was a pure, unadulterated show of respect for the commanger-in-chief. You know, before all the cynicism and contempt checks in. Which, in a perfect world, is as it should be.
Me I’m with the nyama. Aii dude lakini, I’m looking at that pic at 11.30 on a Tuesday morning and I know there is NO chance I’ll eat choma till maybe the weekend.
Cruella de M!!!
Ps/ Did you watch Ruto last week? Total gag hour!!!
Commanger? Heh heh
That was a beautiful parallel. Tunakaliwa vivyo hivyo, and the ones tunakalia have not done it by force, WE
That was a beautiful parallel. Tunakaliwa a la the Jews by the Romans, and the ones kaliaring us have not done it by force, WE have put them there… there’s something very wrong with this world.
I have now been able to place Acolyte’s age within 4 years or so.
M,
This post finally brought me out of the woodwork.
I stopped watching those parades years ago. Frankly, I never got the point of the parades… sweltereing sun, long boring speeches and ‘ karibu…. mtukufu…rais….uhutubie……wananchi…..wakupendao……funga…..fungua’ And then he speaks ENGLISH!! OK so its an international language… this is supposed to be OUR national day!
Ama they just figure the guys sweating in the sun just cant figure out the b.s. if its in English? The swahili off-the -cuff remarks are witness to the fact that we pay top shillings for bad comedy.
Then after they have surveyed the masses and reassured themselves that they still have their unstinting loyalty, they send them home midomo kavu, and mikono mtupu.
And while many Kenyans are still route-elevening home, the super convoy heads to -is it Uhuru Gardens? ( never been invited and probably never will so dont care ) – to reward themselves after a hard days work!! In the meantime guess who foots the bill?
i remember a publicity stunt by ODM last year after the referendum….. did any of them sit with wananchi this year? I am not in town so did not watch, but I am willing to bet that they did not !!
OK , rant over, so back to the woodworks again :)
By the way, nyam chom and franco…. deadly combination!!!! I have been away from home for what seems like ages( 3 months) and cant wait to get home and kamata ugali na nyamachoma!! Sorry folks in London…. this thing you eat here is not nyam chom worthy and only Jogoo makes real ugali!! ;)
yeah… i look back to those parade days with nostalgia. i was a boy scout and we used to march past the dais on national holidays like Madaraka Day. used to feel very proud then coz we were good at what we did (we even had wooden gun replicas – it was a complete military parade). Now am not sure any more. most of the people who brave the harsh weather elements at Nyayo Stadium may be doing so for lack of a better thing to do.
in the meantime… a security breach occurs at the biggest airport in the country :
A.The president goes live on television…My family bla bla bla
B. Threatens to sue a certain daily paper for maligning his family
C.The same paper publishes photos of a lady and one of the Arturs getting cosy
D.CID Director and other top officials shown the door and a commission set up to investigate the Artur intrigues
its only in Kenya…
@KM – i feel you bro, i know where you are coming from
“Loyalty to the country always, loyalty to the government when it deserves it. ” Mark Twain.
Keep on fighting the good fight, M!
The Nyaks,
Made to go with the good times.
M you bring out the partiot in me. just a knock on the head we needed to wake up from the slumber.
Great Post
LOL@quote…. looks like England will need a lot of of that kinda help to make progress….
@M okay!okay! i apologize for that slip of the tongue. dont want to rub KM on the wrong side.
“dealing with Emilio…” boy am already over the moon!!
@ KM- No offence, just echoing your sentiments. hope these Govt shenaniguns get to visit blogs…
LOL @ me a BRO!!!!! LMAO.
You jogoo wa shamba you……aish…woiiii.
Thaz it! why are people tafutaring me?
Cheers M for the clarification
… the more things change the more they remain the same,
very insightful post.