Today the grand coalition government is celebrating three years since the signing of the peace accord. Kenyans everywhere are connecting to stand as one people, one nation, one country and one Kenya. On 28th Feb 2011, at 1300hrs EAT, Kenyans are being urged to stand up and sing the national anthem wherever they will be, just as a sign of standing united for Kenya.
Sometimes I imagine if I were the president what would I do to make the difference? To be honest, I am not sure. Power has a way of intoxicating people and its wine tends to madden their minds. For some reason, the political system in this country has a way of swallowing even the best of souls and within no time, someone who was vocal and keen on true progress either becomes all of a sudden quiet, or they join in and start sing their song.
I get encouraged when I see the people themselves taking charge and deciding to do something. The problem is, are we any different? When we speak of change what do we mean? Do we mean a change in our lifestyles when we get power? Or do we mean a change of ideologies and philosophies? Or do we mean it’s time for us to eat? Or are we just tired and jealous of the old folk? What is it that is driving us to change?
Great leaders are servants. They are keen on serving the people, making life better by fighting for peoples’ rights, enhancing equality and empowering the people. Hardly do we see that nowadays. Even when we change people in leadership position we tend to have the same problem recurring. What do we do?
I think we need to deal with the system. Our current system tends to focus on positions. So as young people we think that we can only bring change to this country if we had political positions of leadership. And as much as those positions have influence on what happens in this country, we must start shifting our mentalities from positional leadership to influential leadership.
We are leaders in different capacities. First it starts with leading ourselves. How are we managing ourselves? Within our circles what kind of influence are we making? Within our families what difference are we making? In our business and organizations what do we stand for? For example when we talk about corruption, how incorruptible is your character? If we are not doing the right things where we are now, we are only lying to ourselves and others when we say we could bring change if we got into power.
Secondly, we should focus on bringing positive change with what we have right now. We can’t keep talking about leaders of tomorrow, or someday when we get there. No. We have to start doing something right now, with what we have. And if we keep moving in the right direction, nothing is impossible.
One of my life dreams is to do social and public campaigns that seek to empower the local mwananchi so that they can be able to influence their destiny and the destiny of this nation. I know we have a long way to go, but do not be deceived, you have no idea what can happen in a week or in a month. I guess if you have been following news you can agree with me.
And so, today as we sing our national anthem let it be a prayer and a commitment to making a difference in this nation. We have work to do, but it starts with where we are and who we are. Let us keep moving, let us move in the right direction.
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