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President Uhuru pledge to reset our politics welcome

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2020 00:00 | By
President Uhuru Kenyatta. Photo/PD/File

Yesterday Kenyans marked the 57th Madaraka Day in a most unconventional way because of the unprecedented situation that the world finds itself in because of Covid-19.

For the first time, Kenyans were robbed of the joy and fun of this national day which marks our liberation from the colonial rule. 

Ironically, coronavirus denied us the freedom to celebrate the day in our traditional manner.

Because of the measures to curb spread of Covid-19, President Uhuru Kenyatta was forced to deliver his address from the relative safety of State House, Nairobi to handful of guests and thinned-out military parade.

The dread of the disease was buttressed by the fact that even the prayers were pre-recorded and served to the millions of citizens watching the fete virtually.

Corona has reset the way we live, interact and work in the socio-economic darkness it has thrust us leaving schools shut and economic activities grounded, movements restricted through the dusk to dawn curfew and partial lockdowns, restricted human contact, including the death of the firm African handshake.

But Kenyans are a resilient people; they will soldier on and defeat the invisible enemy and its attendant challenges. This is the spirit that saw them overcome colonialists.  

 The President, besides enumerating his economic and other infrastructural projects such the Standard Gauge Railway, electricity connections and re-opening of Kisumu port, one of the highlights of his speech was his commitment to shepherd a constitutional process to recalibrate the country’s governance structure and civic culture.  

This will be in line with the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) that was birthed by the Handshake between him and opposition leader Raila Odinga, will ensure inclusivity in government to cure the winner-take-it-all system that has been blamed for the vicious electoral cycle of violence. 

Though the BBI process, especially the rallies got mired in ethnic and 2022 succession politics, it is not too late to cleanse it and harness the ideals in the document to rid the country of impunity, graft and other ills that have suppressed the Kenyan dream.

To realise the new Kenya dream, political leaders must cast aside selfish interests for the good of the country—and the starting point is re-tweaking our politics to ride on ideology.

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