Let us reach for Fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man

By Sylvester Oluoch

Kenyans of all ethnicities and all creeds must arise to the realisation that we can arise with love and hate sin without necessarily hating the perceived sinner. Irrespective of our political persuasions or religious calling, we must stand above what divides us and embrace what unites us. We are one people all defending our colourful flag and pledging allegiance to our great republic.

There is no crown without a cross. That is why we travel through Good Friday, to resurrection Sunday before we see the joy of Easter. As the Israelites marched to freedom, they had the hardened heart of Pharaoh to confront, they had the red sea to deal with and they had to confront the prodigious hilltops of evil in the wilderness. When they reached the Promised Land, there were a few giants to reckon with.

In facing the giants in Canaan, Israelites had spied enough to say; “Even though the giants are there we can possess the land, because we have the internal fibre to stand up amid anything that we have to face.”

Kenya must break loose from evil tyranny, we must move through the wilderness toward the promised land of ethno-cultural integration. Oppressors never give freedom to the oppressed freely. So people must persistently revolt against the system. Privileged classes are not going to let up without a strong resistance. And that is where strong revolutionary non-violent resistance comes in. Do not get the illusion that this regime will give up its evils without being forced to do so.

As Kenya rolls on the wheels of inevitability, like minded benevolent people must oil the ball-bearings with sweat through strong agitation, sometimes with blood through persecution. The resistance cannot stop now because that will compel Kenya to servitude for eons to come.

I imagine India if there was no Gandhi, I imagine Ghana if Nkrumah never lived. I imagine African-Americans if Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was never born. Every period has people who don’t mind their heads being chopped for things they passionately believe in. That is why history is replete with a mosaic of heroes. Imagine Kenya if Kenneth Matiba, Charles Rubia and Raila Odinga did not face detention in 1990.

This call for democratic dispensation on a just platter should take a shape such that after we are done with it, we can live as brothers and sisters. This can be done by building 32 counseling centres not 32 police stations, which will only heighten tension. We must defeat the evil in the oppressors without necessarily aiming to defeat the oppressors.

The way out must create a beloved community through reconciliation, redemption and justice not bitterness and emptiness. We must fight passionately and fiercely without relenting until justice is served with peace as a side plate. This fight must be full of love and devoid of malice and falsehood. Remember to pray for those who abuse you and despitefully use you. That way Kenya will be a better place to live in.

When getting out of bondage, we must be ready for some people to be shot, some to be maimed, some to be gagged and others to be bought-out. When you start the grand march from Egypt, Pharaoh must be bitter. A lot of nasty things must happen as Eldoret, Kisumu, Mombasa, Nairobi and all other towns and villages bear testament. But we must soldier on because we cannot stop.

The path to freedom is narrow and rocky. It is a difficult and hard way but we must all travel it because of the allure of equal opportunity for all that waits across. The current tension is an expected temporary setback in this great pilgrimage to true and just peace. This tension is simply testing the threshold of Kenyans after which, we will all avoid reaching the threshold in our social contracts and with that we will enjoy positive lasting peace-the presence of brotherhood and justice.

All forces are on the side of justice as Kenya strides through the passage; the dying of an old order and the advent of a new dispensation bearing democracy, justice, freedom and goodwill. No man shall trample over the children of God and profit by it. The signs of a dying system could not be truer than for a government that is openly complicit in crime.

To paraphrase Winston Churchill at a time when every nation was rising against British Empire, “I did not become His Majesty’s first minister to preside over the liquidation of the British Empire.” But because of the wheels of inevitability, he presided over quite a bit of liquidations. Talk of history writing itself. As the writing finger glides on, as the sand trickles down the hour glass, so does change.

What the Kibaki administration is grappling with is bigger than just “idle jobless youths” showing frustration. This is a wave garbed in a courageous people, writing new history for Africa. Next in line are Zimbabwe and Uganda. Mark my words.

God comes in the picture even when the church is quiet. Exploitation by the British Empire was sanctioned by the Church of England. The Catholic Church was complicit in vote theft through its head Cardinal John Njue. Pray, why did Njue have to address the nation prior to Kivuitu’s most infamous pronouncements of 30^th December, 2007?

God is speaking through the universe and saying “Be still and know that I am God. And if you don’t stop exploiting people, I am going to rise up and break the backbone of your power. And your power will be no more” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in his speech: The birth of a new nation, at Memphis Tennessee prior to his assassination.

Rise up and struggle for justice with clean hands, do not kill, knowing that you are not alone. God struggles with you. God is trampling the vintage where wrath is stored, keep vigil and wait upon Him. As sure as egg is egg, freedom is coming tomorrow with a system as democratic as death. When freedom rings in every neighbourhood and justice rolls like waters of a mighty river all will embrace the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man that twine all our destinies into one mighty hope tied to great pillars of peace.

From the Chronicals of K’oluoch. Series: I say what I please