Hussein Amin
2018-01-29 22:39:18 UTC
Dear Kenyan,
I hope I am not already too late in speaking out today.
There is definitely a problem when grown men and women start acting like
uncompromising disgruntled children.
I read one of your politicians called Dr. Miguna Miguna inviting people to
what he said was "The swearing-in of The People's President, H.E. Raila
Odinga".
In his message Mr. Miguna says: "It's my privilege, as the General in
charge of Operations, to welcome the Nairobi Business Community, the
un-named Church and all Kenyans to the SWEARING-IN CEREMONY on January 30th
at UHURU PARK, NAIROBI."
Let us be serious for one minute. What is "General in charge of operations"?
It reminded me of one rebel in Liberia during their civil war who called
himself "General butt-naked".
This is what happens when people start building castles in the air.
Africans we need to stop being power-hungry while claiming to want to be of
service. What is the purpose of that ceremony? Where is it likely to lead
Kenya? Isn't the country already at breaking point for the last six months?
I am not a Kenyan, and actually I have an inclination for Mr. Raila Odinga
since the 2008 election violence that found me in Nairobi.
So I am not speaking out of partisan political reasons against Mr. Raila
Odinga or for Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta whom I believe did everything to obstruct
justice at the ICC.
I am simply advising Mr. Raila and his team to rise beyond the current
madness/quagmire/political stalemate in order to see beyond its limiting
perspective on the future of your country.
As leaders you probably know better than me that you have to lead with a
bigger vision. So there are many times when one has to remain focused on
that bigger picture no matter how difficult it is to pursue. The task is to
build a better nation, not to break it.
And Kenya is bigger than the idea of either Uhuru Kenyatta or Raila Odinga
being in power. One day both will not be around but Kenya will continue its
journey with others. Just like here in Uganda one day Museveni and Besigye
will not be around but Uganda will continue to be. What I am kindly asking
you to do is to relax and start thinking ahead within the rules of the
political system and institutions that you yourselves established in 2010.
There is probably death and destruction in this other path that you are in
right now. You know that, don't you? And do you know that it will be beyond
anyone's powers to single-handedly re-unite Kenyans and return the country
to normalcy after that? It took Uganda twenty years to calm everyone down,
and those who lived through the the civil wars from 1979 through the 80's
know that it is really unbelievable that some normalcy has happened.
As I said earlier, to me your current predicament is increasingly looking
like one where the single ideology of the struggle is just "Baba Raila must
be president".
If I were him I would halt all this dangerous childish nonsense immediately
and start putting Kenya first again.
You Kenyans came together and promulgated one of the best constitutions in
Africa back in 2010. One that you ensured it contained all the provisions
to handle the country's problems. If something hasn't worked well, then the
first task is to sort out the matter constitutionally for the long term. It
is also part of building the nation. Plug whatever loopholes persist. It is
a political process within the institutions you established in your own
2010 Constitution. Not out of it. So I challenge you to stop this business
of seeing yourselves as pseudo rebel movement/freedom fighters, and instead
put your brains to the task of intelligently solving the problems that
exist today. It requires communication and it definitely requires
compromise. That means letting some thing's go.
And where you miscalculated your political moves, just accept it as fact
and press the reset button.
For us Ugandans we do not want another refugee conundrum here. We have many
others from all around us already. Conflicts persisting thanks to the
fool-hardiness of a few people who are happier in chest-thumping and
killing each other than they are in taking a deep breath and starting to
resolve their problems beyond todays minute quarrels. They lack the people
who can lead them to rise beyond themselves and the wrangles that they are
entangled in.
Come on guys! Kenya has always been better than that. Our contemporary East
African history of the 1980's shows that it is us Ugandans who always went
down the path that you are contemplating. Check the pictures of that
history if you are thinking of copying anything from here. Don't make that
mistake. Today is 2018.
Hussein Lumumba Amin
Kampala, Uganda.
I hope I am not already too late in speaking out today.
There is definitely a problem when grown men and women start acting like
uncompromising disgruntled children.
I read one of your politicians called Dr. Miguna Miguna inviting people to
what he said was "The swearing-in of The People's President, H.E. Raila
Odinga".
In his message Mr. Miguna says: "It's my privilege, as the General in
charge of Operations, to welcome the Nairobi Business Community, the
un-named Church and all Kenyans to the SWEARING-IN CEREMONY on January 30th
at UHURU PARK, NAIROBI."
Let us be serious for one minute. What is "General in charge of operations"?
It reminded me of one rebel in Liberia during their civil war who called
himself "General butt-naked".
This is what happens when people start building castles in the air.
Africans we need to stop being power-hungry while claiming to want to be of
service. What is the purpose of that ceremony? Where is it likely to lead
Kenya? Isn't the country already at breaking point for the last six months?
I am not a Kenyan, and actually I have an inclination for Mr. Raila Odinga
since the 2008 election violence that found me in Nairobi.
So I am not speaking out of partisan political reasons against Mr. Raila
Odinga or for Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta whom I believe did everything to obstruct
justice at the ICC.
I am simply advising Mr. Raila and his team to rise beyond the current
madness/quagmire/political stalemate in order to see beyond its limiting
perspective on the future of your country.
As leaders you probably know better than me that you have to lead with a
bigger vision. So there are many times when one has to remain focused on
that bigger picture no matter how difficult it is to pursue. The task is to
build a better nation, not to break it.
And Kenya is bigger than the idea of either Uhuru Kenyatta or Raila Odinga
being in power. One day both will not be around but Kenya will continue its
journey with others. Just like here in Uganda one day Museveni and Besigye
will not be around but Uganda will continue to be. What I am kindly asking
you to do is to relax and start thinking ahead within the rules of the
political system and institutions that you yourselves established in 2010.
There is probably death and destruction in this other path that you are in
right now. You know that, don't you? And do you know that it will be beyond
anyone's powers to single-handedly re-unite Kenyans and return the country
to normalcy after that? It took Uganda twenty years to calm everyone down,
and those who lived through the the civil wars from 1979 through the 80's
know that it is really unbelievable that some normalcy has happened.
As I said earlier, to me your current predicament is increasingly looking
like one where the single ideology of the struggle is just "Baba Raila must
be president".
If I were him I would halt all this dangerous childish nonsense immediately
and start putting Kenya first again.
You Kenyans came together and promulgated one of the best constitutions in
Africa back in 2010. One that you ensured it contained all the provisions
to handle the country's problems. If something hasn't worked well, then the
first task is to sort out the matter constitutionally for the long term. It
is also part of building the nation. Plug whatever loopholes persist. It is
a political process within the institutions you established in your own
2010 Constitution. Not out of it. So I challenge you to stop this business
of seeing yourselves as pseudo rebel movement/freedom fighters, and instead
put your brains to the task of intelligently solving the problems that
exist today. It requires communication and it definitely requires
compromise. That means letting some thing's go.
And where you miscalculated your political moves, just accept it as fact
and press the reset button.
For us Ugandans we do not want another refugee conundrum here. We have many
others from all around us already. Conflicts persisting thanks to the
fool-hardiness of a few people who are happier in chest-thumping and
killing each other than they are in taking a deep breath and starting to
resolve their problems beyond todays minute quarrels. They lack the people
who can lead them to rise beyond themselves and the wrangles that they are
entangled in.
Come on guys! Kenya has always been better than that. Our contemporary East
African history of the 1980's shows that it is us Ugandans who always went
down the path that you are contemplating. Check the pictures of that
history if you are thinking of copying anything from here. Don't make that
mistake. Today is 2018.
Hussein Lumumba Amin
Kampala, Uganda.