It MUST not be business as usual!

Have you ever wondered why bringing change is such a daunting task in Kenya yet we have all the right ingredients? If its passion we’v got it, education, the masses, and most definitely we have every reason to want change from this failed system of be it government or society as a whole. Yet every time we embark on a mission to bring about change we end up worse that we started. Why is that? The answer is that either we have the memory span of a catfish or we never fully understand the reason we do things. All you have do is make a list of all the scandals we have had in the last 15 years and how quick we were to sweep all this under the carpet. Even the maize scandal which most of us thought was too close to the heart of Kenyans was forgotten as soon as the media moved on to the next big thing.

Where am I going with this you may ask? Of course like every Kenyan, I am bubbling with joy out for having a new constitution. Today as I got into a matatu, I couldn’t help but notice the business as usual mode we had all switched to. One week ago, everywhere you went, and I mean literary everywhere, Kenyans from all walks of life were discussing the new Katiba, every TV channel had a whole lot of “what if’” debates on the proposed Katiba. Only 7 days later and it feels like we have accomplished everything we set out to. Now this is what worries me!!!! Because this time round we cannot afford to have those temporary amnesia episodes and if we do then we might as well forget Kenya as we know it.

This last weekend, three different groups in Mombasa walked into privately owned land and started demanding that the owners (who I might add are foreigners) move because the new constitution reverts the land back to them. I am not in any way suggesting that the new constitution allows incidents like this to take place, I am simply trying to emphasize why we cannot afford to go to sleep this time. Kenyans need to understand that the changes we aspire for will not come at the stroke of Kibaki's pen, it will take much more work on the part of government and private sector and vigilance on our part. This constitution is one of best things that has happened to Kenya in along time and we must ensure that it remains this way. This requires that we keep the dialogue alive wherever we are. For the media, keep up the same spirit of sharing we saw during the process leading to the referendum. The CoE and other experts need to come up with new civic education materials to be used by civil society. For the principles, we don’t care what the deals behind closed doors were, you must keep the unity intact and visibly so. For the public, keep the debates going as the only way to keep our tolerance levels in check. We must not look at this as business as usual.

For the first time in a very long time, Najivunia Kuwa Mkenya.