Kenya: A country that celebrate villains

The 4th president of Kenya Uhuru Kenyatta was sworn-in in a colorful ceremony on 9th of April. In every sense of the word this was a proud moment for Kenya and Africa..........or was it? Its no secret that I am not a supporter of Uhuru but that’s not the reason I am writing this piece. After weeks of being bombarded with "peace and move on" messages everywhere I looked, I'm almost ashamed to admit that I’m one of those Kenyans who had boarded the ship and accepted Kenya's fate although with a heavy heart. However, scenes from the inauguration ceremony quickly jolted me back to the reality of the political madness in this country. In 2002 when we finally ended the Moi era, I thought to myself, Kenya has finally said goodbye to the worst of its villains………….we had turned a corner. Of course I knew many more challenges were ahead of us but I thought that one think will keep all Kenyans focused on achieving great things, the understanding that the likes of Moi will never again enjoy public space or have a say in this country. So you can imagine my shock when a stadium filled with 60,000 Kenyans literary gave the former president a standing ovation when he attended the inauguration. Why? why? why? Now, I understand how Kibaki can be cheered.......... the man has certainly brought this country from dumpster despite all his cons. I understand the excitement in celebrating the future expectations placed by a section of Kenyans on the new president Uhuru thus the non stop cheering (personally I have 0 expectations) but Moi???? Really?? Have we forgotten what Kenya was like 10 years ago? I bet even Moi himself doesn’t recognize Kenya today. A Kenya where citizens are free to express themselves and criticize their leaders. A Kenya where a 25 year old can be sure to find support for her/his brilliant business ideas etc etc. I’m not by any chance saying Kenya is perfect but looking at what we have been able to achieve in the last ten years, we were pretty much on the right track (don’t know about the next 5 years). So I ask again, what did Moi do to deserve the cheering? Is it because he introduced Uhuru to politics and therefore partly responsible for his position today? If so then most of the current political figures are Moi's orphans and therefore we should never have done away with him in the first place. But to think that we have been reduced to cheering Moi and Museveni in the name of teaching the west a lesson?? I feel sorry for us because our values as citizens keep fluctuating and therefore we will never get the leaders this country truly deserves. I have been told not to take the cheering too seriously because the stadium was full of under 30’s (which means they were under 20’s when Moi left) who don’t remember Moi and therefore cheered for the heck of it. I guess my question is, are we in that case rising a generation that knows 0 history? My friend Gacheke put it perfectly "Politicians the likes of Ruto (and Raila if you ask me) have mastered the art of using social movements language to appeal to the economically maginalised". The talk of Unga ya 60 bob is the exact kind of language that appeals to the mwananchi. But where has the good will been all this time? I guess we shall all wait and see.