Kenyans are facing great odds but it's not all doom and gloom

Kenya is still a good country because it remains our only future. Never lose faith in humanity, even when some societal elements have messed up. The other day, I forgot my tablet in a public matatu, but I still got it back the next day. Not all Kenyans are looters, murderers, extortionists, and all the rest of the evils happening around us. There is you and me, and we are still Kenyans, aren’t we?

The moment we lose faith in ourselves as a society, we tear each other down because of the anger bottled up inside. That is how we end up demonising each other instead of standing shoulder-high amid our homemade troubles.

Let me ask you a sincere question: What happens when you go through that list of Kenyans who have clinched something of international ranking? Do you feel proud, or is your first instinct to check the tribal, political, or other affiliation of the individual? When you see people fighting each other in external matters, it is evidence of a society quickly giving up on itself. Case in point: The candidature of Raila Odinga for the Chairperson of AUC.

Just because we have our differences at home, do we begin to send email to the World Bank, London Marathon, etc, protesting the inclusion of our own simply because they are Kenyans and Kenya has trouble at the moment?

In the book 'Why Nations Fail', the writers have this to say about the decline of the Roman Republic: “During the Republic, Rome had dealt with much more organised and threatening opponents, such as the Carthaginians. The decline of Rome was very similar to that of the Maya city-states. Rome’s increasingly extractive political and economic institutions generated its demise because they caused infighting and civil war.”

Rome withstood an invasion from foreign armies but then crumbled when they began to fight each other internally. We have not lost the battle until we fight each other as Kenyans. All is not lost. Yes, we are in trouble on many fronts as a nation. Many things aren’t working as they should. Institutions may have crumbled; systems may have failed. But let us not lose hope in ourselves as a society.