By Clement Wasike
In Kenya nowadays, reference is often made of the June 2024 Gen-Z protests that brought a new awakening in the country.
The consciousness behind the protests is not exactly a bad thing especially if partisan interests do not foment it. This is arguably so because the love of one’s country must always transcend political camps, tribal loyalties and election cycles.
Kenya’s history whispers—and sometimes shouts—lessons in collective purpose that we should always hold dear. When Jomo Kenyatta stood before a newly independent nation in 1963, he invoked Harambee urging all Kenyans to pull together. That clarion call was not empty rhetoric. It echoed a pre-colonial culture and ethos that hailed communal labour, shared parenting and collective discipline.
Before the advent of colonial rule, many communities in Kenya tilled one another’s fields in a camaraderie that respected the greater social good for all where elders resolved disputes to maintain harmonious co-existence and when children belonged to the village not just individuals.
Kenyatta’s call was borne of a spirit derived from such consciousness.In retrospect, Harambee mobilized Kenyans to erect schools, clinics and much more at a time when budgetary provisions were limited.
Those in the know claim that between 1963 and 1988, community-driven initiatives raised over what translates to close to Ksh. 20 trillion in today’s value. Villagers contributed shillings and sweat with the government matching their zeal.
President Moi breathed life to this spirit by championing the growing of trees, giving milk to schoolchildren and leading Kenyans in building gabions to combat soil erosion.
During the formative years of Kenya’s statehood, our identity as a people found expression in tangible sacrifice for the common good way much more than we have witnessed lately.There are moments in Kenya’s journey as an independent nation where and when national loyalty eclipsed partisan or ethnic interests.
Such are the moments we need to always refer to when divisive politics tend to throw us off the nationalistic course we should uphold no matter what.
Today in Kenya, the youth embody a renaissance with elements of nonpartisan patriotism. What is lacking in this newfound consciousness is commitment of patriotism beyond political affiliation.
Time has come for us to question the quality of state governance not based on the presidency but the heartbeat of the state machinery as a whole. As a people, we should make it our duty to demand better delivery of services by public servants at all levels way beyond pointing fingers at the top.
In my view, true patriotism demands three things.
One courage to confront the past by integrating contested histories into education. This calls for honesty and not amnesia or revisionism. Two, it requires accountability and not blind allegiance where our commitment is to support policies, not personalities. Three, it requires deep love for country where patriotism is etched in our communal consciousness and not mere sloganeering.
Kenya thrived best when we lifted burdens as one, whether colonial yokes, poverty, or injustice. Political tides will ebb and flow, but our love for this land must stand like Mount Kenya, unshakable, undivided and greater than the sum of our factions. The flag we wave should never be a weapon of division. It must always remain a quilt of our shared dreams.
Wasike is a former banker turned social critic and political commentator
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