Thread by @dnjaga1

Why are Kenyans missing Kibaki so much? I have lost count of the many times people are fondly talking about Kibaki and openly missing him.
And the many times we label him “the best President” Kenya has had.
Personal reflections in a 4-part thread

He is a great Kenyan, a great intellectual with a distinguished public career. But his Presidency was not that outstanding.
For Kenyans to miss Kibaki as they are doing, the country must be extremely in bad shape.

People look back with nostalgia when there is frustration with the current or when their dream is betrayed.
They become bitter with the betrayer and wish THE "CHANGE" NEVER HAPPENED.
That is the story of Africa’s independence

African countries invested all their emotions in independent governments and Presidents. They couldn’t contemplate BETRAYAL, CORRUPTION OR DICTATORSHIP under African leadership.

Even when it started creeping in, there was hesitancy to accept it

Kenya under Jomo Kenyatta went under this phase. Frustration with the Kenyatta government crept in due to tribalism and corruption.
But the biggest crime was snubbing the Mau Mau freedom fighters leading to many people asking “Ni uhuru wa aina gani”

I recall as a very tiny boy listening to the radio when Kenyatta was warning those who were pouring scorn at independence. “ingigukora ukiuria ni wiyathi wa naku, ingikugutha na uyu mukwanju”.

If I found you asking “ni uhuru wa nini” I would hit you hard with this stick.

But this did not arrest the tide of disillusionment. Ngugi wa Thiong’o captured this in the book, “A Grain of Wheat.”
He was giving a warning that independence may not offer what it promised since independent heroes appeared to backtrack.

Kenyatta’s call - “forgive and forget” brought about a stillbirth of change.
The country embraced past evil when collaborators of colonialism triumphed in the new government while the freedom struggle was scorned upon.
"Hakuna cha bure," was Kenyattas answer to appeal for land

By the mid-70s it was clear Kenyatta had betrayed Kenya’s ideal of Uhuru. Ngugi captured it better now in his book “Petals of Blood.”
He was to discuss it in greater detail in “Detained” which he wrote while in detention.

Betrayal was depicted in satire by Francis Imbuga in that classic play “Betrayal in the City” where a prisoner was reminiscing:
“IT WAS BETTER WHILE WE WAITED, WE HAD SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO.. BUT NOW WE HAVE DESTROYED OUR PAST AND FUTURE..”

It was truth told laughingly

Missing Kenyatta under Moi - NEXT

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