Dangers of NOT Passing the New Constitution

In my eventful life so far I have seen how devastating fear can be.

Fear is a terribly powerful emotion. It causes people to be desperate and to behave in very strange ways.

I have seen people freeze in fear even as imminent danger hurtles towards them. I have seen intelligent people freeze in fear and stage fright and make a complete fool of themselves trying to speak in public.

And so I really fear fear itself. That is probably one of the reasons why I have always tried hard to fight fear in all its’ forms. Many times I have ended up making decisions which have horrified others. Don’t you fear this and that, some have asked me?

Currently in Kenya I see fear in many of our dear brothers and sisters who are going to vote No. Some people fear (quite rightly) that they will lose their ill-gotten wealth. Many of the older folks just have a fear of the unknown. Many others fear change and prefer to remain suffering rather than to risk change.

But the truth is that what Kenyans should really fear is the draft constitution failing to be passed. You do not want to imagine the consequences of that happening.

For years I have talked in this blog about the growing hopelessness in Kenyans. Hardly anybody has linked the election troubles of 2007 to this hopelessness and yet it was a major catalyst. Not many people appreciate the daily struggles most Kenyans have to go through just to get by. Most fascinatingly church leaders have failed to appreciate this important point in their decision to campaign for a no vote. It is probably the best illustration of how the prosperity gospel has taken over so much so that church leaders living in great luxury have failed to fully appreciate what their flocks are up against in their daily struggle for survival.

My analysis on the ground is that the International community was absolutely spot on in their determination to do everything in their power to ensure that Kenyans do not go to the polls again without major reforms first. To them this was a recipe for disaster and the kind of trouble that would have made 2007 look like child’s play. The pressure thye have brought to bear has done a lot in helping Kenyans reach where they are today, literally on the verge of a brand new constitution.

I am well aware that in writing this post I have lost many avid Kumekucha readers and so let me end it with just one every day illustration to drive my point home.

In a supermarket in Nairobi, a man walks in on impulse to pick a few things and ends up spending Kshs 10,000 just like that. He meets at the counter with another harassed looking Kenyan who has walked all the way from Kibera to town to purchase an item costing less than Kshs 30/- because it is Kshs 5/- cheaper in town (a 40 minutes walk) than it is in his local neighborhood duka in Kibera. The man has never handled Kshs 5,000 as a lump sum in his pocket in his entire miserable lifetime and is amazed that anybody should spend Kshs 10,000 in a supermarket and would have probably fainted if he realized that it was spent impulsively without any pre-meditated plan.

Simple question; how long do you think we will be able to flout our cash around even as our fellow countrymen starve and struggle to survive? It does not matter how high the fences are around our exclusive apartments in good neighbourhoods and it does not matter that we use the latest technology and security electronics and then swagger to our favourite watering hole on Saturdays wearing designer red t-shirts to look intelligent arguing with friends why we will vote NO, without fail.

It doesn’t matter because if we succeed it will come back to haunt us. Guaranteed!!!

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Why Christ Would Vote Yes

With tears in my eyes, I want to state here that the Christian leaders who have taken a hard line stance against the new constitution are no better than Islamic fundamentalists in the mold of Osama bin Laden; men and women who will never compromise unless one hundred percent of their demands are met. I don't understand where such men and women get their marching orders from. The Bible? It can't be; the Bible is a sober, reasoned book that calls on each of us to exercise tolerance. Indeed, in one of my favourite verses it says, "How wonderful it is when brothers live in harmony." Ever read that verse? If you have, tell me how harmony can be achieved when the dictatorial whims of the pastors must be shoved down our throats for the nation to move forward.

The danger with fundamentalism is that it always degenerates into demagoguery. I have been to various forums where my dear brothers and sisters who wish to see the constitution defeated have behaved in very unique ways. They behave as if listening to the reasoned arguments of those in the YES camp amount to listening to the devil himself. Why are they afraid of reason? Does not the Bible say, "Come let us reason together?" Why then are our church leaders insistent that reason can only take shape on their terms? And while they choose such intolerance, what makes them think the other side won't match intolerance with intolerance?

Of course the NO team will say that the YES team is just an intolerant, and they maybe right. There was absolutely no excuse for the supporters of the constitution to boo the Vice President on Saturday. The VP has been a man that is difficult to understand because of his brand of politics. By now, however, Kenyans should have leanrt to live with his double-speak. At Uhuru Park, we should have let him play the only game he understands best...taking no binding decision. To have booed him only made him subject this nation to whining of the kind we can't afford to entertain at a time we have pressing matters on our mind.

So, what would Jesus do were He a voter?

I know for certain that He would vote. It was Him who said, "Render unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God." Because of this profound statement, I know that Jesus would recognize the fact that Kenya is a diverse nation where a spirit of give and take is absolutely essential. How could Christians want a constitution that accommodates the sensitivities of a Judeo-Christian tradition while denying the Muslims a chance to carry out justice in Kadhis Courts? Where is justice in that? And how could Christians elect to shoot down this document on the basis that it permits abortion? After reading the way that abortion clause is structured, what an open-minded christian must ask is this...would Christ support this?

The answer is YES!

Christ would support this constitution because He would recognize the fact that what we are about to vote on is Caesar's, not Gods. It is my guess that after He would have voted for the document, He would then go to the synagogues and cathedrals and churches across Kenya to urge His followers, who we all are, to live within the confines of the Ten Commandments. If we did, He would say, issues like abortion, land grabbing,sectarian disunity and other divisive elements would either be minimized or not arise at all.

As we approach voting day, fellow Kenyans, let us be tolerant of the worldview of our fellow countrymen whose views we don't share. they are just as patriotic as we all are; just that they have a different vision. Indeed, there may come a time in future when they may persuade some of us to support their vision. I just hope that the vision they have does not come anywhere close to a Theocracy because that would be a recipe for permanent disunity...endless religious war-mongering.

That's not Kenya.

Let's campaign peacefully and urge love, justice and peace wherever we are.

God bless Kenya!