This archive report was first published on 7 December 2019.
As I wrote in my previous column on the Building Bridges Initiative report, I had hoped that we could put our ethnic politics and egos aside for a moment to discuss the report and create a foundation for a prosperous, united, and peaceful country.
However, it seems I was hoping for too much. The calm language and dignified demeanor at the report's unveiling at the Bomas of Kenya have given way to the sycophants screaming and ethnic chieftains staking their positions on the BBI.
Steve Biko once wrote that the most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor was the mind of the oppressed. For apartheid to work, Africans had to believe in their inferiority. It's ironic that words made with reference to apartheid have come to apply to us.
The most potent instrument of manipulation in the hands of the political class is our explicit or implicit belief in the false biology of superiority and inferiority of tribes. We repeat mantras like 'Our community is here by right' and 'We are not anyone's slaves' as if they were religious dogma.
As a result, ethnic caucuses can go on retreats and emerge with a position on the BBI that they are confident will be bidding on members of their ethnic group. The danger is that the BBI report will not be read by people because they will wait to be directed by the politicians.
The opportunity to use the report as a basis for careful audit of the Constitution will be missed. We will miss a golden opportunity to have an honest conversation about what ails us. Therefore, we will not reach consensus on the way forward in relation to the BBI report and, more importantly, as a nation.
Instead, we will continue to see our national challenges through ethnic lenses. The political class will continue to manipulate us and rob us dry as we wait in vain for goodies promised to our community.
As the late Bishop Henry Okullu once wondered, where will Kenya's true leaders come from? But even he could not have foreseen what we have become—a soulless and nihilistic country.
Tee Ngugi is a Nairobi-based political commentator.
