SAMS SENSE: Are we too young to lead?

The preamble of the Constitution of Kenya acknowledges, "those who heroically struggled to bring freedom and justice to our land." We take pride in "our ethnic, cultural and religious diversity", and state that we are, "determined to live in peace and unity as one indivisible sovereign nation."

But, do we remember what it took to get to the Constitution of Kenya 2010?

Over the past few weeks and months, the country's leadership has treated the nation to a theatre of divisive politics. They spew hatred, incitement and character assassination draped in unnecessary anger and excitement.

And so in my inaugural sense I wonder, just how young are our leaders. Young, not in their ages; but young in the sense of their comprehension of our contextual realities, our history, our culture and overall, their grasp of the burden of leadership.

You see when one is young, they can be excused for many things. It has to take an adult to remind them sometimes if not most, when to eat, bathe or sleep. But when they mature, it is expected of them like the holy Book says in 1st Corinthians 13:11: “When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.”

Kenya turns 60 in a few months. Most of our leaders were born post -independence; over 90 per cent of Kenyans are younger than the republic based on the 2019 census.

But I still ask, is Kenya and her people too young to learn?

Our history is stained by the big scar of the year 2007/2008 when post-election violence claimed over 1,000 lives and displaced over half a million others. Some have never returned to their land.

This is our history however dark it may be. We cannot be too young to forget this 15 years later. It took that violence and death to bring leaders together and birth a new constitution.

But a document of 264 articles can only do so much to guide our actions. Those in leadership bear a higher responsibility by dint of their oath of office to breathe life to our supreme law.

It is now part of our history that it is during the presidency of William Ruto that the property of a former president was invaded, vandalised, animals stolen and sold for pennies, trees felled and stolen before being torched.

It was during the time of Raila Odinga as the defacto leader of the opposition that post-election activities, seven months after a general election, threw the country close to the brink.

It was during the 13th Parliament that elected Members of Parliament left the comfort and facilitation of the August Houses, to openly incite the masses, later claimed to have been taken out of context. These are not proud moments.

If we are to realize any path to sanity through parliament, Leaders of Majority Kimani Ichung’wah and Senator Aaron Cheruiyot, and their Minority side counterparts Opiyo Wandayi and Senator Stewart Madzayo, are the persons that must facilitate it, at least for now. Leadership is a privilege that comes with responsibility.

“Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.” says the book of Luke.

To the country’s leaders elected and non-elected, in government and in the opposition; they will be held to a higher standard.

In February 2014 while on assignment in South Sudan, I met General Chol Biel, in Bor town of Jonglei state. At the time there had been mass killings, I saw a mass grave of about 500 bodies, of citizens murdered in the war.

General Biel told me, and I quote, “if you are fighting, are you going to rule trees (or) grass? It is people that you are really pushing to the war that you are going to rule.” End of quote. Ten years on, South Sudan is yet to recover from the civil strife that sparked in December 2013. They are stuck.

Well, we may never and I hope we never get there, but there is no assurance that we cannot. It will take mature leadership to inspire confidence in the people, to speak hope and find solutions to challenges that humanity faces today and will face in the future.

If that is not done, fewer and fewer citizens will participate in future elections. Democracy shall lose its meaning, and leaders, their relevance.