It’s with great sorrow that I pen my inaugural
article. I write this in the aftermath of the worst
terrorist attack on a Kenyan university, an insult to our
own intelligence no pun intended. May those young daring
souls rest in eternal peace.
As Leonard Njoroge in his article, “ Garissa
university terrorists attacks: Diaspora perspective.”
skillfully detailed the history of our relationship with
Somali, as a people we refuse to be prisoners of our
history. We choose to be students of our history and the
masters of our destiny.
A few years ago Kenya only had 5 universities
and we have grown to have universities in every corner of
our great nation. I believe this is in line with the sacred
vision of our founding fathers to establish a nation devoid
of disease, hunger and ignorance. Killing of any human being
by a Somali, Kenyan, Christian or Muslim goes against our
founding values and it should be condemned in the harshest
way possible. As Kenyans we should ask ourselves on a daily
basis: “How do my actions eliminate hunger, disease or
ignorance?”
This attack is definitely an act of ignorance
from a group of misfits who have been brainwashed due to
their desperate economic and social circumstances. We hope
that the government will catch up with the masterminds and
destroy their infrastructure as well as develop intelligence
to intercept future attacks. Every Kenyan deserves to dream
and to live long enough to see their dreams come true. We
also call on the international community to look more into
this threat, its not a geographic threat but an ideological
one that respects no borders and it can only be won when we
tackle it collectively.
“No one is born hating another person because
of the color of his skin or his background or his religion.
People must learn to hate and they can be taught to love for
love comes more naturally to the human heart than its
opposite.” Nelson Mandela. As the African Icon put it. As
Christians, Muslims and all people of faith, we have more
work to do. Maybe if we loved more and taught our kids to
love more,(its easier to raise a loving person than to
convert a hating person to start loving.) then we wouldn’t
expect our military to protect us as much. Do we only love
those who are like us, or do we love those who don’t even
like us ? That’s between you and God.
In the face of a tragedy it’s time for a
refined strategy, not only government but every bit of the
40 million Kenyans. When our values are attacked we ought to
amplify them and evangelize them. This calls for us to be
entrenched into our core values and continue with our
founding vision. When our universities are attacked we build
bigger ones. Terrorists preach fear and we can only counter
that with courage and love. As Stuart Scott an ESPN NFL
commentator articulated while fighting cancer,” When you
die it doesn’t mean you lost to cancer. You beat cancer by
how you live, why you live and in the manner in which you
live.” This is true with terrorism. Kenyans!!!!! We can
declare to beat terror by how we live, why we live and in
the manner in which we live and if we pay the ultimate price
then we will have won.
Character is developed in uncomfortable times and
I believe we have had one too many of those times. So we can
comfortably say that we have what it takes to make Kenya
proud. We have what it takes to replace the faces of our
starving children, the faces of our future from the late
night infomercials seeking to fight hunger on foreign TV
stations with the faces of our people on prime time news
deliberating on the new frontiers Kenyans are leading the
world to.
Until next time I vow to be my brothers keeper, I
vow to uphold my Christian values, I vow to uphold and be
proud of my Kenyan values and I vow to be a worthy global
citizen and I hope you do too.
Mungu abariki Kenya.
By Kibiru Wa Mugechi Wamugechi@gmail.com
Insist on positive.
