I decided to Google Madaraka Day and this is what I got: Madaraka Day, 1 June, commemorates the day that Kenya attained internal self-rule in 1963, preceding full independence from the United Kingdom on 12 December 1963. (Wikipedia)
After chewing on rice + ndengu for lunch in this lovely town of Bondo, my full stomach couldn't let me move. I decided to meditate on this particular day. This was the only thing that I could do since there was nothing to watch/listen to. Plus I was still in the clouds, probably cloud 3.
Internal self rule, I thought. This in a political sense would mean a political system where the people govern themselves. A system of our own choosing, where we have representative of the people, serving the people and making important decisions for the people. A glowing definition. Anyone reading this about Kenya would immediately love the country. A newbie political scientist would think of Kenya as the perfect country of self-rule. But we all know that is not the case in our country.
We might have attained self-rule from the British but this ruling was never equal for all of us. Think of it as an individual. How many times have your done something that you didn't really like but you just had to do it to please someone else? How many students in universities are undertaking a course that they don't love but do it because their parents said so? How many orphans are on programs that they don't love but they do because their guardian who pays the bills wants so? How many kenyans hate on other Kenyans because of the politician's interest? How many Kenyans follow orders because their leader is of the same blood?
We are in a country that attained self-rule decades ago but we have never attained self-rule for our own selves. I'll be waiting for the day when everyone at a Madaraka Day celebration will be a truly independent Kenyan. Someone who makes the right decision for him and his neighbor. Someone who wants his/her voice heard on matters.
