Kenyans have made massive strides toward democracy as noted in the country’s continued elections after every five years. Though at times marred with violence threatening this very success, the wave towards positivity cannot be ignored. Another election is looming and calendars state that we have less than 70 days to the elections. As Kenyans celebrated their 59th Madaraka Day, this electioneering mood could not be ignored. The president bid us farewell in the style that he chose best and this shall in many ways mark his legacy.
What lessons do we get from all that is happening?
While talks of billions and trillions are very attractive in marking a country’s growth, there needs to be a subsequent feeling of improved access to basic needs on the part of the citizenry. While talks of peace and reconciliation amidst calls for togetherness, rent the air, there needs to be toned down insults among leaders. Certainly, there needs also to be a show of efforts towards genuine reconciliation, forgiveness, and attempts to desire to work together. Only then can the well-done infrastructure be cherished and utilized.
While on the part of the citizenry, fears of violence mark the discourse, there needs to be evident that this very populace listens to the politics of issues, and not of ethnicity, personalities, and foul-play talks. Less still, we cannot continue to cheer insults. While sermons and homilies tilt towards peace, empowerment programs leading the faithful towards poverty reduction are a necessary card.
It is worth noting that in as much as leaders portray large rifts between them, and attract the listeners to take sides and remain divided and polarised, let these very listeners never forget that the clear divisions among citizens are majorly between the rulers and the ruled, those at the table and those not invited to be at the table of decision making and revenue allocations in whatever field. Indeed, a majority of the citizenry have never encountered any of these leaders face to face; the closest they have been being seeing them on TV screens. Of course, there are moments when these leaders are seen at distances, and this is during campaign rallies, as the case is now. Then again for another four and a half years, the disappearance repeats itself.
The tone of this discourse is not intended to entertain the talk of the haves vis a vis the have-nots and then create a situation of violent rifts between the two factions. Far from it! Let it be remembered that the greatest of casualties in any violent attacks anywhere in the world remain children and women.
These are our future and hope, our mothers and daughters respectively. We cannot afford in any way to go the 2007-2008 path.
NEVER AGAIN
The deciders of whether to go in that direction or towards peace, are we, for indeed we are the greatest casualties.
However, lest fear and the political overtones override our very roles, let us deeply reflect, on the statements I make when sitting with my family at home, and with my colleagues at work.
That is what determines the political temperatures around me. A trickle in the ocean shall indeed cause a ripple effect. Let us not ignore the tiny pebbles.
Allow me to snap the nob granting it a twist. Perhaps a funny twist that may leave one wondering about the connectivity. But yes, we have concluded a month set aside for mental health and mental wellness. What does mental wellness get to do with the talks on peace, poverty, and even elections?
Embarking on attempts to show the connection, cannot make sense if the terms mental health and wellness are not well understood.
The mind remains the greatest resource that separates the human being and the rest of the animal world. The ability of the human being to logically rationalize, have the retention ability (memory), incorporate in one’s faculties the ability to moralize and differentiate between right and wrong, cement the very human ability to make decisions. Within the docket of free will, the human being can pave way for a destiny whose main decider is the individual. On that note, I can neither blame another for my failures nor grant the other honor for my successes.
All are within the powers of the human person as granted in talent form by the Divine. Within the mind, all these powers are situated.
Mental health is the maximal sound operation of this human faculty. The mind is endowed with the power to manage the physiology of the human person rendering it fully or dismally operational. The mind is in extreme cases able to render the entire human person, so able to deliver and generate, and on the flip side, render the same human being, pathological, and even culminate in despair and depression, the ultimate of which could easily be loss of life through suicide or even massive killings.
There can never be a better time than this for Kenyans to keep in mind the health and subsequent wealth emanating from their mental wellness.
We need to remain sober so that with Divine help, we can enjoy the fruits of the coming governments. We need to play our role as citizens to critically listen to our inner selves concerning each of the candidates. Emotions have never made the right choices. Media is at times very biased and polarised; many are the times when one can read bias and some form of exaggerated perversion of truth. Critical minds can keep off heated political debates. While it is life and death because poor governments lead to increased poverty, lack of health facilities, and insecurities, violent attacks are never a solution:
Vita havina macho.
We shall still need to work very hard for us to generate and emancipate ourselves from poverty. There is no substitute for hard work. It is we that shall lessen the gap between the haves and the have-nots by making sober, yet well-founded decisions. In as much as they appear distant, they front policies within which the acquisition of livelihoods is eased. We grant them the power to negotiate businesses with the outer world on our behalf. We pay them heavily with our sweat and blood. We have to hold them accountable at all levels. Only then shall we celebrate the wellness of our mental faculties. Only then shall we be integrally healthy.
Have a blessed June!
