Ref lect, forge unity

KENYANS mark Jamhuri Day as a major milestone in the nation’s calendar. Ordinarily, it is on this day that we remember the momentous occasion in 1963 when the country became a republic, having attained independence from the British six months earlier.

However, this is a day with a difference. On the first Jamhuri Day, the country was beaming with hope and dreams.

Becoming a republic gave Kenyans the right to determine their destiny. The clarion call was unity for national growth and progress.

Today the country is pulling in different directions. We are coming out of a turbulent election that split the nation. Suspicion and mistrust reign.

It’s because we have not got our politics right. There is a venomous contest for political power. Communities have been balkanised as politics is reduced to a zero-sum game.

High-octane politics has impacted on the economy, whose growth rate has tumbled to 4.9 percent, against earlier projections of 5.5 percent.

Businesses have stagnated or slumped, resulting in job losses. Besides adversarial politics, the country has suffered from the mismanagement of public resources, wastefulness and corruption.

The onus of leading the turnaround is on President Uhuru Kenyatta, who has just started his second and final five-year term.

He must embark on an aggressive push for national reconciliation and shed the abrasiveness that characterised his first term.

He must make all Kenyans feel part of a family. And the starting point is the appointments he will make to the cabinet.

Jamhuri Day must have meaning in the lives of the people. Let the president give hope by initiating a national dialogue and reclaim the spirit of nationhood.