Letter to Daniel Arap Moi

[At the dawn of the new millennium, Kenya had sunk to an all time low. It was faced by seemingly terminal decay and intractable problems that seemed to overwhelm the body- politic. At the centre of it all was Daniel Arap Moi, in his 21st year of largely unsatisfactory rule during which his government seemed hell-bent to block any form of democratic advances. Despite the Constitution setting a 10 year presidential term limit, Moi gave no indication of preparing to leave and indeed went around the country saying that no one could fit into his shoes. I wrote the following letter to the President from Johannesburg where I was working at the time, warning him of the anger and frustration of Kenya's young people and urging him to leave the stage so that Kenyans with a real stake in the future of our country could take charge of the affairs of their land.] 

Njonjo Mue

P.O. Box 30942

Braamfontein 2017

Johannesburg

Republic of South Africa

22 December 1999

H.E. Daniel Arap Moi

President of the Republic of Kenya

Office of the President

Harambee Avenue

Nairobi

Kenya

Fax: 254-2-721515 / 210150

Dear Mr. President,

I write to you, at the dawn of a new century, on a multiplicity of national issues that are undoubtedly already well known to you, but which we dare not turn away from, as long as they remain unaddressed.

I am a Kenyan citizen who, at 32 years of age, has a real stake in the future of our country and, though not mandated to speak for anyone but myself, I can confidently assert that my concerns are shared by the majority of Kenyans of my generation.

Sir, one does not need a college degree to see that our country, under your leadership, is getting into the 21^st Century in very poor shape indeed: The economy has all but collapsed, social services for the poor are non-existent, poverty is endemic, corruption is still out of control, the education system has failed, the infrastructure is a shambles, the agricultural sector is struggling, and HIV/AIDS threatens to annihilate our nation, relentlessly wiping out the most productive age group in our country.

In all this, your government has woefully failed to provide the leadership that is so desperately needed to turn our country around and to avert an inevitable humanitarian catastrophe. Instead, the political elite has turned its whole attention to a constitutional reform process that has been sabotaged by you and your supporters at every turn.

You are due to retire from office in three years time and yet you continue to undermine the structures that should guarantee a smooth, peaceful and democratic transition after your exit. You subject the country to a dangerous guessing game and behave like a monarch who is reluctant to step down. Moreover, you have threatened to personally handpick your successor, as though 30 million Kenyans are incapable of determining their own destiny after you are gone.

Such prevarication on your part is draining national energies that would be better expended sorting out the mess that your government has created over decades of misrule and corruption. Your government continues to obstruct any good-faith efforts to build a truly democratic and united Kenya, even as you traverse the country paying lip service to these values.

You have gone on record as saying that you wish to leave a legacy of a prosperous, united Kenya at peace with itself. But how can this be when you have made tribalism the hallmark of your administration? After the damage that you have done to our national psyche through decades of diabolical divide and rule tactics, just what magic wand are you now planning to wave to undo in two years the effects of thirty years of merciless pillage and reckless plunder of our beloved native land?

Thankfully, despite your years of dividing Kenyans along tribal lines, a new generation recognizes the need to remain united. And though you have thrived on confounding us by those things that divide us – tribe, class, history and anything else that can weaken the people’s resolve and enable you  to rule and reign even from beyond the grave – young Kenyans have chosen to start defining those things that unite us as a nation. We are prepared to stand up to the new challenges that face us as Kenyans and as Africans, not by denying our rich cultural diversity, but by harnessing it to create one nation out of many communities. We shall not promote a form of unity while actively denying its substance, an art that has hitherto been perfected by your generation.

I wish to warn you, sir, that young Kenyans are a very angry and extremely disillusioned lot today. They have watched your generation snatch their future from them and trample it underfoot with impunity. We are excluded from any real decision-making processes as you bid us wait our turn to assume leadership. But we fear that, at the rate at which the current political elite is going, by the time ‘our turn’ comes, there shall not be much of a country to talk about. Young people are tired of being treated like children who can play no meaningful role in national matters except to be youth wingers and praise singers to old guard politicians who are well past their prime.

Kenya is not lacking in the ideas or the human resources needed to confront the myriad problems that our country faces today. But you and your government have proved wholly incapable of offering any workable solutions. The best service you can render your country now is to gracefully get out of the way and let the people with a real stake in the future of our country guide it into the next century.

And it would be a great act of patriotism, Mr. President, if you stopped trying to fool the world that without you, Kenya would crumble. For we shall go on; we shall survive, indeed we shall thrive; and we shall reclaim our pride of place among the family of nations.

That is a given! The only variable in question is the amount of effort it will take to get our beautiful country back on track. This will depend largely on whether you and your clique of court jesters and praise singers can still your deafening self-adulation long enough to be able to hear the still, silent voice of the vast majority of Kenyans. Their unequivocal demand is that it is time for you to go.

Can you hear their voices? Will you heed their rising voices? They are the voices of a new generation of Kenyans, which, to quote Nelson Mandela, “are emerging to answer new historical challenges; the voices of men and women who exist in all communities and across all cadres of our society, and who will define themselves as leaders in their capacity to identify the issues that unite us as a nation.” They are the voices of real patriots who will raise the banner of Kenya and bid us to confidently follow as we march together, proud and united, into the next millennium, one nation under God.

Yours sincerely,

Njonjo Mue