Prophets of Doom and the Profits of Doom

Doom's day prophets or are they prophets of doom have had their days in the sun for Kenya, many times in the past.

The colonialists declared indigenous  leaders, the late Jomo Kenyatta, to be specific, 'leaders unto darkness and death' insinuating that replacing their (colonial) governance with that of Kenyatta and his cronies would plunge the nation unto darkness and death.
This was soon to be self evident that it was just a phantom fear held by an individual and propagated to a minority white population and on to the colonial masters in Europe. Kenyatta later on assumed leadership of this nation and was soon deified by the mostly ignorant and marginalised masses catalysed by the few cronies in his 'power train'. To imagine his death was outlawed and was treasonable! There could not be Kenya without the aptly named leader- Kenyatta (how did he get this name anyway?)

In 1978, the gods crashed and hit the dust! Kenyatta had died! The whole nation held it's breath! The unthinkable had happened. The nation waited for the inevitable explosion or implosion. Life stood still, only the clock of time was audible- click...clock...click...clock...click...
Whatever we waited for did not happen. Then as a nation, we exhaled. We tentatively resumed our daily chores, cautiously; lest we unbalance the delicate setup of things. We could not refer to the late president as the usual 'Marehemu', our language doctors referred to him as 'Hayati'. Even post humous, he was not 'an ordinary deceased-' marehemu wa kawaida'. Marehemu is a mwananchi wa kawaida (a regular citizen) after dying.

After we survived the death of our first president, the celebrated 'Moi error' saw the nation through the subsequent twenty something years. Moi himself once declared in front of his whole cabinet including his vice-president, that no one was capable of governing Kenya other than himself. They all agreed with him and even clapped for him for enlightening the nation thus! There would be no Kenya without Moi! He would dare the whole nation anytime change of leadership sentiments were hinted. He referred to anyone not toe-ing his line (following his foot-steps), as 'disgruntled elements' or 'drug addicts'- these included some of the leaders in government today. His cronies went on to device proofs that without Moi Kenya would be chaotic by planning, facilitating and executing ethnic clashes from the 1992 general elections and these machinations are still haunting us today.

Now, some of those who have benefitted from politic-induced ethnic suspicions, animosities and political patronage since those days of post 1992 change of governance are shouting that Kenya will not be the same if they are tried by the ICC sitting in Hague, or Nairobi. They would like us to believe that they are best left alone, their guilt/innocence not proven for the sake of Kenya. They would like us to believe that they are the pillars that Kenya is built on and that they are best left untouched lest the very foundations of this nation crack and tumble.

Let them be told that Kenyans have been tested and found not wanting- as far as their political maturity is concerned. They may not be as reactionary as some might want them to be. They are able to rationalise matters in their own way and they surely know that their leaders are not wholly sacrosanct, and they sure as the sky is up above know that some of these leaders have the blood of innocent Kenyans in their hands. These 'leaders' sincerely deserve their day in court.