Coronavirus has shown us why we need to be a new Kenya

There is a famous proverb saying "There are none so blind as those who will not see.” This means that understanding cannot be forced on someone who chooses to be ignorant. 

I admit, I was one of those ignoramuses.

I am now a convert. Not in the religious sense, but in the political and national sense.

I was one of those Kenyans who believed that tribe and ethnicity was everything.

I would look for reports or WhatsApp messages from friends about how our tribe was treated, and look for comparisons, good and bad, about those from other tribes.

I was part of the problem, and the Coronavirus has, in its global devastation, shown me the light.

Not only has the Coronavirus infected more than a million and counting around the world, killing tens of thousands, but it recognises no borders nor favours any particular ethnic or national group.

The nations which have staved off the worst infection numbers are those that rallied together, and whose people showed national responsibility and solidarity.

It is time we wake up to what should have been obvious for a long time.

President Uhuru Kenyatta has not just been talking about national responsibility and solidarity since the Coronavirus crisis. 

He talked about it from the first day of his first term.

Unfortunately, we ignored it as mere rhetoric that we believed we had heard before.

Then he remarkably reached out and held the hand of his strongest political enemy, Raila Odinga.

Two leaders, two parties, and two tribes with a history of mistrust, broken by a single handshake.

After we rubbed our eyes and let the moment recede, we went back to our scepticism.

Then we saw the release of the Building Bridges Initiative with its focus on ending ethnic antagonism, divisive elections, shared prosperity, inclusivity and lack of a national ethos.

We couldn’t believe that people would buy this initiative, but they did. 

We saw how people across the country enjoyed and were attracted by the attempts to listen to them and made these issues their own, giving a variety of recommendations, suggestions and proposals.

We started to pay attention but were yet to be moved.

We studied the BBI Report to see if the rumours were true and Kenyans really did want an end to tribalism.

We asked ourselves if these people had no tribal pride and had forgotten where they came from.

However, what is this tribal antagonism worth if it will kill us all regardless of our background?

Coronavirus is not a disease like Ebola whose spread was largely regional and geographic, or like AIDS whose spread is behavioural, meaning those who have less concern for safe sexual relations are more likely to get it.

Coronavirus is the ultimate leveller. It pays no attention to a person’s wealth, religion or ethnicity.

In the UK we now see that Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been hospitalised by it and Prince Charles just recuperated from it.

What greater testament to the nature of this pandemic can there be than to witness the great and the good struck down with the Coronavirus.

It has reached Kenya, although for now in much smaller numbers than Italy, France, Spain, the UK or the U.S.

We do not have the health facilities of any of these countries. One of the major reasons we lag so far behind is a result of corruption, another of President Kenyatta’s crusades that we should be paying more attention to.

One of the only tools we have to defeat the Coronavirus is our national responsibility and solidarity.

If we remain a fragmented and divided society then we are doomed. 

We must join hands, not literally at this time, but virtually. We must stand together as a nation and heed our leaders demands and recommendations. 

President Kenyatta has been calling for us to break down barriers for a long time but many of us simply wouldn’t listen.

We were blind and would not see. The hour is late, but I am now a convert.

President Kenyatta’s words and policies coupled with the potential devastation of the Coronavirus have taught me that I can no longer hold my previous positions. 

They are no longer tenable in 2020.

We are one country, with the same challenges and equal responsibilities.

I hope by writing this more eyes will be opened. We don’t have any more time to waste on useless and harmful tribal grudges.

We must become a new Kenya.