We need to be more focused on the present

The noted German statesman and writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once wrote: “Always hold fast to the present. Every situation, indeed every moment, is of infinite value, for it is the representative of a whole eternity.”

There is something peculiar with Kenyan politics. It is always living in the future or the past, and little regard is paid to the present.

For a number of years now, Kenyan politics seems to be obsessed with the 2022 elections. Every little move, event or speech is dissected and poured over for any reference or hint about what it means for the presidential race in two years’ time.

Our political echelons have become 2022 obsessed and it taints almost everything.

When President Uhuru Kenyatta seeks to end national and ethnic enmity and shakes the hands of his arch nemesis Raila Odinga, creating a shared unity of purpose, it is claimed that it must be because of 2022.

 When this unity establishes the unprecedented and unique Building Bridges Initiative to give a voice to the people to decide the direction of our own national future, there are those who see it only through the lens of 2022.

The constitutional changes sought by the people who came to speak to the BBI team in their droves to demand it, is seen by some as a ploy with 2022 in mind.

We are so driven to be looking at 2022 by those who are hyper-focused on those elections that we are missing the foundational changes that are currently taking place.

The situation is far from rosy and the Covid-19 pandemic will certainly challenge our nation as it has every other nation on earth.

Nonetheless, the above events, and the war on corruption and the Big Four Agenda, are changing the way the Republic of Kenya is built from the ground up, and for the better.

Achievements will probably not be seen immediately, but, as the saying goes, usually the best things come to those who wait, and have patience.

We must ignore those voices that demand our attention only on some date that hasn’t even been set, probably at least 24 months away.

We must focus on the present and help as much as possible the necessary reforms that will shape our children’s future.

If looking too far ahead wasn’t too distracting and disruptive, now some are asking us to look back.

When the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) recently released the figures for the 2017 General Elections, it was interesting and a curiosity to see how some counties and regions voted.

As always with these types of figures, there are some sort of minor discrepancies.

However, to see conspiracies in the difference of a few numbers is to actively seek them.

The election results showed massive numerical differences between the principals that could not be narrowed by a few misplaced numbers.

Even the Supreme Court in its ruling during September of that year couldn’t find massive discrepancies in the initial election and did not rule against the second tally at all.

Furthermore, Raila Odinga, the party who would have most to gain from raising his voice if there were significant discrepancies, has remained silent. He knows the truth and has moved on. He is focused on the present.

So, let’s not re-litigate 2017.

They were difficult times, and some believed there could be a return to politically motivated violence that shocked the nation the decade previously.

Thankfully it did not come to pass, and Uhuru and Raila gave the majority of Kenyans the best tonic for our turbulent politics by joining forces for the greater good.

Kenya is finally in a good place to deal with its current challenges, and there remain many.

We can all look back to 2017 and take the focus away from 2022.

For President Kenyatta and our other decision-makers, the present is what matters. It is of infinite value, as Goethe wrote.

Our future will be shaped by the decisions made today, not tomorrow, and certainly not yesterday. All else is pure distraction, and we can ill afford it.