In my last posting, I discussed a little about the pursuit of National Happiness. [BTW, I am watching Mr. and Mrs. Smith for what must be the umpteenth time … more on this movie later] and this good mind is a little intimidated by its own conclusion, that National Happiness can only be attained when the government and each of the institutions including the Judiciary, the Executive and the Legislature functions as objectively, fairly, efficiently and as independently as they are meant to, and to the overall benefit of each Kenyan, and, when each member of the society including the incumbent President upholds the cardinal principles enshrined in the Constitution and the other rules and regulations that provide law and order.
Any fool would tell you that realistically speaking, this WILL NEVER happen. Not in Kenya, and not in the most democratic of countries. This is the fact, for various reasons: The first is that, there is never an incentive for any incumbent regime to exercise its powers objectively, fairly, efficiently and independently, especially when constitutionally it has access to absolute power. Absolute power corrupts. Absolute access to money and power corrupts absolutely. But most tragically, all humans are prone to indulgence and therefore to err - except Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God.
Since National Happiness, as my good mind defines it, can never be achieved by the average human, and therefore the average society, what is the absolute minimum level of National Happiness Kenyans should aspire to achieve? This is something of a tricky question, a catch 22 if you may. This good mind tells me, I should not have to compromise the achievement of this right. I mean, I gave up my natural rights to some government so that I could access a higher level of happiness. But now, this government has effectively proven to me that I gave up my rights for, oh gee, corruption, disenfranchisement, electoral theft, murder, violence and civil strife? Nay, that hardly sounds right. At the first instance, my best case scenario is - I should not have to compromise at all. But now, I fear to confront my worst case scenario. This tells me, that I, unfortunately, must compromise. It is at this point that I realize I must confront the ongoing Peace Talks. Like poor me, the winning loser and the losing winner must actually confront their individual situations.
Kenya’s Peace Talks: Towards the Pursuit of National of Happiness?
It is amazing what the human mind can process. In four short weeks, I have become an expert at thinking of me as a potential refugee, or as a person whose country is in the midst of civil strife or whose community is targeted for splitting its vote between the winning loser and the losing winner. Scratch the latter view, point is: I was not prepared for this, not physically, mentally or psychologically. I have been depressed, angry, and now resigned to this current situation (TCS). This appears to be what a psychologist would call “the normal cycle” for grieving; except, I am not grieving, not in the conventional way. At times, I am embarrassed that Kenyans have not learned from the experiences of all its neighbors Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, or Uganda or even countries like the DRC, Rwanda and Burundi and are running around armed with pangas, bows and arrows or stones. Other times, I think, oh gee, clearly we need to live through some experiences before we can truly learn, so let us kill each other till there is nothing left over. Most times, I acknowledge that this was a ticking time bomb, we were so lucky it took a little while to rear its ugly little head. Lately I figure, I am 31, I got a life to lead, danger is not so imminently close to me, so I will take it a day at a time. This latter approach seems to work just fine, until of course I remind myself that I have family and friends at home in Kenya whom I LOVE dearly and whom I fear for, and that I stand to loose a lot in Kenya. What a total mess!!
For these reasons, in the past week or so, I have become familiar with the concept of international mediation by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and of mediated negotiations, between PNU and ODM. I have familiarized myself with the four point agenda of the ongoing negotiations; of the members of each side of the divide (the Pursuit of Truth and Justice; and of the Business as Usual); of the truth of each side of the divide and most importantly of the truth that I am pursuing: The Pursuit of National Happiness.
At this point, this good mind wishes to discuss the ongoing Peace Talks, specifically, what I would like to see achieved on the national grievances concerning the failure of the government and its institutions including the Executive, Legislature, and Judiciary; the inexplicable mess that is the national administrative and regulatory agencies including the ECK and others; and the long outstanding issues of grand corruption, land inequality and general political and economic disenfranchisement. This good mind will attempt to delve into each of these issues in succession hereafter.
Any fool would tell you that realistically speaking, this WILL NEVER happen. Not in Kenya, and not in the most democratic of countries. This is the fact, for various reasons: The first is that, there is never an incentive for any incumbent regime to exercise its powers objectively, fairly, efficiently and independently, especially when constitutionally it has access to absolute power. Absolute power corrupts. Absolute access to money and power corrupts absolutely. But most tragically, all humans are prone to indulgence and therefore to err - except Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God.
Since National Happiness, as my good mind defines it, can never be achieved by the average human, and therefore the average society, what is the absolute minimum level of National Happiness Kenyans should aspire to achieve? This is something of a tricky question, a catch 22 if you may. This good mind tells me, I should not have to compromise the achievement of this right. I mean, I gave up my natural rights to some government so that I could access a higher level of happiness. But now, this government has effectively proven to me that I gave up my rights for, oh gee, corruption, disenfranchisement, electoral theft, murder, violence and civil strife? Nay, that hardly sounds right. At the first instance, my best case scenario is - I should not have to compromise at all. But now, I fear to confront my worst case scenario. This tells me, that I, unfortunately, must compromise. It is at this point that I realize I must confront the ongoing Peace Talks. Like poor me, the winning loser and the losing winner must actually confront their individual situations.
Kenya’s Peace Talks: Towards the Pursuit of National of Happiness?
It is amazing what the human mind can process. In four short weeks, I have become an expert at thinking of me as a potential refugee, or as a person whose country is in the midst of civil strife or whose community is targeted for splitting its vote between the winning loser and the losing winner. Scratch the latter view, point is: I was not prepared for this, not physically, mentally or psychologically. I have been depressed, angry, and now resigned to this current situation (TCS). This appears to be what a psychologist would call “the normal cycle” for grieving; except, I am not grieving, not in the conventional way. At times, I am embarrassed that Kenyans have not learned from the experiences of all its neighbors Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, or Uganda or even countries like the DRC, Rwanda and Burundi and are running around armed with pangas, bows and arrows or stones. Other times, I think, oh gee, clearly we need to live through some experiences before we can truly learn, so let us kill each other till there is nothing left over. Most times, I acknowledge that this was a ticking time bomb, we were so lucky it took a little while to rear its ugly little head. Lately I figure, I am 31, I got a life to lead, danger is not so imminently close to me, so I will take it a day at a time. This latter approach seems to work just fine, until of course I remind myself that I have family and friends at home in Kenya whom I LOVE dearly and whom I fear for, and that I stand to loose a lot in Kenya. What a total mess!!
For these reasons, in the past week or so, I have become familiar with the concept of international mediation by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and of mediated negotiations, between PNU and ODM. I have familiarized myself with the four point agenda of the ongoing negotiations; of the members of each side of the divide (the Pursuit of Truth and Justice; and of the Business as Usual); of the truth of each side of the divide and most importantly of the truth that I am pursuing: The Pursuit of National Happiness.
At this point, this good mind wishes to discuss the ongoing Peace Talks, specifically, what I would like to see achieved on the national grievances concerning the failure of the government and its institutions including the Executive, Legislature, and Judiciary; the inexplicable mess that is the national administrative and regulatory agencies including the ECK and others; and the long outstanding issues of grand corruption, land inequality and general political and economic disenfranchisement. This good mind will attempt to delve into each of these issues in succession hereafter.
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