I read somewhere that Humility is like an underwear. It is imperative for for us to wear underwear but we never go telling people that we have one on. I say this because I have been observing almost what our political and religious leaders do and say, I have been also observing my own life and that of my friends, including you who is reading this, that we are a lot filled with pride and arrogance. The following are the signs that make me say that we lack humility.
1. Teachers are on strike in Kenya because of what they were awarded by the court of law. The government through the President and his deputy have said they cant pay and they won't pay. This is arrogance, anger and poor leadership because the teachers issue is not new. Good leadership demands that we take the initiative to lead the way not to react to situations.Our leaders nee to be proactive, visionary and humble.
2. The teachers on their part have shown no humility.The teachers have held a very hard stance on this and their words show that they are ready to fight. They ought to have approached the industrial action with humility and decorum. It is shameful for teachers to act like hooligans on the streets, shouting, lying on the roads and lifting up their legs and dancing without care that they are examples for our children . There is no humility in the teachers' actions and unity cannot be achieved.
3. You don't need a weather man to tell you which way the wind is blowing and it is a clear fact that Kenyans are badly divided and no matter how many prayer meetings and fasting we shall have, no matter how many prayer breakfasts we will have, no matter what foreign intervention we are looking forward to, no matter political alliances we make and memorandums of understanding we shall sign. Kenya is still divided. There are very deep seated unresolved issues that TNA, CORD, AMANI coalition and others can not and do not understand. When Mutahi Ngunyi talks about the Luo Nation, the Kikuyu Nation, the Kalenjin Nation etc, it sends shivers down my spine because we are not nations in a nation but communities living in counties in a nation called Kenya. The past Presidents and other political leaders have never had a resolve to unite us Kenyans. Most have so hypocritical. In public they put the mask of nationhood while in private they push members of their communities in powerful positions, dish out scholarships to members of their communities and that is what was contained in what the Late Otieno Kajwang termed as "wanakula nyama na kutuachia mifupa"( they eat the meat and leave the bones for us)or what others say sasa ni wakati wetu kula (it is our time to eat) whereas 'our' here refers to the ethnic communities. When the political leaders from the ruling communities speak, you will never see an ounce of humility.
5. In the last general elections, it was clearly seen that President Kenyatta and his deputy worked hard to get support from their 2 populous communities and did very little to unite us as a nation. Each politician was mandated to drum support from his/her ethnic community and any member of the community who did not vote with the other members of the community was demonized. That is why issues like the Weston Hotel comes up, but there is no single pastor who comes out to ask the Deputy President to come out clear and take responsibility (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mS0ZgU9jtA). Pastors would like him to come and donate money for our church projects and we cannot tell him that as leader he is supposed to be above reproach. Whenever people point fingers at you and your name appears anywhere land grabbing cases are reported, a leader has to examine himself/herself otherwise there is no humility here and without humility there can be no unity.
6. Pastors and leaders of churches have gone to courts to have their disputes resolved by non-believers. they fight and even kill each other, pastors fighting and taking church land, and fighting public. Take a look at the following clips and you will see what I am talking about.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K6WQrhuNZw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWZR2OvqOwI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtexQapQhxY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xR7pi4mqKHM
If a christian leader is implicated in a scandal, the right thing for him/her to do is to step aside. If he/she knows well that he/she committed the crime, there is no need to wait for a tribunal or a court case to vindicate him/her. We are asked to confess our sins to one another. What makes our leaders so hard necked? My advice to the deputy president is, if it is true that the land on which the hotel is standing is government land then he should return it to the government. Christian leaders should keep off the Law courts by solving their won problems amicably as the bible requires of us. In Paul's letter to the 1 Corinthians 6, Paul asks the Corinthians thus;Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? 2 Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 3 Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life? 4 If then you have judgments concerning things pertaining to this life, do you appoint those who are least esteemed by the church to judge? 5 I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you, not even one, who will be able to judge between his brethren? 6 But brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers!
7 Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated? 8 No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat, and you do these things to your brethren! 9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals,[a] nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God..
Many of our leaders are so rigid. A scholar defined rigidity as: "The inability or refusal to change one's actions or attitudes even though objective conditions indicate that a change is desirable." Most of our leaders cling to certain ways of thinking and acting, even when they know very well that their stances are injurious to their own personality and those they lead. This is not humility.
We only need Jesus Christ in our midst. When Jesus is Lord of our lives, then we can embrace other Kenyans irrespective of their religious affiliation, ethnic background or status in society. The Bible says through Humility UNITY can be achieved in our nation. Philippians 2:1-2 admonishes us thus; Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Pray for our leaders. Pray for our Nation.
No comments:
Post a Comment