Who is a patriot?

For nearly 150 days now, God has allowed me quality time in Africa, travelling around some, and reflecting on my role and place in it.

A questioned often tossed at me, particularly in light of my experiences outside Africa, is whether I love the continent -- and, much more precisely, Kenya -- enough. Often, this has been asked in the context of the on-going reform debates and related succession battles ahead of the 2012 poll cycle, and my real or perceived roles in it. This site forms part of my response, and there will be a few other practical expressions in future, God willing and helping. Yet I cannot think of a more important question for those among us who are Kenyans today than just that: who is a patriot? Or as our friends from the coast would pose, ni nani mzalendo?

This question is valid, especially in view of Kenyatta Day, which we celebrate in just a few hours. On a day like tomorrow, 46 years ago, we began a tradition of looking back at our heroic struggle against British colonial rule, and honoring the men and women who had labored and died for it. We began recalling the Waiyakis, Mekatililis, and Koitalels of this world, even as we marveled at how some of our forefathers had sold out their birthright, often for measly pottage. We began recalling the Mau Mau struggle, and the fear of God it had put in the British government in and out of Kenya. Two or three republics later, the struggle narrative began to broadly include those like the Seven Bearded Sisters and such others who blazed the trail for the so-called "second liberation." Four multi-party polls later, amid fluid negotiation of our way into the 21st century, it seems to me that we must still probe and define who a Kenyan patriot is.

In seeking answers, it seems I can still hear J.M Kariuki speaking from the grave, saying that "it takes more than a flag and a national anthem" to make a nation. It seems I can also hear him saying that we cannot be a country of a few millionaires and millions of beggars. Outside Kenya, it seems I can hear Mark Twain saying "patriotism is supporting your country at all times, and your government when it deserves it." I hear many more voices, each pitching for love of country, and God. In all these, it seems I also can hear a still small voice saying there is nothing heroic or sophisticated about acquiescing to the status quo.

The enemy in the foregoing, I dare suggest, is not just the conniving politician, but sometimes also you and I. The enemy is all the forces that represent the self-interest in perpetuating the evil machine that props up the status quo. My greatest frustration has been with those who like yours truly, profess faith in Jesus of Nazareth: our inability and unwillingness to translate our Christian conviction into public action is sin, for we know but obey not.

I love Kenyatta Day's military parades, the traditional dances and off-cuff remarks. But today, at this moment in time, I cannot think of a higher calling than for us to look beyond these symbols of ceremony and delusions of grandeur.

We can be a better nation.

We can hope for a better future.

We can work for that better future.

Our best days are still ahead of us.

In the final analysis, it would appear to me that a more patriotic thing to do at this time -- in place of the beaten paths of paraphernalia and lopsided jingoism -- is for us all to reassess our political power and moral consciousness on the pressing issues of our times.

We will not be first to do that. We will not be saying or doing anything new or radical. We will not be searching for anything alien to our country's major documents and sessional papers. Other Kenyans attempted to do so in years gone by, birthing the Kenyan project and dream we now live. This is our chance. And the time is now.

And it is our turn, not to eat, but to build each of us a better today and tomorrow. 

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