Listen My People, Listen

We are rich in our culture as a people, but we still remain trapped in poverty

My Pokot brothers and sisters, let me speak to you. Let us speak to each other. Well, you don't know me. I am a son from Kacheliba, that small town behind the hills. I was born there and have lived there.

But today, let me speak with you. Please give me your attention.

I will speak today to Pokots, be they in Alale, Kacheliba, Kasei, Kapenguria, Lomut or Sigor. I will talk to you, my brothers and sisters.

Our people say an elephant is big, yet it does not give birth to twins, that everyone has limitations. That is why I talk with you today. But again, we also say that when helping a cow to stand we do it from behind so that it can stand with its front legs. A cow which cannot stand with its front legs when being supported deserves to be slaughtered.

I am not happy about our political landscape. We have a problem. We are the problem. And we all share the blame. I will get back to that shortly.

I feel offended when I am asked whether I support Hon. Poghisio or Hon. Murgor or Hon. Litole or Prof. Lonyan’apuo. The question is usually pointed dangerously at a certain angle to smell a whiff of psycophancy or ‘rebellion’. And when I am asked who I vouch for to be the Senator for the Pokot County, I weep in my heart. It is like a thousand knives dug into my heart.

For we have become escapists, that is what we have turned into. Escapists!

"We have dilapidated roads, we have poor healthcare system, we have poor infrastructure, there’s more that leaves to be desired in our few classrooms, we have only one Pokot Professor. The CDF Funds are managed by, to say the least, individuals who have never seen the inside of a Class Five or Four. And the list is endless.  "

At this time, there’s a woman, an expectant mother, carrying a 20-litre jerican on her head more than 10 Kilometres to her homestead.

At this time, there’s a Class Seven pupil who has dropped out of school because the bursary he is supposed to get is unfairly distributed.

At this time, my Pokot brothers and sisters, there are a couple of bright Pokot minds wasted in the bushes because we have not afforded them the ‘luxury’ of education.

At this time, kinsmen, there’s a family that will sleep hungry because our leadership has not afforded them the opportunity of being ‘harvesters of fish’.

That is why I feel offended, my people. I feel offended when we stop to address issues and resort to mud-slinging, narrow myopic political affiliations and sowing seeds of discord.

Look at it this way. So what if I support Hon. Poghisio or Hon. Murgor or Hon. Litole or Prof. Lonyang’apuo?
What are my iron-cast reasons of my loyalty?
What would he have done to earn my approval?
What leadership, in the true sense of the word, would he have offered to merit my nod?

Or better still, look at it this way.

Are they truly our leaders who will stand by us even in the thick of things?
Have they been with us when we had a problem?
Have they offered a lending ear to our fears and hopes?
Will they accelerate our economic growth?
Can they speak on tangible issues and draw line in the sand if called to on issues that mean life and death to us?
Can they still stand by us if we fail to elect them and continue to chart with us in our forward march to our common destiny?
Are they worried about our poverty and anxious about our brilliant future?
Are they sleepless when they think about the issues of our land?
Are they able to unite us in the tricky juggle that is our politics? Are they able to refuse to be bribed to be ‘silent’ even when the land is looted and questionable transactions take place?

Those are the questions. Those are the issues. The Constitution was promulgated recently and everywhere I hear about senator position, governor position, so and so this. Time check: November 2010. It is about fighting for positions, scramble for seats. And in the rough and tumble of this, amidst all this energy, we still remain with our common problems not addressed during campaigns.

Then we will debate about the merit of Hon. This and Hon. That, even eye-ball-to-eye-ball with our ‘opponents’. And we will elect them, nonetheless. Then we will think about 2017. And all this time we will not be looking at the issues but individuals. We will not be looking at leaders, we will be looking at politicians.

And how we have perfected ourselves in becoming escapists! God save us.

I am done. Thank you for your time.