By William Makora.
I feel duly compelled to make this humble appeal to my people,
the Luos, to consider diversifying their political belief and embrace
flexible factors that favor change. Their faith in political patronage
has done the community and, by extension, the country a lot of good by
propelling it on course of definite popular political paths. The
benefits reaped for the nation over the period of time are far fetching
yet the community lugs behind in everything including academics where
it was a powerhouse at independence.
Bad Choice
While decisions determine what you do, choice answers what you have.
When one makes a good decision he lives doing something he likes. One
makes a bad choice he lives in regretful sadness. It is, therefore,
worthwhile for mankind to think properly before making any choice.
After independence of Kenya in 1964, the Luos were provided with two
choices in their leadership; politics and development. These were
presented to the people through J. O. Odinga and T. J. Mboya
respectively. Both the leaders served in the first government. Odinga
was the Vice President while Mboya was the Minister for Economic
Planning and Development.
As a community, the Luos could take both, or either of, the two
packages. Unlike the Kikuyus that took both, the Luos opted for
politics and politicking have hence become their duty in the nation of
diverse competitions. This has endured in respite of the factors that
face it and the around it have limited the area of influence or
diversified national dominance. In short, competing forces have since
confined it to the lowlands while the real wealth is shared at the top.
In simple sense, it has denied the people access of national health
and vibrancy. The Kikuyus with whom the Luos formed the first
government as principals have enjoyed both and their population has
grown tremendiously.
Before his exit from the government in 1966, Odinga asked the people to
wait until he ‘became’ the president in order to see how ‘his
government’ would, responsibly, ensure amenities and infrastructure.
The Luos are still waiting to date. At his assassination in 1969, Mboya
had mobilized the people of his region in the divide to ensure notable
amenities and infrastructure. Odinga enjoyed the rest of the period
till he passed it over to his son, Raila A. Odinga. It has never
shifted elsewhere.
We are still in politics; eating and living politics by choice! A
political community! Politics is the life of majority of us who fall
within the bracket of ordinary fellows. Opponents have made it the bait
on the trap. They cast it on a dirty rock and name it ‘The Luos”.
Whatever they say about us in that same shadow sounds loud! Whatever
fashion they give us suits us! We have no defense. We have chosen
politics against development. We are given politics minus power and we
take it. Bad choice bad life!
Not Lost
Political essays about the Luos may not be good either. Apart from many
key persons lost in the game, a lot of resources and assets,
especially; academics, economical wealth, health, et cetera have
dissipated in the miry bog. Although we are blessed with good brains
only a few Luos manage studies by capricious chance over a long period
of time. We have some of the worst amenities in the nation and our
children have limited chances to access any advantages in the
prevailing scarcity. We always think it is the failure of the
government to provide them while our competitors use their strength to
move ahead of us. The government will respond but we shall not be able
to catch them that leaped ahead over the period.
I think all is not lost. We can play politics. It has become our
birthright. But we can diversify it. We can spread it all over the land
and let everybody own it. That way it may not be easy to cage. The
opponents may not easily arrest it and say; “We don’t want Raila” to
mean “We don’t want Luos”. We may break loose and release ourselves for
a moment. Then we will be able to think and act freely.
Political Power
That the Luos are a political powerhouse is not secret. We have agile
politicians. Ours are accurate political analysts and movers. But
demerits put us in a can of vulnerability. If we gather ourselves in a
valley and overlooking mountains fall over us, we crash. We can build
our political power by according ourselves common playing ground. We owe
our sons and daughters every space for sowing of their seeds now and
in future. If we do what is right with our advantages, we raise our
stakes in the national socio-political and economical divide. We can
only opt to make political capital if we all value it. If we don’t we
can leave it to the Odingas, especially, if they seem to believe in
opposition leadership, or that we are the shield that protects the nation.
It has hurt us over the years as the arsenals hit pearls like Tom
Mboya, Robert Ouko and Odhiambo Mbai in the first, second and last
regimes respectively. We do not want to lose more for that reason. We
can avoid regrets. A stitch in time saves nine!