COUNCIL OF ELDERS CLENCHED IN THE RIGOR MORTIS OF DEFUNCT ETHNIC IDEOLOGY.

In Kenya today, we have more than our share of the nattering nabobs of negativism. They come in the form of the mushrooming councils of elders. They are the architects of hopelessness and ethnic sludge. Not long ago, they were respected by all and sundry. Their wise counsel was much sought after. However, something seems to have gone awry. Today, we bemoan the loss of moral integrity by councils of elders. They have increasingly become foot soldiers for the wealthy and influential. Just a week ago, the larger Kenyan public was shocked to the core when a tiny and closed fraternity of wizened Kalenjin men, elected by no one, spewed diatribe in defense of “their own.” This was no doubt an assault on the public’s conscience. It raised for the umpteenth, issues of ethnic bias and pure arrogance that are slowly obliterating our country. As expected, consternation ensued among the ethnically sensitive when these elders in their blinkered view of national issues brazenly maneuvered around the rules of morality to defend ambassador Kiplagat from allegations that have seriously dented his credibility. One wonders whether these elders were exhumed from deep down the bowels of the earth and are thus clenched in the rigor mortis of defunct ethnic ideology. Indeed, when a council of elders elects to fight an individual’s credibility wars and even goes ahead to erroneously opine that the public’s ire against him is misplaced and that at best, it is a testament to the pacification of the entire Kalenjin community, then what ensues is a collision between the interests of the larger public and the nauseating interests of elders out to eke a living through connivance. Apparently, these elders are less good at offering wise counsel but are extremely good at seeking favors from those financially endowed and would therefore not hesitate to fight against ideas whose dividends are extremely important to the well being of the country. Far from being the agents of healing and reconciliation, they have become architects of discord in the country. No wonder ethnicity is said to be currently worse than it was shortly before and after the post election violence. If these elders are not issuing press statements to denounce the government’s move to evict those who have illegally settled in the Mau forest, they are busy whimpering about the victimization of the ministers implicated in graft. And now they do not mind the acrimonious relationship with the public in their quest to sanctify ambassador Kiplagat`s dark past. We would be failing in our sacrosanct duties as patriotic citizens were we to allow these effete corps of impudent snobs to swim in the tide of lobbying cash and destroy our country’s moral fibres. Their behavior is as risky as it is irresponsible. Such skullduggery if not stopped would inevitably doom our country to gridlock. TOME FRANCIS, BUMULA. http://twitter.com/tomefrancis