How apologists avoid taking responsibility

Early this week I visited a national monument in Nairobi which I had written about in 2016. The purpose of my visit was to inspect the building and find out whether any changes had taken place since my last visit four years ago. As I entered the building, I met a gentleman who politely asked if I needed help. Upon informing him the purpose of my visit he quickly retorted that I need not proceed any further because nothing has been done since, if anything the condition of the building had continued deteriorating, pointing to a leaky ceiling in the foyer.

The gentleman then proceeded to engage me in an unsolicited harangue on how the concept of maintenance is completely alien to African culture. He posited that since Africans were largely migratory, they did not have a sense of permanence as they moved from place to place in search of pasture for their animals and food for themselves. In the event, Africans did not build permanent structures nor did they see the need to maintain their temporary ones. By his reckoning death was final and there was no afterlife in African culture therefore there was no need to preserve anything. He went on to state that even in the upmarket neighbourhood where he lives today, he found it impossible to rally his neighbours together to maintain potholed roads and street lights, notwithstanding that many of them are senior government officials and executives in the private sector who should know better.

I have heard this kind of reasoning before and I must admit that it is quite an easy argument to sell because it puts the blame somewhere else and absolves us from taking responsibility. We can all happily use the adage “Shauri ya Mungu”, and wish our problems away. But if we want positive change and development, we need to take responsibility and the hard work that the journey requires.

First, we need to debunk the myth that we were primitive until the advent of colonialism. We were certainly less developed than our European counterparts but no by no means primitive. Research has shown that most African societies believed in a supreme being who was the author of our existence.

In African societies, the concept of life is intricately connected to death and, in fact, they are not mutually exclusive but exist in a continuum. According to many traditions, death is merely a rite of passage to another plane of existence, a transition which does not alter or change the life or temperament of a person but only causes a change in its form. Individuals who have died become ancestors and continue to “live” in the community and to commune with their families. The predominant purpose of death was for one to become an ancestor.

Much like in Christianity, African societies believed in an afterlife. Rewards and punishments were believed to occur automatically in the afterlife, depending on the individual’s performance in the terrestrial world. It was believed that the dead had some ardent power over the living.

Previously I have referred to spectacular historical sites in Nubia, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe and Benin which reveal Africa’s forgotten civilisations. However, the western world has long treated Africa as existing outside mainstream history and progress. Unfortunately, many African minds have been influenced by this school of thought and regard our current predicament as a fait accompli. This also serves as powerful validation for those behaving badly in leadership.

Nobody should be under any illusion that the path to change and progress is an easy one and indeed many naysayers will ask “What is the point?”

To return to my gentleman friend, there are many examples of national monuments which have been restored and are well maintained. The difference lies in the leadership associated with those monuments. They did not resign themselves to fate but pushed the envelope to ensure that their goal was achieved.

In equal measure, we know of many successful neighbourhood associations which have achieved great results through the tireless efforts of their leaders.

I am reminded of the lyrics of the song Ghetto Child: “Just because I’m a ghetto child I won’t live down to your expectations. Just believe that a ghetto child can rise in the highest celebration. Know that I’m a ghetto child but I can see the best in me, can you?”.

This week in his State of the Nation address, President Uhuru Kenyatta pledged that “There is no turning back” in the determination to give our children a better Kenya than the one we inherited.

Do we limit ourselves by living down to the expectations of others?