Friday August 27, 2010 is Kenya’s date of rebirth. It is a date that the new constitutional order will take effect amid pomp and pageantry. We at The African Executive, join other Kenyans in celebrating a new constitutional dispensation that gives responsibility to the people to determine their fate. This is but the beginning of a tough time ahead as the country seeks to heal past wounds whilst pushing to improve the standards of living for each one. It is going to be a difficult period as those who harbor misplaced expectations get disappointed and those keen on old order whip up emotions against the new order.  

Weaving through the cacophony of sounds of jubilation and joy will be one stark reality that emerged during the referendum debate: that Kenyans are yet to mould their own philosophical drive to guide them in the murky globalised world. Save for the debate on land, which was driven mostly by big land owners, other issues that drove up people’s emotions were purely alien “software” planted in the citizens' operating system. The freedom offered in the new constitution ought to be well utilized to enable the country nurture and develop its guiding philosophy of life.

Kenyans must not forget their African neighbors who have been bleeding for decades due to resource and ideological driven conflict. The new-found unity of purpose ought to be utilized to spread the seed of peace, consensus building and nationalism across Africa. The fact that the new constitutional order is in place due to convergence of interest of Kenyans and the “international community” ought to serve as a lesson on how to resolve conflict on the continent. Thousands of lives will be saved, African girls and women will be protected from rape if those keen on grabbing the continent’s resources realized that acknowledging and addressing interests that sustain such conflicts is the way to go.

Kenyans must utilize the new constitutional dispensation to build their economic muscle; the last 47 years have proved that political “power” devoid of the economic muscle is but a mirage. Kenyans must be productive and bid bye to perennial famine episodes, illiteracy, disease and insecurity among others. Kenyans must shun any attempts to hook the citizenry on wealth distribution as opposed to wealth creation. Let us utilize the new constitutional dispensation to unchain people’s talents that have long been held in captivity by the elites of the old order.

This generation is honored to participate in laying the foundation for developing a new operating system that respects rule of law and “software” that uphold African dignity thereby re-define politics on the continent for the better. May this be a great template to be replicated as opposed to the gung-ho culture of people purporting to be visionaries who have over the past decades shot themselves to political power in Africa!