Opinion:Foundations of a Kenyan Community, Second To None

by: Rev. Torli H. Krua, posted July 18, 2011

DORCHESTER, Mass.,_I write to salute the Kenyan Community in this new initiative of community organizing. I am particularly proud of the organizers of the civic organization and pledge to do all I can to help them succeed. Since I first set foot on Kenyan soil, nearly two decades ago, I fell in love with the country, its culture, music, food and the people and at every opportunity; I try to identify with Kenyans.

 For example, I have spoken at the Kenyan Pastors Association in Worcester and regularly attended the Tuesday Evening Kenyan Fellowship in Quincy for a very long time.

As Kenyans move forward, I have no doubts that this new initiative will result in a community organization, second to none.

I therefore urge you to take time and learn from the successes and failures of the Republic of Kenya , originator of the Madaraka Day celebrations  as well as other members of the African immigrant community that have laid foundations of similar civic organizations decades before the Kenyans. George Santayana said, “…those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it.”

I shall begin with the euphoria of independence and the problems of Kenya, fifty (50) years after the first Madaraka Celebrations of 1961.  When European colonial masters ruled Africa, there were, in every respect, huge gulfs that separated the governed and those in authority.

Back then, those in authority were chosen by European governments and ultimately served European interests, and not the interests of the citizens they governed.  All the colonial masters came from Europe and were schooled in European morality, philosophy, education, civilization, religion and culture, materialism and greed, sugarcoated by the false sense of racial and intellectual superiority that dominated European civilization and fueled global colonization.

This led to bankruptcy in foresight on the part of delusional colonial masters who believed oppression will last forever. They engaged in fierce battles to maintain an unjust system that enriched a few while keeping other humans in bondage.

At the end, good inevitably triumphed over evil and the Europeans were driven away. However, they left behind a flawed framework of governance that is at the heart of post-colonial problems today. Africans achieved political freedom but still live in economic bondage.

The universality of brutality and inhumanity of colonial masters forced their subjects to bloody resistance, which ultimately ended in Europeans being driven out of every land they used brute force to occupy. A new generation of African leaders replaced the colonial masters.

However, because of flawed system of governance that was a replica of the same repressive system of governance that created and maintained colonization the outcome for poor people was similar. European colonial masters have been replaced by African colonial masters, to the detriments of the citizens. Africans enter politics not to serve the public but to be served, just as Europeans.

Public service in most post-colonial Africa is the short cut to personal wealth, as evidenced by the salaries of government officials and those in public service. From Gadhafi to Mubarak, to Gbagbo, most African leaders deposit stolen national wealth from Africa in European banks. In the words of Jesus of Nazareth, Africa is essentially “putting new wine in old bottles.” The results are wars, poverty, corruption and political violence.

But there is a better way; for where there is a will, there is a bond to be a way. We just can’t keep doing the same things and expect different results. There needs to be new and different paths to get to destinations different from where we are today.   

The suggestion of a new and different path leads me from the Madaraka Day celebrations   of 1961 and its aftermath of the political situation in Kenya today to the Madaraka Day celebrations of June 5, 2011 in Massachusetts.

As you prepare for the Madaraka Day celebrations of June 5, 2011, please remember organizing Liberian Associations in the USA started in 1971. Named the Union of Liberian Associations in the Americas, (ULAA), this group has had its ups and downs and successes and failures over the years. At its inception, there were not many national associations for African immigrants to learn from.

The post-colonial Madaraka Day celebration of June 1, 1961 was privileged to have had Africa’s 1st independent republic, Liberia, established over a hundred years earlier on July 26, 1847.

  I believe if the founding fathers of Kenya learned from the pitfalls and successes of Liberia, Kenya in 2011 was going to be a different place, avoiding “…putting new wine in old bottles”.

Similarly, if the Madaraka Day celebrations  of June 5, 2011 take a look at one of the oldest African Associations in America, ULAA established in 1971, the lessons learned will lead to a different community many years to come.

The civic association of Kenyans will be second to none.  

Torli Krua is founder of Universal Human Rights International (UHRI) (www.uhriweb.org) , co-founder of YOUNG-Africa Inc., (www.young-africa.org) and pastor of Ziah Mission Church in Dorchester, Massachusetts.
Please send comments to: uhrinews@yahoo.com or 857-249-9983

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