#therewasatime
An Igbo proverb tell us
that a man who does not know where the rain began to beat him cannot say where
he dried his body.
So, allow me to borrow
today from Standard Newspaper’s columnist and lecturer Dominic Odipo.
“Africa’s post-colonial
disposition is the result of a people who have lost the habit of ruling
themselves. A meaningful solution will require the goodwill and concerted
efforts on the part of all those who share the weight of Africa’s historical
burden.
Most members of my
generation who were born before Nigeria’s independence remember a time when
things were very different. Nigeria was once a land of great hope and progress,
a nation with immense resources at its disposal-natural resources yes, but even
more so, human resources. But the Biafra War changed the course of Nigeria. In
my view, it was a cataclysmic experience which changed the history of Africa.
This extract has been
taken verbatim from Albert Chinua Achebe’s latest book “There was a Country-
his personal memoir and part history of the Nigerian Civil War of the early
1960s.
Achebe, who died last
year, participated in the war on the side of Biafra- his native region as an
adviser roving ambassador. I am a big admirer of Achebe-his great strength was
his ability to write about his native Biafra or Nigeria and yet easily reach
readers from every African community and beyond.
Glance back at that
paragraph from where he begins talking about rain beating people who later dry
their bodies elsewhere and you will be forgiven if you mistakenly assume he was
writing about Kenya today. Indeed, the rain that started beating Africa when the
European discovered our continent actually beat Kenya until it was flooded. And
there was a land of great promise, hope and progress.
There was a time, not
too long ago when every student finishing Form 6 in this country either had a
university place or a job waiting for him or her.
There was a time, not
too long ago, when Eliot’s premium bread one of the best, one of the best in
the world at the time, cost only sh 7 and stayed that way the whole year!
There was a time, not
too long ago when a nurse who was reporting for duty at Kenyatta Hospital at
2pm would leave her house in Jericho at exactly 1.30pm sure that she would
catch the 1.45pm No 7 bust at the nearest stage.
There was a time, not
too long ago, when the blue sh 20 note bought you four beers at any bar in
Nairobi city Centre including the Nairobi Hilton’s Ivory Bar.
There was a time, long
after independence when you could stroll from anywhere on River Road to the
University of Nairobi halls of residence way after mid-night without being
mugged or meeting a single policeman demanding a bride.
There was a time during
the Jomo Kenyatta presidency when every Kenyan student who joined the
university was actually paid an allowance to encourage him or her to stay at
the campus.
And beyond that
allowance or boom, it was known, all the meals were free both the student and
his visitors. And there was no limit to how much one could take.
There was a time, not
too long ago, when you could stroll from the Likoni Ferry in Mombasa after midnight
past mwembe Tayari all the way to Tudor 4 without any fear of being mugged or
arrested by a corrupt policeman. So, where did the second rain begin beating
us? Because obviously, it did. Did we go the way of Nigeria without knowing?
According to Achebe, here is how Nigeria went.
Within six years of
independence, Nigeria had become an access pool of corruption and misrule.
Public servants helped themselves freely to the nation’s wealth. Elections were
blatantly rigged.
The subsequent national
census was outrageously stage managed; judges and magistrates were manipulated
by the politicians in power. The politicians themselves were pawns of foreign
business interests.
Food for thought?
By Embukane Vincent
Libosso- as inspired by Dominic Odipo.
