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With the advent of social media and ease of communication between Kenyans living in the Diaspora and their relatives and friends back home, it makes no difference whether one is at home or abroad when it comes to following and understanding the goings-on at home politically or otherwise.
However, it’s refreshing and deeply informative to be at home and hear firsthand accounts and sit directly across from those who are sharing information to gauge their authenticity.
That is not a contradiction but to say the distinction between Kenyans living abroad and those living at home is one without a difference if the question is our patriotism and ability to grasp the goings-on at home.
That is not to say every Kenyan living abroad or outside Kenya keenly or even passively follows the goings-on at home. In fact, going by the paltry registration of voters in the Diaspora, most Kenyans in those countries either do not care or have no time in their priorities to follow or bother with politics back home.
For those who do, we are passionate about and stand shoulder to shoulder with those who care and want the best for our beloved Kenya.
Which begs the question, who really cares and wants the best for our beloved Kenya?
It is a rhetorical question, but one answer can be nobody cares about our beloved Kenya as everyone is busy with self-preservation in the true spirit of Machiavelli, and that holds true from the top of the country’s leadership to Mama Mboga.
In other words, everyone — be it our president or the least recognisable or noticeable member of our society — is only interested in that which maximises their potential or opportunity to survive, everything else be damned.
That would be a harsh or even crude answer to the question of who cares about our beloved Kenya but there is an element of truth in it.
Yes, there are those who are solely focused on personal preservation and survival to the exclusion of everything else, but we also have those who blend both self-preservation and caring for others, and even country for that matter.
Among those who fall in this latter category, meaning, those who are both for self-preservation and caring for others, including country, you have President Uhuru Kenyatta and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga who is now Azimio presidential candidate.
Their burying the hatchet and engaging in the historic handshake, which is still shaking and shaping our country’s history, speaks to this fact.
The handshake’s baby BBI is now on life-support thanks to Deputy President William Ruto and his foot soldiers who sent it there. However, the handshake principals have thus far crafted and executed a political strategy that for all practical intents and purposes accomplishes what BBI was intended to accomplish.
What we now have is complete formation of a powerful and indomitable coalition that will easily cruise to victory come August 9, just as we experienced in 2002. Why would anyone, therefore, believe they have what it takes to do the impossible in this case, which is to defeat an indomitable force?
It is another rhetorical question but this one has only one answer and that is because they don’t care about country and only care about ascending to the presidency at any cost.
If they cared about country, they would recognise the fully formed tsunami headed in their direction, flee far from it and live to rebuild another day what the tsunami destroys.
On the other hand, Azimio should engage the cruise control in the vehicle they have decided to use to drive right through the State House gate and have its leader sworn in as our next president.
When cruise control is engaged, the driver need only be alert to disengage and act as circumstances warrant. When looking in the rearview mirror and seeing Ruto’s car receding to the far yonder as Azimio’s car cruises to the destination, it is not time to disengage and slow down for him to catch up — or even pass you. BY THE STAR