The former Vice President, the late Kijana Wamalwa said, “A
good idea should give way for a better one.”
There are leaders who get this truth and others who don’t
and the difference between the two categories is the condition of their hearts.
In 1 Samuel 18, Jonathan the son of Saul stands as an excellent example on how
to give way for a better idea when it has come. He saw David step in and face
Goliath when all fainted in fear at the battlefront. What David did that day inspired
everyone; the army recovered its lost morale and identity and pursued the rest
of the Philistines army, securing a great victory that day.
Optimism filled the air, it was almost tangible, True,
Goliath lay dead and a son of Israel had done it singlehandedly. The women
raised their voices and shouted, “David has slain his tens of thousands” and
that shout could not be erased from the history books in Israel. From that day,
Jonathan knew things would never be the same again in Israel. As an aspiring leader and he knew he
had to make a tough choice, either to become an antagonist, or a supporter of
the new kid in the block. He chose the latter. He acknowledged that David was a
better leader than himself and he loved him as himself. Through his actions he
said, “You are a better leader than I am and I will support you and make sure
you realize your potential even if that means relinquishing my right as an heir
in this Kingdom.” He took his robe along with his tunic and symbolically handed
them over to David and made a covenant with him.
His father did the direct opposite. In response to David’s
rising fame, anger, jealousy and fear gripped his heart. He saw David as a
threat not a strong supporter of his vision for the common good of Israel. He
therefore began to hatch diabolic schemes to eliminate David. What a sad day!
What a pathetic leader! A leader who is poor in compassion and vision, a leader
who would use and abuse people. Even his own daughter whose only crime was to
admire David became a tool to be used for the king to advance his power game plan. He arranges a marriage of convenience
between David and Merab his daughter and asks for the unthinkable—hundred
foreskins of the philistines—as his dowry to expose David and get him killed by
the Philistines.
Most leaders fail because when they get to power, they
forget the big picture, which is service to the people. By their own design or
of those that surround them they begin to hatch survival tactics to build an
enduring throne while service delivery is relegated to the fridge or completely
forgotten. What they fail to understand is that leadership cannot survive if it
doesn’t take people from point A to B. If indeed it does survive then it is the
toxic kind and it will impact people negatively. They say, “you can fool some
people sometimes but you cannot fool all people all the time. Soon followers of
such leaders begin to see that the leader doesn’t have their interests at
heart. The Bible says, “the people loved
David because he led them in their campaigns.” (1 Sam 18:16) He did not
lead the people to fight his own battles; he led them to fight their battles.
This means whenever victory came, it was never his victory, it was theirs and
they loved him for that.
My prayer is that we will get this kind of leaders who are
selfless and who are not always constantly posturing to build for themselves an
enduring kingdom. Leaders who when they open their mouths inspire confidence
but not instill fear. The events of the last two weeks speak volumes on the
kind of leaders we have. Suddenly social and mainstream media was abuzz with
messages of fear reminding us of our weaknesses and failures in 2007/2008.
Instead of being inspired to face the future together with confidence we were
left confused by what we saw and heard. I was particularly disappointed by what
went on in parliament, the house of our representatives.
Why are we not allowing better ideas to take root in this
country? It’s a bad idea to think selfishly, to be ethnically motivated, and
worse still to advocate selfish and tribal values in Kenya. Nepotism,
tribalism, clanism and religious fundamentalism have no place in our new Kenya.
Lets refuse to join hands with those who want to use us to fight their own
battles. We know what our battles are and will join however leads and inspires
us to win at those fronts. Let the women diminish their ululations to the
selfish, corrupt, inept leaders but let us from the rooftops cheer our
champions who engage the real enemy. Lets raise our voices and shout to the
David’s of our times, “he has slain his
tens of thousands!!!!”
We saw it 2002, when we were voted the most optimistic
people in the world and then we allowed a few people to hijack our ship and
take us where we didn’t want to go. We arrived at the destination in 2007/2008
and we didn’t like it. Lest we waste our pain, let us begin to choose carefully
the captains of our destiny. Let us affirm only those that lead us in our
campaigns but not theirs.
Like our other Vice President, the late Professor George
Saitoti, “There comes a time, when the welfare of the nation is more important
than an individual.”
People who affirm and practice this truth are our true
heroes, others are just pretenders, wolves in sheep skins, schemers, peddlers
of lies whose ideas have no place in the Kenya we aspire to build.
Oh God of all creation
bless this our land and nation
justice be our shield and defender
may we dwell in unity, peace and liberty
plenty be found within our borders
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