Why today’s youth should redefine themselves

BY MAURICE ALUDA

One of the major concerns in Chinua Achebe’s A Man of the People is examination of how the present African political culture of corruption, betrayal and violence is slowly eating itself into the post-independence youth. A number of youthful characters in the novel are easily swayed away from their once cherished political ideals moments after stepping into corridors of power. A good example is a one time vocal university student leader who is now a permanent secretary in the present regime. He is a complete turncoat of people-driven ideals he once held dear. Both Odili Samalu (the chief protagonist) and Max, his friend, are not spared from this disease, for example, when they shamefacedly engage in corruption and violence in their course to ouster a bad regime from power.

Perhaps the most tormented sector of our society by diverse dictatorial menace is the Kenya post-modern youth. As a result this vital component of our society is now in a wave of disorientations in all aspects of life. He has come to the point of neglect of all that we Kenya people prided of. And as a result the word “despair” may fittingly describe the situation of the youth.

Persecutions and injustices

Remember, colonial regimes, in the continuum of aggressions against the Kenyan people attacked every effort the youth made to alleviate the suffering of the people. Though these persecutions and injustices were beyond human imagination, they didn’t eliminate our sense of a nation, a people. They instead bolstered our resort and determination as a Kenyan youth. They proved to be the drives to our passion for a free nation, for a society unhindered and unshaken. Our posterity composed mainly of youth showed their toughness in the midst of all adversity.

Today however has become the toughest period in the Kenyan people’s march for freedom and justice. And more than ever the post-modern youth is targeted with an utmost brutality by its own politicians (ironically yesterday’s youth), by the relentless elite. Perilous time has come to test the resilience of this generation’s physique and genius. Unprecedented betrayal and power corruption of the leadership has more than snatched the hope of the youth for freedom and development.

Yesterday’s youth

The present youth has been reduced to slave and an instrument of totalitarian adventurism in the face of political parties’ power politics orchestrated by the yesterday’s youth (who is now in power). Kenya is becoming a hell to the Kenyan youth, an island of sadistic youth breakers. Desperate for relief and freedom, the post-modern youth is passively opposing the incumbent regime by a march to wherever his foot leads him. A total result of disorientation has grabbed the morale of the growing child. Hatred of one’s identity has taken hold of the once resilient change agent – the young, the very pride of our country.

Nationhood and the sense of a people with identity are loosing their grips in the mind of Kenyan youth. But, why this sadism by a once popular revolutionary leadership, why is all this betrayal?

I think we have to learn a few lessons from our African history. No African liberation leader has ever embarked on the pre-liberation determinations of the revolutions. If we are to level a critical examination of the struggles, the liberation philosophies do not match the visions of freedom. Indeed, their adherences to state socialism tend to negate everything traditional democracy has to offer. These have often led to similar phases of dictatorships in post-liberation African regimes. Though we cannot generalize on every instance, liberation philosophies of many African struggles were hardly democratic. We have ample lessons in our country’s struggle for freedom. Ultimately this non-democratic culture has helped breed the emergence of one man autocracies. And the resultant leaderships prove to be state totalitarianism. African history thus is rampant with such post-liberation absolutism, as can be seen all over the Horn of Africa and beyond.

Post-betrayal sieges

In the final analysis, it is the post-modern youth that has to bear the curse of such phenomenon in Kenya. It is for this very reason that this youth has to maximize the moment knowing that it is the trend African politics went through. One thing part of the reigning regime dodged us is that it showed us it was sworn not to tread the traditional African political syndrome, namely dictatorship. But it dodged us when it took us to a constitutional referendum in 2005; it dodged us when it almost gave its willingness for the formulation of a generous constitution. But time did tell us that we are no different than Africans.

Without mincing words, our nation is going through perhaps one of Africa’s longest post-betrayal sieges under fascism. This translates to the cyclic burden of freedom: once again, the urge to free oneself and one’s closest, which by implication means one’s people, into the hands of the youth. There is no hope in the state of our country unless the Kenyan youth redirects its multi-dimensional energy towards the true struggle for liberty and social justice which are the very tenets of democracy.

The writer is a literature and communications lecturer.