The Swahili have a popular saying that says, ‘mjinga akierevuka, mwerevu huwa mashakani’. This means that when a fool becomes enlightened, discovering that he or she has been cheated, the clever person is in trouble.

Indeed, Kenyans are angry. No, that is an understatement. Kenyans are extremely angry. But no one seems able to lay a finger on what is exactly ailing us. Could it be something in the air, or may be the water? 

Seriously though, our leaders do not seem cognizant of this fact yet, which is a testament to the fact that we are living in different worlds. While the leaders and the rich are laughing all the way to the bank, the rest of us are crying away from the bank!

After decades of living a lie, the sand is now sinking under the edifice of deception. Finally, the masks are off, and we now see clearly the daggers we have been holding behind our backs, even as we indulge one another socially, economically and politically.

Recent incidents on social media of people pushing back police harassment is a sign of the times. People have been pushed to the world from all sides and are ready to strike back before they go burst. Civil disobedience is becoming normalised and it is only a matter of time before the bottom drops out.

Kenya ranks high among the top unequal societies globally, where the poorest 10 per cent of the population control only 1.8 per cent of the national wealth. We also have emerging gender inequalities as undue preference is given to women to meet quota requirements.

Men have been ostracised and emasculated under all manner of reasons and excuses. Their best is not good enough, even when they bend backwards to accommodate unreasonable demands. Talk about giving a dog a bad name and killing it. The high cost of living is the last straw that will break the camel’s back.

Runaway corruption has created widespread despondency, where opportunities seem to belong to some chosen few. Moreover, grand corruption has robbed many of their potential, including any hope for the future of their families.

We have an army of young and educated youth who cannot get decent jobs because someone ate their cheese. “There’s a natural mystic blowing through the air, if you listen carefully now you will hear, this could be the first trumpet, might as well be the last, many more will have to suffer, many more will have to die, don’t ask me why, things are not the way they used to be,

I won’t tell no lie, one and all got to face reality now.” The above lyrics of Bob Marley’s 1977 reggae hit song, Natural Mystic, ring so true in our current predicament as a nation. The angst against the status quo is all over. No social class or religion has been spared the heightened disquiet. The message is clear – we have had enough. But this is not a dreadlocks thing!

The result of the foregoing scenario is the unprecedented violence we are faced with. It seems like due to the gradual breakdown of law and order, Kenyans have decided to take matters into their own hands.     

Someone told me the ongoing backlash, which is caused by resentment from years of both personal and collective betrayal, will get worse. That what we are seeing today is a tip of the iceberg, the debris before eruption of the volcano. People have reached the end of their tether, with no recourse to justice through the established channels.

But we have nine lives, don’t we? My prayer is that Kenyans have finally realised that the destiny of this country is in their hands. It is time they rose to the occasion or forever keep their peace.

—The writer is a PhD student in International Relations