Constitutional change without respect for rule of law will not bear fruit standardmedia.co.ke - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from standardmedia.co.ke Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
THE STANDARD
OPINION
Kenya is a deeply divided society. Six years ago, economist David Ndii, a political strategist and an advocate of secession, wrote an article in the
Daily Nation title, ‘Kenya is a cruel marriage, it’s time we talk divorce’.
He was right. Kenya is a cruel marriage. But because I am not a separatist; and because I am proud of our diversity, methinks we need not divorce. Indeed, many African states have had to undergo a very painful process after the failure of their leaders to deal with underlying conflicts that grew over time into full-blown war. A good example is a Biafran war in Nigeria. However, Kenyans can solve their problems and continue co-existing peacefully.
Can religion be harnessed as a political force for good?
ZANU-PF election poster Photo: Graeme Williams
“Africans are notoriously religious,” asserts John Mbiti in his book
African Religions and Philosophy. However, upon conducting a scan of the socio-political landscape of the continent, one is led to ask, if Africans are so religious then why are they so notorious?
Africa is notorious for its poverty, for its ethnic conflicts and civil wars, for its disease-scourged populations and for its constitutional delinquency.
Why does the religious African have to search for heaven in Europe and other lands? Why can’t she be enabled by her religiosity to create her own heaven here in Africa, here in Zimbabwe? Or has religion’s influence in African politics been too limited to have any palpable impact? Can the power of religion be harnessed and employed as a political force for good?