Editorial

Have you written your family’s manifesto?

Published on March 2013 I am writing this piece a few days before Kenya’s General Election under the new constitution. Whatever the outcome, I pray we will have the fortitude

  • PublishedMarch 8, 2013

Published on March 2013

I am writing this piece a few days before Kenya’s General Election under the new constitution. Whatever the outcome, I pray we will have the fortitude to accept the leaders the majority of us elect and live with it – peacefully. In fact, I expect nothing less than this because if you think about it, why would a man fight to his death or destroy a neighbour’s property just because another man has failed a job interview? I digress.

Last month, most political parties (or is it coalitions?) released very elaborate manifestos amid pomp and colour. They promised this and that. And from the look of things, many Kenyans bought into their promises. Actually, I saw one update on Facebook by a man saying that once his Party X comes to power, “kazi itakuwa kuzaa, sio kulea.” This was because one coalition promised free education from baby class to university.

This left me thinking, dear brothers! What if each one of us married men put down a manifesto for our families? What if you

came up with a blue print for our families’ development for the next five years? I saw how elated people were in the various halls where the coalitions were releasing their manifestos for the country and wondered how happy we would be to have a Five-Point or Ten-Point plan for our families.

Something like where you want to see your marriage by 2017; the kind of family you want to raise; the environment in which you want to be living in five years from now; your self-development plan; the amount of money your joint-bank account should have as family savings, and so on.

Imagine then that you called your wife and your children; if they are big enough to understand, to discuss and develop the strategy for achievement and growth in the next five years and put down the price to pay for failure to honour the plan. You see, politicians are making promises just so you can give them a job for the next fiv

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