It is one thing to have dreams. It is totally a different thing to have them fulfilled. While dreaming only costs a nap, that is if we all agree to dream you must sleep first, it takes time if not money to fulfill some dreams. Actually some dreams are as costly as one’s life.
That last challenge has however not denied men the opportunity to have dreams. Indeed, we know great personalities who have overcome unfathomable odds to stardom by cracking the core of their dreams. Their list is long and it pays less to mention them.
Then we have on the other side men who do nothing but day-dreaming. Such men are good at announcing their plans to escapade and beat the records of all known adventurers in the world. Yet come the day of departure they give excuses and will never travel. Such characters are said to have existed in the Akamba land and they must be the reason why our fore fathers invented the clan of the ones who say “I will do.”
In kikamba they are called mbaa ngeeka, where mbaa is kikamba for clan and ngeeka is to say “I will do.” So among the Akamba there is a saying that goes mbaa ngeeka meethiiwe mataneka (the clan of those who say I will do, were found to have done nothing).
This saying has been used to deride all those who pretend to have big dreams but make noise about it, at least at its least opportune moment.
Perhaps you have seen such lots many a places. Perhaps you have heard about them. Or perhaps you have attempted to advice them in vain for they never listen.
But perhaps you never realized they invest very little or nothing in their dreams. In essence then when they fail to fulfill their said dreams they will have lost very little or nothing at all. That is the main character trait of mbaa ngeeka.
At this juncture I am convinced if we want to look for mbaa ngeeka the best place to start with is among our politicians. Of course I admit it is important for a man to be optimistic. I also believe though mere optimism is the fateful seed that either fell on hard rock or on the soil that could not hold it to full growth and fruition.
In the recent times – I wish to make this discovery for you – I have seen one man among our legislators who aptly fits the description of a mbaa ngeeka. That man is one Hon. Franklin Bett, Minister for Roads. Eeeh…which constituency did you say he represents in parliament?
Bett was reported in one of our dailies last week to have said he is ready to be anyone’s… read that again… anyone’s running mate in the forth coming general elections. Now that is equal to having a dream but having no idea at all of how to accomplish it.
By announcing he is waiting anyone to name him a running, since he is ripe for the task, he posits himself like a lad who just feels he is ready for marriage but isn’t sure the qualities he is looking for in the woman of his dreams.
Politically that announcement ought to carry serious implications which can be misinterpreted and misrepresented at his peril.
First, Bett is an O.D.M fellow and one of the people in Kelenjin strong hold who have been active in keeping aflame Raila Odinga’s dream in the Rift Valley. By this announcement, is he saying he will ditch O.D.M and run to whoever will name him a running mate? Well, he doesn’t expect Odinga to name him a running mate, does he? Taking this argument further you realize his presence in O.D.M is to last up to the day he finds a suitor for the political marriage he anticipates.
With that you and I can surely bet he is as good as useless in as far as the progress of O.D.M is concerned.
Secondly, with that announcement he makes a declaration to the effect that he subscribes to no political ideology. I mean, if you put yourself in a position where you can be picked by anyone and go, it means you don’t mind what the ‘whoever’ comes for you subscribes to, ideologically.
Again with that you and I can bet he is politically worthless. He makes no value in the business of voter brokerage.
Worse still, you and I can make this bet, that he is one of the best case studies of our modern-day politician. I wish not to describe this modern day politician in the scathing manner the graffiti makers of Nairobi have done in the recent times, but one thing I know is this, his ideals have not been based on deep rooted personal belief and commitment to a special way of life that one looks at and exclaims “waooh, that’s how life ought to go.”
With that simple argument I present Bett as a good bet on the characteristics of the modern-day Kenyan politician.
Finally, here is some advice for him: let him leave O.D.M so he can have more space for suitors. Still, I will not be surprised, though, if throughout the remaining electoral period no one makes advances to him… some traits are characteristic of the mbaa ngeeka.
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