Freedom of Speech Is Not Negotiable

Martin Luther King once said, “Wallow not in the valley of despair my dear friends, I have a dream that one day this country will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

Almost a century ago, our forefathers gave up their lives fighting a foreign enemy that had no regard for civil liberties that every human being is entitled to. After a decade of bloodshed, those great men and women managed to reclaim what was once theirs- Wanjiku used to call it “wiyathi na ithaka”, meaning sovereignty and land.

Half a century down the line, Wanjiku still is not free. Fifty two years later, Wanjiku’s life is still tangled up in the shackles of isolation and chains of favoritism. More than five decades later, the gap between the haves and the have-nots continues to widen. Wanjiku still lives on the abandoned island of ignorance, disease and poverty in the middle of an enormous ocean of material opulence. While the majority of Kenyan families can’t afford two meals a day, those in the ruling class are flying expensive choppers and taking their kids to prestigious schools abroad.

Now they want to clamp down on everyone who talks about their evil ways. They want to gag Wanjiku’s mouthpiece so that they can have peace as they enjoy their loot. They condemn corruption during the day while they wine and dine with the corrupt at night. Now they are busy rebranding their vehicles as they prepare to face Wanjiku in 2017. They will come singing their all too familiar tribal songs; not because they care so much about their tribes, but because they know that’s what Wanjiku wants to hear. And once they are old and cold, they will impose their sons and daughters upon Wanjiku, and the cycle continues.

In the words of Martin Luther King: “we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a stream”.