Reconciliation Nigeriana!

The quality of mercy is not strained. It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest: It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.   That was Shakespeare in The Merchant of Venice. Art mirrors life in a symbiotic relationship that must make one marvel, too, at […]

The quality of mercy is not strained.

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven

Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:

It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.

 

That was Shakespeare in The Merchant of Venice. Art mirrors life in a symbiotic relationship that must make one marvel, too, at how life imitates art.

Something remarkable happened in Kenya the other day, evoking memories of the South African Truth and Reconciliation efforts initiated in 1994. The Mandela-inspired  court-like restorative justice body helped in no small measure to bring some sort of closure to the horrific experiences on both sides of the divide under the yoke of apartheid. 

Victims of gross human rights violations openly gave statements about their experiences, and some of the perpetrators of violence were also allowed to have their say and request amnesty from both civil and criminal prosecution. It was crucial the country confront its savage past as a healing balm to deep emotional wounds inflicted in more than five decades of a system of institutionalised racial segregation and discrimination characterised by an authoritarian political culture based on  white supremacy, which encouraged state repression of Black African, Coloured, and Asian South Africans for the benefit of the nation’s minority white population.

 In the Kenyan mini-version, President Uhuru Kenyatta led Kenyans in observing a national prayer event together with his deputy William Ruto, Opposition Leader Raila Odinga, Wiper Leader Kalonzo Musyoka, Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi and other political bigwigs. In a surprise move which caught many of those present at the event by surprise, President Kenyatta unreservedly apologised to Odinga and sought forgiveness: “We have campaigned against one another. We have said nasty things about one another. We have hurt one another. On my behalf, my brother, Raila, I ask for your forgiveness and tender my apology”. He then proceeded to hug his rival. Several years ago, that scene could only be imagined in dreams. 

Mr Odinga who had earlier demonstrated his sense of humour with his statement that his handshake with Raila invoked memories of Israeli’s Yitzhak Rabin and Egypt’s Anwar Sadat, and the Mandela-De-Klerk signalling the death of Apartheid in South Africa, said: “After the handshake on the steps of Harambee House, many things changed; the Shilling steadied; the stock market steadied….”                              

Odinga apologised on behalf of all members of the National Super Alliance, and on his own behalf, asked President Kenyatta for forgiveness: “I tender my apology to my brother. I told him he called me mundu muguruki (mad man). And on behalf of Nasa, we want to say that these divisions will end with us,” said Mr Odinga. He pledged his unqualified support for the president’s fight against corruption so as to free resources for the development of the nation.

William Ruto, in turn, apologised to Wiper Leader Musyoka, “I want to say to my brother Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka, for all the things I said, or did, I want to ask forgiveness, and in following with the president, tender my apology,” he said, before shaking hands and embracing his old foe. 

Musyoka humorously replied, “My brother William, you are hustler Number One. I forgive you.”

The former vice-president also promised to support President Kenyatta’s fight against corruption.

Thursday’s prayer breakfast is the sixteenth edition of the event aimed at uniting Kenyans in prayer.

Lord Michael Hastings, the keynote speaker at the prayer meeting, had set the day’s tone with his admonition that, “The coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, working together is success,”.

 It was all too good to be true. Some Kenyans are still in the unforgiving mode and have roundly condemned the coming together of old rivals as a betrayal. One wonders if they want the leaders to re-ignite the fratricidal animosities of yore or hang on to the political enmity between Mzee Jomo Kenyatta and Odinga Odinga whose children are now president and opposition leader? 

I salute the courage of the Kenyan political leaders in coming together. “Never again shall a Kenyan die because of elections”, said Odinga. The Kenyans have given us something to celebrate. This is said, without prejudice to my realisation that I’m speaking from the reassuring safety of distance. However, the old ways of inheriting the enemies of our fathers and using the wretched of the earth as cannon fodder must give way to a new philosophy of brotherhood with due recognition of principled opposition.  

The bold Kenyan attempt at reconciliation should inspire us all. We must quit our propensity to be judgemental, realising as Bernard Meltzer did when he said, “When you forgive, you in no way change the past — but you sure do change the future”.

 In this season when trading hate and broadcasting tendentious prejudices against other tribes, religions and political operatives to the extent of de-marketing Nigeria has become standard fare, we will do well to remember the immortal words of Martin Luther King Jr: “There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies”. 

Following up on my dream therefore, I expect to see, one of these days, President Buhari breaking his Ramadan fast with Goodluck Jonathan, Olusegun Obasanjo, Ibrahim Babangida, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, Sule Lamido, Nnia Nwodo, Yinka Odumakin, Usman Bugaje, Samuel Ortom, Ralph Uwazuruike, Junaid Mohammed, Balarabe Musa, Femi Fani-Kayode, et al. 

 Go ahead, Mr. President. Make my day!