Elections come every five years. At this time our tribal cocoons are at their final lifecycle stage. It’s a time to be full blown. We all forget our religious background.  At this time I am a Luo, Kisii, Kamba, Meru, Luhya, Maasai, Kalenjin,Kikuyu, Taita etc before  am a Christian. Even in our church. We are first of a certain political inclination before we are of the body of Christ.

We are looking at everything through the political eye. For the first time you have started thinking about what tribe your bishop, reverend, pastor or clergy is. When he ministered the repentant gospel or the prosperity ghost spell he was tribeless. But now some guys out there (who we consider our tribal gods) are reminding us that we need to protect the tribe. We are then quick to forget what we have believed in for all the other lifecycle stages before.

We are Christians who want to profess a faith we do not believe in. We say that we preach love but we harbor too much hatred against our neighbors.  Literary. You can’t even talk to your neighbor who got you Unga (flour) from ushago the other day. The sound of his door now flashes pictures of this tribe you harbor hatred for. Are you still showing love? Or, is there a part of love I don’t understand?

When we hear people of the other divide having a conversation, disgust and hatred boils in us. We have lowered our boiling point so low to a point we have been sublimed into the world view. In a matter of milliseconds, somebody we even don’t know is our enemy. Just because they are affiliated to certain candidate of political party. How barbaric can we be? We believe we are the best and our choices/tribe should be supported by all and sundry. Doesn’t the God we claim to love order us “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vein conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourself, not looking to your own interest but each of you to the interests of others. “Philippians 2: 3-4.

We give excuses that we are only doing it because all the people around us are doing it. Or that we are too few versus the world, therefore we have no impact of acting right. We forget the words of the book we claim to believe in; not to be conformed to the patterns of this world, to be the light and salt of the earth, to be the city on a hill, to be example to the world. Why should we complain that the country is too tribal while we have the deepest roots of tribalism? When there is no difference between us and the rest of the world. We need to know the world is looking at us for examples and our actions to stand up for what is right.

Political affiliation is the right of every one. When we are weighing our option on who to follow, what are we looking for? Do we even get to check the integrity quotient? What values do they hold and stand for? Are we looking for the Christ in the leader we are supporting and electing? If we were hiring for your company would we still select them?

I recently came across this statement:

“When we are looking for doctors to treat us, we look for the most qualified. When we are building our houses, we hire the most qualified architects and masons. But when we are getting leaders to lead our nation, we are comfortable with MEDIOCRE”

This is the sad truth.

Let us be Christians in and out of season.  Embracing each other in LOVE.

Inspired by Pastor Steve Thuo. Thank you for the passion for this country.