Nobel laureate Prof. Wangari Maathai

Death has robbed our country a woman who is worth the title a patriot. Nobel laureate Prof. Wangari Maathai is indeed peerless and everyone can feel the void she has left, except the politicians and the politics of the day.

In a country where hypocrisy and a blatant lack of openness thrive, Wangari tried and managed to not only live but also exercise a different kind of politics- a mature inclusive brand that focused on truth and ideology.

Even before we can take a sobering assessment of lessons that we need to draw from Wangari in her demise, it is common sense to note that her burial will be characterized by political innuendos with various factions trying to outdo each other-call it the battle for the central vote. It is a shame that what Wangari fought against will be used on her very own day of send off.

When Wangari deserved a ministerial portfolio, the government of the day, the same one which now wants a state burial for her and demands that flags be flown at half mast, could only squeeze her in government, on an assistant role. If we could not see sense in her coasting all that a minister derives, including riding in that flag adorned guzzler, what business do we have pretending that flags need to lower at half mast in her honor?

Prof. Wangari had everything every president of the world would look for in a minister for environment- the skills, the networks, the capacity, the strength of a woman-everything. But Kenya chose expediency over that entire rich resume. Our president chose to reward sycophants over the experience Wangari would have brought in government. Our president chose to play with the life of Kenyans by appointing someone, perhaps who does not know the importance of conserving the Mau.

In the heat of the Mau forest debate, Wangari was steadfast that those who are encroaching or had encroached on forest land needed to vacate. But politicians led by William Ruto, who now wants to be the president of Kenya, ignored her calls, choosing to play politics, Kenya style. And the rest of us followed in saying ‘but they have no other home they know of’. We now weep and show our sadness at the death of Wangari yet when she needed us most we just watched and perhaps laughed at her wondering what kind of a woman she thought she was. We continue watching as what Wangari stood for and for which she got a Nobel peace prize for continues to be defiled.

When Wangari tried to be the voice of reason after the 2005 referendum by taking a reconciliatory position, she was rewarded with what Kenya politics know best-being shunned. She was quietly disengaged from her ministerial role. She was no longer useful. She had become a pariah. How could she not back her appointing authority? How could she dare go counter ‘mundu wa nyumba’. How could she not wag her tail, we wondered. How could she not use her tongue to sing ‘ewe baba’ to the appointing authority? We stuck our finger nails on her and branded her betrayer. But now we want a state burial for her. We want flags to fly at half mast in her honour.

It is Ngugi wa Thiong’o in his book Barrel of a Pen who sums up the way Kenyans operate. He says we all have been weaned in the way of Moi and Moism where we are violent in our actions but reformist in attitude. This is our character now as we mourn Wangari. But if we were to be honest with our hearts, we would see that we do not even know why we mourn Wangari.

Do we mourn Wangari because of having been the first African woman to win the Nobel peace prize? I think so. I do not think we are all teary because she called on us to be the humming bird. If this is the case then we are all liars. If we are that humming bird, then we would stand on the right side of history and demand that all forest cover be conserved no matter what it takes. If we are that humming bird, then we have a duty of care to the future of this country b shunning divisive and evasive politics. But even this is a mirage.

It is how we conduct ourselves that make Africans a subject of ill motivated study by western philosophers because we never make sense at all through our actions. Perhaps the theory of pre-logism formulated by the likes of Henry Lewis Morgan, Levy Bruhl, Richard Spencer among others best define who we are. These philosophers conclude that for an African, “logic, rationality and development including culture and civilization are a function of time”. Yes, no wonder we are a developing nation, still running away from a state of backwardness and that is why we never really appreciated Wangari when she was alive. We use no logic. We have no sense of reason. We act out of a stupor and no logic at all.

I like Wangari with Galileo and us Kenyans to that church at Florence. You see dear friends, the Pope and the church all believed in the immutability of the universe. But Galileo had invented the telescope which proved that the earth does in fact go round the sun. He tried to demonstrate to the pope and the church and hoped that the evidence of their eyes would be enough. It is one of Galileo’s friends who pulled him aside and told him ‘my friend, you are treading on a unique path. It is always a night of disaster when a man discovers the truth and an hour of delusion when he has to believe in the common sense of many”.

Rest in peace Professor Wangari. Death is not a full stop but a comma that has punctuated your life to a more lofty significance. I know the angels are marveling at your accomplishments on earth, even if the earthly people never gave you the opportunity to serve.