Political Creed
Most – if not all – of the world’s leading religious bodies have a summary of what they believe in a few lines drawn from their holy books.
The Muslims’ creed is short, simple and very clear: No one is to be worshipped but Allah, and Mohammed is His prophet. In a nutshell, this means that for one to be a true Muslim, he or she must only invoke Allah’s name and believe in Mohammed as His last prophet, whom He inspired to write the Holy Koran during his trials and tribulations.
Christians, too, have a creed, which I can be forgiven for saying is among the most detailed. The Apostles’ Creed explores all the aspects of the Christian faith. It starts with faith in God the Almighty, the Creator of Heaven and Earth. It proceeds with belief in His son, Lord Jesus Christ, His suffering under Pontius Pilate, death, burial, descent into hell, resurrection and ascension to heavenly places. The creed also mentions faith in the communion of saints, forgiveness of sins and eventual life after death.
These religious creeds have been in existence since time immemorial and continue to be frequently recited during prayers.
As a memento of the upheavals we underwent in the recent past and as a red card to anyone who may be thinking of rigging elections in future, a national or a political creed might be good for Kenya. It would serve as a true testimony to future generations, as well as lifetime warning against repeating the transgressions of the recent past.
But for us to fully decipher this sort of creed, maybe we need to borrow a leaf from the Christians’ creed and, for more understanding, consult its source.
Going back to the Bible – specifically, the New Testament – Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus. In Kenya, we know very well who deserves this name and what they did to deserve it by betraying and compromising our democracy.
The Apostles’ Creed also mentions someone called Pontius Pilate. It states clearly that Jesus Christ suffered because of his ruling; he had the power to free Him but chose instead to throw Jesus into the hands of the mob. Here, again, we know very well who brought about the widespread chaos and the killings of more than 1,000 Kenyans and turned more than 350,000 others into refugees.
Like Pontius Pilate, this person had the authority in his hands to prevent what we experienced from happening but chose not to. And thanks to his actions (or lack of them), the continent’s island of peace was turned into an island of war.
Even though Barrabas (the criminal Pilate freed, instead of Jesus, at the behest of the mob) was not given a place in the creed, I think our creed will need to interpret who Jesus is and who Barnabas is. But because we’re told that we still cannot tell who actually won last year’s presidential election, this will have to wait. We first need to hear from the Independent Review Committee headed by Johann Krigler, which is to give a report probing what went wrong with the presidential results and who is responsible for the election crisis. Only after the report is released will we be able to say who our Judas Iscariot is and our Pontius Pilate is – and, of course, who plays the roles of our Jesus and Barrabas are. This is when we can finally be at ease with writing our political creed.
Before the announcement of the findings, I think it would be healthy to begin searching for and gathering appropriate words to be used when scribbling the creed. The wording must be careful so that no one may complain that it condemns their side and was written with bias. It should be written in such a way that everyone will be satisfied for the betterment of the entire nation.
We all saw and are still seeing the impact of Kenya’s flawed elections on our continent; we have even heard some prominent politicians warning their archrivals against stealing elections, for it will take them the “Kenyan way.” Last year’s presidential results even prompted the African Union (AU) to call for a review of electoral procedures in Africa. Perhaps they, too, are considering writing a continental creed inspired by the continent’s series of flawed electoral processes, climaxed by our own, which took the whole world by surprise.