Press Release
IT'S 50 YEARS OF GRIEF AND NOT A CELEBRATION!

On 12th December 2013, Kenya attained fifty years of what is so-called ‘independence' from Britain. While this day was celebrated by misusing millions of public money, patients in hospitals in distress from the on-going strike by health workers. Definitely, it shows that the fifty years were worth grieving over than celebrating!

Despite Kenya having many resources for the last fifty years, it has witnessed a chain of many problems. An example being endemic poverty, poor education, deterioration of health services, tribal clashes and corruption. Currently, Kenya is ranked as fourth most corrupt country in the world. This situation has made life in Kenya to be harsh especially for the poorest despite claims of independence.

Many Kenyans believe colonialists are the genesis of problems in Kenya but they fail to understand that the idea of ‘independence' is also colonial. Therefore, Kenya being independent does not mean that it has liberated itself from colonialism which actually changed colours from white to black. In other words, the British colonialists pretended to exit through the door but returned through the window! The one who was the cause of Kenyan problems now arrogated himself the role of solution provider. Naturally, it was expected that problems will continue to be encountered even after Kenya attained independence. After a short period, the public become tired of the many problems and hurriedly, the colonialists realizing it cunningly trumpeted the colonial trick of multi-partyism which overwhelmed many. But alas! Kenya found itself in another tragedy of tribal clashes with a recent example being the violence after the general elections of 2007.

Major changes made in Kenya were in 2010 when the constitution was re-written. Despite this exercise being carried out with pomp and loss of public money, it was also like a mirage whereby a thirsty person thinks it to be water only to realize it's not! Kenya found itself in a difficult position to an extent that most citizens started boycotting elections as witnessed in the March 2013 general election.

It is clear that all these processes have failed to relieve the problems of the public as they are intended to lengthen the problems and prevent reaching a real solution. The Kenyan society requires an ideology that will change society drastically. What makes Kenya and all governments in the world including America and Britain fail to solve basic problems of the public is because of relying on a colonialist Capitalist ideology which is based on the human mind and not on revelation from Allah (swt). In reality, fifty years is enough time to achieve great success. As an example, for twelve and a half years of his rule, Khaleefah Umar Ibn Khattab (ra) attained great success in various fields like economy whereby he allocated salaries to the destitute in society so that they do not beg. Definitely, his rule relied on Islam to make him achieve such success. Therefore we state that the solution is only from a state that implements Islam which is an ideol-ogy that has solutions from the Creator who knows well the life of mankind more than anyone else. Allah Ta'ala says:

[ألا يعلم من خلق وهو اللطيف الخبير]

"Should not He who has created know? And He is the Most Kind and Courteous, all aware of everything" [Al-Mulk 67:14]

Shabani Mwalimu
Media Representative of Hizb ut Tahrir in East Africa