Let The Dead Bury The Dead!

*I have lacked the ability to write this article for most of the past month. However, I now find myself overtaken by the state of events in the country - just recently we lost Governor Joyce Laboso to cancer; she was preceded by MP Ken Okoth just a few days prior. I wish their families and those affected by their deaths my full condolences and God's comfort in their lives.

To start with, I'd have to clarify my title: this is Matthew 8:22, Jesus at probably one of his more provocative moments. The Lord was certainly blunt and went straight to the point, but the context of the conversation is sometimes difficult to understand; a remnant of some cultural practices that we may not experience in this day and age. A priest once clarified it for me: when the young man slated to be a disciple (Matthew 8:21) asked to be allowed to go and bury his father, it is never implied that his father is actually dead; rather, he wants to return home to live out however long his father has left on this earth, and then after his (father's) eventual death turn towards serving the Lord. Jesus was very categorical that God's kingdom and all things entailed within it would not play second fiddle to the temporal fleeting activities of this world.

This verse has resonated with me lately because our politicians (Members of Parliament to be exact) are at it again! I have really tried to avoid watching the evening news since the latter part of 2017 when everything really all focused on the elections. Even after the disastrous election, and its re-run, election euphoria never really went way; and, sadly, even now politicians have already revamped themselves in campaigning for the distant 2022 election as if nothing else matter in between. The news cycle is just a rehash of campaigning, scandals and intrigues that are mind-numbingly tiring to listen to or tolerate at this point.

Lately, however, as if on cue, our parliamentarians have started clamouring for an increase of their allowances.The stunner was a sh. 250,000 house allowance (backdated to late last year), but there was more: there are plans in place to increase their car grants, sitting allowances, and perhaps a potential "night allowance" for when their seating extends into the night time past the normal hours of business. I personally have never understood why people who are some of the best-salaried in the world are paid "sitting allowances" to show up at their places of work: Sh. 5,000 and at times double if you sit on certain committees. That is a level of ridiculousness that needs a different time and place to answer.

As usual, the MPs have come out in force to address the usual uproar that arises with such blatant greed; and of course the usual arguments will be made, but one specific argument has consistently been touted: the need to cater for funerals for their constituents. On the rare occasion that I recently watched the evening news, I saw 2 MPs talk about how they are invited to so many funerals, and the mourners expect them to donate money towards funding funeral logistics like transport, food, etc. I was boiling inside, but the kicker came when one randomly separately interviewed constituent remarked that the MPs  deserved to have their emoluments increased simply because they provide money at funerals.

Kenya certainly has a strange relationship with death and funerals, which certainly makes us worthy of the descriptor "Peculiar". People may be reviled or neglected during the time that they are alive, but suddenly upon their deaths they become saints whose influence on our life cannot be overstated, and suddenly we realize that they will leave big gaps that cannot be filled.

1. I remember one patient who (during the course of my internship) sat in our female ward neglected for many weeks. Till today I don't understand why she was in a Gynaecology Ward because her symptoms seemed to suggest that she had a Liver/Bile Duct malignancy. In any case, I don't remember seeing any relatives visit, and there was no way to progress with her testing because that needed a lot of external tests, and expensive in-house tests that required cash upfront. Eventually, she succumbed to her illness; strangely, the very next day the family arrived wailing, cleared her hospital bill in one fell swoop, and took her "home".
   
2. I recall some events concerning the planning of my paternal grandfather's funeral. My mother had gone out into the town (Katito) to hire some chairs for the occasion. Some random young gentleman with political ambitions decided that he'd pay for the chairs so that he could have the chance to address the mourners; this didn't sit well with my mother who firmly turned him down and paid for the chairs out-of-pocket (as she had always intended).
   
   I remember that he still had the gall to show up at the funeral, and took to the podium to address the mourners. Since I do not understand my mother-tongue, everything he said basically went over my head; but disrespect is a cultural universal that anyone can understand, and to this day I still get angry thinking about that foolish man.
3.  Early this past July, there was furor raised by a bunch of politicians at the funeral of Pastor Shem Ngoko of the SDA Church; this was merely because they were not allowed to address the mourners during the ceremony. Even despite the express orders of the church, the politicians sought to insinuate themselves into the church proceedings where they would undoubtedly have uttered useless political rubbish.

Our politicians display a plethora of similar experiences to these mentioned above. Their main goal, however, is their need to get a cheap and readily available audience for them to practice their "snake-oil salesman" act. Some of the most ludicrous statements in the recent past have mostly been uttered at funerals. I don't know when we embraced the idea that it is acceptable to turn funerals into political rallies. The day is chiefly meant for family and those close to the deceased person to give them a dignified "send-off". The immediate family of the departed individual is accepted to be the party that requires the condoling and whose needs are prime.

Additionally, neither do I know when we started turning funerals into opulent occasions. Why would anyone feel the need to "keep up with the Joneses." There is not a hint of added dignity in the act of burying someone in a bulletproof gold casket, in the slaughter of a herd of cattle, or in the printing of t-shirts and keepsakes containing the deceased's image. We all acknowledge that we came from dust and to the dust we shall return, therefore we just need to do enough to honour one that has passed on; this should, however, never involve driving their kinfolk to lengths of desperation that will see them spending vast sums of money on something as transient as a funeral.

There are 2 simple lessons on offer here:

1. Politicians need to aim higher and stop lusting after "low-hanging" fruit. Why seek to endear yourselves to crowds of mourners at a funeral yet watch as children under your sphere of influence learn under trees, hospitals remain dilapidated and people continue to suffer from joblessness and hopelessness. If they lack the willpower to say "no", take a few lessons on how to say no nicely. 
2. People need to learn to live within their means, and this is especially relevant the less you have. The begging bowl mentality we espouse at the top in needlessly borrowing money to fund everything under the sun has worked its way down to the bottom. We as a people need to be disciplined and stop selling our civic rights to individuals for a pittance. Perhaps if we held our leaders to a higher standard at the grassroots level, they would be forced to prove themselves at the country and international level.

So to bring things full circle, Let the Dead bury the Dead! We need our politicians committed to the task of improving the general livelihood of all Kenyans, and preparing us to deal with the challenges posed by the 21st Century. Let them desist from this foolishness of lame excuses and utter greed, and let them do the task for which they were chosen. History will deal with them unkindly if they choose anything else.

God Bless