Sunday, January 15, 2012

Don’t crucify all women coz of Baraza



Poor Nancy Baraza. The last thing she expected was for her high-handed behaviour with a security guard early this month at the Village Market to go viral and be the subject of the entire nation.

Not only that, people have and continue to mock her mainly because she occupies a really powerful seat as the Deputy Chief Justice of this country, an appointment that saw her make history.
Worse still, people are using this opportunity to dig into her past and come up with other instances, real and imagined, that demonstrate her arrogance, as if to prove that she is not a good leader.
So while Chief Justice Dr Willy Mutunga and his specially appointed committee conduct investigations into the ‘gun’ drama, the truth is that the public has generally made their verdict and want their opinions to be sanctioned. That’s why I think both he and his deputy are in a tight spot — to please or not please the baying public?
Power
However, the argument, mainly fronted by men, that Baraza’s actions are a clear demonstration of women’s inability to handle power is unfortunate. This viewpoint has been argued in offices, bars, homes and on the streets. Consequently, Baraza’s alleged actions have been used to vilify women when bequeathed power.
Yet, how can this argument hold water? We do have other women in powerful positions who have not disgraced themselves!
Look at, on the international platform, women like Queen Elizabeth, Ellen Sirleaf Johnson (Africa’s first woman president), Angela Merkel (German’s Chancellor), Cristina Krichner (Argentina’s president), Graca Machel, Hillary Clinton, Condoleeza Rice, Oprah Winfrey and Michelle Obama among hundreds of others.
Here at home, we have our 22 female MPs, Supreme Court Judge Njoki Ndung’u, other judges and magistrates, and a multitude of executive officers heading corporate organisations, successful businesses and civil society organisations.
So how can the behaviour of one individual be said to represent the overall behaviour of that gender?
Does the behaviour of Makadara MP Gidion ‘Sonko’ Mbuvi, in Parliament and on the streets, represent the behaviour of all male MPs or, for that matter, all men who desire parliamentary seats?
What of the stone-throwing Ferdinand Waititu, the Embakasi MP? Should we also vilify all men based on his behaviour?
What of Sabaot leader Wycliffe Matakwei, LRA’s Joseph Kony, former Uganda leader Idi Amin, former Zaire leader Mobutu Sese Seko, Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe, former German leader Adolf Hitler, former Iraq’s leader Saddam Hussein and former Libya’s leader Muammar Gaddafi among many other obsessive leaders?
Are all men like these? Is this how they become when they acquire power?
I don’t think so. We have a multitude of exemplary leaders, both male and female, here in Kenya and abroad, who have done great things for their nations and communities, and their attributes are judged as individuals.
Forgiveness
So let’s not crucify an entire gender because of the actions of one individual. However, when the actions of the one individual are so shameful as to elicit the nation’s ire, we must, at the end of the day, learn to forgive, especially after they have ‘done the time’, whether it is suspension, expulsion or prison time.
No one is perfect and we all, including the best of us, slip up once in a while. Various circumstances cause people to falter and make mistakes, and nothing hurts more than being crucified for eternity for one misstep.
People must be allowed to acknowledge their mistakes and make amends, after which they must be allowed to continue enjoying life.
It is very disheartening when an individual is not allowed to pursue their interests, or the life they desire, simply because they are constantly reminded of a mistake they made years ago.
Forgiveness is a virtue and when you forgive, so shall you be forgiven when you make a mistake.

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