Re-imagining the Kenyan society: The place of individual pursuits in shared realities

(Lecture delivered at Moi University

School of Law (MUSOL) during the

Dean’s Biannual Lectures in the presence

of both MUSOL and CMG Argwings

Kodhek Faculty of Law Students, Faculty,

Moi University members and the Public

on February, 19th 2026)

1.0 Introduction

While preparing for this lecture. I have been

influenced by many things including many

writers both Kenyan and international.

I believe that while we may not have

negotiated the society that we have found

ourselves in, we have a stake in what it

is right now, and we could shape it into

the society that we wish to bequeath our

forebears. Kenya is a typical example

of an ‘imagined community.1

 Originally

constructed as British colonial outpost useful

for exploitation of its natural resources and

a shining trophy for British imperialism,

we have since accepted our common

comradeship, ‘irrespective of the actual

inequality and exploitation,’2

 existing in our

nation. And just as it was imagined, so can

it be reimagined. We can use our shared

colonial past, post-colonial experiences

and recent shared experiences to lay a firm

foundation of the society that will serve our

interest and which will gladly pledge our

loyalty and service.

We will need to ask hard questions including

why the Kenyan society as imagined by the

British has continued to teeter on the brink

of failure. We need to further ask, if the

ideals of the independence leaders were

so pure, how come sixty-plus years after

independence we have failed to realize the

aspirations for independence? What have we

done that has failed to deliver victory against

poverty, ignorance and disease – the triple

threats that Jomo Kenyatta declared war

against at independence?

I believe that Kenya has punched below its

weight. I believe that we have never fully

understood the essence, the purpose and the

aspirations of the Kenyan nation. That is why

we have failed to realize our potential. It is

also why we struggled to forge a glorious

destiny as our contemporaries such as the

Asian Tigers – Singapore, South Korea and

Malaysia have succeeded to do. It is high

time we asked these hard questions. This is

the time to explore what the Asian Tigers

did differently. It is the best time to negotiate

and re-imagine the nation that we want

from the nation that we have had, one that

we have, and the one that we are bound

to have if we do not change our course

and refresh our identity and the ideals of