FLAG LAWS - AN EXTENSION OF COLONIAL OFFICIALDOM

I'm yet to understand the purport of flag laws in Kenya. Perhaps am fixated to those old ways of thinking or I claim to know more than our able law-makers. Only God can tell. You see, the other day the Parliament of Kenya passed a law regulating the usage of the national flag. It went ahead to list office holders who are entitled to fly the national flag. The law, dramatically, criminalizes any 'unauthorized citizens' from flying the flag. 

For your information, this law has been alive for the last fifty years! It is purely a Kenyan product - designed, drafted, passed and promulgated by Kenyans.

But wait, my mind is bubbling with questions: Do flags have anything to do with patriotism? If yes, what is the measure of one's patriotism? Is it a duty to be patriotic? Can the State criminalize acts and/or expression of patriotism? Does the flag belong to the people or the State? Is it an entitlement to fly the national flag?

I think this law is nothing new but an extension of the colonial officialdom - a relic and oppressive brouhaha of the past. It is a true testament of the eternal link between the colonized and their masters. It is akin to an 'extended colonialism' - with homegrown black masters calling the shots. We have a long way to break and vanquish this dialectical bond for Wanjiku to taste the fruits of her nation's independence.

 In his masterpiece "The Pedagogy of the Oppressed", Paulo Freire argues that such situations as this (flag laws) are grounded on dialectical materialism in which an oppressor class (read 'authorized citizens') oppresses and an oppressed class (read 'unauthorized citizens') is oppressed. They live side by side. They drive on the same roads. They recite the same national anthem. But their worlds are far apart. One controls while the other follows without questioning.

He moves on to analyse their point of convergence. That the duty of liberating both classes rests with the oppressed. This duty is premised on the consciousness of the oppressed class. It is by controlling the growth of this consciousness that the people are subdued and their journey to self-emancipation stopped.

This flag thing represents the prescriptive impositions of the political class upon the masses with a view to transforming their conscience into one that conforms with the prescriber's consciousness. It is a classic case of corrupting the eyes and the minds of the people into accepting their place as underdogs and second class citizens whose patriotism must be prescribed by the State. It has nothing to do with protocol issues.

Come on! This law seeks to legitimize that Orwellian paradox - where some animals are more equal than others. It seeks to negate the fundamental declarations enshrined in our constitution in which all Kenyans are presumed equal and entitled, without discrimination, to enjoy their nation’s endowments (flag included).

A national flag represents the blood, sweat and the pain of Kenyans. It is symbolic of their long painful trek toward independence and consciousness. It belongs to them. The State is just but a custodian of the flag. 

But all is not lost. The President can do the country a great job by returning this Bill back to parliament with clear instructions to allow everybody - yes all Kenyans - to fly the national flag.

Will this make us more patriotic? I hope so, after all the national flag belongs to us - the masses, not a select few.

Twitter: @mlemukol