Samuel Kabuki Kariru from Kajiado South is calling upon the government to restore the glory of Kenya’s national anthem.
The 97-year old is faulting the country for mistreating the anthem by singing it half way in most occasions saying it makes him sad
“I get very sad to hear people singing only one stanza of the national anthem these days. It’s like they don’t understand why we even have the national anthem,” he told Citizen Digital’s Wananchi reporting
“I remember how we sang the full national anthem as the colonial flag came down, and ours went up. The anthem was the first bullet of freedom, the reason the colonial master had to pack and leave,” he went on.
He noted that the trend of singing the national anthem halfway is like saying an incomplete prayer to God
“Singing the national anthem, and leaving it halfway, is like abandoning a prayer to God halfway,” Kabuki explained.
“In the past they would sing the whole song, especially during president Kenyatta and Moi’s time, but things have changed during KIbaki, Uhuru and now Ruto’s leaderships,” he added.
He called upon the government to ensure that the anthem is sang in full in all occasions and also played in Radio and TV stations like in the past.
“And please, restore the song, make it a habit to sing the whole anthem in official functions, in schools, just like we did at the Uhuru Gardens in December, 1963, from night to morning,”
The elderly man was among the people who went through mistreatment by the colonial power
According to him, the colonizers beat him and locked him in jail.
“They wanted me to betray fellow freedom fighters; by killing and bringing eight heads of my fellow Africans. I refused, and they flogged me, myself receiving eight strokes of the cane every day, for eight months,” he recounted his misfortunes.
After the 8 months behind bars, he was transferred to another prison for 12 months.
