Nairobi — This is the question you may be confronted with over the next seven years as a new campaign to transform Kenyans' values and ethics kicked off on Friday.

The line, perfected by veteran radio personality Leonard Mambo Mbotela, is set to dominate the streets, schools as well as market and other social places, for once leaving the airwaves to confront you as an individual.

The new drive by the Uungwana Resource Institute was unveiled in Nairobi on Friday as a response to the deteriorating societal norms, blamed especially the post-election violence of early 2008, among other ills.

It is based on two continuums -- uungwana (civility) and its opposite, ushenzi (discourtesy).

"Conflict can help us to discover and comprehend," says Mr Kenneth Njiru, the Uungwana Initiative Campaign team leader. "It can open our eyes and allow us to see what we might have previously ignored."

The initiative bases its strength on a transformed individual who then carries the new value system to the society and beyond to create a cohesive Kenyan nation.

According to the campaign text, past attempts to heal the country have concentrated on addressing the topical and acute symptoms, which have manifested themselves in the form of land allocation or lack of it, poverty, historical injustices, the Constitution and corruption.

However, in attempting to solve these problems, the nation has portrayed a lack of honesty to accept the situation as it is, and the courage to address the problems. This disorder is the ushenzi that corrupts Kenyans' minds.

A tipping point

"History has shown that as ushenzi spreads, it culminates in a tipping point - a point of no return, in which society collapses into chaos and individuals fall to the level of savagery and barbarism," Mr Njiru says.

"The Uungwana Initiative will, through its mechanisms, provide a real and sustainable solution for the transformation of the Kenyan society," says its blueprint which has received support from the corporate world.

The campaign, it explains, is one that hopes to seize the moment to call every individual to action "to reach within and think better, speak better and act better. We believe that this is when the culture of civility and uprightness can evolve and prevail, and constitutionalism be guaranteed."

The drive, which was launched at a Nairobi hotel yesterday, is based on the principle of continual self-assessment around ideals and manners, called the Code Muungwana, by whose adoption the character of an individual will be transformed into a civilised one.

The ideals consist of utu (humanity), courage, justice, politeness, trustworthiness, afya (health and wellness), responsibility and uraia (citizenship).

"Each is premised on the fact that there is an extraordinary potential that resides within each one of us -- that each one of us has the capacity and power to become more than victims of our circumstances or of our environment, and that we can rise above these to become extraordinary citizens in our own right," says Njiru.

But he is quick to add that Uungwana is not about moral policing, but a call to individuals to reflect internally and act accordingly. The campaign is based on three themes -- jifahamu, jiweze and jitolee (know, control and give yourself) -- constructed to bear muungwana action, uungwana community building, entrepreneurship and environmentalism.

Mr Njiru, 42, has been in the social movement for the past seven years, during which, he says, he developed interest in working with communities to change their approach to problems.

In those years, he was involved in the Ufungamano reform meetings. However, he says he was attracted to Mr Mbotela's radio programme way back in 1995 and decided to adopt it. Mr Mambo himself is on the board of the campaign that will take him to the people who, for years, have adored him.50 professionals

Together with colleague Michael Otieno, Mr Njiru has set up a team of about 50 professionals for the national campaign, that has already attracted the Vision 2030 commission in the ministry of Planning and National Development.

Commission director-general Mugo Kibati says many of the country's development programmes have failed because the focus has largely been on socio-economic and political growth, but not on a strong moral values-based framework.

"This is a well thought-out and very impressive campaign about personal accountability," explains Mr Kibati. "As a society, we must start by self assessments."

The campaign is set to enter the next phase, in which it will be launched across the country in partnership with private companies at a cost of Sh700 million over the next seven years.

The Nation Media Group is one of the firms ready to join the campaign.