Nairobi — President Jomo Kenyatta was the father of today's corrupt political system in Kenya. He opposed freedom of speech and squelched all critics. He amassed wealth with a group of cronies who remain in power. And he played a role in some of the assassinations of the country's most promising leaders.

The above paragraph summarises the mail that I've received since last week, when I suggested that Kenyans should recall the spirit of the founder of their country when dealing with some of the most pressing issues of the day. "The man was only revered by his fellow thieves and those who supported his dictatorship," said one reader. "If he were alive, Kenya would be a laughing stock (for everyone who loves) civilisation and freedom."

The letters do not surprise me. For those of us who know or have lived under the influence of a historic figure, opinions are often coloured -- ranging from warm to the overly critical. It's always the most critical who are passionate enough to write to me. Kenya is not Guinea, where the military has performed atrocities that make recent abuses in Nairobi look mild. So let's start with two facts: Kenyatta is dead. Kenya is a great country.

Here's my take: The responsibility for making Kenya an even greater country rests with the current generation. And while it may be good sport to blame the past for current inadequacies, it does not move the country forward. As a democracy grows older, history takes a kinder view of its founders.

Our own first president, George Washington, was a slave owner and had over 300 on his plantation in Virginia at the time of his death. Washington felt badly about the institution of slavery. But he did not do anything about it, because he thought that the issue would divide a country that he had sought to unite during and after the Revolutionary War.

True, he made plans to free his slaves after his death and the death of his wife, and he treated them well by all accounts during his lifetime. Former slaves even returned to his plantation to build the crypt where Washington and his wife now rest. I've visited Mount Vernon on several occasions.

It sits on a high hill overlooking the Potomac River. Almost as far as the eye can see are the 8,000 acres that Washington acquired. He had five farms and grew over 60 crops, and promoted slaves to oversee all of them. Besides the main house, which is a 20-room mansion, there were gardens and buildings where the slaves worked.

There was a smoke house for meats, a large kitchen and buildings for all kinds of necessary things like blacksmithing, weaving and storage. When you go through Washington's history, it's difficult to find anything but good written about him. Writers have even told false stories about Washington's honesty so that it appears, in some children's literature, that he never told a lie.

I have always felt that Washington should have taken on the slavery issue. Had he been brave enough to do at the start of our democracy, I believe that he would have saved America from a civil war. I have a great, great grandfather who was shot in that conflict, fighting to free slaves.

Still, I look on Washington's good side. When he gave up his presidency, King George said that Washington's name would live longer than his own. And he was right. Many Kenyans, at least those who are my age, have lived under three presidents since independence. I have some African friends who have never seen a peaceful transition of power. Under Kenyatta, democracy was born in Kenya. The rest of the story is up to us.