AN AMERICAN FRIEND WHO had a plan to live in Kenya for two years wrote to me, and asked for my genuine opinion whether he was taking a risk, given the turbulence that followed our December 2007 elections.

I thought: what do I tell this man, given that now and again, in the last four months, certain volatile politicians, both in PNU and ODM, keep threatening to disband the coalition!

I nevertheless wrote back and told him that Kenya is very peaceful and safe. But at the same time, I began to think like the historian that I am.

WHAT LESSONS DID KENYANS LEARN from the post-election trauma? Why did Kenyans act so savagely? Are we genuine that we wish to live together for ever? If so, how do we ensure that the post-2007 trauma is not repeated?

As I pondered the above questions, I kept telling myself that there was no need to look back in shame? In deed, there is not a single world power that did not experience similar or worse internal conflicts in their early growth.

Apart from fighting, the British to gain their independence, the Americans also fought a savage civil war in the 19th century. To build modem day Germany, Otto von Bismarck used Prussian blitzkrieg to topple independent German principalities.

In England, Cromwell's round beads fought and defeated the king's army in the English civil war of 1642 to 1649. The Chinese civil war - which they tenderly call the Cultural Revolution - was probably one of the most deadly civil strifes in recent history.

And every Kenyan, who was taught European history, must have heard of the French Revolution.

Thinking of the above, and more, made me think that our January clashes were actually tame, and yet many Kenyans were deeply traumatised by them. The question is: did we learn any lessons from them?

I keep looking back to the Kenya that I knew when I was in school before independence, and I keep telling myself that this country has greatly developed and changed. But change, even sea changes, takes place in our sub-conscious minds gradually. To many, the world seems to be one with which they are very familiar; but in fact, it is very different.

Some of the Kenyan communities, which several years back looked pre-dated, have greatly changed through education and interaction with others. The radio, television, internet and handsets have brought everybody at par with everybody else.

The first lesson which we should learn from our January trauma, then, is that no group should take the other groups for granted. We do not live in the Kenyan state due to a divine dictate, but voluntarily as individuals or as communities.

Ultimately, we have a right to withdraw from the State, or even to destroy it, if we find internal conditions intolerable. This explains the never ending revolts that have characterised the states of Somalia, Chad, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In other words, a state must be ruled by the agreed laws and values. If these are abrogated or ignored, then there can only be never ending conflicts.

THE SECOND LESSON IS THE NEED to always listen carefully to the desires of the people. Complaints about land, legal system, constitutional reform, corruption and tribalism, have been heard in Kenya since independence, but the meritocracy has paid little attention. The violence was partly the result of the hopelessness, which had pervaded the despondent sectors of urban and rural Kenya for decades. We must be fair to one another, regardless of our different social or economic conditions.

The good news is that President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, have emerged from our trauma with sound minds. I think they both understand that unlike most African countries, Kenya has the potential to develop and grow rich very rapidly, if justice, diligence, fairness, broad-mindedness and unity are put in place.

They have put behind them the nosey advisers who only think in ethnic terms. But there is much more to be done. In deed, if Kibaki and Raila keep the tempo of management until 2012, Kenya will be a very different country.

Prof Ochieng' teaches history at Maseno University