Malcolm X once said that people could be conditioned to behave in a particular way. He gave the example of how Americans were taught to hate the Germans, Italians and Japanese, and love the Russians during the Second World War and, after the war was over, to love the Germans and Japanese and hate the Russians.

In a similar vein, we can ask how Berlin, one of the most liberal and cosmopolitan cities in the world in the 1920s, could in a few years become the centre of murderous Nazi hatred.

We see this same phenomenon in many moments and places. For instance, Muslims who once were at the centre of knowledge and innovation , and who for centuries were tolerant and protective of minority religions in their midst, now in many places flirt with a violent stone-age ideology of sexist and religious chauvinism.

In Kenya, at certain historical periods and different moments, we have observed this Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde syndrome in our national character.

At Independence, for instance, people of all ethnicities, united in love and triumph, cheered wildly as the Union Jack was brought down and the Kenyan flag hoisted up. Yet a few years later, these same people were talking about problems being caused by “these Luos” and “these Kikuyus.”

Again, after the defeat of the Kanu dictatorship in 2002, all ethnic groups gathered in Uhuru Park and cheered in one united voice as the Narc government was inaugurated. In 2007/8, these same people were hunting each other with bloodied machetes.

During the Westgate terrorist attack, people of all races, ethnicities and religions came together in support of rescue and other efforts. And yet these are the same people who will cheer as demagogues perpetrate small-minded theories about the intellectual or moral inferiority of this or that ethnic community.

Last week, I was reminded of this duality again by an event organised in aid of street children by a group calling itself the Chapati Forum. At the event, volunteers from all parts of the country, from every ethnicity and creed, from every class, and of every political and ideological persuasion gathered at a school in Nairobi to make chapatis for street children.

Before then, hundreds of people had contributed whatever they were able in aid of the event – tents, food items, medical services, counselling, clothes.

At the event, CEOs mixed freely with labourers, civil society activists with government officials, diplomats with locals, politicians with wananchi... It was remarkable to see people, from a society known for its love of money at the expense of everything else, spend the whole day, giving of themselves at no pay whatsoever for the benefit, not of themselves, but of a despised group existing on the fringes of society.

Would these same people at the chapati event be chasing each other with machetes a couple of months down the line? Were these the same people who cheered wildly when politicians from their communities used coded language to incite hatred of and violence against other communities? Was this open-minded, generous and compassionate crowd the same that can be whipped into unreasonable, narrow-minded ethnic and religious bigots?

What, I wondered, are the factors and set of circumstances that bring out the best or worst in people?

The answer to the last question is simple: Leadership. The organisers of the Chapati Forum sought to bring out the best in people because they understood that at a very basic level, people want to do good.

They disregarded the culture promoted by the political class, which views money as the only motivator. They asked people to volunteer their time and effort because helping others was a reward in itself. They promised no media attention or special recognition to the volunteers and contributors.

At the event, no one was given special consideration. There were no harangues from Jubilee or Cord politicians. The organisers kept in the background. Attention was focused on the stars of the day – the street families.

As we watched or participated in the event, we forgot, at least for a while, the massive looting of the country by well-connected individuals, and the moral decay bred by the political class. Importantly, the chapati event reminded us about the nature of true leadership.

That at its core, true leadership brings out the best in people by focusing their intellectual and other energies on projects that benefit all of us, especially the vulnerable in our society.

Tee Ngugi is a Nairobi-based social and political commentator. E-mail: [email protected]