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Kenya: Violence, ethnicity and the genie we must bury
Written by: Raphael Marambii
Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.
A woman waits to identify relatives killed in the violence.
REUTERS/Mike Hutchings
REUTERS/Mike Hutchings
Our presidential elections have caused violence and tension on a scale I've never witnessed. I know some of you may have seen worse but frankly I am terrified. It has been terrible. We have been huddled indoors and running out of food. Most shops have been closed and many have run out of supplies. Kenya has never been so close to the edge. It is now much calmer than it was last week and we can move around but one must be careful about running into gangs taking advantage of the political tension. The gangs are armed with machetes (pangas), crude clubs and stones and the havoc they have caused is devastating. I really have no clue what to do but I feel better writing this. If any of you have some interest in Kenya or know people here, now is the time to speak with them. I also wanted to share what I have observed during this time. This is the enduring power of ethnicity. In the end, we are just a collection of tribes hastily cobbled together. Any substantial strain and the cracks appear. Education helps but only years of schooling, urbanisation and travel can really submerge our ethnic identity and perhaps not even then. We will need two to three more generational mixings to bury this genie. I know that many of you imagine that poverty and social class is the main driver of such tensions but what we are witnessing now is different. It has at its roots ethnicity. Poverty merely adds fuel to the mix. The spark was lit by tribal chiefs relying on core ethnic groups to keep the fire burning. I am now walking around eyeing everybody with suspicion. I have realised that we are very finely attuned to facial features and accents. Cheekbones, eyes, ears, hair, body morphology - all these are scanned in an instant and a quick decision is made - fight or flee. For the first time, I can truly understand how it happened in Rwanda. Once the momentum builds, it just rolls along and you can't stop it. At the moment it appears to be a case of kill or be killed and one can almost justify it as "pre-emptive self-defence" but it is all fueled by fear, hunger and desperation. And all orchestrated by some very diabolical but cunning and influential politicians. So in order to achieve development and growth, I feel we need to come up with new types of institutions that explicitly recognise the need to cement the cracks between the different tribes in Kenya. The Western (and now universal/global) ideals of democracy, capitalism and rule of law are all necessary of course. But in addition, at least for Africa, ethnicity must be acknowledged and tackled as a pre-requisite for moving forward sustainably. Think of Kenya (and other parts of sub-Saharan Africa) as a wall, made up of stones of different sizes representing the different tribes. Imagine this wall as being weakly cemented together and acting as a dam holding back a huge body of water. Think of this body of water as poverty, joblessness, increasing populations, hunger and so on. There is obvious strain on the wall as the water dams up. Democracy, religion, rule of law, constitutions and some of the other institutions that you may be familiar with can be considered merely as wallpaper that one can bring and paste over this wall. It would certainly look pretty, but trouble would be brewing as the mass of water increased. Of course there are solutions - strengthen the wall or reduce the mass of water straining the wall or both. But how exactly? Any thoughts?
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8 responses to “Kenya: Violence, ethnicity and the genie we must bury”
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10 Jan 2008 08:17:00 GMT
With prayer all things are possible. Even Peace. I will pray for your safety. Just think of what the world would be like if we all prayed for each other?
10 Jan 2008 09:05:31 GMT
Raphael:
Prior to the general election on December 27, 2007 (and since), many people deliberately characterized the contest as a Kikuyu-Luo affair, downplaying the contributions of the other ethnic communities in both parties. The mass media, particularly the ethnic-based radio stations, also stoked this ethnic fire by repeating the argument ad infinitum (and today the international media have ganged up to label it a "tribal war" between the two ethnic communities), but few people have come up to oppose this mis-characterization in a forceful enough manner. Obviously, both the opposition and the government side thought they had more to gain by letting the perception persist: the Party of National Unity, PNU (or the government) in the belief that other ethnic groups would be repulsed by the idea of a Luo president; and its main opponent, the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), because it thought anger against the Kikuyu would work in its favour. This myopic view persists todayââ¬"despite evidence to the contraryââ¬"even as our country continues to burn. To see how this has worked to the detriment of the country, just consider the action of the new "government" immediately after the onset of violence following the Electoral Commission of Kenyaââ¬â¢s announcement that Kibaki had won the presidential contest. While protests erupted almost simultaneously in different parts of the country, the government was quick to send the paramilitary General Service Unit to Kisumu and other parts of Nyanza with shoot to kill orders, but overlooked the more volatile tinderbox that is the North Rift region. Obviously, the government (or the person in charge of state security) was still convinced that ODM was a Luo party and that it was the Luos that were making trouble, hence they had to be put down. It wasnââ¬â¢t until hundreds of people had been killed, hundreds of thousands internally displaced, and thousands of homes burned to the ground, that the government woke up to the real crisis and decided to send the army to the North Rift region, ostensibly to ââ¬Åhelp with humanitarian efforts.â⬠Similarly, the opposition didn't try very hard to cool down its membership and to tell its supporters that the poor Kikuyu families they were evicting from opposition areas had nothing to do with the government leadership's "theft" or "rigging" of the election. As a result the situation rapidly spiraled out of control, resulting in the catastrophe we have on our hands today, and the prospect of a real civil war down the line.11 Jan 2008 11:52:18 GMT
I Agree with Tracy, in a situation like Kenya, where every tribe is blaming each other, only a supernatural power can intervene, and work within the minds, and hearts of the individuals to understand that peace in kenya has to start at an individualistic level. And that power will be found in prayer.
21 Jan 2008 10:33:21 GMT
The current Chaos in Kenya is Highly regretable stemming out of a rigged election result. The peoples verdict has apparently been overturned by the rulling class in order to maintain the status Quo.
In these circumstances where democracy is becoming the new world order in managing country affairs,how do we get the guts of condemning a coup when the electrol process is stollen by a few people using state machinery to the detriment of the suffering majority. We condemn this autocratic manouvres that usurp the peoples power. The world should not watch as people kill each other just because a few people want to rule. The other day it was Uganda,then Ruanda,Sudan,Somalia,DRC21 Jan 2008 10:47:39 GMT
Some of our leaders are actually taking pride in the killing going on in the country. They are just ecstatic on their ability to decide when people should live or die. Lo, at the snap of their fingers they decree peace or war. They publicly denounce violence yet they silently incite the people. They agitate them to kill, and what they canât kill they loot and what they canât loot they burn. They leaders delight in collecting human trophies. They only regret that it is not possible to line up human skull along side other trophies in their houses. Theyâre quick to report exaggerated figures to the international press. Is it in the delight of any one to rule over corpses and cripples? To run the economy of mounds of ruins? Is justice, truth and democracy make any sense to the dead?
22 Jan 2008 15:27:37 GMT
ITS IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT PRESIDENT KIBAKI EQUALLY HAD HIS VOTERS.THE WAY THE PEOPLE SUPPORTING THE ORANGE DEMOCRATIC PARTY (OPPOSITION)ARE BEHAVING,ITS AS IF PRESIDENT KIBAKI HAD NO SUPPORTERS.KIBAKI MET THE 25% IN ALMOST ALL THE CONSTITUENTS EVEN IN NYANZA PROVINCE,RAILA STRONGHOLD,HE MANAGED TO GET QUITE A SIGNIFICANT VOTE.PLEASE NOTE, KIBAKI SUPPORTERS ARE NOT ONLY A FEW PEOPLE WHO WANT TO REMAIN IN POWER AS CLAIMED BY THE OPPOSITION WHO ARE CONTROLLING THE MEDIA.THIS IS NOT THE CASE AT ALL!IT WAS SAID FROM THE BEGINNING THAT THIS ELECTION WAS A TIGHT RACE AND THE VOTER TURN OUT WOULD DETERMINE THE WINNER.I THINK THIS IS WHAT THE OPPOSITION FAILED TO UNDERSTAND AND THEY'RE BUSY CRYING FOUL.THE FACT THAT THERE'S CLAIM OF FLAWED ELECTION DOES NOT MEAN THE ODM WON THE ELECTION, AFTERALL THERE WAS MASSIVE RIGGING FROM BOTH ENDS.WHY NOT HAVE A RETALLYING OF VOTES TO VERIFY THIS.AFTERALL,LETS GIVE CREDIT WHERE IT DESERVES,KIBAKI HAS! DONE ALOT FOR THE ENTIRE COUNTRY WITHIN HIS SHORT TIME IN OFFICE BUT WHAT KILLS OUR CONTINENT IS JEALOUS AND TRIBAL HATRED,OF COURSE WHATEVER IS HAPPENING IN KENYA,EMANATES FROM ALL THIS!ANYONE IN KENYA IS ALLOWED TO WORK AND EARN WHATEVER STATUS OF LIFE HE OR SHE MAY WISH,HOWEVER SOME PEOPLE BELIVE THAT BY JUST HAVING A PRESIDENT FROM THEIR COMMUNITIES,THEY WILL BECOME RICH OVER NIGHT.MOI RULED FOR 24 YEARS BUT DESPITE ALL,THE KIKUYUS CONTINUED TO WORK HARD AND DESPITE THE PERSECUTION,THEY SERVIVED.PATIENCE WORKS!!!!
24 Jan 2008 20:12:57 GMT
Kenya is done. It was good while it lasted. Let's move to next scenario. Kenya will become a reoccuring news story during slow news days in the west. The once semi peaceful country will disintegrate to a blend of Somalia and Sudan to different regions controlled by former military personnel, council of elders, war lords and wannabees revolutionaries/vigilanties. For the GEMA refugees, sympathy will come first by way of asylum to mainly western countries and other countries as well. The rest of the refugees, relocation to saftey zones ie. Eastern and Central provinces will be their best option hopefully sustaining themselves with relief aid in Camps and remittance money from the Diaspora. Nairobi will remain a neutral life line of soughts under the controll of AU or UN to avoid 'extra killings' if you will. For the other tribes, contention from being "Kikuyu free" might just bring them together temporarily. Corruption and anarchy will be part of life, and sadly Kenya will fade forever. The wounds are too deep odinga's dream of president woll be diminished to a tribal regional elder and for kibaki I don't think he will live to see the full blown fractured Kenya.
21 Jul 2008 13:42:44 GMT
As young people we need to stand up against cheap village politics and accept that we live in a sick world that needs us, it's immediate inheritors to lead lead towards it's liberation.
Our parents used to issue reckless political statements before that election but during the violence they all cowed and remained in their houses, wearing gloomy desperate faces luring us into protecting them from a mess they had created... Some of us have proved to be the cheapest intellectuals following our parents ill advices like we cannot think on our own...we need to wake up. Look at how we quickly turned against the people we grew up together with; burned their houses, raped, looted and in some cases some f us killed! After being announced the largest number of registered voters countrywide, we completely lost our unity and worked in tension of each other... Ethnicity is good for identification purposes because it gives roots and that diversity is what is makes the country Kenya so let's assimilate each other, learn each others cultures and embrace our diversity and we will find the the answer as to why our numerical value as young people of Kenya has never come bear in this country...