Is Unity Possible in Kenya?

Kenya has been plagued by recurrent ethnic conflict. Apparently clashes have now become part of our electoral tradition. It’s almost predictable; every election produces the same kind of result, tribal showdowns. Kenya has Kenyans until an election, when the nationality is dissolved and the ethnic cocoon is unveiled. This is just the reality of Kenya, a deeply fragmented society, the question now is why? Why are Kenyans so sensitive to their ethnicity during voting? Why does the nation almost automatically collapse into ethnic segments? What drives this recurrent splintering?

our so called intellectuals try to rationalize the issue of tribalism in Kenya on the basis of Land conflicts, inequitable development, education and a hodgepodge of other reasons. What is the flaw in these hypotheses? It’s simple, these “Intellectual” causes are all based on rationalized problems, but the issue of tribalism in Kenya is not based on rational thought

In recent times and especially after the post election violence there has been an attempt to “intellectualize” the issue of tribalism. The issue of ethnicity has been on the public domain for a few years now and the intellectual community prescribed a number of diagnoses, they all sound sensible but I am of the conviction that they are inherently flawed for one major reason. Unfortunately our so called intellectuals try to rationalize the issue of tribalism in Kenya on the basis of Land conflicts, inequitable development, education and a hodgepodge of other reasons. What is the flaw in these hypotheses? It’s simple, these “Intellectual” causes are all based on rationalized problems, but the issue of tribalism in Kenya is not based on rational thought.

 I do not mean to deflate the substance of the alleged hypotheses but I want to illustrate that these issues are not at play when Kenyans are at the polling booth. It’s an entirely different ballgame at the polls. If the issue of Ethnicity in Kenya is about Land, historical injustices, inequitable development and other so called causes, why then does violence flare up during elections? Why don’t Kenyans fight over these issues during normal times? Why not? Do people only remember that there are issues during polls only? There are very many sidelined communities in Kenya but the conflicts seem to be centered around only three, Kikuyus, Kalenjins and Luos. This does not mean that tribalism only affects these three tribes, but these three tribes are usually at the centre of the most animated conflicts in Kenya.

I know I have not exhaustively expounded on my thoughts but kindly afford me your patience to exhume my case from my mind in subsequent blog posts.