The Kalenjin Side of the Story

In my previous post about the Thorny acrimony between the Kalenjins and Kikuyus, I apportioned too much credit to the Kikuyu side of the story. I tried to show how the land issue is not the source of explosive fights between Kalenjins and Kikuyus. I need to expose you to the untold side of the story, the Kalenjin side.

So, what is the problem for the Kalenjin? What has built up so much bitterness and resentment among Kalenjins towards the so called outsiders? I am from central Kenya, I cannot authoritatively claim to understand Kalenjins, their cultures and values, but I know these things are important to them. The Kikuyu community where I come from are a largely individualistic community, Kikuyus have largely lost their culture and live mostly by western and quasi-Christian values. The Kalenjins on the other hand are very conservatively traditional. Kalenjins value their sense of cultural identity and are a very communal people, which of course is a very good and commendable thing. Unfortunately, Many Kikuyus who live in Kalenjin regions are either completely ignorant of this or they don’t respect this. I have to admit that Kikuyus don’t integrate with the Kalenjins, they do not appreciate the Kalenjin way of life and instead Kikuyus take their way of life to Kalenjins and this naturally is very rude and condescending, this appallingly sardonic way of thought is what makes Kalenjins view Kikuyus with suspicion and mistrust. The sad thing is that the Kalenjins are a very reserved people, they are not as expressive as Kikuyus or flamboyant as the Luos, The Kalenjins keep their grievances on the low and Kikuyus think everything is OK until it all explodes. This is by no means a competently exhaustive exegesis of the Cultural grievances of the Kalenjins, but I feel this is a sufficient introduction for the purpose of starting a discussion.

I have to admit that Kikuyus don’t integrate with the Kalenjins, they do not appreciate the Kalenjin way of life and instead Kikuyus take their way of life to Kalenjins and this naturally is very rude and condescending, this appallingly sardonic way of thought is what makes Kalenjins view Kikuyus with suspicion and mistrust

The second thing I want to delve into in the course of my attempt to piece together the Kalenjin story is the issue of politics. Kenya did not have visible ethnic competition until the clamour for changing the constitution in the 1970’s. Kenyatta was at a very advanced age and naturally thoughts of succession had begun formulating. A clique of Central Kenyan leaders were making moves to retain presidency in Central Kenya. The Kikuyu elite who had benefited extensively from the cronyism of the Kenyatta administration wanted to retain their grip on resources. This set the stage for Moi to become suspicious of The Kikuyu community. Naturally Moi would become very defensive and try to bolster his support from the home crowd and that is what let to the isolation of some communities in Kenya’s history. The sad thing is that The Kikuyu community where I come from have fallen into the trap of following the interests of their elite as if they are congruous to their own yet they aren’t, The kikuyu elites enemies are regarded as the enemies of the entire community and consequently Kikuyus tend to vote only for their own imagining the Kikuyu elites interests are their interests yet in reality elite interests are always against the interests of the masses. This second part of my article is a bit amorphous, stick around and I will illustrate my case in a post titled THE PROBLEM WITH KIKUYUS.

At this point I know I am yet to answer the question I started, what really causes the Ethnic rivalry between Kikuyus, Kalenjins and Luos and consequently the ethnic clustering of our political landscape, In my subsequent posts I will expound further so kindly keep reading as I elucidate on my hypothesis.