SETTING: THE YEAR IS 2017...
So, today is Thursday morning in the city of Nairobi during the period of February 2017, I have a morning class at the university of Nairobi which is located in the Central Business District of the city. As I walk towards the bus station ready to pick my bus, I realize I do not have cash money to pay for my bus fare, so I decide to go to the nearby M-Pesa shop (money withdrawal service facility) so that I can be able to get loose change for my fare. So I meet the service lady at the shop, presumably quiet and just wanting to get things done, at the wall near the shop, I see a massive political banner written “Jubilee Tano Tena” loosely translates to “ Jubilee for 5 more years”. So after giving out my identification details to the lady, she randomly asks me “who are you rooting for this election?” after giving her the response “the person who I believe can serve this country…” she quickly responds in Swahili “now look here, I know very well that you are a Kikuyu, so I am very much expecting you to vote for ‘our man’ otherwise if you do not, you will suffer the consequences of trusting other people ‘you do not know’” after she tells me that statement, I chuckle in the utmost of surprise before she quickly jumps on me saying “you think this is a joke! You wait and see…” having seen her react like this, I decide not to talk further and proceed to board the bus, which as well is branded in various political stickers for the political party the owner of the bus is presumably rooting for.
From this instance, it made me realise how politics of the ethnicity of the people is often a ‘life or death situation’ and this made me further wonder, the year is 2017, despite all the chaos and so called talks we have, we still have the same issue haunting majority of the Kenyans, therefore I ask, could the tribal politics really come to an end?
© Kenya Broadcasting Cooperation
THE BIG 5: THE PROBLEM NOBODY IS WILLING TO TALK ABOUT?
The Big 5, directly connecting to the five largest tribes, the Kikuyu, Luo, Luhya, Kalenjin and the Kamba make up close to 80% of the country’s population, and occupy majority of the Eastern and Western parts of the country which are as well relatively abundant with natural resources which are used to propel the economy of the country.
In the last 57 years, the head of state position and the most crucial leaders in the government, have all been occupied by these 5 tribes, thus making them be regarded as the most influential tribes in the Kenyan politics and day to day running of the country. Normally if you had 5 tribes working together, it would seem much easier to run the country right? Well unfortunately not.
© The Star
How it all began
The problem among these tribes could be dated back to the colonial period, when the first two major political parties during the independence period were formed, KANU (Kenya Africa National Union) and KADU (Kenya Africa Democratic Union). KANU was dominated by the then two largest tribes of Kenya which were the Kikuyu and the Luo while KADU was formed by the minority tribes which mainly feared the dominating scale of the duo tribes. Throughout this period of time, the ruling party KANU seemed to have conflict between the then president Jomo Kenyatta who was a Kikuyu and Jaramogi Odinga who was a Luo and the incumbent president then was accused of sidelining the Luo community in favor of the Kikuyus. This in turn resulted to his resignation and Daniel Moi (founder of KADU) was made the vice president. Soon after the death of the first president, Moi was further accused of sidelining several of the Kenyan tribes in favor of his Kalenjin tribes and this in turn resulted in widespread conflict, the major one of it being in 1992 after the disputed elections that resulted in the death of close to 5,000 people. The dispute was mainly between the Kikuyu and the Kalenjins and the main motivator of the conflict was the building tension over the land in the region.
How it followed through
After the exit of Daniel Moi, and the entry of Mwai Kibaki, the incumbent president was still unable to solve majority of the ethnic tensions that previously existed, and this was made worse during the 2007 elections when the main opposition leader Raila Odinga formed an alliance with William Ruto which directly meant that the Luo and Kalenjin merged to form one of the largest demographics that would steer them to the presidency. While the current president, who was a Kikuyu as well, chose to remain neutral, was still able to win the elections, that was marred with irregularities and fraud and as a result, the country once again plunged into violence that left nearly 1,000 people dead and hundred thousand others homeless. The conflict, which once again involved the Luo, Kalenjin and the Kikuyu was revived once again and was only halted after the opposition leader was able to sign a deal with the president to form a coalition government in 2008.
It is very much agreed upon, that the scars of 2007 and 1992, runs through every Kenyan, and however much more understanding between various ethnic cultures still remains to improve, there still lies a hidden tension between these communities and the other 47 tribes that exist in the country.
So why the continuous voting patterns despite the troubled history?
So as it is well known, that when you have the highest position in government, it means that you have control of the resources. Therefore, this same principle applies in how the Kenyan politics is done. The more representation your tribe has in the government, the more access you have to resources that can benefit the people from your ethnicity. This has been the case for several years, for instance, take the Kibaki Administration between 2002-2012 where he was able to spur development in the central part of Kenya, through building roads connecting the whole region, building schools and further creating policies that directly benefited the Kikuyu and central Kenya people as a whole, while the rest of the country recorded stunted growth. This is also seen in the employment structure in the government, where the Big 5 tribes occupy 70% of all the jobs offered in parastatal corporations in the country and as now when the country is expected to change the heads of state as a result to their end of the tenure, it now becomes a now or never kind of situation. What I mean is that the ethnic tribe which is in power, or has majority of the resources, will do their level best to ensure that they have a successor who will be able to protect their assets, businesses as well as their heritage that they were able to build up during the previous government. And this is where the whole issue of trust tends to come in.
© The Star
Majority of the ethnic politics is more of “I trust my leader from my tribe to listen to me” rather than choosing a leader with the strongest policies. This was the same principle that was able to bring the Jubilee Government into power with the leaders Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto being the leaders of the Kikuyu and Kalenjin communities. This alliance merger, as argued by political analysts, was more than needed for the central community and the Kalenjin communities to be able to win the elections as they could be able to directly garner a massive majority to beat the 50% requirement needed to win an election. During the same period, we saw the Luo, Luhya and Kamba community leaders, Raila Odinga, Moses Wetangula and Kalonzo Musyoka respectively, merge together to be able to garner the support they needed to win the election.
Therefore in this scenario, for majority of the voters who voted in 2013 and 2017, did not really consider the characters or idiosyncrasies of the leaders, but rather were more focused on pulling through to support their ‘tribe representative’ for they believed that their security was more important than what was actually been brought to the table. This in turn, results in the tension built after the election results, as those who did not win the elections, would easily believe that the incumbent government (run by a particular tribe) was involved in interfering with the election results which in turn produces a chain reaction of violence as a result of anger.
Could we see a change?
Well, it is very much agreeable that at this moment it is very difficult to predict. This is as with the wake of the Handshake Deal between President Uhuru Kenyatta and Opposition Leader Raila Odinga, new factors and variations have been brought in. From the fact that sections of the ruling party and the opposition party, which comprises of the three major tribes (Kikuyu, Luo, Kamba) among others, have been able to work together harmoniously and further nicknamed as the “Kieleweke” who are termed to be in full support of the president and his government. While there's a new subsection which has formed, nicknamed as the “Tangatanga” who comprise of the Deputy president’s loyal people who are from the Kalenjin community and sections of the Kikuyu community. These two new teams which have been formed present a new political landscape that is rapidly shifting its dynamics. Various issues such as revenue allocation in counties, constitutional reforms as well as the succession politics throw these two groups into deep tension. And as these tensions continue to build, this presents a new chance, especially for the youth, to be able to understand the failures of their current government and to further educate themselves on their civic rights that are being presented to them. Furthermore, with the increase of social media use by both leaders and the citizens, this presents an open chance to enhance interaction between leaders and their citizens to enable them know their most suitable leaders come the time for elections. This in turn, would directly eliminate the tribal barrier among the youth, who comprise the largest demographic come the next general elections. And as we speak at the moment, campaign trails have already began, with nearly two years left and the state of affairs do not seem very positive as such. This is as we continuosly begin to witness build up of tensions in the political field, as the leaders now begin to battle for control over their 'strongholds'. Therefore whether ethnicity, dynasty or hustler politics will play a major role, only time will tell.
Final Thoughts
© Institute for Security Studies
The reason why I believe it's a recurring disease is because of the fact that during electioneering periods, Kenyans tend to have so much anger, tension amongst each other as they support their tribal leaders, but the moment the elections are done, everyone returns to struggle with their own life, and as all this happens I indeed wonder, do we ever realize that these politicians never care about us? That they only care about us when they need their votes, that they are the same people who divide us yet on one night, then the next morning they are in church calling for peace for all Kenyans? Can you generally agree with me that we the youth, and through the means that we have, be it social media, be it university and social groupings, that we can be able to change the narrative of this divisive politics? And instead, call out leaders who do not serve the interests of its people, be able to spot and choose leaders who believe in the betterment of the youth?
However, the fact that we cannot change the leaders we have in a nightfall, I still believe that our strong demographic can be able to utilize logic over emotions when choosing the direction that we want. Without the influence of the older society, gifts in the form of cash and also to be able to withstand threats from specific groups of persons. And one more issue, being able to tackle fake news with the effort it deserves.
Therefore, I believe that the youth are a major asset in changing how politics are done, because at the end of the day, we suffer the consequences of our decision.
From your Fellow Kenyan, Shukran!
References
Mwangi, A. (2019, August 15). These 5 tribes control over 70pc of Kenya's key parastatals' jobs. Retrieved October 09, 2020, from https://www.k24tv.co.ke/news/these-5-tribes-control-over-70pc-of-kenyas-key-parastatals-jobs-6474/
Agutu, N. (2020, February 21). Kikuyu, Luhya and Kalenjin make up almost half of Kenyan population. Retrieved October 09, 2020, from https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2020-02-21-kikuyu-luhya-and-kalenjin-make-up-almost-half-of-kenyan-population/
Mohamed, H. (2017, August 06). Kenyan elections: The ethnicity factor. Retrieved October 09, 2020, from https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2017/08/06/kenyan-elections-the-ethnicity-factor/?gb=true
Nyambura, Z. (2017, October 26). In Kenya, politics split on ethnic divide: DW: 26.10.2017. Retrieved October 09, 2020, from https://www.dw.com/en/in-kenya-politics-split-on-ethnic-divide/a-37442394
Hrw.org. (2020, October 08). Kenya: Post-Election Killings, Abuse. Retrieved October 09, 2020, from https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/08/27/kenya-post-election-killings-abuse
Csis.org. (2017, July 25). Post-election Violence in Kenya and its Aftermath. Retrieved October 09, 2020, from https://www.csis.org/blogs/smart-global-health/post-election-violence-kenya-and-its-aftermath
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