Are campuses the hot bed of tribalism?

Moi University School of Law students scamper for safety after the arrival of the police officers at the campus where they had blocked the main Eldoret-Nakuru highway yesterday. They were protesting over the closer of their school by the management. [PHOTO BY Peter Ochieng]

Kenya: Universities may have just turned to a hub of tribal hate, Campus Vibe can reveal. In episodes that took place in Moi University during the recently ended student elections, students are coming to terms with what may have turned out to be an ugly situation.

The elections that took place just a week after students had resumed school were marred with battles, threats and tribal hate. On the eve of the election, three students were admitted at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital after they jumped from the third floor of one of the hostels, speeding away from a mob. The students who were in a meeting in one of the female hostels were ambushed by a group and had to escape by jumping off.

Allegedly, the mob accused the students who were part of the electoral commission of scheming to rig the election in favor of one of the candidates affiliated to their tribe. Sources who spoke to Campus Vibe said the attackers had been incited by a former Secretary General Nathaniel Akadima. The battle lines were aligned with national politics.

Speaking to Campus Vibe, Akadima distanced himself from any blame saying it was he who was in fact targeted by students from a particular ethnic community. Akadima who was campaigning for one of the candidates vying for the Chair's post had his shop burnt to the ground. He claimed the arsonists were even after his life. After the fire was put out an arrow head was found in the burnt shop. It is not clear whether it was there or if it was shot in there.

"These people are texting me saying they will kill me," said Akadima.

On the Facebook page The Real Comrades of Main Campus, some of the ethnic sentiment was and still is evident amongst some students. A few leaflets in possession of Campus Vibe were being distributed as late as this week within the institution. The administration was unavailable for comment on the same.

This comes months after the University of Eldoret was shut down for what was alleged to be tribal interference by the surrounding community.

In the ongoing Egerton University student elections, campaigns have already taken a tribal twist. Earlier this year, Odera Akang'o University college was shut down after the ethnic politics turned violent. In most Campuses, 'goons' are a select group imagined to be championing the interests of a particular ethnic group.

Speaking to Campus Vibe, sociologist Allan Mwangi said it was a reflection of the larger society.

"Students are part of an external society they have grown in, before they join an institution. Politics outside also happens while they are adults and they relate with it," he added.

According to the sociologist, it is more bound to happen in remote Universities.

David Onyango a student from Moi University's Nairobi Campus told us the situation in their campus is different.

"Nairobi campus is a cosmopolitan campus unlike main campus," he said.