Why it is hard to release the grip of tribe, me, myself and I from our politics

When I was younger, we made fun of the dark skin of the Luo, the shrub of the kikuyu and the accent of the Meru, the craftiness of the Akamba, the agility of the Kalenjin and the ravenous appetite of the Luhya. As little as we were, we proudly learned and endeavored to practice daily what it meant to be from a tribe. We built stereotypes and emphasized them with repetition till it became fact.

In fact, since I happen to be particularly dark, I was often branded Luo and as such the butt of many luo-centric mchongoano. I would then argue and say the jokes didn’t stick to me because I was Luhya. In my young mind being Luhya was better…how naïve.

And there lies the biggest problem. Each tribe in this nation believes it is better than the rest. This “betterness” entitles them to a certain share of the national cake and this national cake must be eaten by the “better one” to the detriment of the unbetter one.

A superior culture?

This is something we train into our children from the time they are young, vulnerable and trusting. We identify cultural differences and decide our culture is better.

We circumcise they don’t, we eat chicken they don’t, chicken is a child’s food (some pastoralist communities even have the temerity to call it birds), we don’t eat foods without necks, we don’t eat mashakura.   The list is endless and may seem innocent but the idea it buttresses is the bane of our nation.

We are a Cinderella nation, and not in a good way.  We all live in one house but we treat ourselves like we all come from different parents and the parent is selective in her love. Thus, each tribal-nation that has never been close to power, imagines itself the savior of the entire nation. That if only our Cinderella could put on the glass slipper called power, and then we would all live happily ever after.

So every five years we have a ball, at this ball we imagine that the fair prince will look on us with love and lift us out of poverty. This Cinderella fantasy is what feeds the current crisis. Every other person not from my community is an evil step brother or sister whose prime purpose is to harass and frustrate me. Therefore if my Cinderella is in power I am fine, but someone else’s Cinderella is horrific for me.

At the crux of our present crisis, is not the politics neither is it the constitution, it is mchongoano. We started of joking and laughing at each other’s expense, forgetting we bought the lie. We lied to ourselves so much that we believed the lie. And this is the coup de grace of modern Kenyan politics.

Turn everything to tribe and reduce it to mchongoano. If you look at how we call each other names on the campaign trail you will realize as a nation we never really left class five. We just grew up and continued with our childish ways. We are a nation in emotional infancy despite our almost 60 years of independence.

Collective failure

Kenya is a highly educated and intellectual nation; in fact it is true that on paper, we have every solution to every problem. On paper our cities are planned, our governments devolved and our nation has no water, food or health care problems. Yet in practice we fail to deliver, not because we are incompetent but because we run on mchongoano software.

This software made us selfish; we focused on self so much and forgot others. This is why we are corrupt, because we were told we were better than the rest and we deserve the best, no matter what. You see if the other tribe is considered less than you it follows that they should have less than you, at whatever cost.

And since we as a community are better then it follows that I am the best of the best. And this is the locus of the individualistic philosophy by which life in Kenya is lived.

This is why all we ever want is our lives to move on. We unashamedly build on road reserves, build on sewer lines, put people’s lives in danger because at the core of tribalism is the philosophy of me, myself and I.

As such, the nation of Kenya has to have conversation with itself, a conversation not to divide positions (this we have done many times), not a conversation to build road (unless we build roads and bridges to each other’s hearts) and neither a conversation to build cities.

Instead let us discuss how to love one another, how we can see others better than ourselves, how we can let each other pass on the roads. Where pedestrians are not angry at rude and uncouth motorists and where road users are not trying to mow down pedestrians who seem to cross endlessly and at whatever time.

Poor mannerisms

The lack of etiquette, common dictates of courtesy and simple human goodness is a result of the worship at the altar of tribe and self.

The Kenyan nation needs to have a dialogue about our love for each other, our respect for each other and what is our national EQ. because right now it reads negative. And no law can arbitrate our hearts, we can only choose to love and esteem others better than ourselves.

Mr Bichachi is a Communication Consultant

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