Tribal prejudice stifles our dream of a united nation

My bodyguard since I first entered Parliament seven years ago is a fine police officer called Jonah Rotich, a pure bred Nandi gentleman from Uasin Gishu County. My Personal Assistant is a young lady of Gusii extraction from Nyamira County, MarieClara Mayaka. I’m always amused by the eyebrows raised virtually instinctively whenever it is revealed that I have “strangers” working with me so up close! It reminds me constantly just how powerfully the genie of tribalism has enslaved our conscience.

The damn brutal truth is that we, Kenyans, are hopelessly tribal, innately so. In our thoughts. In our talk. In our actions. Our outlook is heavily nuanced by tribal blinkers. We whine how tribal so and so is. Yet that is the one characteristic that influences many of us the most.