We’re a nation at crossroads as tribal animosity holds sway

A group of protestesrs during the clamour of multiparty democracy in the 1990s. [File, Standard]

After decades entrenched in mistrust and ethnic hatred, two key events in recent history were expected to foster unity and cohesion. And they did. For a while.

The advent of multi-party democracy and the promulgation of a new Constitution, though 20 years apart, did promote unity, cohesion and economic development.

Both events hailed the dawn of new Kenya, a Kenya where every citizen would be treated equally.

But Kenyans soon retreated back to the very issues that led to the scramble for these two historical moments.

That retreat has reared its ugly head since the Supreme Court ruling that invalidated President Uhuru Kenyatta’s win.

Following the ruling and heated debate on the fresh presidential election, leaders and their enthusiastic followers have been spewing ethnic hatred. Then came talk of secession, which started as a whiff but has found its way to the corridors of justice. No much is being said about the petition, but it’s a sign of things gone awry.

In the early 1990s -- before the advent of competitive politics in 1992 -- some outspoken leaders began agitating for constitutional change and other democratic reforms.

Those in power branded them enemies of development. Their communities would be marginalised through skewed allocation of resources. The story, however, began immediately after independence and all the years leading to 1992, and later in the fight for devolution.

Successive governments favoured their native areas and pockets of the country where they drew support from in development and neglected opposition regions.

“Multiparty politics, which was aimed at enhancing democracy through checks on excessive leadership, had a false start,” says Kuria Kanja, a political science lecturer at Masai Mara University.

Mr Kanja says leaders asked their people to resist multiparty democracy because it would aid grabbing of their land and other forms of emancipation, leading to inter tribal animosity. “They made it look like a monster that should be fought, leading to ethnic cleansing in some parts of the country,” he said.

The parties that emerged after the repeal of the constitutional, he says, were either tribal or regional with one aim of capturing power.

Tribal interests

“Those who fought for it immediately found themselves captives of tribal interests in tribal or regional parties, making it a false start,” he says.

At the beginning of multi party democracy in 1991, tribal clashes baptised as land clashes hit the highlands of Rift Valley.

The clashes led the eviction of entire communities -- mainly Kikuyu, Luhya and Luo -- out of their lands. These communities were viewed as sympathetic to the cause of democracy.

Although figures of the casualties were downplayed, it is believed hundreds were killed and displaced. Kanu’s continued hold on power was increasingly being threatened by the Forum for Restoration of Democracy (FORD). Although Kanu won subsequent elections until 2002 when it was dethroned by National Rainbow Coalition (Narc), courtesy of fragmented opposition, tribal clashes have become synonymous with competitive politics since 1992.

 “Apart from tearing the country’s fabric, clashes since the beginning of competitive politics have affected the economy. Communities fled, leaving huge swathes of fertile land unattended to. That led to food shortages, forcing governments to import,” says Paul Namayi, an economics lecturer at the University of Nairobi.

Divided society

Divisive politics, Mr Namayi says, have continued to hurt the economy. Apart from multi party, the new constitutional dispensation fueled division through creation of counties that have now turned into tribal enclaves and hubs of corruption that continue to emancipate locals economically.

 If one does not hail from a certain county, they encounter difficulties accessing economic gains, including employment.

“Devolution was supposed to lessen or even kill dependency on the national government. Instead, it has entrenched tribalism and clanism to the extent that jobs and other benefits are a preserve for the governor’s kinsmen and friends,” says Ajwang Agina, a human rights lawyer and governance expert.

Agina blames Kenya’s problems on capitalism. Tanzania, he says, embraced socialism that put the interests of its many communities before that of the state. “The system has worked well for Tanzanians. It’s a cohesive society where the government works for the people. Not the vice versa,” he says.

According to Agina, the fathers of Kenya’s independence sowed the seed of tribalism and favouritism by allocating huge tracts of land to themselves and their tribes.

“Communities that had ancestral attachment to the land were left out. It led to the deep seated suspicion and tribal divisions we are witnessing today,” says Agina.

Narok Senator Ledama ole Kina says injustices before and after independence consigned many communities to poverty and under development.

“The Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) was established to address the inequalities subjected to many communities but implementation of the report has been frustrated,” he says.