The problem in Kenya is not race or tribe, but class tussle

By Kilemi Mwiria

A few readers of my last article on the injustice of the Cholmondeley ruling reminded me that more Africans own larger tracts of land than former white settlers and are more oppressive than their Wazungu counterparts.

One reader put it thus: "Lord Delamere ceded half of his ranch to Jomo Kenyatta; and Africans must learn to respect private property."

Maybe I did not emphasise that the Cholmondeley ruling was more about class than race. Judge Apondi must have passed more severe punishment to Africans who may have committed lesser crimes than Cholmondeley. I also suspect that lawyers like Fred Ojiambo may have won many legal cases against poor Kenyans in defence of propertied African, European and Asian clients. This is a perfect example of how class interests transcend racial barriers.

Of course Delamere did not cede half of his estate to just another ordinary Kenyan (and both Kenyatta and him appropriated public property). As we respect private property, we must at the same time ask how such property was acquired. If land resources were stolen from Kenyans at independence and shared out by grabbers, the question whether it is public or private remains. This equally applies to other stolen public resources.

As an African politician, it greatly pains me to accept that the African elite can sometimes be more oppressive towards their fellow Kenyans than their Indian or white counterparts. I have argued in a previous article that we, Africans, have more than our share of slave owners. Many poor African workers have died in the employment of Indian and African land and factory owners, while others have been dismissed without pay and benefits. Many slum shanties are owned by rich Africans more concerned about rent than their clients’ living conditions.

It is the African political elite who grabbed the land reserved by the colonial administration for schools, hospitals, recreation parks and cemeteries. In addition, the political and business elite have colluded with their European and Asian counterparts to deny the majority of Kenya’s poor decent social services. It is often the white community that is quickest to react to the cries of the poor with their donations. They come because we often neglect our suffering masses.

Yes, colonialism was terribly oppressive to the African. Yet, an ordinary African child had a better chance to go to a top secondary school, study medicine at the university, and even win a scholarship to Oxford. Today your social status is a more critical determinant of future educational achievement. With independence, a larger percentage of Africans live below the poverty line than was true in the colonial era. In the colonial era a white judge could sentence a white murderer to death, this appears impossible in independent Kenya.

While the Mzungu was to blame for the massacre of thousands of Africans during our independence struggle, the African politician has presided over the massacre of many more through ethnic clashes, road accidents, rape of water catchment areas and corruption. How sad that African leaders take food from starving citizens for their personal enrichment.

No wonder in the late 1960s and early 1970s some African war veterans of the colonial era wished independence ended because for them, it was responsible for the injustices in society. Truth be told the problem is one of class, not race. In the colonial era, the white settler lasted as long as he did because he found African buddies with whom they oppressed the majority. Today, African political elite shamelessly and heartlessly partner with Arab, European, American and privileged Indians to suppress their people even more. This is why future political struggles need to revolve around class interests, not tribal, racial, or religious differences.

— The writer ([email protected]) is an Assistant Minister for Higher Education, Science and Technology and MP, Tigania West.