Kenya's politicians continue to use ethnicity to divide and rule 60 years after independence

A demonstrator flees from anti-riot police at Jua Kali in Mombasa during anti-government protests on July 19, 2023. [Omondi Onyango, Standard]

Since independence in 1963, Kenya's politicians have fed and manipulated ethnicity to win elections.

With some 40-odd ethnic groups, Kenya is a country of ethnic minorities - it has no single dominant community. During elections, political parties and candidates do raise policy issues, but ethnicity, or tribalism as it's popularly called in Kenya, is the default vote-hunting strategy.