Kenya has to rise up and stop tribal madness after August 8th

We are approaching elections, a time when hearts get cold and environments get hot and despite our whole year of embracing each other as brothers, these ties seem to be weakened by tribal links and stereotypical tendencies of defining people by their surnames. When will we get tired of this unending pretence of ethnic tolerance? So in January, you are Kenyan but come August you magically transform into A Luo or Kikuyu?

I dream of a time when we as a country we won’t be valuing ethnicity above political ideology and policy. I dream of a time when we shall stand with a political party because of their manifesto and their show of goodwill to the people not because it’s nauseating and you can be martyred by your tribesmen for defending another tribe’s manifesto.

Elections will come and go but if you succumb to the temptation of using violence in the struggle to become a ruling party in the country, unborn generations will be the recipients of a long and desolate night of bitterness, and your chief legacy to the future will be an endless reign of meaningless chaos.

If he bleeds red he is your brother, if he breathes oxygen he is your brother. Nobody chooses to be born Luo or Luhya, Kalenjin or Kikuyu but you can choose to not let such define your humanity. You do not need a political party to remind you that your neighbour of forty years is Luo or a Kikuyu. Let’s all rise up and stop this tribal madness.

We might have fallen so deep in the tribal pit but let’s not let the lion of tribalism consume us. We are first human beings before belonging to a tribe. So join me in this campaign and sever these negative tribal links !! I AM LUHYA, MY NEIGHBOR IS KIKUYU AND I WILL DEFEND HIM!!