The tribal mentality was foreign to me up until I started following the crisis in Kenya. Ever since the election unraveled the country has decayed into tribal warfare. The warfare pits the Kikuyu, blamed for the election, against most of the rest of the tribe.
As the two political leaders, Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga, jockey for position and power, there is one thing that is becoming more and more clear. The country of Kenya is becoming more like a geographical area. At this point, more and more the people of Kenya aren't identifying themselves by their national identity but rather by their tribal identity.
The trouble is that tribes span multiple countries. Most of these tribes can find root throughout much of Africa. These supposed leaders don't lead the people of their tribe. Thus, we have the sort of mob rule that is going on in Kenya. As people take sides according to tribes rather than nationality, those in charge are usually those with the most men, artillery, and supplies.
The sort of tribal identity that is spawned by this violence almost always leads to warlords being in charge. It is what happened in Somalia and in Rwanda. Therein lies the rub, as Shakespeare would say. At this point, Kenya is slowly disappearing and what is popping up are a number of tribes who have no nation.
It is sad and peculiar to watch the two sides jockey for power. Power of what I would ask. By the time this crisis is done there won't be a country. The folks of Kenya had a choice and most of them chose their tribe. It is an easy choice to make of course. These tribes are many, many years old, thousands at times. They are steeped in tradition. Kenya, the country, is not even one hundred years old, not in its current form at least. When faced with a choice most folks chose their tribes.
Now that they have, it is anyone's guess who exactly is in charge. The tribal leaders are nowhere to be found many times in other countries. The leaders now are those with the most "muscle". The folks with the most machetes, the most men, and other artillery will eventually be the ones with the power.
The vacuum left by the chaos of the aftermath of the election has left a window for warlords and other menaces. While all this goes on two political factions vie for power of a nation that is soon a nation on paper only. The real power will be decided on the streets of Kenya. It will likely be decided by men carrying machetes. Therein lies the rub.
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2 comments:
Three of the happiest years of my life were spent living and working in Kenya, I now live in northern Uganda but keep close ties with my Kenyan friends. I disagree profoundly with your description of the current crisis as being merely tribal and something therefore peculiarly African.
I am not surprised at the crisis in Kenya, its been a long time coming, but the factors have been in place for many years. What we are witnessing is a concatenation of events, most beyond the control of Kibaki, Odinga or any current leader: Here are a few:
Ever-increasing population pressure ( 9m to 30m in 45 years)
Over 80% of the population squeezed onto less than 10% of the land ( 80% of Kenya is arid or semi-arid land)
A very young population (the average age is just 18 years)
An economy that cannot keep pace with population growth
Or the Rising expectations of the rural and urban young, particularly the educated young
Ever-increasing Urbanization
A yawning chasm between the rich and the poor
A leadership that shamelessly misappropriates the nation's resources and exploits the poor, primarily through promoting tribal differences
Endemic corruption at every level of society
The result, a huge population of young people whose relatively simple expectations, the dignity of a job and some disposable income to buy the odd Tusker beer, watch the Premier League on TV and maybe one day buy an old Toyota, appear to be receding with each passing day. Long-term sustainable improvement in the quality of their lives, is no more than development jargon
There is an unknown number of young men without jobs in Kenya. Thirty years of military experience and six years in humanitarian aid work in Africa has convinced me the most dangerous creature on Earth is a young man without a job. This is as true of Newcastle, New Orleans and Najaf as it is Nairobi. It is the dignity and sense of purpose that is as important as the salary. Men without jobs view themselves as outside society, disenfranchised and owing nothing to their community or society in general.
Not only do they not have a job, there is little hope of ever finding one. They do their best to find some means of 'income generation' -selling puppies, songbirds, sunglasses and mobile telephone paraphernalia, filling in potholes [and then digging them out again] and general panhandling - only to have their noses rubbed in the mud daily by sneering Wabenzi and patronizing Muzungu in their SUVs. Moreover, though tourism is a vital part of the economy it also enables poor Kenyans who come in contact with tourists ( and for that matter immigrant Europeans and Asians, expats in NGOs, missionaries and the UN) to see 'how the other half live' and to contrast their own lives and prospects.
These hugely angry young men [and some women] are fertile ground for the seeds of anarchy and social upheaval. The portent to this storm has long been obvious in the high levels of violent crime endemic to the country, not for nothing is Nairobi known as 'Nairobbery'. The rise of the secret and violent Kikuyu sect, Mungiki and its mirror organization, the Kalenjin Warriors, was also a harbinger of terror to come. Complacent, comfortable institutions like the UN, other International Organizations and NGOs have ignored the gathering clouds and offered no more than to help Kenya rearrange the deckchairs on their personal Titanic. Who knows how many millions have been spent on sensitization workshops and 'income generating activities'.
Even when disaster happens, the first into the breach are the UN and NGOs. Where are the government institutions, where is the Corporate Social Responsibility of Kenya's big businesses and the donations of Kenya's super-rich? What we are witnessing is the culture of co-dependency. The Kenyan government is doing the minimum to help the urban and rural poor, the victims of current violence.
The 'aid industry' critically dependent upon such disasters to justify their existence, jobs and fundraising, are again vying for time on CNN. In some respects, the 'aid industry' is complicit in the disaster, refusing to tell the truth to power, for fear they be PNGd and jumping into the breach at the first opportunity and without caveat. In their actions and attitudes I can hear echoes of 'The Whiteman's Burden' – 'we [Westerners] have to save the poor Kenyans because their Government and civil society cannot'
Even through the narrow prism of the TV camera, it is clear to see that the majority of those committing acts of violence in this civil upheaval, are young men, of every and any tribal and political affiliation. Their only common denominators are anger, frustration and poverty. They have nothing so they have nothing to lose and are focused on destroying all and everything, I suggest this is classic nihilism. You may wish to consider Frantz Fanon's, in The Wretched of the Earth, as a model for what is going on. What we are witnessing in Kibera and Eldoret he describes as 'catharsis through violence'.
It is mendacious and misleading for observers to imply that this social conflict is primarily about Kikuyu- Luo tribal enmity. Though tribal differences are a strong feature of Kenyan society and a factor in this crisis, it ignores the fact that Ex-President Moi, one of Kibaki's closest advisers and both Moi's sons and the long-time ’enforcer’ for the for the Mount Kenya mafia, Simon Biwot, all deposed from their Parliamentary seats, in this election, are of the Kalenjin tribe. It is groups of young Kalenjin men, the so-called Kalenjin Warriors who have been accused of putting the Kikuyu to the sword. If this was simply tribalism, Kibaki would surely have pressured Moi and the Kalenjin leaders to intervene. Blaming yesterday's colonialism and today's tribalism is to suggest that Kenyan's, both the leadership and the people, have no responsibility for current events and no control over their futures, that it is their inexorable destiny. No amount of blaming the past can excuse the appalling leadership of today. This is the soft bigotry of low expectations.
While I appreciate the detailed and insightful commentary, it is a total misrepresentation of my reporting to claim that I pin this strictly on tribalism. I don't. I said that now the people of Kenya have chosen tribalism over nationalism. I pointed out that this is as much about class as it is about tribalism but that was in a previous post that you obviously didn't read before you criticized my reporting. I never said it was the Luo against the Kikuyu, but rather the Kikuyu against every other tribe.
I myself said that the two leaders weren't at this point in control of the population as well also in a previous post.
Again, I appreciate the commentary however before you criticize make sure you read everything.
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