Kenya: Ethnicity, I know you are the cause too?

An army at war has soldiers at the frontline who take the brunt of the first attack and then follows an all out war, with every soldier being part of the war and fighting to kill the other and yet keep himself alive. Likewise, in a conflict, there is always the issue at the forefront that causes the initial conflict and therewith lies the other details that encompass the deep-rooted cause. And to solve such a conflict, you not only need to diffuse the bear cause but it is very necessary to remove the deeply entrenched issue.
It is a pity that the Kenyans and particularly the leaders are shying away from discussing the issue of ethnicity and the biases it elicits within the 43-tribed Kenyan population. We like it or not, ethnicity is securely embedded within the election crisis in Kenya. It was vivid during the campaign period and it has been ugly during the post election period. So, if Kenya really wants sincere Peace and Reconciliation within its nation, then it better address the issue of Tribalism, and they better address it fast.
So, instead of just dealing with Kibaki and Odinga, why don’t we discuss the tribal alignments that dominate our political and economical environs. Is it not amazing how ethnicity does not play its evil game within the social environment but only the political and economical? Kenyans intermingle very well across all tribes and cultures, in fact most of us have friends from different tribes, not to mention the millions who intermarry. However, come election day, or business ventures, then all hell goes loose. Why? That is for you as readers to ponder upon.
Looking at the trend of the crisis, their seems to be demands by other tribes upon one ethnic community – the Kikuyus or generally the GEM{A(minus} which have been demonstrated in the continuous neglect of the frustrations of the other communities by all governments since independence (besides the Kalenjin who, for the same reason of ethnicity, also enjoyed favour during Moi’s regime). The conflict has now worsened to the point of sporadic resistance with disorganized attacks against innocent people and their property. But the most barbaric violence has been carried out by the police and GSU (plus non speaking uniformed foreign invaders if the rumours are truth). Mmmh, and although the current government is fairly balanced with a Kikuyu President and GEMA personalities holding serious portfolios, and the others as ministers in technology, special programmes, water, irrigation etc, it doesn’t neutralize the current situation.
So, although the direct cause of the post election violence, which can be understood as a form of political speech ventilating discontentment to one of the greatest threats to our democratic life; disputed elections, could the identity element of ethnicity be the camouflaged causal agent? Our commitments to different political parties that are ideologically and may be ethnically different challenge our perception of right and wrong, moral and immoral, and of friend and foe. The disenchantment of the common man with government, specifically autocracy and non-democracy, in the aftermath of the election anomalies, has forced individuals to adopt new inhuman methods, of killing and blazing homes discriminately, the police included. In Rift Valley, the kikuyus have suffered under the brutality of the other tribes but in Kisumu, the Luo have suffered under the brutality of the police (the reason to such patterned and distinguished actions is for a political pundit to analyse).
Philosophers, from Socrates to John Rawls dealt with the question of equal treatment of citizens and how equality and freedom could address conflict. Yet, we do not see sufficient efforts made at present to employ seriously and draw effectively on the concepts so painstakingly formulated and given to us through the ages by these visionary thinkers. Hey Kibaki, Odinga, MPs, Clerics, and other leaders, if you may have been lucky to get basic education, read about conflict management, resolution and transformation, then guide the Kenyan people towards healing and reconciliation. Whether you may have some rubric ideas of peace efforts, don’t take the Kenyan situation for granted. The conflict resolution experts of our times in Kenya, who primarily have a military (read peacekeeping and not peacemaking) or diplomatic (read perfectionists in avoiding embarrassment or distress) background, do not seem to have come up with anything more effective nor attractive. Kalonzo might have participated in some peace seeking efforts in the Horn of Africa, but is his CV sincerely competent to lead a team seeking peace and dialogue (refer to his political tactics which have graduated him into the 2nd office). And even destructive is having PNU stalwarts leading the dialogue initiatives yet they were bespeakably anti-mediation. Please Kibaki, give us a better team, who are equable and neutral. Save Kenya. Surely, we have other tested leaders who are sincere.
Therefore, the crisis resolution that should take centre stage should begin to deal with the established national identities and thus operating within them, in the context of the potential conflicts that are inherent to such situations where other tribes are carved out of larger entities, as well as Kenyans attempting to emerge from the traumas – economic, social, cultural and emotional, of domination and injustice. It is important to note that the neglect of the aspirations of different groups of peoples living within Kenya can transform themselves into demands often expressed through violent means.
We must choose to believe in life, to believe in humanity; and in so doing we must believe that even the most unreasonable perpetrators employing terror like activities must sometimes reassume their humanity. We must not believe that our problem can only be resolved through the destruction of life and property, the protection of which in the last count, is the only moral justification for the existence of all human institutions, including the state.