Tribalism is bigger than Al- Shabab

I have followed closely the war of words that has followed Hassan Omar Hassan’s (KNCHR Commisioner) comments in a past issue of Sunday Standard. He wrote that Kenya is not ready for another Kikuyu president after Kibaki, mainly due to Kikuyunization of crucial government dockets.

 As a matter of fact, Hassan is not the first to say that Kenyan’s will not replace Kibaki with a Kikuyu. The problem is he chairs the commission that has the responsibility to choose the Kenya Police Service Commison and the Commisioner General.  Some Kikuyu MP’s feel that he will be against candidates from their community.

This is the kind of catch 22 situation we find ourselves in when we delve into the Kenya ethnicity matrix. We are damn if we don't tackle it and damn if we try to sort it. The sly choose to weigh their words, the orators circumvent it. The few like Hassan have the guts to call the devil in the room by name.

Hassan is one of the people who inspired me to jump into student activism. He had just been expelled for proposing that Moi University changes its name. He dubbed as the Kenya National Students Union chairman so he kept himself busy around Nairobi. I came to meet him as a freshman before I became a SONU congressman. One thing I know about Hassan is that he is not a tribalist, he may be many other things.

Tribalism in Kenya, just like many things about us is peculiar. We are very hospitable, stay, play, work and worship with each other for four years then go for each other in the election year. It has permeated our social systems from politics, corporate Kenya and even our churches. It is a system that the colonialists used to govern us and our political leaders have perfected the art.

We may be fighting the Al-Shabab in Somalia, but tribalism has killed more Kenyans than terrorists. It is a threat to our national security more than Al-Shabab and other gangs. It is time we faced it, sugar coating words and ignoring it will not help.

I was born in Nakuru and I grew up in Kaimosi. My first language is Kiswahili laced with Kikuyu words for slung. I spoke Luo only with my folks at home so it was not all that. Then I found myself in Ikolomani and I spoke Luhya in three months.

Kaimosi is an educational complex that attracts staff and students from all over Kenya. In a small area, I met Kenyans from all walks of life. I ventured deep into the villages to play with my Tiriki friends so much that today I am the only non-tiriki member of Tirikis on Facebook.

My encounter with tribalism was in a very unlikely place-The University of Nairobi. This is the very place where we expect to teach young minds to shun it. Like virginity my Kenyan innocence was ruptured and lost, may be for good. Nowhere is the Kikuyu-Luo rivalry axis huge like the University of Nairobi. I confess I have sometimes looked at many issues in Kenya with a tribal lens.

There was only one lecturer (who I will not name) who was a tribalist and did not give a damn about it. He spoke his mind about his tribe’s supremacy and I respect him to date for that. He is the only lecturer who taught me who I can take time to go and visit back in college. Unlike most of us, who will preach water by day and drink wine by the night.

Slowly I resigned to the fact that tribalism like corruption are as Kenyan as Mt. Kenya and Lake Victoria, they aint going nowhere soon. Tribalism and corruption are two sides of the same coin, the main impediments to our social and economic development.

I concur with Hassan’s latest remark that we have to come out and discuss tribalism. The Luos live in a siege mentality due to pork barrel politics of previous regimes. The Kikuyu have this engrained claim to Kenya as the people who fought for independence. The Luo believe they have to fight for their 'right' while the Kikuyu are out to defend what is 'rightfully' theirs.

These are the tribes that form the two axes upon which Kenya’s tribal turfs revolve either by design or default. The times Kenya has made meaningful progress is when the two communities have worked together.  It is time the Luo and Kikuyus looked beyond politics, may be we will see the Kenya we want.

The church is as guilty as the political class by not standing up to fight tribaism. Listening to Anglican politics before the election of Archbishop of Nairobi leaves you with a sour test. It will be ages before another Luo gets to the pinnacle of the Anglican Church however qualified a candidate is. It will not be said openly like is the habit in the mainstream churches, but that is the bottom line.

In the build up to 2007 elections, the Kisumu Catholic Bishop publicly disagreed with Cardinal John Njue. When a Bishop says that the Cardinal's statement is personal to appease his flock, we have a problem. Times may have changed, but the underlying problems have not been sorted.

The regional division of churches that was done by the colonialist has been retained to date. That when I hear of a Methodist in Kenya I see a Meru, PCEA is for the Kikuyu, SDA the Kisii and Luo and so forth. It is time churches stepped out and reached to people of other tribes out of their ‘area of operation’ and even put them in major positions of leadership.

This can be done by offering scholarships to bright students from these regions and slowly inculcating them into the church. The missionaries did it very well, the times may have changed but the needs remain the same.

There are drastic measures we need to take if we are to see some gains in this war. 


The first is to strengthen and streamline the county governments. Putting up the systems will be a challenge but we need to sacrifice and overcome the teething problems that will arise. By equitably building the parts, we will build the whole (Kenya) easily.

 Then we need to elect someone from the small tribes into state house. They have already gained from the mistrust among the big tribes as crucial positions in post new constitution Kenya are going to them.We can learn from Tanzania where all their presidents have come from minority tribes, it is the CCM party that matters.

Then we need to elect a Luo president, the earlier the better. It is a bridge we came to long time ago but we have never crossed. For some wounds to be healed and chasms bridged, this will have to happen, who and when is up to Kenyans.

Then the long term answer to this problem is inter-marriage among the tribes. The next generation born from these unions will be devoid of tribalism. This has proved the answer between the Luo and Luhya. In spite of underlying differences they can trust each other. Their common border is a buffer zone as most families do not know where they belong.

Meanwhile, it will take people like Hassan who will courageously and truthfully speak against tribalism to fight it. We cannot wish it away, but engage on ways to right past wrongs and put up ways to secure a good Kenya for us and the next generations.