The Luo - Kikuyu divide is more than political

When two bulls fight, the grass feels the heat. The scenario (let me not call it bad blood) between the Luo and Kikuyu in this country is peculiar to Kenya. When these two tribes find a reason to work together, Kenya jumps major huddles- but only for as long as the ‘marriage’ lasts. These two communities can decide to unite and share the presidency between them for long, may be their ‘animosity’ is a blessing in disguise to 'small' tribes.

In my attempt to try and get a solution for Kenya, I have realized that the difference is more than political. It is engrained in the DNA of the two communities; there are many fundamental differences that will have to be bridged before the political difference is solved. I will speak as an outsider though I acknowledge I am a Luo with two names from both communities.

Kikuyus are generally farmers while Luos are originally cattle keepers. The two cultures have followed the two tribes to the city and into the diaspora. The Kikuyus like all farmers are patient- they will invest (plant) and wait for the season of harvesting. The Luos who are pastoralists turned fishermen, are used to going to the cattle shed or the lake, fish out what is available and feast for the day.

The Kikuyu are used to seasons of crop failure so they will save for the dry season. The Luo on the other hand are used to living one day at a time. Cattle is slaughtered, dried for preservation or eaten fresh as a community. They will go fishing everyday and not miss what to eat, the lake is a constant. Now you know why Kikuyus are good investors and Luos good spenders.

Politically, when Kikuyus get into positions of power they fence it off like all farmers. They slot their henchmen in vital positions and begin the process of cultivating and harvesting. The pastoralists like Moi regime would graze down a government project then move in search of greener pastures to feed on again. Fishermen would put in the structures (nets) and exploit the catch day in and wait for retirement.

Another main difference is that Luos are patriarchal while Kikuyus are matriarchal. This is evident from the fact that many women MPs to ever grace the august house are from the Kikuyu community. To the Kikuyu, the children belong to the mother, while to the Luos the children are called by their father’s name. If Barack Obama was a Kikuyu, he would not care about his ancestral roots.

The other factor is how to attain results. While Luo children are raised to love excellence and guard their reputation, Kikuyu bring up their children with the balance sheet in mind. It does not matter how you earn your money- rich people are respected. Watch a Luo and a Kikuyu carpenter, the Luo would rather make flashy furniture and keep it for months- enjoying the glamour. The Kikuyu will make average pieces and sell many at a reasonable price.

The food Luos eat must be prepared to a certain standard. If someone cooks food that does not match the ‘lifestyle’ it will be called kikuyu food. Kikuyus on the other hand do not mind the quality; they will mix the food, boil and serve. They would rather spend time looking for money than eating good food.

I always tell people that former MP Njenga Karume should thank God he was not born a Luo, he would never have seen the inside of parliament. Luos will respect a poor professor and even elect him to parliament at the expense of a wealthy opponent. Education matters a lot, not just attaining it but even where you get it matters. So a Maseno University graduate will not ‘speak’ where a University of Nairobi graduate is.

Luos abhor blood- it takes a Luo more than guts to murder someone in cold blood. On the flip side, they are ruthless with people who do not tow the ‘upright’ social order. The thieves and conmen of Kisumu will never live in peace when identified. The people will come and get a thief from his mother’s house if they have to. On the flip side, Kikuyus will defend their kith and kin as long as it was a matter of earning some money. I have a hunch that if Mungiki was a Luo outfit it would have been annihilated, not by the state but the community.

Raila’s son Fidel in an interview with Kwach and Angwenyi on Easy FM said that his grandfather’s parting shot to them was “do not bring down my name.” To the Luo, the name matters a lot, reputation is guarded at all costs unlike the Kikuyu’s. Then there is the engrained socialism/capitalism divide. Urbanization has thrown the Luo socialism into an imbalance. The Kikuyu had their socialism broken down by colonial displacements and they adopted capitalism.

There has been a tremendous increase in Luo-Kikuyu intermarriages recently. I believe this will form a middle ground where the two communities can bridge their differences. The political differences stem from an inbuilt engrained culture. Whenever these marriages work you see a very stable and developed home. Even when it is a business partnership, the cultural mix just takes the venture to great heights. Luos are good managers while Kikuyus are risk takers.

The Raila-Kibaki generation will not sort it, but the younger generation can find a reason to agree to disagree. Like in a marriage, you accept your spouse at their best and worst. Unlike poles attract, and each has traits the other lacks but needs. The problem is the supremacy ego between the two- it must be sorted soon if we are to achieve Vision 2030.

I urge the government and the ministry of education in particular to work out a formula of sorting this problem. Nyanza and Central can exchange students and the students who agree to take up the placements be put on scholarships. This interaction may give rise to a different generation of Kikuyus and Luos which will be good for Kenya.

© Feb 15^th 2012

Raila or Uhuru, there is nothing to choose between the two!

There is nothing to choose between Raila and Uhuru

This is an election year and looking at the situation, all bets are off. We have to cross the elections river again even when wahenga said you cannot cross the same river twice. The river may be different but the water flowing in it has gone round the hydrological cycle into the same political river valley.

 The lie of the land of Kenya is the over rated politics and politicians. This obsession is good and bad, good for checks and balances on the political class and bad as it takes social capital from other equally important aspects of Kenya. Compounded with our love for drama, we tend to fall for political actors and comedians.

Looking at two leaders- Raila Odinga and Uhuru Kenyatta who seem to have a vice grip on the psyche of their communities. People are shocked at Raila’s hold on the Luo, but recently Uhuru has risen to almost the same level in the Kikuyu nation. I have picked these two leaders because they come from two ‘politically hostile’ communities.

Let us look at Raila- I don’t buy the talk that he has never been in government that is why he has never helped Luos. His father built Nyanza General Hospital through his personal connections with Russians. Tom Mboya had the student airlifting programme from his connections with the West (Kennedy's to be specific). Raila has connections all over the world yet he has never used them to uplift the welfare of Luos. I do not expect much from his presidency for his fanatical Luos.

Uhuru is one of the wealthiest men in Africa. His sister Christina said that he was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth- then it must be a golden one. His family owns large tracts of land almost the size of Nyanza Province. The people in IDP camps who believe in his leadership are from his community. He can work out a formula for settling this people in parts of the land and get returns from them or the government. 

The Luo lag behind in development mainly because of the ignored girl child and un-empowered women folk. There is no rallying call from Raila to change this trend, yet men circumcised themselves because ‘baba’ said. Imagine if he rallied Luos behind a social development agenda like saving and investing in a community bank? HIV/AIDS is causing havoc to the Luo community, yet the leaders who must abide by Raila’s word care less.

Romour has linked Uhuru to Mungiki since 2002; these are young jobless men in need of a source of income. Imagine Uhuru giving them some land and/or loans for them to raise dairy cows for milk supply to his Brookside Dairies? What idea or initiative has he ever initiated to solve the Mungiki problem in Central Kenya?  Alcohol is breaking down the social fabric in Central Kenya yet the leader(s) are more concerned about votes than the voters.

I have reasons to believe that the common Luo and Kikuyu nationals have put their eggs in baskets that will not give them commensurate returns. These leaders can do a lot for their poor followers; we saw what Raphael Tuju did as a mere minister and what Peter Kenneth has done with CDF. The problem is Kenyans will always rally behind people who take them for a ride. Uhuru and Raila are good politicians but average leaders and managers. The healthiest meal doesn’t appeal to the eye while the best king sits far from the throne.

They are our leaders for this season- we can go ahead and vote for them. Never the less they are not worth killing someone or dying for. They are just men with strengths and weaknesses, other leaders will still rise to take over from them and even do better.

Politics is about people’s perceptions, maybe I expect too much (great expectations may give birth to frustrations) or I am a wet blanket. I just ask hard questions, because we have to make extra ordinary decisions if we expect extra ordinary results.

 Lest we complain tomorrow, yet we have a chance today. People will still get the leaders they deserve.

Luos and Luhyas must learn to 'bury' the living...

I admire Kikuyus for their pragmatism when it comes to sending off their kith and kin. It is very different from my two real and acquired communities- Luos and Luhyas. I am a keen person and I like digging up the roots (not Phillip Ochieng's root words) of social behaviour.  

I have come up with a mantra to my family- I will bury people when they are still alive. This is a direct translation of a Kiswahili saying nizike ningali hai- meaning be good to me when I am still alive. This is a one man attempt to beat the obsession with burials.

We all remember the S.M. Otieno saga that led to the court defining that a Luo man has a house in Nairobi and a home in Nyanza. The renowned lawyer had to be buried in Nyalgunga against his widows wishes. On a good note, I have noticed an increase in the number of Luos and Luhyas laid to rest at Langata cemetery. This is a sign that the times have caught up with us because we had refused to catch up.

I like asking hard questions, in my attempt to dig out the root of this; I took a good look at my Kikuyu friends. They love eating meat so every holiday and a good weekend is a goat eating session. They meet and share in good times; they celebrate successes and console each other in time. Family get together is common where people meet and know each other.

In the contrary, when you cross the Rift Valley to the West, it is only at funerals that an animal bigger than a chicken will be slaughtered. Relatives do not meet as often and funerals end up as family re-unions. This makes funerals more than just a send off for a loved one. The food is an avenue for catching up, and the tea a refreshment.

I do not have a problem with those who can afford. My heart goes out to the humble families who have to borrow or sell property in order to buy a mandatory cow to slaughter. The bereaved are then left with a double loss of a loved one and debt to boot. To add to that some mourners still go away complaining how they were not catered for well.

Culture and customs have a context which they operate in. Like a piece of statute, they have a spirit and a letter. I will take the letter to be the social context that supported such customs and the spirit the social good it was meant to enhance. Every home owned cattle back then- it was a measure and store of value. People and communities had large tracts of land for grazing as well.

Unlike today where land is scarce hence people have reduced the number of cattle they keep. With reduced supply, the demand has risen with the price. The social support system that existed is no more, and resources have also diminished over time.

The other factor is fear of witchcraft.  People tend to offer sacrifices of animals when transferring curses. This makes funeral slaughtered animals safe as the reason for its death is known. If you doubt, go back to your village and slaughter a goat, very few people will dare eat it.

I write this as a way of asking the Western folks to reconsider spending huge amounts of money on the dead. A decent burial today costs an average of KSH. 500,000 (approx $65,000) - if you have to transport the body from Nairobi. We can minimize on this and use the balance to ‘bury’ the living.

It is not that I have no respect for the dead but there is life after the burial ceremony. The current economic hardships also dictate that we approach financial matters with prudence.

© Feb 2011