Gor fans manifest the Luo's siege mentality

Wikipedia defines siege mentality as a shared feeling of victimization and defensiveness. It is a state of mind where one believes that one is being constantly attacked, oppressed, or isolated and makes one frightened of surrounding people. This can cause a state of being overly fearful leading to defensive attitude.

Another site defines it as a feeling that rest of the world has negative intentions towards one's own society or that one's own society is surrounded by a hostile world. The focus is on "negative intentions" and "the rest of the world". These negative intentions refer to real and imagined desire and motivation of the world to inflict harm or to hurt the society, threatening a society's well being. 

I am a Luo, so I will speak as an analytical insider- especially in the aftermath of Gor and arch rivals AFC Leopards match. This ended with fans taking it out in street fights. I want to say that a majority of Gor fans are Luos, though I know many non-Luos who are die hard Gor fans, and one of them is former TV star Tim Njiru, comedian Churchill and Carol Mutoko among others.

I do not support the acts of hooliganism, but to find solutions to problems, you have to ask yourself hard questions. KPL and FKF should know that what is rewarded or condoned is repeated. As they work to deal with the problem at hand, relevant government agencies should look at long term sustainable solutions. 

Many people have asked why K’ogallo fans react violently but no one has come up with a panacea for it. Growing up as a Luo, there is this bunter of how the Kenyan social system is hell bent to make life difficult for Luos. I grew up under the Moi regime and it was obvious, you could even hear that the government is out to kill football because it is played and managed by Luos.

Looking back many Luo leaders- loyalists and outlaws have been sacrificed by the system in equal measure. So the talk that Luos are rebellious does not hold water for me- we just look for options in a society that has come to see us as rebellious. Robert Ouko just like Tom Mboya before him was a loyalist and they both paid for it with their lives. Senior Private Ochuka and lately Oulu G.P.O may not have been so ‘system friendly’ but they were executed as well.

The Luo child grows knowing that it will be hard for him to get opportunities that are open to other Kenyans. When he grows up and finds himself in a system that is to his perception not fair- he fights for justice. Then the same system labels him a rebel and he lives by it because he knows the system will never acknowledge his abilities.

Take for example the University of Nairobi leadership. It is common knowledge that Luos were and still form the cream of Kenya’s academia. Yet, only until the process of selecting and appointing the Vice Chancellor was done professionally and fairly did a Luo (Prof. George Magoha) get the job. Luos know if they land in a position, they got it because they deserve it so they will take no prisoners with them.

It is this siege mentality that makes Gor fans feel cheated even when the referees’ mistake is in the human error margin. The reaction may be above normal, but that is what you expect from a people ‘under siege.’

This is exactly where Israel is in the Middle East, North Korea in Far East and Albania in the Balkans- these are examples of societies under siege. The mentality can be self instigated by leaders of the said community- one can say that Jaramogi isolated the Luos from Kenyatta regime. North Korea is one such example of leaders isolating a society.

The other cause may be real mistreatment and isolation by part of or all societies around the said community. The Luos reaction to past injustices may have made other communities to dislike and in a way isolate us. This in effect has turned the Luo into an inward looking proud- I can do it on your face regardless of what you think- type of people. It is engrained in us from an early age- to keep our pride at all cost.

I read in the micro-blog social media of people condemning Luos and even saying that they will not vote for Raila because of the behavior of his tribesmen. This may go into making the situation worse. Raila is loved and adored by Luos because he has managed fight and evade the system that has been ‘anti-Luo’ since independence.

Jaramogi may have isolated the Luos and created the siege mentality, Raila has come up as the leader with a solution to it. The Luos will follow Raila simply because they believe he is the only one who is able to beat the unjust system. So, making him president of Kenya is a step towards deflating the Luo’s siege mentality. It will reduce and even eliminate the overreaction to little 'inconsequential injustices.'

Before you condemn someone, walk in his shoes. The Kenyatta and Moi’s regime pork barrel politics made Luo-Nyanza lag behind in development. These injustices breed angry youth and indifferent adult generation. It is this that makes Luos politically united tribe in Kenya, so to divide Luos, just end the siege mentality.

To move forward and solve our social problems we have to walk back in history and find the causes of such anti-social behavior. These problems are a manifestation of deep rooted many times forgotten causes. It is not peculiar to Luos, we have mungiki, chinkororo, FGM, cattle rustling and many others from different communities. This will enable us to come back to the present equipped to strategize for the future.  An angry parent will raise an angry child.

NCIC and Mzalendo Kibunja- you have your work cut out for you.

© March 2012

The Day I threw in the towel on tribalism....

I have been a nationalist from a very young age. I don't know at what point I became politically conscience, by the age of nine- I had taken a campaign poster and pinned it in my room. When my age mates at thirteen idolized Bobby Brown (oh yes) and the likes, I could recite the whole cabinet then. It was all capped by the murder of Robert Ouko. Then the young ambitious man from Arkansas Bill Clinton put a toast to it as I completed primary school.

My time in High School was rather slow politically, but I followed the goldenberg saga like I will be examined in it. I spent this time reading Ngugi wa Thiong'o and other African writers as well. By the time I finished high school, I knew what the problem was, I just did not know what to do about it. Independence had not changed much, not just in Kenya but Africa in general.


It all came out in University when I got into student activism. I got into the student union executive and the hunger to see change in society was up to my neck. I believed that my comrades in this struggle were in it for the conviction that things will change, but no. We got suspended for three years, on readmission I realized people had changed or rather suspension had changed them.


We coined the name jackpot in campus, where proposals would be written approved and funds released all in the name of funding student projects but it would end up in someone's pocket. Another way for paying ourselves for the job done and suffering we had undergone.


Then on completing our studies, I met one of my comrades just before the 2007 elections. I believed him as one man who has the desire to see a better Kenya. "Kenyatta, I don't want to lie to you. I don't like Raila but because everyone is voting for 'their' man, I am voting for Raila." He told me with a new found conviction.


Most of the students who were suspended were Luos, and we all had a problem with Raila. To say the least, one of the reason we were sent home was our association with James Orengo and mageuzi. For my friend to say that as his reason for joining the crux of Raila and ODM campaigns, I gave up on Kenya ever curing the cancer of tribalism. If the young people are getting swallowed it the mire.


Later I realized that having sacrificed 1,000 days for a cause we did not win- liberation fatigue cropped in. We felt that sacrificing for this country is not worth it. This is what has gotten to many people with the hunger for reforms, it is not worth sacrificing for this country.


Yet, for change to come, a generation must be ready to sacrifice for the sake of the next generations. We are busy creating problems for the next generation. We behave as if children will not grow, like they will not make demands soon. Demands that we will not be able to meet. The children in schools currently are preparing for jobs that are non-existent at the moment. That is a disaster waiting to happen.

America is a country that has developed solely on their strength to embrace diversity. This did not come on a silver platter, there are still many white supremacists and social hatred. Freedom, to those who have fought for it know that it is not a destination but a state of mind, a process that must be watched and protected daily.


Somewhere deep down my heart I still believe in the Kenyan dream. Especially after experiencing the 2008 post election violence. I have read a lot on the Rwanda story and I know, genocide did not begin in 1994. Whenever a politician utters ethnic bigotry words, I know a genocidal seed has landed in the soil of someone's heart.


 Every generation has a responsibility, and we must be that generation that set Kenya on the road to prosperity. I am watching this years election closely, because I know it will be a step towards winning or loosing the war on tribalism.


Like the graffiti at City Market wall in the heart of Nairobi says "..the idiots will still vote for me" -knowing very well that I am a corrupt and tribal political leader.


Kenyans- we can change this, all it needs is a few individuals to stand up and say- NO, in truth and in love. The kind of love that breeds righteous anger.