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