There are various social ill inflicting the Kenyan soul presently that threatens the glue which holds the country together. Amongst them is the runaway grand corruption, impunity, poverty, insecurity etcetera. However, the elephant in the room which has existed and continuously swept under the carpet since independence, until it reeled its ugliness in 2007 bringing deaths and destruction is the tribal animosity.
Tribalism is defined as the possession of a strong cultural or ethnic identity that separates oneself as a member of one group from the members of another.
In today Kenya, tribalism has infiltrated every aspect of the society starting from the presidency to the civil society. Many opportunists more so the politicians have been quick to join the bandwagon in exploiting it to full potential resulting in the tragic consequences of 2007, nepotism etcetera.
Attempts to fight this evil is often met with counteracting arguments of siding with this or that tribe and worst of all as often practiced by politicians, one is accused of either defending or threatening the other tribe. The sad consequences are that having a united Kenya remains a mirage.
So who is the worst tribalist in Kenya?
This is the individual who believes that their tribe is superior, advantaged, resourceful, beautiful, intelligence than others. It is also one that thinks that their tribe must rule others. It is also an individual who judges other tribes or individuals in relation to their own tribe especially with concern to language, behaviour, customs or religion.
If you believe in more than 3 of the aforementioned statements, then you are the worst tribalist in Kenya. Just to note that chauvinist, racist, homophobic and religious haters are alike in holding derogatory beliefs about those unlike them.
8 comments:
Trbalism in Kenya is a political issue. Kenyans can and do get along very well.
Until politicians open their mouths...
@MainaT, can't agree more. Tribalism is a politician tool to ascend the political ladder. They balkanize us into tribal blocks and pit us against one another for them to acquire political power. In the Period post 2005 referendum unfortunately, tribal hype was pushed to scarring levels because unlike previously when these sentiments were whipped up mainly during elections, the result of their actions acquired some permanence which might require a generational change to overcome. Now, even with a cosmopolitan upbringing, I am conscious of the fact that someone might actually harm me if not kill me just because my surname is from a certain tribe. It's a big shame.
Though too early to tell, it seems that the one politician many have been skeptical about in geniunely addressing this thorny issue may turn out to be the best to dress it head on going by his performance so far
@John. While I do not wish to engage in a debate on which leader is more effective than the other due to your previously displayed personal biases, the leader I think you seem to imply, with others in his party are a direct source of the mess we are in due to consistent inflammatory campaign against the Kikuyu post 2005 ref to last year election
Jk .... did u miss this.....
This is the individual who believes that their tribe is superior, advantaged, resourceful, beautiful, intelligence than others. It is also one that thinks that their tribe must rule others. It is also an individual who judges other tribes or individuals in relation to their own tribe especially with concern to language, behavior, customs or religion.
it kills me when we never self examine, and continuously blaming other people and inditing others without considering what our own prejudices are.
This would be funny if it wasn't so ironic...
M1st comment was about how politics/politicians have poisoned how we relate.
John/Jimmy/ObamaB, here is a little exercise for you. Next time you are about to slam RAO/Kibz how about you start like this. Kibz government had a higher % of kikuyus than there % of the population, but RAO took advantage of it and was forever pointing out that Kikuyus wanted to dominate kenya blah blah and vice versa.
@mainaT, point noted, however this thread goes to prove how a raw nerve tribal issue is in Kenya currently.
@ObamaB. Please don't put words in my mouth, nowhere in my contributions have I asserted about superiority of any tribe, please go through them again. Actually the wording of the statement you have emphasized from John's post was used extensively by one side of the political divide I shall not bother naming to justify the mayhem we experienced in January
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