Thursday, July 3, 2014

National Talks Will Help Unite The 42 Tribes

Thursday, July 3, 2014 - 00:00 -- BY PHILIP ETALE
Kenya has come of age.
The country has transformed politically, socially and economically over the past 50 years. Kenya has weathered many storms and is still standing.
But Kenya, with its 42 tribes and population of 42 million people, is one divided nation.
Kenyans are suspicious of each other and live as though they are in a lion’s den. Hate and animosity is the order of the day, love is just for convenience.
Tribalism and stereotyping is the nation's undoing.
Reggae musician Winston Rodney (Burning Spear) said in one of his songs, ‘any country without the roots, is like a tree without the roots”, Kenya is a typical example.
Kenyans have refused to emancipate themselves from the cancer of tribalism. They have refused to learn from Rwanda, whose two tribes butchered each other mercilessly in 1994.
Tanzania's founding father, the late Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, introduced ujamaa (socialism), a culture that nurtured a united country and survives to date. Today, you will hardly hear a Mchaga introducing themselves as so, or Shambaa, Shirazi, Sukuma, Ngurimi, Datooga etc. They all introduce themselves as Tanzanians, yet there are 260 listed tribes in that country.
The people of Papua New Guinea, a country with a population of 7.4 million people and 848 tribes, are united. No tribe feels superior to the other.
But in Kenya, everything is viewed through tribal lenses. This is a a bad culture. I would say, poor upbringing as a nation.
For instance, for the past one month Cord has been calling for national dialogue. There are many issues Cord wants addressed, not through Parliament, but on a national table with representatives from both sides of the political divide and players from religious organisations, trade unions, business community, teaching fraternity, youth and women organisations etc. The goal of the national dialogue cannot be achieved in Parliament.
But this push has been misinterpreted to mean that a particular community is being targeted. Kenya is our home and it would be sinful for any community to rise up against another. That was not God’s intention when he created and put us in one nation.
Of concern is the narrative doing rounds that the push for national Dialogue is aimed at propelling Raila to power and hence the Luo people would have uprooted the Kikuyus from power. This is baloney. Raila is a respecter of the rule of law and has been around in politics for a long time not to know the democratic channels to ascend to power.
It is foolhardy for Interior Secretary Joseph ole Lenku to make pronouncements that could set a Kenyan against another. The choice of venue for Lenku’s utterances is also suspect. Claiming that a particular community is being targeted by Cord was the most irresponsible, barbaric and antiquated remark from a man charged with ensuring the safety of every Kenyan and visitors. That amounted to hate speech and ethnic profiling. Lenku owes Kenyans an apology.
The writer is ODM's director of communications.
Twitter: @Etalephil
- See more at: http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/article-174193/national-talks-will-help-unite-42-tribes#sthash.taRiu0Df.dpuf

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