Forget SA: Here, even citizens are outsiders

What you need to know:

  • The sense of ingratitude permeates most discussions as people recall how hospitable this and other African nations had been during the tyrannical apartheid era.
  • Think of the “foreigners” evicted out of the Coast and the “madoadoa” ejected out of the Rift Valley every other election.
  • Extraordinary that such orders should come from a man facing charges in The Hague of orchestrating the forceful removal of “foreigners” from the Rift Valley just seven years ago.

The world’s cameras have focused on South Africa this past week after the xenophobic attacks that left seven dead and over five thousand non-nationals displaced.

The spark to the most recent round of violence came from the King of Zulu with the most unfortunate name of Goodwill Zwelethini, who told immigrants to pack their bags and go back where they came from.

Rather than apologise for his inflammatory remarks — as public figures frequently do — the king blamed the Press for misquoting him and then his doublespeak kicked in as he stated that had he indeed called for violence then the country would burn to ashes.

A lot has been written on the matter. My own attention, however, is drawn to the public reaction here in Kenya.

The sense of ingratitude permeates most discussions as people recall how hospitable this and other African nations had been during the tyrannical apartheid era.

However, to date, no single public figure has spoken of how Kenyans too have mistreated the “foreigner” among them, especially during elections this past quarter century.

MADOADOA

Think of the “foreigners” evicted out of the Coast and the “madoadoa” ejected out of the Rift Valley every other election.

We may be appalled by the casualty list in South Africa but have we forgotten that 1,133 were killed and half a million displaced during the post election violence of 2007/08? Yet, we choose not to dwell on this and pretend that “ours was different” and besides, we have since “moved on”. However, reality would suggest otherwise.

Recall the state assault on Eastleigh after the Westgate attack. The Somali community have borne most of the recent brunt of the “foreigner” tag as Deputy President Ruto casually and unmercifully ordered that the 360,000 refugees in Dadaab pack up and go within three months.

Extraordinary that such orders should come from a man facing charges in The Hague of orchestrating the forceful removal of “foreigners” from the Rift Valley just seven years ago.

That such forced repatriation should be contemplated in a country that considers itself God-fearing is even more disturbing: “Treat the foreigner the same as a native. Love him like one of your one”, declares Leviticus 19:33. Moreover, some church heads’ response to the Garissa massacre was a direct rejection of their founder’s teachings.

NCCK boss Peter Karanja openly stated that Christians who have been specifically targeted in the terror attacks were “running out of cheeks to turn”. In effect he was threatening to avenge the terror attacks. But would Al-Shabaab be the target of revenge, or could any Muslim be a casualty?

Incendiary, irresponsible speech has become commonplace and goes unpunished by the National Cohesion and Integration Commission. So everyone, from Moses Kuria to Chirau Mwakwere, from Aden Duale to Peter Karanja, gets away with a warning.

As a result, society has become polarised and citizenship is no guarantee of security or rights. We may want to remove the speck out of South Africa’s eye (Luke 6:42) but until we address the plank in our own, we remain a country where citizens are viewed as “foreigners”.

[email protected] @GabrielDolan1