There is hope for Kenya’s nationhood
What you need to know:
- We need to focus on Project Kenya. It does seem to me that people are aware of their shared deprivation and the abuse they suffer at the hands of their leaders, including those from their own ethno-linguistic backyards.
- Even if the Kenyan state ruptured, the sharp economic contradictions would not allow the resolution of the politics of exclusion and betrayal.
Our mistrust and tensions would find a different way of expression.
It is clear that the political class has started campaigning for the elections in 2017. The rhetoric suggests that Kenya will be highly polarised.
On the one hand, you have a team that will seek to hold on to power by all means and on the other you have politicians who are desperate to attain it. In between are Kenyans who are deeply divided by ethnic considerations, socio-economic inequalities, and religious affiliations.
However, it is the emotive ethnic factor that will, once again, be activated by the political class. It is, therefore, necessary that we refocus our attention on how politics of inclusion can be achieved.
The marriage of ethnicities in Kenya was arranged by the colonialists. During the struggle for independence, a spirit of nationalism was ignited, but this vision was not pursued by the new leadership.
Instead, ethnic affiliations have been stimulated and perpetuated by the political elite to acquire or maintain power. Ethnic cleavages continue to undermine national consciousness, often over competition for resources and access to political power. They undermine Kenyan nationhood.
Ethnic identity is a reproductive force, resulting from a history of marriage and consanguinity and is not unique to Africa. Symbols and relations of kinship are extensions of familial loyalties. They have been a force throughout history because they are inward looking and strengthened through family networks.
Human behaviour is also shaped by economic production. Economics enable us to eat and to form relations of social solidarity. Equally, economic behaviour leads to the formation of social classes and class conflicts that are blind to ethnic affiliations.
Even if the Kenyan state ruptured, the sharp economic contradictions would not allow the resolution of the politics of exclusion and betrayal.
Our mistrust and tensions would find a different way of expression.
This might include more polarisation between “us” and “them”, intra- and inter-county violence, insularity, and economic unviability. The spirit of regional integration would be undermined.
We need to focus on Project Kenya. It does seem to me that people are aware of their shared deprivation and the abuse they suffer at the hands of their leaders, including those from their own ethno-linguistic backyards.
This abuse is becoming even more manifest in the 47 counties, where leaders are misusing public resources, completely oblivious of the intentions of the devolved system of government. With time, solidarities based on other considerations beyond ethnic and clan relations are likely to emerge.
The promulgation of the Constitution and the introduction of devolution, public participation, a progressive Bill of Rights, and provisions for the management of diversity ought to be viewed as conditions under which a problematic marriage of peoples was renegotiated.
It is the implementation of the Constitution, the building of credible institutions, and the consolidation of other forms of solidarity that ought to guide us as we seek to resolve political, economic, and social challenges.
By entrenching the rule of the law and reviewing our political, economic, and social culture to enhance inclusion and the spirit of nationhood, we can once again be on the path to reducing the salience and fixation of ethnic identity.
The solution does not lie in putting aside the Constitution to create ethno-linguistic fiefdoms but rather implementing it. Kenyans have on various occasions attempted to revisit the national project by reaching out to one another and building relations of solidarity, communication channels, and social networks that subvert ethno-nationalist tendencies.
Having worked with Kiswahili for decades, for example, I can attest to the fact that first-language speakers of our national language are located in other regions of Kenya, not just the coast. Equally, intercultural sharing is alive through intense contact between ethnicities.
This is not the time to despair. With the current rapid urbanisation, other identities based on gender, profession, residence, and demography are providing alternatives to ethno-nationalism.
It is these identities that ought to be pursued more deliberately. They have the potential to challenge the fixation with ethnic identity and to re-inscribe nationhood.
Prof Njogu is a scholar based at Twaweza Communications, Nairobi. [email protected].
