We need an honest debate on tribalism

What you need to know:

  • It is also wise to recall that the Kikuyu community thrived and prospered even when frustrated during the Moi era. They then illustrated they don’t need favours but space to develop their potential.
  • The right to protest is being eroded daily and we are told that this is the price for economic progress.

A few weeks back, I responded to a tweet inviting the public to submit their views on an upcoming TV debate on the subject of patriotism.

I proposed that it was a little strange to have three members of the same ethnic community discussing patriotism on national television, but I was ill prepared for the deluge of negative comments that flooded my laptop for the next two hours.

The gist of those comments could be summed up by one of the panellists who suggested that even an Irish Priest was joining the gang of ethnic chauvinists dishing out insults and preaching hatred about the Kikuyu community.

Taken aback by the depth of emotion, I have tried to comprehend how a section of that great community has become hyper-sensitive taking great exception to any perceived negative assaults.

Empathy, too, is required, since events such as the slaughter in Mpeketoni, the grenade attacks in Gikomba and Thika Road as well as the loss of life from poisoned liquor does give rise to fears that the community is under systematic attack.

Suggestions that we have 41 against 1 are resurfacing, giving rise to notions of victimhood that leave the community more vulnerable, introverted and insecure.

Why should this happen just a year after their son was elected President? Entitlement and victimhood appear as the two ends of the pendulum in this rather dangerous narrative that is rarely analysed or dissected. Victimhood leads to entitlement which in turn is resented and another round of perceived persecution begins.

Where are the conversations and leadership that can bring hope, openness and inclusivity at this critical time?

BY THE ELITE FOR THE ELITE

Yet, these conversations must go national as ethnic prejudices are equally culpable. If the general perception is that Jubilee has made skewed appointments at every level to favour the communities of the President and his Deputy, why are their entire communities expected to carry their cross?

It is also wise to recall that the Kikuyu community thrived and prospered even when frustrated during the Moi era. They then illustrated they don’t need favours but space to develop their potential.

Indeed, I hear prudent voices advising that life would be much more comfortable if they did not have one of their own in the top seat for the next 20 years or more.

Put another way, autocratic rule and derogation of the rule of law has made the President’s own people take the abuse that he is insulated from.

What is happening is a return to autocratic rule by the elite for the elite. Not so much the tyranny of numbers as the tyranny of autocratic elites who represent the powerful interests of the privileged, not of the masses.

The right to protest is being eroded daily and we are told that this is the price for economic progress. So Kenya looks east to autocracy instead of west and democracy.

Kalenjins, Kikuyus, Luos and everyone else are just as risk to the gradual loss of freedoms which, ironically, are the only way to promote holistic progress.

Regretfully, the media are an integral part of that elitism and deny us the debate that is so urgently needed.

[email protected] @GabrielDolan1