Opposition, Jubilee demos in US mirror ethnic division in Kenya

Looking at the Hudson River in New Jersey, it struck me how similar the diaspora Jubilee demonstrations over the weekend were to Nasa’s demos outside the United Nations a week before.

Both demos were fronted for political elites in Kenya that have done nothing for the advancement of the diaspora in the United States.

The simplistic manner in which Kenyans in the diaspora are divided along ethnic lines mirrors the ethnic divide in Kenya, and is not good for the country in the long term.

The irony of the two demonstrating groups in New York and New Jersey is that the elite running Jubilee and Nasa in Kenya are responsible for their supporters migrating from Kenya to the US.

IMMIGRANTS

Unbearable economic conditions, political repression and lack of opportunities forced many Kenyans to move to US.

It is funny how quickly immigrants forget when presented with the opportunity to support their ethic kingpin.

This therefore raises the question, why do diasporans get so easily swept into the ethnic cheerleading prevalent in Kenya today?

The answer lies in a quick review of the demonstrators.

REPRESENTATION

From the Nasa brigade, there was an over-representation of the Luo Nyanza constituency.

On the Jubilee side, there is an over-representation of members from Central Kenya’s Kikuyu constituency.

While it is the right of both groups to demonstrate, I was disappointed not to hear any of these ethnic groupings, which claim to represent three million Kenyans abroad, raise any substantive issues that affect their fellow Kenyans in the diaspora.

In my more than 20 years of living in the diaspora, two major substantive issues come to mind.

IMMIGRATION REFORMS

The first one is immigration reforms. There are many Kenyans living in the US without papers enduring a difficult existence.  

It would make more sense for these bickering groups to come together and demonstrate against Nasa and Jubilee’s silence over the Trump Administration’s radical measures to tighten immigration rules, which directly disempower Kenyans in the US.

The next Kenyan government should lobby Congress to facilitate immigration reforms that will enable Kenyans trapped in the US to regularly maintain economic, political and familial ties with Kenya.

DIASPORA VOTING

Another agenda item is diaspora voting.

Nasa and Jubilee have not enunciated clear positions on this issue and the IEBC seems nonchalant in moving forward in facilitating the voting for Kenyans in the diaspora.

This would have been a more meaningful agenda around which to demonstrate.

The next government in Kenya should prioritise diaspora voting in the US.

These two key agendas will bring Kenyans in the diaspora together in spite of their ethnic identities.

It is time Kenyans in the diaspora hold themselves to a higher calling beyond the ethnic arithmetic of political elites in Kenya.

DAVID MODA, City University of New York.