Why conflict triggers must be confronted now and not later

A herdsman driving his cattle in Laikipia County on November 11,2017. PHOTO | EVANS HABIL | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The post-colonial State quickly learnt and adopted the divide-and-rule approach to entrench itself.
  • Our national conversation would be grossly inadequate if the story of historical injustices were not included.

At the level of general interpretation, conflict means a form of protracted friction arising from a clash of ideas, interests and or actions.

Ordinarily, this definition suits what Kenya is currently experiencing at multiple levels.

Most of the triggers of conflicts in Kenya today have been documented, interrogated and debated at length.

Clearly, no comprehensive resolutions have been developed to end these conflicts. But why?

We live in a fractious society that was cobbled up by the colonialists, who made little attempts at creating cohesion and harmony between different communities.

HOSTAGE

The post-colonial State quickly learnt and adopted the divide-and-rule approach to entrench itself.

By perpetuating the tribal suspicions, tensions and open animosities, Kenya’s post-independent State has undeniably sustained misrule.

It has been quite effective in pitting communities against each other, while rapaciously exploiting their material and cultural insecurities.

In so doing, a narrow ethnic elite bred from patron-clientilism has held the country hostage since independence.

What at face-value appears pretty simple to resolve, uncharacteristically spirals out of control, not because of its complexity, but because of vested interests of the ethnic elite and their patrons.

Let’s unpack some of the triggers of conflict in our society today. One of the most disruptive sources of conflict emanates from shared natural resources like water and pasture.

It defies logic that a country whose 80 per cent of land cover is inhabited by pastoral communities has been unable to think through a lasting solution to this kind of conflict that has no sign of disappearing any time soon.

The manner in which access  and proprietary rights to land, water and other natural resources, has been administered since independence inspires little confidence in the affected communities.

CONFLICT

The administration, management and proprietorship of natural resources usually triggers conflict because of the opaqueness, legalisms and bureaucracies of the modern nation-state.

But today’s conflicts would be incomplete if political processes like campaigns, elections and the accompanying divisiveness weren’t factored in.

The whole narrative of electoral injustices has also been cunningly weaved into the ethnic socialisation and psyche. Political actors are quite adept at milking ethnic reservoirs of the underlying stereotypes to drive their political agendas.

Our national conversation would be grossly inadequate if the story of historical injustices were not included.

Kenya has had an inordinate share of political assassinations, massacres, ethnic cleansing, politically motivated tortures, rapes and displacements.

All these have been swept under the carpet, but the victims have remained bitter, desolate and vengeful.

In such circumstances, the State is viewed as either complicit or simply disinterested in promoting the cause of justice and equity.

These ethnic-based unresolved issues rotate around identities and cultural interests and inadequacies. Politics of exclusion, marginalisation and discrimination is pretty easy to churn out and whip up ethnic sentiment.

DEJECTION

Furthermore, the ever-present challenges of economic deprivation, industrial stagnation and commercial instability have combined to brew an explosive mix of dejection, resistance and violent outbursts between communities.

In a country where more than half the population is unemployed or under-employed, this is a sure recipe for political discontent, economic turmoil and social instabilities.

These volatile realities are ready powder-kegs for national upheavals and inter-communal tensions and inter-ethnic conflagrations.

Perceptions of community opinion-shapers including administrators and cultural leaders have been instrumental in either fanning conflicts or cooling them.

The modern State has also been accused of ethnic stereotyping and profiling of certain communities.

This has worsened with the emergence of a robust but dubious social media that enjoys unparalleled latitude as purveyors of half-truths and fake news.

Only a multifaceted approach will enable us to deconstruct and consolidate a comprehensive and sustainable solution to our unending communal conflicts.

The writer is a Public Policy Analyst at Public Research and Development Consultants (PRAD); [email protected]