Media must take tribe out of political discourse for peace

What you need to know:

  • It is about time the media stopped going to bed with politics and, indeed, politicians, but played its part in peace building.

  • Let the media let the country heal from years of ethnic feud and maintain peace and cohesion.

I was brought up to understand that "you are what you say". I could say the same for the media in Kenya that uses ethnicity in their political reports. What they report on and how they do it can make or break the society, and we have had a series of election violence incidents partly influenced by ethnic division as a result.

When media keep reporting politics by highlighting tribe in political discourse, that adds to the tension created by the many years of acerbic politics in our country. It feels like we are walking on egg shells, as it is, when it comes to tribe and politics in Kenya. Therefore, reporting politics based on tribe is just adding fuel to the fire that is Kenyan politics.

TACIT EXCLUSION

Tribalism, like racism, tends to come through as euphemism. No white person would today walk towards a black person and call them nigger, Paki or terrorist for fear of falling afoul of anti-racism laws. Instead, racism appears through tacit exclusion of people of colour from jobs or opportunities in predominantly white countries that are intolerant to people of other races.

Recently, Kenyan actress Lupita Nyong’o was on the cover of Grazia magazine (UK edition) — but without her signature short African hair. Instead, she was shown to have longer, straight hair.

A picture does, indeed, speak a thousand words and it was very telling, that, even despite her big screen success, including an Oscar award, she could not escape the subtle prevalent racist innuendos.

Lupita’s short African hair was deemed unsuitable for white readers, but it is okay for a black person to be fed the story of an actress with blue eyes and blond hair. As a disclaimer, this racist incident was not a reflection of the British society, where most people are accommodating.

Tribalism in Kenya, like modern forms of racism, also appears in media headlines hidden behind the curtain of party names. It is not uncommon to hear of “Kikuyu leaders” from the Jubilee Party doing this or that or groups of “Kalenjin MPs” forming an alliance in the Rift Valley or the opposition being just about Luos, for example.

CREATE COHESION

The main parties may have majority support in a community, but that does not mean it is exclusive to it. It is, therefore, irresponsible and inflammatory for the media to report political party affairs as those of a tribe. In countries such as Kenya, that is akin to stoking the cyclical embers of violent ethnic politics.

Being a country of many communities is a fact of life for us, but how we manage cohesion is dependent on the words and phrases we adopt for the sake of peace. We can do very little about our many tribes but achieve more in creating politics devoid of tribal spin.

The media ought to be in the forefront of creating cohesion by choosing words and political instances to report on responsibly. Even if they have vested interests in a political outcome (which should not happen in a democracy), they must still be aware that they have a responsibility on how they report on political matters.

The media must start by taking the sting out of the 2022 politics, which has already started creating ethnic fault lines between regions. The second most crucial part is avoiding reportage of politics on a tribal basis.

A headline such as “Luhya MPs have joined forces for 2022”, for instance, may make the other communities to follow suit by creating their own tribal caucuses. Such headlines do very little in bringing the country together.

BUILDING BRIDGES

The Building Bridges Initiative would appear to be a project in futility when the media chooses to undermine their work through inflammatory and divisive tribal headlines.

Kenyans are intelligible to the major communities behind most of the political parties; we do not need them rubbed into our faces. Let us hear of the manifesto and development achievements of the parties devoid of any tribal nuances. We, the people, are intelligent enough to fill in the missing puzzles when it comes to tribal division and can do so in the fullness of time.

Let the media let the country heal from years of ethnic feud and maintain peace and cohesion. If they don’t heed our concern, then, perhaps, it is time Parliament legislated on making certain media reports hate crime.

It is about time the media stopped going to bed with politics and, indeed, politicians, but played its part in peace building.

 * * *

Bullying and intimidation of courts by lawyers is a sign of lawlessness. Lawyers ought to turn the wheels of justice for all and not puncture the tyres of the entire criminal justice system through harassment in favour of a few.

Who says lawyers and judges cannot be corrupt? When LSK comes out screaming because their peer is facing corruption allegations, they mean to say lawyers and judges are above the law. That is misleading.

Let the courts do their work in an environment free of bullying and coercion.

Ms Guyo is a legal researcher. [email protected]