Why the ethnic factor may be losing its power

As Kenya gears up for a basic election on 9 August, the BBC’s Dickens Olewe writes that ethnic divisions have lengthy bedevilled the nation’s politics – though there are indicators this will likely now be altering.

On a cold morning on 20 January 1994 I walked into the classroom to taunts.

I do not keep in mind a lot of what was stated however one stayed with me.

“Your god is lifeless,” a classmate shouted.

Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, Kenya’s first vice-president who later grew to become a doyen of opposition politics, had died.

Regardless of solely being in major faculty, we have been all effectively versed about our nation’s ethnic-based politics, so my classmate understood what an enormous political loss the demise was to the Luo group.

Ethnic taunting was not unusual at school playgrounds and even in lecture rooms, the place some academics used stereotypes to reward or criticise pupils’ behaviour.

This was, and nonetheless is, largely seen as innocent humour, however typically it turns destructive.

One other placing second got here eight years later when a assured four-year-old lady walked as much as me on my first day volunteering at a charity supporting poor households in Nairobi, and requested a pointed query in Swahili: “Wewe ni kabila gani?” – in English: “What’s your tribe?

She wasn’t happy with my mealy-mouthed reply, particularly as a result of I later learnt that my ethnicity had been a part of an intense debate together with her friends – their curiosity possible impressed by the heady political conversations of the time.

The childhood curiosity was cute, however I felt uncomfortable. Social mores had taught me to abhor such questions, particularly when put so bluntly. I additionally nervous what my reply would imply to her.

Kenya’s politics has been dominated by competitors amongst its greater than 40 ethnic teams, but it surely’s particularly intense among the many bigger ones.

Politicians usually exploit historic grudges and cultural variations to incite violence to allow them to win elections.

This cynical technique is as previous as time and its tragic penalties proceed to be skilled the world over.

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In Kenya, ethnic id has been used to grant privileges – typically it is the one qualification thought of for a job, a vote within the election, and even in accessing mundane favours from somebody able of authority.

It has been weaponised to humiliate and frustrate others – a state of affairs that breeds a siege mentality in these bearing the brunt, and a way of entitlement amongst these benefiting from it.

Politics subsequently turns into a zero-sum recreation, on the expense of addressing urgent points that would higher folks’s lives.

Kenya noticed horrific ethnic-based violence after the disputed 2007 election, when greater than 1,500 folks have been killed, a whole bunch extra have been injured and 600,000 have been pressured to flee their houses.

The violence was most likely Kenya’s lowest second since independence.

A nation that had largely been peaceable, and had provided sanctuary to a whole bunch of 1000’s of refugees from throughout the continent, had turned on itself. The trauma of that point nonetheless lingers.

Throughout this election, some households plan to quickly transfer to areas the place their ethnic group is almost all to keep away from being victimised, whereas mixed-ethnicity {couples} usually face the largest problem as they calculate the place it will be most secure.

“Kenya has a tragic historical past of unresolved grievances, stretching 50 years, that always set off violence, and politicians have turn into adept at creating concern between communities,” Sam Kona, a commissioner on the state’s Nationwide Cohesion and Integration Fee (NCIC), instructed the BBC.

“Individuals are blind to the truth that that is only a contestation of energy among the many elite, and as soon as it is over, the elite get collectively whether or not they received or not,” he added.

Mr Kona stated tensions amongst communities within the six counties which NCIC has labelled as potential hotspots within the upcoming election have been due to “missed alternatives to reconcile”.

He identified that Kenya adopted a brand new structure in 2010, creating 47 counties – with their very own governors – to finish a winner-takes-all mentality.

It promised that each one counties can be handled equally, and would obtain a justifiable share of the nationwide finances to plan their very own growth to keep away from the necessity for various teams to compete for sources.

“Sadly most Kenyans nonetheless see the presidency as the principle supply of energy – a state of affairs that causes rigidity,” Mr Kona stated, including that the NCIC had intensified efforts to advertise peace in potential flashpoints.

Governance knowledgeable John Githongo needed to flee the nation in 2005 as a result of he was thought of a traitor by some members of his Kikuyu group after he uncovered an enormous corruption scandal within the administration of then-President Mwai Kibaki, a fellow Kikuyu.

He instructed the BBC ethnic mobilisation was much less overt on this election marketing campaign, largely as a result of Deputy President William Ruto has formed it as a contest between “dynastic households” and “hustlers”.

He lumps his foremost challenger, Raila Odinga, a veteran opposition politician and the son of Kenya’s first vice-president, within the former class, together with President Uhuru Kenyatta,the son of the primary president. Whereas he portrays himself because the champion of “hustlers” – a reference to poor Kenyans.

Mr Odinga has criticised the framing as an try and divide Kenyans alongside class strains, and has focussed his marketing campaign on a message of unity.

However in a major change from earlier campaigns, the 2 front-runners have largely traded barbs over their financial and social insurance policies.

This isn’t stunning because the election comes within the midst of a cost-of-living disaster, worsened by excessive unemployment and an enormous nationwide debt.

In a significant intervention simply weeks earlier than the election, President Kenyatta’s authorities introduced that maize flour – used to make the nation’s staple meals, ugali – will likely be subsidised to deliver down its worth.

Mr Ruto noticed the timing as an try and bolster Mr Odinga’s probabilities within the election.

Mr Kenyatta is backing Mr Odinga within the election, though Mr Ruto is his deputy.

It’s a signal of the altering nature of alliances inside Kenya’s ethnically-influenced political elite. In 2007 Mr Odinga and Mr Ruto teamed up in opposition to Mr Kibaki, who Mr Kenyatta was supporting.

A few of the worst violence after the 2007 election pitted members of Mr Ruto’s Kalenjin group in opposition to Kikuyus like Mr Kenyatta, with folks killed on the idea of their ethnic background.

Nonetheless, in 2013 and 2017 Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto joined forces in opposition to Mr Odinga, a Luo, just for Mr Kenyatta to now throw his weight behind Mr Odinga.

“Kenyans have grown bored with all of the byzantine alliances they have been seeing among the many elite,” stated Murithi Mutiga, Africa programme director on the Worldwide Disaster Group.

“I believe this has made Kenyans far more detached, a lot much less infected, more likely to see that the elite are mainly simply enjoying their very own recreation,” he added.

Mr Githongo stated that stated that whereas ethnic tensions rise throughout elections, “individuals are marrying one another instantly afterwards”.

“Among the many youth it is a lot much less of an issue however the politicians mobilise alongside ethnic strains,” he added.