By Lukoye Atwoli
Sunday Nation 08 April 2012
General elections are coming up
soon, and everybody who wants to have a say in the outcome is organising to
ensure that they are heard. All segments of Kenyan society are in ferment, and
all sorts of pressure groups and secretariats are being set up to influence the
shape of politics in post-referendum Kenya.
Among the groups that have
traditionally had influence in political processes in Kenya are the so-called
‘cultural associations’ and their leaders. This has been the case since
pre-independence days when the colonial government would not register any
national political organisation, and only allowed ethnic or ‘regional’
organisations. The colonial government’s aim, of course, was to ensure that the
entire population was divided up into ethnic enclaves forever in conflict with
each other, leaving the mzungu
government alone to exploit the best of our resources and govern us with only
token opposition.
After Kenya’s independence almost
50 years ago, successive governments failed in their stated objectives of
uniting the country behind a common cause. A feeble war against tribalism has
been sabotaged by its chief promoters who play Dr Jekyll by day and Mr Hyde by
night. As recently as the late 1990s, the government encouraged the formation
of tribal associations at our universities, with a goal not dissimilar to that
of the colonial government over five decades before.
What is however becoming clearer
with each passing day is that younger people, though aware of ethnic stereotypes
and prejudices, are more willing to test the waters and go against the ‘tribal
chieftain’, if only for the fun of it. Evidence of this will be seen in the
various ‘cultural’ associations which are really just covers for ethnic
political organisations. Majority of the people at the helm of these
organisations grew up before independence, and learnt their politics at the
feet of tribal chieftains.
They have emerged with
proclamations allowing younger post-independence politicians to lead their
tribal voting machines, in the hope that the youth will perpetuate the same
toxic environment they grew up in. The elders, by recycling the colonial ideas
of political expression by tribe, have demonstrated a form of cerebral
bankruptcy that is obviously irremediable.
The youth must seize the
opportunity and try to change this state of affairs in two possible ways.
Firstly, they could reject the wazees’ ideas and decide to organise
themselves around ideals that will truly shape the future of this country. This
they could do by joining political parties whose ideas they identify with, and
actively campaigning for positions within these parties in order to play a role
in realising those ideas both within their parties and in the country as a
whole.
This will progressively result in
a political system in which ideas count for more than tribe or gender.
Eventually, it will encourage politicians to formulate policies that they can
implement when they win elections, instead of focussing on tribal alliances whose
only goal is to place a few individuals in positions of power for their own
good.
Alternatively, young people could
join these tribal organisations en masse,
and convert them from political vehicles into true cultural associations geared
towards celebrating diversity and cohesion. They will thus have destroyed our political
dinosaurs’ last political vehicles, allowing them to hopefully fade into
oblivion and leave our nation in the hands of true leaders.
Dr Lukoye Atwoli is the Secretary, Kenya Psychiatric Association and a Lecturer, Moi University School of Medicine
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