Commentary (by Rasna Warah) - We all belong to one ethnic group known as Kenya

Ref: http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=25&newsid=118666
Story by RASNA WARAH
Publication Date: 3/10/2008

BECAUSE KENYANS WERE robbed of a reason to celebrate New Year’s Day, they decided to celebrate the day on February 29, the day after President Kibaki and Mr Raila Odinga agreed to form a coalition government that would fundamentally change the way the country is governed.

After two tense months that were marked by killings and mayhem across the country, the changed mood in Kenya was palpable: workmates and neighbours belonging to different ethnic groups or political parties who had ignored each other for weeks began talking to each other again.

“Happy New Year” greetings could be heard everywhere — in bars, on the streets, even in matatus.

However, unlike the jubilation that followed the landslide victory of the Narc government in 2002, this year’s celebrations were rather muted. This is perfectly understandable given the levels of trauma experienced in the country since December 30.

Hundreds of Kenyans are still mourning the loss of their loved ones who were killed during the clashes and hundreds of thousands of Kenyans are still living in camps, having lost not just their homes, but their sources of livelihood as well.

Those who were not physically affected suffered other kinds of emotional trauma. Most Kenyans have felt the effects of ethnic animosity and hatred since the elections in subtle and not so subtle ways.

The biggest casualty during the crisis was Kenyans’ sense of nationhood, of belonging to one ethnic group called Kenya. This loss is immeasurable and will haunt us for years to come.

But it may not be too late to reverse the situation. The true test of our leaders will be whether they can forge a national identity in a country that is deeply divided ethnically.

Unfortunately, we are yet to see signs of this happening. Already politicians and their lackeys are talking about which group will get which post, and whether more posts should be created to accommodate all of the country’s 42 ethnic communities.

I am all for diversity and proportional representation in public service jobs. What I object to is the myth perpetuated by Kenyan politicians that a position in Government automatically leads to prosperity among all members of the ethnic group to which the politician belongs.

Ask a Luo peasant in Nyanza whether having a Government minister from his community helped him put more food on the table, and I can bet you anything that the answer will be “No”.

Similarly, having a Kikuyu as president did little to improve the living conditions of the hundreds of Kikuyus living in Mathare and Kibera.

WHILE IT IS TRUE THAT THE enormous powers bestowed on past presidents gave them unlimited access to public resources which they often used to benefit their own communities, evidence suggests that most used their powers, not to benefit whole regions or ethnic groups, but certain cliques within them.

But they created the illusion — a sort of grand deception — that made millions of Kenyans believe that having a member of their own ethnic group in power would miraculously transform their lives. To maintain this illusion, it was necessary for politicians to keep Kenyans ethnically divided.

As Karuti Kanyinga, a researcher at the Institute of Development Studies, has pointed out, the loyalists who took over the reins of government after independence were not keen on de-tribalising the country; their main concern was de-racialisation of the state because racial institutions prevented them from accessing state power.

The interests of this group thus coincided with the interests of the departing colonial settlers, which was to concentrate power and resources among themselves.

The de-ethnicisation of politics should be one of the first tasks of the new coalition government. Another is to change the way people view ethnicity.

Because of their colonial history, most Kenyans have a love-hate relationship with ethnic identity. On the one hand, those aspiring to be modern and upwardly-mobile actively disassociate themselves from their ethnic identity — they discourage their children from learning their mother tongue and spend years practising to remove traces of their ethnic accents when speaking English.

On the other hand, these are the same people who will make ethnicity the main consideration when making appointments and will close their eyes when a member of their own ethnic group is caught with his or her hand in the till.

Ethnic identity itself is not a bad thing. People’s ethnic identity is part of their cultural heritage, and should be a source of pride. But when ethnic identity is used to suppress or exclude people, it becomes oppressive.

If we, as a nation, can reconcile our ethnic identities with our common aspirations as one nation, then we will truly have a reason to celebrate this year.

The proposed establishment of an Ethnic Relations Commission, is therefore, a welcome development.

Ms Warah is an editor with the UN. The views expressed here are her own and do not necessarily reflect those of the United Nations.