By Million Bellay
Dear all, nearly ten years ago I was in Tharaka, Eastern Kenya, facilitating a meeting among teachers from five countries in Africa on how to integrate culture into the school system. In the end, some of my colleagues from Tharaka, including Zachary, invited me for a great Nyama Choma, roasted goat meat. It was one of the most delicious Nyama Chomas I’ve had. While we were exercising our carnivore selves, Chabari, head of RIDEP Kenya at that time, said: ‘Million, do you know that we will be having an erection in three months’ time?’ ‘What? ´ I stopped my teeth in mid-air, confused and smiling. ‘Yes, we will be having erection in three months’ time,’ he repeated.
Now laughing my eyes out, I asked, ‘why do you have to wait for three months to have an erection?’ Then they all understood why I was confused and we all laughed and laughed. Some Kenyans, and particularly Tharakans, interchange ‘l’ and ‘r’ and that was the cause of the confusion and fun.
That election in 2007, as you all know by now, ended in an ugly way. Kenyans washed their dirty linen out in the open and the repercussion of that event is still reverberating in the corridors of all African countries. The subsequent election divided the Kenyans along ethnic lines and those with the bigger population won.
Even though old enemies who attacked each other are now together in new coalitions, demonstrating that people can rise up above conflict and get together again, the configuration can change again and old enmity can come up. This is in the hands of few cleaver politicians.
I was in Nairobi last week and a re-run of the August Presidential election is coming. The two main parties are NASA and Jubilee. Both coalitions are largely along ethnic lines. What is worrying for me is that the opinion of Kenyans seems to be divided between the two parties along the same ethnic lines. They hate each other so passionately and, although you can find some groups looking at the big picture, for so many their opinion is based on which ethnic group they come from.
Although ethnicity per se can be good for keeping once culture alive and fight together marginalization by bigger ethnic groups, you have to transcend beyond it when it shows signs of embroiling the country into the path of social and economic havoc.
What shocked me more is that those who belong to NASA are even talking off secession. Maybe this is a small element but the talk is there and it is openly discussed.
I have a soft spot in my heart for Kenya, not only because I have so many great Kenyan brothers and sisters but as an Ethiopian, I am very grateful for what Kenya did for those who needed shelter in times of trouble for Ethiopians, serving as a passage to other countries.
If you think the mixing of ethnicity and politics is a Kenyan problem in Africa, you are wrong. My own country Ethiopia is descending into this same quagmire slowly but surely. I grew up in a place called Merkato in Addis and I had friends from most ethnic groups in Ethiopia. Even though my parents come from the two big ethnic groups in Ethiopia, the Oromo and the Amhara, I have never felt particularly akin to either of them.
I have always felt Ethiopian and still do. This does not mean that I condemn those who feel strongly about their ethnic identity. I might have done the same if I was born in one of the ethnic areas. But Ethiopia as a nation state was so deeply ingrained in every one of us until quite recently. Now even the most learned of friends of mine are falling into this endless pit. Think of countries like Nigeria, Cameroon, Uganda, Rwanda, and we see how ethnicity is ruling the day.
I feel that ethnicity is becoming one of the most present and immediate challenges to Africa. I know that the colonial rulers actively created these fissures, both when they were dividing and clumping countries when they apportioned Africa at the Berlin Conference (November 1884 – February 1885) to suit their ruling, and through actively creating dissent among ethnic groups to prolong their plunder. According to some, Colonialism in Kenya allocated different part of the country to different ethnic groups and this has exacerbated the situation. They are still doing that either overtly or covertly in some weaker but rich countries.
I think we need to fight this cancer really soon for so many reasons:
It will cost untold misery to human life. As we have seen so often, women and children pay the heaviest price for the stupidity and self-serving interest of the few.
It will slow our progress to democracy and freedom and opens us up to corrupt and rogue governments who use this situation for their own purpose. Those elites who see benefits will do anything to flame the situation.
It will divide those who could work together for human rights, biodiversity conservation, food system transformation, and so on and weaken the social movement.
It will make us forget that we are all in this together and the cultural, social and environmental fragmentation that will result will only make us weak and vulnerable to exploitation from both inside and out.
Kenya is too big and too dear to fail. Conflict in Kenya will hugely affect the lives of people in Eastern and central Africa. I think the people do not deserve this. I beg my Kenyan brothers and sisters to rise up to the occasion and judge their leaders, not with an ethnic lens but on the basis of their merit. I know most Kenyans are deeply committed to democracy and human rights and some are above this ethnic conundrum and I also know they passionately love their country, so it is important to rise up to the occasion and be leaders.
Please forgive me for saying this as I have limited understanding of your politics but I have been coming to Kenya almost every year for the past twenty or more years and I see the same politicians, simply changing parties and alliances. I do not feel that they are the ones who will bring the required fundamental change for both the people and the biosphere. I feel that there Kenya is calling for another party created to address issues rather than ethnicity.
Kenya has shown to Africa and the world for the first time that the Supreme Court can annul an election. That is a huge example and I was so happy when I heard the news. Not for the opposition which I have zero attachment to but for the exercise of the rule of law. It is a great example to those who trample on the law to keep holding to power. You Kenyans are capable of rising up to the occasion again and showing us that there are higher values than ethnicity when the question is about the survival of genuine democracy and your togetherness.
May God bless Kenya!
Million Bellay works for Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa
