Tolerance is the Answer, What was the Question?

Kenyans are probably the most politically conscious Africans. We are overtly political and spend a better part of our time when awake eating, drinking and even sleeping politics. Tribalism remains the hottest and most emotive of all our political talks and indulge into it with all the passion and vitriol depending on whom we are defending or vilifying.

Faint hearts would better not dare mention this smouldering topic leave alone risking the predictable bile and wasted emotions that overwhelm them from detractors wishing to differ with their point and opinions. But which is a lesser devil? Leave the virus go virulent or diagnose the malady and treat the cancer by clipping its potential mutations? Your guess is as good as mine, we must soil our hand to shame this primitive trait cast on us by selfish politicians and leaders.

An example is the ever green Kikuyu question which is a problem that is symbolically Kenyan. These guys constitute a nonignorable proportion (>20%) of our population. Their presence is felt (positively and otherwise) everywhere in all spheres of Kenyans' lives. And is the genesis of the wider problem.

At the risk of being branded insensitive, you will find more Kikuyus than any other bodies in any cosmopolitan morgue. These guys are every where and very hard working only that few take this attribute a step higher to the realms of 'hell for leather' - success at all costs. That is where they lose the plot with all the marks.

Unity in diversity is an overused catch phrase that is rarely understood. All are born equal and any claim of superiority only succeeds in isolating you from those whose shoulders you need to go both up and down. One would hate to imagine what the magnitude of tribal tension would be were Kenyatta to live longer?

The ever-smouldering Luo-Kikuyu divide remains a source of cheap stereotypes with some bordering on the absurd. Ask a Kikuyu bandying village bile at his Luo counterpart what is beef is and you can bet your last breathe that no honest nor factual reason will be advanced. Theirs is a generation smarting from the burden of inherited hatred courtesy of Jomo Kenyatta's political propaganda against Oginga Odinga. Why would a whole generation, majority of them born after Jomo died, inherit hatred propagated by politicians for expediency and packaged as unity call to protect our own?

If the Luos suffer from political herd mentality, then the Kuks suffer the same weaned on inherited tribal jingoism and hatred. The lake chaps have no moral grounds either to be herded like omena into one political sack. They must liberate themselves from those preying on their vulnerability.

Jaramogi was both a saint and devil (no stones please). He was objective enough to deny himself political seat for the wider good, Jomo's release. But he lost it by playing into old Jomo's hands to herd the Luos into a pack of rebels which they are still smarting from as the Kuks re-awakes Jomo's tribal spirits.

The truth is, you are naive to ignore the Luos and Kuks in Kenyan politics. But that said, these chaps must measure to civilized politics and stop practising the cheap brand of yore. You don't add any value to your persona by supping with the critic to your enemy, or do you?

We need each other and one more enemy is one too many. We must not mistake bravado, brinkmanship and fraud for entrepreneurship. Comparing them is not any different from the cheap types comparing Prof. Maathai's Nobel prize and Raila's hummer. It is comparison based on ignorance and the wrong premise.

The truism that him who is not travelled considers his mum the best cook couldn't be more apt in capturing the origins of our tribal posturing. Heightened tribalism can be latently traced to our education system. It is not an exaggeration to claim that some very bright Kenyans had problems adjusting to campus life after attending Ndethia primary and Ndethia secondary schools (due respect folks).

Being the village Stephen Hawkins may inadvertently go into your head while you remain oblivious of the fact that people from other cultures demand some decorum from your bravado. To such a guy, circumcision of the mind is a distant priority to chopping his foreskin. If only one would be a live to the fact that more than 75% of men the world over are not circumcised?

It is a global village and I must shed a tear for our Tz brothers and sisters. Like it hate it, Tanzanians have their strength in unity and lack of tribal tensions. It is both in bad faith and insensitive to pour scorn on your neighbour whom you have no luxury of choosing. By the way those chaps sense of 'upole' and mannerisms our capitalistic (read grabbing) endeavours resemble a mad rush among apes in the park unless to you trophy acquisition justifies the spilt blood.

Kenya remains just big enough for the accommodative many but also too small for the selfish few. We need each other and let us not fall prey to scoundrels who pass as politicians in tribal chiefs’ gabs. And we better act now for tomorrow might be too late. I rest my case.