Tribe Must Be Paramount

TRIBE MUST BE PARAMOUNT

There are many in Kenya who are of the opinion that tribalism is the germ, which is contaminating and hindering development. This is because we have not effectively used tribe and tribalism for our own good. For both have a potential of promoting our well being beyond imagination. We still love to blame it colonialist. Colonialists did what they and took off, full stop. It is now upon us to do everything in our power to turn what was supposed to be our fall to look like a mere slip. I hereby submit that turning to tribe will be the only solution to our political differences.

Kenyans have since independence been unable to forsake tribal allegiance for the benefit of the country. We all remember how it all started. Jaramogi insisted that Kenyatta be released from prison before any talk of independence could be considered. From there we all know what Kenyatta and the Kiambu Mafia did to Jaramogi and by extension the luos and non Mt. Kenya tribes when he assumed power. The same thing happened with Kibaki. They both used tribe and tribalism very negatively.

However, lets for a second assume that Kenyatta and co had channelled the energy used to alienate other tribes into the national development agenda. Would it not be great? I guess so, but only half way, for tribal affiliation and feeling cannot be easily channelled into the national agenda. Tribes are a contradiction in Kenya; they are an evil if your tribe is not in power and a benefit if your tribe is in power. The tribe in power always looks inwards i.e. to those around, who are usually people from of same tribe. In a situation where checks and balances are unheard of, it becomes time for harvesting from the government coffers.

Why have Kenyan disregarded tribal institutions? Why have we not accepted the fact that we are tribalists by nature? Is tribe not the only legitimate structure, which we had before wazungu brought their system? Why have we distanced ourselves from tribal structures, to extent that we think that they are evil. For one to have allegiance to the nation (Kenya), the benefits must outweigh those of belonging to a tribe. As Kenyans we are defined as citizens only on our IDs but our base is still tribe, in which we have our permanent roots. It as if Kenya has been forced upon us. Its as if all other tribes are intruders. At the same time we are do not want to be identified tribalists. Yes tribalism is what we practice everyday. We do not understand why other tribes should share with us “our country and our resources”. This schizophrenic national mind set permeates Kenyans and its denial only compounds the problem.It is therefore of great importance to have a constitution which rests its power on tribal institutions. It is from tribal structures which real power lies and not in governmental institutions which are for most part seen as intruding and eager to take away from or hinder development. It is for these very reasons most Kenyans supported the aborted BOMAS draft constitution and rejected the WAKO mongrel a.k.a known as the MKM constitution. The Bomas draft constitution attempts albeit obliquely to tackle the above problem. I don’t think that it would be far fetched, for the sake of unity to have all issues in the government decided by both tribal and national standards. It would not be out of this world if a parliament with two chambers had a chamber consisting of public officials who command the most reverence and support from each tribe. While the other would be more or less like the one we have today. This would balance negative tribalism. (Please do not tell me that this has not been tested anywhere in the world and for that reason should not be practiced in Kenya. When will Kenyans come up with original ideas if we only practice reverse engineering of the same?) It would therefore not matter if you came from a minority of majority tribe. In most western countries, the parliament has given equal power to different region, provinces, states as far as decision making is concerned. For they understand that there is a unique relationship between the region one hails from and the need to see it grow. In Kenya, we have adopted a constitution which lets the winner take it all.

The cause of our disunity is therefore the rejection of tribal structures. It is the reason why politicians cannot sit down and talk without wrangling, for everyone wants a piece of the cake. Na ukizuba tu hivi, wenzako watameza ule ugali pamoja na sufuria. It is for the same reason that every tribe wants to produce a president. Tribe must be paramount if we have to succeed. Lets go back to the drawing board. Na usiseme ati mimi ni mshamba ama mkabili.