The Tribal Scourge >> My Country's Dilemma (Part I)

More often than not I have always wondered when it all began. I love diversity; I actually believe it is one of God’s most beautiful inventions. When you learn to interact with people of a different kind, you realize just how rich our culture is and that each one of us regardless of our tribe has something unique to offer. I’ll take you back to the day you made your first cry: out of the womb into this world, we were all born bearing no name, no tribe without an identity.

 I choose to say: tribe is acquired not owned, for the few years I have spent in this continent and in this country, I have witnessed humanity grin at the mention of a different tribe that’s not theirs. Competition has become the order of the day; each tribe wants to position themselves as more superior to the other.

Tribal wars in Kenya have been in the recent past an issue that has destroyed our peace, our culture and our unity. We live in a society where; if we don’t speak the same tribe, then we’ve got no business whatsoever interacting with each other in a civilized manner. A world of “me, my, mine and our!” Kenya is a country of 42 tribes and it’s a complete fallacy if the dreams of a nation are housed in mere tribal groupings.
As I watched the just ended presidential debate, one of the aspirants stated that, (not in her exact words) ‘A poor man regardless of their tribe is still a poor man: there is no difference between them.’ We all suffer similar fate; go through similar experiences, despite our cultural differences.

Have you ever wondered when it all began? Humanity against humanity; tribe against tribe; we’ve fought each other I view my neighbour as my rival since we don’t come from the same tribe.

Distribution of resources, employment; have all been subject to conflict, reason being our reasoning/ thoughts have been clouded by this scourge. It distorts fair markets, denies rights of others and favours some group at the expense of others.  It also kills nationalism as some members feel that they are not part of the nation. It becomes important that Kenyans join hands together to fight this endemic devil.

That said: it’s about 17days to the elections, we’ve got our voters cards ready, a true sign of patriotism… but who will you vote for? Take a few minutes to think about it, what qualities does he/she possess? Write them down… and as you do so, I’m hoping that your conscience is clear.

The political sphere in Kenya has been corrupted by tribalism and even the elite have been blinded by this cancer… The fact is that most of us if not all make decisions based on tribe, we no longer look at issues! This notwithstanding, it has been engraved in our minds and thoughts; it’s become an issue that’s so difficult to deal with. Just as we came as infants and tribe existed, we die not with our tribe but our body.

Let’s get ourselves out of our tribal cocoons and stand together in unity with one another:  just as in the words of our national anthem: May we dwell in unity, Peace and liberty, Plenty be found within our borders....’ so be it!

 

Written By:

Dorcas Waringa

14^th February, 2013