Is the fall out of the elections a result of ethnic issues as reported by the international media? Find it out here put in a Kenyan Perspective.
The post election violence in Kenya has been labeled particularly by the international media as Ethnic instigated. This is absolutely wrong! From a Kenyan perspective and as a Kenyan I disagree with this hell bent notion. Ethnicity is not the primary causation of the recent post lection violence.
However, the reality is that Ethnicity is an issue only because our politics have been since independence organized regionally just like most of the rest of the world where you find that certain regions traditionally vote for or belong to a certain politically party. Unfortunately, though our regions happen to be predominantly occupied by a certain tribes. For instance, Nyanza province is predominantly occupied By Luo and Kisii tribes; Central province by Kikuyu tribe, Rift valley is home to Kalenjins, Turkanas, and Masai etc. Because of this organization which dates back to pre-colonial era (Divide and Rule by the colonial governments), ethnicity becomes an issue in cases where a dispute like the 2007 elections happens.
So to just say that the post election in Kenya is an ethnic product is inaccurate if not a malicious act by international media. The pre-conceived notion that Africans like to kill each other is baseless and an act of irresponsible journalism.
To put this in perspective, the post election violence was as a result of politics gone bad. People at each different regions felt shortchanged by the defective structures and as a result of irresponsible electoral officials (incompetence and abuse of office) people protested and took to streets.
Unfortunately God forbids, the political divisions turned their anger to each other, and as a result because the regions are historically organized ethnically, ethnicity partly played a role. The root cause was poor leadership and defective and weak systems. However, the reaction by Kenyans was not the right way to react and I hope people have learnt some lessons from that.
I have always maintained that any system that is vulnerable to manipulation, it doesn’t matter where it is in the world it will always be abused by the incumbent. Why? Coz human beings have a problem with power, as the good Lord Acton puts it “"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.”
So ethnicity is not an African problem or Kenyan problem. In this particular case, the international media reported irresponsibly its like saying that one morning a Luo woke up and decided to kill a kikuyu, or a Kalenjin woke up and decide to kill a Kisii or other 43 tribes in Kenya. No that is just not true!
It was like I said earlier a result of bad politics. This is not to ignore the suffering that occurred because of WRONG WAY OF REACTION by Kenyans themselves. But to plainly say that it ethnic motivated is hill informed.
The post election violence in Kenya has been labeled particularly by the international media as Ethnic instigated. This is absolutely wrong! From a Kenyan perspective and as a Kenyan I disagree with this hell bent notion. Ethnicity is not the primary causation of the recent post lection violence.
However, the reality is that Ethnicity is an issue only because our politics have been since independence organized regionally just like most of the rest of the world where you find that certain regions traditionally vote for or belong to a certain politically party. Unfortunately, though our regions happen to be predominantly occupied by a certain tribes. For instance, Nyanza province is predominantly occupied By Luo and Kisii tribes; Central province by Kikuyu tribe, Rift valley is home to Kalenjins, Turkanas, and Masai etc. Because of this organization which dates back to pre-colonial era (Divide and Rule by the colonial governments), ethnicity becomes an issue in cases where a dispute like the 2007 elections happens.
So to just say that the post election in Kenya is an ethnic product is inaccurate if not a malicious act by international media. The pre-conceived notion that Africans like to kill each other is baseless and an act of irresponsible journalism.
To put this in perspective, the post election violence was as a result of politics gone bad. People at each different regions felt shortchanged by the defective structures and as a result of irresponsible electoral officials (incompetence and abuse of office) people protested and took to streets.
Unfortunately God forbids, the political divisions turned their anger to each other, and as a result because the regions are historically organized ethnically, ethnicity partly played a role. The root cause was poor leadership and defective and weak systems. However, the reaction by Kenyans was not the right way to react and I hope people have learnt some lessons from that.
I have always maintained that any system that is vulnerable to manipulation, it doesn’t matter where it is in the world it will always be abused by the incumbent. Why? Coz human beings have a problem with power, as the good Lord Acton puts it “"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.”
So ethnicity is not an African problem or Kenyan problem. In this particular case, the international media reported irresponsibly its like saying that one morning a Luo woke up and decided to kill a kikuyu, or a Kalenjin woke up and decide to kill a Kisii or other 43 tribes in Kenya. No that is just not true!
It was like I said earlier a result of bad politics. This is not to ignore the suffering that occurred because of WRONG WAY OF REACTION by Kenyans themselves. But to plainly say that it ethnic motivated is hill informed.
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