The Politics of Tribe

Tribe has been at the heart our politics right from day one of self-government. Tribal loyalties have ensured that objective debate is nigh impossible as most political arguments inevitably turn tribal. This state of affairs has proved to be a safe haven for political 'villains' and a sure get out of jail free card for many a deviant politician.

The politics of tribe reared its ugly head in the last elections and brought our beloved country to the brink. At this time when the country was at the precipice, there emerged a consensus that tribe is truly our archilles heel (as if we didn't know it before). It is truly incredible that such a catastrophic turn of events was necessary to lead us to this 'realization'.

In light of the goings on in the political arena, little seems to have changed, the realization was only momentary and we are back to politics as usual, and unfortunately in Kenya that means the politics of tribe.
Instead of focusing on the immediate problems facing the country, 2012 chatter seems to interest politicians more than anything else. Everyone seems to be positioning themselves for a slice of political glory and tribal arithmetics are always the key factor in these machinations.

The IDP's have not even been resettled and politicians have the nerve to talk about elections. There should be a law against such mindless self-indulgence in the face of wide-spread suffering of a populace that just wanted to participate in peaceful elections.

Now, what's the point of this rant? It was really triggered by the justification offered by the Planning Minister on why Kenyans need to state their tribes in the forthcoming census. He stated that “ the census is aimed at helping the government in planning for realization of Vision 2030” .

I am no expert on this matter but I think tribe is irrelevant to planning and realising Vision 2030 objectives. The developmental needs of a Luo, Luhya, Kikuyu, Kalenjin etc are identical as far as I'm concerned (not a particularly ground breaking thought). I don't think different tribes have disparate developmental needs.

I would love to hear a more substantive justification for the need for tribal statistics because the cursory one provided by the minister does not wash. In any case I don't think there is any justification for tribal statistics in light of the position that our country finds itself in.

I admit that it may be interesting for purely statistical purposes to know the tribal constitution of the population but this can only be done in an atmosphere of political maturity where tribe is a non-issue.

Until such maturity is attained, tribe should be off struck off from the census questions!