Tribalism lives because…

By George Ngugi King’ara

Just when you thought the debate about what TRIBE means to
individuals in this country was over, about whether we should rid
ourselves of ‘tribal’ thoughts, a media item on politics brings
tribalism back to the top of our minds. I am thinking of the report on
the Prime Minister’s recent visit to Central Province. In some media
circles, the PM’s tour was seen as an attempt to woe the ‘Kikuyu
vote’. Elsewhere, a sports story highlights the significance of
tribalism in Kenya. Just this past week, one such story in a major
daily newspaper poked the readers’ attention by suggesting that
‘tribalism’ could bring excitement back to football.

Not too long ago, Michela Wrong released It’s Our Time to Eat: the
Story of a Kenyan Whistle Blower, an intensively researched book
that attempts to show how culture and tradition, both directly
connected to Tribe, obstruct individual Kenyans’ fight against
corruption. Wrong seems to suggest that each person’s freedom in
this country is deeply tied down by his or her tribal culture and
tradition. For this reason, individual Kenyan men and women are
unable to separate themselves from the wishes of their kin and the
demands of belonging to their tribe. So it is usually very hard for
individuals to fight corruption, for example, if their tribe does not
fully support them. The reason for this is because there are many
daily and routine acts that allow corruption in Kenya to be as
extensive as it is, and many of these acts are rooted in ‘culture’,
which is rooted in the tribe. So TRIBE in Kenya appears to be a very
relevant and complex concept. Let us keenly try to think why.

Tribe in Kenya appears to be the power or spirit that organises

many aspects of our lives, even before the State or government
identifies us—usually through an identity card. The spirit of Tribe
always existed as traditional African law on cultural rituals and rites
regarding death, inheritance, land ownership, inter-generational
social relationships, leadership and the positions of elders and youth
in society. The same spirit, or force if you will, controls how we
behave and relate with others in society. Unfortunately in Kenya, a
country with at least 42 tribes, many ‘tribal forces’ control how
different Kenyans from different regions understand themselves and
those among whom they live. I am talking about identity. The
question that currently nags us is whether we are our tribe or
Kenyan.

Recently, I spoke to one elder from Central Province about what

Tribe means in Kenya. The reason I chose him is because he has
been appointed as one of the province’s representatives in a
committee of ‘National Elders’, formed as part of the national
reconciliation initiative due to the violence we experienced after the
2007 general elections. The elder told me that after a fact finding
tour across the country in search of the real reason why the youth
contributed to most of the post-election violence, the committee
found that identity was at the heart of the matter. He suggests that
the youth are undergoing an ‘identity crisis’. This is why many
young people in different parts of the country were violent against
their fellow Kenyans, and the State in general. He adds that the
‘state identity’ in the youth is lacking. This means many young
people don’t see the state as significant in positively shaping their
lives. Rather, their tribe does. So such youths do not fully identify
themselves with Kenyanness. For them, the state (Kenya) appears
to interfere with the smooth happening of their lives rather than
improve it. Indeed, many young people complain that government—
the State—harasses them. The face of the State to these youths is
the police, an institution that has been accused of mistreating
citizens and sometimes violating their basic human rights.

For these reasons, it appears that many Kenyans have no concept of

‘Country’. They believe in Tribe. However, Tribe identifies people as
US and THEM. This way, people generally identify themselves as
belonging to a lineage—a kind of familial bloodline. They feel that
true support comes only from their kin, not the State. They feel that
when there is need for a blood transfusion, the first call is to family
as there is higher hope to find the ‘right’ blood type than outside it.
Because of tribe however, the element of suspicion about the
intentions of people from outside one’s tribe is high. People from
one tribe become concerned about ‘how will the State (other tribes)
make decisions that will directly affect my livelihood, and dreams?’

It appears that in Kenya TRIBE—and not COUNTRY—is more capable

of shaping us into all that we can be. Tribe affects the individual at a
very personal level. Tribe is touchable. Tribe is not mysterious. Tribe
has a face. Tribe is nurturing. Tribe has tradition and culture. Tribe is
the clear answer for many people to the question: ‘who I’m I?’ In
Kenya, ‘country’ is not these things—yet. Sadly, because of these
same reasons Tribe will remain a most frightening institution, until
the State (Kenya) becomes our trustee in shaping us into all we can
be.