“Kikuyus for Change” an Ethnic Package
In as much as I would applaud your initiative, I do have serious concerns as to whether much thought has gone into the sociopolitical message you seek to impart.
Firstly, why the “kikuyusforchange” label? Granted, your members may share the same ethnic background, but in my opinion you are only perpetuating the same tribal packaging that Kenyans have seen over the years. Is this not stereotyping per se? Regardless of the agenda your organization has, or purports to have, why shouldn’t Kenyans view “kikuyusforchange” as an attempt at introducing a new generation GEMA? After all, your choice of members automatically excludes the rest of the 41 peoples of our country.
The root cause of Kenya’s woes is not tribalism, but poverty and ignorance. Tribalism is but a by-product since this is the only way Kenyans can identify with each other. People tend to cling onto the familiar (read tribe) when the going gets tough and rough. That Kenyan politicians take advantage of this phenomenon is not surprising since the political elite in Kenya are parasitical in nature. By playing on ignorance and “we are poor and suffer because that tribe exists” type of tripe, they have managed to perfect and strengthen their hold onto to both political and economic power. To ask them to desist using the tribal card in their aspirations to even greater power, is like asking a tick to stop looking for hosts on which to feed. The tick must feed or perish. Let us not be hypocrites or stop our heads in the sand like the Ostrich. Kenya has two tribes, the haves and the have-nots. There’s no middle ground.
In my opinion, our quest as Kenyans should be to educate and fight poverty at the grass-root level. By doing so, especially if we do so multi-ethnically, we will crash the myths of tribal supremacy and inferiority. How to best go about this is anyone’s guess and I would not be so presumptuous as to claim that I have all the answers. But the truth is out there and the dream can be reality. It’s just the other day a man captured the imagination of the world by his call of “Yes we can”. Dare we tread where he has trodden? Follow in his nyayo (footsteps)?
Therefore my unsolicited advice to you brethren of “kikuyusforchange” is to regroup and revaluate your message to Kenya. May you strive to and show us the way to become Kenyans for Change.
Milton Muigai
STOCKHOLM
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Despite Mwai Kibake’s stated commitment to operate a meritocracy with regard to the diversity of Kenya, his appointments to the most sensitive and crucial offices have been biased towards members of a Kikuyu oligarchy, write Maina Kiai and Paul Muite.
Calling for their fellow Kikuyus to abandon ‘blind ethnic loyalty to decisions made by some wealthy old men’ who have ‘nothing but disdain for the majority of Kikuyu, who are poor and struggling’, Kiai and Muite reject the elevation of ethnicity ‘beyond all other identities and interests’ in favour of a national outlook and perspective.
‘For us, it does not matter what ethnic group the leadership comes from: We expect and demand a government which has the interests of the nation at heart, which is fair, honest, effective, accountable and transparent. And we expect the government to follow the law, especially with regard to human life, and fundamental rights’.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/55791
I could be wrong, but after reading the “Kikuyuforchange” agenda, I feel that they want to reverse the stereotypes and other tags that have been accorded the Kikuyu community in general for many years. It is sometimes not wrong to reflect upon one’s inner weaknesses (from within) in order to right them.