Elections and tribalism in Kenya

Tribalism has always been a factor in Kenyan elections. Ever since the independence elections in 1963, Kenyans have tended to group themselves in cluster of likeminded tribes to win elections in order to implement certain philosophies. Just before independence the two major political parties were in fact based of differences in beliefs in governance and distribution of national wealth. The Kenya African National Union, the party of Jomo Kenyatta, Oginga Odinga, Tom Mboya and James Gichuru, believed in unitary government with a powerful president who would govern in an independent republic.

The party was overwhelmingly supported by Kikuyus, Embus and Merus including almost all the radical freedom fighters backed by virtually all the Luos. Basically it was a party of Kikuyus and Luos whose leaders openly campaigned for getting the land back from white settlers and giving it to the wananchi who were then living in villages and settlement schemes known as reserves for Africans. Even in urban areas there were specific locations and estates reserved for Africans. In Nairobi, for instance, Africans were all living in Eastland in estates which are still there today such as Majengo, Kariokor, Shauri Moyo, Bahati and Kaloleni.

White settlers were terrified by Kanu leadership particularly that of Raila’s father Jaramogi Oginga Odinga who had close ties with communist China and the Soviet Union. The settlers believed their land would automatically be nationalised by the ex-Mau Mau leaders and “communists” of Kanu. Backed by the colonial government the settler community mobilized African political leaders outside the Kikuyu and Luo ethnic groups and made them form a national political party that would not only protect the settlers and their land but would also guarantee that Kenya would never be a communist dictatorship like that in Ghana under Kwame Nkrumah.

 With such absurd beliefs the settlers made the so called small tribes unite to form the Kenya African Democratic Union. In the party were communities from the Kalenjin, Miji Kenda, Luhya and the Masai ethnic groups among other smaller communities. It is therefore quite fair to say that the first elections in independent Kenya in 1963 were, for all practical purposes, a contest between Kikuyus and Luos on one hand and the rest of Kenyans on the other. The Kambas under Paul Ngei had formed their own party known as the African People’s Union, which Tom Mboya referred to jocularly as the Akamba People’s Union. Be that as it may, the tribalism in the 1963 elections was, paradoxically, also based on very fundamental policy differences.

Kadu was for a federal system of Government, a two chamber legislature that would include the Senate, a House of Representative and powerful regional Governments that controlled important policy issues concerning land and administration including the police. All these provisions were in fact contained in the first majimbo constitution which was accepted by Kanu in order to attain independence from the British as quickly as possible. Only three years after independence the country was faced with new elections in 1966 which were known as “The Little General Elections”.

The elections were necessitated by Jaramogi Odinga’s formation of his own party, the Kenya People’s Union. The new party was formed on April 14, 1966 when Jaramogi openly disagreed with Kenyatta’s policies that had started creating a class of rich Africans whose sole aim was to grab property and wealth. Jaramogi was joined by 28 members of Parliament and the Senate –a move that made Kenyatta, backed by Kanu’s Secretary General Tom Mboya and the Attorney General Charles Njonjo, come up with a constitutional amendment that discouraged MPs and Senators from joining Jaramogi’s party.

The amendment was among the first few that changed the country from a federal state of majimboism into a strong unitary Government of a Republic that virtually made Jomo Kenyatta a legally constituted despot. The constitutional amendment that led to The Little General Election was passed in 1966 and required any MP who resigned from the political party that sponsored him in a winning election to also resign from his parliamentary seat and seek fresh mandate from the voters. All the 28 MPs and Senators who backed Jaramogi’s KPU had to vacate their seats in the Legislature and face the electorate. It so happens that all the Luo MPs from Nyanza resigned to seek new mandate from voters.

The significance of The Little General Elections was that they facilitated the first opportunity to form a tribal group to win an election. All the Luo MPs, united under Jaramogi, were forced by circumstances created by the Government, to gang up behind Raila’s father. It was also the second time when Luos as a group joined hands to win an election. By allowing Parliament to be used as a rubberstamp Kenya had passed four draconian laws when in 1969 the next elections took place.

Though legally the country allowed the existence of a multiparty democracy the elections were probably the first in which only Kanu was the party that really mattered in the country. Kenyatta was a fully-fledged dictator after Parliament had passed the Preservation of Public Security Act of 1966, which provided for the declaration of state of emergency and for detention without trial. The second draconian law that had been passed was in fact a constitution amendment which legalised detention without trial in 1966; the third law which strengthened Kenyatta’s hand as a dictator was also a constitution amendment which required parliamentary candidates to be nominated by a registered political party in 1968.

The fourth one was also a constitution amendment which also required presidential candidates to be nominated by a registered political party in 1968. Though the animosity between Luos and Kikuyus was strong in the 1969 elections, the polls cannot quite be said to have been influenced by tribal loyalties as the ruling party Kanu had consolidated its powers all over the country. Except for the campaign in Nyanza, candidates in the rest of the country were competing to show how loyal they were to Jomo Kenyatta. By the time the country was ready for the next elections in 1974 corruption and nepotism were rampant in the country.

There was no doubt that Kenya’s Government was controlled by powerful Kikuyu technocrats and indeed politician. The only tribal organisation in the country that was so powerful was Gema which determined who was cleared to stand for election. No one was allowed to contest in those elections if he was not a life member of Kanu. Tribalism in politics was personified by Gema. The next elections took place in 1979 after Jomo Kenyatta’s death on August 22, 1978. President Daniel arap Moi’s main preoccupation was to step into Kenyatta’s shoes. He therefore declared he would follow in the departed old man’s shoes by announcing his Nyayo philosophy.

The elections were mainly characterized by internal Kanu struggles to win Moi’s closeness and favours. With Kanu as the only party in the country there was little tribal animosity in these elections. With his position as the country’s President firmly secure, Moi had banned the entire tribal organisation when the next elections in 1983 took place. Needless to say his main target was Gema but when it disappeared other tribal organisations which were not so political also had to go. These included the Abaluhya East Africa, Luo East Africa and the New Akamba Union.

 Though Moi took a deliberate effort to abolish tribal organisation he very carefully selected some well-respected tribal leaders in their own communities to become his sycophants. These include Sharif Nassir from the Coast, Kariuki Chotara from the Kikuyu community, Mulu Mutisya from the Kamba people, and Moses Mudavadi from the Abaluhya, William ole Ntimama from the Masai and Ezekiel Bargatuny from the Kalenjins. What was noteworthy about the 1983 elections was the fact that the country was by law a one party state. The intra tribal rivalries were only based on who would be closer and more loyal to the dictatorial leader of the ruling party.

The next elections in 1988 found Moi in full dictatorial control of the country. He abolished secret ballots in election and introduced the infamous mlolongo polls. These were followed by the first multi-party elections in 1992 in which tribal clashes became rampant in the Rift Valley. President Moi who contested as the Kanu candidates is accused of organising tribal clashes in the Rift Valley in which Kikuyus, Luos and Luhyas were attacked by the Kalenjins and faulted of being “aliens”. Because of a very big number of tribally organised political parties Moi won the 1997 election too.

When Kenyans forgot tribal affiliation in the 2002 elections, Kanu’s Uhuru Kenyatta was defeated by Mwai Kibaki’s National Rainbow coalition. Many will argue that the 2007 elections became violent because Kenyans had once again organised themselves along tribal line. That mistake is about to be repeated again either this year or next year when the next elections take place.