One Charles Otieno after the August 2017 elections posted the following: "Kenyans are a hypocritical lot. Now they think that (Abduba) Dida is wise but cannot vote for him. In fact, Nairobians kicked Boniface Mwangi in the teeth after all the activism work. Now that we are tribal to the core why are Kikuyu and Luos still having sex with each other if they cannot vote beyond their tribes?"
He went on to advice those abusing friends from different tribes over elections that, by and by, we will all need each other for contributions ranging from pre-wedding, wedding, soft loans and even customers and finished by saying that, "Let us be measured in our perceived win or other loss. The good book tells us to watch our tongue!"
Kenyan elections come every five years in which time we are all friends in the first four years before we retreat to their tribal cocoons. We are tribes first, Kenyans next. When we do well in sports we all pretend to be Kenyans, dance together but if you check well people don't trust each other. This is mainly evident in Luo Nyanza and Central Kenya. The funny thing is people from these two regions inter-marry the most.
I grew up with some people who have been posting very dangerous things Online yet when we meet on social functions tribe never comes up. If you check their social media time lines you get shocked. This tribalism has become so bad that I know many Christians who don't even trust their preachers because they come from a certain tribe. The truth of the matter is some of these so-called church leaders are very tribal. For example why would one ban the song "Going to Canaan," from usual church Hymn because it was a political slogan?
Church leaders rarely push the agenda of tribalism during nominations and election time. They tend to go back to their tribes and come out later after elections to try and correct the situation but by then it becomes too late. Maybe the reason I find the church leaders tribal is because during our days being a Roman Catholic most of the church leaders were missionaries and had no tribal alignment. Most of us came to know about tribe when we started working.
I tell people that, being a businessman, I go to friends who I grew up with like Bernard Karuru, Noah Muga, John Gicaci and Abdul. What Kenyans should know is that the common denominator is money and life. These friends even joke that when times come to transport me for burial I will have to be flown out so that I don't get confused being a born city and might decide not to get out of the coffin.
I would like to remind the youth who are hardly 18 and posting dangerous tribal posts on their online timelines. Remember many people are reading your posts and these days most employers go through social media handles before hiring. Just like posting nudes, posting tribal hateful messages will one time be your main undoing. Out there life is about connections and not tribes. The only tribes that exist here are two: the rich and the poor. This people fighting politically have known each other for years and actually call each other and dish out deals to each other. So don't be blinded. Life is too short to start hating other people because of their tribes.
ojiamboainea@yahoo.com
@AineaOjiambo
