Time to move the center of Kenyan politics from tribe to ideology

Despite Kenyan Gen-Zs describing themselves as tribe-less, many young people from the mountain have rallied behind impeached Deputy President, proving that ethnic loyalties always trump our nationalism. Given the ever present instability engendered by ceaseless tribal politics, the retreat to ethnic comfort zones by future generations is not only regrettable but a wakeup call for progressive Kenyans to change course.  

Equally troubling, impeachment of Rigathi Gachagua as Deputy President has triggered realignment of political forces along ethnic lines in anticipation of 2027 elections. Due to dwindling support in the mountain region, the President has brought together kingpins from large tribes in order to shore up his flagging numbers. Not to be outdone, the leader of the Wiper Party has sought to form an alliance with people from the mountain with a view of raising his stock in the vote rich region. To this end, he has shepherded the Kamba community to join the GEMA cultural association, hoping to leverage his Bantu roots to endear himself to the mountain. Considering how ganging up of communities against each other nearly caused civil war in 2007, not only is such tribal coalescing retrogressive but it also underlines the urgency of moving the centre of Kenyan politics from tribe to ideologies.

The fervour to find an ideology, however, died soon after independence with collapse of African socialism. Part of the failure was the fact that the founding fathers invested so much of their time on giving the new ideology an African identity that they overlooked the fact that cultures are dynamic. Accordingly, as newly independent nations took their place amongst family of nations, the African socialist experiment collapsed under pressure from external influences.

With 20/20 hindsight it is now apparent that the right approach would have been to create an ideology by focusing on the African consciousness that gives birth to the changing cultures and not the other way round. It stands to reason you cannot design an ideology to enable citizens to actualise to their full potential if you do not understand what makes your subjects tick in the first place.

Going forward, tribeless and progressive Kenyans yearning to escape the confinement of tribal politics have three options. The first option is to struggle like our founding fathers to evolve an indigenous ideology from scratch. The second option is to resign to the liberal ideology we inherited from our colonial experience. The third approach is to do both: accept liberal ideology as representing universal human values, including African.

In my view, the third option makes more sense and is more realistic. Although African intellectuals have historically frowned upon anyone adopting foreign ideas, the assumption that the continent can ward off external influences is not only unrealistic but ignorant of human nature. History shows that the human species has only advanced through replacing old ideas with new ones regardless of origin. Locally, this is exemplified by many Kenyan communities whose identity resulted from the communities they interacted with. According to this historical evidence, the rise of a contemporary sheng-speaking tribe-less Gen-Zs is therefore part of the natural evolution of Kenyan communities.

Actualise potential

So, how does the evolutionary view of Kenyans improve the prospects of shifting our obsession with identity politics? Firstly, the fact that Kenyans are continuously evolving makes it morally imperative for governments to protect the rights of citizens to exercise their freedoms. As J.S Mill in his seminal thesis argued, just like the rays of the sun are necessary for flowers to bloom, human beings must be given freedom to actualise their innate potentials.

More importantly, the people-centered ideology shifts the focus of Kenyan politics from the tribe to the nation. For any government seeking re-election, the primary standard of evaluation becomes its track record in protecting the rights of every Kenyan to exercise and enjoy their freedoms.  By the same token, the standard for evaluating presidential aspirants shifts to focusing on ability to protect the rights and freedoms of all citizens. 

Turning to economic policies, a people- centered ideology presents two competing philosophies. The first comprises those who believe the best way to protect individual freedoms is leaving the task of allocating resources to the government. In opposition are those who believe individual freedoms are best protected when you minimise the inefficient and corrupt visible hand of the government. In developed nations this ideological split gives way to a two-party system which Kenyan can also adopt.

As Francis Fukuyama has observed, at the end of history, all nations evolve into liberal democracies. As we celebrate 61 years of independence, it is time to recognise this human destiny and shift our political center from Murima to liberal ideologies.

The writer is an economist and political scientist