The Enemy-Kikuyus in the Kenyans Poltical Thinking

By Charles Aketch(charl.chotto@gmail.com)

"It baffles me a lot, and leaves me wondering why kikuyus can never vote for any other tribe in this country! One school of thought say the house of mumbi took an oath while facing mount Kenya, well I don't know how far is that true, but even if, don't we have those born again people? This is not democracy, and it only harms the efforts to contain tribalism in this country. When Raila declared Kibaki tosha, for a while we lived like brothers and sisters, but not until he some clique of guys from mount Kenya started surrounding our beloved president in the name of pumping sense into his head. We all came from Adam and Eve and we all have a common destiny...."from a Facebook's user's wall

From the above opinionated expression,like many others doing rounds in the social media and in groups of individuals' conversation,it appears that the KIKUYU tribe is one big anti-change,anti-good force in Kenya that must be slain.The Kikuyus seem like the enemy of the Kenyan public.But is this true?The accusation leveled against them of not voting for anyone outside central Kenya could be true.However,this has been in the past,and it doesn't mean that the same needs to happen in the upcoming elections.Circumstances in nations and waves of opinions that shape peoples' behaviour are never constant.Things change,and perhaps they have changed too.

Even so,what we are getting from such like above discourse is a pervasive and forcefully maligning statements directed towards one group which has the lethal effect of marginalizing and endangering these group in the public eye.It threatens their mutual interest whose very effect is the protective instinct of making sure by all means that the next president is from amongst them hence fulfilling the adage that they don't vote for any one from outside their tribe.

The assertion that the Kikuyus never vote for anyone outside their  tribe,might be true but to some extent it is a generalized stereotypical statement that is prejudicial in nature and they do us no good rather than destroy the unity and trust we so dearly need to develop amongst the Kenyan masses.

Those peddling these romours need to stop and maybe think of the psycho-social factors that might have prompted the Gikuyus to be the way people allege them to be.When almost in every general elections in kenya,the Kikuyus are the subjected of political discourse and mammoth disposal outcry with all the arsenal gathered and aimed towards their downfall,dont they have a right to be scared?It is a simple fact that the Kikuyus could be a threatened lot.With this fear they might be predisposed to act in a manner to put away all their perceived enemies,for example Raila Odinga.

Some of the Kikuyus might have fear of Raila Odinga,but that does not make them enemies of those who believe Odinga is fit is to become Kenya's fourth president.In the world history,people have rejected many things that have been potentially good due to the fear of the unknown in it since it is new.People fear change,and most of the time people react with fear and violence to change and things they less understand(Parish-The villain in the TV series"Alphas").

What we need to do with Kikuyus is not to corner them with ridicule and tongue lashing but to embrace them and offer them an assurance that all is well and is going to be well whether a Kikuyu or a non-Kikuyu president is in office.

They are not, enemies of Raila or Kenya or change or any other tribe in Kenya as others would want to imply.We are all one people only with slightly subtle differences in concerns,ambitious and expectation that do not necessarily put us worlds apart.Any other diatribe must be ignored.