It is the pot calling the kettle black
Meru Senator Mithika Linturi at Nakuru Law Courts on January 11, 2022. He was released on a Sh5 million bond with a surety of similar amount or an alternative cash bail of Sh2 million in his incitement case.
What you need to know:
- Ethnicism has led to a misguided belief that some communities are more highly placed than others and should, hence, dominate.
- The 2007/2008 post-election violence that almost led us to the precipice makes one lose sleep.
Politicians should know the danger of profiling when it comes to the rights of the citizens to be in any part of this republic. ‘Madoadoa’ (blemishes) or whatever name they would want to use in their haste to prove they are at the fore of their political vehicle brings out very bitter memories of failed leadership.
When it comes to patriotism, our political leaders have failed miserably to overcome negative ethnicity and tribalism. Listening to leaders at the heightened political rallies, it is disappointing to see the educated elite going back to those petty regional political alignments that have failed this country badly since Independence.
Profiling will make the nation crumble like a house of cards. Ethnicism has led to a misguided belief that some communities are more highly placed than others and should, hence, dominate. That has caused the destruction of countries.
The post-Tito Yugoslavia imploded because those who took over, led by Slobodan Milosevic, went after particular communities, whom they wanted to annihilate. The issue of the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar is another bitter pill to swallow and the consequences are not only shameful but a big blot in a civilised world. Nazi Germany is another case in point.
Post-election violence
Nearer home, the Tigray civil war, Dinka and Nuer exchanges in South Sudan, the Hutu and Tutsi hatred that almost wiped out Rwanda and Burundi, can be quoted. Not forgetting the case of the Bagandas and the Lango and Acholi ethnic communities in Uganda.
The 1990s tribal clashes in the Rift Valley and coastal regions are fresh in the mind. The 2007/2008 post-election violence that almost led us to the precipice makes one lose sleep.
We will swim or sink because of our leaders’ actions. They remind one of the kettle and pot fable. Being in the same furnace, neither should call the other black. Colonial boundaries are unfortunate. Let us integrate like the Tanzanians. Or, if the country burns, whom will they lead?
Mr Kigo is an environment officer in Nairobi County government. [email protected]
