Participants during the Shujaaz Memorial concert held on July 7, 2024 at Uhuru Park in Nairobi.
I have written before in this column, and in my scholarship, that Kenya as a state isn’t irreversible. It’s a state in embryo, not fully a state. By which I mean that states become difficult to reverse when they attain full maturity. More on this later. Today I write to sound an alarm for our elites who are competing for power.
It’s very a herculean task to build a state, a country, and nation – but it’s very easy to dismantle one. In fact, a nation can be collapsed in one day though the process for its disintegration may have started years ago. Most African post-colonial states – the most fragile states anywhere – are easy prey for malign elites who don’t give a damn.
African post-colonial states of which Kenya is a prototype may be a mile long but an inch deep in terms of their legitimacy and political rotundity. That’s because most of them lack an internal logic for their existence. If we forget about jingoism and make-believe patriotism, Kenya is a very young state. It’s only 60 years old.
That’s a baby in terms of statehood. Before then, the state we today call Kenya was a British vassal and didn’t belong to the people we call Kenyans. It doesn’t matter that the people we today call Kenyans lived on this land for centuries. They weren’t Kenyans and didn’t identify as such. It’s only after 1964 that we started to build Kenya.
States become irreversible when they develop a national zeitgeist, a consciousness of identity that’s unique in the community of nations. This national identity binds states and nations together and gives them pride of place. It defines them against all others. It may be sewn together by historical ordeal, culture, religion, language, geography, or factors that forge bonds of kinship. This doesn’t mean every citizen is imbued with this zeitgeist, but it’s the case that it’s the national ethos which defines the vast majority. New immigrants are usually absorbed within this ethos, even as they expand, change, and enrich it. But its germ remains at the core of nationhood. That national character is largely fundamentally unalterable as a conceptual matter.
National character
That’s why even though America is so diverse, it’s clear what the basic fundaments of its national character are. A belief in the centrality of individualism, markets, exceptionalism, a deep degree of national arrogance, and a can-do philosophy among others combine with geography, English as a common medium, and the idea of a melting multinationalism make America what it is.
This, together with the idea of the continuous struggle for social justice, democracy, the rule of law, and inclusion define America. These normative ideas and values are forged into an intangible that allows you to pick out most Americans even from a large crowd. Mature states like France, Britain, and others exhibit this uniqueness and bonds of affinity.
In Kenya, we have been in the process of attempting to forge a Kenyan character since independence so that whether we are Somali, Kisii, Luo, Kamba, Mijikenda, Luhya, Kalenjin, Kikuyu, or whatever else we are, we can identify as one people at the most basic national level. I am afraid that we have largely failed to do so. We are still trapped in our tribal and racial cocoons. This is in contrast to Tanzania, for example, which has a clear national character. We still identify as members of our pre-colonial nationalities which are largely linguistic and ethnic. That’s how we’ve organized our politics and our state. Our elites thrive on these primeval identities to fleece us and the country.
We have had many egregious anti-national tribal groupings that stoke ethnic splitism and entitlement. Some of the most famous have been Gema, NAU (New Akamba Union), KAMATUSA, Luo Union, and others. These are not simply cultural groups. These are instruments of ethnic mobilization to acquire political power and dominance over other groups. This isn’t how one builds a nation out of disparate post-colonial nationalities.
Elevation of tribe
We have seen how Nigeria, Uganda, Liberia, Ethiopia, and so many other African states have come to the brink of extinction because of the elevation of the tribe among all other identities of nationhood. In Kenya, we must decide with purpose to live together in a just equitable society or we shall all perish together.
Now a warning. When Kenya Kwanza took over the state in 2022, then DP Rigathi Gachagua spoke nakedly about the imperative of the state to exclude those ethnic groups that didn’t not overwhelmingly vote for it. He spoke of Kenya as company limited by shares. This idea made most Kenyans sick. Ultimately, Mr. Gachagua was resoundingly impeached and removed from power for among other reasons being a tribal splitist. His level of ethnic chauvinism and entitlement was head-spinning. He continues to preach the same gospel of hate out of power. He, and others like him, may tear Kenya apart unless they cease and desist.
Makau Mutua is SUNY Distinguished Professor and Margaret W. Wong Professor at Buffalo Law School, The State University of New York. @makaumutua.
