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Councils of elders turned to ethnic mobilisation vehicles

Monday June 22 2020
talai

Talai Council of Elders vice-chairman Christopher Koyogi addresses journalists on June 12, 2020 when he faulted DP Ruto’s installation as the Kalenjin community’s kingpin. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

By TEE NGUGI

The nature and role of elders’ councils was once again brought to the fore by the debacle involving Kenya’s Deputy President William Ruto and the Talai council of elders.

A section of the council proclaimed him the tribal chieftain of the Kalenjin community only for another to disown the proclamation.

The crowning of an individual as a tribal chieftain has a long tradition in Africa’s post-independence history. The nationalists who came to power—Nkrumah of Ghana, Kenyatta of Kenya, Kamuzu Banda of Malawi—would be crowned tribal chiefs at elaborate ceremonies where symbols of tribal authority—such as leopard skins and flywhisks—were conferred on them. This ritual was not just symbolic.

As Ali Mazrui explains in an essay, modern presidents were transformed into kings. So we had the absurdity of having constitutions when in effect what we had were absolute monarchies.

Crowning of tribal chiefs today has a similar function. It elevates those so crowned from being subject to political opposition. It is an extra constitutional ritual with negative constitutional implications.

In a context bereft of ideology or principle, and where electoral competition is not among parties espousing different social and political philosophies, but between tribes and tribal chieftains, the ritual has become part of our political culture. But this is playing with fire.

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In Rwanda, politics of tribal competition led to the slaughter of a million people. We in Kenya periodically see this kind of violence.

Ethnic nationalism rests on the belief that members of the same ethnic community can only advance their political and economic interests if they stick together.

To engender this ethnic consciousness, tribal ideologues—often highly educated and widely travelled individuals—invoke customs and history of the tribe. They appeal to false notions of moral or intellectual superiority over other communities. And thus the proliferation of statements such as: “We Kikuyus or we Kambas.”

These statements do not only declare that we are different from you, they also subtly claim a superior culture.

Dangerously, tribal demagogues claim, either directly or by innuendo, that problems facing the community are caused by members of this or that community. Through half-truths, skewed historical references or outright falsehoods, tribal demagogues weave a narrative of persecution of the tribe.

Elders’ councils, whether Kalenjin, Kikuyu or Luo, have failed to be a progressive force in the creation of a new society based on the values of the 2010 constitution. Instead, they have become custodians of beliefs and customs that perpetuate gender discrimination and practices that often go against the rights of children.

More ominously, elders’ councils have become the means by which ethnic nationalism is fanned by politicians.

Council of elders can transform themselves from being instruments of ethnic mobilisation into bodies helping us to align cultural practices and beliefs with constitutional values.

Tee Ngugi is a Nairobi-based political commentator

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