Kenya at 50 - Celebrating Kenya's 50th birthday and the many faces of Kenya

Jammu Africa said:
So if somebody talks of tribalism in Kenya,,,,i fail to understand what they
are talking about.
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Not only in politics
Go to churches in Kenya you will see the picture of tribalism that is there depending who is the leader of that church the rest of members will come from the tribe of the leader
Go in employments check when CEO is a Kikuyu or Jaluo what is there what happens in the organization who will be the the majority employees from which tribe
Go to marriages see the first class tribalism in its true color in operation
Go to newspapers and radio stations there are many that are tribal
Go to bars belonging to a Kamba,kikuyu or Luo and see who are majority customers there and what songs are played in that bar or even when a music band is invited check it will use what tribal language
Tribalism is everywhere except in the matatu and in mosques.
 
Jammu Africa said:
Tribalism is always,,manifested during elections times,,or when a politician wants,,
to achieve something,,selfish.

But on other normal times,,,we are all together.

As i say many times,,that,,,you will never see a street,,in Kenya,,,for Luo only,,for
Kalenjin,,,shops for Kikuyus,,Matatus for Kambas,,,hospitals for Masais only.

If i get sick,,while in Kisumu,,,i will comfortably go the hospital there and get treatment
without one worrying about my tribe.

My first teacher,,many years ago,,,was a Luo lady,,,one who taught me,,the
first colors,,,green, blue,red,,i still remember.

Today,,,i have interacted with almost all tribes of Kenya.

So if somebody talks of tribalism in Kenya,,,,i fail to understand what they
are talking about.
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You are right.
 

....GINIWASEKAO!!!

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KENYA@50: THE LONG ROAD TO KENYA'S INDEPENDENCE

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Kenyan nationalism first started in 1921 just after the First World War. It was all because of land. Thousands of Kenyans had served in the war, either as soldiers or porters and many had died or killed in the battle.

At the end of the war there were bad times for everyone following the economic depression that followed, not only in Africa, but also in Europe. The world had spent its money on four years fighting and it was poorer than before.

Nearly two out of three Europeans in Kenya had joined the army, leaving behind their farms. Upon their return, their farms had gone back to bush, and their cattle had died from diseases or hunger. Those who were lucky to come back found that all the work they had done prior to the war had been thrown away and they had to start all over again.
Out of desperation, the settlers joined together and agreed to cut the pay of all their African workers by one third. In taking the decision, they hoped the colonial government would agree to cut the pay of its own African workers in the same way.

But things were not that simple. The colonial government was in problems of its own and was unwilling to force people to work. It was registering Kenyans and making them carry around the kipande. The government had put a system of recruitment of labour control and registration system. Labour was controlled throughout the territory after 1920 by the South African fingerprinting method. Every man had to be finger-printed and carry Kipande on which were his biodata: fingerprints, name, tribe, his employer and wages he received.

Africans chose to leave the farms rather than work for something less. Since Europeans settlers had joined together to reduce wages, Africans had for the first time joined hands to resist. Their leader was a certain Harry Thuku, a Kikuyu working as a telephone operator in the Treasury in the colonial government.

Thuku's action changed Kenya's political scene dramatically. Nothing would be the same again. He would soon be arrested by the colonial government and gaoled in Kismayo. It goes without saying that it is Harry Thuku who brought out Kenya Africans politics in the open.

In choosing to take on the colonial government, Thuku was following a well beaten path. There were Nandi Laibons like Arap Turugar who had earlier on in the 19 century prophesied the coming of the white man and advised his people to resist colonialists. Arap Kimnyolei had also prophesied and predicted as much which would later explain the Nandi resistance during the construction of the railway line. Chief Ngunju wa Gakere of Nyeri was deported from Nyeri in 1902 after he raised a militia and fought against the british army.

Others were Me Katilili wa Menza,Wanje wa Madori,Moraa wa Ngiti all who were at different times deported due to their involvement in the resistance against the colonial rule.

Thuku's dramatic entry would bring new dynamics to the resistance. Through the formation of YKA and later Kikuyu Central Association, he would motivate Africans to form different associations to express their grievances. Among the leading associations were the Kikuyu Central Association, the Kenya African Union and the North Kavirondo Central Association. But the colonial administration responded by banning some of these associations, which were seen to be organising resistance.

While the colonial government allowed the formation of organisations deemed to be concerned with people's welfare, it refused to register political associations and the few that were allowed to operate had their activities restricted to the ethnic territories of their founder members. This prevented consolidation of a national movement against the colonial regime.

But soon, there was a more organised uprising in the name of Mau Mau – a peasant uprising whose grievances were land alienation, forced labour and the "Kipande" system.It is during this uprising that the colonial state further divided the Kenyan people along ethnic lines.

In 1952, the government declared a state of emergency. Many political activists were arrested and jailed. The most memorable are the famous Kapenguria six who were Jomo Kenyatta, Achieng Oneko, Paul Ngei, Bildad Kaggia, Fred Kubai and Kungu Karumba.

Oneko became the first secretary general of Kenya African Union, the precursor of Kanu upon its launch in 1947.

Kaggia was conscripted for the war and was involved in action in Israel, and Britain. He was promoted and became a sergeant major. After his discharge he became disillusioned with colonial institutions. He quickly formed the Forty Group and Dini ya Kaggia movements to counter colonial deprivation and the influence of the white missionaries.

Kubai was a trade unionist. With time he became a key leader in thre trade union movement and an organiser with Markham Singh where they are credited with successfully organising the 1946 Dock Workers Strike in Mombasa to demand better working conditions for employees.

Kungu Karumba was not involved in politics at the time he was arrested and tried along the other five. He was involved in transport business which he returned to after his release. Karumba went missing while on a business trip to Uganda in 1974. When he was declared missing, no explanation was forthcoming from the Ugandan authorities on what could have happened to the 70-year-old businessman. He was only to be declared dead on the expiry of the mandatory seven years after which a missing person is legally proclaimed dead.

Paul Ngei initially opted for a military career, joining the King's African Rifles, but found that his rebellious nature was not compatible with Army discipline. Having studied drama at Makerere, he tried his hand at acting, gaining a small part in the feature film, Where No Vultures Fly (1951), which starred Anthony Steel and Dinah Sheridan.
He moved to journalism, joining the East African Standard before starting his own Swahili-language newspaper. This was the era of political awakening in Kenya, and Ngei found himself drawn into politics. He joined the executive of the Kenyan African National Union (Kanu), which was to become the ruling party; his involvement led to his arrest at the outbreak of the Mau Mau insurgency.

On his release, Ngei briefly fell out with the Kanu leadership and formed his own party, the African Peoples' Party (APP). This was short-lived; it disbanded when he was persuaded to re-join Kanu as it came to power under Kenyatta. Ngei's first government job was as chairman of the Maize Marketing Board and within a year, he was appointed to the cabinet as Minister of Co-operatives and Marketing.

Nevertheless, the struggle for independence had already gained momentum and in the late 1950s, the colonial administration yielded to pressure and allowed the formation of political parties. Consequently, two main parties – Kanu and the Kenya African Democratic Union (Kadu) – emerged in 1960.

Kanu had refused to form the country's first independent government, insisting it would only do so after its leader, Jomo Kenyatta, was released from detention. This refusal had ushered in a brief period of power for Kadu that was now threatened by the re-entry into the race of Kanu, which had the largest following across the country's political parties, supported by the country's two largest tribes, the Kikuyu and Luo.

Kadu was identified with the smaller tribes, as an alliance that included Masinde Muliro's Kenya African People's Party, the Kalenjin Political Alliance led by Daniel Arap Moi and Taaita Towett, the Maasai United Front led by J Ole Tipis, the Coast African People's Party headed by Ronald Ngala, and the Somali National Association.

Jaramogi Oginga Odinga was a charismatic freedom fighter, progressive nationalist, Pan-Africanist who became a prominent figure in Kenya's struggle for independence.
He joined politics in 1947, when he was elected a member of Kenya's legislative council as a representative of Central Nyanza. He was a member of Kanu, the political group that enjoyed nationwide support. After Kenyatta was jailed in 1953 for being a member of Mau Mau, Jaramogi became one of the most outspoken resistance leaders calling for his release.

A unified African delegation attended and accepted the conference's decisions as a step on the path to independence. But when the delegates returned to Kenya, rivalries shattered the unity of the African politicians, with Odinga emerging as one of the leaders of the radical group of dissatisfied Africans. Odinga and other members of the legislative council formed Kanu. The other major African party was Kadu. Odinga's Kanu used its strong showing in the 1961 general election to help gain Kenyatta's release.

Like Jaramogi, Tom Mboya was not detained. However he was an intelligent man whose charm earned him worldwide recognition and respect. His performance at both national and continental level, especially with Pan-Africanism was remarkable. At the youthful age of 28, he was elected the chairman for the duration of the All-Africa People's Conference convened by Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana in 1958. Mboya was the most polished and most articulate spokesman of African nationalism to the rest of the world in the 1950s and 1960s. He founded the Nairobi People's Congress Party in 1958. He was later instrumental in forming Kanu and became its first Secretary General.

Ronald Ngala began his national career as one of the 14 Africans elected in the first elections held for the colonial Legislative Council (Legco) in 1957. Two years later, the Kenya National party, a multi-racial grouping, was formed with Ngala its secretary.
He was soon to show his leadership skills when in February 1960, he led a united delegation to the Lancaster House Conference to oppose an attempt by the British to control Kenya's evolution to independence. But rivalries among African politicians remained. The leaders in the legislative council split into two parties, Kanu and Kadu.
Ngala was chosen as treasurer of Kanu, but he was dissatisfied with that minor post and went over to Kadu, and was elected its president. In the elections of 1961 Kanu, under the leadership of Oginga Odinga, won the popular vote and elected the most legislators.

Most Kenyans still regarded the independence movement leader Jomo Kenyatta as their leader even though the British held him in detention. After secret negotiations the British gave Kadu the opportunity to form a government with the promise that Kenyatta would be released in four months. Ngala was appointed leader of "government business." But with the release of Kenyatta, Ngala soon was relegated to the background.

Ngala attempted to compromise to preserve African unity, but he proved unable to control his party, and Kenyatta became president of Kanu. A new constitution in 1962 led to elections, won by Kanu, and in May 1963 Kenyatta became prime minister of Kenya. Ngala was leader of the opposition, but when Kadu members began crossing to Kanu out of loyalty to Kenyatta, it became clear that Kadu had no future.

In 1964, Ngala dissolved Kadu which merged with Kanu in a one-party state and Ronald Ngala was appointed minister of co-operatives and social services in Kenyatta's government. Ngala served his country until his tragic death in a road accident in 1972 and would be remembered not only for putting the Mijikenda community in Kenya's political landscape, but also as one of Kenya's leaders in the fight for independence.

Kenya@50: The long road to Kenya's independence | The Star
 
one among a number of things i like about kenya,is a total freedom i enjoy frm my kikuyu caretaker .he is not bothered to know who real am i, and what i do in kenya,so long as i pay him the rent on due time.thanks god am not a terrorist.happy kenya @50.
 
Ab-Titchaz said:
Gathara's World: Raining On The Parade.

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Monday, December 09, 2013



On Thursday, Kenya marks fifty years of independence. Over the next week, I expect that much of the country's news media will be focused on a retelling of the history of the past half century. However, the previews I have seen over the last week do not offer much cause for hope that this will be an exercise in full honesty.

For example, last weekend NTV had two reports on the Kenya Defence Forces: one posing as a history of the force and the other highlighting the KDF's special forces unit. The first totally ignored the numerous atrocities the KDF has been accused of committing in Northern Kenya against its own citizens; the second similarly skipped over the uncomfortable subject of KDF actions during the Westgate terror attack.

So it is clear that this will be a season of hagiography. Kenya will put on its Sunday Best and apply some patriotic perfume to cover the stench of the last five decades. We have already heard former President Mwai Kibaki's version of our history, one which largely edited out the corruption and theft perpetrated by his and previous regimes. The National Assembly has just given itself the power to "improve" the report of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission. The Standard newspaper has even taken to comparing Jomo Kenyatta with Nelson Mandela, declaring that he was accommodating of Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, whom he held under house arrest, and Tom Mboya, whom he murdered.

There is obviously little appetite for the truth. Like the coverage of the general election nine months ago, no one wants to be the on to rain on the national parade of self-congratulation, no one wants to be the bearer of bad news. Yet, like in March, this is an opportunity for real introspection, a chance to take stock of the achievements and failures of the past and to learn lessons for the present and future. It is an opportunity that we will waste little time missing, but a critical one nonetheless.

So what would we learn if we were honest about the past? At best, it's a mixed bag. At independence, the government identified poverty, disease and ignorance as the most urgent challenges. Fifty years later, it is undeniable that progress has been made. Poverty rates have been lowered, we have more pupils than ever in our schools and life expectancy is as high as it's ever been since independence. We were one of the very few nations in Africa to do pretty well in the 1970s-80s in terms of covering basic needs and have even become a major trading hub in the region, despite up-and-down growth rates. In fact, for the first time in our history, the economy stands a real chance of maintaining a growth rate of above five percent for more than five consecutive years. These are the stories we will likely hear. How we have overcome the legacy of colonialism and put ourselves on the path to wealth and dignity.

Less will be said of the fact that Kenya is actually one of the most unequal places on earth, that much of the progress, especially the growth in incomes, has largely been concentrated in the top five percent of the population. You will probably not hear about the failures of the Free Primary Education policy which has overcrowded the system, destroyed the prospect of quality education and, as whoever could take their kids out did, has driven up the cost of private schooling, locking the poor in a failing system. Or of our over-crowded and understaffed hospitals. Or of the fact that nearly a tenth of all babies do not survive to age five, most dying of preventable causes. The media will not lament the fact that though our lawmakers and government officials are among the highest paid in the world, we have no money to pay teachers, nurses and policemen.

Ordinary Kenyans will be exhorted to pull together for even further progress by 2063. They will be asked to rally behind their government and its visions of progress. They will not be reminded that they are locked in to a system that delays, not expedites, their emancipation from chains of dictatorship and poverty. They will not be encouraged to question the assumptions underlying the definitions of independence and sovereignty and to ask why the system only seems to work for a few.

In 1997, the Swedish Parliament passed the Road Traffic Safety Bill which declared that, "the responsibility for every death or loss of health in the road transport system rests with the person responsible for the design of that system". Think about that for a minute. Road accidents are not the fault of drunk or crazy drivers, of careless pedestrians or stupid cyclists. Instead the Swedes put the blame on "the engineers who build and maintain the road and the police department that manages traffic on that road. Not primarily on the people who use the road because it has been demonstrated that road user behavior is conditioned by the system design and how it is managed."

In a similar manner, Kenyan political behavior has been conditioned by the design of our political system and how it has been managed since 1963 and beyond. We have been conditioned to expect failure or at best, mediocrity, from those we pay to deliver services to us. We have been conditioned to accept and move on when elections are stolen, when government revenue is used to line the pockets of elites, when alternative voices are silenced and when the news becomes little more than propaganda.

Kenyans are wont to blame themselves for electing poor leaders, for retreating into tribal cocoons, for driving badly, for the corruption, for the violence and crime. Yet, as Rev Timothy Njoya said recently, that is blaming the victims. We instead need to look at the design of the system we have been laboring under since before independence. We need to scrutinize the conduct of those charged with maintaining it. We must understand why it does not work for us. Why, for example, traffic rules seem to only make money for government and not stem the carnage on roads. Or why constitutional protections seem not to matter when government considers them inconvenient.

According to the World Bank, Kenya has the opportunity to achieve one of the goals we had at independence and eliminate extreme poverty by 2030. To do that, we need to reduce poverty by two percentage points each year. But that would only be possible if economic growth is accompanied by structural changes that reduce inequality and enable the poor benefit from new economic opportunities. We would also need to ensure that safety nets adequately protect them from vulnerability to shocks.

However, for this, and more, to happen, we need to be honest with ourselves about our system and those responsible for it. We will need to expose our past and resist the attempt, whether by politicians or journalists, to improve it. Even when this means raining on the golden jubilee parade.

Gathara's World: Raining On The Parade


hekimatele, this should answer your question.​
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Mmmmmmmmmmmm,,,,,so as we are celebrating,,,,we should go and dig dip into,,
and expose wounds of the past,,,is that really celebrating or mourning.

Every country,,every society has its good part of its history and the bad ones.

But here in Kenya,,,,some will always wants us to focus on the bad part.

Keep singing about Wangalla massacre,,,West Gate,,,,

What about the New constitution and the devolved governments,,,,,
Al-Shabaabs in Kismayu,,,pirates in the Indian Oceans????

We have been hearing all good things by Nelson Mandela,,,,celebrating his
life in this world,,,,but nowhere did any one talk about,,,the divorce with
Winnie Mandela,,,,,only,,,wazimu,,probably,,me,, will do that.

So in Kenya,, we are celebrating the good things,,,we are not doing,,that reconciliation
thing where we are supposed to dig dip and lick our wounds,,,but,,just want to keep up
doing the best,,,we do not want to focus on the evil part,,,as Americans never keep
singing about their civil war which took part,,years back.

Think positively,,and you will live a positive life.

Amen.
 
kadoda11 said:
one among a number of things i like about kenya,is a total freedom i enjoy frm my kikuyu caretaker .he is not bothered to know who real am i, and what i do in kenya,so long as i pay him the rent on due time.thanks god am not a terrorist.happy kenya @50.
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Hehehehe,,,hi imefanya ni cheke,,sana,,,haiyaaaaeeee.:cool:
 
kadoda11 said:
one among a number of things i like about kenya,is a total freedom i enjoy frm my kikuyu caretaker .he is not bothered to know who real am i, and what i do in kenya,so long as i pay him the rent on due time.thanks god am not a terrorist.happy kenya @50.
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officially the office of the president is a symbol of national unity and national figure. what Kenyans needs Asp is reconciliation which as at now is not in the priority of railas infantry to help kenyans........perceptions need to change how you view your brother or fellow kenyans. The kibaki-raila government came up with a commission to monitor hate-speech, and omitted reconciliations...ironically it is the same opposition politicians from the same government that were brewing hatred and they were themselves monitoring what they were making....50 years of independence and still marching on some foolish sheikhs operating from the altar of alshabaab, want to divide us into more factions..........
Opposition politics does not always welcome reconciliation as a close observation of the kenyan opposition political parties are led by tribal philosophies....even the ICC which represents foreign interests has challenged efforts at reconciliation of kenyans ....the conflicts between foreign and local interests..... other irony is tribalism in kenya has shown to increase as the noises against tribalism continue to reach high levels. Those that shout the loudest are the most tribal and offer little when it comes to tackling tribalism and even corruption. Much has been done since independence, but this will be a one man mission.


 
tanzania Cong and South Africa I think have the most beautiful flags flags the Kenyan flag cant be up there with them.
 
Geza Ulole said:
don't condone tribalism through self consolation scale-wise and in comparison tribalism haiko kila mahali as that of Kenya is unique and has graduated! Anyway happy birthday on your nation turning 50
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At least in Kenya we have onyango Okello, Kamau Wambugu, Mutiso Kyalo on black skins. We do not Michael Jason, and David Hassan on black skins to hide where we were born , The Chagga in Tanzania do just that.
 
Hoorray.. Kenya has just joined the middle income countries. GDP per capita $1035, the plane is just taken off. Watch this space.Happy jubilee Kenya.
 
Askari Kanzu said:
And yet you boast of speaking better English than Tanzanians!
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I meant tribalism is not as a threat in Kenya as it is in Tanzania where the chagga have to use bastardized names to hide their origin. As for speaking English.. That Kenyans are way better than Tanzanians in the queens language is not is dispute, is it?
 
mwathai said:
...As for speaking English.. That Kenyans are way better than Tanzanians in the queens language is not is dispute, is it?
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It's time to read Fanon's Black Skin, White Masks! Well, it is not a secret that kenyan natives have yet to free themselves from their colonial masters. I can only pity you!

"The colonized is elevated above his jungle status in proportion to his adoption of the mother country's cultural standards."
― Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks
 
mwathai said:
I meant tribalism is not as a threat in Kenya as it is in Tanzania where the chagga have to use bastardized names to hide their origin. As for speaking English.. That Kenyans are way better than Tanzanians in the queens language is not is dispute, is it?
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what did u try to mean here? And where did u get that theory that chaggas hide their names?
 
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