THE POLITICS OF ETHNICITY,
NATIONAL RESOURCES AND MEDIA
BIASES IN KENYA TODAY
A Paper presented at the Kennesaw State University Institute for
Global Initiatives
By Jerry Okungu,
Chief Specialist,
Communications & Media Planning,
NEPAD Eastern Africa Secretariat & the East African Political
Federation Project.
MANAGING DIVERSITY: KENYA’S 21ST.
CENTURY CHALLENGE
• Background to the struggle for
independence and the unity of purpose
then
• Kenyans expectations and dreams of a
paradise state following independence
• Failed dreams and un-kept promises that
turned into despair and desperation
• Ethnic fallouts and political realignments
soon after Uhuru
DIVERSITY DILEMMA
• The Shifta War in Northern Kenya waged by the
Somali Community for a number of years.
• The eating culture that ushered in high level
corruption in government also encouraged
nepotism and ethnic biases in appointments to
public offices
• Communities and individuals that were able to
raise concerns over these vices were seen as
anti-establishment and therefore anti- the ethnic
community that enjoyed the presidency
DIVERSITY DILEMMA..
• The biggest fallout occurred in 1966 when
President Kenyatta parted ways with his
first Vice President, Jaramogi Oginga
Odinga.
• The Vice President went on to form his
political party that became the first
opposition party in parliament after Kenya
African Democratic Union was persuaded
to join the ruling party, KANU in 1964.
DIVERSITY DILEMMA..
• With the political assassination of Pio
Gama Pinto in 1965 and Tom Mboya in
1969, coupled with the banning of
Jaramogi Oginga Odinga’s Kenya
People’s Union( KPU) just three months
after Mboya’s death, the stage was now
set for an ethnic biased regime that
became less and less tolerant as Kenyatta
grew older.
DIVERSITY DILEMMA
• In the last days of Kenyatta, it was a
treasonable offence, punishable by law to
“imagine, encompass or dream of the
death of the President!”
• Voices of dissent in and out of Parliament
were silenced through intimidation, bribery,
detentions without trial or organized
assassinations.
DIVERSITY DILEMMA
• In this category can be found, Jaramogi
Oginga Odinga, Achieng Oneko, Marie
Seroney, Martin Shikuku, Philomena
Chelagat, Wasonga Sijeyo, Professor
Ouma Muga , Ngugi Wa Thiong’o, Maina
Kinyati, Anyang’ Nyong’o and JM Kariuki
among many more prominent Kenyans in
politics and academia.
DIVERSITY DILEMMA
• Before Kenyatta died in 1978, the entire Kenyan
economy, public service and political
establishment was the preserve of one ethnic
community.
• The joke Kenya at the time was that at times
Cabinet meetings could be conducted in the
President’s ethnic language
• The Financial sector, the engine of economic
growth was in the hands of the same ethnic
community
DIVERSITY DILEMMA
• The only three media houses i.e. Voice of
Kenya, The East African Standard and the
Daily Nation were dominated by the same
ethnic ruling class
• Every news bulletin and headline picture
began with “ His Excellency President
Jomo Kenyatta” to the extent that synics
started referring to Voice of Kenya as
Voice of Kenyatta or Voice of Kikuyus
DIVERSITY DILEMMA
• This was the political scenario that Kenya’s
second President inherited from Jomo Kenyatta
upon his death
• When he did, he promised to follow in the
footsteps of Kenyatta and literally did just that
by replacing Kenyatta’s ethnic bureaucracy with
Moi’s ethnic community.
• And for 24 years of his presidency, the once
powerful Kikuyu community felt the brunt of
Moi’s politics of ethnicity.
DIVERSITY DILEMMA
• Moi played prominent Kikuyus against one
another and finally neutralized their
economic base and vanquished their
leading political elite.
• And with a one-party system inherited
from Kenyatta, the president and his tribe
played god to Kenyans for a quarter
century. He enjoyed executive powers to
give and take at his will and pleasure
DIVERSITY DILEMMA
• He hired and fired his cabinet and top civil
service over the radio or through casual
announcements by the roadside.
• He dished out public offices and public
resources and property to his tribesmen at
will
• He indiscriminately allocated public land
and forest reserves to his community
without thinking of the future.
THE ERA OF DANIEL ARAP MOI
• The first ten years of Moi’s rule, Kenyans
realized painfully that there was no difference
between Moi’s regime and Kenyatta’s
• The climax of this dissatisfaction ended up in the
first serious attempt by the military to overthrow
Moi’s government
• When this failed, a serious political purge
followed that saw numerous Kenyans detained,
jailed, hanged and purged from government.
THE 1982 COUPE AFTERMATH
• The biggest losers in this new purge were
the Luos and Kikuyus that were seen as
the planners of the coupe
• Between 1982 when the attempted coupe
took place and 1992 when political reforms
were finally introduced, Kenya became
hell on earth for political dissidents.
THE 1982 COUPE AFTERMATH
• Kenya virtually became a police state
forcing leaders voices of reason like Ngugi
Wathiongo’, Michere Mugo, Ali Mazrui and
many more to flee their country. Those
who did not like Raila Odinga, Ken Matiba,
Charles Rubia, George Anyona, Akong’o
Oyugi, Mukaru Nganga ended up in torture
chambers and detention camps.
KENYANS PERCEPTION OF THE
PRESIDENCY, POLITICAL POWER AND
PUBLIC SERVICE
• The Presidency is never seen as symbol
of nationhood but rather as a tribal office
that benefits the community that has
produced it.
• That is why when one becomes a
president in Kenya, that community will tell
you that it is their turn to eat!
HOW KENYANS VIEW THE PRESIDENCY
AND OTHER POLITICAL OFFICES
• The same view of the presidency also applies to
Cabinet ministries and Permanent Secretaries
and other high public offices as the Attorney
General, Central Bank Governor, Chief Justice,
Chief of General Staff etc.
• Appointment to any of them is not necessarily on
merit but rather is seen as a communal reward
for support to the regime in power.
A CASE IN POINT
It is normal in Kenya for the President to appoint, without consulting
anybody the following officers from his ethnic community:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Minister for Finance and his P Secretary
Head of Revenue Collection
Minister for Defense and his P Secretary
Minister for Internal Security and his P Secretary
Head of Criminal Investigation
Head of National Intelligence Service
Head of Presidential Press Unit
Head of the National Broadcaster
Head of Power Production Plant and his board chairman
A CASE IN POINT
10. Head of Airports Authority
11. Permanent Secretary in State House
12. Minister for Energy
13. Chief Justice
14. Head of the Public Service
15. Minister for Education + his deputy and his P. Secretary
16. Minister for Justice & Constitutional Affairs
17. Minister for Information and Communication + his deputy
18. Head of Anti- Corruption Commission
19. Head of Human Rights Commission and many more
This is a society that enjoys a diversity of 42 major ethnic groups!