When I say that we in Kenya should seriously consider parting amicably to form more coherent nations, I am usually called all manner of names - a tribalist, an old fool, a madman.
But today, Britain has taught everyone the same lesson I have been teaching here; you can’t make people love one another, however many integration and reconciliation commissions you form.
Today, the results show that Britain has voted to out of Europe. So, after 40 years in the Union - almost as long as Kenya has been independent - the British have decided they don’t want to be with the French or the Poles.
But it gets better.
Britain has four major tribes - the English, the Welsh, the Scots and the Irish in addition to major minorities from Asia, Africa and Europe.
Virtually all the immigrants, the Scots and the Irish voted to stay in the Union. The Welsh and the English, the later who like the Kikuyu have a ‘superiority complex’, voted out. [SIZE=6]EVEN AFTER 500 YEARS OF UNION, PEOPLE IN WHAT IS ESSENTIALLY ONE OF THE MOST ADVANCED COUNTRIES ON EARTH STILL VOTE ON TRIBAL LINES![/SIZE]
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Imagine that! After 500 years, tribalism is alive and well in Britain!
What this should tell all thESE paper-tiger nationalists in Kenya is that we need to build a more durable nationhood architecture, not try to force people who hate each other to pretend to love one another. A Swiss-like federal structure would be a good start.
I may not have all the answers, but I know one thing for sure; even 1,000 years from now, countries like Kenya will still be experiencing tribal ‘clashes’ because they opted to bury their heads in the sand. Just look at Britain - nobody claims to be marginalised or oppressed, but people still run to their tribal cocoons.
As long as I live - and this is the kind of honesty I would like all of us to exhibit - I will always feel more at home in Nyeri, Kiambu, Murang’a and Machakos (my cousins) than I will ever feel in Malindi, Kisumu, or Garissa. That’s the honest truth.
NOW, SHOOT ME![/SIZE]