Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: KingJaja
You don’t know much about Kenya and Kenyan politics.

Care to enlighten us?

39 posted on 03/29/2008 2:39:02 PM PDT by GVnana ("They're still analyzing the first guy. What do I have to worry about?" - GWB)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies ]


To: GVnana

The first thing about Kenyan politics (or African politics for that matter) is that it is ethnically driven. Odinga is Luo and Kibaki is Kikuyu.

Jomo Kenyatta (the father of modern Kenya) was Kikuyu, Daniel Arap Moi (came from a minority tribe to balance the friction between the Luo and the Kikuyu), Mwai Kibaki was Kikuyu.

Kikuyus are the largest ethnic group (23%) - that is not large enough for an absolute majority. Long years of Kikuyu rule meant that other ethnic groups were marginalised.

Odinga comes from the next largest ethnic group the Luos. Since independence there has been friction between the Luo and the Kikuyu. Odinga put together a coalition of other ethnic groups to defeat Kibaki in the last elections. The results were rigged and all hell let loose.

(When elections are rigged in Africa, violence ALWAYS follows e.g. - Nigeria, Congo, Zimbabwe).

When africans burn other africans inside Churches, Islam is not always the cause. (Afterall, the Hutus massacred the Tutsis within Church premises even though both groups were nominally christian).

If you know anything about Kenyan history, you will understand that the Kikuyus did quite a bit of blood letting in the past and that Africans don’t forget such things in a hurry.

This is the legacy of British rule. The British insisted on putting people who had little in common together first to ‘divide and rule’ and second to save administrative costs. (Most of World’s trouble spots are ex-British colonies - and that is not a coincidence).


41 posted on 03/29/2008 3:02:44 PM PDT by KingJaja
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson