Hawa wakenya sikuwahi kufikiri wapo chini kiasi hiki. Yaani pamoja na kujifanya wajanja wanaabudi makabila yao kwa kiwango hiki? Ndio nasema hawa ndugu zetu tungewaokoa sana kwa kuwa na EAF, vinginevyo hawa watachinjana tu hata baada ya hilo zogo kwisha. They are still in a very long way to civility. Poleni sana, sasa naona hamna cha Kibaki wala Raila, nyie wote mnaumwa tu na tiba yetu itabidi itoke kwingineko. Jamani hawa tuwakaribishe tu kwetu through EAF kama tunataka wastaraabike, vinginevyo wataendelea kutuabisha tu kwa mataifa ya nje. Yaani sasa huku sisi wote tunaonekana hamnazo, yaani tunapenda makabila yetu kuliko kitu chochote. Stupid Kenyans, who told you killing each other will give you democracy? Can't you identify your common enemy and therefore your common strategy?
Heshima mbele mkuu,
Historia ya Afrika inatueleza that ethnic identity zetu zipo na longer history than the so-called national identity. The Sukuma identity is older and therefore stronger than the Tanzanian identity. This strength is now latent because the Sukuma feel well accomodated in the politics of Tanzania. The vice versa is true in Kenya. If the national politics of Kenya ingehakikisha kuwa wakalenjin, maasai, luhya, somali, luo na hata Mijikenda wanafeel at home kama wasukuma huko Bongo hapangekuwa na shida ya strong and sometimes negative ethnicity/ukabila.
Muhimu ni kufahamu kwamba hakuna nation iitwayo Kenyans.... in reality. Kuna several ethnic identities ambazo zinashea citizenship ya the Republic of Kenya na kwahivyo kijumla zinajiita Kenyans. Hivi basi ni halali yao watu hawa ku define their unity through their diversity ila panapokuwa siasa za pesa nane kama zetu Kenya basi hii diversity inakuwa mischannelled into a potentially disruptive social force kama tuonavyo hivi sasa.
Tanzania pia sio an ideal case. Hebu fikiri. Mnyakyusa, Mchagga na Mhaya wakiamua kukumbuka tofauti zao zaidi ya kutilia maanani utaifa wao mambo yatakuaje? Si pengine tu kama ya huku kwetu? That explains kwanini wana Western DRC hawampendi Kabila jnr. Kwanini waGanda wanashida na both Northerners wa nchi hio pamoja na Westerners (akina m7). The problem is not in this ethnic rivalries which have existed on the continent for centuries as opposed to the only four-decade-old "national identities". I am proud to be a citizen of Kenya. But I am also proud to speak the "tribal" language of my greatgrandfathers, embrace their tribal worldview, their cultural or tribal practices and ethics. The Gikuyu, Luo or Kalenjin traditional(or tribal) heritage is what makes Kenya to be what it is In other words the Republic of Kenya can cease to exist but these tribes cannot. When the Igbos of Nigeria waliamua kujtenga from Nigeria nawakaunda Biafra, kwa kipindi hicho kifupi they were not Nigerians but Igbos (ethnicity) and BIAFRANS (nationality). Usisahau kwamba Nyerere was one of the few African leaders who supported the freedom of the Biafrans by recognizing their self-declared independence.
Tusidharau heritage zetu kama wa Zaramo, a Pare, a Nyakyusa au hata as a Mtumbatu. La muhimu in Kenya and even Tanzania ni ku embrace a politics that is broad enough to accomodate all the "sons/tribes" of Kenya and deep enough to lay the right foundation for the future emergence of a "Kenyan" nation that will rise from the mchanganyiko of all the Kenyan citizens over many many years. Usisahau kwamba Germany of today is a nation moulded out of the former long-warring tribes of the Goths (both the Osigoths and the Visigoths), the Franks, the Saxons and more recently the Turks. the UK, the mother of Kenya is also the result of a fusion of the long-warring ethnic communities of the Angles, Welsh, Scots, Franks, Danes, Romans, and Saxons.
Ukabila sio mbaya. Ubaya ni ile siasa za kutaka kujiona bora kuliko mwengine ilhali nyote ni watoto wa baba mmoja ila mama zenu ndio tofauti. Hili shida linawezakueleweka bayana tukitumia taswira hii muhimu katika jamii na itikadi za Mwafrika. How did the extended/polygamous African families run their business long before colonialism came? Jibu la swali hili ndio linawezakutupa nuru kwenye giza la siasa zetu za post-independence which shy away from borrowing the good sense of community which our greatgrandfathers wamekuwawakipraktis for centuries.
Mkuu usimlaumu ukabila. Tulaumu na kulaani siasa chafu. Siasa potevu. Siasa za ubaguzi. Siasa za Afrika ambazo dalili zaonyesha zipo kote barani ila in differing degrees. Nyerere accepted that Tanzania at independence was a creation of the British and had its colonial legacy. But Nyerere refused to allow a politics that would further damage the fabric of the country he inherited from the British. He gave Tanzania a pan-ethnic basis by encouraging tribal friendship and respect. What would have been the case if Nyerere was a Chagga/Haya/Nyakyusa or any of the dominant communities of Tanganyika? take this further: Tanzania ingekuwa vipi kama Nyerere angekubaliana na Jomo Kenyatta waendeleze wote wawili siasa duni za Kenyatta za nepotism, petty capitalism and politics of ethnic favoritism? Mimi nadhani nikipiga tarubini kwenye historia ya Tanzania ya kivita yaan ishu ya MajiMaji iliyoanza hata kabla ya Mau Mau, Tanzania ingekuwa vipande vipande....pengine nchi tatu (east, West and North). Ingawaji Nyerere alikubali kabila zipo na ndio misingi ya nchi zetu za Afrika, hakukubali kwamba Kabila moja itachukua 1/3 of the national cake at the expense of the others ambao watarushiwa tu 2/3 kila wanaponung'unikia haki zao.
Nakubali uhakiki wako kama mwana Afrika Mashariki mwenzio. Nakubali uchungu na hasira unaohisi moyoni na maanani. Nakubali ni halali yako kama mwafrika na binadamu kwa jumla kugadhabishwa na yanayojiri huku Kenya. Yote haya nakubali. Ila tafakari niliyoyawakilisha.