Kenya: From Disappointment to Opportunity

The news from Kenya in the first few months of 2008 could arguably perpetuate a certain cynicism about Africa and the intractability of problems on the continent. It has deeply shaken the image of Kenya as a stable, prospering African success story. Rather than a secure base from which international organizations can launch humanitarian operations in other countries, Kenya resembles instead one of its volatile neighbors, with over 1,000 dead and more than 300,000 displaced as a result of three months of election violence.

If Kenya fails to uphold basic democratic institutions, what hope do we have for resolving crises in Sudan, Congo, or Ivory Coast?

The violence in Kenya should not make us give up in despair. Instead, it must motivate us to search for intelligent solutions, to encourage those with the means to alleviate a dangerous and desperate situation to do so, and to hold accountable the entities that should ultimately be responsible for the people affected by the crisis.

This cynicism is also harmful in that it glosses over the complexity and uniqueness of each problem. Contrary to impressions created by the media, Kenya’s story is the not the story of an economically sound, democratic island of stability gone bad. As political scientist Joel Barkan points out, “[d]eep schisms [] existed within the political elite that reflected persistent divides in Kenyan society.”

The Kikuyus and related ethnic groups, excluded from government throughout the 1980s and 1990s, have since 2002 dominated the government of Mwai Kibaki. His government helped solidify Kikuyus, prominent in the business community, as the largest, most educated, and wealthiest ethnic group in Kenya. The presidential campaign of Raila Odinga, a member of the sizeable Luo ethnic group, emphasized the need to distribute opportunity and wealth more equitably among Kenya’s 42 ethnic groups.

Experts and civil society organizations suggest that the proposed government of national unity does not signify the end of Kenya’s political crisis. Rather, it opens for discussion the creation of a democratic system – a kind of federalism – which better serves the interests of all of Kenya’s minorities. Therefore, Kenya’s leaders, with the pressure of Kenya’s churches, civil society groups, free press, and international partners, still have an opportunity to convert a source of frustration into an opportunity for political transformation and progress.

--Katherine Southwick