The Role of Ethnicity and Ethnic Considerations in General Elections in Africa: The Example of Kenya

This chapter examines the place of ethnicity in African politics, specifically the role it has played in Kenya’s General Elections since independence. It argues that ethnic calculations and considerations, which permeate nearly every facet of life in Kenya, are a constant factor in the conduct and outcome of General Elections in Kenya and in the management of public affairs after the elections. The history of modern Kenya is rife with examples of how ethnicity and ethnic considerations determine voting patterns during elections and influence the management of public affairs after elections, often leading to tensions and conflicts as elected officials publicly engage in hypocritical displays of fealty to the Kenyan state, but recede back to their ethnic cocoons when making important political and policy decisions, including how to vote and whom to vote for during general elections, and how resources are distributed after the elections. While a few might disparage the choice to identify with either the state or country that one belongs to or the ethnic community that one comes from, or even to both, the problem for us in this chapter is that such choices are too often shrouded in secrecy, dishonesty, hypocrisy, and contradictions, leading to division, competition, rivalries, and, ultimately, conflicts between the ethnic communities within the state; consequently undermining the very foundation of the state for which public officials and ordinary citizens regularly proclaim public affection. The chapter posits that, instead of the current situation where people hypocritically and pretentiously display public loyalty to the Kenyan state but in private recede back to their ethnic communities, it is time to openly accommodate and acknowledge ethnic considerations and calculations in the general elections and in the management of public policy that follows them. Doing otherwise will only escalate ethnic rivalries and conflicts and undermine and jeopardize the very existence of the Kenyan state that the same public officials hypocritically claim loyalty to. The chapter contends that ethnicity and ethnic considerations can be properly managed to play a positive role in Kenya’s politics.