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Kenya, like other
African countries put together by European powers to serve their interests, is
composed of many ethnic groups.
Kenya,
like those African countries, strictly speaking is not a nation-state.
Kenya,
like many African countries, is an artificial conglomeration of disparate
tribes put together for the convenience of European powers.
The Europeans are tentatively gone from
their African colonies but instead of Africans transforming their inherited
artificial countries into real countries they pretend that as they are that
they are countries! They are not countries and it is time someone told the
apparent fools pretending to govern African countries that they are not
governing countries and that it is time they transformed the so-called
countries they inherited from
Europe into real
nation-states.
African leaders pretend that they have
countries that they are governing; they are fools for these countries are not
put together by Africans and for there to be real African countries Africans
themselves ought to put them together. You can not overseer what some one else
put together for his own interest, not your interest and pretend that what you
are doing is right.
Only God knows how long it would take
African leaders to understand the simple fact that they need to restructure the
so-called countries they inherited from Europeans and transform them into real
countries rather than pretend that they have countries.
Perhaps, Africans are really unintelligent,
as some non-Africans claim? If by now they have not recognized the need to
restructure their countries and make them realistic to the African tribal
reality then they are, as reported, unintelligent. If they are unintelligent
then the rest of the world ought to write them off. But if what we have here is
laziness and ignorance, then let the international community, those who
understand human nature and governance, come and help Africans.
If All Africans can do fifty years after
their so-called independence is sit idly and not do anything to transform their
countries into real countries they are fools and do not deserve to be in
government.
We already know that no African country, so
far, has shown a knack for economic development and if additionally they lack
the ability to govern themselves then Africans ought to be transformed into
slaves and used by Europeans and or Asians to extract the mineral wealth of
Africa
for the good of Europeans and Asians.
My God, how much intelligence does it take
to realize what needs to be done in
Africa and do it?
I have practically stood on my head talking about restructuring African
countries and yet no African country has taken steps in this direction. Like
drunken fools they keep doing the same old things that always bring them ethnic
cleansing, as is currently going on in
Kenya.
If Africa is not restructured, what is
going on in
Kenya is only a dress
rehearsal of what would come to pass in most African countries, especially the
multiethnic ones like
Nigeria and
Congo.
Nigeria’s
so-called leaders, like brain-dead apes have refused to read the hand writing
on the wall and see what is in the cards for their so-called country. It is
only a matter of time before that artificial country implodes and explodes and
refugees are spilled all over
West Africa with
destabilizing effects in that region.
What does it take for Africans to recognize
what needs to be done and do it? Are Africans really unintelligent, as racist
whites say, and as such cannot rule themselves? My God, Africans are the most
exasperating people on this planet.
If Africans were intelligent, by now they
would have restructured their countries into tribe based countries hence make
them politically stable and political stability is a prerequisite condition for
economic development to take place in
Africa.
For as long as I can remember, Africans
have talked and talked about the fact that European powers dumped different
African tribes into the same countries. They have moaned about this issue
forever yet have done nothing to solve the problem.
If Africans fail to restructure their artificial
countries within a decade I am calling for the United Nations to take over and
do the necessary restructuring of
Africa. Failing to
do so, we shall interminably be confronted with political meltdowns and ethnic
cleansing, as we see going on in today’s
Kenya.
It is about time some one did the right
thing in
Africa, if only to show that actual human
begins, not monkeys are ruling the place.
THE TRIBES OF
KENYA
AND GOVERNANCE IN
KENYA
The main groups in
Kenya
are Kikuyi, Meru, Kalenjin, Luyha, Luo, Ksisii, Kamba, Swahili, Masai and
Turkana. Compare to
Nigeria and
Congo
Democratic Republic. The main groups in
Nigeria
are
Hausa and Fulani, Yoruba, Igbo, Ijaw, Kanuri, Ibibio, and Tiv. The main ethnic groups in Congo Democratic Republic are Mongo,
Luba, Kongo and the Mangbetu-Azande. There are hundreds of other ethnic
groups in these countries. Both
Nigeria
and
Congo
reportedly have over two hundred ethnic groups in each.
For our present purposes, the salient point
is that
Kenya,
like many African countries, has many ethnic groups.
Kenya,
like many African countries, did not evolve into a country through internal
historical processes, instead, a foreign power,
Britain,
arbitrarily lumped diverse tribes living in the area now called
Kenya
together and called the ensuing geographical entity
Kenya.
Other than the name,
Kenya,
the country is not a real nation-state.
The different ethnic groups in
Kenya
do not consider themselves related and certainly do not believe that they have
many things in common with others. The same is the case in other African
countries.
African countries are artificial political
constructs constructed by European powers and are not nations. A nation,
scholars in International Politics tell us, is a people who have a shared
history, who have undergone shared events that gave them a sense of being one
people. Most African countries are less than one hundred years old and that is
not enough time for their diverse people to develop a sense of one people. This
is a fact that so-called African leaders have failed to grasp and deal with.
There are no such things as natural African
countries, such as
France,
England
and
Germany.
What exist in
Africa are artificial political
expressions.
These artificial political constructs can
be reconstructed into real nation-states. It is here that political
intelligence is required and either intelligent Africans emerge to do it or if
Africans are unintelligent external others should do it for them. The United
Nations should give
Africa a decade to restructure
itself and failing which should go in and do it from outside.
We constantly witness members of some
African tribes killing others; they do so because they do not identify with those
other tribes.
Here is one causal factor in Africans
frequent mutual mayhems. Upon so-called independence, a tribe favored by the
departing European power is handed the reigns of power (in the case of
Kenya,
Jomo Kenyatta and his Kikuyu tribesmen) and it deludes itself into thinking
that it now has a country to rule. A country to rule indeed; how can you
rule a country whose many tribes you did not put together?
Members of the ruling tribe generally
proceed on the false belief that they are the rulers of their artificial
country and pretty much do as they like; they ride roughshod over other tribes
and those resent them and the result is inter ethnic conflicts.
In Nigeria the Hausa-Fulani were favored by
the British and given political power and the other Nigerian tribes resented
the rule of the Hausa-Fulanis and the result was the Nigerian civil war
(1967-70) and the coming mother of all civil wars that is about to break out in
Nigeria. (If another election is rigged and idiots are imposed on
Nigeria
as its leaders, despite their known cowardice, their fear of death that
disposes them to accept imposters ruling them, Nigerians will eventual rebel
and the artificial construct called
Nigeria
would fall apart and the consequences would be drastic for all
West
Africa. At present certain ethnic groups, especially the Hausas
and Fulanis collude with the Yorubas and essentially cart revenue from Niger
Delta, Ijaw, oil resources to their parts of the country and the Ijaw seethe in
anger and no one takes their anger seriously. Sooner or later, the lid
would blow off and the underlying anger at the exploiters of the rest of
Nigeria
would boil over and the result is another failed African state.)
In
Congo
so-called Democratic Republic the situation is pretty much the same as in
Nigeria
and elsewhere in
Africa. A few favored tribes exploit
the great wealth of that minerals rich country and the rest of the tribes feel
exploited and the result is the interminable civil war going on in that
so-called country. Many more people have been killed or maimed or raped in that
unfortunate country than was done in all the years that King Leopold of
Belgium
put it together as his rubber plantation.
In
Kenya
the Kikuyu and its allies have ruled the country since its independence and the
major tribes seethe in anger and the result is the current mayhem we see going
on in
Kenya.
The election was rigged and Kibaki, a Kikuyu, rules. This rigging is the final
straw that broke the camel’s back. The Luo (and its losing presidential
candidate, Mr. Odinger) and other ethnic groups say enough is enough and have
taken matters into their hands. The ethnic minorities are ethnically cleansing
the Kikuyu living in their parts of the country. If the Kikuyu join in the
ethnic cleansing business and kill Luo living in their area, which includes the
capital city of
Nairobi, we shall have another
Rwanda
in our hands!
African countries would always go through
intermittent mutual killings unless they are restructured and each tribe is
given relative autonomy. We saw what took place in
Rwanda
where the majority Hutu got fed up been ruled by the minority Tutsi and went on
a rampage killing Tutsis. That problem has not been solved for at present the
Tutsis are still ruling the Hutus. Obviously, that situation cannot last
forever unless the Tutsis are totally unintelligent and hence believe that a
small group can rule those larger than them forever. (But one cannot get it
pass the Tutsis; one can see them believe in the nonsense that the can rule
others forever and ever and not arouse resentment. So far in their
unenviable history on this planet Africans have not shown any spark of
excellence in any sphere of human endeavor, certainly not in governance.)
The Luo of Kenya and other ethnic groups
have had enough of Kikuyu domination and are now rebelling. The solution to the
Kenya
issue, which is the solution to the ethnic problem in most African countries,
is to restructure the country. Each ethnic group in
Kenya
must be made a state. Each state must have relative autonomy to rule itself
while delegating certain powers to the central government.
In several writings, I wrote about this
federal structure for African countries. Let me briefly summarize what,
elsewhere, I wrote in detail.
Kenya,
Nigeria,
Congo and
all African countries should be restructured. Each group that has a distinct
language should be made a state. Each state should rule itself but do so within
a federation comprising other ethnic groups. There are ten large groups in
Kenya.
Each of these ethnic groups should be a state. The smaller groups should be
lumped into two additional states for a total of twelve states in
Kenya.
The same should be done in
Congo,
Nigeria and elsewhere in
Africa
where there are many ethnic groups.
Nigeria has ten
major ethnic groups and many small ones.
Nigeria
should have ten states; each composed of one of the major ethic groups. The smaller
ethnic groups should be lumped into five additional states for a total of
fifteen states in
Nigeria.
Each state is further broken into districts
(aka counties, local government areas). Each district should be an identified
sub-group, say, those who speak a dialect of the same language that constitute
a state.
Finally, each district should be divided
into towns.
Each level of governance: town,
district and state should have a unitary form of government, and a unicameral
legislature: a state legislature of no more than fifty members, a district
council of no more than eleven members and a town council of no more than seven
members. The legislature makes laws. An executive is elected to implement the
laws: town mayor, district administrator and state governor. An independent
judiciary is established to adjudicate the laws: town magistrate court,
district court and state court of appeal.
Each tribe must be responsible for its
economic development. Each tribe must have one hundred percent control over its
resources, all of it. However, citizens from each tribe must pay tax to run the
central governments. Each citizen should expect to pay, at least, twenty
percent of his annual income to federal tax. States need revenue to operate and
ought to tax properties and businesses, sales tax etc but have no individual
income taxes.
The central government should be in charge
of the military and external affairs. The central government should have a
national unicameral legislature of no more than three hundred members, members
elected to serve five years with a five term limit; a national president
elected to serve five years with two terms limit and an independent judiciary
(Supreme court of no more than thirteen members, one of whom is the chief
justice, federal appeals courts and federal district courts).
The constitution of the
United
States of America is a useful model, except that in the case
of
Africa states ought to be comprised of identified
tribes.
The idea behind this summarized
constitution for African countries is to give each tribe relative autonomy
while having a national government that coordinates the affairs of the entire
country. Clearly, each African tribe is too small to go it alone and needs other
tribes’ cooperation to make a go of it; no tribe should be subjugated to other
tribe’s everlasting domination.
How difficult is this realistic political
structure for Africans to comprehend? Are Africans born dense and cannot figure
out the right thing by themselves and do it and need external others to tell
them what to do?
Or is it the case that Africans are born
criminals, antisocial personalities, as some racist folk suspect, and would
rather have their present political system, chaotic as they are, that allows
them to satisfy their thieving tendencies (such as allows Nigerians of non-Ijaw
tribe to keep stealing Ijaw oil resources).
What would it take for Africans, for once
in their dumb history, to do the right thing rather than always do the wrong
things. We sit by and watch these countries descend into anarchy and the people
suffer and die and we feel pity for them and seek ways to give them handouts
(monetary aid that their thieving leaders would redirect to their personal
pockets).
We see what is going on in
Kenya;
that country has descended into anarchy and if the international community
stands idly by would become another failed African state. Yet there are
pretended rulers at
Nairobi.
One does not understand what so-called
African leaders are doing for their countries. I suppose that they seek
political offices to position themselves to gratify their antisocial cravings,
their desires to steal from the public treasury, take bribes from those they award
government contracts to and look aside as shoddy contract deliveries are
produced.
God, Africans are the most frustrating
people on this blue earth. How come they cannot for once in their unenviable
history do what is admirable? Should they always do the wrong thing?
Are Africans not human beings, too? May be
they are lower level animals and we take them as human beings? May be we are
the ones with a problem in seeing them as human beings hence capable of
governing themselves?
James Watson recently said that he doubts
that given Africans low intelligence that they could manage their political
affairs and he was driven off the stage for saying what is in many folk’s
minds. Okay, Mr. Watson is probably a racist, but why can’t Africans disprove
him by doing the right thing, restructuring their countries and running them
well?
No African country, in fact, no black led
country, so far, in human history has governed itself well. (Some African
nationalists take pride in ancient
Egypt
and cite it as an instance of Africans doing the right thing. Were ancient
Egyptians black folk? The jury is still out on that subject. At any rate, what
some folk did four thousand years ago does not mean a damn thing today.)
So far members of the black race have done
only one thing well: blame other folks for their fallen house. Africans are
always on the look out for someone to blame for their problems. They blame
Europeans for all that is wrong with Africa but do little to improve
Africa.
Place Africans in political positions and
all they do is sit on their buttocks and do nothing; perhaps, they figure out
ways to steal from their people.
Africans forget that if you point two
accusatory fingers at others three point right back at you telling you
that though other people do contribute to your problem that in the final
analysis that it is up to you to solve it. Europeans, of course, have
contributed to
Africa’s problems but it is up to
Africans to solve their problems. No external others would solve Africans
problems for them.
In case they have forgotten, let us remind
Africans that it is childish to always blame other people for ones problems. It
is children who feel powerless that find it necessary to always blame other
people, adults, for their issues.
Adults accept that in the real world every
person affects every person else. We live in a general systems environment
where all affect all for good or bad. All that one can do is solve ones
problems even if they were caused by other persons.
Yes, the West affected Africans but it is
for Africans to solve their problems. Europeans bought African slaves. Arabs
bought African slaves. These caused problems for Africans. But before we get
carried away pitying exploited Africans we must remember that it is Africans
themselves who sold their people to Arabs and Europeans hence are every bit
culprit as those they sold their people to. It takes two to tango.
There are no innocent persons in this
world. Instead of moaning about what other people did to Africans, Africans can
take their lives into their own hands and do what is good for them.
As indicated above, Africans must
restructure their countries. After that first order of business Africans must
get down to doing what would economically develop their backward continent,
giving all Africans free education up to university level, industrializing
their god forsaken continent.
Africans can do what
China
and
India
are currently doing if only they put their hitherto unproductive minds to work.
Africans and Kenyans can prevent the
continent from melting down into chaos by doing the things suggested here. To
ignore doing these things is like being the proverbial ostrich and hide ones
head in sand. It is time Africans, like men, looked their problems in the face
and tackled them, realistically.
Ozodi Thomas Osuji
January 31, 2008
ozodiosuji@gmail.com
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Posted by Robot| 31.01.2008 22:21