News & Comment
Tribalism: a chronic disease within secular regimes

News

A state agency has exposed counties whose key employment criteria since 2013 appears to be that you must be ethically- correct, meaning you must have been bone here to get an employment. The report put together the National Cohesion and Integration Commission [NCIC], lifts the mask on counties that have violated the law on ethnic balance and diversity in public service employment. (www.standardmedia.co.ke).

Comment

The ostentatious promulgation of the secular new constitution in Kenya was welcomed with great enthusiasm, as it was ostensibly seen fora milieu in prosperity, cohesion and a dawn for a new era from the previous which were perceived to be totalitarian, tribalistic and barbaric regimes under oppressive secular constitution.

The constitution was officially promulgated on 27th August 2010. Despite rainy weather, an estimated number of 10,000 Kenyans thronged the Uhuru Park. However, just within a stint of 6 years of its promulgation, which was meant to deter tribalism, foster cohesion, curb discrimination and all sort of social injustices, just like other secular constitutions, it has turned out to be the source of all social evils.

Having partitioned Kenya into 47 counties, which basically tend to be found within certain specific communities of the same ethnicity, it has created xenophobia which was meant to curb after the post-election violence that ensued the 2007-2008 General Election in Kenya.

This clearly indicates that tribalism and racism, which tends to be among chronic problem facing secular governments, is not an individual issue, rather secular ideological failure, which is based on the safeguarding the interests of a few individuals.

This failure is glaring for all to see. Look at the values which are cherished and upheld in this secular constitution like patriotism and nationalism, which are the axis of tribalism. Racism and tribalism lie on the pride and arrogance of feeling superior to others based on the criteria of ones tribe, race or colour not speaking ones vernacular. The Islamic ideology came to obliterate this menace more than 1430 years ago, molding all human beings under one ideological bond regardless of their color, tribe and race.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Hussein Muhammad – Kenya