Tribes, land ownership, federalism by: Arjen (webmaster)
Hi, there are 3 major long-term political issues in Kenya in my humble opinion... and they are interrelated.
1. Tribes
2. Land ownership
3. Federalism
The tribe is still very important in Kenya, and basically the Kikuyu run the country. The first Kikuyu president after independence took a LOT of land from the British, which they had stolen from other tribes. So they other tribes (the Luo but also many others in Western Kenya especially) feel disadvantaged. One solution that they see, is more federalism (meaning more independence for regions and municipalities etc.) Because the Kikuyu control national government and the country has a strong central state that decides almost everything.
The new constitution addresses these problems to a certain extent (though by no means solved yet) and it was fabulous to see that it has won in the national referendum that was held recently. Great step forward for Kenya.
