When, on Saturday, news filtered in that Kenya’s candidate for the African Union Commission, Raila Odinga, had failed to secure the job, a section of Kenyans immediately went into a celebratory mood.
The celebrations illustrated that Kenya suffers from deeply entrenched ethnic divisions.
For the tribalists, Raila was not a Kenyan candidate who needed the moral backing of the entire nation.
They most likely look at the veteran politician with the prejudiced prism of tribalism. Ethnic divisions form our weakest link. It is the one fissure that could bring the nation down to its knees.
We need look no further than the 2007-08 mayhem that was triggered by the controversial and strongly contested poll results but largely fed by the ethnic hate that our politicians so mindlessly perpetuate.
Our politicians and clerics must act quickly because we are heading into the 2027 elections, which will no doubt be hotly contested.
The fault lines have already been clearly marked. Politicians have taken positions that feed the national perception of their constituents of what to expect.
The state of affairs forms a perfect recipe for trouble and a threat to national security.
The National Cohesion Commission must move with speed and formulate messages and steps of action to cut off the head of the snake that threatens our country from within.
As for politicians, big and small, their words
must be matched with action.
