Post by ombok on Sept 16, 2005 6:24:22 GMT 3
EDITORIALS
We must all shun tribalism
Publication Date: 9/15/2005
Whenever there is an issue of national importance, like the General Election
or, as now, a referendum to approve or reject the proposed constitution, the
issue of tribalism crops up with all its ugly connotations.
Indeed, tribalism - what is sometimes referred to as negative ethnicism - is
a cancer that encroaches on every facet of our lives, feeding, like a
parasite, on every tissue of our national life, and slowly strangulating our
every endeavour.
And it always becomes most noticeable in the highly-charged atmosphere of
political contest, when the contestants fall back on their tribes for basic
support before reaching out to some other tribe for additional backing.
In short, the sinister forces of tribalism seem to have become a way of
life, with the most assiduous of its practitioners becoming, at the same
time, its loudest critics. Now the political contest, which has been dubbed
the referendum, has assumed such dimensions.
The Electoral Commission of Kenya chairman, Mr Samuel Kivuitu, must know
what he is talking about when he pointedly warns politicians to avoid
erecting tribal and class barriers in the referendum debate and campaigns.
In fact, he was telling them to avoid tribalistic utterances and innuendoes
when campaigning for their favoured position on this highly-vexed issue. But
where politicians are concerned, this is a rather tall order.
Nevertheless, the rest of us, Kenyans, should realise what the new
Constitution is all about, and refuse to be misguided by politicians for
selfish reasons. If we do [allow to be misguided], we shall rue it one day
when the politicians shake hands after a hard-fought battle, and go on with
their lives the best of friends - until the next time.
Meanwhile, there will be no new Constitution, and if there is one, it will
be so flawed as to be utterly worthless.
[www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=24&newsid\
=57194
We must all shun tribalism
Publication Date: 9/15/2005
Whenever there is an issue of national importance, like the General Election
or, as now, a referendum to approve or reject the proposed constitution, the
issue of tribalism crops up with all its ugly connotations.
Indeed, tribalism - what is sometimes referred to as negative ethnicism - is
a cancer that encroaches on every facet of our lives, feeding, like a
parasite, on every tissue of our national life, and slowly strangulating our
every endeavour.
And it always becomes most noticeable in the highly-charged atmosphere of
political contest, when the contestants fall back on their tribes for basic
support before reaching out to some other tribe for additional backing.
In short, the sinister forces of tribalism seem to have become a way of
life, with the most assiduous of its practitioners becoming, at the same
time, its loudest critics. Now the political contest, which has been dubbed
the referendum, has assumed such dimensions.
The Electoral Commission of Kenya chairman, Mr Samuel Kivuitu, must know
what he is talking about when he pointedly warns politicians to avoid
erecting tribal and class barriers in the referendum debate and campaigns.
In fact, he was telling them to avoid tribalistic utterances and innuendoes
when campaigning for their favoured position on this highly-vexed issue. But
where politicians are concerned, this is a rather tall order.
Nevertheless, the rest of us, Kenyans, should realise what the new
Constitution is all about, and refuse to be misguided by politicians for
selfish reasons. If we do [allow to be misguided], we shall rue it one day
when the politicians shake hands after a hard-fought battle, and go on with
their lives the best of friends - until the next time.
Meanwhile, there will be no new Constitution, and if there is one, it will
be so flawed as to be utterly worthless.
[www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=24&newsid\
=57194