We’d ethnic clashes in 1992, 1997 and in 2002. There was tension in 2005. In 2007, serious violence erupted. Look at the dates and figure what’s common. Political contests! Other than in 2005 when we’d a national referendum, all others are general election years! General elections are characterized by political contests. Individual politicians and political parties compete. The referendum in 2005 was preceded by a fall out in the then ruling NARC party allegedly following breaches in the pre-election MOU.

We’d ethnic clashes in 1992, 1997 and in 2002. There was tension in 2005. In 2007, serious violence erupted. Look at the dates and figure what’s common. Political contests! Other than in 2005 when we’d a national referendum, all others are general election years! General elections are characterized by political contests. Individual politicians and political parties compete. The referendum in 2005 was preceded by a fall out in the then ruling NARC party allegedly following breaches in the pre-election MOU. This converted the subsequent referendum to a contest between the breakaway NARC faction and the remnant. This boiled down to a political contest instead of an opinion vote by Kenyans. But notice that such ethnic clashes never erupt in the country in between general elections. Not in 1994, 1999, 2004 or 2009! Why?

It follows from the above empirical evidence that ethnic clashes in Kenya must be directly related to political contests and some of the political actors. In all, protagonists have cited land and land related disputes and/or injustices, never mind whether real or perceived. Invariably, it’s unscrupulous, selfish national and local political actors who manipulate community opinion and incite the violence. They do it for themselves. They do it to win community or regional votes. They’ll argue that they’ve foreigners in their midst. They’ll say that their land was “stolen” and that they must “do something” about it. They say many terrible and usually untrue things. Ultimately, these utterances work up their followers to a trance and arguments that foreigners must go emerge. Soon, violence erupts.

People are evicted, property is destroyed and stolen. Innocent lives are lost. This pre- and post-election violence on account of real or perceived land injustices has given Kenya a very bad name. It has injured national pride. It’s made communities that have lived peacefully together fight over matters they usually cannot later convincingly recount. Our food security gets undermined. Innocent children, who have no idea at all what their parents and elders are talking about, suffer and drop out of school. Women are raped, miscarry or separate if with spouses from different communities in the tension and hate of the moment. Business gets totally disrupted. These are not the things we Kenyans want to associate with at local, national or international level.

It’s time we individually and collectively reclaimed our pride, honour and nationhood by saying no to this cyclic political manipulation. Why would you grow up with Onyango and Wanjiku, go to school together, work together and even intermarry then suddenly some politician emerges just before election time to fan division and hate between yourselves? Why would Omari grow up with Nduku, learn and work with her but come election time, Nduku and her parents must pack up and go? See, dear Kenyans, our country has a hard history. It’s marked by community migration all through. Worse, on arrival, colonialists alienated large parts to themselves. Therefore most communities will have over the years suffered some form of land injustice along the way. All our urban areas stand on community land that belonged to one group or another.

If everyone dug backwards, no one would be spared. Besides, modern life has forced us to learn together, live together, intermarry and trade together. Our policy and constitutional instruments allow the freedom and discretion to trade in movable and immovable property anywhere anytime. And we can’t do less. Without this provision, regional, national and global trade would suffer. So, it’s not like we have a choice on this. Time has invalidated quite a lot of what we’d have previously wished.

Granted, there are today some totally legitimate land grievances. Injustices of the kind that must be catalogued and addressed. The national land policy says so and the constitution too. But is anyone of us capable of resolving them overnight? Will violence and confrontation help? I don’t think so. It will take sober and level headed Kenyans talking together with communities and individuals affected to listen, document and recommend appropriate solutions. This must be done within some legal framework. It must be mainstreamed within work plans and must be supported in the budget. It must too be done within some legitimate and recognized institutional framework. As things stand, Kenyans proposed that this be done through the National Land Commission which was established within the constitution. Though this is yet to be operationalized, it is the closest the country has come to addressing this matter in a serious and holistic manner, contrary to previous adhoc approaches. Moreover, the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission has documented some useful information in this regard.

So, like the Land Development and Governance Institute appealed in some public note recently, we Kenyans should in the next general elections reward ourselves by rejecting any overtures by politicians to turn against each other on account of land. Let us push to have the law, due process and established institutions address these matters soonest. We owe this to ourselves.

The edited version of this contribution was published in the Daily Nation in February 2012