[These Blacks in Kenya don’t realise this, but by saying this, they are really ASKING FOR APARTHEID! Yes, APARTHEID – because that is exactly what the “Bantustans/homelands” under Apartheid were. Somebody should send them copies of the books and theses which the Afrikaner creators of Apartheid wrote decades ago… they will see that White Afrikaners had already studied the problem and found solutions to it. I’m sure we can lend them some of our Afrikaner academics to help them implement Apartheid in Kenya.

Everything these Black academics of 2005 have discovered about their own “ethnicity” was known to Whites in general, and studied deeply by Afrikaners decades ago.

I wonder… if we stick around for another 50 years… maybe we Whites will be able to help the Blacks across Africa implement APARTHEID to bring peace to Africa? So… don’t throw away all those books on Apartheid… we will be needing course material!!!

I’m telling you… none of you will believe me… but Apartheid will outlive the ANC. The ANC will be long dead and gone… and people AROUND THE WORLD WILL STILL BE STUDYING APARTHEID AND APPLYING IT IN OTHER COUNTRIES. I hope the Afrikaners keep the copyright to Apartheid because if they sell it in a few decades time they’ll be making a lot of money!

Apartheid will outlive the ANC and Communism for this reason: Apartheid is based on valid history and valid science whereas socialism and communism is based on rubbish ideas backed up by Karl Marx’s invented facts. The ANC, and S.A. Communist Party will be dead and gone and Apartheid will still be alive. Remember – you first heard it from me! Jan]

Every Tribe Deserves Own Territory
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True democracy in Kenya is not possible without “ethnic democracy” at the grassroots. Contrary to the assertion that Kenya is united, we are ethnically and culturally plural.

To facilitate ethnic democracy, there is an urgent need to establish a Boundary Commission that will ensure ethnic democratic rights without which all other political and economic reforms and endeavours are meaningless.

General Election results from 1964 to 2002 demonstrated that ethnicity is an important, nay, indispensable variable in any strategic political planning in Kenya that should not be ignored.

According to the late Dr Osaga Odak, a former professor of Anthropology at the University of Nairobi, ethnicity in Africa is a reality we cannot escape and we must find a way to deal with it.

The positive side of ethnicity encompasses recognition of each ethnic group’s contribution to the overall development of Kenya. The culture of every ethnic group is the foundation of the a national culture. Renunciation of one’s culture means renunciation of oneself. Loss of ethnic identity and security of belonging results in serious socio-psychological repercussions.

The negative side of ethnocentrism is “ethnic chauvinism” where one ethnic group believes itself to be superior to all others.

Ethnic chauvinism, sometimes erroneously called “tribalism”, encompasses such harmful practices as inequitable distribution of national resources by corruptly rewarding members of a particular ethnic group whether they deserve it or not, disregard for professionalism, and violation of laws governing business.

To ensure ethnic equality in Kenya, the 1962 Boundary Commission tried to cluster various ethnic groups into administrative units. Thus, the most numerous ethnic groups came together under provinces; the next numerous groups formed districts, while even less numerous groups were given divisions as their administrative units.

That is why Western Province came to be dominated by the Abaluhyia, Central Province by the Kikuyu, North-Eastern Province by the Cushitic speaking groups, Coast Province by the Mijikenda, Eastern Province by the Akamba and related Meru, Embu and other Bantu speaking groups.

At a lower level, we find that the numerically less Teso in Western Province were given their own Amagoro Division that later became a district within the numerically predominant Abaluhyia, while Rift Valley Province, which is predominantly Kalenjin, had separate districts for the Turkana and two separate districts for the Maasai.

However, the Commission was not particularly thorough in its job. It failed to recognise certain ethnic groups by not according them administrative divisions within their own territories. Examples are the Abasuba in Nyanza Province and the Sabaot in Western Province.

Although, in some cases, the location boundaries followed the ethnic boundaries (eg, the then Bunyore, Alego, Karachuonyo, etc), it did not strictly adhere to this. So it is possible to find a large tribe sharing a location with a minor, unrelated, clan.

In short, the Commission did not provide equality to all ethnic or socio-ethnic units. It gave an opportunity to some ethnic groups to not only oppress the minority ethnic groups, but also provided avenues for acculturation and sometimes forced assimilation of minorities. This situation was detrimental to national development.

The more recent creation of new districts by the Kanu regime was heavily criticised as meant to work in favour of the former ruling party. While I am not concerned with the political debate, I feel that such assertion can be easily refuted by the 1997 General Election results.

I do not see how the creation of new districts that enhance ethnic identity and overall development can help any ruling party. Nor do I subscribe to the view that the creation of the districts and other administrative units are costly since the advantages outweigh the cost factor as is exemplified by positive and measurable development in newly-created districts such as Kuria, Suba, Marakwet and Mt. Elgon.

It is imperative that each and every ethnic unit, irrespective of its size, has an administrative unit of its own. This approach will eliminate the likelihood of oppression of one ethnic group by another as well as forceful assimilation and diversion of resources from the minority groups. In this case, even the Dorobo and the El Molo would be accorded equality in the administration of their micro-areas, besides being allowed free expression of their cultural identity or identity of descent.

Creation of new ethnically-based districts is commendable, but it is necessary to go even further and re-group ethnic groups that are arbitrarily put together under single large administrative units.

For this to be possible, I would suggest that the criterion for incorporating one or another territory into an administrative unit should be the nature of ethnic composition.

For instance, the numerical factor of an ethnic group should determine whether or not an area should form or be included in a province, district or division

Nakuru District, which is 59.65 per cent Kikuyu ,would have to be incorporated into Central province to become the latter’s composite district. In such a case, the Kalenjin who form 14.98 per cent of the total population would become a division within Nakuru District of Central Province with other composing ethnic groups receiving lower level administrative units, provided that they compactly occupy particular territories and are not scattered all over the district.

Similarly, Trans-Nzoia, with 52.05 per cent Abaluhyia, would need to be transformed into Western Province and those areas with high numbers of Kalenjins like Cheranganyi, become divisions within Western Province or be incorporated into Rift Valley if they border with the latter, again provided the minority groups are in compact residence.

The Boundary Commission, whose establishment I am recommending here, should form regions, provinces, districts, divisions and locations on the basis of ethnic composition. This will give ethnic communities an equal opportunity to participate in economic and cultural development of the country at all levels and therefore ensure ethnic harmony and genuine democracy.

Ethnic democracy does not preclude the existence of nationalism because all members of various ethnic groups form one nation. Nor does it confine individuals to their original ethnic territories.

Ethnic democracy asserts equal rights of all Kenyans, of whatever origin, to live, own property, do business, be employed or invest in any part of the Republic. It is crucial that any constitutional change made to incorporate some of these ideas is emphatic on this.

Mr Seba is the chairman, African Cultural Network.

Source: AllAfrica.Com
URL: http://allafrica.com/stories/200505091251.htm…/p>