Ethnicity and Politics in Kenya’s Turbulent Path to Democracy and Development

Year 2019, Issue: 76, 159 - 180, 12.07.2019

Michael Otieno Kisaka İsrael Nyaburi Nyadera

Abstract

This
article examines the manifestation of ethnicity in Kenyan politics and its
impact on Kenya’s democratic path and development. It questions the salience of
ethnicity in politics and traces the origin of ethnic consciousness to the
colonial era. Efforts by the successive regimes to advance a national identity
have proved futile as all of them have worked to calcify it through its
exploitation and politicization. We utilize an intersection of theoretical
approaches to zoom in on the overwhelming nature of ethnicity in politics. The
crux of our argument is that ethnicity has, over time, been used for by the self-aggrandizing
political elite for self-serving interests and it is our opinion that the
historic handshake between President Uhuru Kenyatta and the former Prime
Minister Raila Odinga provided another unique opportunity for de-ethicising
Kenya’s politics and for strengthening the existing institution.

Keywords

Ethnicity, Ethnic identity, Politicisation of ethnicity, Kenya, Democracy

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