Agikuyu Hegemony and the Irrational Phobia of Raila Odinga
It is only once that I have dared a Kikuyu friend to give me
just one reason why she hated Raila Odinga so much. As anyone can guess there
wasn't any reason forthcoming. I always argue that majority of the Kikuyus are
victims; they have never been beneficiaries of the state capture and banditism
that we see around. The Kikuyu hegemony is too elitist to benefit an ordinary
Kikuyu woman and man. In fact, the first causalities of Kenyattaism were
Kikuyus who were dispossessed of their land en mase, they went on to be
scattered across the country and have since suffered a great deal the
consequences of this historical dispossession. Is it no factual that so many
members of the Kikuyu community have been killed and displaced in the Rift
Valley in various waves of ethnically targeted violence? We often only think of the post-election violence of 2007-8 but those who were in Molo in early 90s know the level of pain and loss
inflicted on and suffered by many families of ordinary Kikukuyus in that part of
the Rift Valley. Are the Kenyattas not still occupying tracks of land in Mount
Kenya? The only tragedy is that an average Kikuyu has been raised knowing that
Raila Odinga is very bad and that Luos are to be despised (of course, they are
never told why because even those who teach them so they do not have any
reason). This is done in a manner that is almost ritualistic. History has it.
An average Kikuyu is a victim of a lie; they need help but for the help to come their way
they may need to acknowledge that there is a problem and that they are victims
of a sin they never committed. To dismantle the Agikuyu hegemony which has
caused so much pain and suffering in Kenya - to all communities including the
Kikuyu themselves - would require, first, liberating an average Kikuyu from the
so called "irrational phobia" of Raila Odinga, Odingaism in general
and by extension the Luo community. Convincing an ordinary Kikuyu that Raila
Odinga or any other Luo man or woman for that matter can be president of Kenya
and that Kenya can actually be just fine is certainly an uphill task but I
think to heal and create a nation out of a fractured project we call Kenya we
just need to invest in this venture.
Agikuyu Hegemony and the Irrational Phobia of Raila Odinga
Reviewed by Ibrahim Magara
on
February 10, 2017
Rating:
Reviewed by Ibrahim Magara
on
February 10, 2017
Rating:
Total and utter hogwash of an article.Don't present twisted opinions and skewed narratives as facts because the all the irrational utterances by Odinga are all recorded over the years in the media for all to see.He is not disliked for nothing.
ReplyDeletePuetro, does the fact that Odinga has made irrational utterances as you say or even committed known or/and unknown sins render the fact that there is Agikuyu hegemony in Kenya invalid? Were we to grant it that Odinga is irrational and that his irrationality is the justification for the phobia, how do we explain the fact that this is only prevalent (almost to the last man) in the Kikuyu nation? I think before deploying nice sounding words like hogwash in dismissing opinions you do not agree with check Kenya's chequered political history; it is a little complex than typing "utter hogwash"
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