Peacebuilding in Northern Kenya Needs Spare Thinking and New Approaches
The frontier region that lies to the northern part of Kenya
is well known for its history of violent conflicts. Most literature concludes that
these conflicts are ethnic in nature. A position that is contestable. I think
that historical exclusion and a history of marginalization coupled with absence
of the state in those parts of the world have more to do with the conflicts there
than ethnicity. The various ethnicities to be found in the north are only locked
in a poverty trap that is a consequent of economic hardships in the region
whose roots are to be found on the pages of Kenya’s sessional paper No. 10 of
1965. Having cut off the mainstream development agenda of the independent Kenya
led the region to lag behind in terms of all known development indicators. Characterized
by scarcity of the most basic of the needs, inter-group rivalry emerged since
groups had to scramble for scarce resources.
As groups compete for scarce resources (survival needs) they
are bound to strengthen the inner group (ethnic communities) and aggressively
face the outer groups (other ethnicities) but also to forge alliances (ethnic
alliances) as cases may be in the pursuit of such needs. As the process goes,
groups (ethnic) will tend to strive together as they struggle to survive
together (self-preservation). The outsider (other ethnic group) will become an
enemy, not necessarily because the said outsider is from the ethnic other but largely,
if not entirely, because this other is a competitor in the scramble for scarce
resources. In this struggle the groups in question will tend to use all tactics
at their disposal including violence and when such happens outsiders often
conclude that the conflict is ethnic because that is what is manifest; that is
what they see, people divided along ethnic lines and engaged in active violence.
We need to look into how the state of the economy and a
historical grievance are acting as pushes and pulls in the conflicts of Kenya’s
north. Plus, there are new issues that are now coming in and exacerbating local
tensions and providing challenges for traditional peacebuilding structures. These
new challenges will complicate the conflict dynamics and most likely escalate the
conflict in the near future. What does this mean to us? That we need to get our
conflict analysis right and we need to devise new strategies to address the
ongoing conflicts within fast changing conflict contexts. The traditional approaches
to peacebuilding in the north of Kenya, that we are stuck with, have not been
as successful as some people argue. If they were, then the straightest
indicator should be significant reduction in or complete stop of violence. To
the extent that such has not happened, we are safe concluding that the real issues
are far from being addressed.
The question that then arises is: why so many people would be
involved for so long a time in trying to resolve the same conflicts which they
claim to understand yet achieve so little in transforming those conflicts even
with so much investment? The answer, in my view, is simple and twofold. One, we
are treating symptoms. Two, peacebuilding has become and enterprise. We are now
witnessing the emergence of peace mercenaries; conflict entrepreneurs only doing
as much to maintain their jobs and the cash flow in terms of donor funding. Of course,
a huge chunk of that money goes back to citizens of western countries, which
are the chief donors, through hefty salaries of so called expat staff and consultancies.
The impact on the ground is negligible.
Today, we should be looking into nuances in the real issues
that are altering the conflict dynamics in northern Kenya and re-examine the
conflict contexts. We need, for instance, to look into how the existing community
structures (e.g. clan systems among the Somali community), for addressing
conflict in this part of Kenya are being challenged by issues arising from devolution, terrorism and violent extremism, as well as resource extraction. No doubt, these issues are
exacerbating local tensions and raising new challenges for traditional
peacebuilding structures.
Annoyingly, the existing “peacebuilding entities and
peacebuilders” exude neither the willingness nor the capacity to move in the
direction of the conflict process and trends in Kenya’s north. This should be worrying,
but of course, no to the current peace mercenaries and conflict entrepreneurs who
are in merely for payday. They are in business. It can only worry a genuine
lover of peace and a community member who, fatigued by decades of violent conflict
yearns for stability so that his/her life can acquire new and true meaning and
their children can grow, at least in a calm and predicable if not peaceful environment;
an environment where they, like children of other parts of Kenya, stand an
equal chance to have a fair shot at life.
Peacebuilding in Northern Kenya Needs Spare Thinking and New Approaches
Reviewed by Ibrahim Magara
on
April 27, 2017
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