Jeffrey Gettleman, the New York Times‘ correspondent in East Africa, whose first post-election report in Kenya set the tone for his subsequent coverage, when he wrote about ‘… an atavistic vein of tribal tension that always lay beneath the surface in Kenya,’ now invents history:
“… Kenya used to be considered one of the most promising countries in Africa. Now it is in the throes of ethnically segregating itself. Ever since a deeply flawed election in December kicked off a wave of ethnic and political violence, hundreds of thousands of people have been violently driven from their homes and many are now resettling in ethnically homogenous zones.”
I am going to leave that pre-2007 ‘peaceful Kenya’ bit as it is not worth commenting on, and instead focus on his claim that Kenya is now ‘ethnically segregating itself’ like it is a new thing.
No one is disputing how the violence and oppositions is manifesting itself, but does Gettleman read history? Has he heard about colonialism and the making of tribes? About colonialism and territorial segregation? About reserves? About the post-independence Kenyan governments and there entrenching of that kind of politics.
To refresh on history and causes of Kenya’s political (and they are political) problems, see also Caroline Elkins, David Robinson, Tavia Nyong’o, Madeleine Bunting, Binyavanga Wainaina, AfricaFocus Bulletin, among others.
This is making me tired.
