Ethnic Divisions

I can't say that I am particularly clued up on the political scene in Kenya but I have seen enough to be shocked and saddened at the brewing mess that seems set to bubble over for weeks to come.

Any country that conducts elections where one area has 102,000 registered voters and almost all 102,000 of them vote for the 'winner' has to have had their electoral procedures breaking down somewhere along the way. It's enough to make someone consider a career change into election observing.

So that was pretty shocking but the saddening part is the "ethnic divisions" that have become newsworthy through all of this. I was going to say these divisions arose as a result of the election but goodness knows for how many generations the Kalenjins, the Somalis, the Merus, the Embus and so on have lived so restlessly in such close proximity.

And yet, why should anyone be surprised at such civil unrest? The world over we currently have the issues of Israelis and Palestines, Sunnis and Shiites, Serbs and Albanians, Pakistanis and Indians, Rwandan Tsutsis and Hutus, Ugandan Civil War, Indonesian unrest, Chechen Uprising etc etc etc so we should be, if we aren't already, almost immune to the images of two ethnic groups in a far flung land finding a new reason to beat the shit out of each other.

So with 2008 ahead of us, and support for Scottish independence approaching the 50% mark, let us at least be thankful that political differences in this country won't be settled with mass riots and bodies on fire in burning churches.


Then again, if everyone's favourite Orangeman gets the jail, who knows what sort of carnage may ensue...