Inter Press Service (Johannesburg)
28 January 2008
There is more to Kenya's post-election violence than a bungled vote count and so-called tribal rivalries. As protests degenerate into organised ethnic violence in Rift Valley towns and countryside, the root-cause of the unrest lies elsewhere.
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I agree with your analysis. The distribution of wealth is at the heart of these problems, but I am struggling to understand why poor Luos would turn against poor Kikuyus (and now vice versa). Odinga, their supposed champion, is one of the richest men in Kenya and most likely through inappropriate means. I am sure that more Kikuyus are rich and improperly so than any other tribe, but certainly not all Kikuyus are rich. Many are just as poor as any other tribe. There are also many non-Kikuyus who have gained much wealth through corruption as well. I want to know why we are not seeing a TRUE class war where the poor of this country rise up against ALL of their oppressors, including the politicians who simply manipulate them. That is what is yet missing from your analysis, but also from mine. I just can't figure it out.