The People of Kenya

Sometime not long after we arrived in Kenya Gareth and I were perplexed by the following joke:

Why do Kikuyu marriages last longer than Luo?
Answer: A Kikuyu won’t get divorced because it is expensive, whereas a Luo will get divorced because it is expensive.

This is funny I am told because it mocks the characteristics of two of the most promiment ethnic groups in Kenya (tribes as they used to be called) in short it suggests Kikuyus are tight with money and Luos are flash harrys (who eat a lot of fish). I have to admit that before I arrived here my ignorance did not run beyond knowledge that there was a group of people living in Kenya called the Masaai who wore traditional dress and still, in some places, roamed the land. There are in fact 48 different ethnic groups in Kenya and the Masaai are not the largest by a long shot. I think I can only now name about 10 of these groups and they are largely geographically rooted. In the north-west desert-like region of Kenya live the Turkana people who seem to have a very hard life and are very resistant to all that nature throws at them. North-East you have Kenyan-Somalis who are a group of their own and often tainted by association with the neighbouring land of the pirates, towards Coast the very colourfully dressed Digo, whose women apparently rule the roost compared to the men and the Swahili whose influences are much more Arabic and Indian than African. Then there are Luyha (who eat a lot of chicken), Samburu , Kamba, Kalenjin (where most Kenyan runners come from apparently) and so many more that I don’t even know all the names, let alone the associated stereotypes. Most Kenyans therefore speak their local language as a native tongue, Swahili as their second language and English as their third, very impressive! Even those born and raised in the city will associate their home as ‘the village’ and their identity much more with the region where their families are from than where they have spent their lives.



Testing the stereotypes: Three of Gareth's colleagues:
(left) Geoffrey, Luhya, only laughed when asked if he likes chicken, and then complicated matters by telling us that there are actually 16 Luhya sub-tribes!
(centre) Philomena, Kikuyu, ANDY's accountant (!)
(right) Maxwell, Luo, who loves fish but last night made himself a french omelette

 Of course Nairobi is a melting pot of all of these groups as well as the odd mzungu (white person) but dominated in political and economic life it seems by the Kikuyus and Luos. And tribal loyalties do run much deeper than we initially realized. You will hear accusations of jobs and contracts being awarded based on which group you are from, certain careers only being open to you if you are the right group (i.e Kikuyus work in finance, Luos are doctors and engineers) and within society people are more inclined to do favours for one of their own. Most significantly of course politics seems to follow this mould, who you are and not what you stand for gets you the votes, hence the post 2007 election violence fell heavily along ethnic lines.

It is a very complex social make-up and I do not pretend to understand a fraction of it. Sadly however the stereotypes are often much more harmful than the joke about divorce, as stereotypes are. But it seems, for all the fractious behavior that these stereotypes and loyalties encourage, they are not actually ingrained Kenyan beliefs but were introduced by the British during their rule. Divide and conquer does work after all.