The Heritage Factor in the
Constitution
By Sultan H. Somjee,
Ethnographer and
Consultant,Constitution of Kenya Review Commission
12-09-2001
Background
After almost forty years of independence to talk about promotion
of
African, or for that matter Kenyan Culture, is a cliché. A
cliche that the
nationalist discourse used over and over again to gain
popularity and power
that created a class of politicians who became ultimately
masters of the
double discourse of theory and practice of African culture.
While one side
of the double discourse valorised African culture, the other
created a
culture of violence, fear and suppression of opinion. The post
independence
culture contradicted and shamed what was promised as protection
and
promotion of African cultural heritage in the Kenya Constitution
and
subsequent development plans.
This paper acknowledges the intentions of promoting African
culture as
stated so eloquently in the first Constitution of Kenya which
was drafted
at the height of nationalism. We cannot match the clarity,
fervour and
honesty of that period of cultural liberation and celebration.
But the
loyalties pledged in the oral and written manifestoes were
subverted. Forty
years later we must leam from the past and guard against further
subversion
of the Constitution, be pragmatic and move ahead of what has
become the
rhetoric of "contribution and promotion" of the Kenyan
culture in the
national body politic.
I view the new Constitution in the making under Multiparty
Democracy with
great hope. But first I wish to recognize and salute the work of
those
citizens who have been engaged in the process of working out and
changing
those aspects of the political and politicised culture of Kenya
that have
been oppressive to the national well being. These individuals
and groups
comprise ethnic people who continue to sing the song of how
their ancestral
land is taken away from them and those who sing how they are
reduced to
becoming refugees in their own country. These groups and
individuals also
comprise urban-based dance and drama companies encountering
changing social
values and political scenes. They belong to citizen managed
cultural
organizations and institutions.
There are also individual writers and artists in this group who
have
oriented themselves from 1963 onwards towards an enabling
culture that gave
expression to the values and aspirations of a free, peaceful and
democratic
society. They struggled to remain loyal to the Kenya
Constitution. True
national culture of Kenya supports the Constitution struggling
against the
anti-national and anti-Constitution and anti-African culture. I
salute all
those who actively participated in the making of and aspiring
for a culture
that would allow Kenyans to practice their constitutional
rights.
It is against this background that I present this paper and
address the
Terms of Reference given to me (Appendix 1). The Terms of
Reference are
grouped and covered under three sections of this paper.
Section One
National culture, Kenyan identity, ethnic diversity and what
need to be
captured in the Constitution
National culture is the total culture of a nation and it
encompasses the
culture of governance. The culture of the citizens, the ones who
are
governed, create social values and ethics from their heritage
and the joys
and difficulties of everyday life. That culture of the citizens
should be
the guide and it must be able to monitor the culture of
governance so that
it too follows the ethics of daily life that protect and enhance
values of
freedom, security and democracy. I shall be specific.
The following are four examples that suggest what the national
culture,
Kenyan identity and ethnic diversity represents and what need to
be
captured by the Constitution. It may be noted that these
examples are drawn
from four of many other living and contemporary cultures of
Kenya. My
emphasis is in this paper will be on the often ignored but
nevertheless
significant ethnic cultures of Kenya.
The Munyoyaya of the Tana River is a little known group which,
has much
wisdom to offer. They are agricultural and fisher people of
Cushitic
background. The Munyoyaya animal totem is the tortoise. The
tortoise
withdraws when disturbed and patiently waits until the danger
passes away.
Says Mzee Ababuya Afoka, a Munyoyaya elder:
Mzee Afoka says:
" A wise leader is like the tortoise. He does not
appreciate violence and
it is this wisdom that has guided the Munyoyaya through their
history and
they have never been to war with another community. Your belief
is your
force inside and that inside force is the authority to keep the
well-being
of the society and preserve life. In every society it is the
customs that
hold the authority in place and customs change when the
authority changes
and when people's customs change the authorities need to change
".
The new Kenya Constitution must capture that aspect of the
national culture
which defines the relationship between the citizens and their
government as
said by the Munyoyaya elder. Mzee Afoka says simply that the
authority must
change when the people change and the people need to change to
change the
authority. The Constitution must help the authority and the
people into
that process and it must mirror that process of change of which
Constitutionalism is a part if not a driving force.
The People of Black Beads is another example whose generations
of
experience need to be captured in the Constitution. This clan
lives among
the greater Borana ethnic group of Northern Kenya and Southern
Ethiopia.
The clan protects the society from evils of violence and
conflict. The work
of the people of the Black Beads is to ornament, which is made
of black
wooden beads, in a chain around the neck. This is an artefact of
wisdom of
an elite group. Note that they are the elites of the society
because of
their virtues and not because of their wealth.
The constitution must lead us to a non-violent society. I agree
conflicts
will be there but its how the conflicts are managed that need to
change.
Lets leam an ancient African way to keep order from the people
of the Black
Beads.
Another culture of high integrity and ethics for preservation of
life is
the Akurino of Kenya. They are called the Independent Church of
Africa but
actually like the Amish and Mennonite communities of North
America whose
social systems protect them from insecurities, the Akurino are a
reformed
group of African Christians. During the last almost eighty years
they have
developed their own set of social values, material culture and
systems for
protection against injustice and violence initially of
colonialism. The
Akurino are an example of how the old and new have been
integrated and
continue to be reintegrated into the changing structures of
social,
economic and political life of new African States. There are
more than
fifty independent churches in Kenya incorporating the old with
the new and
searching for meaning and order in today's violent society.
Many such social formations as the Akurino mentioned above,
have
strengthened their community culture across in Kenya in response
to
injustice, forced imposition of values, violence and damage done
to their
community structures by centrally administered State. These
registered and
unregistered faith groups are withdrawing from the 'mainstream'
faiths and
disintegrating cultures in pursuit of peace and meaning of life
that the
State cannot claim to provide. Yet they manifest high standards
of social
ethics (such as volunteerism, community building and work ethics)
that the
Constitution must capture so that Kenyans may draw lessons from
the
histories and lives of these groups. In European history
Protestant culture
and work ethics grew out of numerous breakaway churches at times
when the
old religion and governance could no longer hold the centre. I
am not
suggesting that there is a parallel case in Kenya. Our histories
and
cultural backgrounds are different but the example provides an
insight into
how communities reorganize themselves when conditions are
adverse to their
standard of values.
There is also for example, Iltoruesh clan of the Ikisongo
section of the
Maasai of the Kilimanjaro region. The Iltoruesh actually exclude
the
warrior age set in their social system. After initiation the
Iltoruesh
young men go through the ritual that cleanses them and
consequently allows
them to pass over the otherwise compulsory grade of Maasai
moranhood to
become junior elders. The Iltoruesh are the givers of prayers
and rules for
maintenance of human security and the social order of the Maasai
society.
They live close to the sacred mountain Ol Donyo Lengai. Ol Donyo
Lengai as
the name says, is the Mountain of God.
African spirituality embodies values for enhancement of life and
not its
destruction that the Constitution must state. After all the
Constitution is
an instrument to advance values of life and well being and it
sanctions
forces that are against values of life and social well being.
The Iltoruesh
go to settle disputes, not the morans. Olemal or peace
delegation are
formed and resolution sought. This is a long standing Maasai
policy for
resolution of conflicts within the community. The Constitution
must draw
from our peace building traditions and give guidance to
formation of a
policy for settlement of conflicts within the larger Kenyan
community.
Policies are based on values. Amazingly there is no national
policy on
resolution of conflicts in a country of such a rich heritage of
a culture
of peace. The result is that when there are conflicts the GSU,
the police
and the military creates a havoc and runs over a civilized
nation, looting
and raping along the way to conflict resolution. The Iltoruesh
among other
traditional civilizations show us how a culture of violence can
be
contained. This what the Constitution needs to recognize.
The four examples given above from diverse Kenyan communities
which are
incidentally, not connected with each other in any way, reflect
on the
values of life and well being. These values are peace,
spirituality and
freedom that citizens of Kenya desire and have deep hope that
the new
Constitution will be so drafted as to direct the law to provide
the
mechanisms for them to develop in time to come. Note the
diversities in the
examples discussed above which is the strength that too needs to
be
acknowledged as our national heritage. The examples are from
Cushitic,
Bantu and Nilotic civilizations of Kenya.
Section Two
How National Culture, Kenyan Identity and Ethnic Diversity can
be protected
and promoted in the Constitution ?.
This section relates to and builds on the previous one. There
are 5 areas
that the new Constitution may consider for protection and
promotion of
Kenya's national culture, identity and ethnic diversity.
1. Protect the Kenyan culture, identity and ethnic diversity
from political
manipulation
The Constitution must protect and give exposure to expression of
national
ethnic identities in their many forms such as distinct customs,
art forms,
languages, dress, music and dance. Protect them from
manipulation for
political ends, as has been the case during recent years and
especially
during past elections. Ethnic cultural characteristics and
traditions have
been used to cause fear, suspicion and ultimately hate by
drawing on
differences such as between the circumcised and the
uncircumcised citizens,
as features of ridicule and later termed into reasons for,
prejudice and
hate and even separateness. How easily is our strength turned
into our
weakness!
During the independence era there were instances such as forced
and public
removal of Pokot ornaments and dress by the GSU. There was
public shaming
of the Turkana and Pokot way of adornment and generally of
pastoralist
lifestyles. It was cultural humiliation. Dissatisfaction of
ethnic citizens
towards the unfamiliar and unfriendly style of governance and
management of
their resources was termed either as a revolt or banditry.
Conflicts over
their resources were often blamed on the people's backwardness
and even
primitivism. Yet the ethnic communities of Kenya value love for
the land,
spirituality and in all hold such a humanistic culture that
the
Constitution has yet to define. But this is possible through
participatory
work with the elders of the various groups.
What needs to be protected and promoted in the Constitution is
the respect
for a pluralist society at the very grassroots. This includes
mutual
respect for the intellectual, cultural and environmental
resources of our
many civilizations. The diversity needs to be recognized and
promoted
nationally in such forms as signboards in regional areas written
in ethnic
languages and government officers learning and knowing languages
of the
regions of their work stations. This is one way of giving a
face, a visage
to a pluralist country.
Enhance and develop all ethnic languages as mother tongues and
Kiswahili
and English as languages for national unity and advancement. In
many
regions of Kenya the young population is largely a tri-language.
It's the
right of the citizens and the children to own their heritage
languages.
Legalize and acknowledge this fact, and let's be proud of it. In
this
aspect we are a unique nation.
Secondly at another level the largely oral and visual peoples of
Kenya need
to see and listen to each other which would be a start to. build
towards a
national culture of a pluralist Kenya. That is cultural
enhancement that
would allow the removal and putting aside of the politically
motivated
suspicion and fear that we have of each other. Moreover it would
help to
concentrate the emotions and intellectual energy of Kenyans to
creativity
and provide the encouragement to build the new community driven
force of a
culturally diverse nation. A culture which guarantees freedom
of
expression, association and thought can yet be restored and take
shape in a
people to people communication mode in rural as well as in
context of urban
settings. The government must trust its people. The government
must trust
its Constitution.
The Constitution can facilitate people to people communication
in three
ways. One is to locate and strengthen the commonalities among
the many
ethnic peoples of Kenya. The second is to respect the
differences in an
appreciative way. Build on the inherited positive experiences
that Kenyans
have always had which is respecting the variety of regional
customary
practices. That is our tradition and our strength. The third is
to adopt
the unique traditions of some communities that express social
values in
such a creative and uniquely African way that we can all be
proud of and it
becomes a part of our national expression.
The process of developing the national ethic begins with first
describing
and understanding the multiplicity of ethnic and community
ethics which
includes both faith and cultural knowledge. There are community
ethics such
as respecting the consensus of the elders, respect for life and
the dead,
sacredness of the earth, spirituality in the traditional belief
systems and
the sense of aesthetics.
The Maasai dress and adornment is proudly dawned by Miss Kenya,
Miss
Tourism and by young Kenyan urbanites at the Carnivore and
Safari Park
Hotel irrespective of their faith and ethnic backgrounds. We see
the Maasai
beads incorporated into modern African fashion. The Constitution
can help
to promote such similar symbolic elements of a rich national
heritage of
decor and social functions. The Maasai attire and ornament has
become
symbolic of a national culture and it projects such visually
powerful a
Kenyan National Identity through one ethnic feature and mode of
beauty,
decency and pride. The Kenyan youth is searching for a Kenyan
identity to
own and project in this era of globalization where the youth
feels
culturally marginalized. One reason for the numerous and violent
school
strikes, high levels of substance abuse and falling morals of
the youth may
be due to the loss of touch with social values and identity. The
new
Constitution of the current generation set has the
responsibility to
restore that identity.
2. Empower ethnic and civil institutions to sustain a
pluralist society
Social evolution is often viewed from the primordial to a nation
state
democracy on an evolutionary linear scale of political
structural models
mainly from the histories of Northern Hemisphere. While the fact
remains
that the security of African people lies in myriad patterns of
intricately
connected and well integrated social structures of ethnic groups,
clans,
sub clans and families. The State outside the cities (and
nowadays in some
areas of the cities as well) neither provides administration nor
security.
When I go to Marsabit from Nairobi, I must fly because between
Isiolo and
Marsabit there is little or no government.
Yet across Kenya there are assemblies of elders who strive for
communal
security and peace in spite of the violence of colonization,
nationalism
and the modern State, the GSU and military in regions such as
the Rift
Valley and North Eastern Provinces. The elders strive to fulfil
their
responsibility to keep the inherited order of their society. For
sustaining
democracy and the social ethic the Constitution needs to
inculcate the
spirit and sense of justice, order and peace as it is manifested
especially
among the elder managed communities. Justice system need to be
culturally
constructed and justice done must be culturally accepted.
Empower the
community institutions that do have the authority and wisdom to
rule well.
This means that the African State of Kenya must rule with the
elders so
that ethnic diversity, Kenyan cultures, customary law and the
national
identity can be protected and promoted.
The elders of the community councils hold the authority through
consensus
to rule at the grassroots in a way that the modern State cannot
claim to
have in many parts of Africa. When the elders meet memory is
evoked. The
elders and the living dead hold memory of peace, security and
justice.
Sometimes it is called the wisdom of the elders of Africa.
Memory is
history recalled. Oral history and literature of Kenya hold
codes of ethics
of a largely non-literate society. Ethnic languages invoke
metaphors and
symbols of social values and wisdom of good governance. These
languages
must be maintained and developed to uphold wisdom for the
generations to
come. When the Constitution serves the elders, it empowers them
to better
serve their communities and the government.
Kenya is a mosaic of ethnic people struggling to keep together
their
fragile protective and caring community owned institutions for
sustaining
life against violence of the State organs and some politicians.
This is a
fact that the new Constitution must accept and deal with and
hence protect
the people-based institutions. When the government fails to
provide the
government what choice do we have? What institutions do we have
in place to
hold up? In absence of government mechanisms for fair justice
and
protection of property and life, disintegration of surviving
ethnic and
civil institutions would result in further loss of self-esteem
and
community's capabilities for self-preservation and propagation
of even the
basic human values. The national culture of Kenya, her identity
and her
diversity lies in the multiplicity of peoples of culture who
hold a bonding
relationship with their ancient lineages, the ever-present
ancestral beings
and the environment.
3. Promote and protect the Environment
In Kenya memory that refers to social values is harvested from
ancient
features of the environment such as the sacred trees, mountains
and waters.
The elders present themselves to the peace trees and features of
the earth
in openness to receive communal with spirituality that fosters
the
humanistic character of their societies.
When we are destroying our forests, we are in the process also
destroying
our social and spiritual heritage. This is the heritage of human
values
known to us through the people who live or have lived close to
the earth
and the trees. Neither modern school education nor the modern
State has the
capacity to give or replace the quality of this heritage. As far
back as
1932 Paramount Chief Wambugu told the colonial government that
forests of
Mt. Kenya were a gift that God had given the community. He was
talking
about the country's spiritual and social heritages, which are
closely tied.
It is the twin heritage of human values that is fundamental to
the
sustenance and development of the spirit and ethics of a civil
society.
In Kenya we did not write manuscripts to preserve the thoughts
of the
forefathers. Our visual and oral traditions are passing away
with new
spoken languages and literacy based on a European legacy. Sacred
(or peace)
trees are the last remaining symbols of a memory that fostered
well-being
among the communities and peace and well being with the
environment. These
trees also fostered civil values in a variety of contexts.
Migration paths
of the three great traditions of Kenya land-marked sacred trees
across the
continent. Today there are groups within the Bantu conglomerate
of cultures
originating from West Africa, the Nilotic from the Nile corridor
and
Cushitic groups from the Red Sea region that evoke names of
trees such as
the Olive Tree, the Fig Tree and the Acacia in their prayers.
Among many ethnic communities of Kenya relationship is linked to
peace with
nature and the earth. People pray under the trees, use foliage
of peace
trees during rites of passage and they inhale the smoke of the
sacred wood
in blessing rituals. They bless the earth with branches dipped
in water,
milk and honey. Today clergy of the Catholic Church in Ukambani,
Embu and
Pokot region dip leaves of the sacred tree into the holy water
and bless
the congregation and the earth with the spray. Last year the
church at
Othaya blessed four African peace trees that were planted to
heal the earth
at a mass graveyard of a Mau Mau concentration camp. Four
thousand people
came to witness healing of the earth and planting of the peace
trees.
Recently Pokomo women of the Tana riverine forests at Mnazini
and Baomo
protested against the presence of scientists on their land. One
of their
concerns was the fear for loss of their communal trees. They
have
experienced this threat before to the loss of their trees like
many other
citizens of Kenya such as the IiLoita of The Forest of the Lost
Child in
Narok and the Mijikenda of the sacred Makaya at the coast. The
Pokomo,
Munyoyaya and Wailwana depend largely on beehives and other
products of the
forests for subsistence as well as for maintenance of their
social order
ethics and spirituality. Among these groups, beehives, and not
cattle, are
counted as bride price and there are trees in the forests that
listen to
their souls, mediate disputes and bring blessings of peace and
prosperity.
When riverine trees are cut, the community's fundamental values
for
maintenance of their economy and the security of their
spirituality and
unity are uprooted. The waters that supply them with fish and
plants for
building boats and baskets then begin to fall in level. Pacifist
Munyoyaya
and Waata who prefer not to fight need the forests to shelter
when the
enemy attacks. Non-violence is an ethic of these humble people
and the
tortoise is the tribal totem for the animal best expresses the
community
lifestyle. The Constitution must protect the cultures languages
and customs
of these minorities.
Celluloid images on TV, computer screens and mobile cinemas are
powering
over our native imagery and emotions connected to the natural
landscapes
and all the metaphors of knowledge, languages and sensitivities
that have
been preserved for what may be called the being in us. We are
losing that
touch with land and how to work the earth. Legends are no longer
told in
Central Province that Agikuyu have a deep historical connection
with Mukuyu
(Ficus Sycomorus), the tree after which ancestor Gikuyu was
named for he
was the great Mukuyu himself. But Mukuyu today must exist if the
society is
to exist in kinship with other trees of the mountain of God such
as Muiri
(Prunus Africana) and Mutamaiyu (Olea Africana), and in kinship
with the
forests, waters, animals, the mountains and people of the earth
so that we
may live in peace and prosper.
The fact that few Agikuyu today know that their community is
named after
the sacred tree, Mukuyu, testifies how rapidly we are losing our
identity
and values that emerge from an identity of a people whose birth
was from
Mother Nature.
Globalisation will not consider African sensitivities for we did
not invent
the tools of literacy and the electronic media. Our intelligence
cannot be
stored electronically and our spirituality cannot be sensed by
artificial
intelligence. The media that can yet honour early memories
comprise the
environment: the mountains, the plains, skies, waters and the
trees. These
features are all protected by the forests, the cloth of God and
by ethnic
visual and oral traditions which are an integral to our identity.
The new
Constitution is the Great Law, and the great law has to guard
the source of
life which are the forests of the land. The Great Law must also
protect the
yet to be researched and documented sources of Africa's
knowledge.
4. Protect and promote the National Aesthetic
Protection of elder institutions, the forests and community's
social order
and security is supported by and linked to the domain of
aesthetics in
ethnic societies. Colors and patterns are power symbols of peace
and order
in many societies. Ethnic aesthetic systems encompass beauty,
sacredness of
the land and life. There are often women-made bead patterns of
the order of
beauty, metaphors associated with social integrity, and there
are
accompanying songs and narratives of beauty, peace and
relationship
building. These stylized expressions affirm life and the order
of living in
communities. For example, the Maasai word for beauty is osotua.
It's also a
metaphor for close social relationship and the umbilical cord.
It means
peace as well and most important it means a gift out of
friendship. The
Constitution must protect our national aesthetic values from
destruction
and oblivion even before they are understood and documented for
generations
to come for they must know what a bead, a colour and pattern
meant to the
African people of Kenya.
Let me elaborate further. Beauty in Maa is osotua and like sidai
it is also
greeting for the goodness, well-being and prosperity for it is
the mother's
umbilical cord that we all once shared. Peace is out of respect
of the
original relationship that all humans and animals of this earth
began life
in the womb, a woman's gift of life and the gift of motherhood.
The earth
is the mother.
In pastoralist civilizations there are different symbols of
keeping social
order. The Constitution is fundamentally about keeping the
social order by
affirming the values of life and security that we cherish.
Ethnic order
among the contemporary societies of the vast northern regions of
Kenya is
expressed in imagery of patterns on animals and in the colours
of material
culture and the environment. They are the visual expressions of
social
protective and care giving structures that support community
pro-life and
justice systems.
The meticulously constructed and disciplined patterns of beauty
are given
thought and expression in ornamentation types made by mainly
women
consciously and mathematically calculated to compliment
functions of the
administrators and protectors of their rights and values. For
this reason
there should be no tax on importation of beads and other art
material.
Today beads are heavily taxed as luxury goods like diamonds and
BMWs. But
coloured beads are material for expression of a national
aesthetic. Protect
and enhance the people's sense of beauty, the joy of life and
peace. The
Maasai say where there is no beauty there is no peace. And peace
is the
highest quality for maintenance to regulate society that the
Constitution
is drafted to guarantee that we have it.
5. Protect and promote the material culture of Kenya
Everyday there is massive exportation of Kenya's material
culture. The
previous part directly discussed the importance of beaded
ornaments to the
Kenyan identity and national culture. The ornaments are just one
category
of material culture. We have other categories such as containers
and
furniture. All these are important for promoting and projecting
our image
of who we are and where are we coming from. The Constitution
must allow and
facilitate appreciation of our own self-images, our art history
and sense
of aesthetic pleasure derived from our ancient artefacts, the
environment,
rituals and the earth. And for this to happen we must have time
to first
understand and know the yet unknown visual traditions of
function and decor
such as the diversity of aesthetic systems of Kenya.
Section Three
How the Constitution should deal with discriminatory aspects of
culture
The new Constitution must deal with the pain of humiliation,
collective
trauma and fear that the people have suffered during the post
independence
times due to the discriminatory aspects of culture of governance.
To deal with discriminating aspects of culture, the Constitution
must first
recognize the wrong that has been done by the State to the
citizens of
Kenya. Healing of the humiliated Kenyans is a process towards
making of the
new Constitution that promises the practice of a culture that it
stipulates
in statements about rights of the citizens. Without trust and
justice which
can only come from reconciliation with the past, the new
Constitution will
be viewed as yet another document of hypocrisy. Constitution
must allow in
every region a body of elders to deal with tribalism first of
their own
people to heal the relationships with the 'other', the earth and
the State.
The elders must be allowed to deal with the State instituted
crimes. In
this way give the citizens the opportunity to own the
Constitution. In a
nation where the written word called the Law is in a foreign
language
posited in an unfamiliar medium, the Constitution process and
content have
got to be in the cultural medium of the majority of Kenyans in
both its
form and content.
Healing is a universal human phenomenon that different cultures
perform as
their own community owned rites of performance. Healing is
necessary for
correcting the wrong, the discrimination and preparing the
ground for
reconciliation which a step towards national unity that the
Constitution
seeks as one of its major goals.
Kenya is a nation in mourning after four decades of a violent
history.
Kenya's map is dotted with sites if massacres and killings. The
new
Constitution must help by giving protection to reconstruct a
depressed
culture and our national self-esteem. The Kenyan nation needs to
come to
terms with the past especially the recent past since
independence which is
a painful living memory for many. The nation must reconcile with
itself and
make peace with justice. Culture changes and brings about
changes. The new
Constitution is a part of that change in the process to bring
about changes.
Western values that reflect on the evolution of a democratic
pluralist
society such as equal inheritance rights for women, freedom to
expression
of diversity of intellectual traditions and right to refuse
a
discriminatory traditional custom are certainly worthy of
consideration for
commenting on, modifying and building of the national ethic. As
is the case
with other nations of the world there is both the universality
and
specificity in adopting constitutional principles. The
specificity comes
from unique cultural experiences which this paper emphasizes.
The nationalist discourse prior to and post independence enabled
venting of
anger and pain against racism and mistreatment of the black
subjects of the
colony of Kenya. It also enabled restoration of self-esteem and
trust in
the making of the new nation, the new Constitution and the new
leadership.
Praise songs, monuments and legends celebrating the people
reconstructed
our national pride and gave expression to a national culture
that in turn
supported the new Constitution and leadership. The new
Constitution of
independent Kenya was to provide a facility for expression and
healing of
humiliation of the past. That was a parallel step towards
developing a
culture of change.
Today we need a Constitution that can provide Kenyans to work
without fear
towards a culture that would allow us to handle an unresolved
and a hurting
era of the last forty years. Many questions will be asked
because of
suspicion and betrayal by the past parliaments. That's part of
the healing
process, the right to questions, to correct the wrong and learn
from the
mistakes. That is a process to deal with discrimination and a
process to
making of the new Constitution to restore the confidence of the
nation so
that creativity of a suppressed people can be harnessed to
develop a
healthy nation. The Great New Law must help thoughts, intellect,
creativity
and emotions of the nation to be shared and appreciated without
fear and
with freedom and trust, first in ourselves and then in the
leadership
representing us.
European nations came to reconstruct their culture after the
destruction
caused by the World Wars by first holding massive healing
ceremonies in the
churches and at graveyards. Then came building of memory
monuments and
museums to the violence. These were physical and tangible
manifestations of
a new culture protected by the new laws. Germany and Austria
turned
concentration camps and execution sites into national museums
that would
educate and remind the people of the mistakes of the past and
especially of
the State's violence against her citizens. Their new
constitutions provided
freedoms of expressions that worked towards healing of the
nations. The
Americans built the Vietnam Wall in Washington to heal the
nation mourning
the deaths. The Americans built the Peace Garden in Nairobi at
the place of
the 1998 bomb blast of the American embassy while at the same
time
constructing the new embassy on Mombasa Road.
The process of making a new Constitution of Kenya is itself a
process of
making a new culture. It is a struggle against anti-Constitution
forces
which we have been witnessing since the work of the Commission
statement.
There are more examples.
The new South African constitution came into being with support
of the
Peace and Justice Commission. The South African Commission had
an important
role to play during the interim period so that the public can
accept the
new Constitution. Perhaps we need to do the same. Rwanda and
Burundi are
working towards support of their citizens for their new
constitutions
through the Peace and Justice Commission that is all to do
with
discriminatory culture that led to favouring one tribe, ethnic
group
against another. The failure of the International Court in
Arusha to deal
with crimes of the genocide is a lesson for us. Rwanda and
Burundi have
finally reverted back to the elders councils to deal with the
pain and
humiliation of the citizens misled by tribalism and the lack of
law to
protect the cultures from being manipulated for political ends.
The elders
courts are called Gachacha which literally means grassroots.
The new Great Law of Kenya, the Constitution, must allow an
expression for
the healing of the nation in all its aspects and for all its
people from
the 1960s massacres of the of the Mau Mau freedom fighters in
Meru, the
Samburu elders at Wamba, and the massacres of Borana, Sekuye and
Somalis
during the first decade of independence. The North Eastern
Province must be
allowed to tell the nation of the tragedies of the large
concentration
camps of Merti and Garba Tula. The nation must above all hear
the most
recent 1990s killings of the Pokot, the Bukusu, the Agikuyu of
the Rift
Valley, the Mijikenda and the Luo of Likoni. These events are
national and
they need to be given national acknowledgement through moaning
and healing
in forms appropriate to the cultural norms of the citizens, the
majority of
the affected, so they can see and hear and heal and finally
accept the new
Constitution as a worthy document that will protect their right
to life and
security. Funeral rites and bereavement processes are very
important
aspects of African culture that the New Constitution must
acknowledge as
the people would like to see them acknowledged.
There was forced denuding of Pokot mothers of their skin
garments and beads
which were later burned by the GSU on the airstrip at Orwa in
1978. There
have been atrocities of the Kenya Police and GSU in the slums of
Nairobi.
Mathari Valley in 1982, Kibera in 2001. The GSU and riot police
who gazed
upon the self-denudation of their age set mothers in early 1990
at Uhuru
Park was a public shameful event, which needs to be cleansed in
an equally
public ceremony for the cursed ones. We are Africans and we must
work out
the legitimate grievances in an African way. That is an event
that reflects
supremely well on the national culture of Kenya at the time and
it needs to
be given the visibility in an African customary way. The
Constitution must
recognize, legitimate and promote such cleansing rites for the
good of the
Nation.
The Constitution can deal with the discriminatory aspects of
culture by
providing for the performance of rites and exhibitions to make
discrimination in all its aspects public and transparent. There
is as great
a diversity of types of discriminations as there is a diversity
of cultures
of Kenya. Every ethnic group has been made a stereotype to the
other.
Discrimination coming from the authority means selectively
promoting one
(e.g. ethnic group) and denigerating another. It is profiling
typecasts and
justifying ethnic killings, which is the worst form of
discrimination.
The history of public performances and exhibiting cultures has
passed
through phases reflecting the development and changes in human
thought and
society. This is a natural evolution. We have lived through the
phase when
the colonial performances was the dominating images both at home
and
abroad. It was the display of the others, exhibited as they were
looked
upon from the vantage view of the one at the top. During the
post-colonial
time it was mainly the stage and not cultures exhibitions that
represented
reconstruction of social identities due to the damage done to
the image of
Africa and her people. But with the changing perspectives in
the
scholarship of African Studies and anthropology, performances,
museum
displays have changed as well.
Hence plays such as Luanda Magere and Wangu wa Makeri were about
reclaiming
a suppressed social identity while others such as Ngahika Ndenda
and Maitu
Njugira in ethnic languages, and Mekatilili in Kiswahili
presented
alternative views of the stereo typified native. In 1997, the
exhibition at
the National Museums of Kenya on peace making traditions of the
Maasai,
Samburu, Pokot, Turkana, Rendille, Gabra, Somali and Borana
dispelled the
falsely constructed image of the pastoralists as warriors
cherishing a
culture of conflict and violence.
What has yet to emerge is the public viewing of the social
history of Kenya
in the formation of postcolonial civil society, and especially
now, during
the post one party State, so that the multiple histories in the
making of
Kenya's political social compositions and the civil societies
independent
of the State, can be viewed through the prism of its many
patterns of
colour.
Selectively told and performed culture and history of Kenya is a
form of
discrimination that the Constitution must sanction. Ultimately
discriminatory information gets reproduced in school books and
the
curriculum. The cycle of misinformation gets reinforced.
Historically speaking, the phases of stage and museum
performances are
situations in tensions and transitions, between traditions and
modernity,
ethnic and religious practices, civil societies and styles of
governance.
However, what is of significance is not how different we are in
terms of
our customs, languages and beliefs, that map us out as exclusive
societies,
each unable to integrate and form one non-tribal fellowship of
citizens;
but how and when social identities of the diverse and distinct
peoples of
Kenya become complementary to one other in the evolution of a
national
cause and a civil society rooted in its own varied cultural and
economic
resources. In that we have to know first where we are coming
from and what
we have to offer each other as a people, and as a nation of
people, whose
ancestors walked down the Nile, and from the Red Sea; from West
Africa, and
those who sailed on the Ocean harnessing the Trade Winds to come
to the
Mombasa, Lamu and Malindi.
In order to deal with State propagated discrimination, permit
the
Constitution to make known the history that Kenyans know, they
know it for
sure in their hearts. Let the torture chambers of the Nyati
House be turned
into a museum to allow the public to see what they already know.
Let what
we have done to each other be on display for reflection and
healing so that
the present and future generations to come learn from our
history on public
display. That is national culture. Put together exhibitions on
corruption,
torture and illegal imprisonment to travel nationally. That is a
good forum
for civil education. The new Constitution ought to develop a
national
cultural education forum that is not a one time event before the
elections
but a continuing lifelong educational process. Give the law a
chance to
avoid further violence and discrimination. Suppressed anger,
humiliation
and pain are dangerously volatile. Give the new Constitution a
chance to
provide and foster national unity through ownership of it by the
people.
And the people can only own it if it is in the medium that is
also owned by
the people.
Conclusion
In a historical perspective, the present State and the
parliament is a
passing phase. The new Constitution is obliged to reflect as
correctly as
it is possible, the Kenyan reality and aspirations of her
people. In
absence of culturally appropriate mechanisms to gather opinions
and
feelings of a diversity of communities, one has to rely on
expressions of
national sentiments such as gatherings at Kamukunji, stories and
songs for
justice and peace, riots and protests. These is the expressive
culture of
this particular historical moment. We must listen to it. It is
the best of
the national culture that one can get at this moment to build
the Great Law
and help us to come in touch with the values, especially African
humanistic
traditions, to be inherited and be fashioned in constructing a
new culture
of peace, devoid of fear, suspicion and violence. That is the
path to the
future and we make that path by walking. We make the new culture
by walking
with the new Constitution. The citizens must walk with the
Constitution so
that the Constitution helps the Government to walk with the
people.
The venues that allow national cultural expressions are in forms
of dance,
drama, languages, dialogues and visual arts. And there area
diversity of
artistic and linguistic forms. The venues can also be in form of
monuments
and museums commemorating the living memories of discrimination
and
injustices. When there are deep feelings of suffering, human
suffering,
ethnic suffering, individual family suffering, they are all
Kenyan
suffering. These can be sufferings because of disagreement with
the State
or one ruling party or an elite group or even an individual.
When the law
cannot protect the rich and the poor, the rulers and the
citizens alike,
then it is discriminating.
When the Constitution cannot or will not promote correction of
the
injustices, it is discriminatory. Support the Constitutional
right of
freedom of conscience and expression of thought and association
to be
manifested to work out a democracy in practice. The vast
majority of people
of Kenyan are visual and oral in manufacturing, understanding
and
transmission of knowledge. These three aspects of knowledge of a
largely
visual and oral society are articulated in the arts of the
society forged
by both the colonial and post colonial struggle to free the
spirit from the
injustices of the times. Culture is about the human spirit.
Nationalists in
Kenya rode on the back of culture to achieve freedom. We must do
the same
to fortify the Constitution and the processes of
Constitutionalism with a
life long national culture that will not allow subversion of
both the
Constitution and Constitutionalism once again.
Resources
The material in this paper is largely drawn from oral and visual
sources
collected over nine years of field work under the Community
Peace Museums
Programme covering about 30 ethnic groups in Kenya. Written
sources that
have influenced the writing of the paper are listed below.
Aimtoga, Amani
1999 Conflict resolution and reconciliation among the Chagga of
Tanzania in
All Africa Conference of Conflict Resolution and Reconcilliation
Report,
Addis
Ababa.
Barrett, Anthony Joseph
1998 Sacrifice and prophecy in Turkana Cosmology. Nairobi:
Pauline
Publications Africa.
Bradbury, Mark
1999 A Comparative Study of Somali Approaches to Reconciliation
in All
Africa Conference of Conflict Resolution and Reconcilliation
Report, Addis
Ababa.
Farah, Yusuf Ahmed
1999 Roots of reconciliation:Local level peace process in
Somalia in All
Africa
Conference of Conflict Resolution and Reconcilliation Report,
Addis Ababa.
Yusuf, Haroon
1999 Somaliland: Peace, reconciliation and governance in All
Africa
Conference of Conflict Resolution and Reconcilliation Report,
Addis Ababa.
Magesa, Laurenti
1998 African Religions and Abundance of Life. Nairobi: Pauline
Publications
Africa.
Mansor, Duria
1999 Traditional mechanism of conflict prevention, management,
and
resolution in Nuba Mountain region of South Kordofan State of
Sudan in All
Africa Conference of Conflict Resolution and Reconcilliation
Report, Addis
Ababa.
Malan, Jannie
1997 Conflict Resolution Wisdom from Africa. Durban: ACCORD.
Maranz, David E.
1993 Peace is everything: World View of Muslims in Senegambia.
Texas: International Museums of Cultures.
Lutheran World Relief
1996 Peace and Reconciliation: A case study of the Ogwedhi-Sgawa
Development Project-A local peace initiative of the Kuria, Luo
and Maasai
People.
Linder, Evelin Gerda
Moratorium on Humiliation Cultural and 'Human Factor' Dimensions
Underlying
Structural Violence. Paper presented at the UN, New York
December 2001
Pain, Dennis
1997 The Bending of Spears: Producing consensus for peace and
development
in Northern Uganda. London: Report Commissioned by International
Alert.
Visser, J.J.
1998 Pokot Religions. Oegstgeest: Hendrik Kraemer Institute.
Nairobi:
Paulines Publications Africa.
Daily Nation January 1999-March 1999. Nairobi: Nation News
Papers Ltd.
Appendix 1 The Terms of Reference
1. Whether we have a Kenyan identity that can be recognized in
the
constitution
2. The contribution of ethnic and cultural diversity to a
national culture
3. What cultural and ethnic values should be captured in the
Constitution?
4. How culture and ethnic diversity can be protected and
promoted in the
Constitution.
5. How the Constitution should deal with discriminatory aspects
of culture?
6. The place of customary law in the constitution.
7. Religion and its place in the constitution
8. What should be our language policy?
9. Whether constitutional principles are universal - is there
cultural
relativity in their observance?
10. Are there "Western values" recognized in our
culture?
Appendix II 'Priest seeks police help over sacred tree
threat'
Daily Nation Monday January 7, 2002
A church minister wants police to protect him after he was
threatened with
death for leading his followers in cutting down and burning a
sacred tree.
The Rev Dominic Kiloku of the Assemblies of God Church in
Laikipia District
yesterday said elders in Mukogodo division had threatened to
kill him after
he declined to atone for his alleged desecration of a sacred
tree
traditionally used by the residents for spiritual rites.
The destroyed tree was located at Kantana village in Makurian
location. A
meeting convened by Makurian location chief, Mr Elen ole
Legei,resolved to
have the preacher atone for his alleged offence by offering the
elders a
goat and local brew before they could cleanse him.
But in his defence, the preacher reached for his Bible, opened
it and
started reading it.
He was shouted down as elders protested that he was making fun
of a serious
issue, with some of them walking out of the meeting.
The priest was later condemned and cursed through traditional
chants. The
defiant preacher later told journalists that he would neither
apologise for
his actions nor offer any appeasement.
"It is my God-given duty to stop my people from worshipping
objects.They
have been slaughtering and praying under the tree for rain and
other things
which is contrary to Christian teachings. They had to be stopped,"
he said.
He said he believed in God and trusted that no curses would
affect him or
his family. He said: "However, they have now made my work
very difficult. I
cannot go preaching to families in their homes I fear for my
life”.
Many of them have also warned their wives and children not to
come to
church," he added. He said he had requested the police and
the provincial
administration to protect him from the traditionalists. During
the previous
three years of severe drought which killed thousands of
livestock, several
offerings were performed by elders under the fig tree - locally
called
Oreteli. The last rites were performed last October.
The Mukogodo community, largely made up the Maasai and the
Dorobo, still
practise most of their traditional spiritual and cultural values.
They are
recognised by the United Nations as among the world's few
remaining but
threatened indigenous and tribal communities.
