Ethnic Tension In Kenya

After pressure from Western democratic governments and threats to withhold donor money, Kenya went through constitutional reform that replaced a one-party-system with democratic mulitpartyism in 1991. It was relatively easy for Kenya to implement this form of government - essentially President Daniel arap Moi just signed a bill that totally restructured the government. However, the actualities of creating a functioning democracy were far from easy. Like numerous African countries, democratization in Kenya has proved to be an arduous process marked by corruption, economic decline, insecurity, and ethnic conflict. This paper will focus on ethnic conflict in Kenya after the multiparty election in 1992. Specific attention will be given to the clashes between the Kikuyu and Kalenjin in the Rift Valley area that left 1,500 people dead and 300,000 homeless between 1992-93.
 
Post-colonial Kenya is an excellent case study in the myriad difficulties that multiethnic states face during the processes of development and democratization. History, political science, and ethnicity all play key roles in the process of Kenya’s development as a modern state. What forces caused two of Kenya’s main ethnic groups – Kikuyu and Kalenjin – who historically have peacefully coexisted, to turn against each other in the early 1990s? What role did the government, headed by President Moi, a Kalenjin, have in the ethnic violence?  Were the clashes a product of “traditional ethnic conflict” or were they the result of calculated government scheming for political gain?

To understand the Kenyan ethnic violence of the 1990s it is necessary to analyze Kenya’s diverse ethnic makeup, as well as a brief history from colonization through modern times. Figure 1 shows the different ethnic groups of Kenya in 1998.

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