Retribution, Carnage, Tribal Democracy

Among African countries that were singularly gifted by natural resources, excellent agricultural land, pastures, geological mines, Ivory Coast and Kenya come to mind, along with other countries such as Zimbabwe and South Africa. One by one these giants of the continent, who lifted themselves out of tribal feudalism and colonial rule into proud independence, economic prosperity and relative political stability have faltered, along with fellow countries like Somalia, Ethiopia, Angola, Congo, Sierra Leone, Uganda and Nigeria.

They compete with one another to disgrace themselves as havens of comfort, justice and reliability for their populations, falling inevitably back into the disarray, chaos and historical cultures of tribal investment and vendettas, leaving their people on the verge of privation, as they migrate internally and externally from one failed haven to another. With all the riches that nature and geography endowed Kenya in, that country has horrified itself and the international community by its tragic failure to achieve balance, fairness and justice.

Its 42 tribes remain indebted to themselves only, a bitterly fragmented collective, each chafing to achieve ascendancy whereby their allegiance to culturally normative tribal expectations will endow them with the opportunity to reap the cumulative benefits of chieftanship of a divided country. Nationhood has eluded the country's tribal elements, in their cleaving to tribal determinism. Each elected head of state has succumbed to the lure of tribal expectations and self-enrichment, to the exclusion of others' participation in the good life.

The tribe prides itself on solidarity, pledges itself to mutual internal aid and protection, applies itself to historical tribal vengeance, wronging ills done it by equally opportunistic alter tribes, each striving to achieve dominance over the other. Under the mantle of democracy, when to vote for a candidate representing a tribe other than one's own is unheard of and would, in any event, be viewed as tribal sacrilege. This is democracy's sham, the benevolent tyrant extolling its virtues and holding himself up as a protector of its values, while shunning equality of opportunities.

Geographical political fault lines are tribal borders, a simple fact of reality that marks nations born with notionally-encompassing borders for failure. Raila Odinga, hurling abuse against the corrupt reign of President Mwai Kibaki, the ascendency of the Kikuyu tribe, the election fraud that crowned Mr. Kibaki once again, insists that the international community must deal with the crisis he must take co-ownership for. And representatives of the international community face failure in their attempts at reconciliation and recommendations for power sharing.

Opposition leader Raila Odinga's Luo tribe has sought instant vengeance, honouring past traditions while irremediably staining their 20th century humanity as they rampage, murdering, raping, burning all in their paths, destroying all vestiges of democracy's need to bring disparate groups together in an atmosphere of integrated harmony in a national cause for conciliation and mutual support.

On the near horizon looms the very real potential for another such political and social dislocation disaster in South Africa, in view of its recent political decisions. Yet all speak of their commitment to democracy, willing during the process of bringing themselves to the brink of ascendancy, to sacrifice their own humanity by failing to take practical measures to halt the tribal bloodshed.

The carnage, which might be interrupted and brought to a standstill, by firm and unequivocal demands issued through the orders of each of the principles, is permitted to take its course, and children and women are hapless victims of odious politics, with countless innocent civilians caught up in the chaos, civic infrastructure destroyed, civil union pushed back to the edge of the tribal abyss.

Rwanda appears to have taught no lessons whatever of the iniquitous message in tribal violence. The recurring horrors are a telling blot on the capability of human beings to rise above their tribal antecedents, to view one another as morally worthy counterparts in a collective effort to succeed in producing an inclusive society.

Clearly, in the hate-filled boiler room of tribal exclusion the future of democratic stability remains in intensive care.