By Kariuki Muthoni
Media and communications consultant.
As Kenya edges closer to another general election, a familiar script is unfolding. Political rallies are becoming less about competing visions for the country’s future and more about competing identities. Campaign platforms are increasingly overshadowed by ethnic arithmetic, while hate speech is becoming an accepted feature of political discourse.
Political scientist Prof Mahmood Mamdani has long argued that ethnicity is an identity, not a political destiny. Identity becomes dangerous only when political actors weaponise it, persuading citizens that elections are contests between communities instead of contests between ideas. Kenya knows this story all too well.
Our diversity has never been our weakness. More than 40 communities have built this nation together, enriching it with their languages, traditions and cultures. Yet every election cycle, some politicians reduce citizens to voting blocs, defined not by their aspirations but by their surnames and ancestral homes.
