The Kenyan invasion of Somalia has got me thinking about the notion of citizenship through government-recognized ethnicity, which has always led to major contentions over who is and isn’t a Kenyan. We have to vanquish Malkiat Singh and the idea that there are “42 tribes” in Kenya.
This seemingly harmless number (42) has fostered the exclusion of communities like the Nubians for generations. Likewise, Somalis are included in the 42 almost shingo upande (begrudgingly): they are Kenyan until they are not, until they are just Somali. Walalo. Wariaye. Pirate. Al Shabaab. The monikers keep piling up, pushing them further across the border and into Somalia. They are us until they become them.
We haven’t all been in this together. Some Kenyans have been more equal than others. Those who’ve been left out are screaming: We don’t die. We multiply.
It is time for us to listen.
Learn more about Nubians, their struggle for equal rights and the history of Kibera at this website.
Source- http://kweligee.wordpress.com/2011/10/25/kenyas-nubians-then-and-now/
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