Slum Tour

The spookiest part of my visit to the slum of Witeithie, outside Thika, was the tour I got from a 23-year-old Kikuyu man, John Kimani. He made clear from the outset that he believed Luos, Luhyas and Kalenjin should leave the slum.

We spent the next hour walking through Witeithie, and he would say with nonchalance, "Oh, a Luo lived here," or "the Luhya man who was in that house has fled." Obviously it was depressing to see these empty homes, and to see him care so little about it.

But two things struck me most: 1. Everyone once lived together in Witeithie, with no  apparent importance put on ethnicity; and 2. Down to the door, a 23-year-old kid knew the exact location of Witeithie's Luo and Luhya residents. It felt terribly ominous.

If this small slum is any example, Kenya's peace-makers will have a lot of work to do. We were followed by six or seven boys who couldn't have been older than 10. All said they believed Luos and Luhyas should leave. Why? "They killed our tribesmen. They must go."

The one positive thing I can say was that I didn't see out-and-out violence in Witeithie. I talked to several Luos and Luhyas who were still packing up. John Kimani looked on, and didn't seem too troubled by their presence. As long as they were gone by January 31, he said, he didn't care.

Comments

[ken Opalo]

This is very sad. Just when Kenyans should be demystifying the tribe and promoting national cohesion it seems that the youth - like the under tens in your piece - are being indoctrinated with the poisonous message of us vs. them.

Where are our sociologists and anthropologists? How can we stem this slide to hell before it is too late?

The tribe must be weakened. The people must be liberated from the tribe and if possible we can even eliminate the tribe - if this is he price we have to pay for peace and prosperity, what's in a language anyway? After all we have Swahili.