Ethnicity, Democracy and Citizenship in Africa: Political Marginalisation of Kenya's Nubians by Samantha Balaton-Chrimes

Author:Samantha Balaton-Chrimes [Balaton-Chrimes, Samantha]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Nationalism & Patriotism, Political Science, Essays, Political Ideologies
ISBN: 9781317140795
Google: 4t-1CwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 29513620
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2016-03-09T00:00:00+00:00

The 2009 Census: Towards Recognition?

In the 2009 census there were major changes to enumeration of tribe and the Nubians were counted for the first time. This act had significant symbolic importance, not to be discounted for its positive impact on the intersubjective context of the Nubians’ citizenship. The KNCE were officially notified by the Minister of State Planning, National Development and Vision 2030 (2009) that, ‘you shall be encoded as the 43rd tribe of Kenya during the August 2009 census’. Many people understandably interpreted the code as meaning exactly that: the Nubians were the only tribe added to the list of indigenous tribes. In fact, the Nubians were given code ‘220’ and were one of many new tribes to be coded. All minority and sub-tribes in Kenya were coded, more than doubling the number of tribal codes by including some newly recognised tribes and breaking down others into umbrella and sub-tribes. Results were released for 111 tribes, though only the biggest 24 were publicly highlighted (Kenya National Bureau of Statistics 2010, 397–8; Oparanya 2010).14

One interpretation of the decision to count 111 tribes is therefore that it represents a seeming collapse (in symbolic terms) of qualitative hierarchical codes that render some groups indigenous and some groups as Other. However, the lack of either disclosure by the state or questioning by the public about the basis of the ethnic enumeration suggest this is not so, or at least not meaningfully so. The reasons for the major changes in the enumeration and reporting of ethnic identity are not clear and have never been publicly articulated. The 2009 census enumeration is therefore more ambiguous in its handling of the issue of ethnic recognition than the simple codes suggest.

To an extent, the approach taken to identification and enumeration can be interpreted as part of a more general move towards an inclusive and constructive approach to ethnicity and citizenship in Kenya. The period since Moi’s demise in 2002, and particularly the aftermath of the 2007 election, has been one of more self-reflective and public discussion about ethnicity in Kenya. The peace negotiations of early 2008, the Agenda 4 reforms and the 2010 constitution have, to an extent, unveiled some of the underlying assumptions about who properly belongs in Kenya (Interview 57). At the Bomas conference in 2005, which debated the 2005 draft constitution, there was a short but significant (from the perspective of my argument) debate about the possibility of codifying the 42 tribes of Kenya in the new constitution, as Uganda has done.15 However, within a couple of hours the list was so unwieldy, complex and contradictory that the idea was abandoned (Interview 54). The preparation of legislation to give effect to the constitutional provisions for the advancement of ‘minority’ and ‘marginalised’ groups is likely to require a refinement of definitions of these terms, which will inevitably entail debates about the nature of ethnicity and indigeneity in the country. For example, the constitution has provision for a new category of land – ‘communal land’ – which is to be vested in ‘ethnic communities’ or ‘communities of interest’.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.