"You should feel very
lucky to have been born a Kikuyu!" This statement has been directed to me
on many occasions by friends from other communities. I admit that I used to
feel quite lucky belonging to the most populous tribe but not anymore. Now I
just feel burdened. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate being a Kikuyu, it's just
that I don't take it as some kind of entitlement to make me feel superior to
people of other communities.
‘Ũthamaki ni Witũ’
This is not Greek. It is just
the Kikuyu way of saying, "The kingdom is ours". This of course
refers to the
Public Service Jobs
An 'ethnic' audit was recently
conducted in public universities across the country. It indicated that most of
the workers particularly in institutions within central province were Kikuyus.
This 'discovery' was hailed as a red flag. It was interesting to read people's
comments. Many implied that Kikuyus had 'stolen' jobs meant for other Kenyans.
They thought we should be content with the presidency and leave the smaller
jobs to needier and therefore, more deserving people.
Business Acumen
There is a widespread belief
that all people of Kikuyu origin are good in business. Success stories of those
who rose from rags to riches through sheer business acumen are rife. Stories of
failure and destitution among the Kikuyus are rarely shared. This gives the
false impression that a Kikuyu person’s business acumen is genetic. This cannot
be further from the truth. There are many Kikuyus (such as yours truly) who
ventured into business, failed miserably, and scampered back to employment with
their tails between their legs.
Language
People often say that whenever
two Kikuyus meet, they switch to their mother tongue. I am often guilty of
this. What I don't agree with is that we do this in order to back-bite those
who don't understand the language. Besides, Kikuyus are not the only people who
have and use a mother tongue among themselves.
IDPs
A lot of people, majority of
them Kikuyus, were displaced after the 2007\2008 post-election violence. I got
to visit some camps in the rift valley where they were being sheltered. It was
heart breaking to hear of how they had lost everything. This was despite the fact
that we were (and still are) under a Kikuyu President. These people were
expected to be perfectly comfortable in their tents just because one of their
sons was in power. “It was all worth the bloodshed and sacrifice”, they were
told.
I was then with a project that
was assisting women with survival kits that contained among other things, baby
clothes and sanitary items. We went back for evaluation and talked with some of
the men. Being the only Kikuyu in the group, I discussed with the men about
what they had gone through.
Many of these men had been
business people and farmers who were doing quite well before the violence. They
lost everything. Their houses and businesses were razed to the ground. Some
witnessed their relatives being killed and women raped. The small group we were
interviewing had only managed to escape with their lives. We asked them what they
would like us to bring them if we got some more funding. “Under wear”, they
answered. It was really heart wrenching to see this group of former hardworking
tycoons who did not own even a single pair of under wear.
Of Rich Widows and Short Lived Tycoons
Blame it on the stereotypes
(which I have condemned here recently) but people are advised to give women
from Kabete (where I come from) a wide berth. The news is awash with women who get
their rich husbands killed so as to inherit their property. Everybody
conveniently forgets to highlight the myriad Kikuyu women who are by their husbands’
side as they amass wealth, bring up their children, and happily grow old together.
P.S. For the record, all the Kikuyu-bashing notwithstanding, I have no
apologies being a Kikuyu
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