SEEING BEYOND 2013 - LUHYA POLITICS
The game in Kenya is “Us” against “them” and every other tribal outfit has mastered this game except Luhya-land. People keep wondering why and some excuse it for being democratic. However, let us face it, how can one uphold democratic principles in a country whose DNA is divide and rule. There are tribes that have mastered this; they own the state machinery and by dividing others they surely rule. It all started with Kenyatta senior who entrenched the politics of patronage and clientilism. Patronage was inward looking i.e. using state to prop our own. Clientilism was outward looking i.e. getting clients who are maintained through tokens to keep given tribes under arms; all well wrapped. Moi perfected this and turned the state into a regime perpetuation machinery. When Kibaki came, he carefully used astute professional principles well fused with patronage and clientilistic approaches. The state backed tyranny of numbers win by Uhuruto in 2013 goes to show how perfected patronage