WHY SAMBILI?

The suspension of Ruto from the cabinet comes as a good move after all the scandals that have been following him from the maize scandal, and the human rights list of perpetrators of the 2007 post election violence.

With the ICC around, Ruto should be given time to concentrate on clearing his name and reviving the trust Kenyans have lost in him. That was a commendable move by the president and PM.

But the appointment of Hellen Sambili the minister of East Africa community to double up as the minister for higher education questions our dedication to move ahead and beyond tribal politics.

Is there a code that stipulates that some ministerial posts belong to some tribes? Is it a must that if a Lou or a Kikuyu is suspended from a ministerial positions it should be filled by another person from the same tribe? Is there no other MP, no matter what tribe who could have stepped in to hold the ministerial position? When will Kenyans ever move away from tribal alliances if our leaders are still dividing us and appointing people along those lines?

The appointment might justified by saying that the leaders are avoiding an uproar from the Kalenjin community. That might be true, but has there been any time that Kenyans have risen against each other without the hatred and violence being fuelled by our political leaders? No

Instead of facing our tribalism problems and attitudes, we are sweeping them under the carpet and expecting the new constitution will solve all the problems for us while we keep appointing leaders along tribal lines just so that a community will be satisfied if a leader from its tribe who is accused of several scandals is suspended from a post.

Say an MP from a different tribe was appointed to that post. People will complain, mainly political leaders since that is their job- representing the people in least important issues, but in the end they will give up on it and that would set an example to all the other Kenyans and political leaders who think some political post is their tribal share of the national cake.

Kenyans have been led to think that tribal politics is MPs delivering hate speech, forcing your neighbor to vote for a person of your tribe, or fighting your neighbor. They have not been keen on read between the lines in the actions of our leaders. But these also fuel our attitudes and prejudices against each other.