FWD : Okoth Osewe : BETRAYAL, BLOOD, AND BLINDNESS: KENYA'S ETHNIC TRAGEDY AND THE CLASS WAR WE REFUSE TO FIGHT
Cornelius Hamelberg
When the Hunters Become the Hunted: The Kikuyu Tragedy and the Politics of Amnesia
In a cruel twist of history’s irony, the Kikuyu—once custodians of state power and beneficiaries of its coercive arsenal—now find themselves bleeding in the streets, felled by the very bullets that once silenced the cries of others. Today, their youth lie prostrate beneath the boots of the same police force that was unleashed on Luo protesters in Kisumu, Kibera, and Kondele for over a decade. And yet, when Luos wailed over state violence, property destruction was cited as justification, and their funerals were met with indifference, if not celebration.
During the post-2007 convulsions, and again in 2013, 2017 and 2022 when Raila Odinga’s presidency was consistently stolen, Luo blood soaked the soil of this republic, and the Kikuyu political class, together with its media surrogates and corporate enablers, pointed accusatory fingers rather than extend solidarity. They said Luos were Kenya’s perpetual problem, “rebellious” by nature, “stone throwers” by lifestyle and “destructive” by design. Their only crime? Daring to dream of justice in a system rigged against them for decades via Kikuyu oaths.
Today, the same Kikuyu masses that cheered state brutality are crying foul, discovering that capitalist state violence is never loyal. It merely serves power. If nothing else, this reversal is a historical reckoning. For once, the Kikuyu grassroots are learning that proximity to power is not immunity from oppression. The police do not discriminate by ancestry when guarding capitalist interests; they shoot willingly to preserve the status quo. And this is the directive “from above”.
The ‘Betrayal’ That Wasn’t: Why the Luos Owe No Apologies
Much has been made of the Luo political class’s apparent “betrayal” in joining the so-called broad-based government of William Ruto. But what betrayal is there when you were abandoned in your hour of greatest need? When Luo demonstrators were hunted down like game, who raised the alarm in Nyeri, Murang’a or Kiambu? Instead, they cheered electoral thefts in 2007, 2013, 2017 and, more brazenly, 2022 when William Ruto rigged the vote.
They saw no problem when a presidency won in the blood of protesters was sanctified in the name of “peace.” When Raila Odinga was robbed repeatedly of victory, Kikuyu elites and a majority of their ethnic base either denied the robbery or justified it as politically prudent. In 2022, when the Kalenjin-led bloc stole the presidency and made a mockery of democracy to install William Ruto as President, it was Kikuyu votes that anchored the theft and Kikuyu business interests that applauded the outcome, hoping to retire Raila Odinga from politics forever to his Bondo village.
So today, as Luos take a political sabbatical, having temporarily found warmth in the heart of state largesse, they owe no apologies. They are not the traitors. They are the survivors. After more than six decades of political martyrdom, betrayal, and isolation, Luos have merely decided to breathe. They are reaping, for once, from the system that has long denied them. Let them rest. Let them heal. That is the general perspective of the ordinary person from the Luo community.
Ethnicity Is Not the Enemy: Class Interest is the Bandit!
The real betrayal is not by the Luo or Kikuyu commoner. It is by their respective ruling elites who have, since independence, masterfully weaponized ethnicity as a smokescreen to obscure class exploitation. The Kikuyu and Luo political dynasties have waged war not against each other for justice, but for hegemony over a capitalist state apparatus that feeds on the sweat and blood of the very students and unemployed youths being murdered by police in its name. While ethnic foot soldiers hurl stones and trade memes on social media, the elites—business partners behind closed doors—clink glasses in boardrooms, sign government contracts, and auction the nation to foreign capital.
Kenya’s tragedy is that the Kikuyu student, Gen-Z, and the Luo labourer share identical afflictions: joblessness, police brutality, a crumbling education system, hospitals without medicine, rising cost of living and a state that taxes their hunger. Yet both remain trapped in a theatre of tribal rivalry choreographed by elites who fear nothing more than a politically conscious and united working class in an alliance with unemployed youths. The Kikuyu Gen Z and the Luo Gen Z may wear different jerseys on the surface, but beneath their skin lies the same economic despair, frustration, exclusion, and futurelessness.
The Ideological Desert: Why the Masses Still Dance to Ethnic Drums
Kenya’s deeper crisis is not merely a political one. It is epistemic. It is a crisis of ideological illiteracy. The masses have been so thoroughly indoctrinated in the mythos of tribe that they fail to see that their real enemy is not the neighbour who speaks a different language, but the landlord who raises their rent, the supermarket that doubles food prices, and the regime that taxes their dreams. The suffering is shared, but not the analysis.
Instead of identifying the economic root of their pain, many Kenyans view politics through ethnic lenses. Political contests are reduced to ethnic lotteries. In such a context, even revolutionary moments are short-circuited by identity. The result is predictable: a country where every uprising—however noble in origin—is quickly ethnicised, delegitimised, and extinguished.
The failure of ideological leadership, particularly from the intelligentsia and progressive forces, has created a vacuum that opportunists fill with ethnic poison. In this sense, both Kikuyu and Luo youth are not enemies; they are victims of a grand ideological betrayal by their educators, leaders, and civil society.
An Opportunity Wasted: The Gen Z Rebellion and the Untapped Revolutionary Moment
Kenya today is perched precariously on a historical inflexion point. The regime of William Ruto—bereft of legitimacy, crippled by contradictions, and exposed by its incompetence—offers a rare opening for structural change. The spiralling cost of living, relentless taxation, and moral rot at the heart of government have created an objective revolutionary situation. And yet, in this moment pregnant with possibility, Kenyans remain locked in ethnic resentments, unable to seize the time.
Instead of building a mass-based, anti-capitalist movement capable of clarifying the crisis and articulating a coherent alternative to the status quo, the national discourse remains mired in accusations of tribal betrayal and counter-betrayal. Gen Z, whose anger shook Parliament and rattled the state, is in danger of squandering its moment by reverting to old ethnic reflexes. If not rescued by revolutionary consciousness, their energy will be absorbed and defanged by the very system they rose against.
It is not the Luos or the Kikuyus who are the problem. It is the comprador bourgeoisie in both communities—the political and business elites whose wealth depends on Western loans, Chinese mega-deals, and the relentless extraction of value from a toiling populace. Until this parasitic ruling class is confronted and dismantled, no amount of ethnic bloodshed will deliver justice.
Unite or Perish: Blood May Continue to Flow Like River Yala
Kenya’s story has always oscillated between moments of potential and missed revolutions. This moment, like many before, demands clarity of thought and courage of action. The path forward is not to beg Luos to return to the streets or to demand Kikuyus apologise for their silence. It is to build a movement where Luos and Kikuyus—and indeed all Kenyans—abandon tribal illusions and rediscover their shared class interests.
Only then can we escape this national purgatory. Only then can we build a republic not of tribes but of equals—where the economy serves the many, not the few. Until then, the blood will flow, the betrayals will multiply, political opportunists will thrive, tribalism will rule and the revolution will remain unfinished.
Okoth OseweFWD .Okoth Osewe