here is a simple exercise

1. write down the names of every person that has declared interest in vying for president or VP in 2012

2. for each person on the list, answer the following question:

during the PEV, did he or she come out and unambiguously call for an outright, unconditional cessation of both police and civilian violence?

therein lies your answer. maybe 0 or 0.5 persons at best.

in short, mashetani wa kisiasa ni wengi zaidi kulika malaika.

Wendz, thanks for your composure & sobriety. You are right -- lasting peace will only be cultivated by we neighbours. Currently, we have different programmes to complement the various efforts that other players are putting in place to build peace amongst our comunities. However, the so-called 'ethno-hysteria' or simply 'mob thinking' is profoundly entrenched in our communities. One way of unlocking it is through our 'leaders'. Therefore, any little sign or opportunity of our 'leaders' working together will always be welcome if it can add value to what we are doing at mashinani.

Ladies and gentlemen. I have always assumed that wazua community is made up of guys who went to school (at least something after forth form,) and have interacted with other Kenyan's from other communities.

Some of the sentiments here appear to indicate otherwise. Or may be education however high does not seem to change the person. My father used to tell me that if education does not change you, we can only refer to it as "academic nonsense".

The debate is healthy, but let us expect some of the sentiments from other's, not the wazua community.

Well spoken.

I also don't expect anyone who has gone to school and has also interacted with people from different communities to be tribal.

Personally I don't understand this tribal nonsense. I learnt how to speak a different Kenyan language before my mother tongue because my best friend was from that tribe and they spoke the language at [their] home. My mum was so proud. Every time she had visitors, she could tell them I could speak language x. If the visitor was of that tribe she could make sure we had a conversation in the language. This made me know that appreciating and respecting other people's cultures is something to be proud of!

When I was young, we used to play kids from all tribes, religions etc. There was no discrimination in whatever form. How certain people suddenly become 'stone age' when they are fully grown and use tribes against each other is totally beyond me.

This reminds me of a previous post...guys went to school, yes, but mostly in schools next to their ethnic background...why? The days guys were going to schools anywhere within the country are gone!