Tribalism, nationalism and corruption have a common root: an over dependence on land as a factor of production in the wake of increasing population, and an increasing demand for things we do not really need.

Let's take our country as an example: Dedan Kimathi, Baimunge, Jomo Kenyatta, . . . all these people had a deep interest in the possession of land that they had deemed to be theirs. Their nationalism was anchored in a piece of land . . . a result of the partitioning.

After getting independence, the then president had land as a major economic factor in his hand, education levels were relatively low ditto technology and the rest . . .

And so to whom did the president turn to except his tribesmates for maximization of this economic factor? (especially where land was most fertile) And wasn't this the only way to go especially if you consider that there were some loans to be serviced and paid? Upto now,I hear, the Kenyatta family has very huge tracts of land.

Successive Kenyan governments have performed poorly on land reclamation. Why? Because the major players didn't want to disrupt balance of power.

But even as the Kenyan elite have been relying on land for their power, population has been under rapid increase, thus there are more people who want to get the benefits of land that is limited and zealously guarded . . . thus use title deeds to procure capital for as many people as possible . . . protect tribesmen by hook and crook lest the whole order collapses . . . in other words, enter corruption.

Thus the current problems plaguing our nation state can only be resolved if land is reduced to play a lesser role in economic affairs.

And the only resource that can reduce the prominence of land is knowledge, which can only be maximized if people are 'tightly' linked together. In this century, security will come from having a large and i'ntelligent' information network, and this overlaps the tribe and the nation state.

We are on the threshold of a new world where there will be no privacy and exclusiveness, and political discourse will have a global nature.

This is why we need to stop speaking about land lord politicians and delve into the world of ideas and improving human relations.