A section of the council proclaimed him the tribal chieftain of the Kalenjin community only for another to disown the proclamation.
The nationalists who came to power—Nkrumah of Ghana, Kenyatta of Kenya, Kamuzu Banda of Malawi—would be crowned tribal chiefs at elaborate ceremonies where symbols of tribal authority—such as leopard skins and flywhisks—were conferred on them.
In a context bereft of ideology or principle, and where electoral competition is not among parties espousing different social and political philosophies, but between tribes and tribal chieftains, the ritual has become part of our political culture.
To engender this ethnic consciousness, tribal ideologues—often highly educated and widely travelled individuals—invoke customs and history of the tribe.
Council of elders can transform themselves from being instruments of ethnic mobilisation into bodies helping us to align cultural practices and beliefs with constitutional values.
