Ethnicity and Land Conflict: A Study of the Post-Election Violence in Kenya

The recent post-election violence affected millions of Kenyans. This was mainly on tire western part of the country which was deeply affected with the Rift Valley province the most seriously affected of the areas. This violence created death, destruction and displacement of thousands of Kenyan people. Ethnicity if well harmonized has proved to be one of the most reliable strategies for promoting a sense of sustainable nationhood in Kenya. However, because of ineffective leadership, ethnic rivalry has been rife during the past few years and there is a danger of perpetual inter-ethnic clashes on a large scale. As Kenyans brace for normalcy following the recent post-election violence which engulfed Kenya in the first two months of 2008, they should be wary of undercurrents of the violence that have far-reaching implications for the country's future. The violence that almost brought Kenya to a standstill after the 2007 general election is a manifestation of longstanding issues which the country previously paid little attention to, and which it must address to avoid their recurrence and undesirable repercussions in future. This paper draws from a wealth of historical, political, economic, demographic and socio-cultural sources to analyses factors that underlay the post-election violence and that may still place hurdles on frantic efforts for durable peace, improved democratic dispensation and equitable division of the national cake in Kenya. It points that the solution of Kenya's current political problems lies in multidisciplinary diagnosis of the issues in play, taking a new look at the long-term agenda, in particular longstanding injustices in regional development including resource allocation, the land question, historical grievances and invocation of irrelevant cultural stereotypes to discredit certain ethnic communities, historical and cultural factors, economic actors, population issues and State intervention. The paper concludes that the land question, ethnic animosity and other injustices connived to cause the post-election violence and must of necessity be resolved to avoid recurrence of violence in future elections.