Tribalism in Africa: Why our leaders cannot be brought to accountability

Africa’s progress towards true democratization has indeed been a slow and agonizing excursion. Tyrants and autocratic leaders like Idi Amin of Uganda, Sekou Toure of Guinea, Sani Abacha of Nigeria, Moubutu Sesseseko of Zaire who once presided over their nations with iron fists are long gone and seemingly curtains have closed on the age of African strongmen.  However a new breed of leaders adept at mobilizing tribal numbers and manipulating ethnic emotions has emerged and this severely threatens to roll back the democratic gains that Africa has realized in the last few decades. Tribalism is quickly finding its way to the top of the list of the maladies that plague Africa. Tyranny and authoritarian rule have been replaced by tribal politics as the biggest threat to Africa’s democratic transition.

In many African countries, tribalism has consumed the social fabric and become the center stage of all social, political and economic processes. In Kenya for instance, tribe has become the beacon behind which people rally, and in many cases a person’s surname determines his political opinion. Kenya’s post-election violence in the follow up of the disputed 2007 elections demonstrated how quickly tribal politics can degenerate into violence, and bring a country to the brink of anarchy. But what exactly is tribalism? How is it instituted in African politics and who benefits from it?

Tribalism is a state whereby loyalty to one’s tribe supersedes loyalty to the nation and by extension governs a person’s social, political and economic perceptions. Tribalism becomes institutionalized when it is practiced as government policy and the state uses tribe as a major dynamic in governance. In pre-colonial Africa; what we today consider as tribes were in real sense; nations.  In some cases, these nations were in a state of perennial conflict with one another. The colonizers took advantage of this rivalry between nations and instituted a policy of divide and rule to ensure that the task of colonization was easy. African borders were drawn; not informed by any sort of anthropological or cultural considerations but rather by the economic desires of the colonizers and the political rivalries between competing colonial powers. Needless to say that these artificial and arbitrary borders brought together communities that found it difficult to co-exist.

The founding fathers of Africa had a challenging task of forging nationhood by bringing rival nations together into single nation. This was a grim task, but certainly not insurmountable as countries like Tanzania and Botswana have demonstrated. However the same can hardly be said of many other nations in Africa. In Kenya for instance tribalism has hindered democracy to a prodigious extent. Political parties are not formed based on any ideological considerations but rather on tribal mathematics and ethnic loyalty. Tribal numbers have become the standard for political competition and leaders have exploited this for personal interests and material gains.

In turn, it has become a difficult task to bring these leaders to accountability, because they quickly recede into their cocoons and foster a siege mentality that turns any form of criticism into a crucifixion of their entire community when hard questions are asked. Tribalism as a political consideration does not advance any democratic ideals and thus; using it as a basis for political competition negates the progress towards true democratization. Somali is a stark reminder of what is possible when tribal or clan loyalty supersedes national identity. Africa must wake up and realize that tribalism is retrogressive and only serves to serve the parochial interests of a few individuals. It weakens institutions and promotes an environment of cronyism and patronage which ensures that accountability cannot be asked of our leaders who continue to act with utmost cupidity.