Tribalism in Africa

A dialog from the AGE-L
30 April 1995

President Moi of Kenya has characterized tribalism as a cancer. This is an accurate description of a demoralizing challenge that we face in Africa. As an urban raised African I too saw tribalism as an evil that we have to overcome. Increasingly lately I have come to regard tribalism both as a cancer and also a tool that can be used to propel Africa to a new dimension of development.

The majority of Africans are not able or willing to forsake their tribal allegiances so what do we do with this mind set. How can we channel this tribal energy into a national mainstream. We need to understand the tribes before we impose nationalism on them. Tribes are a contradiction in todays Africa they are an evil if your tribe is not in power and a benefit if your tribe is in power. This is due to the nature of our political and government systems whereby there are no checks and balances. This fosters a climate of absolute power resting on the Executive and by extension to the Executive tribe. So what should be done?

The first step to getting rid of an ailment is an acurate diagnosis and an admission by the patient that he has something that ails him. Once the diagnosis and admission have been made then a course of treatment is initiated that allows healing to begin. We need to admit that Africans are by nature tribalistic and this in itself is not inherently evil. Fact: tribes had institutions and systems that catered for the welfare of all the tribal members. Could it be that African States by totally disregarding tribal institutions and systems have weakened themselves? Could it be if you weaken the family you weaken the nation? Africans traditionally belonged to extended families, which in turn belonged to a clan, and which in turn belonged to a tribe. In our haste to make the absurd partitioned Africa (Berlin Conference and the partition of Africa) into nations we chose to totally disregard this established socio-political order to our own peril. So we have tried and failed at making the great leap from individual tribal members to national citizens. For one to have allegiance to a nation the benefits must outweigh those of belonging to a tribe. In most African nations you are defined as a citizen only in paper your primary designation is that of an ethnic group. For example on paper you might be Rwandanese but your benefits or ill fate is determined by whether you are Hutu or Tutsi. This schizophrenic national mind set permeates Africa and its denial only compounds the problem.

African States need to form governments and institutions that have their power base in the tribal institutions because this is where the real power emanates from. i.e. Most Africans respect and have primary allegiance to the tribal structure. The central government is viewed as an outside force that is often hostile and not relevant. I submit that the national government would have more legitimacy if all tribes were represented. All issues in government would be examined using dual standards; a tribal and a national standard. Balance both interests. In most parliaments an upper house should be formed consisting of statesmen who command the most respect and support from each tribe. All tribes would be designated two members very much like the US Senate. This group will balance the State interests versus the tribal interests. An equal representation will ensure that the rights and interests of minority tribes are not trampled upon by majority tribes.

Africa has tribes for better or for worse. If given lemons make lemon juice. It is the hand we have been dealt let us play it to our advantage; turn our cancer into HEALTH. Fellow Africans let me know what you think.

Excellent insight Mr Asabrye, that was a thought provoking post.Tribalism is the root and fabric of the African society. It is where wederive a sense of pride in being African. I consider myself more of aSwazi than a citizen of Swaziland, in the same way a Zulu is more of aZulu than he is a South African citizen, and a Ndebele is more Ndebelethan they are Zimbabwean/south african. A Shona is more Shona thanthey are Zambians/Zimbabwean. Tribal belonging is valued more thannational identity. I cannot begin to understand the origin of the

beliefs and values of the Nationalist leaders who have been trying toimplement a Eurocentric system of government that ignores our tribalism.Although I agree with the nationalist ideology that we are one and weneed to be united as a people. I do not understand their notion ofnationalism that define "nations" through colonial borders. I do notunderstand how they think such borders which sometimes divide tribes intodifferent nationalities could bring about national solidarity. We need totake advantage of our strong tribal ties to create a grassrootsdemocracies that will derive power from tribal belonging.

N.B. Please refer to Swaziland's Tinkundla(gives regional authority back to the chiefs) system of democracy, I wouldlike to know what you think about it.

I agree with most of the view presented about tribalism in Africa.Since the independances we have tried to make abstaction of tribalismand give precedence to the concept of citizenship. I guess this was,for our leaders, a way to model Africa after the west and foster herdevelopment. In my opinion two main mistakes were made:

1. western countries are homogeousIn fact most of them have a chamber in their Congress or Parlement tha tgives equal power to all regions (tribes?) on the decisions of thecountries. I equate western geographical regions with African tribesbecause maybe with few exception, that I do not know :=), thereis a unique relation between a tribe and a geographical area.
2. legitimacy of a goverment by institutionsI have a personal feeling, maybe I do not express this very well, thata western goverment is more a government of content (the institutions)than a government of process (consensual agreement). It is hard to mak einstitutions, that are by definition static, on a structure when mostof the decisions are taken after "palaver" and consensus.

This is why I think with the other netters who expressed this ideathat something should be done to integrate thetribal system into the state government, in the first place, andultimately into an African government. The importance of an Africangovernment at a higher level finds, in my opinion, a legitimacy inthe fact that, unlike other regions of the world, the limits of theAfrican states does not correspond to tribal limits. For instance,the border between Benin and Nigeria separates Yoruba families. TheBeninois side speaks French as an "office" language, the Nigerian sidespeaks English. At the first sight they look very different, but thefact that they are under the traditionnal authority of the same chiefsmake any custom control between the two border by the respectivestates impossible to maintain.The same pattern repeats itself between virtually all African countrie swhich makes an African government indispensable.

Dr Kwame N'Krumah, first President of Ghana and one of the greatestsupporters of panafricanism, made some interesting studies about allthis. He emphazised the necessity of the effective involvement of allethnic groups to the development of Africa and African countries. Agood question to answer is why his work and ideas have not had moreimpact not only on other African governments but also in the diaspora.Ultranationalisms? Selfish interests? Manoueuvres of western countrieswilling to maitain their "own share" of the great continent? The debat eis open on this question. But a good understanding of those reasonsis necessary to improve anything in the way Africa is governed today.

I also think that, nowadays, the problem is complicated by the existen ceof big cities and the exodus from the villages. Since those cities areinfluenced by the west, will a city like Lagos, Nigeria, one of the mo stpopulated cities of the world, be under a tribal goverment, a western-like government or an harmonious mix.

I hope I've transmitted my opinion of the complexity and uniquenessof African politics.

Finally, a great debate!

Joel Vignon
jvignon@clemson.edu