The Role Of Politics In Defining Ethnic Identity?

2.4 The Role of Politics in Defining Ethnic Identity
Musau (2007) progresses the idea that ethnicity is not a bad thing in itself since it is the acknowledgement of a people’s right to be diverse. Furthermore, when such an acknowledgement is escorted with an exclusion of others who do not fall into that group there is a big problem. Such as, once an ethnic group takes over the state power, it arranges itself in a way that propagates its control of power in order to pursue the interests of the ethnic group. It is apparent that ethnic views and identity are manipulated to a great extent for political ends in ethnic conflicts and ethnic electoral violence in Africa (Nnoli, 1989; Laakso, & Cowen, 2002).
In Government and Politics in Africa, Tordoff
In such instances, economic resources are instrumentally used as a political tool to permit the leadership to acquisition support in order to fulfill their desires. Therefore, the continuous practice of politicizing ethnic identities turns out to be one of the many reasons of ethno-political violence. By using ethnic identities and allegiances political leaders urge people to maintain their loyalty to protect their ethnic interests. However, many political leaders under the guise of African cultures, use manipulation and predation to aid their own interests. The result of using these practices is that ethnic groups are trained to obtain an outlook of concentrating on getting favors and fighting for national resources. Additionally, their involvement in public affairs is condensed to a game of supporting ethnic interests instead of erecting structures that can warrant equal participation, justice, and development for all persons. The same notion is held by Menkhaus
Political activity is—and, at its best, is—animated by efforts to define and defend who I am, or we are, or you are, or hope to be, or hope to be seen to be. By extension, it is motivated by our imagination of what is or ought to be mine or ours or yours. It is not only about self‐government. Nor does it always involve much in the way of public debate. What structures it, often beneath the surface, is the always unfinished enterprise of self‐construction and self‐presentation” (p. 54). He further argues that politics operates under hostile conditions without any clear and permanent rules. It is based on alliances and allegiances, all of which are temporary. This temporary action has a great potential of constructing a new identity and framing individuals or groups. Which could be a sort of distortion of reality (p. 55). This distortion leads to ethnic conflicts. In the 1993 General Elections in Nigeria, General Babangida from the Hausa ethnic community annulled the presidential elections and refused to concede defeat to Yoruba Chief Abiola. At that time, the Social Democratic Party backed Chief Abiola because of his Yoruba roots while the Hausa/Fulani supported the National Republican Convention Young (2003). It is also the same case in Kenya. Ethnic political alignments in Kenya have always been the norm. During the Moi regime GEMA (Gikuyu, Embu, and Meru Association) was disbanded and KAMATUSA (Kalenjin,