Thoughts on loyalty in Africa

A week or so ago, bbc.co.uk had a comments request on a topic that I have strong oppinions on; whether tribal loyalties tramp national loyalties in Africa. I was lazy and missed the opportunity to post up my comment. Hence I have decided to post it up on the second most trusted news source in the world, facebook!

I contend that loyalty in Africa in the context of the question above is a generational issue. The generation of our fathers have little or no loyalty to the nations they govern and consider tribes as communities more deserving of theiraliegence. Our generation on the other hand identifies more strongly with the nations we are from

I think this is an important issue to look at because it is one of the things that signify a big rift between the generation of our fathers i.e. those that were present 40+ years ago when each of our African countries were gaining the independence, and our generation i.e the 20- somethings (and 30-somethings to some extent).

When most of our fathers were born there was no such thing as the republic of Kenya or Uganda or Nigeria. In my particular case, my parents were born into the British East African protectorate, an organizational entity that neither sought nor deserved their loyalty. They had no nation to call their own. They were ruled by foreigners who's interests were in exploiting the lands natural resources and repatriating profits back to England. The tribe was the most legitimate unit to which one was expected to pledge allegiance. And thus that is what they did by enlarge.

When Independence came, the nations we currently live in were thrust upon them and as history will attest they were for the most part ill prepared for these responsibilities. There was now a new organizational unit that no doubt held more legitimacy than the protectorate but was still an amorphous amalgam of many little tribes that in some cases had a history violent conflict. They were expected to all of a sudden kiss and make up because someone had drawn a line around their lands and declared them a nation. Needless to say this was an irrational expectation and, given the circumstances, things might have turned out a lot worse than they have been, at least in Kenya. Without a truly compelling reason to shift loyalties, their allegiance remained in the tribe.

Our generation on the other had is the first to be born into these new nations. They are all we have ever known and hold just as much legitimacy as the tribes into which we were born. Of course we still have to contend with the influence of parents, elders and leaders whose mindsets are still tribally based, but we regard being Kenyan, Nigerian or Cameroonian more as a matter of fact than a matter of choice and this makes it much easier for us to ally our selves with country rather than tribe. This is one of the oft ignored generational differences that will make a big difference in the way Africa emerges from its ashes in the years to come.

So to tie it all up, the generation of our parents are understandably more aligent to their tribes than they are to they countries, but it is quite the opposite with our generation.