Kenyan

I've just taken my daughter back to school here in Jinja and one of her teacher's remarked how Kenyans will kill each other over the election results in October , like they did in 2007.
My knee jerk reaction was anger , then pride kicked in and I told him it won't happen.
Of course I'm proud to be Kenyan.At least half the time.
Then I log onto Facebook and Twitter and the pride curdles into shame and anger.

I'm angry that tribe is our chief identity.
We share multiple identities:children, parents, siblings, employees, employers, partners, friends, professionals, religious and spiritual affiliations, talents, hobbies etc.
Yet, the one identity we had no choice in, is the one we cling to ,our Kryptonite.
Election season is a great time to know what others think of their fellow Kenyans.
There are many pleasant surprises and numerous shocks-the hatred and vitriol is nauseating.
Fake news adds to the burden of separating the wheat from the chaff.

There are no easy answers or solutions, and however success will look like, it'll need all hands on deck.
I'm optimistic we will survive this, though the scars will take generations to heal.