Ethnic Relations and Peacebuilding Amongst Communities in Nakuru County, 1992 – 2017
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Date
2023
Authors
Wamae, Samwel Macharia
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
kenyatta university
Abstract
The political dynamics brought political realignments heightening tensions that
culminated in ethnic violence within the area in the period 1992, 1997, 2007/8. The
Post-Election Violence (PEV) of 2008 was the deadliest resulting to over 1,200 deaths
and 350,000 displacements in the entire country. The study was guided by the
following objectives; to review the ethnic relations among communities living in
Njoro Sub County of Nakuru County; to examine the ethnic violence among
communities living in area; and to evaluate the initiatives in peace building and social
cohesion among communities. The study is anchored on the Protracted Social Conflict
(PSC) theory by Azar. Literature was thematically reviewed in the study. The
researcher used descriptive survey targeting members of the community, elders,
County administrators, religious leaders and Community Based Organizations
(CBOs) that were selected using multi-stage sampling techniques to attain a sample of
185 respondents. Questionnaires were used to collect data from the household heads
in the communities while interview schedules gathered information from the Key
Informant (KIs). Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics while
qualitative data was analyzed using content analysis. The study findings revealed that
communities living in Njoro are highly ethnic as in terms of use of different
languages, interests and associations, ethnic geographic boundaries, cultural heritage
and practices as well as ethnic political regrouping. Njoro was found to have frequent
conflicts due to land, livestock and political differences leading to organized gangs
destroying property, killing and maiming subjecting victims to psychological trauma,
interrupting the education for children and mass displacement from the ethnic
animosity. Various peace building and social cohesion initiatives in Njoro namely the
constitution reviews, peace accords as well as the involvement of NGOs and
establishment of commissions were considered to be effective. The study
recommends that political leaders should stop dividing communities based on their
ethnic orientation and community members should be sensitized on the benefits of
peaceful coexistence with each other regardless of their ethnic background. All
agencies of peace building should be encouraged to spear head effective peace
building activities. Local administrators have the capability to enforce the law and
retain normalcy in case of ethnic conflict before it can result in violence that can lead
to destruction of property or loss of life.
Description
A Project Submitted to the School of Law, Arts
and Social Sciences in Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Award of the Degree of
Master of Arts in Peace and Conflict Management
of Kenyatta University
Keywords
Ethnic Relations, Peacebuilding, Nakuru County, 1992 – 2017