The dust that was raised during the post election violence that rocked the country has finally begun to settle and Kenyans are beginning to get into to their normal lives. Here in Nairobi, despite the impact that the violence has had on our business. People have resumed work and those who have lost their jobs or were displaced are starting off in new areas of business and income generating activities. In other parts of the country, some are becoming used to their new found way of life which is mostly in internally displaced camps or their ancestral homes.

Most people have deliberated on ways in which the current political problems can be solved. And much process has been made on that front, that now the fighting that had spread into Nairobi’s suburbs has stopped. Despite this, we have a divided populace. A People who mingle in the towns but back in the estates they don’t share even a cup of water. In areas like Dandora and Kibera and Mathare we now have tribal zones, regions that if by mistake you visit and you are from the wrong tribe, you might find a new home in the morgue. Welcome to the new unspoken reality, the invisible iron wall that lies deep in our hearts and divides us into a tribal state. The government pretends that things are back to normal and has made calls for the displaced persons to go back to their homes. One wonders if those evicted from their homes especially in the North Rift of Kenya will ever trust the native people especially if after living peacefully together for over forty years, they awake one morning fleeing for their lives as their next door neighbor, one with whom they have shared tea and raised their children together, hacks their children and burns their homes. So much is the mistrust in the country that in the ensuing counter evictions in central province and parts of Nakuru and Naivasha, the evicted are just crying for one thing- Take us back home from where we came from! The big question is, in such a scenario will those evicted persons ever go back especially where the pain runs so deep and death and destruction lingers in their memories? Will a Kenyan from say Western or Nyanza ever visit, invest and live in say Central Kenya knowing very well that there is a possibility of after 20 years their very good neighbor may turn on them destroying every trace of their existence? Will Kenya ever reintegrate again?

Welcome to a new field of study as a social scientist, anthropologist or someone interested in social studies. The Kenyan situation creates a unique scenario. Here is a country on its way to self destruction, a country that is steps away from going the Yugoslavian or Rwandan way. The job of the social expert is to stop the trend and change the path. The politicians will not solve the problem. They are looking at their own selfish interests of power first and keeping the social problem hot since it has been used as a bargain chip in the current Annan led peace negotiations. It is doubtful that once a settlement on political power sharing has been reached, they will even bother to institute social policy changes that will start the healing process. It is now up to us ordinary Kenyans led by social experts to reintegrate socially and think of the best way to convince and ensure that people return back to their former places of work and homes. We need to live in a Kenya where anyone can live and work in any part of the country. We need a Kenya where the basic human right of the freedom of association is upheld not by law but by the people if the country is to stay as one unified country. Building police stations may work for a while but true social reintegration can only come from the people themselves. The question is how?

One idea is using sport as a tool of social reintegration Looking back at history, after the world wars, the world leaders at the time committed themselves to hold world events of sport that would bring representatives from all the regions of the world to participate in one peaceful event together. They resolved to strengthen the Olympics as an amateur event where the rules of fair play dominated the event. No performance enhancement drugs or other techniques that would give undue advantage over the opponents were to be used and ever since then it has made history over and over again; During the cold war era, despite the hostilities that the Americans and the Russians had with each other, they would meet every four years to complete together in a fun filled event that endeavored to celebrate the human achievement, Iraq and the U.S once played soccer together during the world cup despite the fact that Saddam and Bush were sending war threats to each other finally George Weah sponsored his Liberian team during the conflict in his home land. The joy and unifying effect the above mentioned events had in history were so powerful that they brought home to the world the strongest message of peaceful co- existence even in times of conflict. I think this is one perfect way of reintegrating evicted communities back into their pre-election homes. Sports can be used as part of a series of events that will ensure that Kenyans can peacefully co-exist. Members from the re-invited community can play against the host community with the final games comprising of mixed teams. The event can bring together local leaders especially the elders of the host community in which they can officially re invite the new communities and make a declaration to live together. They can also resolve to hold meetings with the elders to resolve any conflict that may arise between them and form a committee that will called upon to resolve any future conflicts. To avoid discrimination by predominant tribe in the area to the new comers, the minority tribes in those areas should be given a public face and image as much as possible. A good example of this is the United States Of America. Today, we have an American of African Origin and more proudly, a Kenyan seeking to be the president of the country. What that has done in the American society is that it has brought about acceptance on that particular community in to the American populace. In Kenya we can let minority groups stand for elected public offices like that of a councilor or an member of parliament(M.P) in areas where they are the minority. This will bring into public debate all existing prejudices and thus create a public forum in which all those prejudices will be discussed, realized to be immaterial and thus collapse. So far this has not worked on a national level because we have no open forums where we can discuss such issues. Since at the village level it will be easier to organize such meetings through the inter tribal committees formed during the sports event, it might just be possible to eliminate those prejudices leading to peaceful co-existence. It would be very pleasing to see that the M.P for say gatundu being a Maasai, or Luo or Kamba or any other tribe for that matter. This is one idea that has many assumptions to bring about social reintegration in Kenya. In fact, I would love to hear a critic of the idea and other suggestions on how to bring about social reintegration.
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