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But the men from British Isles, that emerald island of great patriotic people, the land of Kipling and Churchill, also taught us a few bad things, or may be we learnt them independently, like how to be selfish, and exploit one another in the name of competition, they taught us how to be individualistic and self-centered. This systematically undermined the African social system that had guided and kept the society together for generations.
The [emergent] social order could not really fit into the British paradigm of the nuclear family and the self. A mixture of the two generated low intensity chaos and social disorder. It spawned a generation that has no identity; it is neither African nor British. Lately this admixture that has defied definition has got another ingredient - the American culture, which has been filtered into our homes through the mass media. It is a make-belief culture as anyone who has spent time on the American mainland may testify. But few of its Kenyan recipients bother to find out. If some of the young men putting on sagging trousers in Kenya knew who put on such trousers in the US, they would run to the nearest tailor and measure a suit!
The most long lasting lesson they taught us is how to classify one another. The British social/political system is historically based on class with titles ranging from Lords, Barons, Earls and other minor titles. Most of these titles are hereditary. Tony Blair's attempts to make them merit-based can be seen as a revolution by itself. The rich and the ennobled lived in the manors and palaces, still evident in the English midlands. Their children were destined to follow in their footsteps encultured in the ways of their class, by being taken to exclusive schools, some of them so exclusive that their parents had at one time to book for their place in the schools even before they were born. From such exclusive schools they would go to Oxford or Cambridge, study classics, then join the leadership positions, marry within their class and faithfully continue the cycle, in times of war or peace. There were few leakages into and out of this tight system. Even the enlightening forces of the Renaissance and the French Revolution did not shake this great tradition.
It is this system that the Britons bequeathed on us in Kenya. We embraced it with open arms; we have kindly perpetuated it and strengthened it. Nobody talks about it because most of the country's opinion makers are in it and benefit from this system. The class cleaverages in Kenya are too open to hide. I will kindly expose them.
At the bottom of this great pyramid are the peasants, what Orwell could call the proles. They scrape a living from the land through cultivation, from the sea by fishing or grazing cattle on often communal land. They are under the mercy of nature and its cycles, if rains fail they fail. For this class, living is a challenge and each day is lived at a time. Members of this class are down to Earth - where else ? They have large families, are religious and use religion to explain their present and future circumstances. They live with a dream that one day their children will join "them", those who live far away in lighted places, drive big cars and only occasionally visit "home" to everyone's attention. This class was supposed to have a decreasing population after independence as people got enlightened and embraced modern ways. That was an illusion. This class is burgeoning, courtesy of the population increase. It is getting new adherents, the landless and the displaced that make a living by doing odd jobs like hawking, roasting maize on the streets and pulling carts. A few others make their living by pick-pocketing and through petty crime. Some are becoming bolder and getting involved in violent crime. This class may constitute the majority in Kenya. Those who through hard work or sheer luck eventually leave this class do all they can to hide the simple fact that at one time they belonged to this humble class.
The next class is the working class who still has some attachment to the land but benefit from the modern economy in some ways. This group includes primary and high school teachers, those people who operate from their own homes, shop keepers, carpenters, welders and other lowly-employed or self-employed people who at least handle money from day to day. This group can be seen as a transition group, it bridges the modern economy and the traditional sector, the attachment to nature sector. This class consists of people likely to have traveled beyond their homeland without an emergency.
The third class comprises the matatumen, who make their living by rendering their services to the two lower classes. This group has emerged from the mercy of nature. It could be the first class that thinks in terms of them versus us. But the often low education level of this class and open entry make them retain a lot of characteristics of the other two classes like the language and attire. Easy entry makes the group unglamorous despite the high returns. This group includes auctioneers, wholesalers, and any other group of people who have learned how to speculate or eat from the fruits of others. No wonder this class has a number of men who have "pots"[pot bellies], they are often shabby, and if they ever put on a neck tie, it is likely to be a few years behind the current design.
For the three classes, you can easily pick them on a city street. The three classes are often obsessed with media reports which they often discuss and lace with local jokes. Most of the members of this group are very opinionated, but few have opinions buttressed on rationality or evidence. They often cite what they could do if they got positions of responsibility. Their suggestions are very idealistic and impractical. The three classes see education as the exit route from poverty, they take it seriously but exposure to the modern economy, particularly in high school, often produces unintended consequences as their children try to make up for what they could not get in their upbringing.
The fourth class consists of what one would call the para-professionals. Those who make enough for themselves, but not enough to invest. They live a good life, are well informed; a newspaper on a daily basis is common [among them] unlike the other lower classes that buy it at the end of the month. This class has already started suffering from the illusions of making it big. They have already started understanding about the odds against them in their endeavor to make economic ends meet. They are often dedicated to what they do, derive their identity from the profession, their neck ties are modern, their language is more polished but you still can easily pick their ethnic background. They have realized that education is a ladder to success, through their experience. Members of this group are respected by the lower classes. They drive their children to be achievers. Most members of this group live in the cities or their suburbs. Their estates are often "unbranded" - I suspect without evidence that Zimmerman is not a difficult place to locate them. This class has junior professors/lecturers, nurses, accountants, bank cashiers, high school teachers, middle level police officers, army officers and possibly journalists. And any other employee who can run a car throughout the month, but with a struggle. You are very likely to find a small jerrican in their car boot, just in case... This class cannot live without the salary from the employer. They are forever agitating for salary hikes. They have a quasi-religious affiliation to the co-operative movement through SACCOS.
The fifth class consists of the real professionals, those who make their money always; they are sheltered from the vulgarities of nature and economic cycles. This class has succeeded in putting up barriers to entry. This class includes lawyers, doctors, stock brokers/investment advisers, bankers, and any other profession where it is possible to be counter cyclic. e.g. when the economy is doing badly you still make money. Lawyers (or attorneys as they are called in US) make money through bankruptcies, while bankers and advisers are busy advising on mergers and acquisitions. Members of this class are self confident, rarely talk, except while engaged in their professional work, have close networks, may have at least visited abroad for further training or working visits. This class has more than all other classes learnt the manners of the former colonial masters; in fact the training requires them to. This class lives in exclusive suburbs, most in rented apartments, but most later acquire their own houses/homes. They drive all month, their wives look younger than their ages, this group sees it as normal to be seen in social occasions with their wives. They are fashion conscious. If they get into business, they often do well because of networks and have surplus cash in case of hard times. They rarely keep a beard; they would wish their kids went to national schools like Alliance which are likely to be their alma mater. This class is not religion-bound but going to church may still be seen as a sign of class, they don't go to just any church. Most of the members of this group are University graduates. This class has a disproportionate share of intellectuals. For the first time [in our examples], the group gets respect from the group above it, the lower upper class.
The sixth class (lower upper class) consists of Kenyans who are very rich. A few of them are distilled from the fifth class .Most of these super rich Kenyans had the advantage of having the first encounter with the white man. They got their wealth when there was no competition (as people from central province say, when there were no moles). All they have to do is to pass their wealth on to the next generation, who shall either squander it or pass it on to the next one. This class never mixes with the rest of the society except during special occasions like political rallies or weddings of their children who marry among themselves or across cultural barriers. This group of Kenyans is less bound by tribal affiliations, capitalism has torn down the barriers. .This class drives big cars, often more than one in a family, and travel abroad often. Their children go to exclusive private schools, either locally or abroad. Their business interests are vast and intertwined; they use Asian or white fronts in business. They spend their time cultivating contacts here and abroad with the mighty and the powerful. Most members of this class are politicians and those who are not politicians have made attempts to get into politics, not because they are driven by altruism, but because politics ensure their business interests are taken care of. This class knows too well what its strategic interests are and goes to any lengths to pursue them.
Some observers suggest the greatest problem with this group is that they were born with a silver spoon; they have never had the unpleasant encounter with experiences that harden people, such as failures, poverty or war in the British system. Most of them therefore fail to become wiser, after being pampered all their life .They get spoiled after being served all their life by nannies, by teachers, accountants, lawyers and (some cranks say) mistresses. Because of this lack of real life experience, this group is often susceptible to corruption, wheel dealing and other vices. The class takes its children to exclusive private schools, from the Kindergarten to the University, locally or abroad. This class, having tasted power, is often insecure because of lack of real life experience. It often feels threatened by the fifth class that has a lot of intellectuals. This group is often paranoiac. Because this class is distilled from people with various backgrounds, it has a habit of jettisoning some members as soon as they lose their positions or wealth, which is often insecure since it is acquired very fast or by chance. The inclusion of people of various backgrounds into this group from the sophisticated to the uncouth makes the class fluid and insecure. This appears to be the most unpredictable of all the classes, is disliked or despised and least trusted by other members of Kenyan society. Patronage is another hallmark of this class; that is the only way they can keep their influence and extend it to other classes. The most prominent members of this class are the African politician, homo politicus, and big businessman of African descent. Flaunting their wealth and showing off are another of their hallmarks. The class also has a disproportionate share of arrogant people, arrogance resulting from sudden acquisition of wealth without the preponderant hard work or critical thinking.
The top or seventh class in Kenya is fact invisible, most people - particularly those who belong to the lower classes - are not even aware the class exists. In fact, invisibility is one of this class's hallmarks. This class is made of Asians and Europeans who are in most cases very rich. They own the means of production either directly or through the stock market. They own industries, factories and other establishments such as banks and insurance firms. But you will never know what they own. They hide what they own through cross ownership or using layers of holdings companies. The sixth class in fact learned from them how to disguise their wealth.
They are invisible not just from public eyes but even in terms of residence. They live in the leafy suburbs, in Karen, Lower Kabete, around Kitengela, past African Nazarene University, around Tigoni, around Lake Naivasha, around Nanyuki and in other pockets particularly in marginal areas (for the Europeans). Asians live around the city of Nairobi and other major towns. This class rarely mixes with the public and when they do, they are camouflaged by tourism. They have established a system within the system. They have their own schools, hospitals, clubs, and estates. They never comment on public issues. Curiously, if you talk with them privately they are very patriotic, probably because they have reaped maximum benefit from Kenya. They have got the better of the two worlds; they can live stress-free and enjoy all the conveniences of modern life in a tropical paradise. They enjoy an endless summer, money is easy to get and they live at their own pace. .Despite having citizenship of the host country, they are less encumbered by the problems of their host country - they keep off politics, at least in public - but behind the scenes they are a force to be reckoned with - with the aid of their mother country. They enjoy as much privilege in their "mother countries" as those they left behind. In my opinion this one of the Earth's most privileged classes. For those of British descent, they even have troops to protect them in case of any political problem.
This class is in a class of its own. They are first world people living on a third world country. They take their children though mother country curriculums, their schools are exclusive and teachers are often imported. Their children go to Universities abroad. In mannerism and deeds this class has succeeded in shielding itself from the influence of other classes. It has also not bothered to influence other classes because it is not necessary and this would make it vulnerable. The media does that for them.
Members of this class are to be found in five star hotels and lodges in the national parks, but again you will not distinguish them from tourists. Some people rightly or wrongly think this class indirectly rules the country. This observation may contain some percentage of truth, no matter how small. Needless to say, this is the most difficult class to get into, without breaching your skin.
For a generation up to early 90s, this class system with seven layers was permeable. Thata is to say it was easy to permeate from one class to the other except the seventh class. Though I am nowhere near the sixth or 7th class, through education I am on the verge of moving from one class to the next. Education was the boat through which people used to sail from one class to the other. A peasant from Karachuonyo could easily find himself in the same class at Oxford or Harvard with a son of a third generation Kenyan Briton who he may be surprised to discover holds a Kenyan passport. After the early 90s, the walls have become more fortified thanks to our media and sixth classes' selfishness. As one moves to the upper classes they discover the conveniences of being in those classes and would do all they can to keep the others out of it. The top classes have a lot at stake in the status quo. They control the levers of wealth creation, the channels through which power and prestige are distributed and, unknown to most people, the thought process.
It is an open secret that there has never been a more effective way of controlling people, lording over them or even leading them than controlling the thought process, deciding what people hear and see, what the mass media is all about. Why do you think, despite the liberalization of the airwaves, soap operas are still so popular with TV stations? Why do you think violent movies are so popular? How comes you never find TV or radio programs discussing an issue like the one in this article? The media encourages uniformity of thought, which is good not only for those in power but also for business.
The current jostling - as delegates discuss the proposal for a new constitution for Kenya - is about classes. Every group represented in this conference would like have one of their own preferably in the sixth class. Everyone is concerned about who shall be the prime minister, one job only, why is nobody bothered about who shall shave our hair? Why is no one concerned about the thousands who are joblessness and faithfully voted for change? Or where the money to pay the PM will come from? The truth is that since the start of time, revolutions and even wars have taken place as classes have attempted to take over from one another. The famous communist revolution in Russia was about that, but as it emerged, another class more equal than others replaced the monarchy. It took 70 years for the inexorable march to utopia first envisaged by Karl Marx and Frederick Engel to end with a whimper as the poet Robert Frost would have suggested.
After every revolution, peaceful or otherwise, one class has always been replaced by another. The only difference today is that this replacement has become orderly, courtesy of democracy and education. But if you are thinking that that the new constitution in Kenya will end the class system, you may have to wait for a long time. New classes with new members will emerge. Even America where the puritans emigrated to start a new way of life away from the control of the monarchy is today a class-based society; in a way you may not believe. The only beauty about the American system is that you can easily move from one class to the other with some determination and often some elbowing. We hope our new constitutional order will ensure that in Kenya meritocracy will become the boat through which the members of the lowest class will be able to sail to sixth or seventh class, with no locks that slow their boat or pirates to hijack it. After all, the hallmark of any great civilization is not the great monuments it erects but the way it treats its less privileged members. That is not about to change.
He has been a freelance journalist since 1995. He has written for the East African Standard, the Baby Times, Management, BusinessAfrica, the Kenya Times and currently writes a weekly column for The People
Daily in Kenya. This is his first article for The World's Magazine.
NAIROBI, KENYA - The Britons taught us may things for the 70 years they lorded over us. Some of the things they taught us were good while others were bad. They taught us basic hygiene the paving way for a reduction in infant mortality and subsequent population rise. They taught us how to read and write, they taught us how to use money without teaching us how to make it, they attempted with great effort and determination to teach us how to think rationally. On this, they did not go far, the Renaissance man they wanted to imbue in us did not flourish, 100 years after the Missionaries with zeal and determination opened the East African Interior, witchcraft is still mentioned even in the highest levels of institutions that ought to be rational and progressive, the government and the church. The Britons taught us with unusual enthusiasm how to pray a new God without facing Mt. Kenya and other sacred grounds. Just when the religious fire they had ignited was about to eat its last embers, a new seed was quickly replanted by the new Pentecostal churches , this time originating in the US, a country where it is illegal to pray in school.
X.N.IRAKI is a Kenyan, aged 34, and currently a Fullbright scholar in Mississippi, USA. Previously he taught Physics and Mathematics in high school in Kenya and taught Business at the University of Nairobi before coming to US in 2001 for further studies.
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