The recent elections in Kenya brought to the fore the widely discussed issue of ethnicity and its impact on Africa's democracy.

Conspicuously, the process sharply divided the country into two, with one faction supporting Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and the other backing Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

Kenyatta emerged the ultimate winner despite Odinga's side disputing the results.

"There was nothing extraordinary. With the support of the dominant Kikuyu and Kalenjin communities, it was evident who Kenya's fourth president would be. It was a sacrifice of democracy for narrow and tribal interests," Winnie Wanjala, a political science lecturer in Nairobi, told the Global Times.

For a long period, elections in Africa have not necessarily produced competent or representative regimes. Apart from rigging claims, the voting patterns have predictably focused along tribal lines. In 2009 in Equatorial Guinea, for example, President Teodoro Obiang was elected with 95 percent of the vote. His party also won 99 percent of seats in parliament.

Ethnic ties

Ethnic allegiances run deep in Africa. From South Africa to Nigeria to the world's newest nation, South Sudan, tribalism is used to climb the political ladder and to create wealth.

It has and continues to be used to divide and rule as was done in South Africa when the whites used it against the blacks during apartheid. In Rwanda, the implications of tribalism have been disastrous. Around 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed in the 1994 genocide.

Wanjala observes that tribal politics has blocked Africa's democratic process. She says the challenge to Africa's democracy has not only been the dominance of ethnic diversity but also the conceited politics that seek to promote tribal interests. Europe, she says, is to blame for the mess.

"The artificial boundaries brought about by colonialists in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s confined different communities in definite regions. The demarcation created a notion that if you are not from my tribe then you are my enemy," she said.

According to the US State Department, the most diverse nations in Africa are the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia and Chad. But with a population of 72 million people and more than 250 ethnic groups, the Democratic Republic of Congo has perpetually been engulfed in ethnic clashes.

By 2010, more than 5.4 million people had been killed in a decade-long war. "Tribalism, no longer an obstacle to self-government in Africa, is still an obstacle to national unity. In Ghana, it has been used to eliminate effective opposition. In the Congo, tribalism has produced conflict and violence," William Boscom, a professor of anthropology at the University of California, told the Global Times.

The situation has been worsened by the strong hands of those in power, which have weakened the opposition. "If you don't dance to the tunes of the dominant tribe, you risk being persecuted," said Wanjala.

Political dogma

Today, tribalism is a new political dogma in Ethiopia. Pride is seemingly based on one's tribal relations. "This culture has spread out to the education system. The Amhara and Tigrain university students despise the Oromo lecturers. We have seen incompetent Tigrains given an upper hand in public sector jobs because their tribal men occupy the high office in the army and government," Koleelu Mengedi, a human rights activist in Addis Ababa, told the Global Times.

South Sudan has also dipped itself into the tribal furnace. The world's newest nation, which is dominated by the Dinka tribe of President Salva Kiir, has been accused of side-lining members of the Nuer, Murle, Bari, Acholi, Ding-Dinga, Anyuak, Taposa and Mundari in state jobs as well as resource allocation.

Despite the perils that come with a divided nation, many African countries have not managed to create a common manifesto for its diverse population. "If Africa can mimic what President Paul Kagame has done for Rwanda in appreciating tribal disparities, then our democracy and economy will be among the best in the world. Unfortunately, Africa's politics thrives in a divided society," said Mengedi.

Leaders who took over after the exit of the colonialists have overwhelmingly been blamed for deepening divisions in Africa. Wanjala says the so-called first presidents failed to cultivate unity. Instead, they pursued tribal interests aimed at consolidating their political backing.

Wiser minds

However, some African countries have flouted the divisive influence of tribalism. Tanzania has guarded its unprecedented unity through the adoption of a common national language - Kiswahili - superseding other affiliations. As a result, there are no ethnic identifications in a country of more than 130 tribes.

The bedrock principle on which the Tanzanian society was built under the former President Julius Nyerere was that no one should be discriminated against.

"The Nyerere government was able to infuse a true sense of nationalism that transcended the country's natural ethnic divisions. We may not have conquered tribalism, but we have been able to contain it effectively," Godfrey Mwakikagile, a Tanzanian scholar and specialist in African studies, told the Global Times.

Tanzania's one party system, known as Chama Cha Mapinduzi (party of change), has also played a pivotal function in uniting Tanzanians. "It was essentially a national movement involving mass participation in the political process and development. Tribalism was not tolerated," Mwakikagile said.

Tanzania, like Botswana, is one country that has largely conquered tribalism. This explains why, unlike Kenya, Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, Tanzania's fourth president, is from one of the country's minority tribes.

While Africa's democracy remains blotted, there is some optimism that the tribal culture may soon fade.

"There are many reasons why we should celebrate the strides made in the continent's political landscape. Electoral contests and term limits are now being fixed as rules in many countries. The gender rule, to bring the alienated but deserving women in leadership, is also in the works," Luke Matshazi, a political activist in Zimbabwe, told the Global Times. Matshazi says the future of Africa lies not only in the strengthening of its democratic institutions but also on the independence of its judiciary.