Effect of Political Mobilization on Political Violence in Nairobi County, Kenya: Focus on Mathare and Kibra Informal Settlements
This article arose out of a need to understand better the role of political elite and actors in the mobilization of ethnic supporters for political action, specifically the recurrent political violence, in Kibra and Mathare. To investigate how political elites consolidate ethnic mobilization and...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
: International Journal of Management Sciences (IJMS
2023
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://repository.daystar.ac.ke/handle/123456789/4240 |
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| Summary: | This article arose out of a need to understand better the role of political elite and actors in the
mobilization of ethnic supporters for political action, specifically the recurrent political violence, in
Kibra and Mathare. To investigate how political elites consolidate ethnic mobilization and use it in
political contests, quantitative analysis was used and involved a proportional stratified random
sample. A sample size of sample size of (n=766) was used and was divided equally between Kibra
(n=383) and Mathare (n=383). The sample was weighted to reflected the relative sample sizes in Kibra
(n=7) and Mathare (n=6). The sample was disaggregated as “in-group”, “out-group”, and “other group”. The “in-group” (n=296) were presumed ethnic supporters of the ruling elite during the 2007
presidential election and the “out-group” (n=268) supported the non-ruling elite in this contest.
Besides, these groups had engaged severally in ethno-political conflicts in the study area. The
“other-group” (n=202) belonged to smaller ethnic groups living in the study area who did not belong
to the core ethnic groups from who the political elite drew political support. The group was used as
an analytical tool –to compare conflict attitudes and behaviour against the “in-group and “out groups.” Regarding political mobilization apropos the 2007-2008 national election, statistically
significant differences were observed, with the “in-group” having higher levels of mobilization than
the “out-group”. This suggests the “in-group”, was keener to preserve its status of privilege than the
“out-group” was to shed off its marginalised status. Regarding scores for political violence, the “out group” had lower scores than the “in-group”, suggesting the “out-group” had stronger negative
attitudes and behaviour towards the “in-group” than did the latter towards the former group.
Hypotheses testing showed that political mobilization was a significant factor in the outbreak of
political violence in the study area. But significant differences were observed vis a vis the “in-group”
and “out-group”. Political mobilization was a factor in political violence for the “in-group” and not for
the “out-group", the presumed initiators of the violence in the study area. Political violence occurred
spontaneously when animosities of the “out-group” escalated, triggered by the declaration of a
disputed election. But the use of political violence as a tool to achieve political objectives was
organised and enabled by political elites, who used ethnic militia to score political objectives |
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