#WeAreAllKikuyu: How Kenyans rallied together to fight negative ethnicity and shoot down bigotry

It was all too clear that Kenyans had planned these demonstrations to continue with their relentless push for proper governance, an end to police brutality, accountability and proper management of public funds, but politicians allied to the government sought to trivialise the movement and round it up as the actions of an angry tribe intent on destabilising the presidency.

Of course, that was not the case. But these politicos, armed with an acerbic motive and malicious drive, continued to peddle the lie, consistently blaming the messy outcome of the Saba Saba demonstrations on the Kikuyu tribe.

However, Kenyans who have lately become all but too sensitised to the evil machinations of the political class refused to buy the nefarious narrative and, instead, launched a counterattack, all in a brilliant attempt to play down the ethnic undertones which had started gaining currency.

A general consensus was reached: Kenya has made incredible strides from the ignorant days when tribal politics shaped the national mood, and Kenyans had now morphed from thoughtless bigots to forward-thinking individuals who viewed life from a largely neutral prism.

All of this was in reaction to a tweet sent out by South Mugirango MP and the Chief Whip of the National Assembly, Silvanus Osoro, who, just hours after the Monday night chaos had slowed down, tweeted: "Now we know which community has been hiding behind Gen Z".

Obviously, Osoro was attempting to drag his followers into ignorantly dogpiling on the Kikuyu tribe, hoping that his misleading viewpoint would water down the national malaise experienced by millions of Kenyans and deprecate it to a fleeting discontent amongst the Kikuyu.

That, expectedly, failed to work, and after a torrent of attacks from Kenyans, Osoro quickly pulled down the tweet - but followed it up with several subtle attacks at a disgruntled community, hoping to keep the embers blazing. 

A day later, the MP's tribal gimmickry was challenged as the hashtag #WeAreAllKikuyu started making rounds across X.

In a matter of hours, the hashtag had become the dominant topic on X, quickly rising to the trending topics and enveloping everyone, from seasoned politicians to activists, influencers, political commentators and even foreigners alike.

The assignment was simple: identify a Kikuyu name of your liking and add it to your names, if only for a fleeting moment of togetherness and opposition to jingoism and tribal chauvinism.

Everyone, from everyday X users, media personalities and even the likes of Kalonzo Musyoka, quickly jumped onto the trend and affixed a Kikuyu name right into their official names, creating a wave of Gikuyu surnames inundating the internet.

Expectedly, the venture attracted several detractors who failed to see the genius in the hashtag, some claiming that #WeAreAllKikuyu was, in itself, a tribal hashtag, wondering why it wasn't encompassing all tribes if the objective was to shoot down tribal narratives.

In defence of the argument, X bigwig Cyprus Nyakundi wrote, "The government’s dumb propaganda machinery has now launched #WeAreAllKenyans .... apart from stealing ideas, they’ve missed the whole point showing they are dumb than we even thought."

"Of course we’re all Kenyans. That was never in doubt. But when the state isolates one tribe, attacks it, brands it dangerous, and tries to break its spirit... we become that tribe." 

He added, "If they target Kikuyus, we are Kikuyus. If they target Kisiis, we are Kisiis. If they come for Luhyas, we are Luhyas. That’s not tribalism ....It is resistance. #WeAreAllKikuyus."

The Kenyan doctrine has often resorted to ethnicism as a strategic tool to influence and ultimately fragment the country, while at the same time employing "divide and rule" tactics to pit communities against each other and prey on the subsequent schisms created by this politically-crafted fear mongering.

However, in the spirit of oneness and a repulsive attitude to tribal and ethnic backgrounds, Kenyans have resorted to marshalling their efforts into covering each other, standing in unison and identifying with whichever community is under siege.

Politicians know that by reducing entire communities to mere pieces in a political game, they are able to whip up emotions, escape accountability, buy themselves time and throw back the war to the people.

And it is against this grotesque background that the hashtag #WeAreAllKikuyu was created - not to merely propel one tribe over the other but to shoulder a battered community in the face of unjustified projectiles.