Theater scholar Gĩchingiri Ndĩgĩrĩgĩ writes that in 1991, at the height of the clamour for multi-partyism, the government denied a license for the staging of a play “Drumbeats of Kirinyaga,” by Oby Obyerodhiambo.

​The reason given was that the play portrayed an ethnically diverse and politically cohesive Kenya, which contradicted the president’s argument at the time that Kenya was too ethnically divided for multi-partyism.
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While President Moi was claiming to care for Kenyans who are too tribal, his government was ironically also suppressing any public display of Kenyans transcending their tribal identities. The government needed to encourage tribalism among Kenyans in order to give itself something to cure.

This is the full text of my answer to Evan Mwangi as he consulted different Kenyan academics on their views of the problems of Kenyan universities. However, I have made some amendments, including adding some suggestions and responding to some of the observations  in the final version of Prof Mwangi's article.

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​The problem facing Kenyan universities is lack of theory and conviction of leaders, which I find so surprising, given that professors of all people, should have a grasp of the global issues facing education and of what university education is supposed to contribute to society.

​Since I started talking about the new education system in May last year, I have found that discussing the curriculum reforms, and education, is a difficult enterprise. The government's (and KICD's) version of the curriculum is very compelling and seems genuine. However, anyone who is relatively well versed in the neoliberal trends in global education can see what Kenyans imagine the government to be promising is very different from what KICD is actually offering.

 And yet, Kenyans are willing to give the government the benefit of the doubt. In many cases, even people who are sceptical about the Jubilee government or who have previously raised questions about our education system, have surprisingly joined the “let’s give the government a chance” movement. In worse cases, I was accused of intellectual arrogance and asked why I cannot make a trip to Jogoo house and seek audience with the then CS Fred Matiang’i. The tolerance for the reform has caught me by surprise.

What explains this hostility?