NASA presidential running mate Kalonzo Musyoka. [Photo/Zipo].

Is there a story unfolding in your community? Let Hivisasa know

Political analyst and Kenyan law scholar based in America professor Makau Mutua has interesting message to the Akamba community on how they can make or break the 2017 presidential race between President Uhuru Kenyatta and NASA's Raila Odinga.

Below are the words of Mutua to the Akamba nation.

I write this open letter to the Kamba Nation not because of my ethnicity. No – I do so because I am Kenyan. But I write it  knowing there are few Kenyans in the country called Kenya. Most Kenyans are paper citizens, and nothing more. That’s because most Kenyans are co-tribalists – they primarily and fundamentally identify with the tribe.

To them, Kenya is only a convenient political and legal fiction. They can’t even define a Kenyan really except to point to the country’s geographic location on the map. They don’t belong to a nation because they lack a national consciousness – a unique zeitgeist called Kenyan. I am afraid most Akamba, like other co-ethnics, are no different.I address the Kamba Nation not because I want to reify, or essentialise it. I do so as a reluctant and tortured nod to the toxic reality of our politics. If I were a co-tribalist, like most others, I wouldn’t have supported NARC’s Mwai Kibaki for President in 2002. The Kenya Human Rights Commission and I endorsed Mr Kibaki and NARC in that gargantuan contest. If I were a bilious tribalist, I wouldn’t have forcefully supported CORD’s Raila Odinga for President in 2013. Nor would I have thrown my weight behind Mr Odinga as the NASA presidential candidate this year. I realise that NASA – with Wiper’s Kalonzo Musyoka as Mr Odinga’s running mate – is a historic opportunity for Kenya.I am writing to the Akamba because they can make – or break – Kenya in August. In fact, I believe the election will be determined by the Kamba Nation.This will be unique, and a first for Kenya. Mr Musyoka, by shelving his presidential ambitions until 2022, made NASA a formidable force. He’s the one who has made NASA a juggernaut. If my math is correct – and if the Kamba Nation shows up on Election Day – Jubilee will be a one-term misnomer. This is the basic fact the Akamba must internalise and not miss. Their vote for the first time in Kenya’s history will determine who sleeps at State House for the next five years. Ironically, that will turn the Akamba into Kenyans.