Economic reform, political liberalization and economic ethnic conflict in Kenya created by Ibrahim O. Ogachi

his article argues that class interests of an economic nature have been largely responsible for the ethnic conflicts that occurred in Africa in the 1990s. Using public choice theory, it aims to show the role of ethnic elites in the promotion of ethnicity and how they gain economically by mobilizing ethnic emotions. Emphasis is placed on class differentiation within ethnic groups and the role of elites as ethnic entrepreneurs. Taking the case of Kenya as an example, the article first looks at the historical process in which ethnic tensions have been built up. Then it focuses on the violent ethnic confrontations that erupted in some parts of Kenya in the context of political and economic reform. It shows that the level of discontent with the government increased among the urban poor and in the rural areas because of the failure of the adjustment programmes and that economic motives clearly played a role in the eruption of ethnic conflict