There was a collective sigh that pierced the tense fabric that enveloped the country in the days leading to the Supreme Court’s decision that upheld the re-election of President Uhuru Kenyatta.
The sigh went both ways — relief for those whose candidate made it while the other half felt aggrieved from a loss in a game they were confident of a win. This is the outcome of any democratic elective process.
What irks me is the amount of hate and vitriol that was, and continues to be, spewed in both traditional and social media, fueling tension and bias.
This is the kind of hate that has destroyed relationships even among those that would be considered well-schooled, knowledgeable and empowered with critical thinking.
The thought of a genomics study came to mind after watching a video of an experiment by Danish travel search platform Momondo, where 67 volunteers took DNA tests and subjected themselves to an ancestry analysis.
The volunteers took a survey to map stereotypes and prejudices before the results were known.
The long and short of it is that the results came back with interesting surprises and varied reactions. The volunteers realised that they had more in common and were related to many others, even those for whom they had deep-rooted prejudice.
That our national borders were assigned to us by entities for whom conquest and sharing of spoils was the agenda is not in question.
This should temper our reactions, thoughts and behaviour towards each other. While we use DNA sampling more in criminal or paternity cases, perhaps we need to shift the use of the technology to tell our stories.
Genotyping our DNA on a large scale coupled with accurate written and oral historical records on the movement of our people through time would probably put in check a lot of the nonsense that is put out in public and private fora when politics is on the table.
At the end of the day, we are all part of each other, strung from the same basics and sharing the same land and resources.
It should not take technology to convince or show us that we are one people.
Njihia is CEO of Symbiotic | www.mbuguanjihia.com | @mbuguanjihia
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Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
