Widener Law school has sponsored a summer program in Nairobi, Kenya since 1988 with only one interruption when the program was suspended in the summer of 2003. With Kenya in turmoil in the wake of the recent election controversy, however, the program was again suspended for the summer of 2008. On February 25th, Professor Patrick Kelly, the founder of the Nairobi program, spoke to faculty and staff about the volatile political situation in Kenya.
Professor Kelly framed the current tribal struggles and allegations of election fraud in their historical context, describing the enmity that has arisen between the two largest tribes, the Kikuyu, who account for roughly 22% of Kenya?s population, and the Luo, who account for roughly 13%. When Kenya became independent and the British left in 1963, much of the land and wealth was passed to members of the Kikuyu tribe, planting the seeds of resentment. President Jomo Kenyatta, a member of the Kiambu Clan of the Kikuyu people, further entrenched Kikuyu dominance by giving land and power to his friends and relatives, nicknamed the ?Kiambu Mafia?.