Why Kenyan Elders Want Gov't to Remove 'Birth Location' Details from National IDs

We copied the West in everything. Never created our own standards. We will forever go back and forth correcting mistakes because what is always good for the West is not necessarily good for African countries. We should not complain when we fail to think on our own. By copying, we will never come anywhere close to understanding who we are. Find your own African marks to give you identity.

If we have to ERADICATE tribalims,we have to confront it head on.We have to find out why there exists tension between tribes,and work on those ",ills".Running away from them won't work.
First of all these are old people complaining. Does it mean young people dont face it. We learn to hate and we can unlearn that.Once we do that it might even a badge of honor to see where you are from on your ID.

Who does these busybodies speak for?Can Kinyanjui name the tribe of people born in Pumwani,Kenyatta or Aga Khan hospital?How does the place you were born identify you with a certain tribe?Did Kidero loose his Jaluo tribal identity for being born in Pumwani?

So first we remove places of birth second what do we do? Get rid of our middle and last names too? This is a slippery slope and in the end we realize we are working hard on eliminating our culture. It is my pride and joy to know my village name, sublocation, location etc. If you are not proud of where you came from let others be and dear with your problems Mr Kinyanjui. Better yet we need to disband that elders club because you lack wisdom and pride in our culture.

Let us keep every detail and add more. Why not drop foreign nick names first and keep only our real and original African names, villages, locations and add more of the items that identify us as Africans including African languages and signs.

Everyone's home is their pride. No elders can strip us off our birth place in the name of tribalism. Should the government have any issues with the ID's , the place of birth is the only true identity. Wrong advise from the faKe elders. Let them not give any advice. It's not welcome. We need all the details plus more that identify us as Africans.

The Africans who were taken into slavery in the west were stripped of their identity before being made into slaves. That means, their names, their language, their culture and their place of birth. We should be taking back what has already been taken and not giving up more. Names and culture are half-wa taken in the name of Christianity. Now we want to take the place of birth in the name of elders and tribalism. Let our elders learn our history and the history of the black man in the world before making such rude suggestions. If it's about tribalism why not a take out everything and issue only numbers.

African name connects you and your creator. Place of birth connects you and your ancestors and who you are. Language connects you with your community, it's part of your soul. Taking any part of these, makes that person not "whole" . Let those elders read and watch "Roots" and see how they will continue with their tribal excuse. Take any of these and start calling Africans 1/5 of a man. This is history trying to duplicate and repeat itself. Elders need to get off the way. Let Africans deal with tribalism in their own way. The greatest gift in this world is knowing who one is. Everyone should avoid anyone and anything that keeps one away from knowing who he or she is. Removing place of birth from ID's is part of destroying who we are as Africans. These are misguided elders who lack wisdom. God help Kenya !!!!!

You can hide your place of birth but not your last name . Furthermore since the interview will be conducted in Kiswahili or English your accent will betray you.Not to play devil's advocate but also facial features cannot be disguised. Myopic thinking at best . Ancestry.com is now milking Americans by the day as they struggle to find out where they came from while "forward thinking elders" are striving to hide their origins.Tribalism is in the mind and not in a name.