The Reorganization of the Ethnic Framework: The Impact of the 1997 Election on the Gabra, Pastoralist in Northern Kenya.

Toru Soga

Abstract:

This study concerned the social changes in Gabra, which stood on periphery of Kenya, by the 1997 election. After failed in a Nomination, supporters of unsuccessful candidate tried to firm up the Algana, which was one of the phratries of Gabra, to take vengeance on the elected person who belonged to another phratry, in General Election. They utilized the traditions of Gabra and invented or fabricated new traditions, for mobilizing the nomadic Algana people. Their conducts affected on nomadic people, and caused the social changes. The changes of Algana society had been examined from the two angles. One was the method of manipulating others, which changed from the way of assuming the existence of a relationship to the way of assuming authority and norms. Another was the nature of the boundary, of which permeable nature turned to impermeability by the conduct of cutting off the straddling relationship between Algana and other phratries. By participating in the election, nomadic Gabra seemed to experience the transition of their society from ethnie to ethnic group.

Key wards

Gabra, ethnie, nation, election, social change

1. Introduction.

This paper aims to examine the experiences of a people who belong to a society on the periphery of a nation state which is in the process of integration into a nation, by focusing on the speech and behavior by those who participated in a national event, namely a national election.

In December 1997, the General Election was held in Kenya, the eighth General Election after gaining independence. Day after day, newspapers reported accompanying disputes and violent disturbances occurring in urban areas. Not only the residents of urban areas were affected, however, but also rural people such as the Gabra, pastoralists living in a peripheral area of Kenya. The election, a contest for political resources, namely the seat of Members of Parliament and Councilor, grew out of the political community called Algana. Then Algana seceded from Gabra and the Gabra were divided into two communities. After the election, there occurred a movement to recombine these communities into one, with the Gabra succeeding in recovering its lost unity through a whole Gabra meeting [1]. It was, however, unprecedented that Algana should secede from Gabra and behave like an independent ethnic group.

As I will outline below, the Algana are merely a phratry out of the five which consist of the Gabra. Before the election, the Algana people did not have their own political attitude opposing other Gabra. Though it was temporal, the incident brought about by the Algana reminded us of the possibility that the framework of the ethnicity is dissoluble, can be categorized in a new class by forming a new boundary, and can be reorganized into a new ethnic group, according to the situation.

I will analyze the political movements of the Algana from the two different points of view. First, there is a question of why the Algana became a cultural-political community. Put another way, which situation stimulated whom to make use of the framework of Algana phratry as an ethnic political unit? How did they mobilize and gather people to this new ethnic group, namely Algana?

Abner Cohen (1974: 96), who is regarded as the representative of the "instrumentalists," pointed out that "Ethnicity in modern society is the outcome of intensive interaction between different culture groups,....the possibilities of capturing these new sources of power have been different for different ethnic groups, so that very often the emerging cleavages have been on ethnic lines." Cohen's idea is useful in examining the shifting framework of ethnicity, which in this case, was triggered by the election. Surely, there was a contest for the seat of Members of Parliament and Councilor, and many interests which should be produced by those assemblymen.

We, however, note that those interests did not attract the nomadic Gabra. Thus, the ethnic group, in this case the Algana, is a revitalized category by those who are near to those interests. Consequently, this brings the question of how the nomadic Gabra are mobilized as members of an ethnic group, even though those resources are not important for most of the nomadic Gabra. Cohen (1974: 39) also pointed out that "the old symbols are rearranged to serve new purposes under new political conditions. In ethnicity, old symbols and ideologies become strategies for the articulation of new interest groupings that struggle for employment, housing, funds and other new benefits." Considering the aspect of "Symbolist Man" such as Cohen stated, we will clarify the means to revitalize the Algana as an ethnic group by "Political Man."

Second, there is a question as to what kind of change in self-perception regarding their own society did the Algana people experience in the process of mobilizing people for the new ethnic group. As I mentioned above, the divided Gabra were recombined into one by the whole Gabra meeting after the election. The recombined Gabra, however, is not what it used to be. Participating in such a national event as an election, gaining the experience of dispute, and finally settling the dispute, their self-perception regarding their own society have greatly changed.

Needless to say, this does not mean that the Gabra have never changed such self-perception before the 1997 election. Since colonial rule was launched in the Gabra area, they have been changing their self-perception, sometimes leisurely, sometimes rapidly. In addition, not all Gabra experienced a change of self-perception regarding their society through the 1997 election. In these respects, the 1997 election gave the Gabra a considerable boost in self-perception regarding their society. It seems that the change of self-perception is correlated closely with the transformation through which Gabra society, which was outside of the regional nation, was being taken inside, because such a change of self-perception would not have happened without participation in national event. Paying attention to the relationship between the Gabra society and regional nation, namely Kenya, we will consider which kind of change the Algana people experienced.

2. Social Life of the Gabra.

(1) Gabra as an outside society of the Nation.

Gabra resides in the area from Marsabit district in Kenya to Sidamo province in Ethiopia. Having conducted my field research only in the Kenyan side, the Gabra living in the Kenya side will be the subject of our consideration. The population of Gabra in Kenya is around thirty thousand (Kenya Population Census 1989). Although they are Kenyan, nomadic Gabra, who are pastoralists, have not been cultivated in the nationalism ideology as Kenyans. Far from that, more than a few Gabra people were not aware that they are members of Kenya. In this sense, until recently, the Gabra stood outside of the Kenya as a cultural community.

This should not be surprising if we consider the indifferent attitude of colonial governments toward Northern Kenya. As GŸnther Schlee (1989: 44-45) pointed out, colonial government did not take any economic interest in Northern Kenya, and they just recognized Northern Kenya as a buffer zone, which kept hostile powers, such as Ethiopia and Italy, at a distance of a few hundred miles away from the White Highlands. William Torry (1973:16-18) also pointed out that the territory occupied by Gabra had received only a very partial cartographic survey and ethnographic, zoological, botanical, hydrological, and geological surveys had never been conducted, expect for minute areas near Lake Turkana and Marsabit Mountain, before 1970. Also, owing to warfare, the country resided by Gabra has been kept under tight security control since the beginning of foreign dominion, early in the twentieth century. Consequently, it was not until the 1960s that the missionary stations and attached schools, which usually acted as agents of modernization in other countries, had been built near the Gabra [2].

Of course, we have no intention of ignoring the impact of colonial authorities, for example, as Neal Sobania (1991) stated [3]. However, we can say that the impact of colonial authorities and later, regional nation, named Kenya on nomadic Gabra was rather smaller than those impacts on the people living in the White Highland or the region along the Uganda railway.

Northern Kenya was, so to speak, neglected area since the colonial period. For this reason, there existed clear ethnies in Northern Kenya until recently. Bethwell A. Ogot (1992: 16-17) skillfully introduced the African communities (ethnies) in future Kenya by the end of nineteenth century. He characterized those communities by their interdependence and cultural fluidity. As Paul Spencer (1973: 130-145) presented, there are symbiotic relationships between communities in Northern Kenya as yet, which can be called ethnies.

(2) Descent group

Taking a general view of Gabra society, paying attention to the aspect of ethnie, the society is organized by both descent group and age-generation system.

Gabra society is organized by patrilineal descent groups. The clan (balbal) is basic unit of that group, of which there are about forty, comprising five phratries (gos), Algana, Gar, Galbo, Odola, Sharbana. Each clan is comprised of one to seven lineages (min). Thus, Gabra society has a den-droidal structure which is sectionalized from phratry, clan, lineage in order of the level of section. However, such a segmentary model shoeing the clan as a subunit of phratry does not show the actualities of the Gabra life. As Schlee (1989:1-2) clarified, there are inter-ethnic clans which stand among the ethnic units, such as Gabra, Rendille, Sakuye, Boran, and so on. Therefore, from the perspective of clan, its representations in different ethnic units are subunits. This evidence shows that those ethnic units are characterized by the feature of ethnies, or pre-modern societies.

The detail of the phratry is important for our topic. Phratry forms the regional group, occupying a certain area and managing the wells in that area. The members of phratry also tend to put their livestock to grazing in this area. Moreover, the members of the same phratry are apt to marry each other (Torry, 1976: 187). However, the occupying of a region by the phratry is not exclusive. People can migrate and reside in another phratry's region. They are also able to use the wells and green pastures in this region.

What is more important, the phratry is an unit of the ritual ceremony or arbitration. Every phratry builds a special hamlet called a yaa, which is the center of religious and political activities. Normally, when a dispute occurs, villagers of the person concerned or the elders of that region arbitrate. In cases which they fail in arbitration, the yaa hamlet will be asked to arbitrate the dispute. Also each phratry makes a jilla, or pilgrimage, before building the yaa hamlet that is organized every fourteenth year by every phratry, though I will touch upon this later.

(3) Age-generation system

Gabra society is also organized in two different ways: age and generation. The age system classifies males under three categories, while females are classified under two categories, according to their age. The males' categories are: a) kolocho, or boyhood before circumcision; b) qero, or youth from circumcision to marriage; and c) nami dira, or manhood. The female categories are: a) woki, or girlhood before marriage; and b) niti, or womanhood after marriage[4].

Generation system of the Gabra resembles the Borana's gada system (e.g. Baxter 1978, Legesse 1973, Torry 1973, 1978). This system is more important to males, and classifies people under some generation classes [5]. Each class is put in the appropriate generation grade. There are four generation grades; a) jarsa mata bufate; b) dabela; c) gadoom; and d) luba grade in order of advancement, with every class advancing up to the next grade every fourteenth year.

In these four grades, people in the dabela and gadoom grade play the important role in Gabra social life. The role of dabela is to pray for peace and order. They say that dabela has ebu, or the shade of the tree where people can hold a conference. It means that dabela has a right and responsibility to solve the problem among the Gabra. The gadoom engages in politics. They have gaas, or the shade of the tree as well as dabela. They hold a conference for solving the problem or conflict among the Gabra. To the contrary, other grades do not have any significant role. Thus, Gabra centralizes the political power in gadoom grade and religious power in dabela grade.

(4) The office of the Gabra

Gabra transfer every generation class from old to new grade every fourteen year. The beginning of this transition is marked by the jilla, or pilgrimage and construction of new yaa hamlet. People who are to be a gadoom grade select their two different officers: hayu and jarrab, when the transition is at hand [6].

Hayu, which is the hereditary office, is the most important office of the Gabra. Each of three grades, gadoom, dabela and jarsa mata bufate have their two hayus. Thus, there are six men acting as hayu. In these six hayus, gadoom's hayus are superior to other hayus. Hayus of dabela and jarsa mata bufate support the hayus of gadoom. Hayus of gadoom and dabela live in yaa hamlet. They have higher right and responsibility to hold the conference to solve problems among the Gabra. However, it is necessary to note that hayu is not the man of power we imagine in our modern society. Hayu does not rule Gabra by power, nor force anyone to submit. Besides, even hayu should keep ada, tradition or law, like ordinary person in their usual life. Thus, hayu has authority over other Gabra only as an arbitrator.

Jarrab is a representative of each clan. It is an office specific to the gadoom grade. Each phratry of around forty people are appointed to jarrab. Some of them stay in yaa hamlet to support the hayu, others reside in usual hamlets which are scattered all over the Gabra land to solve local problems or conflicts. This means that the hayu and jarrab living in the yaa hamlet will solve the problems which the jarrabs and elders living in the usual hamlets could not solve.

Other than these offices, there are three different custodians of dibbe or sacred drum, magalaat or horn, uchum or fire stick in each yaa hamlet. Since these instruments symbolize phratry, people regard those custodians as important.

3. Election has come upon the Gabra

(1) The election system in Kenya.

In Kenya, those who have will to vote are supposed to register themselves as a voter with the Electoral Commission before an election. Voter must be Kenyan, eighteen years or older, and have documents such as an identity card for registration. General Elections take place every five years for President, Members of Parliament and Civic (Councilor). Kenya has a single-member constituency system comprised originally of 158 constituencies in 1969 for Members of Parliament [7]. Later, these were subdivided into 188 in 1988, then to 210 in 1997 (Institute For Education In Democracy 1997). The schedule of the 1997 election is shown on the Table 1. First, the candidates contested for the each party's Nomination, and then, the nominees contested for the seat of President and seats of Members of Parliament and Councilor respectively.

Table 1. 1997 Election Timetable

Dec. 3 & 4	Presidential nominations.
Dec. 7	Deadline for political parties to nominate civic and parliamentary
Dec. 8 & 9	Parliamentary and Civic candidates present papers to Returning Officers.
Dec. 10	Election campaigns begin.
Dec. 28	Close of Election campaign.
Dec. 29	Election day.
Jan. 3 / 1998	Announce the Election Results.

Source: Daily Nation (November 27. 1997).

Since only one candidate for each party can be put up for the General Election, each party selects a nominee from the candidates by Nomination. The queue system or mlolongo [Swahili] was introduced into the Nomination, and it is still put into practice in the North Horr constituency [8]. The queue system is a system to count voters who make a line for a candidate. For example, if there are two candidates, such as Mr. A and Ms. B, voters make two lines, one for Mr. A and the other for Ms. B. Then, the presiding officer for the Nomination counts the voters in each line to decide which is the winner. As a matter of course, it is quite obvious to everyone as to who votes for which candidate. That is a drawback of the queue system.

The nominees then contest the General Election in turn. The Electoral Commission of Kenya administers the General Election. A secret ballot, or Kura debe, [Swahili] was introduced into General Election. However, with the secret ballot, coping with illiterate voters became a question. In Kenya, on behalf of the illiterate voter, the presiding officer marks the candidate for whom he/she wishes to vote for. On this occasion, candidates' agents attend to the presiding officer in order to prevent dishonesty.

The question is, however, the fact that the secret ballot becomes an open secret ballot in the case of the illiterate voter, as the candidates or their campaigners know who votes for which candidate through their agents. Indeed, more people suffer damage in the constituency in a region where the literacy rate is low. Since the literacy rate of Marsabit District is remarkably lower than the national average of that, as shown in Table 2, candidates and their campaigners knew who voted for and against them.

Table 2. The literacy rate of people of twenty years or older.(%)

	Marsabit District	Kenya Total
Male	24.8	76.0
Female	7.7	53.1
Total	16.1	64.3

Source: Kenya Population Census 1989.

(2) The infiltration of election into Gabra

Until quite recently, the nomadic Gabra did not vote, and it was not until the sixth election in 1988, that most of them began to vote. Before that, only the Gabra who had settled in a town participated in the election. The redistricting of the constituency in 1988 had a dramatic effect on the nomadic Gabra.

With the 1988 redistricting, the Marsabit North constituency was divided into two constituencies, the Saku and the North Horr, as shown in Figure 1, bringing a new political situation. Before redistricting, the settled Gabra could send their candidate to a Parliament, unless they were torn by internal strife. This fact was born out by election results. As shown in Table 3, all the successful candidates from Marsabit North constituency were Gabra, except the 1974 election. In the Marsabit North constituency, the Gabra was the majority population, constituting more than half of the electorate, while the Boran, Rendille, Turkana, Burji, Samburu, Somali and Bantu people were the minorites. Thus, as long as Gabra voted together, the Gabra candidate was sure to be elected.

After the redistricting, however, the political situation changed suddenly. In the Saku constituency, of which Marsabit City is the center, the Boran became a majority, thus ensuring the election of their candidate. There was only a slim chance, if any, for the Gabra candidate in the Saku. On the other hand, in the North Horr constituency, the Gabra became a super majority which could send their candidate to a Parliament whether they were torn by internal strife or not. The Gabra did not need to unite behind their candidate and stand together against other ethnic groups. Often, more than one Gabra candidate contested a seat in the North Horr constituency.

Without gathering a heavy nomadic Gabra's vote, no candidate could now win a seat. Settled Gabra began to visit nomadic Gabra to campaign and these nomadic Gabra gradually went to the polls. Therefore, not only settled Gabra, but also nomadic Gabra participated in elections.

4. Disputes Brought by the Election.

(1) Result of the election.

In the 1997 election, in North Horr constituency, there were three candidates for Member of Parliament. Two of them, Dr. Bonaiya Adi Galgalo, who is the incumbent Members of Parliament, and Mr. Elema Isako Fila, ran under the Kenya African National Union (KANU). The other candidate, Mr. Wario Uha Ali, ran under the National Development Party of Kenya (NDP). Bonaiya originated from the Gar phratry, Elema from the Algana phratry, and Wario from the Galbo phratry. Both of candidates who ran under KANU contested the Nomination, subsequently Bonaiya, who was nominated by the KANU, contested with Wario for the seat. Finally, Bonaiya was returned to the Member of Parliament from North Horr constituency.

Meanwhile, it was said that Bonaiya met Elema in single combat in the 1997 election. Bonaiya won the Nomination against Elema by 5854 votes to 3928, while he defeated Wario by 5404 votes to 2441 in the General Election. Judging from the number of votes garnered by each candidate, Wario seems to have put up as good a fight as Elema did. They say, however, it is nothing but a manufactured result, a result of the fact that the people who had voted for Elema in Nomination voted for Wario in the General Election. In fact, at a meeting held by ardent supporters of Elema in North Horr after the Nomination, an appeal was made to the Algana people to vote for Wario in General Election as vengeance against Bonaiya. The voting results sub-totaled by each location in North Horr constituency tells us that the most of Algana voter should follow their appeal (Table 4.). For example, in Gas location where most people are Algana while one or two Galbo persons are there, sixty-six percent of voter cast for Wario who is Galbo at the General Election stage. This ratio is nearly equal to that of Elema obtained in Nomination. Similarly, this tendency can be seen in the result of North Horr location of which people are composed of Algana who account for more than half of whole residents, Gar who account for around a fifth of whole residents, other Gabra such as Sharbana, Galbo, Odola, and other ethnic minorities such as Wata, Konso, et al.

However, the movement that made Algana people vote for Wario in General Election as vengeance against Bonaiya, which brought by the ardent supporters of Elema, caused a serious disputes between those ardent supporters and Algana people who voted for Bonaiya.

(2) Campaign before the Nomination.

Before the Nomination, there was no serious dispute between Elema camp and Bonaiya camp. Both camps enjoyed their campaign without obstruction. They sang of their candidates and persuade nomadic Gabra to vote for their candidate. Above all, campaigner used the human relationships between the voters and the candidate, or the voters and campaigner himself. Each candidate for Members of Parliament and the Civic candidates were leagued together against the their opponents. Therefore, the human relationships which were available for each candidate were amplified.

It is also important that they used the cross-cutting ties straddling the boundary between Gabra and other people for their campaign. For example, the supporters of Elema made an appeal for cooperation to Boran, Wata, Turkana and even Dassanetch, who was a sworn enemy who resided in North Horr constituency, saying that they all were Algana.

Especially, they made approaches to the Boran in that manner, as most Algana thought of themselves as the descendants of Boran. As Schlee (1989:200-205) stated, there is sufficient evidence that makes most Algana think of themselves as the descendant of Boran. For example, an Algana man of the Koyot or Anmado clan, is supposed to keep his gutu, or the pigtail on the head even after he has grown up, like Boran. All Algana children, except Boruga clan, also put it on their head. Next, there are the words of a song saying, "alo lon Borana, Algana Boran. (Protect the Boran's cattle, Algana is Boran.)" or "ogole borani, Algana Borana. (Calf camel is black, Algana is Boran.)" Third, Algana do not have their own qallu, or a hereditary high priest or ritual king, though other phratries do have their own qallu. Therefore, at the jilla, or pilgrimage, Algana should visit yaa hamlet of Boran to see the qallu of Karayu of Boran.

By using the historical-social ties, the supporters of Elema tried to enlarge the number of votes for Elema. We should pay attention that they also enjoyed the cross-cutting ties straddling the boundary of between Gabra and other people at this point. However, the result of Nomination made the attitude of supporters of Elema change greatly.

(3) Raising "Clanism" after the Nomination.

After the Nomination, the ardent supporters of Elema stiffened their attitude. They began to criticize Bonaiya and his camp for sinking in "clanism." "Clanism" means sectionalism at the level of phratry. The ardent supporters of Elema insisted that Bonaiya pursued only the interests of the Gar, but not those of the Gabra.

They also criticized the act of Gar people's voting in the 1997 and the last two elections, which took place in 1988 and 1992. In 1988 and 1992 election, Bonaiya, who comes from Gar, won a seat against Mr. Abdikadir, who comes from Algana. Again, Bonaiya defeated Elema who was the candidate of Algana in 1997 election. As I mentioned above, the way of voting revealed to others who voted for which candidate. The ardent supporters of Elema found that "all" of the Gar people voted for Bonaiya and "no one" voted for the Algana candidate, while some of Algana people voted for Bonaiya and others voted for the Algana candidate. They regarded this act, the Algana people voting as they did as pursuing the Gabra's interests, while the act of the Gar people voting as they did as looking after their own interests, was viewed as "clanism."

The "clanism" which the ardent supporters of Elema partook in represents unscrupulous support of people belonging to their own phratry for office and promotion. Such "clanism" was accompanied by the ideas that the member of a phratry should all hang together, and support a certain candidate for their future interests. Though Gar people tried to refute such an ardent supporter of Elema, common Algana people began to suspect such in the Gar's voting.

Moreover, ardent supporters of Elema appealed to those common Algana people to unite to oppose the "clanism" of the Gar people, clearly inconsistent. They criticized the Gar people for their "clanism," while they intentionally introduced "clanism" into the Algana. They even tried to dismiss eleven Algana people who voted for Bonaiya from Algana. Now that things had come to this pass, the "clanism" of Algana became the critical problem.

(4) How new the "clanism" is to the Gabra.

The idea of firming up phratry unity for a full scale contest, which was introduced by ardent supporters of Elema, is very new to the nomadic Gabra.

First of all, the idea of firming up phratry unity was not familiar to the nomadic Gabra, since Gabra did not regard phratry as the unit for sharing of interests. It is rather the clan which was regarded as the unit for sharing of interest. Phratry was regarded as the unit for conducting ritual ceremony or arbitration.

Second, the idea that the members of a certain section like phratry were supposed to obey a group attitude was also new to the nomadic Gabra. As a matter of course, Gabra occasionally do obey a group attitude, as for example, when one of your clan member competes with others, it is usual for you to express that you stand for your clan member. However, not all the clan members stand for him on such an occasion.

[Case 1]

The son of Mr. Guyo [Koyot clan] got engaged to the daughter of Mr. Galgalo [Nolesa clan]. However, Guyo spoke ill of his son's fiancee behind Galgalo. Hearing what Guyo said, Galgalo got angry, and he appealed to his clan's member not to marry their daughter to the sons of Koyot clan. As more than a few members of Nolesa clan whose daughters were engaged to sons of Koyot met his appeal, the engagements of sons of Koyot clan and daughters of Nolesa clan went on the rocks. However, Mr. Adano who is a member of Nolesa clan gave his daughter to son of Mr. Katelo who is Koyot clan without hesitation.

As seen in this example, Gabra do not always act in unison, even at the clan level. There were clan's men who sided with Galgalo, who was in a bad temper, while someone did not respect his appeal like Adano. The important point is that no one condemned Adano for his "betrayal."

Gabra indubitably firm up the clan unity rather than phratry unity in order to accomplish the request of a certain clan member, but this clan unity does not mean that all of the clan members are always supposed to cooperate nor clan can restrict its member's activities. Those who do not follow the request of his clan member are not punished or blamed. As for Gabra, clan is not the group which demands monolithic solidarity of its member, but the human resources from where the person is in real trouble with problem can obtain cooperator. Thus, we can say that the Gabra do not automatically decide an attitude by following the trend of clan opinion, but rather by considering his personal relation with the person who requests assistance.

However, the phratry unity which the ardent supporters of Elema meant that all of the Algana phratry member ought to vote for Wario in General Election, by reason of belonging to the Algana. They also tried to dismiss those who opposed them. In this respect, the campaign, which ardent supporters of Elema brought after Nomination, strengthened the frame of Algana phratry. They tried to convert the phratry, whose natures is loose and tolerant toward diversity of opinion, into a watertight category which does not allow diversity of opinion and demands an unconditional solidarity of its member in order to pursue their interests.

5. The Effective Method of Firming up the Algana.

The ardent supporters of Elema carefully planted the new idea of "firming up phratry unity" in the minds of nomadic Gabra, noting that traditional factors were useful for their campaign.

There are great differences between settled Gabra and nomadic Gabra in their sense of values and the lifestyle. The settled Gabra dress in Western style, engage themselves in business, and think in a "modernized way," while nomadic Gabra dress in their traditional style and value the attitude of keeping ada, or tradition. The settled Gabra tend to regard nomadic Gabra as "primitive" or "backward." It strikes me that the ardent supporters of Elema thought that traditional factors were the key to receive support from nomadic Gabra. They adroitly utilized the traditions of Gabra and invented or fabricated new traditions, in the process of planting the new idea.

(1) Utilizing norms.

The point to which the ardent supporters of Elema paid their attention was the traditional war of Gabra. Gabra have long raided the neighbors, such as Rendille, Samburu, Dassanetch, Boran et al, of livestock. Such traditional wars are called dula. The ardent supporters of Elema treated the election as if it was dula. A certain supporter of Elema censured Algana persons who did not vote for Elema for their "betrayal" as follows:

On the Nomination day, we found that not a few Algana persons voted for Bonaiya. This event astonished us. We could understand that Gar people voted for Bonaiya, because he is a "son" of Gar. But we could not understand why Algana people did not vote for Elema. He is our son, isn't he? We could not run away from battlefield leaving our injured friend behind. But they forsook our son for another!

The person who runs away from the battlefield leaving his injured friend behind is called halbaku. Gabra regard halbaku as a dirty and hate him. They apply social sanctions against him, for example, no one will propose marriage to his daughter. In addition, they do not allow a halbaku person to attend or to celebrate ceremonies, such as soryo (sacrifice ceremony) or almado (new-year ceremony). Halbaku is entirely excluded from important ceremonies.

By implying that the election is dula, and the voter for Bonaiya is a fugitive from the battlefield, the ardent supporters of Elema appealed to the minds of nomadic Gabra. As for nomadic Gabra, it is a matter of course that those in a battlefield should join forces to defend their livestock. They had gradually consented to the new idea that they have to firm up Algana unity and exclude the Algana persons who voted against Algana from the Algana phratry.

(2) Utilizing the traditional offices.

In order to persuade the nomadic Gabra, the supporters of Elema also utilized the traditional offices of the Gabra. They passed the traditional offices of both hayu and jarrab off as a man of power who gave orders and ruled over the people. Originally, both hayu and jarrab did not have the power to give orders or to rule over others, though they did have the authority as an arbitrator or impresario for ceremonies. The supporters of Elema, however, treated them as a man of power, and tried to block the argument against their opinion by repeating "That is the order of hayu. Do you disobey hayu's order?" They tried to change the nature of hayu and jarrab into the office of power.

Second, they fabricated a pseudo-jarrab. I found a certain man who was treated as jarrab by the supporters of Elema in 1997 that was not in 1995 when I conducted research about jarrab. As hayu and jarrab are selected only at the transition of a generation grade, and the transition rite have not taken place since 1986, it is obvious that the new "jarrab" is a fabrication. This pseudo-jarrab belonged to the central core of the election campaigner. He also actively participated in a social exclusion of Algana people who voted for Bonaiya from Algana.

[Case 2]

In September 1997, Mr. Ibrae, who was famous as jarrab, died. The family of the deceased buried him, and later they planned the kabanesa, or cooling ceremony, which is the first step of funeral, just before the voting day in December. However, the pseudo-jarrab held a meeting and appealed to those in attendance not to participate in the kabanesa of Ibrae for the reason that his sons were ardent supporters of Bonaiya. He added that it was the instruction of yaa hamlet of Algana. Thus, the supporters of Elema, including ordinary supporters, did not participate in the kabanesa.

This pseudo-jarrab is characterized by his eloquence. He excluded the Algana person who voted for Bonaiya from Algana through the authority of yaa hamlet. The nonparticipation in the kabanesa of Ibrae became an object of public concern.

However, such an attitude as pseudo-jarrab assumed was very different from the real jarrab. Originally, real jarrab aimed at keeping the peace and order. When they arbitrate a dispute between two persons, they do not aim at deciding who would be a victor and who would be vanquished, but rather at recovering the lost peace as soon as possible by showing a mediation plan to which both of them can assent. To take an example as follows:

[Case 3]

One time, a man who had stolen some goats was caught. Mr. Wario (He is different person from the candidate for Members of Parliament), who was the jarrab in those days, held a meeting to bring him up for hearing. Wario and the elders delivered judgment that he ought to pay forty goats as compensation. Later, however, Wario proposed remitting ten goats out of respect for the elders. Again, he proposed remitting ten in consideration of the good shade of the tree, because without the shade, people would not hold meeting which brought about the peace and order. Moreover, he proposed remitting ten for the herd of goat sake, as great loss of colleague should bring uneasiness to the herd. As a result of repeated remitting, they would forgive defendant so long as he paid five goats as compensation.

As shown in this case, it is apparent that jarrab would not bankrupt the defendant, although he denounced the defendant and imposed a huge compensation on him. Jarrab made the victim consent by imposing a huge compensation which expressed how ill the defendant was, while he considered the life of defendant. As it shows, the jarrab has to consider not only the victim but also the defendant. That is where he shows his skill.

However, the pseudo-jarrab positively incited Algana people to confront the Algana persons who voted for Bonaiya. It seems that the pseudo-jarrab was eager for the confrontation rather than harmony. Being anxious about the situation, one of the real jarrab declared that yaa hamlet of Algana never sent such an instruction as the pseudo-jarrab claimed and tried to persuade the people to make up a quarrel. However, the excited people did not listen to him, and the nearer to the voting day of general Election, the more they got into an argument.

The event that people did not obey the real jarrab, but obeyed the pseudo-jarrab, is related with the election system, a system which decides who wins or loses, and is thus naturally intimate with conflicts. However, such a conflict is essentially unacceptable in traditional Gabra life. Pierre Crastres (1989 [1974]:123-124) stated that social life in "society against the state" is "a "combat" that precludes any victory. Conversely, if it becomes possible to speak of a "victory," this is because it concerns someone unfit, that is outside social life." Thus, the election is a new type of "combat" that was not in Gabra social life, which does not make victor and vanquished. Most of the people, however, were very aware of the different nature of elections. Therefore they did not obey the real jarrab who regarded the dispute accompanied election as the traditional conflict among the Gabra.

(3) The invention of new office.

The ardent supporters of Elema also invented a new type of office which is the "Craftsman of sacred drum." As I have shown before, each phratry holds three instruments: dibbe or sacred drum, magalaat or horn, uchum or fire stick in yaa hamlet. The sacred drum, which the yaa of the Algana hold, is made of metal, while other drums which the yaa of Gar, Galbo, Sharbana, Odola hold, are made of wood [9]. So, each phratry except the Algana need a new sacred drum when they construct a new yaa hamlet at the transition of generation grade. Traditionally, they are supposed to ask a certain man of the Boruga clan in Algana to make new sacred drum [10]. They say that the sacred drums made by other persons were soon broken.

The ardent supporters of Elema paid attention to this tradition. They invented this craftsman into new special office, namely "Craftsman of sacred drum," and won him over to their side. They made it known to the people that "Craftsman of sacred drum" is more powerful than hayu, because without the new sacred drum, phratries other than the Algana could not construct their new yaa hamlet, and the candidate for hayu consequently could not assume office. The man who was now a "Craftsman of sacred drum" attended the meeting held by the supporter of Elema and in this way, lent authority to their decision. It seems that they intended to carry out their electioneering advantageously by using the "Craftsman of sacred drum."

Second, the ardent supporters of Elema interpreted this tradition as the seniority of Algana in five phratries. They claimed that Algana who has a fine sacred drum and is responsible to make new drums for other phratries is an angaf, or "first born" of five phratries. Gabra values the seniority highly [11]. For example, first born male succeeds their fathers as the head of the family and inherits the most of livestock when father dies. Younger brothers, who are called manda, live under the supervision of first born male. Saying that Algana is the angaf of five phratries, the ardent supporters of Elema claimed that people who belong to other phratries are supposed to obey the opinion of Algana, which means they have to vote for Elema, because they are manda. The campaign was not necessarily successful, as most of the people did not accept this claim. However, some people in Algana believed it.

Incited by the campaign of the ardent supporters of Elema, the common Algana supporters of Elema gradually participated in the exclusion of the Algana supporters of Bonaiya. The disputes between the two camps intensified all over the Gabra land. Although they did not use violence, they broke off the promises of marriage or trusting a camel, or they did not attend the funeral. In this manner, the Algana, which had been just a cultural segment, became a cultural-political segment. The Gabra were divided into two communities: the Algana and the Gabra excluding the Algana. The Algana was composed of the supporters of Elema, while the Gabra excluding the Algana included not only other phratries' people but also Algana people who voted for Bonaiya.

6. Discussion

In this paper, I have pointed out how the Algana people were mobilized to a new ethnic group, namely Algana, by drawing attention to the election campaign undertaken by the ardent supporters of Elema after Nomination. Needless to say, such political foul-play can be found all-over the world, and it is not new in any sense. The importance of such political foul-play in the present case is in that it clearly illuminates the profound transition of the nature of Gabra society. In this discussion, I will clarify the points of the transition which were revealed by the election.

(1) The method of manipulating others

One of the features of the profound transition of the nature of Gabra society can be seen in the method of manipulating others [12]. Formerly, a Gabra individual could not effectively exert his influence on another person outside of a fixed relationship. Which is to say that having a relationship is the major premise for exercising any sort of influence. There are two different types of relationships relevant to this. One is a direct individual relationship, such as soda, or affines, jal, or livestock friends, and so on, and the other is an indirect relationship, which is provided for through social organizational elements such as clan, generation class and age bracket.

Depending upon the relationship between the person who is exercising the influence and the person on whom the influence is directed, the manner of the manipulation is different. A slight relationship, for example, when both exerciser and exercisee only belong to the same generation class, does not constitute enough of a relationship for the exerciser to exert his influence on the exercisee. The exerciser can at most only entreat for or request the exercisee's favor, using their relationship as a foothold. On the other hand, a close relationship, for example when the exerciser and exercisee are bonded as the owner and sublease trustee by dabare, a trust relationship, enables the exerciser to exert his influence on the exercisee. Trust is the most common form of camel transfer among the Gabra, of which a significant feature is its toleration for the trustee to sublease the trusted camel repeatedly to other sublease trustees. The trust system consequently creates human chains connected through the trusting of camels in the Gabra society. Given a detailed account in Soga (1997a:164-165), sublease trustees fear the owner of a trusted camel because the owner holds the absolute right to the trusted camel and can compulsorily recall all of his camels held by sublease trustees. Taking advantage of the trustee's weakness in the relationship, the owner can exert his influence on trustee.

It is important that the exerciser can produce the effect on a limited number of execisees by the method of assuming the existence of a relationship. For example, when a man wants to start a certain campaign, he can exert his influence on only those with whom he has a relationship. So far as it is no more than his personal attempt, the effect of the campaign would be limited.

It was the method of assuming the existence of a relationship which the election campaigner took for vote-catching from nomadic Gabra before the Nomination. Campaigners tried to persuade nomadic Gabra to vote for their candidate, emphasizing the relationship between the voter and the candidate, or the voter and campaigner himself. They requested votes of nomadic Gabra, using their relationship as a footing and recruited campaigners from nomadic Gabra. Adding the new campaigner's human relationships, they tried to overcome the limitation on the method of assuming the existence of relationship. Also, cooperating with the Civic candidates, candidates for Members of Parliament amplified the human relationships that is available for their campaign. It was a way common to all candidate's camps. The voters decided for which candidate to cast his vote, considering the relationship between the voter oneself and the candidate, or between the voter oneself and campaigner who requested the vote, as well as between the voter oneself and the other voters who had expressed for which candidate to cast their vote.

However, the new method of manipulating others which assumed authority and norms was introduced after the Nomination stage of the election. As I outlined above, after Elema was defeated at the Nomination stage, his ardent supporters adopted various ways to force the Algana people who voted for Bonaiya in the Nomination to vote for Wario in the General Election. They made a traditional officer, such as hayu, jarrab, or new special office, namely the "Craftsman of the sacred drum," enter the Gabra society as men of power who gave orders and ruled over the people. They tried to force the Algana people who voted for Bonaiya to change their minds on the basis of those officers' authorities or the norms, for instance, the norms of the battlefield.

This new method of assuming authority and norms differs from the method of assuming the existence of a relationship. In the former, the exerciser can produce the effect on just a limited number of execisees, while with this new method, the exerciser can produce the effect on the wider population, all those who accept such authority and norms. The ardent supporters of Elema introduced the new social image as it was "society for the ruled by authority and norms" into the Gabra, which had been characterized as the "society against the state (Clastres 1989 [1974])."

It is doubtful whether the exerciser could make Algana people who voted for Bonaiya change their mind by this new method. That is, however, not important. What matters is rather that this new method had the common Algana supporter of Elema changing their self-perception regarding Gabra society. As we have seen in the last part of preceding section, the common Algana supporters of Elema gradually participated in the exclusion of the Algana supporters of Bonaiya. Some radicals directly excluded them through breaking off the promises of marriage or trusting of a camel, etc., though these ways are rather classified into the former method of manipulating others. The other people connived at their deeds, although it should not be overlooked before Nomination. In all of these cases, we should not overlook the emergence of such people who excluded others or connived such exclusion by reason of being disobedient to the invented norms and authority of the Algana. Those who excluded Algana supporters of Bonaiya did not exert themselves for the achievement of their individual interest, but for the achievement of the Algana's interest. In this respect, we can regard them as Algana nationalists who are unconscious of having to comply with new social image.

(2) The nature of the boundary of Algana.

The election gave rise to changes in the nature of the boundary of Algana as well as the internal segments of society, namely, a transition from a "society against the state" to a "society for the ruled by authority and norms." Each Algana individual was checked on whether he/she was eligible to introduce him/herself as Algana or not. Therefore the supporters of Elema drew the boundary of cultural-political group Algana (ethnic group) near by the boundary of cultural group Algana (ethnies). Hereafter, we will examine the social change of Algana, paying attention to the disparity in nature of these boundaries.

Before these events, the phratry, which was the ethnie inside of the another ethnie called Gabra, had a permeable boundary as well as ethnie Gabra. Above all, the permeability of Algana boundary was greater than those of other phratries. First, the variety of clan origin which composes Algana serves as evidence of the permeability of the phratry. For example, Schlee (1989: 200-201) introduced an oral tradition of the origin of Algana which holds that a Borana boy who "found" a camel in a field and began to look after the camel, turned Algana, providing the derivation of al gal (gone into the bush). He stated that the Boruga clan of Algana, the origin of which is Boran according to this oral tradition, incorporated other people who had split from the Boran, and other people such as in the future Rendille or El Molo, thereby forming the Algana. Next, the origins of lineages which compose the clan of Algana are varied as well. For example, the Elmale clan consists of four lineages, called the Qape, Lucho, Babo Doyo and Guuto Boi. They say that the Elmale clan once contained only the Qape lineage, which was established by a person originally came from Sale clan of Rendille. The Qape man found Lucho, who is the progenitor of the Lucho lineage, and incorporated him into the Elmale clan in the same manner as for Babo Doyo, who had split from Boran and Guto Boi, who came from El Molo. Third, Torry (1973:394) stated that a man who was outraged by suffering abuse from clansmen could leave his agnatic group to join another phratry. Although it is not a particular feature of the Algana phratry, it is clear that Gabra approved of the transfer of a member across the phratries as well as the joining of people from other ethnies to the Gabra. In this manner, both phratry and Gabra can be shown to have a permeable boundary. In particular, Algana is a "microcosm in which we can observe in miniature all the processes of clanship and ethnic dynamics" (Schlee 1989:205).

The permeability of the boundary of phratry produced the complicated alliance between clans and lineages which compose phratries. For example, the Qape man found Lucho and incorporated him into the Elmale clan, as we have seen. This oral tradition was accompanied with an episode as follows: "When the Qape man found Lucho, a man from the Disa clan was also there. Strictly speaking, they found Lucho together. Therefore, they discussed to which clan Lucho should belong. They finally came to an agreement that Lucho should be incorporated into the Elmale clan, but he should adopt the ear-cut-mark which Disa clan put on their livestock as the Lucho lineage's mark." Such an episode provides a sense of solidarity for the Disa and Lucho people in their daily life. They always say without reserve that Lucho is Disa. Such a sense of solidarity can be a useful foothold if either clan's man needs an assistance. In a sense, Lucho has double feeling of identification to both Disa and Elmale, although their feeling of identification to the Disa is weaker than that to the Elmale. We can say that Lucho is the "insider-outsider" for both the Disa clan and Elmale clan.

John Wood (1997: 689-691) presented the concept of "inside" and "outside" to explain the complex group dynamics in Northern Kenya. He stated that Gabra identity seems to be constructed upon frequent shifts within the Gabra community itself between social and moral "insides" and "outsides." The 1997 election spotlighted the Gabra identity which shifted between "insides" and "outsides." Take, for example, the Elmale clan which was said to have actively voted for Bonaiya. Answering to the question raised herein as to why they supported Bonaiya even though they are Algana, one of the Elmale men said: "Gar and Elmale, we respect each other. Because of this respect, we even call each other qalicha instead of our personal name. Therefore, I voted for Bonaiya." Another man explained to me as follows: "Long ago, a Gar man and an Elmale man found a rad (female calf) in the field. They disputed who should own this rad. Just then, the rad disappeared under the ground. They had lost it. Since then, Gar and Elmale have never disputed anything. Thus, I voted for Bonaiya." In other words, Elmale people voted for Bonaiya because of the oral tradition which told the relationship between Elmale clan and Gar phratry. This oral tradition was well known to other Algana. When I conducted other research, I heard the following episode: "Around 1973, a Gar man created seeds of discord with an Elmale man. The Elmale man, however, gave up his right in order to prevent the dispute, referring to this oral tradition." Although the Elmale are inside of the Algana, they think a great deal of the friendly relationship with Gar. Considering this relationship, Elmale people took sides with the Gar phratry at the election, which is outside of Algana.

Of course, not all Elmale people decided their political attitude solely because of this close relationship between Elmale clan and Gar phratry. In fact, one of the ardent supporters of Elema explained why Elmale people unanimously voted for Bonaiya. According to his explanation, Elmale people voted for Bonaiya, because of a certain wealthy Elmale businessman who was accorded every facility by Bonaiya. I do not deny the possibility that they voted for Bonaiya by virtue of considering an economic interest expected from that wealthy businessman. However, I would like to lay special emphasis on the fact that Elmale people, by their own account, voted for Bonaiya on the basis of the relationship between Elmale clan and Gar phratry. Elmale people seemed to think that Algana ought to have a permeable boundary. In addition, for them, there seemed to be nothing for which other Algana would blame them.

However, such Elmale people's ideas, which were accepted by the Algana people before the Nomination, were rejected after the Nomination. It shows us that the permeable boundary of Algana was turned to the impermeable, with the Nomination as a turning point. Each one of those who voted for Bonaiya had his/her own reason to support Bonaiya, as was the case for those who voted for Elema. Some considered the historical-social relationship between themselves and the Gar phratry, some of the more educated voted with the expectation of raising the status of Gabra in Kenya, and others looked after their own interests. The ardent supporters of Elema tried to compel them to vote for Wario instead of Bonaiya, without considering their own reasons. After the General Election, they tried to exclude those Algana people who voted for Bonaiya, even though they were warned of the outcome. I observed the ardent supporters of Elema pursuing the Algana people who voted for Bonaiya at the General Election, saying that they either had to stand together with Algana or stand apart from Algana. They were pressed for an answer as to whether they would be Algana or whether they would be accepted as a social ouster from Algana. To answer that they would be Algana was to follow the Algana line, without considering the relationship with those who were outsides of Algana. It meant that the new Algana object to the society which keep "outsides" in their own society, but approve of the society in which "insides" should be "insides."

In this paper, I have clarified the social transition which Algana people experienced when they were involved in the election. Abner Cohen(1974: 42) claimed that "when we feel that we are acting as free individuals and following our own individual motives we can in fact be acting as members. During an election campaign, candidates, brokers, mediators and voters manipulate one another, following their own private interests. They form factions, action-sets and other alliances. But they at the same time, knowingly or unknowingly, act as members of larger political groups or collectivities." We may say that the larger political groups, which in this case, is Kenya, and in this sence, Algana, including the nomadic people take a step on the road to be the Kenyan nation, or rather ethnic group established inside of Kenya.

As I mentioned in the opening of this paper, the ethnic group named the Algana was incorporated into the Gabra through a whole Gabra meeting society. However, the recombined Gabra was not the same what it had been, because it was whole Gabra's turn to experience the social transition. The broader questions what kind of transition the whole Gabra experienced, and how Gabra redefined their society through the process of incorporating the Algana, should be discussed in a succeeding paper.

Notes

[1] They say that this whole Gabra meeting is their first experience since the beginning of the Gabra. Paul W. Robinson (1985: 108-109), who reconstructed Gabra history in nineteenth and twentieth century, however, stated that Gabra held the whole Gabra meeting in 1884 and 1887. According to Robinson, in 1884, Gabra held a meeting to discuss civil law. All of the phratries of the Gabra came together for the meeting, which reviewed judicial matters, especially crime and punishment. In 1887, Gabra also held a meeting in order to discuss the problem of the poor. They decided to redistribute their livestock for the poor. These facts are important, as they prove that the ethnicity of the Gabra have been maintained since nineteenth century.

[2] According to Fr. Paul Tablino (1999 [1980]:6), the year 1963 can be considered the real beginning of the Catholic mission among the Gabra and the Boran of Kenya. The colonial administration gave permission to Bishop Cavallera to construct a school and dispensary at Laisamis for the Rendille, the same at North Horr for the Gabra, and a rectory at Marsabit.

[3] Sobania (1991: 139-140) enumerated the impact of the colonial authorities such as creation of "tribal grazing areas," policy of "separation," levying tribute and tax payments and the restrictions imposed on the movement. He emphasized that the fluid societal boundaries turned to crystallized one by those impacts.

[4] Strictly speaking, females are also classified under three categories as well as males. The third category is called galitam, or youth from circumcision to marriage. Gabra circumcise girl when she reaches marriageable age, which is from 14 to 20. Normally, no sooner had she circumcised than she marries her fiance. Therefore, there are not many girls in galitam stage.

[5] They classify the newborn baby into a certain generation class according to his/her father's class. As for male, his class will be preserved his whole life, while the female class will change according to her husband's grade if she marries. The generation classes are classified into the sets of which number are different according as the phratry. For example, Algana and Sharbana have three generation class sets which resemble to Rendille, while Gar, Galbo and Odola have two generation class sets (Schlee 1989: 79-88).

[6] Every phratry except for Algana have an another office, called qallu. Qallu which is the hereditary office, is also pointed before the transition of generation grade.

[7] The North Horr constituency contains ten locations for Councilor as a single-member constituency. These ten locations are listed on Table 4. In 1997 election, more than twenty candidates ran for Councilor. The each candidate for Members of Parliament utilized the human relationships, which these candidates and his ardent spporter have, as I will show later.

[8] In the 1998 election, the queue system replaced the secret ballot at the Nomination stage. However, the queue system had harmful effects, for example, the openness of queue voting enabled candidates and their agents to intimidate voters at the polling station. Reflecting on the past conduct, the choice of voting system was left in each party's hands in the 1997 election. KANU announced that sub-branch could conduct their Nominations through the secret ballot method as long as they bear the cost. On the other hand, the non government party Ford-Kenya opted for the electoral college system (Daily Nation. November 27. 1997).

[9] At present, the Odola drum is in the hands of the Rendille Odola (Tablino 1999 [1980]: 287).

[10] Schlee (1989: 200-201) showed the two different oral traditions which told the origin of Algana sacred drum. One claim that the Algana sacred drum was cut from the drum of Karayu of Boran. Another version claim that Arbore, which people was just one with Boran at that time, gave Algana sacred drum to Boruga clan. I guess that the second story may lead other phratries people to ask a certain man of the Boruga clan to make new sacred drum for them.

[11] The authority of angaf, or first born males is sustained by the camel exchange system among the Gabra. The detail of this mechanism was clarified in Soga (1997b).

[12] Koji Kitamura (1996:300-301) distinguished the two different ways to make mutual agreement. One way is to make mutual agreement by depending on an outside standard of justice shared by people. Another way is to take a task of having 'my' justice be inside communication by way of intending to make mutual agreement. The disparity as Kitamura showed is helpful in considering the transition of the nature of Gabra society.

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