Section 2 then proceeds to describe the conflicts themselves, as well as participant perceptions regarding the interplay of religion and ethnicity, the role of religious sentiments in the conflicts, and the influence of politics. [...] Under the system, the Oromo People’s Democratic Organisation and the SPDP are each assigned 40 per cent of the city’s political positions, with the remaining 20 per cent shared between other EPRDF parties.15 The office of mayor is rotated between the Oromo and Somali communities. [...] The establishment of ethnic and religious parties outside the PP has further complicated the picture, with the two predominant Oromo parties boycotting the election and the main Somali party accusing the government of obstructing its candidates.17 In the end, the PP won all the council seats, which likely means the 40:40:20 formula will remain an unanswered question under the party. [...] The criticism made of the IRC, however, is that it fails to adequately represent the religious majority situation in the city, as only one of its seven members is Muslim, with the remaining members representing the various Christian denominations.100 This highlights a structural issue with the IRC, which was founded as a dialogue forum representing the larger religious groups’ various apex organiz. [...] This means the religions more prone to fragmentation, such as Protestantism, are likely to have a larger number of representatives.101 It seems an offer has been proposed to allow alternating the Oromo and Somali representative in the IRC as they also take turns in leading the Islamic Council, but the issue had yet to be fully resolved the issue at the time of our fieldwork.102 DIRE DAWA ADMINISTR.
- Pages
- 36
- Published in
- Kenya
