Politics and Tribal Alliances
In the past the Meru were in a coalition with the Embu and Kikuyu which yielded some political power. The coalition, called G.e.m.a. (Gikuyu-Embu-Meru Association), is not as strong as it once was, but the Meru typically voted with the opposition after the advent of multipartism. This has since changed with the defeat of KANU in the 2002 general elections that saw a number of Meru leaders in the government of NARC. This does vary from location to location, but would generally hold true. Developments under the multi-party experiment since 1992 have renewed an informal political alliance between GEMA peoples and much of the Kikuyu community.
Read more about this topic: Meru People
Famous quotes containing the words politics, tribal and/or alliances:
“I have come to the conclusion that the closer people are to what may be called the front lines of government ... the easier it is to see the immediate underbrush, the individual tree trunks of the moment, and to forget the nobility the usefulness and the wide extent of the forest itself.... They forget that politics after all is only an instrument through which to achieve Government.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)
“Totem poles and wooden masks no longer suggest tribal villages but fashionable drawing rooms in New York and Paris.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)