For decades, the Luo have been among the most politically conscious and vocal communities in the world, often at the forefront of struggles for democracy and justice. Yet this very strength has been turned into a trap when talk replaces action and when attacking fellow Luos becomes easier than organizing with them. No community that refines its arguments but neglects its enterprises can expect to shape the future; it merely advises those who are already building.
Indeed, the Luo community has reached a critical turning point where the world has learned how to keep them busy with endless debate, while others quietly build with their skills, capital, and disciplined organization, while ironically, relying on the same Luo professionals to perfect their trades and businesses.
Instead of turning knowledge, networks, and positions into tangible progress, too many discussions revolve around blame, suspicion, and theoretical unity that never matures into structured economic power with each “unity” group founded by people who want to be chairmen, trasurers or “Jagoro”.
This contradiction is visible in how the community handles leaders and appointments. Leaders like Junet Mohamed, Shakil, etc., are elected in Luo-dominated areas because Luo voters recognize their political skill and national reach. Yet instead of consistently tabling serious, well-prepared proposals and projects for such leaders to support, many prefer to write or discuss emotional critiques about who these leaders “helped” and where they come from, and who is not helped, without first asking what alternatives have been concretely presented and followed through with by these leaders.
The same happens with Luo cabinet secretaries and senior appointees: they are sometimes asked loudly in bars to resign “on principle” even as other communities close ranks around their own to retain influence in government. People who keep dismantling their own bridges to power while admiring others for protecting theirs will always walk longer distances to access opportunity.
A community that always wants to demand their rights when outside the meeting room, carrying stones instead of allowing their leaders who are already sitting at the table to negotiate for their rights, will always endup with no power to influence the rate of their progress.
What the Luo community urgently needs is not another theory of unity, but a culture of excellence in personal and collective work.
Here, Bavarians in Germany offer a powerful example. Bavarians are known for perfecting their trades – engineering, automotive work, precision tools, medicine and drugs, brewing, tourism services – to very high standards. They do not begin by shouting about unity; each of them begins by becoming the best at what they do. Their first loyal customers are members of their families, followed by Bavarians themselves, who trust the quality of their own craftsmen and firms, and from that strong local base, they expand to the rest of Germany, Europe, and the world.
Their cohesion is rooted in disciplined training, apprenticeships, strict standards, and pride in performance.
The Luo are already gifted with various unparalleled talents, stamina, and resilience, and can readily embrace a similar path without abandoning their identity.
Imagine towns and estates where Luo mechanics, doctors, welders, teachers, tailors, fish traders, nurses, coders, farmers, and transporters are known for serious, predictable, high-quality. Luo customers would naturally seek Luo services not because of blind tribalism, but because those services truly deliver. From there, excellence would automatically attract neighbors, other counties, and the wider region, just as Bavarian products moved outward from their home base.
In doing this, the Luo do not have to give up their deep love for fairness and justice. This love is one of the community’s greatest strengths, explaining why Luos readily work with other ethnic groups, give chances to non-Luos in business, and support leaders from outside their own lineage when they are perceived as honest and capable in politics and business.
This openness should not be discarded; it should be refined. But fairness ought to begin at home and radiate outward: there is no need to deny a brother a chance to grow if he is qualified, because you are trying to prove that you are non-tribal, this is, in fact, negative tribalism and is a violation of your brother’s constitutionally protected rights of not being discriminated against by virtue of ethnicity.
One infact needs to nurture Luo talent, support Luo enterprises that prove themselves through quality, and still engage other communities in ways that raise standards and keep competition healthy.
Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOs) and organized investment groups provide practical vehicles for turning this mindset into real power. Across Kenya, disciplined SACCOs have transformed small savings into capital for land, homes, vehicles, equipment, and business expansion. Where members are serious and already working hard, such structures enable scaling of what is already working, not financing idleness or political excitement.
Sector-based Luo SACCOs – for artisans, health workers, transporters, fishers, farmers, digital freelancers, and professionals – can function like Bavarian guilds: strict on repayment, proud of quality, and relentless on growth. Hundreds and thousands of well-run small units, tied together through such vehicles, become credible partners for big contracts and big finance.
The new discipline required of the Luo is therefore simple but demanding: less blame, more building.
– Before attacking a Luo leader, ask what constructive proposals have been presented to them.
– Before dismissing a Luo business as fake or substandard, ask how its standards can be improved so it becomes a model.
– Before demanding the removal of every Luo appointee, ask how that position can be used strategically to reform systems from within while safeguarding long-term community interests.
Finally, if you are a Luo reader, before you rush to criticise this article, pause and ask yourself, “What is my strength and how can I build it to perfection? Who should I seek help from to improve myself going forward?”
Also, be informed that the writer is acutely aware that this is yet another of those write-ups that may be noise to the public and should have been made secretly and to only Luos, but it has been made public.
Your answer and actions should lead to your fulfilling the following appeal:
– Share the information from the article with those you think need it.
– Choose discipline over distraction, excellence over endless argument, cooperation over sabotage, and structured economic power over empty political drama.
How to do it:
Osano Kute – The African
