Most African countries have their version of the Kikuyu: hardworking, economically aggressive ethnic groups whose success in business, skill at interacting with the globalized economy and bumptious faith in their own prowess so intimidate the rest that the fear shapes a nation's destiny, reducing politics to a none too subtle expression of resentment by the less successful.
In the DRC it is the Luba, in Nigeria the Ibos, in Rwanda the Tutsi, in Cameroon the Bamileke and in Ethiopia it was once the Eritreans.
The 'Jews of Africa', these groups often dub themselves, and the things once said in Europe about the Jews are muttered about them: "All they care about is money, money, money.'
(Adopted from 'Its Our Turn to Eat' a book by Michela Wrong on the story of a Kenyan whistleblower, Chapter 7-The call of the tribe)
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