The question of whether we vote solely on tribal lines was asked of Raila at the "debate". He rejected that conventional wisdom and called it "homeboy" syndrome instead. He pointed out that this homeboy voting syndrome is found all over the world including places where people do not necessarily identify themselves as tribes. He also did not see it as a big problem in kenya because "homeboy voting is easily neutralized by voters from regions where the candidate is not considered a homeboy and therefore more likely to focus on Issues.
I am sure this will infuriate those who peddle the tribal voting theory and they will ridicule Raila's answer because they rely on people to believe in the tribal voting to motivate their supporters and intimidate the opposition into apathy and submission by making them believe that they not to have the tribal numbers to win.
Why do you struggle so hard to dismiss the obvious?
Homeboys are leaders of communities.
These communities are scattered.
Mathare has Luos from Nyanza.
Mathare Luos don't vote overwhelmingly for Baba because they are from Nyanza but rather because he is their kinsmen.
Go to RV, say Rongai. Kikuyus in Rongai voted for Kibaki in 2002 not because he is from their place (in fact many have never been to Central Kenya) but simply because he was their kinsmen.
Why did Luhyas vote for Baba and MaDVD in 2013 and not Uhuru?
MaDVD was because he was their kinsmen, Baba was because their leaders convinced them that their interests were best served by Baba. When you interrogate these interests, they may simply be leadership positions.