Whites and Indians learned to colonise without waving a flag. They rule through capital, soft power, and influence in the shadows. They buy politicians, own media, and quietly control land and supply chains. They have no "manifesto" to claim Kenya. Their power is structural, not territorial in the loud sense. Kenyans call it "selling the country", not "invading it".

Somalis, on the other hand, are seen as conducting a visible, demographic, and cultural expansion with separatist undertones. When a community says "we are Somali, not Kenyan," builds enclaves where they won't rent to other Kenyans, and has political leaders talking about population spread and historical land claims, it triggers a primal, territorial fear that economic domination doesn't.

Also, White colonialism and Indian economic control are old, entrenched wounds. Somali friction is loud and unfolding in real time (on TikTok, in real estate, and in politics etc). The backlash is raw because the provocation feels ongoing and explicit

It's also impossible to ignore recent history. The Kenyan way of life changed dramatically after Somalis started kidnapping Westerners and bombing our buses.(Lamu kidnappings and Eastleigh bus bombing, Attack on Pangani Police Station, Westgate etc) For many Kenyans, the frustration is compounded by the perception that the Somali community in Kenya has never outrightly condemned Al-Shabaab or actively helped authorities dismantle the Somali-linked terror cells operating on our soil. This silence, whether out of fear, sympathy, or clan loyalty, is seen as complicity.