The eruption of violence in Kenya following the rigged presidential elections last week should not come as a surprise to anyone but it probably will. The western world has tended to see the country as a post-colonial model of stability and (relative) prosperity. It has been a good place to do business, dispense aid and enjoy a vacation. Yet tensions have been seething for years, stirred up by pervasive corruption and the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of the country’s largest tribe, the Kikuyu. It was only a matter of time before they boiled over.

So is the former British colony becoming just another African failure, to be treated with a shrug of the shoulders, while carrying on business as usual with whichever corrupt faction may emerge victorious? Certainly not. Kenya is not only a vital trading hub in east Africa, the most successful market economy in the region and an anti-terrorism ally for the US and UK. Its current plight offers vital lessons for Africa and the outside world about the abuse of democratic process, failure to tackle endemic corruption and tribal tension and the wishful thinking of international investors and governments about their favourite regimes.