Tuesday 31 December 2013

Happy and Prosperous 2014!

Okwarohztake wishes you great tidings, better and greater prospects for 2014. It was an honor writing and receiving such a diversity and wealth of feedback from you.

I am glad to know that the audience and interest has tremendously grown. Here are the top fans of Okwarohztake 2013. United States - 2826; Kenya - 1880; United Kingdom - 1045; Russia - 506; Germany - 241; Latvia - 217; China - 105; France - 74; Sweden - 68; Ukraine - 66.

I leave you with Konstantin Josef Jireček's immortal wise counsel: - 


"We, the willing, led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have done so much, for so long, with so little, we are now qualified to do anything with nothing.”

Ngiyabonga kakhulu!

Friday 13 December 2013

15 Reasons why there is little glitter on Kenya's silver jubilee

President Obama said at the Nelson Mandela Memorial on Wednesday that "there are too many [people] who stand on the sidelines comfortable in complacency when [their] voices must be heard". As Kenyans, over the 5 decades of our nationhood, quite often we have succumbed to this manner of complacency, reducing ourselves to victims of mediocre leadership, bad governance and underdevelopment. As Kenya celebrates her 50th birthday, I refuse to be part of that crop of complacent citizens, always scapegoating and sugar-coating stuff when our unequivocal opinions against ineptitude need to be heard. This blog is a cynical one, negative if you elect to see it that way. It is by all means intended to make noise only about the unacceptable bad things that have gone on for too long in Kenya. They say there is nothing as stubborn as facts. So instead of arguing, I elected to use statistics to drive home my discontent with the status of affairs 50 years after independence. Here are 15 reasons why there is little to celebrate about Kenya's 50 years of self government:  

NOTE: The methodology employed in the analyses was entirely based on the famous pronouncement by Kenya's first president Jomo Kenyatta on 12 December 1963:  "The new government [would] eliminate three great scourges - poverty, ignorance and disease." Data was sourced mainly from the World Bank (World Development Indicators), IMF, Africa Economic Outlook, UNDP's - Human Development Index, the OPHI's Multidemensional Poverty Index, the Reporters Without Borders' World Press Freedom Index, and Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index. The data was used to analyse and track the trajectory of international indicators of poverty, education (ignorance) and health (disease). Comparisons were made with select countries in Africa (like Botswana, Uganda and Rwanda which were more or less at par with Kenya in 1963) and others in Asia (Singapore, South Korea and Indonesia) - mainly due to a common reference by leaders in Kenya to the Asian Tigers and their purported commitment to making Kenya a middle income economy. 

1. Half of Kenyans still poor despite independence promise 5 decades ago
Eradication of poverty was item no.1 in the independence government's to do list. The president in his inaugural speech declared poverty enemy number one to Kenya. Nonetheless, 50 years down the lane Kenya has ended up with nearly half of the population still caught up in poverty.    


In 2013, about 43.3% (15 million) were living on less than US$ 1.25 a day and about 47.8% were entangled in multiple dimensions of poverty and deprivation. What is more alarming is the fact that, poverty indicators are worse when sub national data is considered. The national figures mask marked extremities and chronicity in many counties across the country especially in rural areas. There is a cohort of individuals whom poverty eradication programmes and traditional service delivery channels are characteristically leaving behind.

2. Alarming inequality 
The '50 years of independence celebrations have been running on the slogan: 'pamoja twasonga mbele' - Swahili for 'together we forge on'. Therein is the connotation of oneness and a commonality in progress and aspirations for the future. The data however illustrates how far that is far from the reality. In Kenya today, the gap between the poor and the rich has widened to unprecedented breadths. The country has grown to have a minority proportion of population controlling the bulk of the country's wealth as the majority as struggle with access to basic day to day requirements for human survival. Some 4 million people (10% of total population) control nearly 40% (37.8%) of the country's total income leaving the other 37 million Kenyans to share the remaining 60%
  

Worse still, there is a cohort of 4 million other Kenyans (the poorest 10%) who share just about 2% (1.9%) of the country's total income. Isn’t it intriguing therefore to imagine how the country could possibly be moving ahead together when some Kenyans worry about hunger and very basic needs like a toilet as others whine about Wi-Fi and smart phones? 

3. Corruption continues to squander Kenya's prime years 
There is some commonality in the appreciation that Kenya has lost colossal amounts of public resources that could otherwise have been leveraged to improve service delivery and grow the economy to corruption. Throughout the 3 epochs of independence in Kenya (the Kenyatta, Moi and Kibaki regimes), corruption was alive, facilitating the plundering of public resources, the weakening of institutions and destruction of the national fabric. It is interesting to note how successive administrations nonetheless postured their commitment to fighting corruption even as the country witnessed Goldenberg, Anglo leasing, Oil, Maize scams etc.


In 2013, the Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index showed Kenya still trailing at position 136 out of 177 with 2.7 indicating a highly corrupt system. In fact, Kenya never scored more than 2.7 points since the inception of the index in 1995. This is despite investment of substantial public resources on legislation and institutions aiming to deal with corruption. Whilst the CPI is a useful indicator of corruption, the reality of corruption in Kenya is more pronounced, endemic and systemic (both grand and petty corruption). The prominence of corruption is an indictment on the moral fabric of the Kenyan nation and on the commitment and aptitude of the country's leadership. 

4. A hung, exam-centric education system
Despite receiving one of the largest outlays of public resources over the past five decades (average 18% of total government spending), education performance in Kenya has remained unsatisfactory especially in areas of access and quality. Learning outcomes have been low. For example research showed in 2012 that 7 out of 10 children in class 3 could not do class 2 work and over 10% of children in class 8 could not do simple class 2 math. The education system is largely exam-centric with little focus on creativity, innovation, critical thought and complex reasoning. The human capital the country has been churning out of the education system has not been sufficiently suited to for economic development. 


Moreover, there are still over 1 million school age children out of school (denied access to basic education).  Long term lack of access to basic education has precipitated skills deficits amongst young people. This has not only been counterproductive for economic growth, but also made the exit from poverty difficult and predisposed the country to violence. The system and its delivery channels still not reaching marginalised: there is need to address prevalent inequalities that limit the poorest and marginalised from accessing quality education.  

5. More than half of Kenyan women still giving birth in deplorable conditions 
Five decades after independence, over 50% of Kenyan women still delivering in deplorable conditions without basic medical care. In 2013 more than half of expectant women delivered without the aid of a skilled birth attendant. This was more pronounced in rural areas where women had to walk long distances to access antenatal, delivery and post-natal care. For some of them, even where it was accessible it was not affordable thus resorting to unsafe home deliveries that exacerbated maternal mortality, death of children before age 5 and growth of a population of physically and psychologically disadvantaged children due to birth complications. Surely, a sovereign state unable to guarantee safe motherhood after 5 decades has benefitted least from its freedom. Meanwhile peer countries and other states Kenya has aspired to be like perform way better even though they tax their citizens much lower than we do in Kenya. 



6. Over 73 out of every 1000 Kenyan kids did not live to see their 5th birthday in 2013
In 2013, at least 73 out of every 1000 children died before their 5th birthday in Kenya and the situation will not be any different in 2014. Meanwhile, the statistic was only about 55 in Rwanda, 31 in Indonesia, 4 in South Korea and 2 in Singapore. Incidentally, Rwanda and Indonesia had higher infant mortality rates than Kenya in 1963 and they both taxed their citizens lower than Kenya did over the same period. Clearly, we could have done a tad bit more with 50 years of self rule.



7. Over 70% of the population without access to proper sanitation 
How is it possible that a country and her leaders can find the audacity to lecture people about self determination in the international political arena when they cannot guarantee themselves basic sanitation - a dignified way to shit (as crude as it may sound? Even after 50 years of self determination, less than 30% of the population in Kenya has access to proper sanitation.


8. Minimal public expenditure on health
Despite having aimed to fight disease as one of the impediments to development at independence, the intentions seem not to have been followed through with policy commitment and resource allocation. Investments in health remained minimal in Kenya over the past 50 years. The government spent no more than 5.0% of the country's GDP on health. That is even after President Moi went to Abuja, Nigeria in 2001 and declared together with other African heads of state that Kenya will spend at least 15% of total government revenues on health. In fact, between 2002 and 2012, average government spending on health as a proportion of total government revenues was only about 4.1%. The World Health Organisation recommends that to meet the minimum requirements for basic healthcare, every government must spend at least US$44 on every citizen every year. However for Kenya, per capita public spending on health was just about US$17 in 2013. 


What it means is that the country’s healthcare system was deprived of necessary resources to expand facilities, procure medical supplies and to employ and sustain sufficient medical personnel. No wonder since 1975, the country’s doctor to patient ration remained very low - one doctor serving at least 10,000 people. Question is, how did we expect to nurture a healthy productive population then? Look yonder; since 2000 Rwanda has increased investment in health from 4.5% of GDP to over 10.8% in 2012. The returns are evident - marked decline in maternal mortality as well as infant mortality.


10. Increasing debt burden
The average Kenyan in 2013 owes way more than is justifiable. The stock of the country’s external debt increased significantly over the decades of independence. In 2013, the country owed more than US$12 billion down from less than US$2 billion in the first decade of independence. The question is: what has driven the exponential growth in the country’s debt? Was it justified? What is there to show for the increased indebtedness? For what reasons did we borrow so much? In everyday life, those who owe so much have little control over their affairs; they command little respect and predispose themselves to danger. The Kenya child born today inherits a burden of debt that has faint justification for. What is worrisome is the fact that this trend in borrowing will continue at least in the midterm.    



11. Taxing heavily, borrowing overly yet still living beyond our means
Despite heavily taxing Kenyans and borrowing a lot, the government of Kenya still operated on budgets with significant deficits over the 50 years of its independence. The country’s accounts seldom balanced. Most of these deficits were funded by increased lending (which explains the enormous external debt portfolio) and Official development Assistance which increased the country’s vulnerability to influence by donors and other development partners. This was surely antithetical to the sovereignty narrative and pointed towards low capacity and/or overwhelming resource demands. 




12. Dismally performing economy
Squandering our wealth and destiny or bankrupt of ideas? Kenya began almost at par with Botswana, and Indonesia at independence in terms of national wealth. At independence, per capita income in Kenya was US$321.8 compared to Botswana (US$ 373.3), Indonesia (US$281.0) and Rwanda (US$ 196.8). Incidentally, in 2012, Botswana was more than 11 times richer than Kenya, Indonesia more than 3 times richer and even Rwanda that started poorer than Kenya was inching closer. Economic growth has been intermittent and slow, disrupted by both internally and externally driven vulnerabilities. 

























The talk of transforming Kenya into a middle income economy, transforming agriculture and industry to drive growth appears to have been no more than the rhetoric. Successive administrations articulated the prominence of agriculture – it being the 'backbone of the economy'. However, this was not followed with commensurate commitment in terms of policy, and resource allocation. The agriculture sector despite employing a large proportion of the country’s workforce and contributing substantially to the country’s GDP (average 22.7% between 2002 and 2012) remained largely underfunded, underdeveloped and inefficient. Again Kenya ratified a declaration commiting to spend at least 10% of the country's national revenue to agricuture. However, by 2012, the ountry had not only failed to beat this target but was also allocating the least ever proportion of resiurce to the sector (jus about 1.6%).  Likewise, industrial development was touted throughout the 50 years of independence as a crucial driver for economic growth. Politicians promised an industrialised economy by 2015, then shifted to 2020 (after realising the inevitability of failure).


Well facts are stubborn: Kenya is still far from an industrialised economy and the agriculture sector is still largely subsistence oriented with minimal value addition. Agriculture value added as a percentage of Kenya’s GDP declined from 35.3% in 1965 to 29.3% in 2012, in fact, save for 1976-77 (mostly attributable to the coffee boom), it never grew beyond the proportion in 1965. Likewise, industry value added as a percentage of GDP declined from 18.1% in 1965 to 17.4% in 2012 (it never went beyond 20.7% throughout our history).


13. High cost of living despite heavy taxation
Kenyans are so far among the most taxed citizens in the globe. In 2011, the tax - GDP ratio was at 19.5%. That was higher than Singapore (13.8%), Indonesia (11.8%), even South Korea (15.6%), yet the level of economic growth, infrastructure development as well as access to public goods was way higher in these countries. At nearly 20.0% of GDP, having increased the tax rate and overly broadened the tax base – the government should have been in access to domestic resources sufficient to guarantee effective service delivery and better living standards for Kenyans. 


Nonetheless, the status of public service is deplorable and the general cost of living continued to increase as evidenced by the rate of inflation. The question that begs then is what have we done with our tax money? What good do law abiding, taxpaying citizens take home besides the plethora of negatives - poor infrastructure, inept public services, high costs of consumer goods etc?  


Since independence, Kenya posed as a forward looking state seeking to embody the ideals of modern liberal democracies. A key tenet of civilised democratic societies is the openness and freedom of the press. Whilst Kenya has progressed in removing barriers to media freedom, there are outstanding issues that the country has failed to address. Legislation and regulations limiting access to information, punitive laws allowing prosecution of journalists/media houses as well as government quasi-control of the media have derailed the pursuit of free press. The Reporters Without Borders’ World Press Freedom Index has ranked Kenya below the ‘satisfactory situations’ category since its inception in 2002. All the rankings have been under ‘noticeable problems’ implying that Kenya has failed to address pertinent issues crucual to realising free press. 






Tuesday 10 December 2013

President Obama: Great speech but it is with you and your USA that the test of Mandela's idealism must begin


Dear President Obama,

Someone said in Nairobi yesterday that whilst you mighthave not inherited the thick dark skin of your father, the true sense of Luo eulogising was sure passed on. Mr President, the selfies with PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt notwithstanding, that was a cool speech. A fitting salutation to the life of a selfless, level headed humble African statesman whose discipline, dedication and resolve helped liberate his people from the yokes of racial oppression.

But beyond the smooth talk and posturing at FNB during Mandela’s memorial service yesterday, what did the speech mean for its orator? I spent time on traffic reflecting on this speech and how much your leadership has attempted to live up to Mandela’s ideals.


You asked us to reflect on how much we have applied lessons from Nelson Mandela in our own lives. I ask you how much your leadership in the past 5 years has reflected his ideals and aspirations. You wield a lot of power. Yet you lead one of the countries in the world where the ills that Madiba could resurrect and return to Robben for another 27 years for remain alive.

You rightly put it that “around the world today, men and women are still imprisoned for their political beliefs; and are still persecuted for what they look like, or how they worship, or who they love". But sir, where in the world today do we make terrorists of people based on the beard on their face, or the Quran in their hands?

You talked of the crop of leaders who claim solidarity with Mandela’s struggles for freedom but do not tolerate dissent from their own people. Isn’t it quite easy to look to Africa or Middle East or elswhere and point fingers? What a perfect time to remind ourselves of the trials and tribulations of Julian Assange, Edward Snowden – political fugitives of the 21st century happening right under your nose?

You spoke so eloquently about the many of us who happily embrace Mandela’s legacy of reconciliation yet resist minimalist reforms to address poverty and inequality. But sir, in what country in the world today are rogue Wall Street capitalists propped and celebrated even as they grab and plunder every manner of wealth exacerbating poverty and increasing inequality across the globe?

You challenge young people in Africa and others elsewhere in the world to make Madiba’s life’s work their own. Sir, I challenge you as well to spend the remaining days of your leadership at the helm of global power to do the same. Make amends with the Middle East - [by the way, seeing you shakehands with Raul yesterday was thrilling]. Teach your Israeli friends tolerance and coexistence. Go easy on your country’s policy on non-negotiation with terrorists – come on, Mandela negotiated with his incarcerators when he had the choice of pursuing violence. Cut the Iranians some slack.  

Otherwise, that speech will be just but another of your many sensational, populist speeches that prop your person more than inspire real CHANGE.

Thank you   


Monday 18 November 2013

Jubilee: too clever for counsel, yet too foolish



The folly of this Jubilee government is its overconfidence and false sense of importance. Folks are too full of themselves they wouldn’t listen.

I watched senate proceedings as Jubilee senators heckled down Senator James Orengo advising majority leader Kithure Kindiki to pursue Assembly of State parties if they genuinely wanted to help the President and his deputy William Ruto. Instead they thumped their chests because they control the Kenyan legislature. They went ahead to complicate matters with their withdrawal from the Rome Statute motion. Tragedy is, jubilee has some of the most brilliant attorneys in this country in Senate and National Assembly. But they reduced themselves to cannon fodder, spewing tirades at the international community that they shockingly didn’t appear to understand they would depend on when they went to the AU, UN Security Council (UNSC) etc.

Like the Swahili said – “Mwenda omo na tezi marejeo ngamani” - He who goes from bow to stern must return to the bilge

We are back to square one. It has now dawned on the spin masters in the Jubilee Kingdom that they won’t shout or bully their way out of the ICC. Folks are exhausting options. Amazingly, now they are pushing an amendment to the Rome Statute to allow Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto attend trials via video link through the same Assembly of State parties that Orengo advised them to pursue but they arrogantly told off.

We have come from "a sitting president cannot and won’t be humiliated at The Hague" to begging for amendments to help save face. The ICC is inevitable after all. Cool, the proposed amendment is backed by the AU (I elect not to comment on the toothlessness of the AU). But, the Assembly of State Parties isn't a club exclusive to African despots, so they can push and shove amendments at their whims.

Goodness me, the Assembly of States will also decide whether sitting heads of state should be exempt from ICC prosecutions. Why didn’t people think of pursuing this all this while?

Keep enjoying the pleasure of opinion without the discomfort of thought. Therein lies your downfall.


Sunday 20 October 2013


Today, in Kenya, it is Mashujaa Day. Yes 20th October. It is a public holiday we previously called Kenyatta Day – dedicated to the name of the 1st president Jomo Kenyatta. Still not sure for what reason precisely but I presume for his role in the push for nationalism and independence from British colonial rule.

Well, we have found something more useful to do with the day. Unlike ‘Moi Day – 10th October’, named after Kenya’s 2nd president Daniel Moi that we abolished, it is now penned in the Constitution of Kenya – 2010 that on 20th of October of every year we take time off work to recognise, honour and celebrate exceptional Kenyans. I mean brave men and women who have defied the odds to demonstrate the true spirit of being Kenyan.  Men and women who in one way or another, by the nature of their actions or the substance of their words have left a mark that defines our true Kenyanness – the athletes, the businessmen/women, the clerics, philanthropists, scholars etc. We call the day ‘Mashujaa Day’. ‘Mashujaa’ plural for ‘Shujaa’ which is Swahili for ‘the brave one’ – like warrior, indomitable.

Every year, on this day, I pause to reflect; to find that one person that has demonstrated that true Kenyan bravery. The kind of courage that I believe will liberate us not from colonialism, but from the littleness of our poverty, the littleness of our ethnocentrism and political bigotry. The kind of audacity that will someday make us truly ONE.

This Sunday 20th October, 2013 - For helping transform that humble village boy; raised in a sugarcane plantation in rural Kenya into a world-class citizen (the one I consider myself to be today) You are my ‘Shujaa’ Dr Joshua Odongo Oron. I pause at this point to stand up, raise my left hand to my temple, to sing the words of our national anthem to honour the greatness and patriotism in that little deed.

I have come to believe that one of the greatest gifts that a person can be honoured with is the freedom to think openly and the ability to muster the courage to do something about those thoughts. The ability to objectively weigh and reflect on issues and freely express the way he or she feels about them.

You might not know it but that little known trip from the shores of Lake Victoria across countries to the midlands in the United Kingdom, thousands of miles away from my small world, that you gracefully sponsored has made the words in the paragraph above a reality in me. Doc, godfathering me, guaranteeing me an opportunity to receive high quality, eye opening education is invaluable. That is what true Kenyans do: getting out of their way to do extraordinary things that change lives, alter the course of history. Like investing in others - ensuring that an incapable Kenyan student like me, little known to you, did not worry about food or rent or healthcare while he concentrated on furthering his education.

Happy Mashujaa Day Doc!

My the good lord that we speak to in our national anthem keep you, protect you, bless you with good health and prosper you. May he grant you and Widows and Orphans International the grace and kindness to keep helping the many desperate children, women and households escape poverty - access healthcare, education and the dignity that every human being rightfully deserves. I lack the status to confer a medal to you - but I have this blog. I dedicate it to you!

    
Those of you who still doubt the power of ‘African philanthropy’ can come look at me


Tuesday 8 October 2013

A ‘data revolution’ for elimination of poverty?


Inherent in the 2013 High Level Panel (HLP) report on the Post 2015 Development Agenda is the idea of a ‘data revolution’ that aims to draw on existing and new sources of data to infuse statistics into decision making[1]. The ultimate is to have information shape policy: to encourage open access to data, facilitate relevant analysis and to promote appropriate employment of accrued information to improve policy.

Too often, development efforts have been hampered by a lack of the most basic data about the social and economic circumstances in which people live. Stronger monitoring and evaluation at all levels, and in all processes of development [...] will help guide decision making, update priorities and ensure accountability. [...] We must also take advantage of new technologies and access to open data for all people.” ~ Bali Communiqué of the High-Level Panel, March 28, 2013
The conceptualisation of the ‘data revolution’, albeit not universally agreed on so far, leaves the connotation of an overhaul of the current system[2]. It implies empowering citizens (CSOs, media, government officers, ‘techies’, academicians and development partners within a data ecosystem) in a ‘fresh wave’ of data collection, analysis and use. It is a call for transparency and accountability[3]. It aims to ensure that information influences development policy; that data is utilized to evaluate the efficacy of policy and that data provides feedback loops for improvement of systems, institutions or policies. The question that lurks however is:

Will a ‘data revolution’ or its equivalent really lead to better policies and attainment of poverty eradication targets beyond 2015?
Clearly better data and improved evidence has proven to be able to facilitate better policy making. A data revolution, if conceptualised as so, would thus provide the factual basing for the review and improvement of policy to meet the demands of prevailing circumstances. However, there is also the risk of getting overly carried away with datasets and infographics, and losing focus on the structural issues that require to be addressed in order to improve policy and bolster poverty reduction. 

The real 'data revolution' will depend on the ability to collect and aggregate data, and to have as many people as possible collabortaing effectively around a distributed ecosystem of information[4]. Conversely, a non-revolution would be a kin to having just a 'select group of nerds or politicians knowing more about poor people and their problems'[5].
  • What should be the true understanding of a ‘data revolution’ in the context of poverty reduction?
  • What is the potential for a ‘data revolution’ to contribute to development and to the ending of poverty by 2030 and what could stop this from happening?
  • What role can different stakeholders in the data ecosystem play in promoting the ‘data revolution’?
  • What could best inform the design of a platform to drive the ‘data revolution’?


Tuesday 24 September 2013

#WeAreNotOne – Sorry to burst your bubble Kenyans

If there is an international medal that Kenyans deserve, it is that for hypocrisy, pretence and shameless double-standing. Now because of #Westgate #WeAreOne?. I say HOG WASH. These are the kind of scapegoats we so look forward to. Those that help us forget our evil, burry our heads in the sand, avoid the truth and fail to confront the structural and historical cradles of our disunity.

Look we lost more than double the statistic at WestGate in Tana River not so long ago. How about Bungoma? Baragoi? Sinai? yet we #wereNOTONE? Wait until we burry the fallen at WestGate, we will come back home. Yes, we will return home to our filth, to our stinking ethnocentrism, to our neolithic political bigotry and of course to the chronicty of our poverty of morals.

Wake up Kenyans, WE ARE NOT one. Such faddish sloganeering is the reason we miss out on every opportunity to confront our inadequacies and mend the fabric of our tired tattered nationhood (if we ever did the wafts and the wefts in the fast place).

Come to think of it: Didn't we pass a new constitution thinking it’s the panacea for all our ills, was it? - NOPE. Didn't we insist on devolution thinking it is the answer to all our inequities, is it? - NOPE. Didn't we spend resources, intellect and emotions reforming our judiciary thinking it is the rebirth our justice framework, is it? - NOPE. Didn't we give our all to the IIEC/IEBC hoping it is the ultimate rejuvenation of our electoral system, was it? - NOPE. 

I am almost convinced that for Kenya, the problem has got nothing to do with the institutions or laws or legislation. The problem is squarely on us Kenyans. Yes YOU and ME. Shameless human beings so bent on our selfish inclinations that public interest - nationhood - has no bearing absolutely. That is why we need foreign aggression to remind us that we are all Kenyan. That is why we need Al Qaeda to bomb us, Al shabab to take us hostage kill and maim our loved ones, CNN to demean our psyche or Museveni to undermine our intelligence.


Until we learn and appreciate that we are all bound by the same history, bound by same joys and pains of living Kenya, and bound by the commonality of our aspirations we will not be ONE.

Monday 23 September 2013


The Kenya that won't be cowed

I found the honesty in this article quite interesting. While bluntly pointing out the ills and misgivings that have denied Kenya the glory it so deserves, David Blair of The Telegraph does not falter to affirm the uniqueness of the resilience of the Kenyan nation. It is a step away from the biased international coverage that Africans invariably whine about. I could not help but appreciate. I REPOST:


Its people were among the first to suffer at the hands of al-Qaeda; they have the resilience and resources to put this latest attack behind them. 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There is a dreadful symmetry to the terrorist atrocity in Kenya. The outrage in Westgate shopping centre shows not only the enduring ability of al-Qaeda’s brethren to kill and maim in the teeth of the biggest counter‑terrorism campaign in history, it reminds us that Nairobi was the place where Osama bin Laden’s network first demonstrated its lethal potency. Almost exactly 15 years ago, a truck bomb exploded two miles from the site of the Westgate mall. The heavily fortified US embassy was the nominal target, but a vulnerable nearby tower block bore the brunt of the blast. For a terrible instant, the sky above the crowded streets of central Nairobi rained shards of jagged glass, blinding scores of bystanders. I happened to visit Nairobi a week later and the gaping shell of the ruined tower block, devoid of a single intact window, marked the aftermath of a massacre that had claimed 212 lives. So Kenya has already suffered one of the heaviest blows that terrorism can inflict – and achieved a recovery. Despite today’s agony, the country is strong enough to do so again.

Kenyans live under a terrible political system, riddled with tribalism and corruption, symbolised by the fact that their vice-president, William Ruto, is now standing trial at The Hague for alleged crimes against humanity. The International Criminal Court has given him a week’s leave from the dock to fly home to deal with the current crisis. The unusual spectacle of the men who run Kenya flitting between The Hague and their offices in Nairobi may soon become familiar: President Uhuru Kenyatta will go on trial before the ICC in November, charged with the same offences. But Kenya’s immense potential somehow manages to survive the plunder and misrule of its leaders – and it will similarly outlast the threat of terrorism. 

True, the country’s economy is dangerously dependent on the goodwill of outsiders, whether tourists or investors, and some people will understandably react to the scenes on their television screens by cancelling a holiday. Many others, however, will recognise that the Westgate attack is just the kind of incident that, frankly, could have happened in dozens of capitals across the world, including London. 

If the past is any guide, Kenya’s vital tourist industry – the country’s biggest source of hard currency – will now suffer a temporary dip, before achieving a recovery. Al-Qaeda’s attack on Nairobi in 1998 was actually followed by a sustained boom in visitor numbers. In that year, Kenya recorded 900,000 tourist and business arrivals; by 2006, this total had risen by over 75 per cent to hit 1.6 million. 

Since that peak, the number of visitors has fallen, dropping to 1 million in 2008, when weeks of violence after a disputed election claimed at least 1,300 lives. But even after that bloodshed, the number of arrivals rebounded, reaching 1.3 million in 2010 and staying at that level ever since. Look more closely and the visitor numbers confirm that Kenya is a special place in the eyes of many Britons. Come terrorist attack or post-election bloodbath, British citizens always comprise the biggest single group of visitors, usually by a wide margin. Of the 1.3 million foreigners who arrived in Kenya in 2011, more than 200,000 came from Britain, well ahead of the next biggest contingent, 120,000 Americans.

Why is this so? From the Rift Valley to the Maasai Mara, Kenya still has magnificent wilderness. But the country is tied to Britain by language, history and tradition; it is also a place where 20,000 Britons live. Many of those on the plane from Heathrow to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport will not be tourists but people who see themselves as going home. Meanwhile, trade between Britain and Kenya totals at least £1 billion and about half of the companies listed on the Nairobi stock exchange are linked to the UK in some way. This year, the Department for International Development will also give the country £150 million of aid. 

On a day like this, it may seem odd to point out the obvious: that all this represents a vote of confidence in Kenya. When al-Qaeda left its bloodstained calling card in 1998, it would have seemed far-fetched for Nairobi to have a world-class facility such as Westgate shopping mall. The fact that investors were willing to build one, despite the endemic problems posed by corruption and collapsing infrastructure, showed their belief that Kenya’s rapidly growing population of 40 million represented a neglected consumer market. Since then, the country has achieved annual economic growth of 5 per cent – not enough to break out of poverty, but not bad either. That growth is based on a diverse economy, encompassing commercial agriculture and manufacturing as well as tourism.

By virtue of geography, Kenya serves as the commercial hub for East and Central Africa, providing the region’s biggest port at Mombasa and the key trade route for a string of landlocked countries, ranging from South Sudan to Burundi. China has now signed a £3.2 billion deal to rebuild Kenya’s transport links, including the British-built railways. And last year oil was discovered in the arid Turkana region, meaning that Kenya is set to join the world’s select club of crude exporters by 2016. 
If Kenya’s national infrastructure gets a makeover courtesy of China, and the nation starts to export oil and make full use of its natural position as the key link for African trade, it has a real chance to break free from poverty. That was true before 15 fanatics began massacring innocents in Westgate mall on Saturday – and it remains true today.

But Kenya’s geography is also a curse: its largely unguarded 430-mile border with Somalia helps to explain Nairobi’s current ordeal. The greatest dangers to Kenya come not from international terrorism, however, but from within, notably from a corrupt political system that serves as tragic reflection of a society scarred by ethnic division.

“Under all the layers, at the base of the giant mound, lies the same solid bedrock: Kenyans’ dislocated notion of themselves,” writes Michela Wrong in It’s Our Turn to Eat. “The various forms of graft cannot be separated from the people’s vision of existence as a merciless conflict in which only ethnic preference offers hope of survival.”

Mr Kenyatta is an authentic product of the political system bequeathed by his father Jomo, the first president after independence in 1963. Like the Italians and the Lebanese, however, Kenyans have mastered the ability to prosper and succeed despite their politicians. And Mr Kenyatta responded to the Westgate outrage with robust moral clarity of a kind that has fallen out of use in the West. “We shall not relent on the war on terror: we shall continue that fight and we urge all people of goodwill throughout the world to join us and to ensure that we uproot this evil,” he said.

In 2011, Kenya sent 5,000 troops into southern Somalia to secure the border area after a series of attacks. The Kenyan army has taken the offensive, recently capturing the vital port of Kismayo from al-Shabaab, the al-Qaeda affiliate that claims responsibility for the Westgate attack. Under pressure in its homeland, al-Shabaab has threatened to retaliate against any country that sends troops into Somalia. Kenya’s military presence makes it an obvious target. But Mr Kenyatta, who inherited the Somalia operation from his predecessor, had a defiant response: “If their thought is that this was to intimidate us, it has only increased our commitment to fight and win this war.”
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The details and the pictures that will emerge from Nairobi in the next few days will be harrowing, but do not judge by appearances. Kenya’s story is one of resilience, not fragility: it has recovered from al-Qaeda’s ravages in the past and will do so again.




Thursday 5 September 2013

Sovereignty my left armpit, mscheeew!

The tragedy with us Africans is after we swindle our people, maim and kill them, we always search and dust the old tattered PanAfricanist card to play. Quite convenient isn't it? - blame it on the white man, blame it on imperialism, neocolonialism, globalization whatever you like to call it right. 

You can say a million but the US and those other countries you laughably attempt to compare Kenya to, for not being signatories to the ICC, scarcely need Den Haag. Their judicial systems (with their inadequacies) do not allow morons, coldhearted scumbags and chest thumping criminals, murders and rapists like the ones we got here in Kenya to commit atrocities and get away with it. I can say this - they do not need international judicial mechanisms so much as we do. Yes we 'moral high horse ridding' Africans. Their political systems do not allow even an adulterous CEO to keep office, let alone a politician to even contemplate running for political office with accusations of crimes against humanity hanging around their necks. Ask Herman Cain, Ask Dominic Strauss Khan ... 

Hate it or love it, the day you allowed clowns accused of grave violations on human rights and dignity to wear party colors, show up on national TV and gallivant the country campaigning to be president is the day you allowed the sovereignty of the so free 'Kenya' you are 'fettishly' obsessed with to be ridiculed molested and demeaned. 

People ran for office in full knowledge of the consequences of being answerable to the ICC and discharging state duties simultaneously. Kid only the naive, the captives of sycophancy and ethnocentric twaddle who like to believe that the President and his deputy sitting at the Hague answering to criminal charges (like any other Kenyan would at the high court away from their families or jobs) really should worry anybody.

After all, who eats sovereignty? How much sovereignty is served on dinner tables in the evening in Kenyan households? What have you done with the sovereign Kenya for the past 5 decades? How much foreign direct investment has sovereignty brought to our economy? How many jobs? uh? How many destitute kids has it assured food, clothing, good health? How many mothers has it prevented from still births and dangerous maternal illness?  

The sovereignty that Africans deserved over the past 50 years, they have gotten. What they have done with it is for you to judge. These same losers now cry-babying are the same busybodies that applauded and appended signatures to a law that they scarcely took time to understand, to interrogate its motives and to judge its merits. Today, fourteen years down the lane, when we sadly determine that the egg we naively fertilized is too big for our cervix to deliver, we suddenly have a sovereignty problem. A problem too great, so urgent and verily important that the escalating cost of living and the lingering unemployment, poverty and inequality in the country can wait.

Ha! I say go shove it up folks. You have more important things to worry about. The perceived danger to your sovereignty is a mockery of the hopes and aspirations of your people. Take that 'African Renaissance' balderdash to the bin Kabando wa Kabando. Fix the economy, give husbands jobs, assure young people of their future, allow women equal opportunity to determine their destinies (and some money to shop and enjoy womanhood YAWA), let children enjoy their childhood, allow families the economic freedom to live life and appreciate their culture, ethnicity and heritage. That, mes camarades, is how to build a sovereign nation. Not by shamelessly playing to the gallery of international politics where no one gives a rap about your act.

Let those who committed crimes face the full force of the law. Let those innocent, wrongly accused, be acquitted and apologized to. Let us ACCEPT and MOVE ON.