-----Original Message-----
From: onyango oloo
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To: 'shawcom@yahoo.com'; 'president@statehousekenya.go.ke'; 'minister-justice@skyweb.co.ke'; 'drmkituyi@swiftkenya.com'; 'kalukingilu@todays.co.ke'; 'ckluki@yahoo.com'; 'pan@africaonline.co.ke'; 'bunge@swiftkenya.com'; 'nkulundu@hotmail.com'
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Subject: A Rejoinder to Robert Shaw: In Defence of a Political Approach to Economic Problem Solving
In Defence of a Political Approach to Economic Problem Solving
A Rejoinder to Robert Shaw’s Sunday Standard Op-Ed
I.0. By Way of Introduction
Dear Mr Shaw:
I have followed your writings for the last few years, always appreciating your direct and candid approach to the economic issues of the day. Are you the same Robert Shaw who used to be a fixture in the Safari Rally circuit twenty-five to thirty years ago or is that a namesake?
In any case, don't let me be rude. Let me introduce myself since I am pretty sure you do not know who on earth I am. My name is Onyango Oloo and I live in Montreal. Let us just say that I am a loudmouth who is given to frequent and rambling essays about all kinds of subjects that tickle my fancy although I do have a soft spot for Kenyan politics.
I am writing to you because I have a bone to pick with you about your latest column for the Standard:
http://www.eastandard.net/archives/april/s...int04040406.htm
Briefly you want your readers to focus on the economy. And this is a theme that you touched on last week as well when you spoke of the government being the obstacle to economic growth:
http://www.eastandard.net/archives/March/s...etl28030401.htm
2.0. Let us talk about the Weather
What is my beef with you Mr. Shaw?
Don’t smirk when I remark that it is the actual title of your piece, “Forget politics, it is rain that grows the economy” that has sparked this irk in me...
Now I know two things:
One, that you are probably not being literal about the rain and two, that the caption could have been added by a smart ass sub-editor trying to be cute.
Nevertheless, that caption captures the gist of what you are trying to put across in your column, so indulge me as I proceed to tear it apart.
One of the reasons why I have a problem with the general tenor of your “forget politics” mantra is because I think you are being at the very least disingenuous. I will say more presently, but let us start with a piece of very obscure trivia that I picked up in the course of preparing this rejoinder.
Do you remember giving an interview way back in the year 2000 to a certain Windhoek based publication? I am sure you have forgotten so let me refresh your memory. It was on Friday, June 9, 2000 to be precise that you were quoted by “The Namibian” as saying that “The weather factor has only worsened an already rickety situation which has largely been of our own making”. You were reacting to former President Daniel arap Moi’s quip that he was not a rainmaker.
Here is a link to the actual story:
http://www.namibian.com.na/Netstories/2000...0086237832.html
Now Mr. Shaw, I am assuming you are of British stock and there are all these stereotypes about UK people and the weather, but don’t you see the meteorological changes in your weather metaphors and similes between 2000 and 2004?
In 2000 you clearly thought that President Moi could not get away with the excuse of blaming the parlous state of the economy on the absence of rain.
Yet in 2004, even if it is in jest, you ascribe the growth of the Kenyan economy to the rain!
Which weather report shall we go with Bob?
3.0. The Economist Who Is Actually a Politician
But those comments on the weather are very trivial compared to what my other main concerns are.
Mr Shaw, I do not think you are being completely straight up with your readers.
Why do I say so?
Because here you are just putting on your, "Look at me, I am just a Kenyan economist talking about the Kenyan economy, forget the politics” when the reality is slightly more complex is it not?
You are NOT JUST an economist, Mr Shaw.
You are also a prominent Kenyan POLITICIAN and you have organic links with some of these very same politicians that you decry.
For instance, I know you are one of the leading lights at the Nairobi-based Institute for Economic Affairs, presumably a non- political, non-partisan think tank that on the face of it is concerned just with “economic affairs.”
Yet a closer look gives us a slightly different picture.
Let me illustrate.
Between October 12 to the 14th, 1999, Nairobi played host to the Third International Conference of the International Forum on Urban Poverty whose theme was “Social Integration and Security for the Urban Poor Towards Cities for All”. Your organization, the Institute for Economic Affairs was represented by one of its directors. And, no, it was not you. If you scroll the following list of participants
http://www.unhabitat.org/programmes/ifup/part99.htm
we find out that it was none other than Prof. Peter Anyang’ Nyongo.
And you and I know that your ties to the Kenyan National Planning Minister go back many years before that.
You were all involved, were you not, with the Mwangaza Trust?
That Trust, which Moi banned sometime in 1995, was the mother of Safina. It had been bankrolled by the German-based Friedrich Neuman Foundation, which in turn was an arm of one of the mainstream German Liberal parties. Among the pioneers who were at the core of the Mwangaza Trust were people like yourself, Paul Muite, Makau wa Mutua, Anyang’ Nyongo, Kiraitu Murungi, Richard Leakey and a couple of other prominent Kenyans who are very active in the national political scene. One of my good friends, a senior academic in one of those Nairobi campuses remembers a certain train ride between Berlin and Bonn when you guys were sharing tidbits about who was the most appropriate person to lead that outfit. Another friend of mine who you know very well having shared many a podium with remembers a boast from one of the individuals I have just mentioned above to the effect that Mwangaza needed only five years to take over the Kenyan government. Given that this prediction was made in the late nineties, one could argue that he was not that wide off the mark given the presence of Kiraitu, Anyang Nyongo and Muite at the very core of the Kenyan political leadership as we speak.
Mr Shaw, I am not obsessed with all these quaint anecdotes. My point is that you are a keen and active POLITICAL participant in contemporary Kenyan affairs even though you demure and speak otherwise. Whether or not you are still involved with Safina, the fact remains that you have organic ties with the same politicians that you excoriate and that is why I do not know the extent of your innocence when you say that:
“Like roads, much of our infrastructure rehabilitation will take time. But why make a bad thing worse by continuing to subject it to mediocre management? The cardinal rule is to first improve the management so as to halt the slide and improve performance where possible. I would take this argument further and say some of the government should be sacked and not for political considerations…”
Are you, Mr Shaw, just making a blunt observation as an economist or are you sending a subliminal coded message to perhaps, former professional colleagues now in government?
I will not speculate further.
In passing, I was just wondering: does your Institute for Economic Affairs have any affiliation with the UK based formation of a similar (not identical) name or the Ghana based one with an identical name? Both the UK and the Ghana formation seem to have a very open rightwing political agenda of plugging “free trade” and other laissez faire notions that seem to rail against government “interference” in the economy- a theme not exactly absent from the content of your own writings Mr Shaw.
Just for your reference, here are the links to the two bodies:
http://www.cipe.org/whats_new/events/confe...africa/orgs.htm
http://www.iea.org.uk/record.jsp?type=page&ID=23
Whether the Nairobi based IEA is a clone, a relative or an affiliate of the above, is ultimately neither here nor there.
4.0. The Politics in the Economics, the Economics in the Politics
I do not buy that “tuwache siasa” incantation that I have been hearing from many people lately. Yesterday, Manu Chandaria was urging us to forget about the politics and concentrate on growing the economy. The other day, another prominent Kenyan economist, President Mwai Kibaki, was asking wananchi to shun politics and concentrate on Maendeleo. And of course the head of state was just echoing the strident exhortations of his predecessor.
I find all these calls very disingenuous when I consider the fact that many of the top politicians in the country also happen to be prominent business people as well.
Take a look at the Top 20 Richest Families in Kenya:
1. The Ndegwa family-key players Andrew and James Ndegwa. Ruth and Alison Ndegwa; flagships: First Chartered Securities and Lion Place; interests: insurance, real estate development and marketing; manufacturing; shipping, banking; agriculture, horticulture, international investments;
2. The Kenyatta family- key players Muhoho and Uhuru Kenyatta. Flagships: Enke Management; prominent investments: Heritage Hotel and Brookside Dairy;
3. The Moi family- key players: Daniel arap Moi and Gideon Moi; Joshua Kulei. Interests: banking, insurance, large-scale farming, real estate, tourism, ranching, communications, aviation, international investments;
4. The Nyachae family. Key players: Simeon Nyachae, Charles Nyachae and Lee Nyachae. Flagship: Sansora Group through which family has substantial interests in banking, insurance, large scale wheat farming, food processing, transport, printing, real estate, construction, aviation, coffee and tea farming, horticulture, etc; most prominent business partner: Daniel arap Moi;
5. Chris Kirubi. Flagship- International Life House. Most prominent business partner: President Mwai Kibaki. Interests: real estate, manufacturing, agro-chem, pharmaceuticals, supermarkets, insurance, investment, banking, international courier service, media etc;
6. The Njonjo family. Business interests: banking insurance, real estate, manufacturing, communications, tourism, agriculture, horticulture, motor industry, aviation etc; key players: Charles Njonjo and his wife Margaret Nisbet; Key partners: Daniel arap Moi, Joshua Kulei, Jeremiah Kiereini, the Philip Ndegwa family, PK Jani and the late Bruce McKenzie;
7. James Kanyotu. Interests: tourism and hotel industry, large-scale coffee and tea farming, real estate, banking, insurance, manufacturing, motor industry etc; key partners: Daniel arap Moi, Charles Njonjo, Jeremiah Kiereini, GK Kareithi, Naushad Merali, the Kenyatta family and Kamlesh Pattni;
8. Nicholas Biwott. Interests:”Biwott is a secretive in his business operations as he has been in his politics. He is reputed to be one of the wealthiest Kenyans with substantial interests in petroleum, real estate, insurance, banking, manufacturing, agriculture etc. Biwott’s interests are said to spread in the region and abroad. Friends in high places: Daniel arap Moi";
9. George Saitoti. Interests: like Biwott, equally secretive. Among richest Kenyans with interests in horticulture, manufacturing, mining, real estate, agriculture, etc. Substantial investments outside the country;
10. Dick Evans: interests: through Homegrown, Dick Evans is the leading Kenyan player in the horticulture business.
11. Allesandro Torriani: interests-Swiss born, Mombasa based with investments in Funzi Kenya Resort in Kwale; fish, tea and coffee exports; property tycoon. Holding company is called Power House Ltd;
12. Joe Wanjui. Interests: insurance, supermarkets, banking and manufacturing, real estate, large-scale agriculture and ranching, horticulture, energy etc; Flagship: UAP Provincial Insurance; Close friend: President Mwai Kibaki.
13. Manu Chandaria. Interests: manufacturing, banking, insurance; Companies: Comcraft Group operates in six continents as holding company for almost 100 other companies like Mabati Rolling Mills, Galsheet Kenya and Kaluworks;
14. Naushad Merali. Business empire: The Sameer Group with interests in manufacturing, banking, insurance, construction, heavy steel manufacturing, motor assembly, large-scale coffee and tea farming, ranching, real estate, telecommunications, IT, overseas investments etc. Latest acquisitions- Kencell Communications. Partners: Daniel arap Moi, James Kanyotu, the Kenyatta family, the Ndegwa family, Horacious Da Gama Rose etc;
15. The Bayusuf Family. The brothers M.O. and A.M. Bayusuf have one of the largest heavy commercial transportation fleets in East and Central Africa with more than 500 trucks. They have also invested heavily in real estate and ranching.
16. Rashid Sajjad. Interests: owns Milly Grain Millers, Milly Glass Works, Milly Fruit Processors, import company Fehmi, a tannery in Athi River and prime properties in Mombasa and Nairobi. Biggest strength: high level political connections during the KANU regime.
17. The Zubedis. The brothers Mohamed (MP, East African Legislative Assembly) and Hakim own Gulf Electronics, a major importer of leading electronic brands like Samsung, LG and Aristo. Headquartered in Mombasa but operations extend to Nairobi and Eldoret. Just added the Nawal Centre to their stable.
18. The Bawazirs. Interests: used to be a partner of Rashid Sajjad. Mohamed Bawazir keeps a low profile. Involved in the international commodity trade and has substantial investments in prime properties and land.
19. John Harun Mwau. Interests: many but shrouded in mystery but included the fast expanding Nakumatt Holdings, Wines of the World, Green Corner Restaurant Ltd and the Pepe container freight station.
20. Njenga Karume. Interests: tourism and hotels, transport, large-scale coffee and tea farming, real estate. Friend in high places: President Mwai Kibaki.
(Source: Sunday Nation, November 16, 2003)
These individuals have zero credibility when they tell Kenyans to stop politicking and grow the economy when it is obvious that they became wealthy primarily through their political connections and remain politicians precisely because they want to be even richer.
Apart from these individuals, it is clear that we can not separate politics from economics.
For example let us look at the main economic problems we have in Kenya today.
Unemployment. Inflation. Falling Agricultural Prices. A Crippling Debt. Strenuous Interest payments. Balance of Trade deficits. Retrenchments. Decaying Infrastructure. Poor Health Facilities. Abysmal Housing. Retrenchment. Crime and Insecurity. Endemic Corruption. Excess Capacity. Dearth of Foreign Investment. We could add to the list, but let us stick with what we have at the moment.
What is the root cause of unemployment? Why is our agricultural sector so vulnerable? What are the origins of our crippling debt burden? Why are our roads, railways, airports and other infrastructure in such an acute state of disrepair? Why do millions of Kenyans live in rickety shacks, dilapidated huts and overcrowded slums? Why are so many of our children dying of preventable diseases? Why are foreign investors giving Kenya a wide berth? Why are our sugar mills experiencing excess capacity at a time when sugar imports are on the increase?
Do we find the answers to these questions in economic theories and models? Do we seek the assistance of history? Should we factor in the political context?
I would argue that taking any of the factors I have cited in the above paragraph in isolation-economics, politics, history, social class analysis etc- in isolation will give us a distorted, one sided picture that is more likely to contribute to FUTURE PROBLEMS rather than assist in mapping out VIABLE and SUSTAINABLE solutions.
5.0. Towards a Long Term Integrated Approach to National Economic Solutions
I would argue strongly for an INTEGRATED systems approach that looks at the POLITICAL ECONOMY of Kenya rather than just its economics and its politics as separate and isolated components that have nothing to do with each other.
You are one of our country’s best minds when it comes to the field of economics and I need hardly belabor this point much further.
Suffice to say that when I hear a Robert Shaw quip, “forget the politics, it is the rain that grows the economy” I know that he is not just being cute and cynical.
He is making the most FUNDAMENTAL of POLITICAL STATEMENTS.
Mr Shaw, as you know, there is a whole political movement that caters to this notion of getting politics out of the way of economic activities. This laissez faire approach has historically been associated with right wing bourgeois liberals. They are the people who would advocate for the North American Free Trade Agreement and the FTAA. They would support the proliferation of EPZs and would not be averse at giving foreign investors a carte blanche to siphon every little shilling they can get their hands on in terms of profit. This school of thought would urge governments to get out of the business of passing legislation that guarantees for example, the right to a living wage, the right to unionize, the right to strike, the right to work in a harassment free and discrimination free environment. These are the forces that would look the other way as a Canadian junior mining company tried to cajole its way into an unfair 14 year contract to strip mine titanium leaving indigenous coastal communities and their natural habitat all the worse for wear at the expiry of those one sided deals.
It worries me when I hear people using code words like “bureaucracy” to mask their impatience with Third World governments that remain reluctant to hand over chunks of their public sector to rapacious local and foreign capitalists eager to grab a former parastatal at fireside or throwaway prices before they start gutting it further, beginning, inevitably with massive retrenchment, using another code word, “efficiency and rationalization”.
All these apparently “non-political” moves are profoundly political.
Let us take a hypothetical case involving Kenya.
One of my contacts within the country happens to be very close to reasonably well-informed intelligence circles in Kenya. Not too long ago, they told me that the next big thing in Kenya was – wait for it- Lokichoggio.
At first I thought they were pulling my leg until they wowed me with some dazzling statistics. I found out that the northern Kenyan town close to the Sudanese border was quietly developing the reputation of a boom town. Already it boasted the second busiest airstrip after Wilson- catering to all those NGOs, which like famished, predatory vultures, have landed to feast on the carrions thrown up by the long running southern Sudanese conflict. I was also made to understand that many of the prominent political and economic players in Kenya were busy buying up chunks of Lokichoggio real estate with lightning speed. One name, certainly no slouch when it comes to savvy business investments was that of Nicholas Biwott, one of the richest individuals in the country and still a very formidable political force in Kenya.
All these scurrying and hurrying was predicated on one projection- the end of the Sudanese conflict with the Kenyan political-business class being among the top beneficiaries because of their covert support for the SPLA and their overt and ostentatious display as the honest brokers presumably leading the conflict transformation and peace building process. Now, Mr Shaw, you know that southern Sudan is not only that country’s breadbasket; it is also the site of many valuable natural resources apart from owning a fairly well educated, albeit, exile based intelligentsia and middle class, There are untold fortunes waiting to be made on both sides of the border if peace returns to that afflicted country. We could extend the projection to Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea and Djibouti- we are looking at a region that could collectively become a potential economic regional powerhouse on the African continent. And how about if there was stability in Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo?
Very powerful players would be rushing to east and central Africa to take advantage of the windfall. The South African barons of industry would have valid reasons to be worried about any sub-imperialist designs they would have on Africa north of the Limpopo. Reportedly, the Toronto based Barrick Gold (and they have George Bush the Father and former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney on their advisory board) have been active in the eastern Congo since the late 1990s.
Yet these delirious visions of individual fortunes CLASH SQUARELY with the historical aspirations of the millions of ordinary Kenyans, Sudanese, Somalis, Ethiopians, Eritreans, Ugandans, Rwandese, Burundians, Tanzanians etc who would hope that the collective wealth, stability and efficiency of their economies would help usher in genuine sustainable development as the region tackled the problems of unemployment, ill health, bad infrastructure, declining exports and all the other economic problems listed earlier.
At the end of the day therefore, it will DEPEND ON WHAT KIND OF POLITICAL CHOICES are made in Kenya for example.
We as Kenyans should start asking ourselves the following questions:
i. Should the so called donor countries be the ones determining our economic priorities via their remote controls from the White House, Whitehall, Berlin and Tokyo?
ii. Should we allow the IMF, the World Bank and soon, the WTO to determine the structure of our economy and the level of “acceptable numbers” of workers in the public sector for example?
iii. Should Tiomin come into Kenya and just strip mine for 14 years repatriating most of its profits?
iv. Is it acceptable for Kenya Airways to be virtually owned by the KLM?
v. How much is the banking sector contributing to rural development?
vi. Should Moi, Biwott, Nyachae, Raila, Kibaki, Sajjad or Chandaria be allowed to gobble up any parastatal that is put up for privatization?
vii. Should young Kenyan entrepreneurs within and outside the country be encouraged to bid successfully for example to become mobile operators?
viii. Is it acceptable that Uhuru Kenyatta and his cousin Beth Mugo own thousands of acres of land in Taita Taveta while the local people eke out a difficult existence in microscopic shambas?
ix. How about the remnants of the kaburu settlers who grabbed land during the colonial days in the highland areas?
x. Should powerful politicians be importing sugar at a time when sugar farmers in Muhoroni and Mumias are crying because they have fields full of rotting sugar cane?
xi. Why should tens of thousands of Kenyan women be forced into the sex trade just because there is no coherent gender sensitive national economic strategy to integrate them in self sustaining revenue generating activities?
xii. Why should hundreds of thousands of young Kenyan urban males be reduced to pick pocketing, ugongaji, car jacking and other forms of crime because the country’s political leadership is busy grabbing land, looting the Central Bank, spiriting their wealth abroad and accepting hefty kickbacks?
xiii. Why should we romanticize the mitumbaization of the Kenyan economy at a time when businessmen who set up textile plants are losing their life savings?
xiv. Why should a single mother who lives in Githurai be forced to walk all the way to her stall in Gikomba or Kariakor because she can not afford to be forking out over one hundred shillings every day to pay for transport as a result of the poorly thought out Michuki ‘matatu revolution”?
xv. Why should a family in the slums fear that their shack will be demolished by Raila’s tinga tingas?
xvi. Why should Kenyan women who work in the super profitable flower farms continue to be raped, underpaid and exposed to toxic working conditions?
xvii. Why should Kenyan workers forced to work in the EPZs be expected to grin and bear the subhuman conditions in their slave like factories?
xviii. Who gives a slumlord the right to kick out a family in the middle of the night because they can not afford to pay the sudden hiked rent?
xix. Will Kenyan working people have a say when the government decides to privatize water and other utilities?
xx. Is it humane and acceptable that a Kenyan woman, a mother of young twins has been imprisoned in a medical facility in Meru for the last one year because she could not clear the bill?
xxi. Is it fair and proper that the government keeps blathering on and on and on about fighting AIDS while Kenyans living with HIV and AIDS have to depend on Western Union remittances from their relatives and friends abroad? What is happening to the millions of dollars that has been pumped to the government and the NGOs claiming to battle this pandemic?
xxii. If Moi, Biwott, Saitoti, Oyugi, Sajjad, Kenyatta, Pattni or whoever has ill gotten wealth stashed abroad, will the NARC government follow the example of their Nigerian counterpart and have this money brought back into the country?
xxiii. When will we start seeing the Goldenberg crooks donning the new uniforms at Kamiti, Kodiaga, King'ong'o and Shimo la Tewa?
xxiv. Will the new Investment Code have a specific human rights component?
xxv. Will Kenyan communities that have been traditionally marginalized like the Pokot, the Rendille, the Turkana and the Maasai finally start benefiting from regional economic development that puts them at the centre of the process?
These twenty five questions of course, barely scratch the surface.
But they serve to underscore one of the central points that I have been making all along:
Kenyans need to have a long term, integrated, NATIONAL approach if we are serious about solving the serious economic problems we have in this country.
6.0. Going Back to Bomas and the Zero Draft
Mr Shaw, in your April 4, 2004 Sunday Standard piece you say:
“…Yes, we desperately need a new or significantly revised constitution and it can be argued that it is a necessary cornerstone for peace and prosperity in the future. But, as things stand, it is not helping put food on the table or provide more jobs and other gainful opportunities. One can argue it has done the opposite because it has overshadowed and dominated the political space so disproportionately that there is little time and energy left for key developmental issues and agendas…”
With all due respect, this supercilious attitude veers very close to the border of patronizing contempt for the 629 delegates who slogged it at Bomas to cobble together a new constitution for Kenya. Conveniently overlooked in your acerbic remarks is the fact that a very large portion of the constitutional review process was taken up with matters that touched DIRECTLY on the economy.
For example, here is a submission from the then MP for Wundanyi, not the present Marxist Secretary General of FORD-People whom you rubbed shoulders with at Safina, but the former St. Stephen’s choir master and cabinet minister, Darius Mbela:
http://www.kenyaconstitution.org/docs/11d011.htm
He is talking about land rights as human rights.
Here is the contribution of 15 women leaders from Malindi and Meru:
http://www.kenyaconstitution.org/docs/11d013.htm
Clearly underlining the fact that there can be NO development which is not gender sensitive.
And below is the presentation of the Kenya National Association for the Deaf:
http://www.kenyaconstitution.org/docs/11d014.htm
Again underscoring the centrality of integrating people with disabilities in all social, economic and political activities.
Read these extracts from William Ole Ntimama’s presentation:
“During the advent of colonialism most African communities lost their land
to the marauding colonialists. It is the Maasai Community, which lost most
of the land, which was turned into European Settlement – they lost millions
of acres of land. Unwritten History shows that there was a massive forceful
movement of the Maasai Community from their lands and territories of the
Rift Valley to what was known as Southern Reserves. We lost hundreds of
young morans who were trying to resist the push, women and children died of
hunger and exhaustion the livestock was confiscated to feed British troops.
The Maasai were the first community to challenge the illegal forceful
removal from their lands. We took our case to the highest Court in the
British Empire, the Privy Council. Unfortunately we lost the Court case and
lost in the battlefield.
“A noble and moral crusade is gathering momentum round the world where
victims of oppression, repression and dispossession are struggling to be
compensated for lost lands and territories and for reparation for lost
lives. What Kenyatta bequeathed the children of Mumbi in his book of Facing
Mount Kenya is relevant to the Maasai. The children of Lemayian and
Naipanoy, the dead, the living and the unborn will always say ‘give us back
our lands’. This is directed to heirs and successors…”
And John Boru Sosu Halake, hailing from Marsabit in northern Kenya said among other things:
“I do not understand why in the 21st century, there are people who call
themselves pastoralists and roaming around looking for pasture, water etc.
If the old constitution never took care of such people, it is incumbent
upon the new constitution, to see that such people who call themselves
Kenyans are settled once and for all. The new constitution should for all
intent and purpose encourage sedentary lifestyle. I don't know how? In
Europe, there were such people called gypsies who are no longer roaming
after the Industrial Revolution and even in the Middle East, the Arabs on
the discovery of oil are no longer pastoralists. Why should in Kenya 38
years after Uhuru people are still looking for water and pasture to feed
their animals, this negates political and economic development of a given
people. It is foolhardy to glorify pastoralism today. Water should be a
right for the people who own the constitution and not a privilege as it is
made to appear currently...”
Peter Kibisu, former MP and assistant minister said in part:
“3. 5.80 – Rights of workers and trade unions:
5 80 of the current constitution should be amplified to specifically
include the following rights of workers and their trade unions:-
(a) the right to work under satisfactory, safe and healthy conditions,
(b.) equal pay for equal work – without discrimination,
(c.) rest from work, reasonable work hours, period of holidays including
public holidays, all with pay,
(d) form or join unions for promotion and protection of the workers’
economic and social interests,
(e) to collective bargaining and general representation,
(f) to withdrawal of labour according to law,
(g) female workers shall be accorded protection during pregnancy and after
birth in accordance with the law.”
And here is a portion of the contribution of the Migori District NGO Network:
“10.0. Basic rights
10.1. The Constitution should also provide for social, economic and
cultural rights. Loopholes or oversights in the current constitution which
allow the rich and powerful in society to have unlimited access and control
over the country’s resources at the expense of the ordinary/common
wanainchi should be sealed.
10.2. For example, in the following cases:
-When balloting for plots for low income areas and persons already owning
posh properties still “get lucky”;
-Children of the well-to-do having failed still win scholarships and
bursary funds meant for the less well to do;
-Facilitating entry to good schools for rich students who have failed
examinations.
10.3. he new Constitution should be specific and firm in determining which
cultural values and rights should be retained or discarded for the sake of
development, equity, unity and peace.
10.4. There should be clear statements against cattle rustling, female
genital mutilation (FGM) as opposed to female circumcision, wife
inheritance and associated taboos and harmful initiations and oath taking.
10.5. The new Constitution should provide for free and compulsory primary
education. For the secondary education, a streamlined and enhanced bursary
scheme should put in place.
10.5. The Constitution should also provide for an elaborate national health
reform programme that incorporates medical supplies, capacity building,
health infrastructure, post training national service, community based
health insurance scheme.
11.0. Land and property rights
11.1. The Constitution should provide for the following:
- 11.1.1 A ceiling on the amount of land a Kenyan citizen should own for
his/her subsistence and the total amount that can be set aside for
commercial use;
- 11.1.2. Restrictions or controls on land ownership by foreigners.
- 11.1.3. Simplification of land transfers, inheritance and making the
process less expensive for citizens.
- 11.1.4. Both sexes to have access and entitlement to land but certain
control mechanisms especially in the disposition of inherited land should
be put into place.
11.2. The issue of pre-independence land treaties should undergo reviewing
within the new Constitution in the light of the current and future
population growth and pressure on land in Kenya. If this is done, everybody
will feel secure as and wherever they have made permanent domicile. The
Constitution should bar any treaties or agreements that will mean any forms
of absentee land ownership of large blocks of land.
11.3. The Constitution should allow Kenyans to own land anywhere but the
already mentioned tendencies for persons or groups to acquire and horde
large pieces of land everywhere should be controlled.
12.0. Management and use of natural resources
12.1. There should be adequate protection of water catchment areas and
sources of water and the populations around them. Unpopular excisions
serving only political interests , encroachment and pollution should be
outlawed by the Constitution and not just by local authority by laws or
ministerial ordinances which are being flouted or ignored.
12.2. Outdated treaties such as the one with a North African country
(Egypt) putting strictures on the utilization of Lake Victoria waters
should be reviewed and the rights to its use for development purposes by
Kenyans living along it be adequately reflected in the Constitution.
12.4. Despite the fact that environment is part and parcel of a person’s
active livelihood, there has been inadequate provision in the constitution
for environmental protection and conservation. Government policies have been
so erratic that it appears that the roles are reversed with the private
sector trying to protect the rape of the environment and natural resources
by government agencies.
12.5. Since independence Kenya has lost 40% of its forest and 48% of its
wildlife habitat largely through official corruption. The Constitution
should provide for the harmonization of management of natural resources
with the indigenous expertise. Increased portion of the income earned from
the exploitation of natural resources must be ploughed back into the
improvement of the same. Environment should not be treated to inoperative
Acts and committees.
12.6. The Constitution should be clear on the criteria for identifying arid
and semi-arid areas, public development inputs and a clear strategy for
mobilizing local and other resources for sustainable growth in these areas.
The ASALs should not be left to the whims of any donors who may be
interested.
12.7. The Constitution should empower specific area boards to deal with
land issues including allocation so that land reserved for certain
utilities and actually having certain facilities already constructed on
them are not given away through the collusion of the agents of lands
ministry and the executive.”
And here is what the Muslim Consultative Council had to say:
“…Over time, glaring social disparities were recognizable in all spheres
especially the economic. Poverty, even by today's accounts continues to be
more pronounced within Muslim Communities. As development goes, the Muslim
areas continue to suffer from inadequate or out rightly absent
infrastructure. Schools within the Muslim predominated areas continue to
post the worst education results in the republic. Muslim regions are still
infested with insecurity and still regarded by government and its servants
as hardship areas to which postings could only mean disciplinary action.
Natural disasters and calamities have also had their toll on the resources
and will power of a number of Muslim Communities especially those from the
rural areas. After periods of prolonged droughts or unforeseen floods,
relief activities and interventions are, if not solely provided by, at
least coordinated by Missionary Organisations with the support of the
Government. Opportunities for small-scale businesses and perhaps industrial
level ventures by Muslims are limited due to inaccessibility of local
interest free credit, '['lie rates of employment among Muslim youth are
only impressive in the non-skilled labour sector. The over — concentration
by many employers on non- Islamic principles and practices in the workplace
limit employment opportunities for the Muslims generally and for the Muslim
Women particularly…”
Ahmed Issack Hassan, one of the CKRC commissioners gave a very lengthy perspective on the experiences of Kenyans (mostly ethnic Somalis) from the North Eastern Province:
“…One of the most visible legacies of the emergency Law period in the region is the state of underdevelopment in all aspects of life. The government's energies and resources were largely directed towards security and the maintenance of Law and Order. Its policy has been described as one of containment and not engagement. No constructive or meaningful development ever took place during this period. Indeed, over 80% of the region's budget was always spent on security leaving nothing for development. The net result is that the region is today the most underdeveloped and marginalized in Kenya. There are very few institutions of higher learning in the region. At Independence, there were only 2 Primary Schools in the whole of N.F.D. - one in Wajir and another in Isiolo. The level of illiteracy in the area is over 80% while over 85% of the people live below the poverty line (which is approx. USD.1 per day by U.N. standards). There are no major health facilities in the area. The infrastructure of the region is deplorable. While the region covers over 130,000 sq. kms, it has only 6 kms of tarmac road. Education standards in the region are poor due to the lack of adequate facilities. The performance of the students from the region in the National Examinations is consistent - the poorest results and lowest marks. The whole of N.E.P. sends to the Public Universities a fraction of what 1 school in Nairobi sends. Suffice to state that the region's cry for affirmative action and a marshal plan for development is not without merit. The affirmative action required is mostly in the Education Sector and in the Public Service i.e. lower entry points for admission to Public Universities and middle level colleges, recruitment in the Public Service and disciplined forces, etc. The marshal plan for development entails quantitative and qualitative increase in educational and health institutions, the road network, tax incentives for investors in the region, etc.
“The state of underdevelopment is often cited as evidence of marginalization. The lack of government support to develop the market for the livestock industry, which is the main economic activity of the region, and the location of the Kenya Meat Commission at Athi River, far away from the N.F.D, is cited as marginalization of the people and the region. Government Policy of declaring that Agriculture was the backbone of the Kenyan economy, which excluded the livestock sector in the scheme of things, was the key to marginalization. No effort was made to harness the potentials in the livestock sector. There are no marketing or development board or research institute for the livestock sector unlike in the other sectors of the Kenyan economy e.g. Coffee Board of Kenya, KTDA, Pyrethrum Board, NCPB, N.I.B., K.T.B., K.A.R.I., K.E.F.R.I., etc. Had the livestock sector been fully developed, the fortunes of the region would have been improved quite significantly. Botswana and Somaliland are often cited as good examples of countries that earn a lot from the livestock sector. The statutory definition of the boundary of Garissa District to exclude the River Tana from its territory (the "3-mile rule") is also said to manifest the marginalization that remained from the emergency period. Government control on the movement for sale of livestock from the region to other parts of Kenya and the lack of good communication network such as tarmac roads for the border towns in the N.F.D such as Garissa and Mandera in N.E.P. and Moyale in Eastern Province which form the border towns for Kenya with Somalia and Ethiopia respectively as compared to the development of the road networks of other border towns such as Namanga and Taveta for Tanzania, Busia and Malaba for Uganda and Lodwar for the Sudan, has similarly been cited as evidence of Malignant marginalization. So too is the failure by government planners to group the Kenyan Somalis as one tribe like the others in Kenya instead of sub-dividing them into sub-clans and others during the National Population Census…”
When I was in Nairobi last year, I had an opportunity of attending some of the sessions at Bomas. I was quite impressed by the seriousness, intelligence and dedication of the delegates when they spoke about a whole range of issues. Two of them stand out- one representing the Samburu community and one representing the Pokot people. They were all adamant that the new constitution should guarantee the right of communities to have direct control over the local natural, mineral resources and be the first beneficiaries of any economic windfalls arising therein.
Many of these written and oral presentations were part of the constitutional review process.
That is why I share the outrage of the Bomas delegates when I see, read or hear people haughtily, derisively and in a condescending manner pooh, pooh their well researched and well thought out contributions.
The Zero Draft is a draft but I think it is faithful in capturing many of the sentiments and demands in most, if not all of the extracts cited above.
Can we look briefly at that Zero Draft for a moment together, Mr Shaw?
I am hazarding a guess that you already have your copy, but to my other readers(you must have noticed by now that I have copied over two hundred other people and will post this essay in at least seven Kenyan online forums) I will include a link where one can access a digital version of the constitution:
http://www.kenyaconstitution.org/docs/cons...nbychapters.htm
As you can see, it is a fairly long document. We are NOT going to go through it paragraph by paragraph, section by section. For now, I just want us to look at a single chapter- the one on Public Finance. Let me just reproduce the headings before I conclude the point I am making:
“CHAPTER FIFTEEN : PUBLIC FINANCE
”Part I –Principles and Objects of Public Finance Management
236. Principles and objects of public finance and revenue management
237. Imposition of tax
238. Taxation
”Part II –Taxation
239. Devolved governments’ shares of national funds
240. Legislation
”Part III –Funds for holding Public Money
241. Consolidated Fund
242. Withdrawals from Consolidated Fund
243. Revenue Funds for devolved governments
244. Contingency Fund
”Part IV –Borrowing
245. Borrowing by Government
246. Borrowing by devolved governments
247. Public debt
248. Loan guarantees by governments
”Part V –Budget
249. Principles
250. National annual estimates
251. Appropriation Bills
252. Annual budget of devolved governments
”Part VI –Financial Management
253. Procurement of public goods and services
254. Accounts and audit of public institutions
255. Treasury control
256. Controller of Budget
257. Auditor-General
”Part VII –Institutions
258. National Revenue Authority
259. Commission on Revenue Allocation
260. Central Bank of Kenya
261. Functions of Central Bank
262. Economic and Social Council”
The simple point I am making is this:
The Zero Draft is as much an ECONOMIC document as it is political, cultural or social and therefore, its minute examination falls very much within the ambit of a distinguished Kenyan economist like yourself, especially someone with your pedigree political connections to the Anyang Nyongos, Paul Muites and Kiraitu Murungis.
Is it a coincidence that the language of “non-politics” that you speak in your Standard column seems to be an echo of what President Kibaki, Minister Anyang Nyongo and legislator Paul Muite are mouthing in other contexts?
7.0. Formulating a Wanjiku Driven National Economic Recovery Plan for Kenya
Let me conclude by invoking the name of this famous, yet mythical Kenyan woman called Wanjiku. She exists as the embodiment of our national aspirations, yet she dissolves into the subjective wish list of this or that assorted politician using the Wanjiku metaphor or motif with impunity for ephemeral expediency.
I am talking about Wanjiku in the sense of the collective demands and strivings of the Kenyan people to live in a society that is free, a society that is independent, and a nation that is prosperous, united and harmonious. I trust in our people’s collective intelligence, even if it means a stumble here and a prat fall there.
The Bomas Draft gave us an imperfect document to work with; but it provided us with the perfect mindset: let us think of Kenya first and let us place the humblest Kenya at the forefront of all our struggles, our plans, our policy formulations.
Here is not the place to go into detail about what could be some of the components of a Wanjiku Driven National Economic Recovery Plan-a lot of it is already implicit in the discussion , exposition and arguments that I have brought forth up to this point.
A further elaboration is reserved for a follow up essay. It is inching towards three o’clock in the morning and I have been writing for the last six hours…
Onyango Oloo
Montreal
Monday, April 05, 2004
2:44 am EST