WELCOME TO NAIROBI!
Recently Kenyans went to the ballot box to elect a man that is wanted by the International Criminal Courts for crimes against humanity. Uhuru Kenyatta, son of the Jomo Kenyatta, leading figure for Kenya's independence, has won the second mutli-party presidential election.
THE REVOLUTION WILL BE BROUGHT TO YOU BY AL-JAZEERA AND THE
ECONIMST
10 million Kenyans
showed up to the polls, A higher turnout rate (70 percent) than other African
nations and some western countries. The high turnout rate shows that Kenyans
are beginning to have more trust in the political institutions that reflect
their interests. This is the first election that the debates were televised.
Moreover,
in 2010 Kenyans voted for a new constitution which limited and defined the
functions of all three branches of the government as well as underwent a
decentralization process to include 47 new counties. The new constitution also expanded social,
cultural and economic rights. This is a major shift away from the previous
constitution drafted by the British during the pre-independence era that fostered an environment for weak political institutions to thrive.
Despite the political advancements
the Government of Kenya has made over the years there are still major issues
that need to be resolved.
THE CALCULUS OF ETHNIC ARITHMETIC
In the
aftermath of the last election in 2007 the Kenya National Council on Human Rights conducted a detailed
investigation on police brutality which stated that the police may have been
involved in the extra-judicial execution of 500 people in a four month period,
from June 2007 to October.
The report
called The Cry of Blood which documented massive crackdown which was in
response to the Mungki gang violence that took place after the 2007 elections,
Mwai Kibaki, vowed to crack down on the gang.
The
investigators collected reports from family, friends and eye witnesses that said
that the suspects were taken arbitrarily, and had disappeared or were later
found in a mortuary. Many of the autopsy reports by the pathologists have found
multli-gun shot wounds that have drawn further suspicion.
The report outlined numerous anecdotes that illustrate
police brutality:
- Kimani Ruo was acquitted in the court of law, on charges of gang affiliation and was later approached by police and mysteriously disappeared but was later found dead.
- Mark Mwenesi, director of a youth program known as the Youth Empowerment center and an organizer for the Christian organization “World Vision” was killed after an altercation with the police after he denied any association with the “Mengaki” gang.
- Many of the police officers bribed family members of the suspect in exchange for releasing them. The Police order men such as Geoffrey Kung’u, a shoe salesman, Jamleck Maina, truck driver, to pay large sums of money or be executed.
- One of the most graphic examples of police brutality occurred when the police viciously attacked Kagunda wa Mbui A mason, and father of eight children with wooden bats, and gun butts, for three hours. The police decide to apprehend the man because of his dreadlocks which they associated with gangs even though the Mbui said it was a part of his religious tradition. The man died after the police took him to a barbershop and forced him to get his haircut.
Violence is nothing
new to Kenya , since Kenya became a colonial outpost for the Anglo kingdom
until Kenya ’s
independence 150,000 people were killed. The tension between the British and
native population culminated to a violent apex during the Mau Mau uprising’s
spearheaded by the Kikuyu tribe. The battle ended occupation and more than
12,000 Kenyans died. In 1946 the British governor stubbornly stated “This is
our land and the Africans will have to deal with it.”
There are parallels that can be drawn between ethnic clashes today and Britain ’s
“Scramble for Africa ” policy fifty years ago. For
example, when the British crown delineated boundaries for British East Africa (Kenya ) it carved out territories close to Uganda that
crossed ten cultural groups. Similarly, Queen Victoria
moved the border between Kenya
and Tanzania
so that she can give her grandson Mt Kilimanjaro. Given this
history it’s not surprising why violence has erupted in the Rift Valley which
is situated near the Uganda
border.
Ethnic divisions are also reflected in politics. For example, in 2010,
the Luo, along with the Luhya and Somalis voted in favor of the new constitution while the Kalenjin voted
against it. The manifestation of ethnic division surfaced again when
presidential candidate Raila Odinga tried to build a
tribal coalition but couldn’t because of the animosity between Kikuyu his base, the Luhya on the one side and the and
the Kelijan
on the other.
ARE THE BIG MEN TOO BIG TO FAIL?
Ethnic tension is not the only political impediment Kenya faces.
Another
major issue is corruption. In 2008, the Mars Group Kenya released a damning report
that exposed the largest corruption scandal in the history, when 18 government
contracts were rewarded to the Anglo Leasing and Financing Limited company, a company that did not exist.
The
report calculated that the money spent on these fictitious projects was
equivalent to 68 percent of money needed for physical infrastructure projects
and 37 times more expensive than governmental water projects that encompasses
65 percent of Kenya's land and could service more than 70 percent of the population. Two contracts
alone ($2 Billion Kish )
accounted for 1/4th of the Government of Kenya’s Health Budget.
The report found
that none of the 18 contracts were documented for the Parliament to see as
required under section 5 of the External Loans and Credit Act. The five year
scandal (1997-2004) was the biggest corruption scandal in Kenya ’s history and ended up costing the
government 56 billion Kish
($2 Billion.)
Journalist
John Githongo, observed that the projects did not start until the fictitious
companies began to receive debt payments.
"The Implication of this was that the bogus financing companies used the Government's money to implement the projects and then proceeded to charge interest on what are in truth fictitious loans by the government to itself" Githongo said.
This case study is part of a larger problem associated with African governments
using parastals, and public corporation as part of a large patron-client system
to set up an economy which benefits a burgeoning bureaucracy rather providing
for the needs of average citizens.
The recent presidential debate illuminated this issue further:
Domestic issues such as corruption and ethnic tensions are not the only
issues that the Kenyatta will have to deal with. Another major issue is
containing the spread of violence that is occurring within its neighboring
state Somalia where the United States
has increased is actively involved. North-East Kenya still has a large Somalia ethnic
community that feels a greater loyalty to their ancestral homeland.
According to the World Justice Project 2012 Rule of Law Index Kenya scored relatively low in the area of government accountability (ranks 75/97 "Limiting Government Powers") and corruption (91/97). However, Kenya has a better record on government transparency than its African counterparts (5/18). This election season could give Kenya the opportunity to assert a stronger role in the continent which could potentially transform the country as the face of Africa to the rest of the world. However, if Uhuru Kenyatta does not use this opportunity to make serious reforms, than Kenyans' aspirations and goals will turn into public cynicism which will have drastic consequences for the East African nation.
Get your statistics right,plus the spelling.
ReplyDeleteThanks though.