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Norma63's Blog
Norma63's Blog
Post-Independent Leadership Failure in Western/ Coastal Kenya Evident
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Kenya has been in the news lately for the wrong reasons: a disputed election which has resulted in violence across the country, especially in zones perceived to be opposition dominated i.e. the Western region, coastal districts, and the slums in the major towns. Western Kenya is one of the most agriculturally endowed regions in the country; yet hybrid maize and sugarcane are the major food crops grown. Malnutrition is therefore rampant. The coastal districts enjoy a moderate climate, also suitable to agricultural activity; and in addition, are an entry point and home to the country’s tourist industry. Tourism has emerged as the number one foreign exchange earner in the country. The human/wildlife conflict has been blamed for food insecurity in the area. Both Western Kenya and the coastal districts host some of the most impoverished populations in the country. In fact, according to Muthoni Thang’wa, there appears to be over a century’s divide between Kenya’s tribes, borne of half truths, and social stratification (1a) : ‘Kenya comprises of two types of people…These are defined as those who are looking into the 21st century and others who will not get out of the 18th century.’


Kenya has been independent for forty-four years. During all this time, Kenya has had only 3 presidents. And while Western Kenya is readily recognized as home to malnutrition and HIV/AIDS (according to government statistics), the coastal districts are renowned for extreme poverty and starvation. While Western Kenya has been home to hybrid maize/ sugarcane cultivation since the independence years (responsible for communal malnutrition), the Coastal districts periodically rely on the support of the World Food Programme (WFP). The feeding programmes in the area are necessary just to keep children in school; without the programmes, young girls are married off early just so that the family can keep starvation at bay. Yet just this week, the WFP announced plans to suspend food aid (1b).


The causes of extreme poverty in both areas are rooted in colonial agricultural/ tourist policies which remain in place to date. Hybrid maize/ sugarcane contribute to malnutrition in Western Kenya while ‘wildlife reserves contribute to food insecurity’ due to land poverty in the coastal area. Most coastal lands are devoted to tourism i.e. wildlife reserves and the money-minting hotel industry. For their sacrifices in land utilization, the people do not benefit significantly from the lucrative industry. Extreme poverty handicaps people in many ways. The dream for the majority of people from these areas is to land a civil service job. If this fails then private sector jobs, which are too competitive (and too few considering the high population of young people), provide a ray of hope for the majority. While the tourism sector absorbs a significant number of young coastal peoples, youths from Western Kenya continue to serve as sources of cheap migrant labor, just as their forebears have done for the past one hundred years. The people still subsist on a colonial diet that is known to underdevelop the body’s systems, including the immune system and intellectual capacity. As traditional patriarchal practices like wife-inheritance and the taking of child brides increase in the community, some of the leaders of these communities have been known to celebrate these as ‘African culture’.


One of the lasting legacies that Kenya’s founding presidency bestowed on Central Kenyans was an economic advantage and a development agenda that actually enhanced the peoples’ development capacities. Practices like ear-mutilation and female circumcision (which were viewed as backward) were quietly eradicated; plastic surgery has eradicated any vestiges of so-called ‘primitive behavior’. In addition, they were enabled to buy land anywhere in Kenya. Subsequently, investment in health care, both curative and preventive, has begun to produce dividends; while other communities are still preoccupied with high birth rates and witchcraft (both common in malnourished communities due to high infant mortality rates), Central Kenyan communities are well on their way to integrating into the global capitalistic system. To help reduce communal malnutrition, these communities have entrenched a diversity of foods in their ‘traditional food’ (Irio is a mash of greens, Irish potatoes, peas or beans with a sprinkling of green maize served with meat when available). In contrast, the rich crop diversity that was the norm in Western Kenya has disappeared due to the impact of hybrid maize. While a child in Western Kenya is weaned on hybrid maize porridge, a child from central Kenya feeds on the nutrient dense Irio mash. It is not surprising that Western Kenya has been hardened into a source of cheap migrant labour.


If one were to get a glimpse of human settlement across modern Kenya (in fast motion), one would probably notice that Central Kenyans who have chosen to settle in Western Kenya are propertied; some have even bought large tracts of land. In contrast, a majority of the migrant laborours from Western Kenyans land in the slums of cities and towns. Worse, cash crops attract different price tags if one is farming in Central Kenya compared to if one is farming in Western Kenya. For example, in Mutoro’s book we find a significant differential in the pricing of tea (2): “on a one hectare basis, a farmer in North Maragoli (in Western Kenya) earned approximately KShs. 10,500 (the current exchange rate is roughly KShs.70 to $1) per annum when his/ her counterpart in Embu earned approximately KShs 63,000, the one in Kirinyaga KShs 94,000, in Muranga KShs 69,000 (all the latter ones are in central Kenya) and nationally KShs 59,000 per annum in 1991/ 1992 ( Kenya Tea Development Authority-KTDA- figures)… Higher prices are obtained in tea-growing areas East of the Rift Valley (Leonard 1991) where farmers have been able to produce high quality tea. Small scale farmers to the East of the Rift Valley were incorporated into tea farming earlier... Price incentives seem to have worked better and favoured farmers in the Eastern zone”. From the above, it can be seen that Western Kenya is not supposed to benefit from small-scale tea cultivation; hence the lack of incentives in the area.


The last sentence in the above quotation seems to summarize what is so wrong with Kenya- the nation-state: some populations have been set up to thrive and compete successfully in the modern economy while others have been condemned to a constant uphill struggle. For some populations, the ‘colonial state’ still governs their lives through proxy, while in others, colonial and postcolonial machinations continue to harden ethnic disparities. It is no wonder that Prof. Ogot talks of ‘tribal states’: "In Kenya, as in most African countries, people don’t live in a nation state. They live in a state with a nation still to be built” (3). The Annan group is trying to do what Kenya’s leadership has failed to do in 44 years. Kenya's leaders run the country as a diversity of tribal kingdoms, favouring some and neglecting others, but mortagaging the resources of the whole country to do this. Programes are designed and implemented from the centre; it is no surprise that they continue to harden the ethnic identities of the people. Most programmes are deliberated on and passed in parliament. Parliamentary elections every five years ensure that every part of the country is represented. However, the actual needs of the people in some areas are deliberately neglected because the executive has been this far able to ‘buy’ legislators across the political divide whenever necessary in order to enforce its will.


It has long been an accepted fact that Western Kenya Members of Parliament (MPs) and to some extent Coastal MPs are notorious for being ‘easily bought’. The excesses of the executive are therefore defended by the very people who should be protecting their own communities/ constituencies. This is true for most MPs or senior civil servants from marginalized tribes. The most vociferous defenders of the current Kibaki/ Odinga impasse on Kibaki’s side are legislators from some of the highly marginalized areas. While their high positions can mislead a casual observer that Kenya is properly governed by legislators from across the country, the truth is that they facilitate executive autocracy and impunity, just to retain their positions. The Prime Minster’s position in Kenya is an issue that has been contentious for many years and many Kenyans have lost their lives in the quest for an Executive Prime Minister’s position to share the immense powers of the Presidency. The fact that this has failed confirms the impunity and by extension the skewed utilization of the nation’s resources. Kenya’s resources are treated as private property for the lucky chief executive and his cohorts. The world has lately witnessed first hand the gravity of such immense powers in the substandard elections whose results are now being contested. Before the elections, the President ignored Opposition concerns that he was single-handedly appointing nominees to the Electoral Commission; their concerns were ignored. The partisan conduct of the commission during and after the elections was therefore not surprising. In spite of this embarrassing performance, the former UN Secretary General, Koffi Annan-led talks (backed by the international community) have found it hard to convince the current executive of the need to share power (4). To oppose the Anna-led initiatives, hardliners have invoked ‘democratic ideals’ whenever it suits their convenience e.g. ‘we must follow the constitution for any changes, or any grievances must be channeled through the courts. Fortunately, reason has prevailed and the two sides have finally signed a power-sharing agreement. We wait with hope to see how the agreement will be implemented.


In the meantime, Kenya has suffered tremendously: while Western Kenyans have removed Central Kenyans from their midst through violent means (many have died or been maimed in the process), Central Kenyans have doing the same to Western Kenyans. Thousands of Kenyans have become internally displaced persons (IDPs), although a few have crossed neighbouring East African borders. And as the IDPs return to their impoverished lands, they find only more poverty (5). It has been alleged in some newspaper articles that relief camps in Western Kenya have been ignored by the government. This would seem to be a continuation of the established historical pattern.


The Kenya of yesterday, it seems, is gradually dying and the leaders are too preoccupied with retaining power to notice. If you talk to the ordinary Western Kenyan, they will tell you that they no longer wish to be ruled by the current centralized system. They no longer trust their leaders and are watching keenly the outcome of the Annan talks in order to complete the ‘reorganization’ of the country. This is a very dangerous position for any country to be in. Yet Kenya’s leaders remain oblivious to the impending peril, blaming only each other for the violence. How they intend to govern such a polarized country remains to be seen. Most of the ongoing violence is spontaneous and stems from many years of neglect, frustrations and poverty. A regular columnist, Barrack Muluka summarizes the feelings thus (6): “They (the people) have a right to remedy the situation, including asking international good Samaritans to save them from their leaders."


Today’s Kenya is not run like a nation state; this is why the populations are not homogeneous. It is easy to see why absolute power is so attractive. Leaders from Western/ Coastal Kenya in the past have tended to enjoy the benefits that come with their office without really addressing mass concerns, a contrast to the relationship between Central Kenya leaders and their people. This is why the colonial state in the two regions cited persists. By trying to forcibly re-arrange the country, Kenyans are telling their leaders that they can no longer tolerate the excesses of an all-powerful presidency: they want regional governance. That is why they are keenly watching and waiting for the outcome of the Annan-brokered agreement. Leaders from Western/ Coastal Kenya who are fond of disregarding the will of the people had better pay attention. They should learn to earn their keep by initiating true development in affected regions. The impunity of the Presidency is only possible because legislators are ‘easily bought’.


These are not my words. They are the words of many Kenyans who know this to be a fact, and in fact joke about it all the time. Retired President Moi once put a price tag to Western MPs: KShs.5,000. It is probably higher today considering the current salaries of the MPs, which are considered to be some of the highest in the world. It has been alleged that President Kibaki deliberately elevated the salaries to such high levels in order to facilitate the formation of his government of national unity (GONU), thus weakening the opposition. While he did this in contravention of the constitution which describes Kenya as ‘a multiparty democracy’, the same constitution was invoked when the ruling party initially rejected a power-sharing arrangement to solve the political crisis, insisting that it would kill the opposition (7-8). Ironically, it is this large salary increase that first drew the masses' attention to the affluence of their leaders (in addition to mega corruption scandals- please see earlier articles in this blog). It seems that, in the future, if Kenyan leaders want to live well, mass concerns must be seen to be addressed for everybody. The alternative seems to be continued disintegration of the nation state. The ball is in the court of the leaders from the most marginalized communities.


The Kenyan people (like most SSAns) have finally figured out after the contested elections that ‘impunity pays’. In the Kenya of yesterday, powerful executives have gotten away with murder, theft dishonesty. Budding Kenyan leaders have been killed just because they had a different view on an idea. Many have run away to escape the same. Githongo is a recent example (see my previous article on impunity). Today’s Kenya reflects the ‘ethnic lenses’ through which the people are governed. The theft and destruction reflects the same at the leadership level. The Kenyans of tomorrow expect tangible changes in the way they are governed. Kenya will be better off if, after the current destabilization, the leadership starts listening to Kenya's people and crediting them with some modicum of intelligence. Kenyans are not as stupid as the leadership makes them out to be. They tolerate and internalize the leaders’ examples from day to day… until they snap.



PLEASE NOTE:


(a) Kenya’s Northern tribes (and also the Maasai) have deliberately been left out of this narrative . They have been neglected by both the colonial and post colonial governments. The Northern communities are mostly Muslim, and their diets are guided by the dictates of their Muslim faith and their environment. For example they do not eat maize if they can help it. Their human development index is highest in the country, followed by that of Central Kenyans (please see earlier articles). Despite the economic marginalization, they have a lower disease burden than the average. In the desire for some form of self determination, maybe Kenyan peoples are coming to the realization that colonial handicaps are killing them 44 years after independence. Jaramogi Oginga Odinga first raised this issue soon after independence (in his book ‘Not Yet Uhuru’). For his efforts, he was marginalized and even imprisoned. Leaders from Western Kenya had better emulate Central Kenya leaders and facilitate the diversification of agriculture for their people; this is the reason they are leaders. Coastal and Northern Kenyan leaders must start insisting on a greater stake in the country’s fortunes; otherwise, the bulk of our tourism income will continue to find its way to foreign shores.



(b) The high economic growth of the Kibaki years left most of the poor out, even in Central Kenya. This has seen the resurgence of ‘traditionalization’ among poor Kikuyu youth like the Mungiki who urge their followers to return to their traditional ways. Forced female circumcision is one of their contested advocations.



(c). There has been a war of words between two Kenyan publishers (Mvule Africa and East African Educational Publishers) over the re-writing of certain paragraphs in Ngugi’s book ‘The River Between,’ which is a set book in Kenyan schools (9).It would appear that the purpose of this editing is to tone down what may appear as ‘ethnic chauvinism’ to certain Kenyan tribes. That this exercise is even necessary is a reflection of the ‘intellectual mindset’ that characterizes the Kenya of yesterday. I doubt that a Tanzanian (Tanzania was socialized as a nation-state from its independence years by Mwalimu Julius Nyerere) would have expressed Ngugi’s experiences is a similar way. I point out this not to promote reverse ethnic chauvinism, but simply to make Kenyans realize that we are all connected; while ethnic chauvinism is taken for granted in Kenya, the political crisis has brought to the fore the fact that without respect for each other, there is no Kenyan nation: there are only tribal groupings within the Kenyan space.


(d) Hybrid maize is the only ‘national’ food crop funded and promoted by the government. I have heard it said that for most of our so called ‘independent years’, the research on maize seeds has been headed by colonial appointees! This is as scandalous as it is frightening! Especially since Kenyan leaders like to boast that Kenya is a free and sovereign state! How can a country claim to be free when most of its programmes are designed and funded by other nations? How can a country claim to be free when it can’t feed its own people? How can a people claim to be free when they are so malnourished and diseased? Kibaki should do everybody a favour and retire. Kenya (and by extension Sub-Saharan Africa) does not need another tin-god like Mugabe. Kibaki has been in parliament since Kenya’s independence. As an economist, he laid the foundation for Kenyatta’s economic policies of ethnic discrimination. It is ironic that he is now in the process of dismantling the work done by his own hands.




References


1a. Muthoni Thangw’a: ‘Discontent is bred of half truths, social stratification.’ The East African Standard. 27th February, 2008.


1b. R. Muyamwezi N. Kithi: ‘Residence face starvation as WFP suspends food aid.’ The East African Standard. 23rd February, 2008.


2. Basilida A. Mutoro: ‘Women Working Wonders’.Thela Publishers, 1997.


3. B.A. Ogot W.R. Ochieng: ‘Decolonization and Independence in Kenya’.


4. Editorial: ‘The last huddle to a new Prime Minster’. The Daily Nation. 23rd February, 2008.


5. Allan Kisia: ‘ Displaced families face adversity at home’ 23rd February, 2008.


6. Barrack Muluka: ‘Like everybody else, Rulers are subject to the rule of law.’ 23rd February 2008.


7. Africa News: ‘Kibaki rejects Power-Sharing principle’ 20th February, 2008.


8.The East African Standard: ‘Long fight for change and link to crisis’ 25th December, 2007.


9.The East African Standard: ‘Ngugi’s book raises storm among publishers’ 2nd December, 2007.