Why kenya doctors deserve to be heard!

The Kenya health sector is at knees. The doctors  decided to down their tools last week because the government had failed to listen to what they were demanding. Let us examine if what they are asking is valid and justified:

The Government of Kenya appended it signature in 2003 on the Abuja declaration that requires that the government allocate 15% of the total country's budget towards development and improvement of healthcare. It is shame that only a meager 5% of the country total budget is allocated to healthcare. Interrogating this keenly one is left wondering where this government priorities are. The people formulating policies relating to healthcare are asleep and should resign. only 33 shillings is allocated to each individual admitted in any government hospitals. One wonders what this is meant to cover. The government has blatantly failed to marshal enough resources to improve the conditions of the deplorable hospitals countrywide. The hospital lacks basic amenities and necessary equipment.

The fact that ICU is rare in provincial hospital is not only horrendous but regrettable. That is why, the only two referral hospitals are stretched to their capacity. If these hospitals were fitted with ICU then patients need not to travel far to access this vital service. But when did the rains start beating us you ask?


The government has either failed or is incompetent in formulating the best policies for this country. It's no wonder that our politicians earn better than our doctors, meaning we value politics more than healthcare. To any common person down in the village give him/her best health services and they will not want to know what those in politics are saying.

Its time that all concerned start lobbying the  government to start working toward a better healthcare system. A healthy nation has many positive multiplier effects that include a robust economy. We are not asking for populist approach towards this but what is necessary and realistic. The doctors should also note that, the fact that they went to school for more years than other graduates qualify them a better salary. This argument is primitive and hold no water and undermines what they are agitating for.

Let the struggle continue  ...

Why it is important to avoid consumerism in business

In the last couple of weeks we have seen commercial banks increase their base lending rates to what the business community call punitive levels. Borrowing money from banks now attract interest rates in the range of 30 percent, which many of us thought had gone down in history with the Nyayo era.

Commercial banks are responding to the intervention of Central Bank of Kenya. In its bid to curb the runaway inflation and prevent the shilling from losing more value against major currencies, the CBK has been raising the Central Bank Rate (CBR), which is the rate at which commercial banks borrow from the CBK, which in turn determines the interest that commercial banks charge borrowers.

This has elicited mixed reactions among analysts who have failed to agree and tell us precisely how this is going to affect our lives as consumers and business people, both in the short term and in the long term. What has gained prominence in the media and in the streets is that businesses are going to hurt resulting in massive defaults, loss of jobs, and decline in economic growth leading to untold suffering for the common mwananchi.

Well, I too don’t have an answer but I seek to provoke you we reason together. Before we are consumed by negativism and demerits of high interest rates and fail to see the bright future, lets us see the other side of the coin of low interest rates regime that we have enjoyed especially during the post Nyayo era.

The low interest rate era that started as soon as Kibaki-led National Rainbow Coalition government took over in 2002 led to many things that significantly affected the business community and the lifestyle of every Kenyan. I will mention only two.

First loans became not only cheap but readily available. Many ordinary businesspeople were able to get the much needed finance to boost their businesses with or without the traditional collateral. This led to rapid economic growth and high liquidity in the market. This growth of course put constraints on social infrastructure and amenities.

Business and residential premises became expensive creating more opportunities for lenders to come in and facilitate and to finance using money they did not have (mainly depositors money and offshore loans).

Cheap loans created a consumerism society, which at first looked good for the economy and business people smiled all the way to the banks. This takes us to my second major thing: The rapid growth of unsecured loans advanced to salaried people.

My economist teacher in high school taught that loans can only be used economically to fund income generating projects, where the gains in form of profit or appreciation are higher than the interest charged. This age old principle apparently took the back seat.

Anybody with a pay slip or regular income could access money from commercial banks. This led to hyper consumerism. The financial pillar of delayed gratification became outdated overnight.

Anybody with a modest salary could within six months of signing contract get a car, the latest home theatre, furniture and a total overhaul of wardrobe, and an assurance that the car will always be on the road courtesy of the credit card.

But this offered only short term gains to our economy and general wellness. Banks raked in billions in profit and service providers increased and thrived. But the economy started to bleed because we were importing more than we were exporting. The petroleum, vehicles and their spare parts bill alone that we have to pay in dollars does not match what we get from our traditional Forex earners.

It is estimated that over 90 percent of unsecured loans are spent on conspicuous consumption such as home improvement, electronic, cars, phones and clothes. This is bad for the economy in the long run and worse when those things are imported.

There is a great lesson that the business community can learn from this situation. As business people since we are also consumers, we should be wary of getting into this trap. It is not good for our businesses, especially in this era of high interest rates.

We can’t shun away from borrowing money because we may need it desperately for smooth running of our businesses. But we must ensure it is spent on income generating projects. Think twice before moving to a more prestigious location, buying a better car or even upgrading your business machines. Do so if only it is adding monetary value, not just for prestige. If what you have is serving the purpose, move to the next step when you have earned enough rather than on credit. This makes business sense.

Why President Obama Will Probably Be Re-Elected in 2012

In spite of the current protests over everything from dissatisfaction over the economy to  efforts at restoring the economy and putting people back to work, it's still all-too-easy to imagine President Barack Obama will be re-elected in 2012. Why? It's nothing other than religious extremism within the rank-and-file and the leadership of the GOP.

Not everyone flying the Republican flag is a religious extremist, but then again, not everyone within the GOP is running for office. While we as a country could use some people in office who follow better financial policies, the issues that keep getting addressed are abortion rights, gay marriage rights and teaching creationism in schools. All of these nonissues are religious extremists pushing "God" in the public square as well as the private bedrooms of grown-ups. We have enough real-world problems. "God" can take care of himself.

On abortion, why would religious extremists be concerned? Aren't all those lost lives going to heaven? Besides, the Bible is filled with stories of the Almighty ordering the deaths of babies --without mercy. This point is not simply a matter of opinion. Those stories are really there.

When it comes to the rights of anyone wanting to marry someone of the same sex, who are these politicians to even have a say? Are we really going to try and tell others how to live because of the demands of a collection of stories from ancient times?

And as for insisting that creationism be taught as a theory in public schools -- really? With what we know about the cosmos (and still have yet to learn) no publicly funded school should be teaching as science anything other than what humanity has been able to verify with evidence. Or perhaps our Republican candidates "firmly believe in their hearts" we should also turn to Bronze Age legends for advice on computer repair and auto mechanics too.

The Socialist leanings of President Obama are not the answer to America's problems. We cannot save a free market by choking it to death. But when opponents to this administration espouse religious extremism as the solution, they sound to us non-Christians about like how a Taliban leader might sound to devout Christians. No single religion should dictate public policy -- ever. We all deserve our own choices in life. We cannot afford to trust extremists with the button.

Prolonged war in Somalia may not be wise

Whereas the Kenyan economy was robustly growing towards a target of seven percent, the country’s belated retaliation against Somalia based al-Qaeda surrogates, Al Shabaab, and the unfortunate plummeting of the shilling against major world currencies spell doom for the economic prosperity and national security.

Abductions of Kenya-based foreign aid workers as well as tourists by the Al Shabaab are an aggression and provocation that the country can ill afford especially with regards to the safety of its territorial integrity.

Terrorism is a threat to peace and stability of the nations of the world, Kenya included, that must and should not be excused or tolerated by the government.

President Mwai Kibaki said as much in justifying the retaliatory military pursuit of al Shabaab outlaws inside the Somalia territory.

Nobody knows when these retaliatory strikes against the rag-tag militia targets will end but the repulsion – the first of a kind in a foreign soil by the military – come with a heavy price on both human and national resources. This war will require yet-to-be-quantified resources and take a toll on the faltering economy. Faced with this dilemma, the recovery of the shilling is unfathomable and scares investments.

We expect that the next supplementary budget will make more funds available to the military. This means, a diversion of meagre resources allocated for development to secure our borders. As a result, the cost of fuel and basic necessities will escalate, interest rates will be out of reach, the stock exchange could crumble and the ongoing development projects will have to stall.

Gains already made in the recent past aimed at shoring up the economy and taming the onward trend of the high cost of living could be reversed. In the circumstances, Kenyans can only expect the worst out of this scenario in which poverty stares many in the face, unemployment chronic and drought wrecking havoc in its wake.

It is not in the interest of the country to engage in a long drawn out war more so in these hard economic times and just a year to the next general elections. The net effect of this war on terror will be a serious economic recession, worse off than that faced by the developed world such as the US in recent history.

Interventions by no lesser person than President Kibaki, the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Kenya were echoed by Kenyans in the Diaspora especially those in Canada where I was for a weeklong meeting.

Kibaki’s Mashujaa Day speech outlined various measures on how to get the economy back on track. One such welcome measure is zero rating on imported cereals but should be extended to all farm machinery and inputs.

President Kibaki’s desire to set up a permanent seed and fertilizer fund was informed by the dismal performance of the farming sector. More often than not, the country imports farm produce from heavily subsidized economies.

As an initial long term bail out, there should a deliberate policy shift from reliance on rain-fed agriculture to irrigated/green house production as well as investment on value addition. The government should empower farmers to return to the farms through the re-introduction of Guaranteed Minimum Returns (GMR’s).

Even with the timely arrival of International Monetary Fund (IMF) head to negotiate for the multibillion shilling loan facility to shore up the shilling will have a toll on the recovery of the shilling. For the country to have a sustainable growth, serious austerity measures needs to be undertaken urgently, strictly adhered to and to cut on lavish spending.

Consequently, a scenario is emerging that the Kenyan economy appears to over rely on external factors. Our economy largely relies on foreign direct remittances, especially from several diplomatic missions and UN-Specialised Agencies (UNEP and Habitat) and relatives of refugees who have fled insecurity from their countries.

No country, which has gone to a full scale war, ever boasted economic progress in a post war situation. The country is yet to recover from the aftermath of the 2007 post-election violence. A similar war against the Northeastern separatist movement, the Shifta soon after independence drained the resources and destabilised the newly independent country shutting off the then Northern Frontier District (NFD) from development.

Even the United States economy slumped with multi pronged wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and supporting Israel in the Middle East.

The Gaddafi No One Will Tell You About!

The media has successfully painted Gaddafi as a hard-core dictator, tyrant whatever you want to call him. However, the media as usual has also failed to show the kind, giving Gaddafi we never heard of. Gaddafi, unlike most dictators I will refrain from naming, managed to show his humane side, the very side we dream of seeing in other dictators who just talk and talk.

I consider Libyans lucky to a certain extent and one wonders with the new democratic rule they cry for will it improve or worsen life for them. Yes, Gaddafi spent millions of Libya`s money on personal ventures but is the average Libyan poor? We know others who take a country and destroy it until you feel like there is no hope of restoring this country… looting some prefer to call it. Did Gaddafi loot Libya in any way?

Now let us get to the unknown facts about the Libyan dictator:

1. There is no electricity bill in Libya; electricity is free for all its citizens.

2. There is no interest on loans, banks in Libya are state-owned and loans given to all its citizens at 0% interest by law.

3. Home considered a human right in Libya – Gaddafi vowed that his parents would not get a house until everyone in Libya had a home. Gaddafi’s father has died while him, his wife and his mother are still living in a tent.

4. All newlyweds in Libya receive $60,000 Dinar (US$50,000) by the government to buy their first apartment so to help start up the family.Traditional wedding in Tripoli, Libya

5. Education and medical treatments are free in Libya. Before Gaddafi only 25% of Libyans are literate. Today the figure is 83%.

6. Should Libyans want to take up farming career, they would receive farming land, a farming house, equipments, seeds and livestock to kick-start their farms – all for free.

7. If Libyans cannot find the education or medical facilities they need in Libya, the government funds them to go abroad for it – not only free but they get US$2,300/mth accommodation and car allowance.

8. In Libyan, if a Libyan buys a car, the government subsidized 50% of the price.

9. The price of petrol in Libya is $0.14 per liter.

10. Libya has no external debt and its reserves amount to $150 billion – now frozen globally. Great Man-Made River project in Libya… $27 billion

11. If a Libyan is unable to get employment after graduation the state would pay the average salary of the profession as if he or she is employed until employment is found.

12. A portion of Libyan oil sale is, credited directly to the bank accounts of all Libyan citizens.

13. A mother who gave birth to a child receive US$5,000

14. 40 loaves of bread in Libya costs $ 0.15

15. 25% of Libyans have a university degree

16. Gaddafi carried out the world’s largest irrigation project, known as the Great Man-Made River project, to make water readily available throughout the desert country.

Which other dictator has done much good to his people?

As we Mourn Maathai’s departure, let us celebrate her achievements

On Monday the nation woke up to the most sad news of the death of environmentalist Prof Wangari Maathai. I  join all Kenyans and the world in mourning this great daughter of Kenya.This sad news of the death of Prof Wangari Maathai, Kenya’s Nobel Peace Laureate, has resounded round the world: the tributes are a testimony to her huge legacy.

Her personal association with the forests like Karura, through her own sacrifices in saving it from developers in the 1990s, gave her an unquestionable authority.

But more than that, her warmth and humanity, and her personal integrity and commitment, shone through every meeting, every speech, every tree-planting or strategy session.

More than anyone I have ever met, she was a living demonstration of how you cannot separate environmental activism from democracy, transparency, and good governance.

You don’t achieve her sort of record in fighting for democracy and rights without upsetting some people, and it is not surprising that she remained a controversial figure in some quarters in Kenya.

But for me, the status conferred on her by the Nobel Peace Prize shows exactly what this sort of award is for: not only to honour those who deserve it, but to compel others to recognise them too.

Ordinary Kenyans are rightly proud of her, and she elevated the simple act of tree-planting into a hugely symbolic and popular gesture.

Many Kenyans we are saddened by the death of our beloved sister, a woman who has inspired me and many Kenyans and especially those of us who yearn to see a better Kenya in the journey of advocating for change in our society. Ms Maathai was not just a national hero but a global icon who inspired many people across the world.

Her resilience in protecting our natural resources and demanding for accountability from the State was admirable. She was fearless and fought for what she believed in with zeal. The images of her being harassed by police officers and hired goons as she fought for the conservation of our forests are both inspirational and a challenge to all and will forever be anchored in my mind.

During the Easter period, she always reminded every Christian to plant a tree noting that a tree had been cut to prepare the Cross where Christ died.

As we mourn her departure, it is critical we celebrate her achievements and ensure that her spirit lives. It is encouraging to note that what she fought for was not for personal gain but for the benefit of all of us in Kenya and for generations to come.

Today we are all enjoying the fruits of her struggles as we fetch tap water in our homes and rest in the refreshing shades of Uhuru Park gardens. Her efforts in protecting Uhuru Park and our forests are worth our comfort today.

Each time we rest or hold meetings at the wonderful Uhuru Park gardens should be a constant reminder of her struggle.

Each time we open the tap of flowing water in our houses we should remember her struggles and thank God that she lived in our times.

Every time we drive past Karura forest we should always pay tribute to her legacy.

We cannot honour her enough, neither can we mourn her to satisfaction but we can ensure that her legacy lives.

Our mourning will be void if we let her work and spirit go with her to the grave. The work of this great heroine should not be forgotten like that of many other Kenyan heroes. It should be preserved and passed on to future generations. It ought to be taught in schools to our children and passed to future generations as an inspiration.

It is critical that her struggles in fighting for environmental conservation and her efforts are documented and stored in our museums as a national heritage.

The government should not only accord her a State burial but further honour her by advancing her work. We should make tree planting a national exercise in her honour.

The government should complete the conservation of all national forests and water catchment areas to progress her work. As Kenyans we would honour her by planting trees around us. If each Kenyan planted a tree every rainy season we will in due time attain the recommended 10 percent forest cover in our land.

We thank God that he gave to us Prof Maathai as a gift who has left a great mark in our hearts.

She really will be missed, by millions of people who never met her, as well as the thousands who were lucky enough to

Rest in peace mama wetu.

I grieve with the families of Sinai fire tragedy, but serious intervention measures need to start now

I will begin this blog by expressing my heartfelt  and sincere condolences to the people of Sinai slum.To the families who have lost their loved ones in a senseless and cruel death; we are sorry for your loss.  To many others who may have lost their bread winners; their deaths are inexcusable.  To whole communities whose ecosystem has been wiped out; we must collectively say enough is enough.

The heart-breaking thing about the Sinai slum fire is that at 2009 an NTV journalist predicted such demise.  I have read his story and I am convinced that he probably just witnessed too many avoidable deaths and took the extra step to highlight a potentially high-risk.  I have a feeling that in writing her story, she’d hoped we would take preventive measures rather than curative ones.

Unfortunately; as with most of our problems, nothing else was done.Recommendations of the relevant ministries and their inter-ministerial committees were not implemented and the eviction notices were not enforced.  Fast forward to September 2011, we have more than 120 deaths and many more injuries on our hands and as a country; we do no more than to condole with their families today.  Tomorrow, the politicians will be gone from Sinai slum and like a blot of ink on a white page; the memory of the horror will be swept under a carpet of vested interests… until the next time.....but for how long should we allow this to happen!!! Are we an indolent, inglorious and ignominious people that we do not learn?.

Why must Kenyans be allowed to do whatever they want even when it endangers their lives?

When I mull over this fire, I recall a time when the Nairobi Town Clerk said he would embark on a demolition of houses built illegally.  There was uproar and he was stopped short in his tracks.

I am aware the Kenya Pipeline Company identified the risks and even went as far as engaging mechanisms to resolve the problem.  So what happened?  Did they get all the support from the government as required to deal with an obvious political problem of squatters?

There is the issue of cost of relocating the squatters and of putting up social amenities to cater for their needs.  Who should meet this social cost?  There is the issue of enforcement where the incentives may not be strong enough to ensure that laws and regulations are adhered to.  All these factors and very strong vested interests must have been present within and without the Sinai slum community.

Did the line ministries take the necessary steps to avoid such a disaster?  Were our politicians caring enough to forestall this problem before it happened instead of rushing to make declarations a little too late?Is the fact that squatters were able to continue living on top of an oil pipeline an indication of our unwillingness to deal with societal problems?The ideal situation would have been to fence off the area where the pipeline passes and move people as far away as possible.

Often, we have seen the enforcing institutions unable to take action because our court system has issued injunctions that debilitate them.  We have seen injunctions issued against the planned demolition of unsafe and inhabitable buildings or developers allowed to continue developing on road reserves etc.

In the absence of such action, we are not absolved as individuals, from taking responsibility for our own lives.  We have seen and been warned of the dangers of siphoning fuel from tanks or fuel lines, yet this practice persists.Shouldn’t the government dictate that the general welfare of the public should override any court decisions that are of singular benefit to select few?

The question we should be asking is whether this behaviour is pervasive because of the harsh economic times; where the economic benefits far outweigh the risks even when it’s your life at stake.

For me, this tragedy is indicative of so much that has gone so wrong with Kenya.  But in the spirit of Kenyans for Kenya, I am saying that we have the capacity to begin to take matters into our own hands.  In my view, anyone trying to run for political office should have a well-thought out plan for dealing with such ills and to avoid senseless loss of life.

After all, of what productive value is a dead person to the socio-economic status of his people and to the country as a whole? Work and action must start now....Time for empty talk and cheap political shenanigans must stop.

As we mark the first aniversary after the promulgation of our new constitution the rule of law must prevail

Its is exactly one year after the promulgation of our new Constitution.  The National Charter has ushered in unprecedented change in our society within a very short span of time.  It has given Kenya a face lift.Only our genius and resilience as a country made it possible for us to adopt a new Constitution in peace-time after the experience of the 2007/2008 violence.  For me, the new Covenant is a guarantee that the Kenyan people shall henceforth resolve any potential conflict through the rule of law.

Those who have watched Kenya keenly have witnessed the onset of fundamental changes in the last twelve months.  New institutions have been established through which we shall deepen our democracy.  The Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution is a new body whose central function is to monitor, facilitate and oversee the development of legislation and administrative procedures required to implement the Constitution.

The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights and the National Commission on Gender and Development were merged to serve as one commission charged with the task of safeguarding human rights and equality concerns.We established the Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee of Parliament whose key mandate is to co-ordinate with the Attorney General, the Commission on the Implementation of the Constitution and relevant parliamentary committees to ensure the timely introduction and passage of the legislation required by the Constitution.

Once the Constitution was adopted at the referendum last year, all designated State officers took a fresh oath to defend and act in accordance with the Constitution.

Fellow Kenyans, we established a new Judicial Service Commission which has briskly embarked on renewing Kenya’s judiciary.  It has so far recommended for my appointment the Chief Justice, the Deputy Chief Justice, Supreme Court Judges, and Judges of the High Court.  We are on the road to reforming our judiciary. A new Chief Justice and his Deputy are now firmly in place to offer leadership to our independent judicial branch.The Interim Independent Boundaries Commission was retired by the Constitution.  We are in the process of recruiting members of the Independent Electoral ad Boundaries Commission.  This is the Commission on whose shoulders the responsibility of managing the 2012 general elections will fall.

The Vetting of Judges and Magistrates Board has been nominated and is awaiting final approval by the National Assembly.  This Board will bear monumental responsibility because it must professionally and fairly vet all serving judges and magistrates.Other institutions that have been established include the Salaries and Remuneration Commission, and the Commission for Revenue Authority.  The former commission will henceforth determine the emoluments and other benefits which accrue to public and state officers.  The latter will develop recommendations to Parliament regarding the division of the national budget between national and county levels .The process of recruiting a new Attorney-General, Controller of Budget and Auditor-General are firmly in place.

The opportunity of our new Constitution has presented another opportunity.  We are also renewing the ordinary laws of Kenya.  Indeed we are refurbishing our legal system.  Few countries in the world ever get the rare opportunity to fundamentally renew their legal system.Many institutions that have collaborated to achieve the passage of the laws needed to implement the constitution.  These institutions are specialist Task Forces; line ministries; the Kenya Law Reform Commission; The Commission on the Implementation of the Constitution; the Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee of the National Assembly; the Attorney General’s office; Cabinet; and the National Assembly.  As Kenyans we owe a great debt to these institutions.  Their exemplary work has passed the message that no stone should be left unturned in our endeavor to implement our constitution.

Fellow Kenyans, a few challenges have presented themselves in the task of implementing our constitution.  We have not kept one or two deadlines in terms of appointment of officials due to unforeseen circumstances.  However we overcame the initial teething problems and are now endeavoring to strictly observe the schedule in our constitutional implementation process.Once in a while differences of opinion among the multiple actors charged with the implementation of the constitution will arise.  These must be resolved amicably.  Together we must focus on what is best for Kenya.  Harmony is absolutely an imperative as we entrench our new constitution through legislative and other measures.

There are Bills that must be developed and passed within the time frame of one and a half years, two years, three years, four years and five years after the promulgation of the Constitution.  We must embark on finalizing the next round of legislations.  Time is still of the essence.  There are other important Bills expected to be passed by the Constitution for which no deadline exists.  We must also work on these.The Constitution requires that we put in place all the new commissions that it has established.  This is an urgent matter that the government is addressing.Its good to emphasize that as the judiciary is renewed through the vetting process, the rules of natural justice should be strictly adhered to.  Kenya needs a corrupt free and professional judiciary as well as a judiciary that is confident in the discharge of its duties.

I sense change all around in Kenya. We are living in exciting times.  Those who come after us will envy us.  They will see that we were brave to embrace change.  I am clear in mind that implementing the Constitution is the other side of the coin of implementing Vision 2030.  I also know my dream of transforming Kenya into a working nation will be realized as we implement our new Constitution and Vision 2030.The enduring inheritance that we shall bequeath to the youth of our society is the new Constitution.  I say so because the new Constitution has totally transformed the socio-economic and political landscape of our country for the better.Kenyans now enjoy one of the most robust Bills Of Rights in the world.  The county governments will potentially percolate investment and general development to the grassroots.  Separation of powers is truly entrenched within the fabric of our governmental system.

Land and other national resources will be protected more efficaciously.  Leadership will be squarely brought under constitutional spotlight.  Kenyans can be citizens of the world.  A new senate will supplement the current national assembly.  The executive will be outside of Parliament.  Cabinet and Principal Secretaries will be professionals who give all their working time to government departments.  The President will be chosen by a majority of Kenyans.The Supreme Court will be the guardian of our Constitution. National security organs will be subjected to civilian oversight.  Public finance will be exposed to strict accountability.  The Constitution establishes national principles and values that describe our country’s vision. We must embrace these.

I am proud to be a Kenyan during this momentous period of our growth as a country.   We preferred the route of change based on a national consensus.  Many Kenyans have also been part of debating the new laws that we are making to implement our Constitution.  I salute you all.  This is a demonstration of commendable civic duty.I challenge Kenyans that we henceforth follow the Constitution we have made for ourselves regardless of our station in life.  We must become a country ruled by law.

The lessons of USA dwindling economic fortunes

Thomas Friedman's editorial, published in the New York Times last week, offers some very vital lessons for political regimes worldwide on the importance of unity in the face of national crises.  Headlined “Win Together or Lose Together”, the piece pricks the conscience of the squabbling politicians in the US in the wake of dwindling economic fortunes, following the downgrading of the superpower’s creditworthiness.Friedman’s piece, I opine, is the one of the most powerful editorial pieces so far written anywhere in the 21st century, for it contains vital lessons about national crises, political unity and the national interest for all nations, particularly Kenya.

Regarding America’s current economic crisis, Mr Friedman,  author of the famous book The World is Flat, cautions: “Something this big and complex cannot be accomplished by one party alone. It will require the kind of collective action usually reserved for national emergencies. The sooner we pull together the better”.The far-reaching implications of the downgrading of the US economy’s creditworthiness a week ago are mind-boggling. They constitute a latent global crisis. The verdict was passed by the global sovereign debt ratings firm known as Standard & Poor’s. The firm cited the US budget deficit, the biggest in human history, and the internal political climate as the main reasons for the low economic status.The downgrade was met with massive criticism and assorted cries of pain from the Obama administration. The US still has an AAA rating from other global sovereign debt ratings agencies. But the fear remains that one or two of them could follow Standard & Poor’s unprecedented lead. The United States is the world’s biggest economy at a GDP of US$15.003 trillion (at July 29, 2011, according to an International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimate).And yet America came within an inch of defaulting on its debt a week ago. It is also the single largest debtor on this planet and in history, for purely political adversarial reasons. Only the 27 combined economies of the European Union generate a bigger GDP, calculated by the IMF at US$16,228.23 trillion in 2010.

The EU’s biggest economy is Germany, at US$2.4 trillion, followed by France, at US$1.9 trillion, and the United Kingdom, at US$1.6 trillion. Africa’s combined GDP is only equal to the UK, at US$1.6 trillion, although this continent of a billion people has a potential greater than that by far. According to the latest (2009-10) IMF figures, the richest three African countries by GDP generation are South Africa (US$ 357.259 billion), Egypt (US$ 218.466 billion) and Nigeria (US$ 216.803billion).Thinking about billions is hard enough for the vast majority of ordinary folk. But trillions are simply out of this world. For instance, an hour has 60 seconds, but you are not a billion seconds old until you are 32 years old, which means the vast majority of Kenyans now alive are not yet one billion seconds old.

This also means that famous old-timers like Nelson Mandela, who is 93, Charles Njonjo, who is 91, and President Kibaki, who is a comparative youngster at 80, are not yet three billion seconds old. But a trillion simply boggles the mind.  If America had defaulted on its debt, the world economy would have been  in a truly terrible mess. And yet it almost happened, largely due to the age-old political rivalry between the Democratic Party, which is now in power, and the Republican Party.

The size of the US debt is simply staggering. As of August 3, 2011,  the gross was $14.34 trillion, of which $9.78 trillion was held by the public and $4.56 trillion was in intra-governmental holdings. Wikipedia defines the US government debt as “… the money borrowed by the federal government of the United States at any one time through the issue of securities by the Treasury and other federal government agencies”.

The US public debt “… is securities held by investors outside the federal government, including that held by the Federal Reserve System and state and local governments. This is the net public debt”. A week ago the Republican Party almost pushed the US into defaulting on its debt repayment pledges, a move that would have had catastrophic economic and social consequences across the planet. The single biggest holder of US debt is China, with more than US$2 trillion.

Part of the Republican Party’s intransigence on the matter was driven by what can only be called tribalism writ large. Some Republicans have never forgiven themselves for the fact that the party lost the 2008 presidential election and that the majority of Americans elected the first African-American, Barack Obama, as president.The racists inside the Republican Party were completely reconciled to the idea of the US defaulting on its vast debt and throwing the world into a tailspin of crises. And all this only to make the puny, petty, petulant and repugnant point that it happened under the watch of a black President.  Mr Friedman’s call for united bipartisan political responsibility at a time of national crisis is instructive for its level-headed definition of the problem:

“Our slow decline is a product of two inter-related problems. First, we’ve let our five basic pillars of growth erode since the end of the Cold War – education, infrastructure, immigration of high-IQ innovators and entrepreneurs, rules to incentivise risk-taking and start-ups, and government-funded research to spur science and technology”.

This, indeed, is the tenor and language of Vision 2030, Kenya’s own national economic and development blueprint and road map towards a middle-level economy.  America’s current economic crisis and Friedman’s timely caution are enough reasons why Kenya must ring-fence the Vision 2030 and all its flagship projects against petty political squabbles!

UK riots and the underlying issues

As I write this blog I am reminded of the fact that,there is no perfect society and that in every society regardless of economic robustness there are underlying issues. I am on record in this very blog saying that UK and USA could be the next battlefronts after the Arab world. But what is really happening in London? Are we really cognizant of what is happening? This is how I argue my case;

London  is in a state of shock and surprise,nobody envisaged what is happening now .However, those in tune with the economic situation in the UK and the  government spending cuts will tell you this was a time bomb. It was only a matter of time before all hell broke lose.While the riots are quite scary and have even escalated to mugging, they’re some who say there’s a sense of excitement about what’s going on in England. The scenes are similar to almost what happened in the Arab world and similar to Kenya's 2007/2008 post election violence. The queen's country, England is beginning to resemble Greece, Tunisia, and other countries that have witnessed recent uprisings due to the state of the economy.Now, if I  correctly recall, the uprising in Tunisia was sparked off by a young man setting himself a blaze because he was being arrested for selling vegetables by the roadside; his alternate means for employment as he couldn't find work.

Although the riots in London were set off by an apparent gunfire exchange between the police and a young man, it was just a trigger that the rioting youth needed to vent out their frustrations that stem from the economic conditions and the lack of jobs.

Scenes from London

The MP for Tottenham (where the riots first broke out) David Lammy described the looters as mindless youth. Many of the politicians who have spoken on television and radio have condemned the riots and termed it as opportunistic criminal behaviour.  This clearly shows that the leaders in UK have knocked themselves off the pedestal.It pretentious and hypocritical , as a government, on the one hand to support youth protests in other countries calling them uprisings while terming riots in its country as gang crime. Is it that this government fails to see a similarity to Tunisia or Egypt in terms of a ruling class that is making the prospects of the lower class much dimmer?

The youth in UK have no jobs, government spending cuts to the public sector have seen many lose their jobs, and the recent university fee increase now leaves these young people with no hope of getting higher education.

Some would argue that there are youth, who also have no jobs but have not taken to the streets.

Former London mayor Ken Livingston said that this is the first time since World War II where young people in this country are in a situation where they have no hope of finding work, buying a house and even getting an education.

However, this is a percentage of the youth who have no hope at all and perhaps feel like they have nothing to lose. But instead of the leaders just dismissing the protesters as criminals maybe they need to first listen to their grievances.

Politicians should know that,days of political party patronage are over

The Kenyan electorate and aspirants for elective posts are relieved of the burden of electing candidates imposed on them by “tribal chiefs” in charge of registered political parties since the country reverted to competitive politics 19 years ago. Voters can now abandon parties in preference to independents in future contests.Direct nominations enjoyed by lawmakers, party officials, their relatives and sycophants will be things of the past as are the imposition of candidates on the electorate in elections. Such nominations made multiparty democracy a mockery.

Victims of cruel decisions by party chiefs celebrated the coming into being of the new constitution that could also make the parties truly political ideological formations, instead of personal properties.

The good news is contained in the clauses whose primary aim is to level the playing field and to open doors for aspirants locked out of contests by party barons year in year out.

According to the supreme law, State Officers that include Members of Parliament and Ministers are banned from holding party posts. In addition, aspirants could in future vie for elections as independents.  Already, one presidential aspirant has declared to stand as independent candidate in the 2012 polls.The lawmakers argue that they are not State Officers and should hence be exempted from the ban. Already, parliamentary party leaders are threatening to breach the sections of the Constitution that could have helped inculcate discipline and internal democracy within registered political entities.

Unlike in the days of yore, many aspirants have been disenfranchised in the advent of multi – party contests by intolerant and dictatorial leaders who have been masquerading as democrats.  In the olden days, with a few exceptions, any number of candidates could be considered for nomination on  the only  party  then, Kenya African National  Union (KANU).

In the run up to the referendum  on the new Constitution, the parties were more interested on Executive  power and ignored other glaring flaws in the document that have suddenly been discovered. Now one can understand why parliamentary party leaders are up in arms against stand taken by the Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution (CIC) that insists on the ratification of the document to the letter.

Other than a joint opposition succeeding to get one of their own to State House in 2002  after two unsuccessful attempts, parties are mere election machines  and neither are they reform tools. Unfortunately, none of the existing parties has a position on any national issue as manifested in their deafening silence over serious matters as the ongoing reforms, the escalating cost of living and runaway inflation. Without party posts, some of the leaders would not have seen inside the legislature and, or become ministers in their lifetime.

In the yesteryear campaigns for the re-introduction of competitive politics in Kenya, reformists of those days accused KANU of dictatorial habits but twenty years later, the so called reformists have proved no better than their political foes in the party that ruled  the country for four decades.

So, the question now at hand is – what is the remarkable difference between KANU and its opponents in the multi party set up?  The answer is little if any.  Only names, symbols and flags distinguish these entities. In short they are nowhere ideologically distinct from the other nor are they qualitatively different  in their socio-economic and political programs;  their manifestoes hold  a telling story about their commonalities.

Fate that befell  the Lancaster House Independence political agreement , later  renamed  Kenya Constitution awaits the new constitution which could suffer another mutilation in the  hands of lawmakers. One can be sure that a flood of proposed changes could fill the  Clerks tray  because many state and public officers find the said clauses unpalatable as they  deny  them  the  comfort of getting away with murder including increasing their salaries and refusal to pay taxes.

The contemplated changes  are meant to suit circumstances as has been the case in the past.  One such amendment contemplated is to be engineered  in restructuring the Political Parties Act.

Good leaders must be good in speech delivery

No dictator in living memory has been a great orator. Dictators cannot be bothered to be of any kind of service to their subjects or mankind in general. Indeed, they hold the populations that they oppress and misrule in total contempt. Distinctive, well-prepared, inspirational, motivational and memorable speech-writing and delivery involve a process of very hard work and commitment.And this holds true whether the orator involved is a preacher giving a sermon or a president marshalling citizens to a national cause.Dictators deliberately deliver speeches that are meant to frighten, scare or even bore people to tears. The idea is reduce their audiences to inaction through lifeless, monotonous and dull soliloquies. 


The 1976 Nobel Literature Laureate, Saul Bellow, hit the nail on the head in his novel Humboldt’s Gift when he observed: “Boredom is an instrument of social control. Power is the authority to impose boredom, to command stasis, to combine this stasis with anguish. The real tedium, deep tedium, is seasoned with terror and with death”. Great speech writing and delivery are key ingredients of good leadership. And in every great leader, there is a great speaker and a great speechwriter. Leaders should frequently deliver inspirational speeches and not boring prepared statements that make their deliverers drone, bray and send audiences to sleep.“Commanding stasis” is a shameful and inept thing for leaders to do to their audiences, even for half-an-hour. It is a terrible waste of time for everybody involved, from a small roomful of people to stadia teeming with crowds. 


The most likeable, admirable and awesome thing about American President Barack Obama is not the colour of his skin, or that he is the first man with that pigmentation to be the tenant of the White House. No, the amount of melanin in his skin has nothing to do with it. Obama’s truly inspirational and even motivational speech-making is the secret of his success and gravitational pull both in America and in the wider world.Obama moves people far beyond America with his speeches. 


And it is clear that his speeches are well researched, prepared, rehearsed and delivered in a process that involves the most rigorous hard work and commitment. You remember what Obama has said long after he said it. He delivers with conviction, always ending the speeches with a crescendo ‘God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.’ Obama creates a connection with his audience right from the word Go. From his ‘hello everybody’ to the occasional wide smile, to the great quotes and mentioning of names of individuals present, he comes out as a man who is in touch with his audiences.Obama never takes his listeners for granted. Neither do all great leaders. They take the greatest care to make a good, attractive and lasting impression because they believe in what they say, mean what they say and say what they mean. What’s more, they deliver speeches not only for their live audiences but with an eye on posterity and the global audience. Obama comes in the tradition of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Dr Martin Luther King Jnr, John F. Kennedy, Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, Francis Bacon, Edmund Burke and Caius Julius Caesar.Even if we restrict the list only to African-Americans, Obama still keeps the greatest and most admirable company among orators.He comes in the great tradition of the Rev Henry Highland Garnet, whose heyday was in the 1840s and who is described to this day as having had a “golden throat”. The golden-throated Garnet is most famous for his “Address to the Slaves of the United States of America,” delivered at the National Convention of Coloured Citizens in 1843: “Awake! Awake; millions of voices are calling you! Your dead fathers speak to you from their graves. Heaven, as with a voice of thunder, calls on you to arise from the dust”. Africa too has had its share of world-class speech-makers who moved millions, among them the late Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere and Kwame Nkrumah, who were great writers, polemicists and orators even before they entered high office. But this critical genre of leadership is slowly fading away at a time when it is needed most.Remember Obama arrived on the scene in America at the end of the lacklustre George W. Bush decade, with the War on Terror and two hot wars raging in Iraq and Afghanistan and amidst the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. But he appeared as a beacon light of hope. ‘Yes we Can’ was the clarion call of his political campaigns that revived the hopes of Americans to rediscover the greatness of their nation.

And on the election night after the results were declared Obama sent Americans wild with more inspiration, hope and belief in a new dawn; “If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is the place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founding fathers is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.”

Moving forward, Kenyans will need re-energising by inspirational leaders who will give a message of hope and renewal. Our new constitutional dawn and infrastructural rebirth are both threatened by the phenomenon of a shilling in free fall, looming recession and runaway price hikes inimical to decent living.

The next generation of leaders will be required to move masses into action, give hope and make Kenyans active participants in the nation building process. Such leaders will have to match their words with actions. Kenyans are waiting.