Friday, October 4, 2013
A past ceremony at St Paul's University. A graduation ceremony at St
Paul's University in Limuru, central Kenya was temporarily interrupted
following a security scare October 4, 2013. FILE
NATION
I’m writing this piece from Jakarta.
I’ve seen fast successful growing cities, but none like Jakarta. This
rapidly developing Asian hub is home to anything between 10 and 20
million people.
It hosts top notch universities ready to take the lead in legal education. I had the chance of lecturing at five public and private universities. Amazing students and tough competition. I learnt that University of Indonesia’s law school admits one in every 2,000 applicants.
I also had the chance of passing by Indonesia’s second largest city: Surabaya. It is a mind boggling place in an astonishing country. Wonderful, simple and hardworking people.
Before I came to Indonesia I was in Singapore. I was attending the world meeting of deans of law. Actually, this is the forum that took me East. It was a time to learn and to carefully observe for Kenya will be hosting the regional forum next year in Nairobi.
The Singapore meeting comprised of big and small universities from the world: From Cornell to Malaysia, from China to Uganda, from Australia to Chile, from Washington to Waikato… almost every corner of the world was represented.
Singapore is just amazing. It is perfectly clean, neat. Every single highway is carefully painted and meticulously maintained; every tree and bush is beautifully pruned; every isle is manicured with attention to detail. I have travelled a lot; but I’ve never seen anything like this before. Not a single paper on the ground, pothole, disorderly matatu. Creepers, which are many, grow on every overpass.
AMAZED
I
took a taxi. The driver was holding a brand new Samsung Galaxy phone.
He said that after dropping me at my destination he was going back to
the place where he had dropped his last client, for she had forgotten
the phone in the cab. I was amazed to say the least.
The conference time schedule was realistic and its keeping was accurate and predictable. There was plenty of laughter when the person in charge announced that the bus would leave at 6:10pm. I ventured to say that in Nairobi it would leave between 6pm and 10pm.
Then a Nigerian dean joked: At least in Nairobi it will leave on the same date of the same week! More laughter followed.
Njahira sent me an email about some office matter and added: “Enjoy Singapore…that is where Kenya should be now if we were equally organised and hardworking.”
In the late 60s Singapore and Kenya were at par. The urban planning of Singapore was based on Nairobi’s urban plan. Kenya even gave a development grant to Singapore. What then happened to Kenya? Where did we go wrong?
Most people say corruption. In principle, I agree. Creepers cannot grow on non-existent overpasses. We cannot paint the highways that corruption has literally eaten up. We cannot repair the bridges that have not been built; we cannot manicure the roadside flowers that have been dried by vice. We do not have papers on the pavement; we have instead little patches of pavement among papers.
On some roads we even have potholes inside bigger potholes and “orderly matatus” are simply an oxymoron. We have pruned our virtues down to the root. Corruption is governance’s cancer; it destroys any good intention and neutralises innovation.
However, not all is lost. There is still something Nairobi has and Singapore has not: Cheerfulness, sense of humour and the joy of living.
Singapore’s development did not come for free. Hard work has not been the only decisive factor. Singapore’s mistakes are now flourishing.
DISLIKE GOVERNMENT
Many
years ago, Singapore ventured into social engineering. By the time a
child turns seven his or her fate has already been decided.
Children are classified and placed on different streams depending on intelligence and ability. If you fall into the lower class you know you will not make it to university. This may sound logical, but it can also be terribly unfair.
Young Singaporeans are not happy. They profoundly dislike the government, which is perceived as the “big brother” who is always watching. This is increasingly felt as one walks and talks to the common people throughout the city. It is as if Singaporeans have been leaving in a bubble; a bubble that will burst sooner than later. Cheerfulness is absent from their faces.
This is where Kenya has the upper hand. There is no need to go into social engineering. Let people be. Allow space for freedom and growth. Kenya’s natural joy should not disappear. We do not need to go the Singaporean way.
It is imperative that the Ethics and Anticorruption Commission does its work. Last night, Indonesia’s Chief Justice was arrested by the country's equivalent of EACC. The anti graft commission is serious and means it. It has arrested several high ranking officials and the government mood is changing. This is why Jakarta’s growth seems more sustainable.
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