Why would Cuba rank so highly on the Human Development Index, not Kenya?

Cuban President Raul Castro delivering a speech during the closing of the first annual session of the National Assembly, at the Conventions Palace in Havana, on July 7, 2013. PHOTO/FILE 

In Summary

• A Nation editorial described the Kenya Information and Communication (Amendment) Bill 2013, which President Kenyatta signed before Christmas, as “a serious assault on basic media freedoms secured since democratic space opened up with repeal of the laws that made Kanu the sole political party”.

By Dorothy Kweyu
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Today is Cuba’s National day — the 55th anniversary of the revolution that overthrew the Fulgencio Batista regime. Coming three weeks after Kenya’s 50th anniversary, a comparison of the two countries is in order.

Kenya recently enacted a draconian law that imposes strict controls on journalists and media houses. Under the law, journalists perceived to be crossing the government line will be fined Sh500,000 with media owners paying a hefty Sh20 million.

A Nation editorial described the Kenya Information and Communication (Amendment) Bill 2013, which President Kenyatta signed before Christmas, as “a serious assault on basic media freedoms secured since democratic space opened up with repeal of the laws that made Kanu the sole political party”.

Kenya now finds itself grouped with Cuba, which ranks low on the Press Freedom Index, and which the Inter-American Press Association accuses of exercising “repression against independent journalists, mistreatment of jailed reporters, and very strict government surveillance limiting the people’s access to alternative sources of information”.

Cuba’s ambassador to Kenya, Mr Raúl Rodríguez Ramos, rejects such accusations, arguing that of the hundreds of journalists killed by repressive regimes worldwide, none was in Cuba.

He accuses the US of hypocrisy in demanding media freedom of other countries when in war situations, such as in Yugoslavia and Iraq, US journalists were required to toe their government’s line.

And yet, that probably sums up the Cuba-Kenya similarities. For, despite a US economic blockade dating back to 1960, in defiance of the UN General Assembly’s overwhelming vote (opposed only by the US and Israel) to lift the embargo, Cuba ranks well above Kenya in human development.

Measuring just about a fifth of Kenya, and with an 11.2-million population against Kenya’s 44 million, Cuba has taken huge strides in education, health and poverty alleviation.

The UNDP Human Development Report 2013 places Cuba’s Human Development Index (HDI) at 59, among high HDI countries. Kenya trails Cuba at position 145 in the low HDI bracket.

Pakistani economist Mahbub ul Haq, with Bangladeshi Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, developed the HDI concept in 1990 based on the principle that development should be measured not only by economic advances, but also by improvements in human well-being.

On the Millennium Development Goals adopted by the 2000 UN Millennium Summit and signed by 147 countries, Kenya is on course to achieving universal primary education and reducing HIV/Aids. However, other MDGs are still lagging behind.

In contrast, Cuba has already achieved Goal 1 (eradicating extreme poverty and hunger), Goal 2 (achieving universal primary education), Goal 3, (promoting gender equality and empowering women) and Goal 4 (reducing under-five child mortality)

It is working to achieve goals 5 and 6 to improve maternal health and fight HIV/Aids, malaria and other diseases by 2015.

Cuba’s infant mortality rate stands at 4.6 per 1,000 against a global average of 49.4. Kenya’s IMR is 55/1,000, according to a 2012 World Bank report. Kenya and Cuba have adopted universal free education, but Kenya’s system is greatly challenged by quality concerns, notably crowding.

A recent study showed parents in slums prefer to take their children to ‘private academies’ than to public schools. In Cuba, however, FPE exists both on paper and in practice. Education “is a public service provided free of charge at all levels, including the university” and “nearly 70 per cent of young Cubans aged between 18 and 23 are at university,” Mr Ramos says.

On women in the legislature, Cuba ranks third globally, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (2012). Unlike Kenya’s Legislature that is relying on the Constitution to boost women’s numbers, Cuba’s is fed by a pool of educated women, 62.8 per cent of whom are university graduates.

From exporting doctors to more than 100 developing countries to granting scholarships, Cuba stands head and shoulders above Kenya. That is why Cuban President Raúl Castro scoffs at US demands that it alters its government and economic model. Bilateral relations, he says, can only improve if both sides learn to respect each other’s differences.

Otherwise, “We’re ready to take another 55 years in the same situation,” he declares.

Ms Kweyu is Revise Editor, Daily Nation (@DorothyKweyu; dkweyu@ke.nationmedia.com)