Opinion and Analysis
President Uhuru Kenyatta (left) and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. PHOTOS | BILLY MUTAI and AFP
By MARVIN SISSEY
In Summary
- Different visions of founding fathers have left their sons on separate economic paths.
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of
times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was
the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season
of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it
was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing
before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct
the other way— in short, the period was so far like the present period,
that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received,
for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”
I find this opening paragraph to Charles Dickens classic
novel, ‘‘A Tale of Two Cities’’ an apt introduction to this story of two
men, their two fathers, their two countries, their similarities, but
more so their differences.
First on the list is one Lee Hsien Loong —unless
you are very abreast with oriental politics, it if fair to assume that
you have probably never heard of the name before today.
You are, however, probably more familiar with his
more famous dad—Lee Kuan Yew— the first Prime Minister of Singapore, who
passed away recently.
Lee Hsien Loong is the current Prime Minister of
Singapore and has been in office since 2004. Prior to being PM, he
served, among other positions, as Member of Parliament, Minister of
Finance and Deputy Prime Minister.
Similarly, if I were writing this article targeting
Singaporean readership, I am sure a fair number of readers there would
equally not recognise the second gentleman I seek to introduce—Uhuru
Kenyatta.
Unfortunately, I am not sure they would remember
the name of his otherwise more famous father either. But I am sure they
would find it interesting to note that likewise to their current prime
minister, Kenya’s current president was the son of the first president
of the republic.
Further, they would note with amusement that our
current president too served, among other positions, as Member of
Parliament, Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister.
Many in Kenya would have wished that given the
reflective dynasty-like political parallels in the almost reflective
story of Kenya and Singapore, the same could be said of the economic
story of the two countries.
True, the two stories are very much alike at the
start. But the resemblance lasts only as far as the beginning. As they
progressed, the two stories diverge as far from each other as night from
day.
The stories of Lee Hsien Long and Uhuru Kenyatta
could be said to be from the pages of Robert Kiyosaki’s bestseller
financial advisory book, ‘‘Rich dad, and Poor dad’’.
Mr Hsien was lucky to have had a rich dad who bequeathed a rich country with one of the highest GDP per capita in the world.
Meanwhile, Mr Kenyatta unfortunately was left
fighting the exact same wars that his father started fighting over half a
century ago unsuccessfully; poverty, illiteracy and disease.
He even has to deal with more wars that his father started, a case in point being the fight against corruption.
When Mr Hsien announced to Singapore the demise of
his father in the country’s general hospital, the whole world took a
pause to mourn with him one of the greatest statesmen who ever lived in
the recent years.
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