Kenya and Africa’s suffering an illusion of development

An aerial view of Kenya's largest slum Kibra. In order for government to do what it is supposed to do, the citizenry needs to hold it to account. PHOTO | NMG 

In Summary

• In order for the government to do what it is supposed to do, the citizenry needs to hold it to account. The citizenry must insist on sanctions for negligence and punishment for looting.

By TEE NGUGI
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A series of recent events shows the two faces of Kenya: A country desperately in need of social, political and economic progress, and a governing elite that seems unaware of the dire straits the country is in.

First, there was the arrest of tens of youths for providing false call-up letters during the recent military recruitment. This was despite repeated warnings of severe punishment for any corrupt dealings. Why were such frightful warnings not heeded?

The answer is that corruption is so ingrained in our national culture, that few have faith they can get any government service without greasing hands.

Most people, on hearing of a job opening in government or a tender, begin urgently looking for whom to bribe. The sharks in these hiring and tendering departments have their mouths open, ready to feast.

Elsewhere, other sharks are diverting free government medicine or free famine relief food, or donated equipment for athletes, etc. There are heartbreaking tales of youth almost bankrupting their families in order to secure bribe money for this service or that job.

In most cases, the youth end up losing their money and return to their villages or slums. Here, they go into crime, and will commit horrific crimes just to get their hands on a cellphone or a few hundred shillings.

Alternatively, they join the hordes risking their lives on the seas in order to get to Europe.

Second, there was the Auditor-General’s report that showed massive looting of the economy: Billions of shillings lost every year, unaccounted-for billions in the presidency and unaccounted-for billions in the county governments.

This is in addition to reports of gates built and wheelbarrows bought for millions of shillings, the ever-growing gravy train of meetings in the coastal resort town of Mombasa, and useless foreign travel by government officials, including the presidency.

Were committees of the US Congress or British parliament to take their discussions and meetings to seaside resorts in Miami or Monaco, the outcry that would follow would bring down governments.

Borrowing and looting

Third, there is the borrowing spree. While the government argues that it is well within the accepted ratio of debt to GDP, economists warn that, because of the volatility of the shilling and the fact that the debt is paid in foreign currency, our debt has already reached unsustainable levels.

The government’s argument for borrowing is that we need to invest in infrastructure development. But it could well be that the billions lost every year due to looting, the amounts misused through useless activities like retreats and foreign travel, and the amounts used to pay for luxurious lifestyles of government officials and members of parliament could finance all the infrastructure development we need.

But even borrowed money, going by the shadowy accounting for the first Eurobond, is not accounted for properly. In short, we just borrow to plug budgetary holes occasioned by massive looting and reckless and obscene misuse of public money.

Lastly, just a few months after the last election, we have started campaigning for the 2022 elections. Cabinet and other positions have been dished out, not on the basis of merit, but with an eye on 2022.

The superfluous position of chief administrative secretary has been created in ministries to secure support in the next election. So much time and money is being wasted as senior government officials and MPs gallivant all over the country in campaigns for elections four years away.

Here is our conundrum. In order for government to do what it is supposed to do, the citizenry needs to hold it to account.

The citizenry must insist on sanctions for negligence and severe punishment for looting. They must ostracise negligent and tribalist politicians not idolise them and elect them to parliament.

They must vote out governments that perform below the highest standards. And yet this long suffering populace, whose children die in the seas trying to get to Europe, who have no health insurance, who die of famine, and who live poverty-stricken lives in godforsaken slums and villages, remain violently loyal to their tribal kingpins in power.

Chinua Achebe, in observing the deep crisis in Nigeria, said in despair: “Things are much worse off than we feared.”

He could have said the same for much of Africa. There is, of course, the illusion of movement — highrise buildings, a bridge here and there, frenetic signing of free trade agreements – EAC, Comesa, and now the African Common Trade Area (AfCTA) — a continental trade agreement, as if these agreements will substitute for good national governance.

The wheels of our countries are rotating in the mud, but we remain stuck.