What is the value proposition of private membership clubs in 2020 and beyond?
To answer this question we need to go back in time.
In
pre-independence Kenya, all factors of economic production especially
arable land, were in the control of British settlers. Class relations
were on the basis of race and it was hard for Africans to share in the
ranks. Colonists set up own private spaces far away from common subjects
to socialise and make commercial decisions around factors of
production, which they held.
These private settings
were in the form of membership clubs. Members played golf, squash, had
work-outs and dined before driving away to tuck in. They were also
regional. For instance, colonists living in Nanyuki had their own
private clubs, and so were those residing in Nakuru, Kitale, Nairobi,
Eldoret etc.
When the clamour for independence
crystallised, the few educated African elite who were at the forefront,
were at hand to receive the factors of production.
A few years after independence, class relations were determined
by relations of factors of production and the nova ‘indigenous
bourgeoisie’ moved in to occupy the previous colonists’ private member
clubs, socialising and dining among themselves as well as with the few
whites who, for the love of the terrain, chose to stay along.
The
clubs offered an opportunity to meet decision-makers and transact on
production in key sectors of the economy. They also provided an orderly
setting as members were expected to follow a set of rules (such as not
exchanging pleasantries in dining areas).
However, as
Prof Bethwel Ogot writes in his book ‘‘Reflections on the Meaning of
NationalIdentity and Nationalism,’’ African anti-colonial movements
were, in fact, the product of a temporary convergence of various
sectional, economic, regional and ethnic interests within the colonial
territories, joined solely by their common interests in getting rid of
colonial masters.
Hence, many Africans did not have a
strong sense of attachment to the emergent nation in which they found
themselves and many continued to identify themselves with their ethnic
groups. Ethnic and politics of power would replace education as the
currency of relations and a new tribal-based bourgeoisie would emerge.
This
became the norm especially during Moi’s 24-year presidency. It was
during this period that, as Prof Ogot notes, entrenched politics in
Kenya as a cottage industry of private expropriation.
Politicians
who supported the regime of the day were able to make ill-gotten wealth
in short spans of time. Class relations were now determined by
relations of power rather than relations of production.
Elitist
socialising and commercial decision-making did not require ivy-league
education or an orderly setting offered by private member clubs but
rather access to political power.
They neither played
golf nor squash, did little work-outs and maintained ‘public opinions’
(which is still the case). The Kibaki Administration (Kibaki himself
being an avid golfer) offered some disruption to the phenomenon but it
appears to have regained momentum under the current administration.
So
do the legacy-style private membership clubs appeal to this group of
elite? Of course not. Instead, a new class of private setting has been
rising to serve this new group of elite in the name of lounges.
This is where order belongs to the very important diners (VIDs); who come to intermediate on political power and resources.
Even
some of their proprietors often have questionable demeanours, and so
are their VIDs. So do private membership clubs have the same proposition
they had in the post-colonial era? No they don’t, and perhaps they’ll
need to re-invent themselves over time.
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