Albert Einstein once quipped that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results. This quote conceivably -comparatively- points to the fact that the belief that repeatedly electing the same corrupt politicians into parliament and expecting that they change once they get into office is an act of futility. We have tremendously failed to learn from history and as such we are destined to repeat this same mistake.
Much worse is the belief that government agencies can and will investigate all cases of corruption and bring those implicated to book. It's all sizzle and no steak. It always has been. History ought to have taught us by now that we can form as many commissions of inquiry and anti-graft institutions as is humanly possible but still that won’t kick corruption out of the door anytime soon. To look up to the government, especially African governments, to launch investigations that would sweep them almost in their entirety into the net is not only baffling but outright stupid. Sadly, that has become our expectation. And our downfall.
Even as we look forward to the future with hope; hope that things will ultimately change -and change for the better- let us also have bigger, bolder and honest debates about this disease that has persistently haunted and continues to ail our society and its institutions.
Just as Martin Luther King Jr once opined that "we are living in a sick society", Kenya is indeed emblematic of a sick society whose people excel at pointing accusing fingers rather than using the same to bring about the much needed change, sobriety and sanity to its institutions and to itself.
That the politician is perhaps the most corrupt being in Kenya is no longer in doubt. That is everyone’s guess. However, equally corrupt are the many of us who bribe police officers and judicial officers to let us off the hook. Equally corrupt are you who carry “something small” to public offices to gain small favors or, rather stupidly, “just in case they ask for it”. The most corrupt are those who pay government officials to provide them with identity cards, title deeds, birth certificates and other documents "in time".
In this same category are the teachers and head-teachers who levy fees on students for non-existent activities, and who order the same students to come with whole bunches of printing papers every term yet the said students only sit for mid-term and end-term exams while the remainder of the printing papers are ferried to the teachers’ cyber cafes and homes for commercial purposes. Sex for grades is the norm in some of our higher learning institutions. To add salt to injury, these are the same teachers in whose care we have entrusted our young ones to bring up future generations of men and women of virtue and substance.
From the politician to the policeman, the corporate head, the doctor and the nurse, and even to the shopkeeper, the mama mboga and the village head, the young and the old, corruption permeates every crevice of the Kenyan soul.
Kenyans, and Africans by extension, have historically excelled at rewarding the most corrupt and bigoted political failures with new terms of office so much so that an Oscar Award in recognition of this adeptness is long overdue.
When not recycling them, their sons and daughters are alternatively elected to positions of power. Essentially, Kenya has ceased to be a democracy and is now somewhat an aristocracy ruled by the corrupt. And to make sure that they greatly and thoroughly enjoy the prerogative to loot and plunder as much as they want, we are always on the front foot, armed and ready to fight for and to defend the very vampires that have for ages sapped all the life out of our souls and spirits, and who have made sure that apart from their kin and cronies, nobody else enjoys the political loot unless when the electioneering period is beckoning.
Since we elect these leaders to office, and we seem to have no qualms about how they loot with reckless abandon, and we are too happy to pay them for services that they should otherwise be extending to us for free by virtue of the social contract, then it’s safe to say that we deserve the raw deal that we are currently getting.
The famous Ghanaian political scientist George Ayittey was at pains to explain why “the continent's untapped mineral wealth is immense and its tourism potential is enormous yet it is inexorably mired in steaming squalor, misery, deprivation, and chaos”. As he correctly points it out, it is because of the kleptocratic African governments, the parasitic corporate institutions, and former colonial masters who have connived to make life miserable for the Third World populace. Most importantly, though, it is because of the citizenry that this continent is stuck in a seemingly unending tunnel of darkness and treachery.
While most of us are just as corrupt as the politicians, the other large chunk has chosen to sit pretty and do absolutely nothing about the injustices that are happening in our country(ies) because the system that the former colonial powers bequeathed on the continent really suits all and sundry and because we are stuck in a zone that we really don’t want to get out of.
Maybe it’s high time we looked long and hard in the mirror to know who our real enemies are. Only then will we know those who, alongside the politicians and former colonial masters, have done the greatest injustice to this country. All I know is this country would be very prosperous if only we were half as concerned and as honest as we should be. After all will have been said and done, we are not going to reverse these dangerous trends and change this country if we can't change ourselves.
Political chatter and commentary
by Jagero Wallace
Thursday, 18 February 2016
Sunday, 11 October 2015
Dancing to old ghosts: The worrying case of Africa Rising
Africa is
a continent on the rise. The world's second largest and second most populous
continent, massive tourism potential, unrivaled mineral and energy resources,
burgeoning infrastructural developments, rising literary levels, increased
foreign direct investment and intra-African trade championed by various
regional economic blocs strewn across the continent and with an economy widely
expected to pick up again after a tumultuous post-2008 global economic meltdown
to post a modest 4.5% growth, Africa is well and truly on the move and on
the cusp of an unprecedented economic boom. What's more? Africa boasts four of the top ten fastest growing economies in the world!
Rightly,
the narrative of "Africa Rising" has been a welcome distraction from
the decades-long periods of economic stagnation and extreme poverty and it also
serves as sweet soothing music to the ears of many and has understandably
elicited much hope, excitement and renewed optimism across the continent, as
well as garnering much interest globally.
In spite
of all these impressive recent developments, Africa still is the world's
poorest and most underdeveloped continent. Out of the 23 poorest countries in
the world 19 are located in Africa, according to an analysis by the
Global Finance Magazine, the future still very much hanging on the
balance.
Worryingly,
the continent's economic growth seems to be showing signs of slowing down over
the past four years, forcing the World Bank to revise its growth forecasts for
the continent down to 4.2% this
year, a stark contrast to the annual average of 6.4% between 2002 and 2008.
The
continent's biggest economies and currencies have suffered a blow. Nigeria's
economy, the continent's largest, expanded 2.5% in the second quarter of the
year compared to 3.9% a year earlier, according to the country's National
Bureau of Statistics. Over the
past year, the naira has lost 20% of its value against
the US dollar.
These happenings not only threaten to bring the celebratory juggernaut to a swift conclusion even before it hits crescendo, they represent a culmination of a institutionalized weaknesses and threats that, if left unchecked, may render the renewed optimism another false dawn much like the lost decades of the immediate post-independent Africa.
Essentially, Africa's problems are deeply steeped in history not limited to the exploitative and atrocious nature of the colonial governments' relics that have survived the ages but also the failure of the successive governments and their reluctance and inability to engineer a path that lead to the obliteration of the ghosts that have continually haunted the continent.
A case has always been, and continues to be, made about African economies' relative slow growth as compared to some of their Asian counterparts who, a few decades ago, were not much better off or were even worse off. That the said Asian economies have grown in leaps and bounds while the African contingent has grown in fits and starts is a sad state of affairs that renowned economists, scholars, policy analysts and authors have been at pains to explain.
According to the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index 2014 only two African states, Seychelles and Botswana, sneak into the top 50 least corrupt countries worldwide; both enjoying the virtuous acclaim of being Africa's model developmental states.
Five decades after independence, corruption - a monstrous killer of growth- still remains imperiously prevalent right across the continent. From state officials to politicians to the civil service to the civil society, and from religious institutions to the grassroots, corruption permeates almost every crevice of African states greatly hampering their prospects for growth and threatening to mutilate their social fabric.
Talking
bluntly in 2009, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Southern
Africa Representative Jonathan Lucas labeled corruption as “a crime against
development, democracy, education, prosperity, public health and justice - what
many would consider the pillars of social well being."
The grabbing hand of the state, and of the populace, is a characteristic feature of most African countries. Embezzlement of funds, kickbacks, fraudulent licensing, generalized extortion and embarrassingly high levels of rent seeking, theft and bribery are towering hallmarks of corrupt systems of governance and way of life that are more intent on selfish private gain than in wholesale economic thrift. To put this in context,Africa has lost between $1.2 trillion and $1.4 trillion between 1980 and 2009 to illicit financial flows (alone) from the continent, greatly eclipsing the total amount the continent has received in official development aid over the same duration of time.
In
similar fashion, conflicts, civil wars and strife continue to blight and remain
an embarrassing blot that threatens to beat back the colossal economic strides
that the continent's states have made on the path towards sustainability and
prosperity, with 24 African states (almost half the number of African states)
making it to the bottom 50 of the least peaceful countries according to the Global Peace Index 2015.
The
devastation occasioned by these unfortunate travesties is multifaceted; the
migrant crisis that has rocked the Mediterranean, as thousands attempt to flee
their war-ravaged poverty-stricken countries, being one. In less than eight
months, close to a quarter million migrants, many from
Africa, have arrived in Europe by sea while thousands others have lost their
lives in the perilous journeys.
The DRC is emblematic of the economic toll and humanitarian crises that mineral conflicts afflict on a country's national institutions, economy and social cohesion. The all too murky succession of mineral conflicts fueled and exacerbated by armies, rebel groups and outside influence has brought a once prosperous nation to its knees with very little to suggest that the end is in sight. It is an all too familiar scene. Millions worth of minerals and property, hundreds of thousands of lives and the little infrastructural caricatures that once dotted the Central African nation seem to have been swept to the bowels of history. Currently one of the fastest growing economies in the world, DRC continues to show signs of recovery even though this does not take away from the fact that the country still remains volatile and deeply mired in poverty, squalor and misery.
The third
wave of democratization that began in the 1990s offered much hope for the
expansion of the democratic space and for peaceful electioneering after a
period of gross human rights violations, civil wars, genocides and crimes
against humanity. Today, elections in Africa are increasingly democratic and
peaceful and peaceful democratic transitions such as witnessed in Nigeria are a
sight to behold -and a welcome break from decades-long violent transitions-
especially in the face of worldwide skepticism and scrutiny.
The Arab
Spring that floored long-standing oppressive and authoritarian regimes such as
Muammar Gaddafi's, Hosni Mubarak's and Zine Abedine Ben Ali's, and that seem to
have inspired the ouster of Burkina Faso's Blaise Compaore, also offer encouraging
signs for popular participation and assertiveness for participatory governance
despite the reappearance of post-revolutionary military coups intent on filling
the power vacuums left by deposed despots.
However,
the rise of illiberal democracies should represent a worrying trend for
anyone interested in the development of the continent. In a new world order in
which development is viewed through prisms that include but are not limited to
the protection of human rights and civil liberties, the rise of democratically
elected governments that pay limp attention to the protection and promotion of
the same and to constitutionalism, rule of law and the principle of separation
of powers presents a sophisticated challenge which the ability or inability to
comprehensively deal with might tip the scale in favor of or away from growth
and prosperity.
Weak
healthcare systems that suffer from gross under-funding are proving to be an
Achilles heel. In fact, improvements in health systems are the highest priority
for Africans, according to analysis from the PEW Research
Center. Despite encouraging
efforts, the fight against HIV/Aids looks far from over; robbing the continent
of much needed human, social, natural and financial capital that would
otherwise go a long way in strengthening economies by stimulating growth
through improved living standards,
In the same vein, the primacy of education in growth as a catalyst for economic growth, job creation and increased social mobility needs to be restated and reviewed , and the importance of STEM fields be emphasized as areas that need robust government and private funding and positive intervention.
The
brightest glimmer of hope, of course, is that these are not entirely new
challenges to the continent's governments and citizens. How swiftly and
decisively they are dealt with, however, will go a long way in determining how
fast Africa Rising becomes a success rather than another false dawn.
DISCLAIMER
The writer is well and truly cognizant of the vastness and great existent
disparities in culture, governance structures and political economies and
economic performances and other metrics that define and determine the same in
the various African countries and as such, is cognizant of the need not to make
wide sweeping generalizations about and lampooning of the economic situation of
the countries. Therefore, the views expressed here are a reflection of some of
the most prevalent norms and happenings across many countries in the continent.
Wednesday, 9 September 2015
On modern-day feminism in Africa: The way forward
The incessant push for gender equality and the phenomenal growth of the feminist movement have been hallmark achievements of early 21st Century human rights agitation. Primed on the tenets of economic, social and political equality for women, the feminist movement has enjoyed profound successes.
These successes have not come easily, and have majorly been a culmination of decades upon decades of active agitation and legislation.
Across the globe, the movement has found relatively varying levels of success despite the fact that it is deeply steeped in history, and has come under sharp criticism from various quarters; not least "meninists", disgruntled feminists and religious bodies for perceived over-zealousness, hypersensitivity and a reactionary approach, and has also been blamed for being directly responsible for the rise of men's right's groups. There are still those who view it skeptically while others have argued that feminists have a "distorted world view and a questionable understanding of history".
Perhaps the biggest weakness of the feminist ideology is that it is a conglomeration of several pro-women pro-choice ideals that are not only difficult to achieve but that has oftentimes drawn the ire of even the very women whose very rights and well-being it agitates for.
Consequently, there are a lot of women who don't buy the ideology and are never shy to state that they don't identify as feminists and are essentially against feminists. It's is for instance no surprise to come across mushrooming social media groups like Women Against Feminism on Facebook.
While feminists have set gender equality as their main target, they have continually driven a wedge between the genders by depicting the female gender as the weaker -at least implicitly - and exploited gender, or simply the "other gender", instead of championing for the depiction of women as equal members of the human race as their male counterparts, and who deserve better for the simple reason that they are humans too.
In as much as this is a well-beaten noble road that has been instrumental in providing impetus to the movement, it may also serve to reinforce sexist and misogynistic stereotypes of what women are and are not, can and cannot do, and can and cannot achieve; instead of serving to reassert the woman's part in society by magnifying her achievements in life and in society in various fields of practice and profession.
There's also need to espouse the woman's immense contributions as a birther and shaper of life and society, and for her supreme innermost strength to endure the grueling pains of menstrual cycles, nine-month pregnancy terms and child birth and upbringing for years on end.
These alone are reasons enough to vindicate the woman and to mark her out as an individual more worthy of treatment with dignity and respect.
Achieving this objective requires that a lot be done to inculcate a culture that is respectful of women and that judges individuals not by their gender but by the content of their character.
While much effort has been dedicated towards addressing the plight of the girl child, a lot still needs to be done towards the same end. And not just that, the plight of the boy child also needs to be looked at because in essence, we do not need to be talking about the boy child or the girl child; we need to be talking about the child who not only needs our love, care and support to deal with the challenges of the 21st Century, but who also needs to be nurtured into an all-rounded person respectful of both genders, all religions, races, creeds and cultures.
Most importantly, we need to at the end of the day look into our children's eyes and to feel unquestionably content that we did our very best to equip them with all the necessary skills that will enable them to become useful, resourceful and respectful individuals in society; people who have the capacity and capability to engineer personal and community growth. It's only then when everybody shall be on the upward rise that gender based violence and discrimination will steadily creep into the distant past
As has been evidenced by various theoretical studies and research papers economic prosperity and gender equality walk hand in hand because of the causal relationship between the two.
By: Jagero Wallace
These successes have not come easily, and have majorly been a culmination of decades upon decades of active agitation and legislation.
Across the globe, the movement has found relatively varying levels of success despite the fact that it is deeply steeped in history, and has come under sharp criticism from various quarters; not least "meninists", disgruntled feminists and religious bodies for perceived over-zealousness, hypersensitivity and a reactionary approach, and has also been blamed for being directly responsible for the rise of men's right's groups. There are still those who view it skeptically while others have argued that feminists have a "distorted world view and a questionable understanding of history".
Perhaps the biggest weakness of the feminist ideology is that it is a conglomeration of several pro-women pro-choice ideals that are not only difficult to achieve but that has oftentimes drawn the ire of even the very women whose very rights and well-being it agitates for.
Consequently, there are a lot of women who don't buy the ideology and are never shy to state that they don't identify as feminists and are essentially against feminists. It's is for instance no surprise to come across mushrooming social media groups like Women Against Feminism on Facebook.
While feminists have set gender equality as their main target, they have continually driven a wedge between the genders by depicting the female gender as the weaker -at least implicitly - and exploited gender, or simply the "other gender", instead of championing for the depiction of women as equal members of the human race as their male counterparts, and who deserve better for the simple reason that they are humans too.
In as much as this is a well-beaten noble road that has been instrumental in providing impetus to the movement, it may also serve to reinforce sexist and misogynistic stereotypes of what women are and are not, can and cannot do, and can and cannot achieve; instead of serving to reassert the woman's part in society by magnifying her achievements in life and in society in various fields of practice and profession.
There's also need to espouse the woman's immense contributions as a birther and shaper of life and society, and for her supreme innermost strength to endure the grueling pains of menstrual cycles, nine-month pregnancy terms and child birth and upbringing for years on end.
These alone are reasons enough to vindicate the woman and to mark her out as an individual more worthy of treatment with dignity and respect.
Achieving this objective requires that a lot be done to inculcate a culture that is respectful of women and that judges individuals not by their gender but by the content of their character.
While much effort has been dedicated towards addressing the plight of the girl child, a lot still needs to be done towards the same end. And not just that, the plight of the boy child also needs to be looked at because in essence, we do not need to be talking about the boy child or the girl child; we need to be talking about the child who not only needs our love, care and support to deal with the challenges of the 21st Century, but who also needs to be nurtured into an all-rounded person respectful of both genders, all religions, races, creeds and cultures.
Most importantly, we need to at the end of the day look into our children's eyes and to feel unquestionably content that we did our very best to equip them with all the necessary skills that will enable them to become useful, resourceful and respectful individuals in society; people who have the capacity and capability to engineer personal and community growth. It's only then when everybody shall be on the upward rise that gender based violence and discrimination will steadily creep into the distant past
As has been evidenced by various theoretical studies and research papers economic prosperity and gender equality walk hand in hand because of the causal relationship between the two.
By: Jagero Wallace
Monday, 18 May 2015
To withdraw or not to withdraw: Kenya’s biggest dilemma
In the wake of the recent deadly terrorist attack at the Garissa University college that left in its trail 148 innocent students dead
and scores nursing physical and psychological wounds, there have been renewed
calls for the Kenyan government to withdraw its forces from Somalia and to
bring the curtain down on Operation Linda Nchi.
This agitation has come as a response to the relentless andruthless murders of innocent Kenyans in Kenya by the Somalia-based terrorist
group al-Shabaab that the Kenyan forces had gone into Somalia to pursue. Most
people have questioned the rationale behind having Kenyan forces stationed in Somalia in
the face of increased deadly terrorist attacks by the said terrorist group back
at home.
The Kenyan forces stationed in Somalia also stand accused of
gross human rights violations and involvement in a booming charcoal trade in
the country.
With the number of casualties from such attacks standing at
a staggering 500 or thereabouts, this couldn’t be a better time for those who
were opposed
to the operation from the very beginning to renew their calls for the
immediate withdrawal of Kenyan forces involved in the exercise. Even the public
that was once supportive of the very decision to send Kenyan forces to Somalia
to pursue the murderous terrorist group have joined in the chorus to have the
said forces withdrawn.
The compelling
reasons behind Operation Linda Nchi
Lest it be lost on us, Operation Linda Nchi was prompted by
the audacious abductions and killings of foreign tourists and aid workers as
well as Kenyans by al-Shabaab. The incursion therefore signaled the beginning
of Kenya’s active involvement in the global war on terror and a response to the
breach of Kenya’s territorial integrity by the barbaric terrorist group.
So
should Kenya withdraw its forces from Somalia?
Despite continued attacks in Kenya and despite initial
skepticism, the operation in Somalia has majorly been a success for the allied
forces fighting extremism and violent insurgency in the Horn of Africa country
since the fall from grace of Siad Barre in 1991.
So far al-Shabaab has lost erstwhile foreign-trained leaders
such as Ahmed Abdi Godane, Ibrahim al-Afghani and Abu Mansoor al-Amriki. The
group has also lost large swathes of territory that once were under its tight
control ever since the decline and the subsequent disintegration of the IslamicCourts Union from which it took over.
Key towns such as Beledweyne, Afmadow, Kismayo, and
Mogadishu that acted as the terror group’s economic lifeline have since changed
hands. Similarly, any semblances of political institutions that it established
at the heights of its power have since crumbled.
As security experts have pointed out, al-Shabaab is
definitely at its weakest now than ever. So much so that it has resorted to
shifting bases to avoid continued aerial bombardment by AMISOM and American dronestrikes, and to secure their survival. What remains of the terror group
is a pale shadow of its former self; one bereft of any strong economic base and
any sense of social and political influence to speak of.
The operation in Somalia has therefore been a massive
success bar the attacks back home.
With the job almost done and with the target firmly in our
sights, a withdrawal from Somalia is as unthinkable as it would be reckless and
cowardly. The dice was cast when Kenyan Defense Forces set foot in Somalia and
anything short of a total victory over the terror group would be nothing to
show for the efforts and resources Kenya put into and the lives of soldiers
lost in the operation.
Only the total obliteration of al-Shabaab would spell the
end of the daring attacks the group has carried out in the region, and
it is only now that KDF under AMISOM has ever been closer to achieving that
objective.
Learning
from Iraq
Worse than that, a withdrawal would grant the terror group
sufficient time and space to regroup and to launch further assaults in the region.
Only that this time, as the world has learnt from the premature withdrawal of
US Forces from Iraq, a more powerful and more brutal resurgent group will
re-emerge to take center-stage
The point that those advocating for an immediate withdrawal
and citing the US withdrawal from Iraq are missing is the fact that the power
vacuum that was felt under an unstable Iraqi government under the leadership of
Nouri al-Maliki provided the perfect breeding ground for the most brutal
blood-thirsty terror group ever; the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and
the Levante (ISIL/ISIS/IS)
That the same could happen under an unstable Transitional
Federal Government of Somalia is as real as it is scary. This is perhaps
compounded by the fact that, as we have learnt in the Middle East, terrorist
groups do not die easy deaths and could it does take a long period of time to stamp out
their existence and any chances of their resurgence.
Just like ISIS reign of terror in which suicide bombings,
public executions, chopping off of hands, public floggings, abductions, slavery
and forced marriages are common-place, the same scene could be replayed in
Somalia if al-Shabaab is not completely rooted out and is allowed to regroup
and to sweep into power. If at all, that used to be the case in Somalia when
al-Shabaab grew in prominence and came to power in Southern Somalia.
Again, al-Shabaab will have won the ideological war and
would use such a withdrawal to oil its religious/nationalist propaganda machine, and use
the same to resuscitate its dying remnants and to mobilize a powerful
recruitment drive in the region and from outside Africa just as it once did.
The same has been witnessed in the Middle East. We cannot take such a gamble
closer home.
As such, bowing down to terrorist demands to withdraw from
Somalia would be a huge calamitous mistake by the Kenyan government to all the
countries, agencies and forces involved in the war on terror in the Horn of
Africa.
Above all, Kenya as a member of the United Nations and as
one of the most peaceful and the most powerful regional actors has the moral
obligation and the responsibility to protect its citizens and the thousands of
Somalis it liberated from the shackles of al-Shabaab.
Leaving the job half-done would be a total disaster and will
certainly usher in the dark olden days of al-Shabaab’s reign of terror in
Somalia. Only that this time the reign would be more brutal and
vicious as the group makes up for lost time, for the losses it suffered
under coalition forces and to avenge for the deaths of its leaders such as
Ahmed Abdi Godane. Letting al-Shabaab slip back into power is literally
unthinkable.
So
what now for Kenya...
While those calling for the immediate withdrawal have a
legitimate concern that
needs to be addressed,
it is important to note that most of the attacks the group has carried out in
Kenya have been preventable; manageable in the very least.
Had Kenyan security agencies acted on intelligence reports
we would have probably never witnessed the Westgate Mall siege and the Garissa
University massacre. And had the said security agencies acted in real time the
death toll would have been significantly lower in both cases.
Again, if the government could act on the rampant systemic
corruption that opens our bodies for breach by illegal immigrants and
terrorists and seal all loopholes that ensure that terrorists can easily gain
entry into the country, acquire Kenyan national identity cards and SIM
cards, go wherever they want and literally roam the country, there would be a
significant decline in the number of terror attacks in the country.
Key in this should also be the multi-agency approach in the fight against radicalization and extremism; most importantly addressing the social, political and economic injustices that makes its Northern and Coastal youth populations susceptible to radicalization.
Key in this should also be the multi-agency approach in the fight against radicalization and extremism; most importantly addressing the social, political and economic injustices that makes its Northern and Coastal youth populations susceptible to radicalization.
So, the solution really lies in beefing up homeland security
and NOT withdrawing Kenyan Defense Forces from Somalia unless and until the
terrorist group is totally wiped out. It is only then that Kenya will be
secure.
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