Date:Â Â Mon, 18 Feb 2008 17:15:09 +1100
From:Â Peter O.
Fiddling While Kenya Burns
By Roger Bate Friday, February 15, 2008
— The American, A Magazine of Ideas
http://www.american.com/archive/2008/february-02-08/fiddling-while-kenya-burns
 EXCERPT:
It must be said that this is a problem of Kenya’s own making. The country is appallingly corrupt, and hopes that the Kibaki regime, first elected in 2002, would root out corruption were dashed within two years. Kenya’s anti-corruption czar, John Githongo, exposed hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of corrupt practices, but he was seen as a traitor by his own Kikuyu tribe, was left dangerously exposed by President Kibaki, and wound up fleeing to England in fear of his life.
But the international community also deserves a good share of the blame. It is well known that over the past few decades the World Bank loaned money on four separate occasions to different Kenyan governments for the same agricultural reform program. Each time, World Bank insiders knew the Kenyans weren’t serious about reforms, but still the loans continued, further entrenching the corrupt rule of the Kenyatta and Moi regimes.
Despite the apparent efforts of James Wolfensohn and Paul Wolfowitz, two former World Bank presidents, and Robert Zoellick, the current Bank chief, business as usual continues. When I was in Kenya a year ago, I was somewhat surprised to learn that the Bank’s local director, Colin Bruce, lived in a house owned by President Kibaki, and that the house was in Kibaki’s own personally secured compound in the beautiful Nairobi suburb of Mathaiga. This relationship seemed way too cozy, given the Kibaki government’s endemic corruption.
For your information the violence has ended.although your wish would be for all of us to kill each other.
But we have faith in our God and we trust that he will give MWAI kIBAKI the strength and wisdom to take this country far .
You have no moral authority to criticise Martha Karua.
Why should the gvt agree to share power. why did the opposition refuse a vote recount? if the us and the eu cared about Kenyans they would bar the people who are behind the deaths in the rift valley from accessing their funds abroad or even travelling there. All they care about is exploiting Kenya as they had been promised by raila. I understand you are advocating for aid agencies to halt their operations in kenya at the expense of ordinary kenyans.
And is your friend miss wrong now a mindreader?
The author does not know where the Luos come from in Kenya…
Majority of the displaced kikuyu’s are coming from Rift Valley province which is predominatantly Kalejin tribe who have fought with Kikuyus since 1992….
get your facts on the tribal boundaries of kenya well……….
Its not only Colin of World Bank a lot of reporters etc are also in a very compromised situation living in houses owned by Kikuyu landlords, I am afraid.
“You have no moral authority to criticise Martha Karua.”
“Kenyan,” we’re curious to know on what grounds you base this claim. We would say that there are, at the very least, MILLIONS of people who have the moral authority to criticize Martha Karua.
She was, as Iqbal and others have noted, present when the major rigging took place. She was IDed by the independent observers (non-Kibaki-appointed). That she is the Minister of Justice is an insult to all Kenyans. She is a vital organ at the root of the problem, another rotting branch in the Kibaki government. She needs to be weeded out and stripped of her powers. In a truly just society, Martha Karua et al would never serve in government again. She, Kibaki, Michuki, Saitoti, Kimunya, Wetangula and the rest would face the same kind of public condemnation that the corrupt Tanzanian prime minister and his cabinet faced. They would be forced to resign.
Someone observed that Karua may be the brains behind the operation. We would counter, however, that those who are the most intelligent do what is right. The common good benefits all, including the unborn.
Case in point: we recycle and cut down on our waste today so that our grandchildren and those who come seven generations later may benefit from our current efforts. Why do we do this? Because we are all connected. What you do thousands of miles away will affect me in some way someday. Those who put short-term personal gain before long-term social welfare do so to the detriment of everyone (themselves included). You see, slavery not only damages the slave but it also damages the master.
There is a quicker way of saying this:
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
– Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail, April 16, 1963
Also, you may want to check out the poem “First they came” by Pastor Martin Niemoller. See http://www.telisphere.com/~cearley/sean/camps/first.html This poem is as powerful as it is short. It makes the best case for why we must do the right thing, on the grounds of self-interest, that we have ever heard–this includes NOT being neutral and TAKING ACTION in the face of injustice. Martin Luther King Jr. also noted that those who do not act but can are complicit in the crime that is committed. Posthumous note to Moses: as part of our never-ending, personal quest for concise and comprehensive literary fulfillment, the editors of this site think that you could probably sum up the Ten Commandments as “do what you should do” followed by “do what you can do.” Maybe in the King George (Bush) version of the Holy Book perhaps?
We would also like to note that, hey, it’s a free country (or so we’re told). At this site, we uphold the right to free speech so long as it adheres to our editorial policy.
Regards and thanks for visiting,
Jaluo Press
P.S. Here is a sexy, modernized rewrite of the Niemoller poem:
First Bush and Gonzales came for the terrorists, but I was not a terrorist, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the enemy combatants, but I was not a combatant, so I did not object. Then they came for the protestors resisting “free speech zones” near Bush campaign rallies, but I was not a protestor and so I only voiced my unease.
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0110-33.htm
That said, we too differ with Bate on a number of points. The most bothersome issue that we have with Bate’s article is that he predictably paints this to be a Kikuyu-Luo affair. This is so far from the truth that we’re saddened that this lie is continually peddled in western media… Let’s see Mugabe Were was half Luo and half Luhya. David Too was Kalenjin. And the Eldoret Church massacre was carried out by a group of Kalenjins (Xan Rice, The Gaurdian) NOT by Luos. Yet twenty Luos were burned to death by a group of Kikuyus. On the coast, Kibaki’s policemen shot live bullets at crowds of protestors. Were all of these people Luo?
Regards,
Jaluo Press
Except for certain criticisms about this not being only a Luo vs Kikuyu affair, the gist of the article captures reality in Kenya.
PNU and hardliners ARE NOT SERIOUS … they are buying time.
Colin Bruce in Kibaki’s house … am not surprised
Remember Kenyan [esp. nairobi] culture is rooted in GRAND corruption that has become the norm since Kenyatta’s and GEMA’s rule from 1963.
As a result event mega CORPORATIONS and their bosses will be very compromised at some stage or another – ‘Because this is how things are done in Kenya” will be their answer.
So Kenyan Politicians, Private Enterprise and Police are all ‘married’ in this grand orgy of rape that has taken place over 44 years… very difficult for them to accept the reality on the ground – as a result we have this fiasco in Kenya.
The article is quite accurate – only when the hardliners see their assets at threat will they really accpet that all is not well.
Also remember criminals and fraudsters know when they are cornered and they will try every avenue left open to try to manipulate the situation to theri favour and safety… sometimes quoting the law, and now the Constitution
Just bring in the Un AU and supervise this great land for next 2 years and BAN all these fraudsters and even jail them if found guilty of past crime.
After 2 years maybe we will have a non tribal and fresh lot that might incorporate some clean leaders from the current lot and a vibrant Kenya – otherwise we will always be at the mercy of some of these crooks and goons from 1963, their inheritors and theri opportunistic friends.
If that does not work – maybe Kenyans need to have UN supervised refereundum and decide which province stays with which and draw up fresh boundaries and then at least the citizens will be able to have a decent life where human rights, freedom are respected and understood fully and applied in practice.
That may be a radical solution but the situation in Kenya is not a normal situation and lives are being lost and livelihoods being disrupted by a few hundred elitist and corrupt families and individuals