Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2008 18:57:38 +1100 (EST)
From: Anastasia M
Is it true that Luos are displacing tens of thousands and killing hundreds of its ethnic Kikuyu, and vice versa?
What is wrong for the Bank’s local director, Colin Bruce, to have lived in a house owned by President Kibaki. Kibakis house is a private property not a state house
“… the Bush administration has often done well in promoting democracy” Yes we have all witnessed how well it has brought democracy in Iraq and elsewhere.
“… But it is probably time for aid agencies to just pull out of the country altogether …”. Am sure whoever desires this to happen has never known what it feels especially to the children to sleep hungry not one night, two or three for a crime committed by others.
By the time it pinches on President Kibaki, Hon Raila and their cronies, assuming Aid agencies pulled out, how many lives from all tribes will we have lost? ie think of Kenyans who ordinarily survive on food aid and add those who have already joined the club and those who are heading there? Waswahili walisema, aliyetota hajui kutota.
Being in community funding sector myself, I fully agree with those Donors that continue to insist that health and humanitarian aid remain untouched.
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Peter O. wrote:
Fiddling While Kenya Burns By Roger Bate Friday, February 15, 2008
Filed under: World Watch
“As aid agencies vacillate, the crisis in East Africa is getting worse, says ROGER BATE.”
. . .
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Subject: Its biting on all Kenyan tribes
Dear Anastasia M.,
Please see our commentary in the original post at http://blog.jaluo.com/?p=141.
Also, there is a very obvious answer to your question.
“What is wrong for the Bank’s local director, Colin Bruce, to have lived in a house owned by President Kibaki.”
Bate’s article goes further than alleging that Bruce lives in a house owned by Kibaki–Bate notes that “the house was in Kibaki’s own personally secured compound in the beautiful Nairobi suburb of Mathaiga.”
Colin Bruce is, it would seem, like family to Kibaki.
This is a breach of public trust on the part of Kibaki and may be a breach of international law on the part of Bruce. It represents an obvious CONFLICT OF INTEREST. Bruce may not make the best choice when it comes to granting loans because, even though he has reason to question whether the money (like the 6% GDP growth) will ever reach the intended target–POOR KENYANS–his buddy Kibaki really wants the money so… Shucks! Why not give him that million-dollar loan with Structural Adjustment Program strings attached. If a few less million bucks go to healthcare or education, then too bad. The poor are used to being poor anyway.
In the US there are laws against these kinds of things. But even the US struggles with the influence of partisan interests, lobbyists, etc. on politicians.
Kenya will have to address these issues sooner or later. We firmly believe that PUBLIC-PRIVATE intersections represent the most palpable threat to democracy worldwide. We have already seen the impact that Halliburton (Cheney’s nest egg) has had on the lives of Iraqis.
But you don’t need to take our word for it. We love skeptical readers! For more on this, read Confessions of an Economic Hit Man: How the U.S. Uses Globalization to Cheat Poor Countries Out of Trillions by John Perkins. Also try Joseph Stiglitz’s Globalization and its Discontents. Both will tell you much more about the corruption that is endemic in the World Bank and IMF. Hmmmm… No wonder Kibaki and Bruce are chums.
Regards,
Jaluo Press