Politics

I lived and worked in Kenya with my family for four years, from 1997 to 2001. I don’t exaggerate when I say that we enjoyed everyday of our stay there. In Kenya there are many opportunities to learn, do business, shop, relax, enjoy nature and we did it all. Weekends in Nairobi were never boring, with multifunctional malls, excellent playgrounds, swimming, carting, cinema’s showing the most recent films, name it. There is even a national park just outside the city where you can observe wildlife in their natural habitat and with the high rises of Nairobi in the background. During school holidays we usually took the children to the coast, where we enjoyed the beaches and learnt snorkelling, scuba diving and windsurfing. If this sounds like a holiday and having a good time, it was so.
I enjoyed my work as well which took me to many different places in the countryside and where I learnt to admire the different tribes, working hard in sometimes harsh conditions and trying to make a living, with a smile. I found the Kenyans to be hard working people and appreciated their so called “matatu” culture. Matatu’s are minibuses, usually crowded with commuters and the matatu culture means that there is always place for another person, especially during social functions and parties.
I was in Kenya during the elections of 1997, which at that time were accompanied by some tension, nervousness and violence as the political arena began to allow space for opposition to stand up against the establishment of President Moi. Moi won the elections in 1997, or perhaps a better way of putting it is that the opposition lost as they were not united enough to form a strong block against KANU, the President’s political party.
That changed in 2002, when it became clear that President Moi’s days were counted and politicians from all corners found each other in the Rainbow Alliance with Mr. Kibaki as their flag bearer. Needless to say that the incumbent didn’t stand a chance and Mr. Kibaki was elected president in an atmosphere that may be described as a kind of euphoria. Kenya had become a democracy indeed, or so it seemed. While the Kenyan people knew who they got rid of, they perhaps didn’t realise who they elected instead. While the Kibaki election campaign focused on stamping out corruption, he didn’t deliver and corruption actually became worse instead. Did he really care, I wonder? And he neglected to keep a promise to Mr. Raila Odinga, who supported him during the election campaign but turned against Kibaki after he realised he was not going to be Vice President after all. Thus the scene was set for a bitter contest between Mr. Kibaki and Mr. Odinga for the presidential elections of December 2007, just a few weeks ago.
What we have seen since is tragic and difficult to describe. The results were released, while the electoral commission wasn’t even sure of their validity, Mr. Kibaki was sworn in half an hour later and Mr. Odinga says he was robbed of the Presidency.
Next, chaos with ethnic violence broke out like never witnessed before, resulting in death, destruction of property and people losing their homes. Kenya was headline news around the world for almost two weeks. And it took more than 500 people to die and thousands more to be displaced before the two political rivals even wanted to talk about talking to each other. What a shame.
Now that some small steps are being made to come to some sort of solution to the crisis we begin to see the humanitarian disaster unfold as the result of a political chaos, that could have been prevented had the leaders put the interest of the country and the Kenyan people before their personal desire to be in power.
As a result as well we are witnessing the collapse of an economy, within the country and beyond. In Kenya itself, transport and trade came to a virtual stand still while the tourism industry (a major foreign currency earner) was yet again delivered a blow that will be difficult to recover from. And the consequences are felt in Uganda, South Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi and DRC as well as these countries transport the vast majority of their imports and exports through the port of Mombassa. With truck owners waiting to transport goods through Kenya to its western borders, the supply of essentials like fuel has ceased. In Uganda, there is now a shortage of petrol and whatever is available has become very expensive.
In other words, the political problems in one nation affect the economy of an entire region. And all this is happening in a country otherwise regarded as politically and economically stable. Political stability is an important factor to consider for investors and it will take time before confidence is restored sufficiently for Kenya to attract new investors and tourists again.
In Kenya as in many other African countries, there is no social security system or safety net. But there is the extended family. And if the family can’t help, people turn to somebody from their village, their clan, their tribe.
African culture is based on relationships and people depend on and extend support to those that are closest to them. When people vote for a politician they are likely to vote for somebody who is one of them and they will expect that person to do something for them in return. Many politicians use the same principle as they go around the campaign trail and promise they will look after their people, once in office.Some angry Kenyans were heard saying a few weeks ago that it was now “their turn to eat…”
With poverty at the level it is for many and no national system in place to serve as a safety net, it is perhaps no wonder that the tribal card can be played so easily in politics. It may be so that a nation needs to grow economically to a certain level before the concept of democracy can be successfully and fully applied, I don’t know.
Mind you, in a democracy the majority rules but minorities are protected and their rights respected. What I find disturbing is that in the politics that we see practised around us, human rights are violated so massively and economies are destroyed over night that took years to build.
How long will it take to recover? Probably longer than the term of the presidency that is so hard being fought for.