Disillusionment in the Land of my Birth

This last Sunday, I boarded a plane on a journey back to the country of my birth, Kenya. As you all know, I have rumbled quite a lot about the state of governance in Kenya. On the plane, I had the privilege of sharing a seat with a gentleman that was also Kenyan but that worked for one of the reputable banks in Africa, had lived out of Kenya for a long time in other African countries, and just like me, was concerned by the state of the Kenyan nation. There are a two things he mentioned that were absolutely interesting and I thought to share:

On politicians in Kenya and the motivation for becoming a politician:

‘Politicians in Kenya only get into power to create, amass and/or protect wealth. And that is the reason we need to elect people that have reached their levels of self actualization and who main goal is to be of service to their constituents’

This is so true in Kenya where members of Parliament only ever form a quorum when they have to raise their salaries or benefits. Most of them are definitely driven by the need to create and amass wealth. What is very interesting (and which I extracted from a conversation with a very dynamic woman professor in that last two days), is that most women Parliamentarians in Kenya have been able to use their salaries and benefits to develop the constituencies they represent beyond what is required by the Constitutional Development Fund.

On the business of politics:

‘Politics has three key characteristics that you find in Kenya:

• It is a profession and can be passed on from generation to generation It is an income generating activity for the betterment of the politician’s family and empire
• Politicians can insult and behave really badly in Kenya but they are not impeachable because of lack of separation of powers between the judiciary and the executive or legislature. They therefore use their excessive amounts of money to get away with it
• They can steal as much as possible and as many times as they like without ever going to jail (because they have money). ‘They only ever get house arrest’, one colleague said.

I am so disillusioned about the state of my country of birth. As we got out of the airplane and into the airport terminal, there they had two buckets of water to collect rain water from a leaking roof (talk about mediocrity and acceptance of it) and this is an international airport, nogal.

The buckets to collect rain water from a leaking roof

At the baggage collection point, there was a large number of luggage that had been placed on the floor to allow for space so that people that had arrived could collect their bags. Chaos cannot begin to explain it (did I say that Kenya Airways netted over R7million as profit in 2010/2011). Surely they should have more collection points, a storage office and most of all a roof that does not leak.

Utter chaos at the baggage collection area

I would like backtrack a little bit here (there is a point to be made at some point, i promise). A few years ago after I finished my degree, I went back to Kenya to look for a job and for about 6 months I tarmacked, applied and did all kinds of interviews with all kinds of firms, a process that yielded no results and brought me back to a country that I have since fallen in love with, South Africa. During this period of job searching, I often got asked what my last name was or where I came from in Kenya and based on the answers that I gave, I never heard back from the recruiters. One recruiter told me that I did not have the right surname as well as did not come from the right tribe and on the basis of that, told me he could not offer me a job that at the time I believed I was rightly qualified for. From that time, I have vowed to not disclose my surname or tribe name to anybody that asks for that information. Part of the reason we had a civil war in Kenya in 2007 was based on the fact that we have become a people that value their tribal affiliation more than they do being Kenyans or Africans. So you can imagine the horror that greeted me when my taxi driver, who had my full names for pick up at the airport, pointed out to me that she knew the tribe I came from and that we did not come from the same tribe (instant divisions formed).

Despite all this negativity, all is not lost. Kenyans have fought so hard to draft an all inclusive constitution and we can only hope that the creation and strengthening of institutions will ensure that this constitution is implemented in a manner that can provide the citizens of this country (who deserve so much more and better) the services that they require.

For now, I am going to start my 3 week holiday, rant and rave about what I think is going wrong, speak about the solutions I think the country should adopt, and all this will be broadcast on here. So keep coming back for a daily dose of rumblings from the country of birth.