Post by miguna on Oct 31, 2006 6:22:15 GMT 3
GOVERNANCE IN KENYA:
PAST MISTAKES, PRESENT CHALLENGES
AND FUTURE PROSPECTS
By RAILA ODINGA
Member of Parliament, Langata Constituency, Nairobi, Kenya
Member of the Orange Democratic Movement-Kenya
Address to the University of Toronto, Canada
Friday, October 27, 2006
MEMBERS of the university board and faculty, distinguished guests, students, ladies and gentlemen – I should like first to say how grateful I am to the University of Toronto for affording me this opportunity to voice some of my reflections on the social, economic and political, past, present and future of my country, Kenya. I have been looking forward to sharing my thoughts with you, and I hope you will find in them something of interest, and that they may provide food for further thought and reflection.
Kenya and its neighbours Tanzania and Uganda make up the geographical entity that is known as East Africa. Kenya, which lies on Africa’s eastern seaboard, has the second largest population after Tanzania, with – according to the 1999 national census – about 30 million people. It is a population that covers a wide spectrum in terms of race, ethnicity, language, culture and religion.
Kenya also has a complex political heritage, having been a British colony for some 70 years before it fought and won the battle for independence, which was finally achieved on December 12, 1963. On that date, Jomo Kenyatta became Kenya’s founding president, and my father, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, the nation’s first vice-president.
The independence struggle united disparate bedfellows against a common enemy. Despite ideological differences among the major players, the indigenous communities of the country stood together as one, to fight for freedom, equity and fairness in resource allocation.
After independence, however, these differences among the leaders began to cause ruptures in the surface of the nation’s politics, and the succeeding 40 years have witnessed many resulting challenges, as we have striven to achieve an end to the four main enemies of progress – ignorance, poverty, disease and bad governance. In the 43 years since it became independent, Kenya has faced the challenges of authoritarian rule and curtailment of freedoms on the one hand, and of economic failure, institutionalized corruption and resulting poverty on the other.
It is not what was envisaged by those who fought so hard for our freedom from colonial rule.
The Kenyan dream and vision at Independence
The founding fathers of the Kenyan nation had a dream of a country at ease with itself – of a viable, democratic state that would build on the constitutional and political framework it had inherited, to offer freedom and prosperity to all its citizens. They dreamed of an independent country that would take its place as an equal partner in the world brotherhood of nations. These founding fathers had planned a country where people would be treated equally, irrespective of race, gender or creed – a country governed by the rule of law. Their clear vision inspired Kenyans to great faith in their leadership.
Some of these leaders, however, turned out to have less faith in the promises they had made. The core issue of the independence battle had been land expropriated by the colonial settlers but, rather than address the complex issues of restitution of this land to its rightful owners, many of the new national leaders jumped on the bandwagon and began acquiring large tracts of land and other wealth for themselves.
My father’s anguish at this turn of events caused him to lead a splinter group across the floor of Parliament to form an opposition party, but this party was within three years proscribed. Respect for the nation’s legislative inheritance was lost through many amendments to the constitution, and Kenya became a de facto one-party dictatorship. Multi-party democracy would not again be seen in action for nearly a quarter of a century. Parliament and the judiciary were muzzled to become mere instruments at the service of an imperial executive, meritocracy went out of the window and the public lost all confidence in its elected leaders and public institutions. Only the twin evils of political patronage and ethnicity propped up successive regimes.
As transparency and accountability were abandoned, institutionalized corruption also became endemic. And as society became ever more threatening, so people retreated to where they thought they were safe – within their own ethnic groups, something that successive governments, adhering to the age-old ‘divide and rule’ principle, actively promoted. The result was fear, mistrust and animosity between neighbours who had formerly happily co-existed, and the increasing balkanization of our country.
All these developments frightened off investors and undermined the economy, with the result that the annual economic growth rate of 7.5 per cent per annum in the first years after Independence gradually slowed and finally disappeared altogether. By the time of the 2002 general election, the economy was registering a negative annual growth rate.
The result was stark socio-economic inequality, with the rich becoming richer and the poor losing all hope of ever escaping the grim wretchedness of their lives. One unfortunate but predictable consequence was a rapidly rising crime rate, as those unable to work and confused by the excesses of their leaders turned to crime in order to survive. This group included, and still includes today, a huge constituency of socially disenfranchised and disillusioned young people, for whom the economy’s failure to expand and provide jobs has meant no viable future. Today, nearly 60 per cent of Kenyans live below the poverty line.
Despite the restitution of multi-party democracy in 1992, the ruling party held all the cards, as well as the purse strings, and was able to rig its way back into power that year and in the following general election of 1997.
The Narc government
It was against this background that the National Rainbow Coalition (Narc) was formed in 2002. The 1992 and 1997 election results had provided a critical lesson to a divided opposition: only through unity could the ruling party be defeated, and Narc was formed to achieve this end. Kenyans were urged to put aside their strong ethnic preferences in favour of uniting behind a single presidential candidate to oust the previous president and his regime. I personally stepped down from my planned presidential candidature and urged my supporters to vote for the man we had chosen to front our campaign, Kenya’s current president, Mwai Kibaki, a man belonging to a different ethnic group from my own. In a magnificent demonstration of sacrifice of their personal wishes for the national good, 98 per cent of my kinsmen and women voted for Kibaki.
I was one of those who carved out a new vision for the Narc team and we promised the people that we were going to emancipate them from the mistakes of the past. These promises struck an answering chord in a nation hungry for change, and the resulting election victory was an outstanding achievement.
But even before the euphoria of our success had abated, the betrayal had begun. The agreement, signed by all parties that directed inclusion in the government of those who had been the leaders of the Coalition was ditched by the new executive, the ripples of corruption were smoothed over and the unchecked plundering of national resources resumed. More insidious, the government, instead of building on the wave of nationalism and the rejection of tribalism that had brought it to power, has spent the succeeding four years engaged in fostering and stoking ethnic rivalry and hatred, taking Kenya a giant step backwards.
Where we had promised non-partisan national unity, we have seen a preponderance of ethno-regional appointments and favouritism, which has returned tribalism to a powerful central role in our society.
Where we promised an end to corruption and the culture of impunity, these destructive evils have increased to levels far higher than previously reached.
Where we promised to create conditions for financial empowerment of the people, the wealth has streamed unstoppably into a few pockets.
Where we promised to reduce bureaucracy and introduce civil service reforms, we have seen the retention of the old, tired, bloated civil service behemoth, which is a serious impediment to economic growth and development.
Where we promised true democracy, we have seen a failed transition to nothing.
Within three years, the people of Kenya were so disillusioned that, when last year the government tried to introduce a draft new constitution – one of the planks on which it had campaigned and been elected – the people, in a national referendum on the issue, rejected the document by an astounding more than one million votes. The draft constitution, agreed on by the people’s representatives, had been doctored to reflect the wishes of the government, and the people finally found the strength and voice to say, “No. Enough is enough.”
I was one of the founders of the Orange Democratic Movement, which led the campaign against the draft constitution. The Movement gave such hope to Kenyans that it has now been transformed into a political party, ODM-Kenya, whose aim is to champion the interests of the people, to complete the transition to true democracy, and to ensure the second liberation of our nation.
ODM-Kenya and the future
ODM-Kenya is determined to transform the nature of governance in Kenya and to institutionalize those political and economic gains so far realized and not yet eroded. By rewarding excellence and merit, rather than tribal affiliation, the party is determined to allow people to become what they are capable of becoming, rather than ensuring that, if they happen to belong to an ethnic group different from those holding high office, they remain forever at the bottom of the pile. All this will take place in a fully democratic environment, in which everyone has an equal opportunity to participate in the country’s public affairs and the ordinary citizen is empowered to do so. Particular attention will be paid to gender equality through affirmative action. It will also be ensured that people with disabilities, the youth and other minority groups will receive attention according to their needs, so that each can achieve an equal place in society.
The economy
One of the greatest challenges facing Kenya concerns the economy – how to create wealth, how to restore and maintain a high rate of economic growth, how to generate employment opportunities and how to reduce poverty.
We need to promote Kenyans to engineer growth and development in the private sector, at the same time attracting foreign direct investment by creating favourable conditions for that investment – most importantly by removing the bureaucratic red tape that currently dogs potential investors and helps prevent the creation of wealth in our nation.
Wealth must be created so that the country has a position from which to trade with others and participate in the global economy – without being a beggar. You cannot trade with nothing to offer, and there are no short cuts. We must have manufacturing, large-scale agriculture, processing, a developed infrastructure and efficient information technology. These are the areas I believe we need to focus on.
At the moment, the government has laid emphasis, like the west, on the service sector – mainly banking, insurance, tourism and the stock market. These sectors employ fewer people and also bring huge disparities in earnings. I believe that access to factors of production, including land, capital and technology, is essential for the upward social mobility of the people. In this regard, ODM-Kenya will develop a progressive and clearly articulated land policy, based on a set of simplified, rationalized and consolidated laws and regulations. This is a critical requirement for sustained economic recovery.
Information technology is also vital in today’s world. Apart from the need to keep abreast of world developments, we could, for example, become part of the outsourcing that has been the result of the high cost of labour in the west, where the new global economy has resulted in the blurring of traditional lines across formerly sharply delineated class structures, weakening the distinction between ‘white’ and ‘blue’ collar jobs. This has not happened in our society because of the failure of successive governments to create an environment that nurtures upward mobility.
The current Kenya government’s lack of interest in sectors of the economy that increase work opportunities has also led it to become complacent about the so-called ‘jua kali’ sector, the informal, self-employed sector of the economy, presumably because this keeps some people busy and out of the crime figures. The jua kali sector, in my view, has become the ‘default’ sector of the economy – and it is one that serves only to perpetuate poverty. It offers a hand-to-mouth existence from which there is no escape. The income earned is negligible and insufficient to offer anyone the chance to invest or otherwise improve their circumstances. Micro-finance schemes would be a surer way of promoting self-employment, as has happened in Bangladesh, where access to capital has enabled poor artisans and petty traders to improve their socio-economic status.
I do not believe the classic capitalist theory of ‘laissez faire’ alone, where market forces are entirely responsible for determining the allocation of resources on the basis of supply and demand, can work in our situation of numbing poverty. I believe this approach would only enhance disparity and perpetuate poverty and ignorance, and would do nothing to create the employment base the country so desperately needs. It is our position to support a mixed economy that involves partnerships between the public and private sectors as a strategy for economic development.
ODM-Kenya will put in place the institutional changes and micro-economic framework necessary for economic growth, and ensure the return – in fully functioning public services – of the revenue accrued through taxation, in tandem with the cost-efficient operation of the state apparatus. The aim is to deliver public services in a safe, healthy environment offering an infrastructure that assists, rather than hinders, the promotion of the economy. This environment will include the provision of sanitary housing, quality education and prompt, appropriate medical services. HIV-Aids education and management programmes will receive high priority, as will conservation and regeneration of the physical environment.
Education
The only promise regarding education that the Narc government has fulfilled since it came to power is the provision of free primary education. Unfortunately, however, the government has this year removed the bursary fund that was aimed at supporting orphans and children from poor families through high school.
And as we speak today, members of the academic staff in all Kenya’s six public universities are on strike, protesting their low pay and poor working conditions. The government has shown nothing but contempt in dealing with this issue, yet, because of the importance of the role played by our institutions of higher learning, and because of their contribution to the economic well-being of the country, the strike is a matter of grave national concern. It is evident from the way the government has handled the dispute that it is not seriously committed to finding a lasting solution to this recurrent problem.
In my view, a proper inter-public universities collective consultative forum is needed, in order to negotiate, as an interim measure, a mutually satisfactory collective bargaining agreement. In the longer term, the government needs to relinquish the control it has traditionally had over universities, under which it appoints the board, the chancellor and the management. The government funds only 40 per cent of the total universities’ budget, the remaining 60 per cent being raised by the universities themselves through student fees, research fees and other local measures.
The time has come for the government to end its micro-management of universities and to adopt a hands-off approach to tertiary education policy. This would enable universities to be run more efficiently by independent, professional management teams appointed by autonomous boards, thus liberalizing university operations in accordance with best-practice adopted worldwide. Kenya should not be left behind.
Corruption
Corruption has seriously undermined economic development in Kenya, by discouraging investors and making it difficult, even for those who are willing, to do business. In addition, huge amounts of public funds have been converted to private use, preventing efficient delivery of services and further impoverishing a suffering general public. Among the institutions seriously affected are the police force and the judiciary, which means that justice and redress are almost impossible to achieve.
When I joined the cabinet in 2003 as minister in charge of roads, public works and housing, I encountered corruption at every stage of the ministry’s work. Road construction in particular offered huge potential for exploitation. I found that the same civil servants in the ministry who were advertising tenders were also the owners of the contracting firms tendering for the jobs. Wearing their civil service hats, they would adjudicate on the tenders, award contracts to themselves or others in the cartels they had formed, supervise the construction, inspect the finished work, issue the payment certificates and collect the money. It was one of the most extreme examples of conflict of interest you could imagine.
There was also collusion between civil servants, consultants, contractors, and the political class in inflating the cost of contracts to pay kick backs.
I set to work to change the system, encountering countless ‘roadblocks’ and ‘toll stations’ along the way. By the time I was replaced as minister (following my leadership of the ‘No’ referendum against the doctored constitution), the roads ministry had moved from being rated among the most corrupt to among the improved ones.
If it is possible to imagine that this kind of corruption exists in every public institution in Kenya, many of them in collusion with private organizations, one can begin to comprehend just how pervasive and damaging this evil is.
CONTINUED
PAST MISTAKES, PRESENT CHALLENGES
AND FUTURE PROSPECTS
By RAILA ODINGA
Member of Parliament, Langata Constituency, Nairobi, Kenya
Member of the Orange Democratic Movement-Kenya
Address to the University of Toronto, Canada
Friday, October 27, 2006
MEMBERS of the university board and faculty, distinguished guests, students, ladies and gentlemen – I should like first to say how grateful I am to the University of Toronto for affording me this opportunity to voice some of my reflections on the social, economic and political, past, present and future of my country, Kenya. I have been looking forward to sharing my thoughts with you, and I hope you will find in them something of interest, and that they may provide food for further thought and reflection.
Kenya and its neighbours Tanzania and Uganda make up the geographical entity that is known as East Africa. Kenya, which lies on Africa’s eastern seaboard, has the second largest population after Tanzania, with – according to the 1999 national census – about 30 million people. It is a population that covers a wide spectrum in terms of race, ethnicity, language, culture and religion.
Kenya also has a complex political heritage, having been a British colony for some 70 years before it fought and won the battle for independence, which was finally achieved on December 12, 1963. On that date, Jomo Kenyatta became Kenya’s founding president, and my father, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, the nation’s first vice-president.
The independence struggle united disparate bedfellows against a common enemy. Despite ideological differences among the major players, the indigenous communities of the country stood together as one, to fight for freedom, equity and fairness in resource allocation.
After independence, however, these differences among the leaders began to cause ruptures in the surface of the nation’s politics, and the succeeding 40 years have witnessed many resulting challenges, as we have striven to achieve an end to the four main enemies of progress – ignorance, poverty, disease and bad governance. In the 43 years since it became independent, Kenya has faced the challenges of authoritarian rule and curtailment of freedoms on the one hand, and of economic failure, institutionalized corruption and resulting poverty on the other.
It is not what was envisaged by those who fought so hard for our freedom from colonial rule.
The Kenyan dream and vision at Independence
The founding fathers of the Kenyan nation had a dream of a country at ease with itself – of a viable, democratic state that would build on the constitutional and political framework it had inherited, to offer freedom and prosperity to all its citizens. They dreamed of an independent country that would take its place as an equal partner in the world brotherhood of nations. These founding fathers had planned a country where people would be treated equally, irrespective of race, gender or creed – a country governed by the rule of law. Their clear vision inspired Kenyans to great faith in their leadership.
Some of these leaders, however, turned out to have less faith in the promises they had made. The core issue of the independence battle had been land expropriated by the colonial settlers but, rather than address the complex issues of restitution of this land to its rightful owners, many of the new national leaders jumped on the bandwagon and began acquiring large tracts of land and other wealth for themselves.
My father’s anguish at this turn of events caused him to lead a splinter group across the floor of Parliament to form an opposition party, but this party was within three years proscribed. Respect for the nation’s legislative inheritance was lost through many amendments to the constitution, and Kenya became a de facto one-party dictatorship. Multi-party democracy would not again be seen in action for nearly a quarter of a century. Parliament and the judiciary were muzzled to become mere instruments at the service of an imperial executive, meritocracy went out of the window and the public lost all confidence in its elected leaders and public institutions. Only the twin evils of political patronage and ethnicity propped up successive regimes.
As transparency and accountability were abandoned, institutionalized corruption also became endemic. And as society became ever more threatening, so people retreated to where they thought they were safe – within their own ethnic groups, something that successive governments, adhering to the age-old ‘divide and rule’ principle, actively promoted. The result was fear, mistrust and animosity between neighbours who had formerly happily co-existed, and the increasing balkanization of our country.
All these developments frightened off investors and undermined the economy, with the result that the annual economic growth rate of 7.5 per cent per annum in the first years after Independence gradually slowed and finally disappeared altogether. By the time of the 2002 general election, the economy was registering a negative annual growth rate.
The result was stark socio-economic inequality, with the rich becoming richer and the poor losing all hope of ever escaping the grim wretchedness of their lives. One unfortunate but predictable consequence was a rapidly rising crime rate, as those unable to work and confused by the excesses of their leaders turned to crime in order to survive. This group included, and still includes today, a huge constituency of socially disenfranchised and disillusioned young people, for whom the economy’s failure to expand and provide jobs has meant no viable future. Today, nearly 60 per cent of Kenyans live below the poverty line.
Despite the restitution of multi-party democracy in 1992, the ruling party held all the cards, as well as the purse strings, and was able to rig its way back into power that year and in the following general election of 1997.
The Narc government
It was against this background that the National Rainbow Coalition (Narc) was formed in 2002. The 1992 and 1997 election results had provided a critical lesson to a divided opposition: only through unity could the ruling party be defeated, and Narc was formed to achieve this end. Kenyans were urged to put aside their strong ethnic preferences in favour of uniting behind a single presidential candidate to oust the previous president and his regime. I personally stepped down from my planned presidential candidature and urged my supporters to vote for the man we had chosen to front our campaign, Kenya’s current president, Mwai Kibaki, a man belonging to a different ethnic group from my own. In a magnificent demonstration of sacrifice of their personal wishes for the national good, 98 per cent of my kinsmen and women voted for Kibaki.
I was one of those who carved out a new vision for the Narc team and we promised the people that we were going to emancipate them from the mistakes of the past. These promises struck an answering chord in a nation hungry for change, and the resulting election victory was an outstanding achievement.
But even before the euphoria of our success had abated, the betrayal had begun. The agreement, signed by all parties that directed inclusion in the government of those who had been the leaders of the Coalition was ditched by the new executive, the ripples of corruption were smoothed over and the unchecked plundering of national resources resumed. More insidious, the government, instead of building on the wave of nationalism and the rejection of tribalism that had brought it to power, has spent the succeeding four years engaged in fostering and stoking ethnic rivalry and hatred, taking Kenya a giant step backwards.
Where we had promised non-partisan national unity, we have seen a preponderance of ethno-regional appointments and favouritism, which has returned tribalism to a powerful central role in our society.
Where we promised an end to corruption and the culture of impunity, these destructive evils have increased to levels far higher than previously reached.
Where we promised to create conditions for financial empowerment of the people, the wealth has streamed unstoppably into a few pockets.
Where we promised to reduce bureaucracy and introduce civil service reforms, we have seen the retention of the old, tired, bloated civil service behemoth, which is a serious impediment to economic growth and development.
Where we promised true democracy, we have seen a failed transition to nothing.
Within three years, the people of Kenya were so disillusioned that, when last year the government tried to introduce a draft new constitution – one of the planks on which it had campaigned and been elected – the people, in a national referendum on the issue, rejected the document by an astounding more than one million votes. The draft constitution, agreed on by the people’s representatives, had been doctored to reflect the wishes of the government, and the people finally found the strength and voice to say, “No. Enough is enough.”
I was one of the founders of the Orange Democratic Movement, which led the campaign against the draft constitution. The Movement gave such hope to Kenyans that it has now been transformed into a political party, ODM-Kenya, whose aim is to champion the interests of the people, to complete the transition to true democracy, and to ensure the second liberation of our nation.
ODM-Kenya and the future
ODM-Kenya is determined to transform the nature of governance in Kenya and to institutionalize those political and economic gains so far realized and not yet eroded. By rewarding excellence and merit, rather than tribal affiliation, the party is determined to allow people to become what they are capable of becoming, rather than ensuring that, if they happen to belong to an ethnic group different from those holding high office, they remain forever at the bottom of the pile. All this will take place in a fully democratic environment, in which everyone has an equal opportunity to participate in the country’s public affairs and the ordinary citizen is empowered to do so. Particular attention will be paid to gender equality through affirmative action. It will also be ensured that people with disabilities, the youth and other minority groups will receive attention according to their needs, so that each can achieve an equal place in society.
The economy
One of the greatest challenges facing Kenya concerns the economy – how to create wealth, how to restore and maintain a high rate of economic growth, how to generate employment opportunities and how to reduce poverty.
We need to promote Kenyans to engineer growth and development in the private sector, at the same time attracting foreign direct investment by creating favourable conditions for that investment – most importantly by removing the bureaucratic red tape that currently dogs potential investors and helps prevent the creation of wealth in our nation.
Wealth must be created so that the country has a position from which to trade with others and participate in the global economy – without being a beggar. You cannot trade with nothing to offer, and there are no short cuts. We must have manufacturing, large-scale agriculture, processing, a developed infrastructure and efficient information technology. These are the areas I believe we need to focus on.
At the moment, the government has laid emphasis, like the west, on the service sector – mainly banking, insurance, tourism and the stock market. These sectors employ fewer people and also bring huge disparities in earnings. I believe that access to factors of production, including land, capital and technology, is essential for the upward social mobility of the people. In this regard, ODM-Kenya will develop a progressive and clearly articulated land policy, based on a set of simplified, rationalized and consolidated laws and regulations. This is a critical requirement for sustained economic recovery.
Information technology is also vital in today’s world. Apart from the need to keep abreast of world developments, we could, for example, become part of the outsourcing that has been the result of the high cost of labour in the west, where the new global economy has resulted in the blurring of traditional lines across formerly sharply delineated class structures, weakening the distinction between ‘white’ and ‘blue’ collar jobs. This has not happened in our society because of the failure of successive governments to create an environment that nurtures upward mobility.
The current Kenya government’s lack of interest in sectors of the economy that increase work opportunities has also led it to become complacent about the so-called ‘jua kali’ sector, the informal, self-employed sector of the economy, presumably because this keeps some people busy and out of the crime figures. The jua kali sector, in my view, has become the ‘default’ sector of the economy – and it is one that serves only to perpetuate poverty. It offers a hand-to-mouth existence from which there is no escape. The income earned is negligible and insufficient to offer anyone the chance to invest or otherwise improve their circumstances. Micro-finance schemes would be a surer way of promoting self-employment, as has happened in Bangladesh, where access to capital has enabled poor artisans and petty traders to improve their socio-economic status.
I do not believe the classic capitalist theory of ‘laissez faire’ alone, where market forces are entirely responsible for determining the allocation of resources on the basis of supply and demand, can work in our situation of numbing poverty. I believe this approach would only enhance disparity and perpetuate poverty and ignorance, and would do nothing to create the employment base the country so desperately needs. It is our position to support a mixed economy that involves partnerships between the public and private sectors as a strategy for economic development.
ODM-Kenya will put in place the institutional changes and micro-economic framework necessary for economic growth, and ensure the return – in fully functioning public services – of the revenue accrued through taxation, in tandem with the cost-efficient operation of the state apparatus. The aim is to deliver public services in a safe, healthy environment offering an infrastructure that assists, rather than hinders, the promotion of the economy. This environment will include the provision of sanitary housing, quality education and prompt, appropriate medical services. HIV-Aids education and management programmes will receive high priority, as will conservation and regeneration of the physical environment.
Education
The only promise regarding education that the Narc government has fulfilled since it came to power is the provision of free primary education. Unfortunately, however, the government has this year removed the bursary fund that was aimed at supporting orphans and children from poor families through high school.
And as we speak today, members of the academic staff in all Kenya’s six public universities are on strike, protesting their low pay and poor working conditions. The government has shown nothing but contempt in dealing with this issue, yet, because of the importance of the role played by our institutions of higher learning, and because of their contribution to the economic well-being of the country, the strike is a matter of grave national concern. It is evident from the way the government has handled the dispute that it is not seriously committed to finding a lasting solution to this recurrent problem.
In my view, a proper inter-public universities collective consultative forum is needed, in order to negotiate, as an interim measure, a mutually satisfactory collective bargaining agreement. In the longer term, the government needs to relinquish the control it has traditionally had over universities, under which it appoints the board, the chancellor and the management. The government funds only 40 per cent of the total universities’ budget, the remaining 60 per cent being raised by the universities themselves through student fees, research fees and other local measures.
The time has come for the government to end its micro-management of universities and to adopt a hands-off approach to tertiary education policy. This would enable universities to be run more efficiently by independent, professional management teams appointed by autonomous boards, thus liberalizing university operations in accordance with best-practice adopted worldwide. Kenya should not be left behind.
Corruption
Corruption has seriously undermined economic development in Kenya, by discouraging investors and making it difficult, even for those who are willing, to do business. In addition, huge amounts of public funds have been converted to private use, preventing efficient delivery of services and further impoverishing a suffering general public. Among the institutions seriously affected are the police force and the judiciary, which means that justice and redress are almost impossible to achieve.
When I joined the cabinet in 2003 as minister in charge of roads, public works and housing, I encountered corruption at every stage of the ministry’s work. Road construction in particular offered huge potential for exploitation. I found that the same civil servants in the ministry who were advertising tenders were also the owners of the contracting firms tendering for the jobs. Wearing their civil service hats, they would adjudicate on the tenders, award contracts to themselves or others in the cartels they had formed, supervise the construction, inspect the finished work, issue the payment certificates and collect the money. It was one of the most extreme examples of conflict of interest you could imagine.
There was also collusion between civil servants, consultants, contractors, and the political class in inflating the cost of contracts to pay kick backs.
I set to work to change the system, encountering countless ‘roadblocks’ and ‘toll stations’ along the way. By the time I was replaced as minister (following my leadership of the ‘No’ referendum against the doctored constitution), the roads ministry had moved from being rated among the most corrupt to among the improved ones.
If it is possible to imagine that this kind of corruption exists in every public institution in Kenya, many of them in collusion with private organizations, one can begin to comprehend just how pervasive and damaging this evil is.
CONTINUED
