G7's WATER PISTOL

The G7 politicians are tut-tutting about the recent campaign focus by Prime Minister Raila Odinga on his reform history — his record of fighting for the second liberation while the others went to bed with the oppressive regime, his mysterious was-he-or-wasn’t-he the main planner of the 1982 coup de tat, his equally mysterious turn around that Uhuru and Ruto should be allowed to vie for the presidency. Some of the tut-tutters are upset at any suggestion that this election is about the reformists versus the non-reformists. Others decry the personalization of the reform agenda: why can’t we just discuss change?

The new constitutional dispensation has put Kenya on the reform path, the country has gone from being dictatorial to being democratic; meanwhile, the new constitutional dispensation seeks to define the kind of leadership Kenyans can expect,  but not enough to offset the dark forces of impunity who are pro-statuesquo. As a nation, Kenya still needs a lot of reforms to see the changes we expect, thus we need a leader who is best suited to fully implement the constitution and safeguard reforms.

The bottom line in all this is that the G7 are firing blanks with their tut-tutting that the reform is a past thing and change is the in-thing to ensure transformation. If they decide to focus only on change!, what they’re basically doing is giving a cold shoulder to a myriad of issues bedeviling this country..

To put it nicely, “the G7 has an unloaded water pistol pointed at Raila’s head.” Actually, it’s even better: The G7 can, if it chooses, fire more shots at Raila’s reform agenda — but it’s a hot day, and he would actually enjoy it.

The fact that the G7 has had to go down into the mud to portray reform as a past thing and not needed now is a sad comment on the nature of politics. The G7 politicians are probably sincere about their calling to ‘the house on the hill’, but their  alignment  in the way of tribal alliances masquerading as political parties with the aim of stopping a reformist, points to extremities within the alliance, thus producing a Frankenstein of contradictions on their ambiguous ‘change!’ message . In a better day, Kenyans wouldn’t be treated to the theatre of absurdity; we would hear intelligent discourse from both sides and vote in the best interests of the country.

So as I said, this election is, in substantive terms, about the reformists versus the rest, and it would be doing voters a disservice to pretend otherwise.

According to a book by one of my favorite authors; Liberty and Tyranny by Mark Levin, “change is a manifest marked distinction which ill men with ill designs, or weak men incapable of any designs, will constantly be embracing. It alters the substance of the objects themselves and gets rid of all their essential good whilst reform is a direct application of a remedy to the grievance complained of….”

The Kenyan people are hungrier for reformation not change. Whoever has a ‘real-loaded’ pistol will feed them and get their votes. The G7 should think about their capability of doing the former. They should take my advice; ditch the unloaded ‘water pistol’ and go get a loaded ‘pistol’, better than Mr. Odinga’s. The ball is in their court, the prerogative is theirs to let it gather no moss.

 Bam! Bam! Bam! It should fire!

THE PAUCITY OF KIBAKINOMICS

"I am inheriting a country which has been badly ravaged by years of misrule and ineptitude…The era of anything goes is now gone forever...Government will no longer be run on the whims of individuals”  Those were the words of Kibaki at his swearing in ceremony.

President Kibaki rode to office on a campaign hinged on reviving and turning round the Kenyan economy after years of economic mis-management during the Moi years, a feat that was largely attained in some sectors such as the tremendous growth of ICT, infrastructural development, pro-poor FPE and strengthening of institutions but despite all these, Kenya has had the highest interest rates of all the viable economies in the world for the past two years straight (18%), more than double what it was in 2010 (6%).

Regardless of how you look at it, there are two things that it does. It discourages borrowing from banks, in turn discouraging confident consumption, thus stagnating the economy. It also suppresses the emergence of small businesses and foreign investment.

  

The glaring question is what is wrong…? Plutocracy is the major reason the economy is still so depressed and unemployment so high.  

So how did that happen…? For the past decade, tribalism and corruption has closely tracked income inequality, and there’s every reason to believe that the relationship is causal. Specifically, money buys power, and the increasing wealth of a tiny minority has effectively bought the allegiance of our politicians, in the process destroying any prospect for cooperation. Disputes in economy used to be bounded by a shared understanding of the evidence, creating a broad range of agreement about economic policy.  But now you can’t get cooperation to serve the national interest when one side of the divide sees no distinction between the national interest and its own partisan triumph. Many a time’s parliamentary committees have had money change hands among the members to offer a rationale for policies that serve the interests of the plutocrats at the peril of the wanjiku.

The "big men" enjoying the president's favor have manipulated emerging networks of patronage and political control. This has resulted in mega corruption scandals like Anglo-leasing, Triton-oil, Maize sale, FPE and Cemetery rip offs, NHIF scandals among a host of other litanies which exposes the soft underbelly and paucity of “kibakinomics”.  Kibakinomics also gave more power to some public institutions which rob public funds.

Kibaki’s economics style was prescribing to ideas of John Maynard Keynes, one of the most influential economists of the last century. Kibaki manages by crisis, and cuts the deal whenever push comes to shove. keynsian economics has its pros and cons, it’s not the panacea to all economic woes…

Kibakinomics hour of reckoning came this year when inflation and a volatile exchange rate threatened to erode all its gains. Treasury and the Central Bank had only one option in fighting the runaway inflation; hikes in interest rates. In the current financial year the government targets a tax collection set at sh 780 billion, Ksh 100 billion higher than the ending year. This effectively means less borrowing by businesses, less investment by businesses, less employment creation eventually leading to high costs of living.

The Budget has a deficit of Ksh 166.7 billion, the treasury plans to borrow Ksh 60.7 Billion from donors to fill the hole since filling it through domestic borrowing is unattractive. The only worry is that of the money borrowed by the Kibaki regime in the past decade, more than half departed in the same year with a significant portion of it winding up in private accounts at the very banks that provided the loans in the first place. Meanwhile, debt-service payments continue to drain scarce resources, cutting into funds available for public health, education and other needs.

The only remedy to Kibakinomics is strengthening our parliamentary and judicial institutions to offer checks and balances on the highhanded ways of the powerful, as well as the voice of the independent press. Otherwise it will lead us to George Orwell’s ‘shamba la wanyama’.

OPPORTUNITY COSTS OR RIOTING

university of Nairobi students

 Opportunity costs of rioting

After witnessing multiple riots in campuses, some of the incidences (whose genesis or relevance is hard to recall). Albeit it seems everyone has an explanation for why they happened. Often, these reasons gainsay each other. But one reason really vexed my interest a colleague contended that this all boiled down to opportunity costs. It turns out he’s not alone; there’s a whole body of literature that has looked at the opportunity costs of rioting and its conclusions are mesmerizing, strangely instinctual and entirely germane today.

Let’s get down to the rudimentary and brass tacks, a bantam Economics 101. What is an opportunity cost? “The cost of an alternative that must be forgone in order to pursue a certain action. Put another way, the benefits you could have received by taking an alternative action.” Applied to rioting, this sounds something like this: the expected returns of rioting versus staying at home. I should specify that the “returns on rioting” include not just the value of electronics or cakes looted from your local store or confection but also, however gross this sounds, the satisfaction derived from rioting. Walking the five or so kilometers’ to your destination while causing bedlam provides an epic experience. calls of arms and ‘comrades power’ ensures none of the student  wants to be left behind lest you be labeled a ‘quisling’ or worse a ‘stool pigeon’, though there are those who pledge to the "Cowards Never Die" school of thought, and prefer to stay at home.

In the short-term, there are two variables that are key to understanding why students choose “rioting” over staying at home. First, there’s the issue of expected punishment and victimization from the university administration .research suggests that if you expect rapid and severe punishment, you are less likely to riot.

Second, and linked to this, there’s the issue of chaos: when students see the lawlessness that reigns in during the riots, many think “why not?” university administration calls these people “carpetbaggers” simply meaning opportunists, economists call them “free riders”.

Applied to the riots in universities, what this basically tells us is that whereas in normal circumstances, the equilibrium in society is “not rioting”, in past incidences, the equilibrium in some institutions shifted to “rioting”. As a result, the costs of rioting virtually disappeared: people saw chaos, didn’t think disorder on this scale would be punished and so jumped in. In terms of policy, this suggests that the senate and disciplinary proceedings around the universities really are important: it will have an impact on student’s perception of the expected costs of rioting.

As for the long-term reasons for rioting, existing research is more ambiguous. Several pundits have suggested that it is the economy’s slump, high cost of living and poverty that create the conditions for this unrest. They’re only partially right. Studies suggest that economic growth decreases the likelihood of rioting but poverty, and even income inequality, has no clear impact. Instead, and this may well be where Keynesian’s rules and policies fit in, the likelihood of crime and riots increases if people have low expectations about their future income. Under successive Educational policies, social mobility has collapsed. And under this government, there is certainly the perception that university education will become prohibitively expensive for many. So while we are moving to a more stratified economic model under this plutocratic regime, where low income people no longer expect to rise to the next income bracket, we are also sowing the seeds of cacophony for further crime and future social unrest in our institutions of higher learning.

It all boils down to the “why not riot?” question. In the short-term, potential rioters need to have the impression that the police can control the streets and that rioting will be punished. This should take care of the “carpetbaggers”. But it will not solve the problem altogether. In the long-term, economic growth and social mobility (or at least the perception of it) really matters. If this isn’t taken care of, there will always be a core of people for whom the expected returns of rioting are greater than the returns of staying at home.

THE BEAUTY AND THE BEAST OF THE 19TH SGC

They may pride themselves on their popularity and immense following from the student’s community, but the students governing council (SGC) has a negative side-and it showed during the interviews for the Editor-in-Chief.

It was their first big stage to test their mettle and integrity; choosing a competent and proven individual to be in-charge of dissemination of information to the Chepkoilel University College fraternity. And while the opening act may have been dreary, the finale was sublime. Amid the drama, Mary* stole the show with a ‘thrilling encore’ and was rewarded for her majestic presentation. But there was plenty of theatre too from the interviewers.

As the curtain drew back for the third installment of this epic-three part series, the cast lined up-9 against 11: the applicants vs. the SGC. There was tragedy and comedy; there were heroes and villains; there was drama and even horror. But above all there was plenty of acting.

The chairman was the hero, rescuing a poor script with a stunning late cameo which included subjecting applicants to voting by the SGC-which would have made a fitting finale to any blockbuster. After tying the two final contestants were subjected to biased secret ballot voting, why call a mockery interview exercise when you can sit among yourselves and do a secret ballot to choose the Editor-in-Chief. The credits followed, all for the Chairman, a box office hit.

But earlier, there had been villains too, those were the applicants. Dressed in crisp suits, clutching certificates folder, their piercing glares and evil stares among each other looked the part. They were the perfect baddies. Or were they? Opinions may differ as to whether the applicants were qualified or not, but either way meritocracy was thrown to the dungeons .The gallery (read students community) had been fooled. The supporting cast made up of the chairman, and the SGC theatrically disagreed on the best candidate and each showed signs of discontent with each other, but were in character 2minutes later after the voting. Chatting and congratulating each other for the ‘professionalism and sobriety’ practiced during the interview.

Only in movies can such miraculous reconciliations be witnessed-or on stage. In earlier scenes, the secretary general had led the entire team in asking the applicants ‘questions’ (read non-related to editorial exposure nor work).this was interview-acting of the highest order, but of the lowest level; amateur dramatics. Thespians perhaps; artistry, this was not.

Cheating in theatrical terms is the practice of turning one’s body towards the audience, even while keeping the head facing one’s scene partner. This may be their favorite or most well known part, and they may not be the best exponents of the genre, but the SGC has played this role before.

The SGCs act is hypocritical too. They preach transparency and accountability; they claim to pontificate over the student community and to provide equal opportunities to all their members irrespective of gender, skin color, racial background or wealth status. But only is parental guidance needed, often the action is x-rated material. And while their performances may be easy on the eye and worthy of praise, they can also leave a sour aftertaste.

STAYING ON PURPOSE; NOT ON OUTCOME

Born to a single mother,brought up in a children’s home till when she was 18 years, then taken back to her relatives, is just a tip of the iceberg on the treacherous path that Angeline Nyaunyo has travelled but strongly she has defied all these odds.

Angie has Purposely taken curiosity turned into creativity then to cash;problems turned into profits. Unlike a lot of teenagers, Angie does not waste a lot of time and dollars shopping at the mall,she prefers to find creative, artful solutions that are delightful and engaging. 

Angie started making mosaic handicraft when she was in class one; despite the fact that she had everything she ever needed at the children’s home.she had the passion and approach this above all with love; love of nature, a mid-life love story, the love of making beautiful things and the age-old love for collecting.Her prime motivator to change her situation was pleasure,not fear.

she gave the first handicraft she made, a vase worth 12₤ but gave it for free as a Christmas present to her mentor, godmother and role model prof .Magraet Ogola, wife author of ‘the river and the source’. She would make the handicrafts and hide them because she feared she’d have her heart and ego crushed. during the time at the children’s home she learned taking responsibility for her actions and that of the younger ones since she was the eldest and in charge and at times it would be so hard being accused of something you did not do, this really lowered her self-esteem, but she is giving it a try to achieve it back. Her dream was to become a doctor, just like her godmother but later she changed that to law all under the aegis of humanity advancement.

When she turned 18 she was taken back to her relatives. With no one to pay her school fees and no income to further her education,she enrolled into CPA classes on the advice of a friend with the hope of seeing light at the end of the tunnel but this was never to happen as she dropped out in section 2 due to lack of interest and passion.When all hope of ever getting a modest education seemed over,out of the blues she got a chance to join MoiUniversity to pursue a bachelors degree course in Business and Tourism Management

Her handicraft is modeled on the theme of environmental conservation and wildlife.She recycles waste materials to be a fine piece of art that is breathtaking.Angie does not have a pre-conceived idea for what she’s going to craft, she confides, “Something just catches my eye – light, a shadow, a line, a curve, a color, an incongruity – something – and my heart beats faster. I don’t consciously choose a subject. The few times I have tried to search out and craft something in particular, I have failed. I craft what speaks to me and what touches my soul in some way. Every craft is personal and a motivation from the surrounding. Every craft has meaning. Every craft is more than just the subject. At least to me.”

She has always had the passion and potential but never considered selling her handicrafts but when her classmates and other people reacted unequivocal-ly positive to her handicrafts which was and continues to be an incredibly satisfying and profound experience for her. From that experience forward, she has devoted her energy to creating and sharing and hopefully selling her handicrafts.She dreams of showcasing her handicrafts at capital centre art and galleria exhibition and eventuallyowning an art gallery.

Her crafts are predominantly of things that are around her. To her the environment and wildlife are such a powerful and beneficent presence on this planet – so often misunderstood, so often taken for granted, so often misused. For her, they have been and are her daily salvation and connection to life. Most of the messages that adorn her handicrafts are in Italian. One of them reads, ’L’Amoretuttosopporta’ (love in total support).she supports local curio artists by buying African jewelleries. Most of the proceeds she has gotten from her handicrafts have gone towards paying her school fees and supporting charities such as neema children’s home and Emmanuel children’s home.

One of the major setbacks she has encountered include, lack of adequate capital ;most people also don’t know the value of art and government failure to market local handicraft artists.

Unknown to many people, Angie speaks a total of five languages,English,Swahili,Spanish(a little),Italian(a Little) and her mother tongue Buganda( which she is being taught by friends and relatives) She could not be able to speak it because she was brought up in a childrens home.she would swap her artistic work with a career in the airlines industry despite the fact that she has a fear for heights. Her favourite food is matoke and exercises by playing badminton. Her favorite tourist destinations are Malaysia and Geneva,Switzerland.She is single and has a phobia for relationships considering what happened to her mum.

If you need a gift for a special person, or just need some time to unwind, make a creative handicraft. Crafting is therapeutic when you are feeling stressed, and it also can yield a useful or decorative item. Everyone has some measure of creativity, and with modern kits and patterns, a creative handicraft does not have to end in frustration. , you can learn to make a creative handicraft that will be a useful and welcome gift.

Her handicrafts are breathtaking that sometimes it’s not enough for touch to be with the eyes alone one is tempted to touch in some way. If not licking, kissing, troding, poking, shoving, then, at least a finger must dart out to make the ground of connection.