A nation of cheats from day one

Kenya has been a nation of cheats since its founding as a republic. No – I take that back. The British imperialists founded Kenya by cheating. They were the first cheats. How do you just take that which isn’t yours by force? Just because you can.

And then start killing its owners when they demand your exit. But enough with the Brits – we know they are terrible. Let’s instead interrogate the republic, not the colonial state.

I have heard it said that Mzee Jomo Kenyatta – the republic’s founder – was the last “colonial governor.” That may sound like a misnomer, but it’s not. There’s a strong case to be made that Mzee was “handed” Kenya to perpetuate the colonial project.

Allow me to elucidate before you crucify me, if you are of that ilk. Once Mr Kenyatta’s black face had replaced the white one of the colonial governor at State House, the Burning Spear didn’t waste time stamping his imprimatur on Kenya.

Who would’ve thunk his genetic fingerprints would echo into the distance in the sands of time? One particular episode clarified for those with ears and eyes the Kenya Mzee Kenyatta wanted. After all, the country’s name was subsumed in his – Kenya(tta). Talk about vanity. That’s one of the major reasons I’ve never liked the name Kenya. Though taken from the Kikamba “Kinyaa,” the British corrupted it, and then Mzee decided it was an extension of himself.

But I digress. The episode I referenced above was a public function presided over by President Kenyatta. The assembled included at least of his former Kapenguria detainees – Minister Paul Ngei and the firebrand Bildad Kaggia, both of the Mau Mau hue. Mr. Kaggia being a member of the Mau Mau Central Committee.

Unless you are a victim of our 8-4-4 system of education, you know Mr. Kaggia was a radical Kenyan with leftist proclivities. He was elected MP for Kandara and served in Mzee’s first Cabinet but irreconcilably fell out with Old Jomo and then exited government. At the event, however, Mzee derisively and scornfully asked Mr. Kaggia “what he had done for himself” since Kapenguria.

Au contraire, Mzee pointed to the man from Kangundo and pronounced to his satisfaction that Mr. Ngei had done extremely well for himself. He urged Mr. Kaggia to follow Mr. Ngei’s suit, or perish from poverty. I am told Mr. Kenyatta went on to say that the acquisition of property was a duty so long as one wasn’t caught, if they stole. In other words, you could – probably should – steal. Just don’t be stupid enough to be caught. That in a nutshell was the philosophy of the nascent Kenyan state. The instruction to the political elite – and by extension all state factotums – was that you should use your official position to enrich yourself. To steal from the public.

That’s how, and why, Kenya became a nation of cheats. We lost it at our founding as a republic. Most of Kenya’s richest families started stealing then. Successive regimes heightened the thieving frenzy. Today, we have what lawyer Abdullahi Ahmednasir calls the dollar billionaires who served in government.

That’s why, as he also says, our judiciary is riddled to its highest reaches with corrupt, bribe-guzzling judges. Why, as they say on the street, hire a lawyer when you can buy a judge? The policeman is an extortionist. The university instructor demands money or sexual favors from hapless students to pass them without doing any academic work. The man on the street recognises you and stretches out a hand for a freebie.

Our examination system is broken. Cartels of exam officers from the ministry collude with principals and parents to sell exams before they are released. Those who “pass” these exams can’t successfully navigate through a university course when they get there. The consequence is we are producing illiterate graduates – folks who can’t form a coherent sentence, or think themselves out of a paper bag.

These are the people we expect to compete in the world and to run our state. We are creating a nation of dumbos. We’ve dumbed down our society. That’s why they say every “hustle” matters, even if it’s the pejorative meaning of the term. When other states are creating “intelligent” societies, we are celebrating mediocrity even if it’s enriched from graft.

There are many reasons Kenya has fallen behind in the region. I was in Dar es Salaam the other day and was wowed by the Julius Kambarage Nyerere International Airport. I thought I had landed somewhere in the Global North. Contrasting that with our leaky, crumbling, and outdated JKIA makes you want to cry. I wouldn’t be surprised if the contractors colluded with officials to deliver the ramshackle of an airport. Where Kenya’s economy strode the region like a colossus, today we are gagging for air as Ethiopia and Tanzania beat our pants off. We need to rewire our zeitgeist to avoid an eclipse.

- Makau Mutua is SUNY Distinguished Professor and Margaret W. Wong Professor at Buffalo Law School, The State University of New York. @makaumutua.