Often, when I think of Kenya, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. More often than not, I cry. That’s because Kenya is a Third World country at best, but a Fourth World one at worst.
We are two countries: one in the Third World and the other in the Fourth World. The sad thing, however, is that I often can’t distinguish between the two. It’s because both are sad.
Let’s be clear – the majority of our people live in the Fourth World. That’s why President William Ruto’s clarion call for Kenya to set sail for Singapore isn’t idle talk. It’s an imperative existential fiat. We must go there, or perish in the dungeons of penury.
Let me elucidate. Let me tell you that my crystal ball divines that it will be another 50 years or more before we have dreams of Singapore again. Anyone who has been outside Kenya and travelled the world – not just Africa – knows that we have far, very far to go before we can give the majority of our people the dignity of existence.
These tin-pot politicians you hear every day engaged in zero-sum games don’t have the foggiest idea about anything. Many of them don’t even know what deodorant is, for crying out loud. That’s how far we have to go if our elites have zero knowledge about the basics of personal hygiene. I say this because I know it’s true.
Yet in Kenya we tribalise everything and look down upon each other based on ethnic identity. Our own discrimination against each other is as pernicious as the racism of whites over blacks. Just like the latter, it’s structural and deeply embedded in our noggins and bone marrow. Let me peel your eyes.
In the last presidential elections, former Cabinet minister and deep state insider Kiraitu Murungi let it out that our elites from Gikuyu, Embu and Meru (collectively referred to as GEMA) communities had spun a false yarn against the Odingas. In his telling, they had convinced GEMA communities that Jaramogi Oginga Odinga and his son “Baba” Raila Odinga were “demons.” They demonised the Luo community. If a child became petulant or disobedient, they’d be quickly brought into compliance by the mention of “Odinga,” the “demon.”
Mr Murungi has been my friend since our Harvard Law School days. He’s an amiable and bright man. He can speak the truth with cutting wit and disarming sheepish laughter. He said that just as elites in the Mountain had forged these lies, tropes and stereotypes, it was time to unwind them from the consciousness of GEMA groups.
He was trying to make amends and persuade the GEMA community to vote for Azimio’s Raila Odinga . It wasn’t to be. The myths and fears were too deeply ingrained. I laud him for trying. Those who know Baba well understood how hard he worked to change this vile narrative. He was an amiable man, very trusting, and easily convinced of the good nature of most people.
I digress, but only a little. If Kenyan elites are to develop this country, they must turn back from hate, empty politics and ethnic calumny. They must dream bigger and larger. They must put country before self and political greed for power without vision. But they must do more.
First, they must end the self-deception of ethnic superiority, or that some groups are endowed with more brilliance and personal industry than others. That’s hogwash. The fact of the matter is that European colonialists favoured some regions more than others and established the beachheads for infrastructure, education and industry there more than in other regions. This head start was solidified by post-independence leaders. More importantly, those leaders magnified the underdevelopment and discrimination of communities that have been out of the centre of power.
That’s why Northern Kenya and other marginalised areas have been left behind. It’s not because their leaders steal more than others. In fact, it’s probably true that the North-Eastern leaders are stealing just as much now so they may catch up with those from other areas who have been stealing since independence. So, I don’t want to hear shallow attacks that are ahistorical and lack context.
That said, despite all the stealing since independence, regions and groups from the so-called “developed” areas still live in the Third World. They are barely out of the Fourth World. No community is going to the First World unless all Kenyans go there together. The truth is, we must hang together or hang separately.
We must abandon false entitlement and demarginalise everyone. To become developed, we must not upgrade slums. We must eliminate them. We must eliminate tuk-tuks, matatus and boda-bodas. Not regulate them. We won’t be First World with these pathetic contraptions and pitiful excuses for public transport. Our schools must be first class, as should healthcare, agriculture, technology and manufacturing. Our youth must be our future. This is the only road to Singapore.
Makau Mutua is SUNY Distinguished Professor and Margaret W. Wong Professor at Buffalo Law School, The State University of New York. On X: @makaumutua.
