Ghururi Ya Mutula Verdict: It’s ok NOT to mourn him - Pt 2

Continues from part I

But if-by-Mutula you mean ‘the consummate Wanjikus' Katiba (Kenya’s constitution) and rights advocate and defender of recent years,’ a man whose mantra can be equated to “thou shalt not kill nor sit in the council of conspirators planning the death of another man;” if-by-Mutula you mean the defender of the justice system so rigorous he believed that ‘our duty is not to do justice; the fundamental duty of a criminal defense lawyer is to zealously represent his client within the bounds of the law, and to defend the justice system which is hinged on the principle that no man shall be found guilty of a criminal offense unless the prosecutor proves his case beyond any reasonable doubt;’ the man who believed that ‘to do otherwise would be to invite anarchy in the justice system,’ because ‘many innocent people may be condemned to death or imprisonment if the standard of proof was to be lowered below "any reasonable doubt," and would advice that ‘in contrast, the duty of a prosecutor is not to simply prosecute, but to do justice.’ 

 If-by-Mutula you mean the ‘vintage’ legal mind ‘under whose able tutelage’ his daughter, Kethi Kilonzo, ‘many years later had the audacity to stand in court and pursue what her father opposed in 1992 and 1997: the petitioners' case to have the results of a presidential election annulled on the basis of "glaring electoral malpractices";’ one in whom the law coursed his veins so much that ‘as a defense lawyer in a criminal case he would, as required, discredit the witnesses, facts, assertions, evidence, or whatever the prosecutor presents against his client, "within the bounds of the law", even though he may know or believe it to be truthful or accurate,’ and dutifully ‘present any viable defense, no matter his personal feelings about its true merit;’ if-by-Mutula you mean the defense lawyer who would we never knowingly present false testimony, but would use true testimony to whatever benefit he could for his client, no matter how horrific the crime or evil the defendant,’ because ‘factual guilt plays no role whatsoever in the duty of a defense lawyer to zealously defend his client, and there should never be a moral dilemma once a lawyer assumes the duty to defend.’ 

If-by-Mutula you talk of the defense lawyer whose ‘brief was to use whatever tools were available under the law to obtain an acquittal, dismissal or the best possible outcome, whether based upon fact or law, whether capitalizing on a tactical error by the prosecution or advantage offered to the defense,’ and whose ‘function as such was not to judge, or impose his sensibilities or morality, but to defend his client,’ because ‘that is as it should always be if the justice system is to have any credibility,’ then by all means, like this separation of law from moral dilemma quoted extensively from Wanjiku Revolution Kenya’s post, I too ‘hope that as we prepare to inter the bones of Snr. Counsel Mutula Kilonzo, we will understand his roles during the KANU days and in the recent years. That he was simply a good lawyer, who did his duty according to his education and training. And so may the Lord rest his soul in eternal peace!’

Yet like @WanjikuRevolt goes on to ask, ‘how can we reconcile ourselves with Mutula the tax evader who earned over 1 billion from a single case representing a Wanjiku tax-/pensions-funded institution?’ 

And right here is where the entire fallacy falls apart. In the past 15 months, Kenya has seen 4 high-profile politicians perish, among them John Michuki, Njenga Karume, former Vice President (VP) George Saitoti, and now Mutula Kilonzo. The first two died naturally, a cardiac arrest and cancer respectively cancelling them out rather quietly. The last two, however, died rather mysteriously, with the former VP – then Internal Security Minister – and his then assistant minister Orwa Ojode, crashing and burning in a contentious helicopter ‘accident.’

Now a lot has been said about these four men, and particularly about how they acquired their vast wealth; I will not delve into that. Even more has been said about their double-edged political personalities, pro-status quo before the end of Moi’s era, yet somewhat effective and ineffectual in almost equal measure during Master Kibaki’s reign. I will avoid getting sucked into that easy wormhole just as well. What is more interesting to me is the plight of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and their equally very dead compatriots; that these 4 ‘Good, Bad & Ugly’ men have been more equal in mourning than the 1000+ who died in the 2007/08 Post Election Violence (PEV); that they deserved multi page-spreading obituaries and state-funded ads reminding us that they have died.  Never mind the little ignominious detail that the families which survived them have more money to better lick their wounds with than the 600k+ who survived PEV, but died as citizens to be reborn as refugees in their own land (IDPs). 

A sickening development I noticed on my Social Media timelines was the prevalence of universal condolence messages to Mutula’s bereaved from Kambas and Luos, while Kikuyus and their consorts seemed universally cynical. I feel the need to remind you of your lanes, people. You belong in that lower echelon of many that died during the PEV and went by unnoticed. Not in the upper stratum of creamed crops whose death becomes a national event and tragedy.

One death is a tragedy; the death of a million is a statistic

                             –       Joseph Stalin 

The Kikuyu and the Kamba have, in my mind, coexisted rather well in the past, and it was only in the run-in to the elections that there emerged differences. How reconcilable is yet to be seen, but it was rather telling that old Kikuyu people I know, for the first time in my life, shared the little-known ‘fact’ that the Kamba were the most ruthless Home Guards during the colonial Emergency period. That may well be so, and the fact that the Kamba collaborated with the British is hardly a secret. Neither is the fact that some of the most rewarded collaborators were from the Kikuyu community. That it was used as a deriding fact to demonstrate the general population of our Kamba people’s affinity to “collaborate with the oppressors,” or cross over to the dark side, if you like, was rather telling of my people’s contentment to subsist upon a microcosm of the crutches of the very same dirty tribal linen that so paralyses them.

When the news, quickly captured in images distributed transversally on Social Media, that Kalonzo Musyoka had broken down as he relayed the news of Mutula Kilonzo’s death to the people gathered at the funeral he was attending when he received the news, the first responders disparaging his act as a campaign maneuver were from my tribe. Now I’m not one to rush into the defense of ANY politician’s intentions, and certainly not one as convoluted by double standards as the former Vice President. I am equally not one, however, to let tribal bigotry – however nuanced – simply slide.

Mutula Kilonzo admittedly separated ethics and emotion from his practice of law in life; in death, we should not be expected to be ethical or emotional in our analysis of his passing either. But we should be logical. No one man is all good or all bad: he defended the despotic Moi and made a trailer-load of money while at it, but was instrumental in the constitutional reforms, and depending on who you choose to believe, was a humanitarian – a Rotarian – with the reform agenda etched deeper in his heart than any of our remaining crop of August House(s) bosses. 

Not only is it ok, however, NOT to mourn him. It is also in one fell swoop ethical, legal and hardly a moral dilemma NOT to. It's a choice, like everything else.

Viva Afrique: The Good, the Bad & the Shame of Tana Country

It’s been a month since I presumed to have what it took to level an entire county and claim that the bad and ugly in it could possibly be whitewashed by the valiant frontline made up of these young men and women: men and women of a tender age, who have risen against the tall order that is a nightmare of conceited – and bigoted – perceptions and misconceptions about a people.

While I retain the optimism with which I wrote my first piece for Storymoja’s Imagine our World, life is a continuum of moments that can – if we so choose to let them – define us.

As I write this installment on literacy in a far-flung county, the country rests against a backdrop of mutiny: in the teaching ranks and in parliament – where Members broke into the veritable rabble they truly are, to mock teachers’ pay demands with redundant chants in their support. Here’s a thought: give up the ‘astronomical emoluments’ you have been granted after you ‘arm-twisted the treasury into paying’ towards your personal kitties to ‘[buy] a sinuous limousine.’ That alone would raise nearly Kes 2 Billion for the teachers’ kitty.

But rather than sit here and develop a cancerous multi-headed dragon of an ulcer – with every single one of your portraits pasted on all their foreheads – let me remember that you are but a mirror of our own society. You’ll be happy to know that your narrow-mindedness is not unique to your class. Oh no. An educated man I know had this to say of the teachers’ industrial action:

“TSC [Teachers’ Service Commission], kindly transfer all those teachers shown demonstrating in Nai[robi] to far flung counties. ‘Choices have consequences.’ North Eastern & Tana would do!!!”

A very poor sentiment, coming from the ‘ruling elite – the stratum educated enough to know better’; what he seemed to be saying was that the teachers’ demonstrations are wrong, as is the North Eastern region, and Tana County… I did not spare him a piece of my mind; I never do, when I have a piece to spare.

To quote a friend, “I think people should listen as much as they speak [if not more] to avoid the reckless mouthfuls being thrown around. It is also important that people know that their opinions, regardless of how informed they are, will not be universally accepted; and they should be comfortable with this thought. That should be a good place to begin from.”

Chanting slogans such as “Choices have consequences!!!” does not make anyone right. A nation whose baggage of unresolved historical injustices spills into a little brother and that gives us the right to ape it? Because we have more historical injustices unresolved, all tightly packed up, accepted as part of our own litany of disdainfully ugly usikondes? Kenyans do, after all, love a sideshow. This is reflective of our own society’s lack of a sense of direction, and its general good logic of ‘acceptable’ mediocrity.

Moving on, while there is of course an aspect of sideshows-becoming-the-issue, what with the Susan Tujuanes, KTN presents: laughter, KTN presents: Ciku, Art Caffe brouhaha et al; whether it’s the issue or the sideshow we discuss, it’s all very classist. Susan the classy girl who does ‘not do fries’ went ham on a poor Joe from Eastlando, so the slum that is Kenya’s mis-educated online banditry goes ham on Susan. Art Caffe staff alleged to be racist, classist, and whatnots, and so the lower caste that has never stepped into Art Caffe reacts. One fortunate lady actually has no idea what a croissant is – or crossiant, as the menu at The Mug calls it. Cue the French Mandazi retorts from the so called upper caste.

Instead of focusing on collaboration, coming together to understand each other and forge ahead with the understanding that we coexist in ONE bloody country, we result, always do, to the lowest form of wit and shared witticisms. You don’t need to imagine it: this failed state of mind is our world.

Yet creative collaboration, even with real issues in our society, is not only necessary to progress. It is critical in our development beyond self-interests. Why does your face always have to be on the landing page of every website you own? Every issue there is to talk about? What, pray tell, do you do with your time, other than sit around and wait, hoping that another Huddah shows her boobies so you can get credits for the most retweets and shares? Or are you retarded enough to believe those shares mean anything in the market?

Nairobi is trying, if not hard enough, to be LA. A newly made British ‘friend’ says we’re building a copy of California’s infrastructure with nearly zero of its industry. I 100% agree. And while I realize that many feel they have no employ, or choice of employ, that thought in itself IS the problem. Until we realize that the people are, ideally, stronger than The Industry and The System combined, and remember that Post-Election Violence in 08 was not a Horror Movie, there’s no changing jerk. Hence there’s simply no point talking about it either.

But we’re living in a country that gives no damn about itself. Because if you feel your job sucks bad ass, it’s your fault you’re there. That you earn shit and so need tips which don’t flow from dark skins is not your employer’s fault. You made a choice; it has its consequences. The ‘nyeuthi’ guys being generalized as having been served only to give a ceiling of 50 bob tips don’t live in the bubble these generalized high-tipping wazungus and absolutely ignored other races do. I guess we can rest the classist vs racist case in pieces.

Tips are not essential to your job, so quit acting like they are already, and get a real job. Where you get paid for what you do, and how you do it, not because you think you deserve it! Watch a few sports – I’d suggest football – and soon you might learn that deserving to win, and winning, are two very alien concepts.

As we established earlier, having an opinion does not entitle anyone to being listened to. Ergo, you do not have to listen to me.

However, if you’re still reading, another opinion:

“Not everybody is like that; many accept the choices and conditions of others. I’m an agnostic atheist, hopelessly straight, 1% biker, geek, nerd, Gamer, and much more similar crap, but I accept people of all religions, homosexuality and all the spectrum of consensual sexual orientations, weekenders, cagers, athletes and whatever, so long as they do not want to change me, from my freakiness to their freakiness.
At the end, it’s a question of tolerance, of quid pro quo.”

We’ll call this a re-introduction to my piece on Tana County. Simply because talking about literacy, with all this fucking illiteracy floating about, beats the shit out of any conceptual framework I would intend to pass on through any form of report on the Tana County literacy project.

I’ll end with a couple of quotes from a Chimamanda Adichie Ngozi talk:

On Classist separations of complaint:

“Complaining about our problems is an art form [for Nigerians]… But if a European were to say the same things … to recite the same litany of complaints exactly, Nigerians become defensive; sometimes angrily so. I have always been curious of this brand of defensiveness, which I myself often exhibit, by the way. It seems to me that we have it because we assume that the complaining Nigerian is aware that Nigeria is not only about its problems; is aware of the human complexities; knows of the intelligence and ingenuity of people; knows how they cry and laugh; knows what motivates them; what they aspire to, and what they find meaningful. And we suspect that the European – entrenched in a view of us as ‘needers’ of charity – does not know these other stories, about us…”

On the illusion of Privilege:

“That I understand the structural setup of the world, speak better English and send my relatives money, does not make me morally or metaphysically better … than them.”

Occupy HELB, says the Fiddler on my Non-existent Roof

Tom, as Rabbi

“Rabbi! Rabbi! Is there a prayer we can say for the Tsar?”

“Yes! May God bless the Tsar…and keep him far far away from us!”

-          Scene III of Fiddler on the Roof (1971)

Dear HELB*, 

(*Higher Education Loans Board)

90%Sold Out, you say?

Where have I heard that sold out threat before? Oh, yeah, that’s right. Every new skyscraper that litters the lines in Nairobi’s horizon has that pitchfork aimed at our sights, long before it’s actually complete.

Every event organizer threatens that advance (cheaper) tickets are about to sell out, despite tickets also being ‘available at the gate’. Every other radio show host will promise you juicy call-in sessions that are (I swear!) unscripted. Safaricom threatened to trap all unregistered trappers in the whole of Kenya oga oh. Digital TV threatened to go ham on Analog TV late last year. 

We’ve become a society that feeds on – nay; gobbles up and hobbles off with, to use pigliamentary language – Public Relations exercises and marketing gimmicks. I have no doubt that this SMS I received from you during the course of this week was inspired by State House’s hyperbolic antics.

Your loan balance is Kes. 888,888 for Idno. 2xyz2abc. Repay your full University Loan by 6^th June 2013 and get a full penalty amnesty; contact HELB - 0711052000

Sender: (no name) HELB 

Received: 18:43:27 0y.05.2013

So allow me to respond in kind, dear no name.

I will not contact you.

As we have already established, I have no money. See text you sent me above. In case you need advance settings on that simple message, I will be willing to assist. Bank statements from my 2 money changers should bring you to tears. I can assure you that they will be no joy drops, either, as the Revenue Authority may well choose to alert you. Simply put, even my Mpesa statement - nay, Okoa Jahazi Account! -  is by and large a casting call for phantasmagoria. *Google is your friend, dear no name*

‘History records that money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to maintain their control over governments by controlling money and its issuance. ’

         -          President James Madison

I am willing to pay.

If I could eat will, I would be one helluva fat man. Complete with the willing wrist and neck chains, glistening with will as I stand on a podium of will, next to the president of will, and chant willingly about the will of the Kenyan workers' ill will against the House of Common thieves. I am sure, however, that you understand that will is not yet a currency. As soon as it is, however, I will more than likely pay you.

‘You can be killed just as dead in an unjustified war as you can in one protecting your own home’

       -          Will Rogers

I have not refused to work.

This is not a statement of my lack of intent to pay. I know you bureaucratic types have a way of selecting what you listen to, and even then you've already filtered out what you hear. 

This is a statement of my lack of ability to pay. 

Show me the money, and I will quickly give it to you. So in the spirit of giving back, and all, how about you give me back my dignity before you attempt to take away my liberty?

‘We don’t have to worry about anything. No nation in the history of the world was ever sitting as pretty. If we want anything, all we have to do is go and buy it on credit.’

          -          Will Rogers

Of course, to quote Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof (the movie), "we don't eat like kings, but we don't starve either."

I will not be threatened.

You said there’s a penalty amnesty? I wish, oh how I do, that I had 2 weeks of my area MP’s salary. The current one, not the one he wants. 

Then I would, in order of priority, buy a quarter acre of land in some Savannah of the un-silicon kind, buy a trailer container, use it to ‘develop’ said kaquarter, buy a mattress and fit it midway into the container, then – and only then – I would send you the change.

In the meantime, take a chill pill as my MP and I negotiate. 

Unfortunately, he is not a cougar (that’s an older woman into younger boys, no name) – and I don’t roll that way, neither does he; I haven’t heard it on Ghafla! anyway. If he was a she, an actual she, not a he-she, I would consider giving him some.

‘A man only learns by two things; one is reading, and the other is association with smarter people.’

              -          Will Rogers

Find yourselves a book. Or else look for smarter people. You’re reading one right now, by the way, no name. Thanks to your Loan, Varsity was a blast. The reading part, the partying part and the women part; we even learnt to do all three at once. Don’t believe me? Google the World’s Loudest Library (@pmbclibrary)

Are you so out of touch with reality, in your penthouse offices and leafy suburban bliss, that you forget why you gave me the loan to begin with? Because I could not pay my way through Varsity on my own; now you’re going to sit there paying for this bulk SMS system, advertising rigorously that I pay ‘or else’?

You are called the Higher Education Loans Board – higher education is pointless if I will not be working anywhere without being either underemployed, or overworked and underpaid. Then you expect me to simply watch as you deep your claws into that piggy bank I call an existence? Whatever happened to a saving culture?

‘We will never have true civilization until we have learned to recognize the rights of others.’

                 -          Will Rogers

I have a right to peace of mind, and a piece of meat in my daily meal. Not the 3-course you’re on as you demand your money back! And you have the right to a piece of my mind. I’ll try serving you to your fill.

                     

If I were a rich man ... there would be no questions. When you're rich they really think you know

I will put up my own house.

This particular one is a message from my ol’ man. He may be my guarantor, but there is absolutely no way he is paying that loan. He says, by the way, that you can find him on Twitter, and he'll gladly reiterate that sentiment. 

I wouldn’t have it any other way. He builds his own houses, and I will build mine. If that means the penalty (Kes. 5,000 a month is it?) will continue to dig a hole through my as torn pocket, then so be it.

I have after all been out of Campus for two years, and by my estimation of my own worth, I should be paying the Revenue Authority at least Kes. 15,000 a month. That, over a duration of 24+ months means I owe the Government of Kenya at least Kes. 360,000. By my reckoning, I have at least 2 more years before my loan, plus the monthly penalties, gets that far. I can live with that…scratch that; I can SURVIVE with that.

‘Ten men in the country could buy the world and ten million can’t buy enough to eat.’

                    -          Will Rogers

Just as I will pay my own bride-price should it come to that, I do not expect to be emasculated any further by having the man who foots my bills when times are thick (whale-skin thickness, not your regular hide) and has fed me regularly over the past 24 months, also have to pay my dues at no name.

***

Incidentally, what is the world coming to when a man has to take out a loan to pay back a loan he was granted as a student loan? Forget interest-free loans, President Uhuru…we want a rebate!

So as we plan to #OccupyParliament in less than 48 hours, I challenge every defaulter who has defaulted not by choice but by lack thereof it, to join me in asking President Uhuru to budget for a government bail-out of we the meek.

I do not seek to ask for a handout. I seek to receive a scrapping on the BS penalty that ignores the fact that I need to earn to pay back my dues. So before any Salaries and Remunerations are upgraded for 400 odd able-bellied men, how about the richest man in Kenya by Forbes’ account help us #OccupyHELB?

Think of it as indemnity for the youth, Mr. President, and your soon-to-be parliament.

"He's right and he's right? They can't BOTH be right!"

"You know; you are also right."

                                       - Fiddler on the Roof 

If we deserve to ‘accept’ your nomination of political devil incarnates who have ‘moved on’ and reincarnated as technocrats, don’t we deserve to also give the youth a second chance to pay back their student loans interest- and penalty-free?

As a man who appreciates more flair and panache in a speech than Kibaki, I’m sure you can relate with this one.

‘There is one thing in common with all revolutions (in fact they are pretty near like wars in that respect) nobody ever knows what they are fighting about!’

                                                  -          Will Rogers

Brand Kenya Thrives on: 'Criminal' President Invited To UK

Full disclosure: This post was in initially intended to roll out dubbed "5 ways an ICC Suspect presiding over Kenya works for us," but the attendant flaws in the statement, coupled with the opportunity for free Content Marketing that arises with the phrase «« 'Criminal' President Invited To UK «« trending worldwide overruled that prospect. That, plus I don't do lists.

So here's how Brand Kenya's thriving on Uhuru's election as president:

Criminal? Meh...

1. The hype - No news is bad news. That's Journalism 101. If anyone has disproven and proven that, it has to be our beloved President Uhuru Kenyatta; in two distinct ways, no less:

a. No News = Bad News

Approached in this way, it can be argued that we already know that Uhuru Kenyatta is a suspected 'war criminal,' what with the talk preceding his election that our choices would have consequences. @TheWorld, we are still waiting for that one to come true, but we're more inclined to believe that sheer pragmatism does not allow for any such eventuality.

b. There is no News that = Bad News

Approached from this perspective, it's a mere matter of looking at how Uhuru Kenyatta's political career received a boost as soon as the charges against him achieved global status. He went from an ignominious typing-error-not-misappropriated-funds Minister of Finance, to a full-fledged political force and undisputed symbol of Kenyan Sovereignty. It's all in the packaging of content and how the story is told. Thank you, @TheWorld. We couldn't have done it without you.

2. Increased Civil Liberties - The laundry is already dirty. It is also already being aired extensively. That's a plus for civil liberties and free expression in Kenya. After all, what could possibly be said about President Kenyatta and his Deputy Samoei that could trump allegedly orchestrating the killing of 1000+ human statistics and displacing over 600,000+ more? Thank you, @TheWorld, for giving me the opportunity to criticize my president and get away with it. Again, probably couldn't have done it without you. [Re: Dennis Itumbi, a Kenyan blogger who was in the last regime arrested and harrassed, somewhat deservedly, for hacking into private networks and releasing information into the public domain, now gets invited to State House. At the very least.]

3. Bragging Rights - Kenya can now tell Zimbabwe, Iraq, Iran, North Korea et al to SUCK IT!! Rome statute my bloody thendecks. That, dear @TheWorld, is to say hiney, posterior orifice or other such colorful words. We still run this mother.

4. Scapegoat vs Against-[t]all-odds - If the presidency fails, we can resoundingly blame foreign interference and create conspiracy theories linking Raila Odinga's foray into @TheWorld with his return and subsequent trouncing of the various institutions that played into Uhuru Kenyatta's election; notably, his allegations of Uhuru's bribery, against the electoral board - IEBC and the Supreme Court - SCoK. If, like water off a duck's back, the charges and resultant hype fall off the shoulders of this presidency's success, then it's three whoops and one keg of malt Tusker (@TheWorld, that's a Kenyan beer) per family. Because the world said "go this way," and we swam counter-current and came out of the raging waters unscathed. And whatnot.  

5. Entertainment factor - We certainly do not lack much in the morbid and morosely delectable humor that having our beloved MPigs comes with - @TheWorld, that's a term of affectionate reverence we use to address our endearing  MPs [Members of Parliament] for obvious reasons; the other option is substituting Member with a synonym and aptly dubbing them Dicks/ Cocks of Parliament, but that's too much work, and we're inherently lazy with our civil rights. However, the conspiracy theories that have sprung up, uniting many Kenyans across tribal lines against a common foe at State House are inspiring; take that! tribalism. "Cat got your tongue?"..."No, that 'Criminal' President Invited To UK cut it out!" "I suppose the dog ate your homework?"..."No, ICC suspect burnt it." "Man died of heart attack? Helicopter crashed?"..."No. War criminal eliminated ICC suspect." 

Maybe that last one wouldn't be too funny if it turned out to be anywhere near true, but at the least we could say that ideas for assassination have somewhat improved since the last hyped one. The man who shot himself in the head, strangled himself, then self-immolated (cremated?) himself.

In any case, it does not seem like UhuRuto's purported 'graveyard shift' at State House is one bit affected by your criminal stories. Soon, we hope, 'Criminal' President Invited To UK will turn into 'Criminal' President Invited To US...but then again Obama's Got 99 Problems But A juvenile delinquent 'brother' in Kenya Ain't One!

How to Write about Kenya's Post-Election Economy

This piece illustrates how to write about the Kenyan Economy's response to UhuRuto. It contains Sex, Nudity, Violence and foul/ adult Language. This is to say that it consists of nude optimisms that will leave many in peaks of blind satisfaction much akin to the throes of sexual arousal; truths established by violently repetitive enforcement; and language foully intended to kidnap public adult opinion. Key optimisms will be highlighted in red. The bigger, bolder and darker the claims, the bigger, bolder and darker the text. Attempts will be made sparingly to avoid highlighting entire paragraphs. Or the entire piece. Reader discretion is advised.

_____________________________________________________________

Post Election Glow: A Report on a ‘Jubilated’ Kenyan Economy

Despite having been caught up in a political and legal limbo wrought with pecuniary losses over the just concluded fiscal year quarter, the memo from the Kenyan economy to the rest of the world seems to be a resounding, ‘nothing personal, just business.’

Investors and entrepreneurs alike have experienced a downturn in fortunes since the end of the second fiscal year quarter, with some companies such as Jetlink Express – a Kenyan airline – having shut their doors down at the end of November last year. Effectively, the World Bank’s distance to frontier (DTF) measure of the Kenyan economy – which compares the current state of Kenya’s economy to that of the best performances across all world economies over time – showed a marked reduction in the ease of doing business from 2012 to 2013. The Stock Market is frequently a most straightforward harbinger of an economy’s well-being, and financial analysts noted that the market reacted stalwartly to the peaceful election process. It responded largely in a largely comparable trend to the respect of former premier Raila Odinga’s due process in seeking legal redress to his loss at the ballot, sending a powerful subliminal message of investor confidence.

The beginning of the last financial quarter of the year – on 1st April – coincided with the upholding of Uhuru Kenyatta’s election win two days earlier by the Supreme Court, ending a prolonged period of uncertainty; and along with it, all the attendant glum brought about by the glacial progress of business prospects. The bullish market reacted ever stronger to President Uhuru’s inauguration eight days later, closing at a multi-year high on 11^th April. Even with mild recoils ever since, it is clear that key players within the Kenyan business scene were relieved that the president said all the right things; the attendance of past and present African heads-of-state, as well as diplomats the world over, particularly came off as a “tempered hope” that “if Kenya succeeded, they too would succeed.” (author's note [henceforth, AN]: Too Big To Fail?)

While it may not have hit the ground running as fast as the bustling and carping Kenyan population demands, the leading indicators of this administration’s commitment to building upon the immense gains made by the past regime appear quite promising. In his first address to both Houses at Parliament a week after his inauguration, President Kenyatta emphasized that his government would emphasize “lean and effective” governance, and a restructuring of Public Service operations. Indeed the first step towards this envisioned end was taken within the past week, with the short-listing and presentation of 16 out of the 18 Cabinet secretaries who – pending the outcome of an ideally meticulous public scrutiny and Parliamentary vetting period – will take to office in mid-May at the earliest.

With the composition of Cabinet brought down by more than half, and the fact that a good majority of the nominees are technocrats with vast experience as leaders in both Public and Private sector organizations locally and abroad, a “lean and effective” Government appears within reach. These appointments may yet prove to be a masterstroke for the Kenyatta Government, particularly with the broader economic environment in mind. As the president noted, his term begins amidst a deepening world economic crisis and “recession in the West”, compounded by “rising costs in the East”. The nominees’ understanding of world trade and industry operations will be invaluable in shoring the economy up, protecting vulnerable industries and building up those in comparative advantage; it would seem that this knowledge informed his reference to pan-African collaboration during the inauguration, coupled with a well-placed allusion to the relative robustness of African economies in his speech to the Houses of parliament.

Further, roughly 60% of the country’s population comprises Kenyans aged between 15 and 35, with this demographic, according to Youth Challenge International, comprising 61% of Kenya’s unemployed. The Jubilee Government’s statistics place this figure at closer to 70% (AN: a Trojan Horse display of honesty); with the youth  literacy rate estimated at around 80% (AN: the rate only considers very simple sentence construction), and that of young citizens between ages 15 and 24 approximated at 92.72% in a 2009 World Bank report, this represents a massive untapped workforce potential. During the latest announcement of Cabinet nominees on 25^th April, President Kenyatta stipulated that the first item on the Cabinet Secretaries’ agenda upon assumption of office will be to come up with an inclusion plan for women and youth in their respective portfolios. This, he elaborated, explained his decision not to allocate special dockets for women and youth affairs in his Cabinet, and was in part a fulfillment of his earlier pledge in a 5 year agenda unveiled in his address to parliament regarding job creation for these two demographics.

The new nominees have expressed their own commitment to include more youth and women in government, as well as implement new loan provisions for the youth and women from the anticipated kitty amounting to US $ 70 million in interest-free loans promised by the Kenyatta administration. President Kenyatta has further given assurances that he will push for obligatory allotment of a third of his government’s contracts to young people, in addition to the review and revision of the Public Procurement and Disposal Act, establishing official responsibility on government institutions and parastatals to prioritize buying locally produced goods. Kenya’s vibrant corporate scene – particularly the innovative mobile and tech industry that has led to the country’s strategic positioning as the Silicon Savannah – has long pushed for favorable policy review. Entrepreneurs will no doubt laud his effort to create procurement quotas for youth and women in his government.

In the face of being the region's biggest economy boasting strong Financial and ICT sectors, the country’s Agriculture, Manufacturing and Transport sectors have largely left a lot to be desired in the past. Approximately 45% of Government revenue derived from the Agriculture sector alone, which also directly contributes 24% GDP according to a food security report prepared by the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, KARI. With “the right combination of policies with a steady hand (AN: unless the whiskey gets to him) and determination” envisaged by Kenyatta’s plan to project Kenya to middle-income nation status within a generation, a more efficient and harder working generation of farmers (AN: when not drinking themselves to a stupor) would augur well both for the economy and for government revenue. The plan to modernize and expand agriculture by opening up at least 1 million acres of new land through irrigation, while ambitious, is backed by flagship projects identified under Kenya Vision 2030, among them the development of irrigation schemes. Implementation will be crucial to revolutionizing agriculture, with some of the other projects aimed at improving the sector including the reduction of fertilizer costs, branding of Kenyan farm produce, establishment of livestock disease-free zones, and the provision of publicly accessible land registries.

Stealing Africa - Why Poverty? 

Glencore, the biggest company you've never heard of: How much profit is fair?

Slow registration and corruption continues to hamper progress (AN: do not use cripple; too dark) at the Land Registry, which has affected both the agricultural and building industries, where multiple licensing requirements for construction permits hinder (AN: see last note) business operations. News that the registry digitization project funded by the Swedish government is due completion in mid-2014, however, makes a strong case for improvement in transparency and speed of operations. Government estimates put the need for home constructions to cater for the population at 150,000 per year (AN: or 250,000, depends on who you read, just like the Kibra census), yet so far only an approximate 50,000 units are constructed annually.

Of these 50,000, the lively real estate scene in Kenya has focused primarily on high end and upper middle-class needs, locking out the low-earning majority’s needs. UNICEF estimates, however, that over half of Kenya’s population lives below the poverty line, less than KES 100 a day, even on the most optimistic estimates. This implies that while low-cost unit schemes, beyond those by the National Housing Corporation, should certainly be considered, reduction of poverty as a priority would make more business sense. Accordingly, the president’s calls for investment in “our greatest capital resource,” the people, by transforming our economy to enable our exports to “compete across the world and drive the growth necessary to create jobs for our youth and lift 10 million of our brothers and sisters out of poverty by 2017” are a bold statement of intent to provide the purchasing power that would justify low-cost housing units.

Prospects for oil in Turkana and mineral resources (AN: see graphic below for what copper has done to Zambia and Switzerland-based Glencore) in the Coast have whetted investor appetites recently. While the discovery is still in the test phase for commercial viability, the confidence exhibited by investors such as Base Resources, a subsidiary of the Australian Base Titanium in Kwale, as well as discovery of natural gas deposits suggests that there are alternatives for further investment in the Energy sector. This would be a welcome boost in the manufacturing sector, dogged by persistent energy shortages that have become a necessary added cost to many a businessman in the country, in the way of standby generators. President Kenyatta noted that in Argentina, whose population is roughly equal to Kenya’s, the national electric supply capacity is at 24 Gigawatts, to a paltry 1.5 Gigawatts comparatively in Kenya. His pledge to invest in bolstering the energy sector by sealing leakages in the revenue collection system and enhancing transparency would in turn reduce the cost of ordinary household goods, including food, housing, energy and transport. Coupled with the envisaged growth of the agricultural sector, these projected developments would in turn drive export led growth.

While Kenyatta’s government has been viewed as potentially debilitating for Kenya’s economy due to the pending ICC case against them for war crimes, the more likely scenario is supported by a background setting of absolute pragmatism. Simply put, Kenya is too important to close the eyes to. British corporations have a great deal of investment in this economy. The local creative industry is by and large experiencing an increased drive of international investment in the way of innovation hubs such as the iHub, Pawa254, 88mph, and the Go Down Arts Centre among myriad others. Kenya’s port connects a landlocked Uganda to the world trade scene, and the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, JKIA, still serves as the air transport hub of the region. Kenya’s Defense Forces, KDF, are currently invested in battling Muslim fundamentalist militants in Somalia, while the country plays host to a United States forces’ base in close proximity to Somali perimeter. The UK military is also hosted in a base in Nanyuki, where British soldiers train in the wild territory as a precursor to their being sent to actual wars around the world. Also a major patron and noteworthy importer of Kenyan products is the European Union, whereas the United States, primarily through USAID, supplies around $900m in financial assistance annually. Nairobi recently became the United Nations’ environmental headquarters, with an upgrade of UNEP’s Governing Council to universal membership. The least intimation of sanctions or choices that could disturb Kenya’s economy would have far-reaching consequences.

Still, corruption is one of the biggest threats to Kenya’s development agenda. While Transparency International ranks Kenya at 139^th out of 174 on the 2012 global corruption index, admittedly a marked improvement from her 154^th position out of 182 in 2011, there is still a great deal of effort required to streamline the conduct of business in Kenya, and improve Government’s purchasing power. Especially so in the context of devolved government, with the county structure having increased the avenues of public service countrywide, and with the counties still dependent on the Central government financially, there is need for better managing of resources and stringent defense of public interests in line with the constitution of the people of the Republic of Kenya. Mechanisms for the resolution of administrative challenges are in place, according to the Jubilee administration, to enable devolution, and similar mechanisms for the punishment of corrupt officials are to begin implementation as the economy heads into a protectionist mode to survive in the global backdrop.

It would be incumbent on trade and industry forecasts to however note that the Jubilee government is still in the transitional phase of a long journey ahead.

"Blue Colour" Crime

Cometh the Hour Cometh the Money – Mentoring The Next Generation of Creativez

       

: Courtesy of a #CreativesMeetUp by @TheCreativez

The evolution of startup fever in Africa is fast upon us. And with the Internet leveling the playing field for entrepreneurs, at least in the way of resources, it's safe to say that we the entrepreneurial few have no excuse whatsoever in our endeavours to make money, create jobs and build legacies. None that matter, and not in Kenya anyway. 

Why? Unless you've been living under a rock somewhere far far away, the intense hullabaloo on entrepreneurship will hardly have escaped you. It's in the Media everyday, on the Blogosphere every two seconds and - more relevant to this discussion - there have been myriad forums, conferences and meetups all over our celestial corporate sphere. Especially in Nairobi.
  


Seasoned thinkers and startup kings - the two, by the way, are not mutually exclusive - have poured in their opinions, intelligent and otherwise, on about every single aspect of starting [and running] a startup. There are business model generators accessible at the click of a button, inspirational videos with a futuristic blend of ideas, not to mention the very laudably celebrated TED Talks.

Nonetheless, an intelligent opinion - however brilliant - is still a guess. Mentor advice comes from so many corners to the young Kenyan entrepreneur, and should be considered mutually exclusive. There is, additionally, a wide array of agendas at play wherever mentorship is involved, ranging from innocent service to the obscenely manipulative...and everything in between.  

I read this post on econke titled Positive Role Models, the Endangered Species and found the following excerpt ridiculously appropriate, given the serendipitous nature of it's discovery:

Be a Role Model, Fill in the Void

I don’t care [about] your current standing in...society - the fame, money or even power.  [Nor] your awards, records broken or games won. 

If you are a lousy person, then you are a drag, shame, and curse on society. Your immediate family...your friends may subscribe to your antics...laugh at your behavior. [N]one of that, not even those trying to conceal your behaviour will change this fact. Period.

Bravo! Not only is it well said, but as any streetwise businessman will tell you, the amount of shafting currently ongoing in the nation's business scene dictates that you choose your partners, and mentors, with an almost supernatural degree of ingenuity. Much as there is a plethora of peddlers of the idea that "We’re all in this together – Mentoring The Next Generation", a good degree of that unified front is nothing but a front.

There are, however, a few genuine parties out there; A Few Good Men [and Women] whose dedication and business pedigree has been tried, tested, and over time found to be anything but wanting. One such forum is The Creativez (@thecreativez on Twitter). In my book, this far, they live up to their profile info on Twitter:

A community dedicated to building Africa's widest network of Creative Professionals. Follow us for news, events and more.

This Sunday at the *iHub_, I was dragged to what would be my second Creativez Meetup, having participated in the articultural forum's 1st quarterly Catchup earlier in the year. I was about to get an education that would last a lifetime.

Assembled was a panel of speakers whose combined TV broadcasting acumen and sales instincts appeared to telekinetically move the crowd to silence. No? Maybe just me then. Select members in the panel did, however, have an unrivaled sense of theater in their presentation, most notably Julian Macharia of Buni TV.

Panelists

Julian Macharia

Esther Chiaka

Desmond Orjiako

George Kimani

Also among them was Michael Onyango, Vice Chairman of GOK's Creative Content Taskforce.

 Target your audience

The beginning of the forum focused on a discussion of local content, and the implications of the much publicized Digital Revolution in Kenyan TV. The concensus, however, seemed to be that more channels do not mean more viewership. Business opportunities will undoubtedly increase in TV, but as one of the panelists noted, Digital TV will not improve content; good producers/ writers/ filmmakers will have to do the walkaround and find out what their audience wants, then turn that into content.

From Quote Factory

Relevance engages; forget the technology

We need to tell more good stories, and tell them well. Julian noted that the most successful local shows have not necessarily been the best quality; they do, however, have everyday characters and storylines that Kenyans can relate to. The I-can-make-your-life-a-living-hell watchman (Papa Shirandula), the infuriating cop (Inspekta Mwala), the indomitable stay at home mother-in-law... Gulp.  

Content is a product 

Anyone who considers themselves a 'creative' tends to walk around with an air of 'loving my job' emblazoned on their forehead, convinced they are god’s gift to creativity. A creative's ego and their passion are two regions separated by a boundary about as volatile as that between Pwani and Kenya. Remember while you create, however, that your content is a product. You wouldn't create a soap nobody wants to use and still marvel at its beauty, now, would you? 

Collaborate; and accept oblivion

Michael noted that the creative industry is 'a thankless job', where coming to the fore and expecting to be credited for every effort often results in questionable intentions. At the end of the day, a good product will sell its creative team. Many creatives, including some I am personally acquainted with, will only work together when they assembled separately by the corporate equivalent of Big Sam; a situation that results in a good tonne of content produced without being marketed. In other words, zero work.  

Creative Content is a Business 

What we have in Creativity as Kenya's Film and TV Stakeholders, we lack in Business and Distribution know-how.The tendency to remain attached to our content comes in the way of turning our creativity into a viable commodity. The money, however, will not just come to you. You need to have something solid when the pitch is required. That way, cometh the hour...cometh the money.

Listen; it's a part of the creative skill set

 

I was going to add 'to your elders' in that subtitle, but I realize listening in itself is about as alien a concept as you may introduce to a creative. The fact, however, as was noted by Esther in the presence of her father and boss - Desmond - is that they’ve been talking to the very customers you may need to target. Since before you were born. And they have a right to have an opinion. And ignore yours. 

The crew assembled at the *iHub_ did not, however, ignore. Quite a tonic, I might add. I did get to interact with a couple of them; in fact, to echo Julian's sentiments, I 'threw my love out there and followed the girl who showed interest'. With some promising results, I might add.

Ideas worth listening to? 

• Mike: Kenyan film is underrated because we are not positioning ourselves. We. Need. To. Up. Our game. Period. Quality is in Kenya; quantity is in Nigeria.

• Julian: Kenyans are very selfish. And very aloof. You don't have to be on the landing page of the website for your talent to come through. 

• George: Kenya has never told the MAUMAU story; we have not yet told the statues' stories. It's about time we looked back into our history.

• Esther: You need to start somewhere. Do your time. And go back to school. Education, education, education!

• Desmond: Mold the present to build a better future. You need to produce as much as you consume, complement each other instead of always competing.

*

So if indeed you do consider yourself a creative, turn up for one of these Creativez sessions. It may be the only step you need take before your career trajectory as a creative content producer/ marketer is permanently changed. For the better.

Lessons Learnt

• Don't just land in the market with a product. Do the background work; ensure the content is necessary...and commercially viable.

• Don't choose your money...or your customers.

• Develop your strengths - don't chase the pot of gold and forget the journey.

• A wide screen just makes a bad film twice as bad. - Samuel Goldwyn.

• Kenya will be showcasing her cultural heritage to the 2014 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, at the National Mall of the U.S. in Washington, D.C. for ten days.

• So get the work done. Put together something solid, a pilot Mr(s) Creative. Now.

Suggested reading

Biashara by Roomthinker
Startup lessons learned
The Startup Owner's Manual by Steve Blank
The Path of Warriors and Winners by Steve Blank 

Forget B-School, D-School Is Hot: 'Design Thinking' Concept Gains Traction as More Programs Offer the Problem-Solving Courses