We have a good opportunity to bolster our economy, democracy

Last week, I made a case here on why we must reform the Kenyan state as a matter of urgency. A fly on the wall view of the geopolitical landscape would make anyone weep for Kenya. A potential global player, Kenya’s prospect is steadily being eaten away by internal decay. There is ongoing radicalisation of young people which takes many forms. A case in point is the proliferation of puritanical separatist sects in parts of the country, such as the one behind the Shakahola-type mass grave discovered a fortnight ago.

The people are very important for any nation state to become stable and successful. It’s so important that the first time man characterised the state, after the peace treaty of Westphalia, the primary definition had to start with a fixed population. So when there is mass discontent among the Kenyans and our friends manning the State appear uninterested in genuinely responding to the people’s concerns, you begin to feel it in your bone that maybe the late columnist and journalist, Rasnah Wara could have been among our latter-day prophetesses when she said that a time is coming when on Kenya’s grave an epitaph would read: Here lies the ruins of a country destroyed by greed.

While most African countries are having a lot of internal problems, we could learn from their mistakes and put our house in order and make sure we use present global adversity to rise. But our political class are interested in fantastic narratives which neither translate into good economics nor big long-term vision. The global actors that we ordinarily looked up to, are either receding or caught up in their own momentary political self-pleasure that certainly will not yield anything beyond occasional self-guilt when they realise they have lost their pride of place in the community of nations.

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We have a golden opportunity to turn around not only our economy but also our democracy. We remain a favourite capital destination by many matrices. There is a capital glut globally that is seeking new frontiers of investment. In spite of our many challenges, many of our friends in the West still look at Kenya favourably.

If we are able to re-configure the economy, we would weaken the recruiting arm of radicalism not only in politics but also in religion. Economic frustration coupled with over simplistic solutions offered by extremist elements can lure so many outside of, not only religious centre, but also the political centre as well.

I am confident that we have the talent and the resources to create a better future in which our economic prosperity is broadly shared. I am convinced that we can slam breaks on the emerging dangerous economic trend where the very rich can afford anything and everything in the marketplace while the people are left to grapple with overburdened pubic services that are underfunded and hence largely unreliable.

To paraphrase the chilling wisdom of Franklin D Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the United States, “People who are hungry, people who are out of job, are the stuff of which dictatorships are made”. I have a nagging feeling that the interventions we have seen from the government might speed up political volatility instead of arresting it. The much-hyped economic empowerment is an economic disaster that is waiting to explode. To reduce the ambition of an entire generation to motorbikes and car wash machines undermines the spirit of enterprise and innovation that has made us the envy of our peers in the region.

As we settle the structural issues around our economy, such as policy and government red tape, let us invest in a well-designed social protection programme that ensures that we do not leave the vast majority of our people far behind. For I believe that we can rebuild and modernise our social contract. That our economy can still produce decent jobs that pay livable wages. That becoming the economic engine of Africa is an ideal that requires that we marry imagination with common purpose. For the government must be about the people.

Mr Kidi is the convener Inter-Parties Youth Forum. [email protected]  

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