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With a high degree of confidence, a safe assumption can be made that, of any part of the world, the word ‘Singapore’ currently receives the highest mentions in Kenya. The Singapore reference is arguably higher in Kenya than in any other part of the globe, including Singapore itself. What started as a quest by President William Ruto to shape the country’s political-economy narrative has attained epic heights, acquiring a life of its own. It is now a norm that virtually every aspect of the country’s life is viewed through the Singapore lens.
The Singapore analogy has been picked both by its proponents and advocates, as well as by sceptics and critics. Its chief proponent, the President himself, has repeatedly voiced how not only does he desire Kenya to be like Singapore, but also how he is setting about achieving the dream. His supporters have religiously taken the cue. For instance, last week, while debating the National Infrastructure Fund Bill, the Leader of the Majority in the National Assembly, Kimani Ichung’wah, made sure to include Singapore in his list of comparisons. He likened Kenya’s proposed fund to Singapore’s Temasek.
But it is the critics who have arguably had a more impactful way of amplifying the narrative. By drawing parallels with Singapore, sceptics have endeavoured to demonstrate how much of a pipe dream the quest to turn Kenya into Singapore remains. Comic expressions are just one of the diverse ways the sceptics have made their case.
Monikers such as ‘Singaporojo’ and ‘Singapoor’ have become commonplace, especially in the online space. Following the deadly floods witnessed around the country last week, especially in Nairobi, sections of the press adopted creatively crafted humorous analogies with Singapore. One headline read: ‘On the road to sink-a-pool.’ Whether President William Ruto intended it to play out the way it has is debatable. What is beyond doubt is that the narrative is sticking and sinking.
Even as the comparisons with Singapore intensify, one area is crucially deserving of a microscopic-level attention: corruption. Corruption is arguably Kenya’s most formidable challenge, stalling the country’s quest to register a quantum leap to first-world status. In its latest Corruption Perceptions Index, Transparency International showed how desperate Kenya’s corruption cancer is.
Kenya scored a dismal 30 per cent, ranking 130th out of the 182 countries surveyed. Kenya’s score painfully pales in comparison with Singapore’s, which emerged in position three with a score of 84 per cent. But Singapore’s impressive score is a culmination of intention and determination dating back to its post-independence era in the 1960s.
In his memoir, ‘From Third World to First’, the country’s founding leader and vision bearer, Lee Kuan Yew, explains in detail the magnitude of the work they undertook to address corruption. Key to their effort was setting up institutions and allowing them space to work. The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau enjoyed unfettered latitude in its work. The latitude accorded to it allowed them to effectively nail the big fish, including ministers, some very close to the Prime Minister himself. He notes that ‘several ministers were guilty of corruption, one in each of the decades from the 1960s to the 1980s.’
He recounts a case of a minister who committed suicide in 1986, having been found guilty of taking bribes. The suicide followed unsuccessful attempts by the minister to interfere with investigations by the CPIB. His attempts to seek Yew’s intervention were rebuffed when the PM insisted that he could not meet him until investigations were concluded.
Mr. Ogutu is a political commentator
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With a high degree of confidence, a safe assumption can be made that, of any part of the world, the word ‘Singapore’ currently receives the highest mentions in Kenya. The Singapore reference is arguably higher in Kenya than in any other part of the globe, including Singapore itself. What started as a quest by President William Ruto to shape the country’s political-economy narrative has attained epic heights, acquiring a life of its own. It is now a norm that virtually every aspect of the country’s life is viewed through the Singapore lens.
The Singapore analogy has been picked both by its proponents and advocates, as well as by sceptics and critics. Its chief proponent, the President himself, has repeatedly voiced how not only does he desire Kenya to be like Singapore, but also how he is setting about achieving the dream. His supporters have religiously taken the cue. For instance, last week, while debating the National Infrastructure Fund Bill, the Leader of the Majority in the National Assembly, Kimani Ichung’wah, made sure to include Singapore in his list of comparisons. He likened Kenya’s proposed fund to Singapore’s Temasek.
But it is the critics who have arguably had a more impactful way of amplifying the narrative. By drawing parallels with Singapore, sceptics have endeavoured to demonstrate how much of a pipe dream the quest to turn Kenya into Singapore remains. Comic expressions are just one of the diverse ways the sceptics have made their case.
Monikers such as ‘Singaporojo’ and ‘Singapoor’ have become commonplace, especially in the online space. Following the deadly floods witnessed around the country last week, especially in Nairobi, sections of the press adopted creatively crafted humorous analogies with Singapore. One headline read: ‘On the road to sink-a-pool.’ Whether President William Ruto intended it to play out the way it has is debatable. What is beyond doubt is that the narrative is sticking and sinking.
Even as the comparisons with Singapore intensify, one area is crucially deserving of a microscopic-level attention: corruption. Corruption is arguably Kenya’s most formidable challenge, stalling the country’s quest to register a quantum leap to first-world status. In its latest Corruption Perceptions Index, Transparency International showed how desperate Kenya’s corruption cancer is.
Kenya scored a dismal 30 per cent, ranking 130th out of the 182 countries surveyed. Kenya’s score painfully pales in comparison with Singapore’s, which emerged in position three with a score of 84 per cent. But Singapore’s impressive score is a culmination of intention and determination dating back to its post-independence era in the 1960s.
In his memoir, ‘From Third World to First’, the country’s founding leader and vision bearer, Lee Kuan Yew, explains in detail the magnitude of the work they undertook to address corruption. Key to their effort was setting up institutions and allowing them space to work. The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau enjoyed unfettered latitude in its work. The latitude accorded to it allowed them to effectively nail the big fish, including ministers, some very close to the Prime Minister himself. He notes that ‘several ministers were guilty of corruption, one in each of the decades from the 1960s to the 1980s.’
He recounts a case of a minister who committed suicide in 1986, having been found guilty of taking bribes. The suicide followed unsuccessful attempts by the minister to interfere with investigations by the CPIB. His attempts to seek Yew’s intervention were rebuffed when the PM insisted that he could not meet him until investigations were concluded.
Mr. Ogutu is a political commentator
Follow The Standard
channel
on WhatsApp
By Alex Ogutu