A Fish Rots From Its Head – Crony Capitalism Exposed At The Kenya Youth Enterprise Development Fund

“A fish rots from the head … down”
Crony Capitalism at the Kenya Youth Enterprise Development Fund

A Mars Group Kenya / Youth Interactive Portal for Enterprise (Yipe.org)

Report for

The Partnership for Change
From Dictatorial Impunity to Democratic Accountability in Kenya

June 27th 2009.

On June 23rd 2009, the East African Standard published an article by Kenneth Kwama outlining a

litany of accusations of financial mismanagement and impropriety at the Youth Fund. The Fund in

turn through its Chairperson, Ms. Hellen Tombo accused the Standard of being used in political

machinations, and looking for corruption where none exists.

The basis of the East African Standard story was a management letter by the Kenya National

Audit Office (KNAO) dated 28th November 2008 to the Chief Executive Officer of the Youth

Enterprise Development Fund. It is not known what was the response if any there has been to

this letter but the letter contains detailed audit queries which indicate significant managerial

problems at this important national fund. This matter is one of urgent national importance bearing

in mind Agenda 4 of the National Accord.

Though the MOYA confirmed it received an investigation report from the Inspectorate of State

Corporations they denied having lost any money. Minister Hellen Sambili said the Inspectorate’s

report makes several recommendations to strengthen the governance structures of the Youth

Enterprise Fund but makes no mention of “anything about the disappearance of money”.

On June 26th 2009, the MOYA published a paid advertisement in the Daily Nation reiterating the

same. Since the Youth Fund’s press briefing, no other media mentions have emerged regarding

their response on the discrepancies outlined in the Kenya National Audit Office management

letter to the Youth Fund.

On June 23rd 2009, the East African Standard published an article by Kenneth Kwama outlining a litany of accusations of financial mismanagement and impropriety at the Youth Fund. The Fund in turn through its Chairperson, Ms. Hellen Tombo accused the Standard of being used in political machinations, and looking for corruption where none exists.

The basis of the East African Standard story was a management letter by the Kenya National Audit Office (KNAO) dated 28th November 2008 to the Chief Executive Officer of the Youth Enterprise Development Fund. It is not known what was the response if any there has been to this letter but the letter contains detailed audit queries which indicate significant managerial problems at this important national fund. This matter is one of urgent national importance bearing in mind Agenda 4 of the National Accord.

Though the MOYA confirmed it received an investigation report from the Inspectorate of State Corporations they denied having lost any money. Minister Hellen Sambili said the Inspectorate’s report makes several recommendations to strengthen the governance structures of the Youth Enterprise Fund but makes no mention of “anything about the disappearance of money”.

On June 26th 2009, the MOYA published a paid advertisement in the Daily Nation reiterating the same. Since the Youth Fund’s press briefing, no other media mentions have emerged regarding their response on the discrepancies outlined in the Kenya National Audit Office management letter to the Youth Fund.

Why this issue is important

When the Youth Fund management was confronted with questions regarding the financial letter from the Kenya National Audit Office, instead of answering the queries they only politicised the issue. Further to that the public statement carried in the Daily Nation of Friday 26th 2009, do not in anyway answer the auditors question regarding its financial management.

The Youth Fund in this year’s Budget is set to receive a substantial amount of money from the Exchequer. Therefore, before they receive the Funds, it is imperative that they satisfy the Kenyan public and in particular its youth who form the majority of Kenya’s citizenry that it has rectified these discrepancies, and addressed all the management issues raised in the letter by the KNAO.

Principles of accountability and transparency demand that it is the role of the Government of Kenya and its public officers to answer questions posed by the citizenry they serve. To politicize issues is an act of the impunity that has allowed scandals of loss of billions of Kenya shillings to occur. Kenyan’s will remember cases such as scandals of financial impropriety that cost the Exchequer huge losses, for instance the country’s National Social Security Fund. Though the figures listed below may well be small as opposed to other scandals such as Anglo-leasing and Goldenberg, which almost crippled Kenya’s economic security, the Partnership for Change contends that it is impropriety regarding trusteeship of small sums of money that ultimately end up exploding into scandals in the range of billions.

Furthermore, when the media raises issues in the public interest, duty bearers in public office are best advised to RESPOND to the issues being raised; not just to dismiss every question on accountability to mere politics. This is the era of accountability and the Partnership for Change will demand nothing short of answers when such queries are raised by the media and citizenry.

To avert this, the Partnership for Change on behalf of its membership, through Mars Group Kenya and the Youth Interactive Portal for Enterprise (Yipe.org) is thus posing 10 questions with the ultimate objective of not having to witness another scandal later on, if it emerges that the Youth Fund was indeed losing much needed money.

The Partnership for Change is grateful to the media when it acts in the public interest by playing its role as a public watchdog.

Read Full Report: “A fish rots from the head … down”: Crony Capitalism at the Kenya Youth Enterprise Development Fund

Related Documents:

Youth Fund Status Report as at 31st March 2009
YOUTH ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT FUND ORDER 2007
Financial Statement Audit Of The Youth Enterprise Development Fund Board June 30th 2008

On Kenya’s burgeoning culture and civilisation of poverty

Amnesty International recently published a report titled, Kenya: The Unseen Majority: Nairobi’s Two Million Slum-Dwellers. In its introduction, the report states that “life is precarious for the approximately 2 million people who live in Nairobi’s informal settlements and slums. They make up over half the capital’s population yet are crammed into only 5 per cent of the city’s residential area and just 1 per cent of all land in the city. They are forced to live in inadequate housing and have little access to clean water, sanitation, healthcare, schools and other essential public services. They also live under the constant threat of forced eviction from the makeshift structures they have made their homes.”

Out of these slums, a culture of poverty is emerging. Commonalities of value systems continue to grow, resulting in an “us” versus “them” civilisation. As anthropologist Oscar Lewis who studied the phenomenon of the culture of poverty argued, the burdens of poverty lead to the formation of an autonomous subculture as children and the youth become socialized into behaviors and attitudes that perpetuate their inability to escape the underclass.

More recently, Nobel Laureate Prof. Wangari Maathai alluded to disempowerment or alternatively powerlessness the breeds strong feelings of marginality, helplessness, dependency, and social exclusion of the poor.

This culture of poverty is now growing into a civilization which according to Samuel Huntington author of “The Clash of Civilisations”, can be described as the highest cultural grouping of people.

Huntington further points out common elements for civilization-building such as language, history, customs, and ultimately subjective self-identification. In Kenya, the poor have languages that are not heard of in Nairobi’s central business district. A slum-dweller describes themselves by gender, youth, ethnic grouping, but ultimately by their state of poverty. Above all else they are poor.

Even though the term “civilization” may seem an over-statement, the number of people with such commonalities and who uphold their poor culture as ultimate, do indeed form a civilization. Civilizations can and do involve a small number of people. Shared experiences of police harassment, disintegration of family units, crime and gender based violence hold the poor together pitting them against the rich “wabenzi’s” who live in leafy high-cost neighbourhoods just adjacent to Nairobi’s slums.

Civic responsibility and entitlement seem to have been eradicated in the slums. And now, even more alarming has been the birth and growth of sub-civilisations of poverty. Examples of these include the emergence of youth groupings such as the Mungiki, Taleban and Baghdad Boys who reign in the slums. These groups have in turn provided a basis for youth identity which have overcome historical divisions of tribe. The hopelessness of their lives has coalesced their interests. Unemployment, being targeted for arrests solely due to their youth, and an insensitive political elite that bickers more over their SUV’s than empowering them has meant that any ideological or ethnic historical difference has been over-run by commonalities in disaffection.

WHY BOTHER?

Kenya’s slum population is growing rapidly at nearly 6% annually, and according to the World Bank, “nearly 10 million individuals are packed into miniscule ‘tin cans’ within the Nairobi slums…” Thus it is imperative that measures be immediately instituted to prevent a clash of civilizations between the poor and the rest of Kenya.

During last years post-election violence, Nairobi’s slum and informal settlement areas became de-facto no-go zones. Kibera was barricaded by the dreaded General Service Unit, only allowing those that could prove they had work outside the slum passage. Entrepreneurs within the slum were hit by shortages in basic commodities, because the illegal barricades would not allow any deliveries. Only charities such as the Red Cross allowed in to provide relief.

Civilizations are meaningful entities, and as Huntington writes, though the lines between them may seem elusive to the ordinary eye, the fault lines are indeed sharp and real. As Kenya’s economy grows and infrastructure brings people more into contact with one another, consciousness of civilization of the poor and the civilization of the rich is growing faster than bandwidth.

Unless something is done, firstly starting with the full and immediate implementation of Agenda IV of the National Accord, the fault lines between the civilizations of the “have’s” versus the “have-nots” will continue to further divide. After all, it is possible for one to be half Luo and half Kikuyu. It is impossible to be half rich and half poor.

Robert Mugabe as COMESA’s new poster boy bodes ill for trade in Africa.

The 13th Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Summit postponed twice since 2008 due to Zimbabwe’s political instability, is ongoing with preliminary ministerial meetings. The Heads of State summit is set to commence on June 6th where Robert Mugabe will officially take over the helm of the trading bloc from Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki.

According to COMESA’s vision, the regional union is meant to “be a fully integrated, internationally competitive regional economic community with high standards of living for ALL its people”. COMESA’s chosen approach to achieve this is through development integration involving a combination of trade development and investment promotion.

Mugabe: The Right Man For The Right Job?

At a time when Africa has been hit hard by the worst global recession, it is inconceivable that a man who single-handedly crushed his own country’s economy can be placed in a position over the economies of 19 member states with a population of over 400 million.

Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe with an iron fist for the past 29 years. His past actions are in stark contrast to the bloc’s Fundamental Principles as enshrined in the COMESA Treaty which include the recognition, promotion and protection of fundamental human rights; commitment to the principles of liberty, fundamental freedoms and the rule of law; maintenance of peace and stability through the promotion and strengthening of good neighbourliness and promotion and sustenance of an accountable and just democratic system of governance.

However, the Mugabe hegemony has overseen countless lives lost most recently from cholera which even spread across borders. Torture and extra judicial killings to muzzle opponents have also been widely used with the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum reporting more than 20,000 human rights violations including 3,000 acts of torture since 2001. Average life expectancy in the country since 1998 has fallen from 55 years to a paltry 35, in essence meaning that a Zimbabwean has a strong chance of not outliving their youth. Unemployment remains rife with over 90% of the working age population being jobless. Maternal and child health has degenerated to the point where nearly half of all Zimbabweans are at risk of malnutrition and starvation, and a child born in Zimbabwe is the most likely to die in the entire African Continent.

All this misery led to over a quarter of Zimbabwe’s populace fleeing the terror and misery. Yet Mugabe remains to this day either unrepentant or maybe unaware of the devastation he has wreaked on his country. He has numerously been quoted pointing fingers blaming his people’s woes on the British, Americans and any country he perceives to be at fault. Individual Zimbabweans who dare to question his policies have been branded as puppets of the West, overlooking the fact that he as well as his coterie of greedy associates have over the years looted the Treasury and in turn messed what was once seen as the breadbasket of Africa.

As a report The Zimbabwe Papers: A Positive Agenda for Zimbabwean Renewal concluded, the crisis situation in Zimbabwe is solely due to policies adopted, decisions made, and actions taken by the government of Zimbabwe – the ZANU-PF government of Robert Mugabe.

Nothing except for a fragile unity government has changed since November 2008 when the majority of COMESA heads of state who had been invited to attend the postponed summit, categorically told the Zimbabwe government of the day that they would boycott the summit.

Robert Mugabe does not stand for the promotion of trade. Hyperinflation and excessive government regulations have heavily penalised the country’s entrepreneurs. Hyperinflation reached a mind-boggling 231 million percent. His accomplice in looting state funds, Central Bank Governor Gideon Gono remains in office. Mugabe even had the temerity to declare that his lieutenant Gono would remain in office up until he leaves office come 2013.

On the authority of Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s Central Bank exercised imprudent monetary policies which included flagrant printing of money regardless of the impact on inflation and the ordinary Zimbabwean. Fiscal policies enforced punitive lump taxes on businesses, further hampering the chances of success for enterprises. Criminality and corruption were the order of the day, with embezzlement, kidnaps and all other manner of vile strategies being used in order to retain control.

The country’s standard of living fell by 80% in the last decade. Even the local Zimbabwe dollar has been suspended. Public utilities were progressively canibalised till the water system became contaminated, electricity erratic and fuel was so scarce that it became akin to gold. Workers in industries were similarly punished when even their health became compromised as a result of a health sector that could no longer provide even the most basic essential drugs.

According to the Ease of Doing Business reports from the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation, it takes 96 days to start a business, 481 days to comply with licences and another 30 days to register a property. Zimbabwe also currently ranks 7th worst on the World Bank’s Trade Restrictiveness Index.

The years of destruction of social goods now means that Zimbabwe needs at least US$5 billion to revive its almost dead economy. Local industry which should be in the forefront of re-energising the economy virtually collapsed under Mugabe’s totalitarian regime. Production costs are hardly competitive within the COMESA region let alone the rest of Africa.  The Zimbabwe papers report laments that Zimbabwe has become one of the worst places to start a business. So how can the same person responsible for this degeneracy promote trade? It beats belief.

As the Corporate Foreign Policy blog writes: Mugabe has created a situation so horrible that if he ever got to the Hague, they would need to invent a new charge for the man.

Though Zimbabwe’s economy has slowly revived after Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai formed a coalition government, a lot remains to be done. However, you cannot be part of a problem as well as part of the solution.

Why is it that the donor community is placing conditionalities such as respect for human rights and rule of law on Zimbabwe, yet COMESA whose basic tenets rest on the same principles cannot insist that Zimbabwe implements such measures? To elect such an individual, calls into question COMESA’s mission and role in improving the living standards of the over 400 million Africans it serves.

Leadership Incompetence the cause of Africa’s woes

By Lord Aikins Adusei

The strength of every society depends largely on its leadership. Throughout history successful societies have been those whose leaders were able to rise to the occasion to calm storms during crises and advance the course of prosperity during peace time. During economic hardships, poverty and wars it is the leaders who make tough economic and military decisions to steer the nation out of those troubles.

However, leadership incompetence is a key factor in entrenching poverty in almost all African societies. The leadership in Africa today could be likened to a bad chef who has all the ingredients needed to prepare a delicious soup but fails to do so for lack of skills. For instance Africa is home to half of the world’s untapped natural resources. The continent receives the highest amount of sunshine comparable to any landmass in the world which when tapped could supply a cheap and constant supply of electricity to the whole Continent and beyond. It is estimated that the solar energy potential of the Sahara Desert alone could power the whole of Europe. This is what the Finnish president said on a visit to Nigeria in March 2009, Nigerian people have so much sun and wind, why don’t they use it for the generation of light for cooking and every other thing ? She queried, and added that we do it in Finland for our renewable energy . Source: www.dailytrust.com, 12 March, 2009.

The Continent is home to a lot of valuable minerals such as gold, diamond, coltan, copper, bauxite, Uranium. There are huge diamond and gold deposits in Botswana, Namibia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ghana and South Africa. There are huge copper deposits in Zambia and Guinea. It is estimated that mineral deposits in DR Congo alone could fetch the country 23 trillion dollars. There are huge oil and gas deposits in Angola, Gabon, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Libya, Cameroon and Algeria. Timber is abundant in Gabon, DRC, Congo, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Ghana.

There are rich soils in Nigeria, DRC, Congo, Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Gambia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Liberia, Senegal, Malawi, and South Africa. The continent is home to some of the world s biggest and longest rivers and lakes. There are rivers like the Nile, Congo, Niger, Zambezi, Senegal, Gambia, Benue, Limpopo, Volta, Kasai, Ubangi, Bomu and Orange. There are lakes like Victoria, Albert, Kivu, Tanganyika, Malawi, Kyoga, Chad, Edward, Nyasa and Turkana. The value of these rivers and lakes to agriculture, transportation, manufacturing, commerce, power generation and household cannot be overemphasised.

The Continent is also home to some of the beautiful natural wonders of the world. There are animals like lion, zebra, leopard, Victoria waterfalls, the pyramid in Egypt and a host of others a source of tourism. Besides there are architects, engineers of all kinds, medical doctors, planners, bankers, technicians, scientists, industrialists and investors with the qualifications, expertise and rich experience to help develop these resources. On top of all these the technology needed to convert these natural resources into finished goods exist every where in the world and can be bought or borrowed. The rich natural wealth of the continent is the main reason why it is seen as a strategic importance to the survival of the whole world.

African people have so much natural resources, so why don’t they use it to benefit themselves and the world? The answer is the incompetence and ineffective leadership found everywhere in the continent. There is a leadership in Africa that is out of touch with the ordinary African. A leadership that has run out of ideas and solutions to the economic and social problems facing the people.

A leadership that seeks only its own. The leadership in Africa is more concerned about its existence than the existence of the people. Just yesterday (31-03-2009) about 500 Africans got drowned off the coast of Libya trying to flee poverty, diseases, wars and untold economic hardship (May their souls rest in perfect peace).

There is a leadership in Africa which is more concerned about how to get rich than how to lift her people from poverty. A leadership more interested in votes than the responsibilities that go with the votes.

A leadership that exist based on tribal alliances and loyalty of the security forces rather than its own economic and social record. A leadership that accepts no opposing views and remain accountable to itself.

A leadership that beliefs that its alone has wisdom, knowledge and answers to all the problems facing the people. A leadership which beliefs that its alone has a mandate from God to govern.

A leadership that worships and rewards corruption instead of fighting it. A leadership which is cut off from reality, from outside the rest of the world and have no idea how to react. It is this kind of incompetence that has maintained Africa s ranking as the number one poor continent in the world.

There is a proverb which says that A bad worker always quarrel with his tools which best describes African leaders and their incompetence. The incompetence of African leaders is seen in Gabon where Omar Bongo has been in power for 42 years; has received billions of dollars from oil and yet his 1.4 million people live in poverty.

In Libya, Gaddafi has been in power for 39 years, has received several billions of dollars and his people are poor. Denis Sassou Nguesso and Eduardo dos Santos each has ruled for 30 years yet their people are poor. Obiang Nguema has 28 years to his credit yet the 600,000 people in his country live in abject poverty despite receiving billions of dollars in oil revenue.

If Africa could move from poverty to economic recovery and finally into economic prosperity then there is the need for the old guards to leave the political scene and allow the Obamas to come in. There is the need for a new leadership in the Continent capable of delivering the people out of poverty, diseases, wars, famine, economic meltdown, political paralysis and insecurity. Please see the article entitled Corruption in Africa: A cancer that won t go away and read more. There cannot be any progress with these kinds of leaders who are more concerned about their positions than their responsibilities.

Africa is the only continent which was left out and marginalised during the world economic boom; it is also the one to be hardly hit by the current economic turmoil. Africa is always in great danger of economic collapse largely because of the corrupt and incompetence leaders who rule the people with impunity.

Africa needs to chart a different route if it is to take its place as a member of the global community. We need leaders who are committed to building the social and economic infrastructures of their countries such as schools, hospitals, roads, harbours, airports, rail lines, telecommunication, silos and irrigation facilities, as Khama Ian Khama of Botswana and his predecessors have done making the people of Botswana to enjoy one of the highest standard of living in Africa.

We need leaders who have foresight and initiative to convert the huge natural resources in the continent into finished goods to benefit the people not the kinds of Joseph Kabila whose people wallow in abject poverty while foreign countries loot his country’s resources. We need leaders who are dedicated to uniting Africans through economic and cultural cooperation and education exchange and not those who seek to divide Africans through wars as was witnessed in DR Congo where Uganda, Rwanda, Zimbabwe and Angolan armies have crossed into DRC several times and looted its natural resources including timber, gold, diamond, coltan and other valuable minerals.

We need leaders who cooperate with one another to fight poverty, hunger, diseases and instabilities which are widespread throughout Africa. We need leaders who will not use the scarce resources of their poor countries to procure military machines for their own protection; wage war against its neighbours and oppress its own people while there are schools, hospitals, roads, to be built and mouths to feed as Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, Robert Mugabe and Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria are doing while many Ethiopians and Zimbabweans face famine, poverty and cholera epidemic.

We need leaders who will not destroy the educational system of their countries and then send their children abroad to study as Jerry Rawlings of Ghana did when he and his ministers sent their children to Europe and America to study after destroying one of the best educational systems in the world.

We need transformative leaders who will not work to continue the status quo, but work to change it to benefit the poor people. We therefore need leaders who will not put the interest of their former colonial masters ahead of their own people and their own Organisations such as the Africa Union, SADC and ECOWAS.

We must elect leaders who will not put the interest of big corporations ahead of their own people and the environment as is currently seen in Nigeria where Shell has totally destroyed the Niger Delta region and polluted rivers, wells, streams, soil and the environment thereby rendering millions of farmers and fishermen jobless. We need strong and dedicated leaders who adhere to the tenets of democracy and all its freedoms.

Leaders who relinquish power freely like Joachim Chissano of Mozambique, Nelson Mandela, Rawlings, John Kuffour not the likes of Mwai Kibaki of Kenya and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe who refused to leave office and resulted to violence after the people have rejected them in elections. Not the kind of corrupt, kleptocratic and dictatorial leadership that we have in Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Egypt, Burkina Faso, Congo, Angola, Libya, Sudan and Chad.

We must have leaders who will not refuse to finance the health infrastructure needs of their countries and then travel overseas for medical treatment when they are sick. After presiding over a rot economy and a sickening health system for 42 years, Omar Bongo had no choice but to send his late wife Edith to France and Morocco for medical treatment. Gnassingbe Eyadema after ruling Togo for more than 3 decades could not build the country’s health infrastructure and died when he was been rushed to Europe for medical treatment. This was after he had travelled to Switzerland for what the authorities said was a medical check up.

At this hour of world economic competition and difficulties we need leaders who will design and implement concrete and sound economic and social policies that are long lasting, result oriented and could help lift millions from poverty, diseases and illiteracy.

We do not need leaders who are preoccupied with how to enrich themselves; prolong their rule; and who engage in short term ill conceived, vote buying, cosmetic policies and programmes that increase poverty and turn the people into slaves.

Africans need leaders who will not think only about the future of their great grand children and then loot and hide millions of dollars for them as Arap Moi, Obiang Nguema, Denis Sassou, Paul Biya and Omar Bongo have done. I hope they will be able to go to France to defend themselves against corruption charges brought against them by Transparency International.

The new leaders needed in Africa must be those who think about how the great grand children of the entire nation and continent will fare in future. We need leaders who will not steal from their countries and then ask the poor people to tighten their belts and embrace economic hardships with open arms as seen in Nigeria where the government has resorted to re-branding the image of the country instead of fighting corruption and poverty.

We need leaders who will invest in the economy and create jobs for the youth. In this 21st Century we need leaders who will not collude and connive with Swiss Banks and banks in Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Austria, France, Britain, Jersey Island, US and a host of offshore banks in the Caribbean and the Pacific to cheat their poor countries as Mobutu, Eyadema, Lansana Conte, Sani Abacha, Bakili Muluzi, and the evil genius Ibrahim Babadjinda did to their countries thereby surrendering their people to the altar of poverty.

We need leaders who will not pay lip service to fighting corruption and then turn to loot the treasuries of their countries as Bakili Muluzi, Arap Moi, Mobutu, Lansana Conte of Guinea did and which Obiang Nguema, Denis Sassou Nguesso, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, Blaise Campore of Burkina Faso are currently doing.

We need a new crop of leaders who will not tend the presidency into a family estate as Gnassingbe Eyadema and Laurent Kabila did and which Yoweri Museveni, Hosni Mubarak and a host of others are following. In Uganda Yoweri Museveni is the president; his wife Janet Keinembabazi Kataha Museveni is the First Lady, MP and a Minister; his son Major Muhoozi Kainerugaba is an army commander of his elite group and a possible successor of Museveni. Museveni s younger brother, Caleb Akandwanaho, is senior presidential advisor on defence. His daughter Natasha Karugire is private secretary to the president.

Joseph Kabila succeeded his father Laurent Kabila as president and so did Faure Gnassingbe who succeeded his father Gnassingbe Eyadema in violation of Togo’s Constitution which stipulates that the Speaker of Parliament should succeed the president in the event of his death. Gamal Mubarak is poised to succeed his 81 year old father Hosni Mubarak as president of Egypt in the event of his death. This kind of government by hereditary and family association cannot go on.

The years of leadership incompetence, weak, ineffective, totalitarian and corrupt government as seen in DRC, Uganda, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Angola, Congo, Central Africa Republic, Chad, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Niger, Mali, Somalia, Sudan, Ivory Coast, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania and Zimbabwe must give way to strong, effective, corruption free and solution driven government as seen in Botswana.

In this 21st Century, Africans need leaders who will not hide behind diplomacy and condone negative practices by their colleagues such as subversion of the constitution and subjugation of the people as witnessed in Guinea and Mauritania, where the army have taken power; and in Tunisia and Algeria where the rulers have changed the constitution to run for a third term in office.

History is always the best teacher.  In 1215 when the people of England were faced with poverty, diseases, homelessness, corrupt monarchy and aristocracy, they came together and forced King John to sign the Magna Carta which laid down the foundation of modern democracy and its associated freedoms and rights.

The French too when faced with a brutal, corrupt, merciless, bankrupt, despotic monarchy and aristocracy chose to rebel, ushering in a revolution which forced the King out of power, and turned France from a property estate of a King into an independent prosperous Republic. This is a good lesson for Africa.

Looking at the poor economic, political and social standing of Africa in the global community, is it not time for Africans wherever we are to rise up and use the ballot to demand change in leadership and accountability from those who rule? Is it not time for Africans to take our leaders to task and ask them the hard questions that journalists fear to ask? Is it not time to ask them to account for the billions of revenue they receive every year? Is it not time to vote for those who can put Africa on the path of economic prosperity? We must use the ballot to vote these incompetence politicians out of office and bring in new blood, new ideas, and new policies. We have been fooled for quite too long.

We must vote for candidates on merits rather than party and tribal affiliation, for this is what has made Europe, America, Japan, Korea what they are today. We have been told that Africa is poor while our leaders receive several billions of dollars annually. We must ask them to tell us how those billions of dollars have been utilised. We must not rest until Africa becomes a continent for all her citizens not just a few. We must not rest until the continent becomes free from leadership incompetence, corrupt, weak and despotic rule. At this critical moment in world economic crises Africans cannot afford the same old faces, the same old ideas, the same old politics, the incompetence, the corruption, the nepotism and we cannot afford to remain poor in the abundance of natural resources

Youth enterprise development a way to curb illegal immigration

Every day border patrols on the Mediterranean troll the sea in search of illegal immigrants trying to steal themselves into Europe. They are typically male and in their youth, with great hopes of making a sustainable and prosperous livelihood in the West.

Indeed, illegal migration and human trafficking continue to prevail mainly due to the growing inequities, not only between the developed and developing world, but also within individual African countries.

With communication and travel getting cheaper, Africa now has an extended family we fondly call the Diaspora. Countries such as Kenya and Zimbabwe for instance, rely on remittances from these cousins abroad, and it was only when the global economic crisis started to really hit hard, that African local economies revealed that a substantial proportion of their budgets were indeed based on foreign remittances.

So it is not surprising to hear of arrests made by border patrols on either side of the Mediterranean, telling of nationalities that are now becoming more Eastern. A recent haul of illegals had Ethiopians and Somali among them. Somehow they made the trek westwards, turning upwards at Timbuktu through the rigors of the Sahara. Unfortunately for them they were arrested just as they caught sight of the “promised land”, Europe.

Detention centres on Europe’s southern seaboards are full of young men and women who refuse to reveal their nationality which would enable the authorities to repatriate them. This has been so problematic to the EU, that they have now turned to countries such as Morocco, Libya and Senegal, who in effect will act as a buffer border zone. However, unless and until the push and pull factors that spur for the youth brave the hot sun and the brutal sea for economic  are addressed, cases of illegals will persist.

An innovative way that seems to be gaining currency is in European countries engaging their African counterparts, in a sense to ensure that local economic factors act as a deterrent against out-migration or as an incentive to remain.

Programmes that address factors that adversely affect youth entrepreneurship supply are an indirect but powerful way of enticing the youth to remain in their home countries. Examples include education reforms that equip the youth with financial literacy and business management skills; promoting legal and regulatory reforms to facilitate the ease of doing business and also providing credit facilities to small business entrepreneurs. Such actions should at least make these young people whose only goal is to work hard, to take a second look at staying on the Continent and build their nations.

After all, if someone is willing to trek across Africa on a shoestring budget, save enough money to pay a trafficker and survive a desert and the sea on just a wish and a prayer, wouldn’t that person make a great entrepreneur, as evidenced by their determination, thrift and persistence?

Political Partisanship will never fill the 9.2 billion gaping hole in the supplementary budget!

“Yes, there may be a typing error but that to me may not be any cause for alarm”. – Uhuru Kenyatta, Minister of Finance, quoted in the Standard May 9^th 2009.

It was only two months ago when we posited that if the government of Kenya was a business, it would have collapsed ages ago. Well, last week’s proceedings in parliament brought to light that 9.2 billion Kenya shillings was unaccounted for in the 2008/09 supplementary budget tabled in parliament by Minister of Finance Hon. Uhuru Kenyatta.

Blaming it on “computer error” the Minister was quoted in Thursday’s Standard as saying “Yes, there may be a typing error but that to me may not be any cause for alarm”.

As House Speaker Hon. Kenneth Marende said when directing that the matter be investigated by the joint parliamentary committees for finance and budgeting, 9billion is a “mind-boggling” amount let alone 1 billion.

Mr. Speaker: Order! Order, hon. Members! Order, Mr. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance! Do not fault the Speaker from your seat.

This is a matter that on the face of it is grave. A figure of anything near Kshs9 billion, let alone Kshs1 billion, is mind boggling. This matter is now in the public domain. Kenyans are entitled to know what the truthful and correct position is. In those circumstances, therefore, I will refer this matter to the Parliamentary Departmental Committee on Finance, Planning and Trade to inquire into and report to this House on whether or not there are any inconsistencies that, perhaps, indicate that public funds have been misapplied.

That is the order of the Chair. I want hon. Members to note. Mr. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, please note, that because this matter is in the public domain, Kenyans are entitled to know. This direction does not in any way encumber the House from proceeding with business on the Supplementary Estimates, not in any way whatsoever. – Parliamentary Hansard, Wednesday 6th May 2009.

However, to the steward of our national resources, Uhuru Kenyatta that amount is merely “not any cause for alarm”!.

This utter negligence and unrepentant attitude is what is crushing Kenya today under debt and further making it difficult for entrepreneurs to either startup and/or effectively manage their enterprises. As small business owners, we are sure that if our accounting officer caused even a minor “typing error” amounting to Kshs. 1million, most of us would have promptly sacked them, if not called in the CID.

It was commendable that finally the business community is standing up to voice their opinions on budgetary issues. For instance as reported in the Sunday Standard, groups such as the Kenya Association of Hotelkeepers and Caterers (KAHC) Coast Branch urged the Kenya Private Sector Alliance to “take the government to task” over the issue. We also hope that other associations, federations and even individual entrepreneurs make their stand on the opinion known.

However, what emerged over the weekend at a function in President Kibaki’s constituency Othaya was even more alarming. Kenyatta now seems intent on not only blaming the computers in Treasury, but also on casting aspersions on whomever he considers as his “political enemies”. His utterances like his ministerial statement on Wednesday and retorts thereafter are very telling probably about his character. First in parliament he cast aspersions on Hon. Gitobu Imanyara and then his so-called “advisers” Mars Group who attracted even more vitriol.

Now the Minister is blaming ODM and the media for his travails. We have to wonder who will be next…

This time we CANNOT sit back and watch the circus that always results in scandals being brought to light and then promptly being forgotten. As entrepreneurs we are the main drivers of the economy. It is OUR tax money that has been fiddled with. It is OUR businesses that will face higher taxes if the government can’t raise enough funds to operate.

It is OUR time NOW to ask for accountability, not only from Hon. Uhuru Kenyatta and the Treasury, but also from our members of parliament who passed the supplementary budget without even verifying the veracity of what was tabled in the esteemed House.

That is our stand at Yipe.org. What is yours?

What is wrong with Kenya(ns)?

What is wrong with Kenya, we postulate. Or put bluntly, what is the problem with Kenyans? The country attained her full independence in 1964 but as the cliché goes, her contemporaries at independence time are way ahead in terms of development.

In as much as we continue to mourn the death of democracy in the country, we may as well reckon that democracy, which rules by the majority is not the problem in Kenya. As we seek answers as to why a human being can muster the ability and strength to slaughter his fellow human being, we may as well understand that it is such instances of insecurity which make up the problems in Kenya. As we still try to find out who really won the presidential elections in 2007, we may come to the sad fact this does not constitute the problem Kenya faces. As we grapple with hunger and cases of maize being stolen from national reserves, we must know this is not part of Kenya problem. When we try to ponder why high level corruption can never be prosecuted in the country, we may come to realize there is a very big problem other than these in the country. Our problem is our lack of reason.

When the government feels tired and yawns every time it has to reason, our country gets on its knees. When the government does not want to put effort to reason, it makes it hard for wheels that drive the country to move an inch. When Kenyans do not reason, Kenya fails to reason. When all we care about is positions of influence yet we fail to inject reason into those positions, we fail miserably.

We must accept the fact that we lack the ingredients that constitute reason. That is why our biggest endowment is pleasure when politicians offer contradictions. In short, what would be absurd to the American or Briton is humour to us. What Tom Daschle finds as reason enough to make him opt out of an Obama government cannot be reason for a Kenyan minister to quit. What Bill Clinton finds as reason to confess he has sinned is no reason enough for a Kenyan leader to know he is not infallible that as a human being, he can also make mistakes. We are totally in a strange country!

When a draft constitution is put forth for us to deliberate whether it is good or not, not just for our ego but also for future generations, we hide reason at the rooftops of our houses and allow politicians to decide the best way, when we know too well, just like us, they do not use reason. I sometimes agree with the president when he uses the ‘pumbavu’ slur, for it is what can best explain the cause and effects of what we do.

When that time comes where reason shall replace considerations of expediency, politics, popularity and vanity, then we can as well match the strides made by our age mates in independence terms.

Fwamba Nc Fwamba
Muriuki Mukurima

Playing with Fire!

Just two months ago in a post titled “Oil spills are killing our youth” following the horrifying Sachangwan accident, no less than the helicopter carrying Prime Minister Raila Odinga was siphoned of fuel yesterday.

A Nairobi Star reporter on the scene, took the startling picture below:

What is most disheartening about the image is the sight of women and young men in the act of siphoning fuel, probably hoping to use some as well as make some money selling the surplus.

The cameraman also had to escape the officers guarding the chopper once they realised he had taken the snapshot. How can anyone explain to the young boy seen smiling in the foreground that such an endeavor is a dangerous enterprise?

As we noted in February, as long as Kenyan’s keep suffering in an economy that batters the poorest the most, Kenyans will continue to siphon fuel, ever hoping that on that day, an inferno will not rise up to snuff out their  lives.

You can find a clearer image of the Nairobi Star front page on Yipe.org Entrepreneurship portal on the blog section on the right

The Coming of Anarchy: Lessons from West Africa

An article published in the mid 1990’s “The Coming of Anarchy” by journalist Robert Kaplan offers several lessons which if not considered, could result in failed states ala Liberia, courtesy of the youth who rise up and say ENOUGH!

The post-election violence of 2007 and early 2008 aptly demonstrated that the barrier between crime and politically instigated tyranny is becoming increasingly blurred, particularly in urban centres. Kaplan’s description in his article of cities in West Africa, echoes the state of Kenya’s urban slums where “streets are unlit; the police often lack gasoline for their vehicles; armed burglars, carjackers, and muggers proliferate”.

Polygamy & the Family Breakdown

Contributing to youth disaffection is the practice of polygamy which adds to the alienation of young people even within their “extended families”. Marriage breakdown, increasing incidences of sexual crimes and the resorting to commercial sex work by our youth, has promoted a population explosion as well as HIV/AIDS for which contraction rates remain highest amongst this population segment.

Mini-slum nation-states

Similar to pre-coup Abidjan, Ivory Coast with names such as “Chicago” and “Washington” for slum-districts, Nairobi’s slums boast names of conflict regions: “Kosovo and (mini) Mogadishu” which in turn are “governed” by street militias (“jeshi’s”) bearing similarly militaristic names such as “Baghdad Boys”, “Kosovo Boys” and the notorious “Taliban”. These sprawling slums continue to grow as more young people migrate to cities. Deforestation in rural areas has also brought with it adverse effects of climate change where rains are no longer assured forcing the young unemployed to migrate. The newcomers exert increased pressure in the urban low-lands which in turn has led to inter-ethnic conflicts within the slums.

Just like Kaplan’s view of 1990s Conakry which he describes as “a nightmarish Dickensian spectacle to which Dickens himself would never have given credence”, our cities and towns have now become venues of beggars with children with protruding bellies who seem “as numerous as ants”. Kaplan concludes that in states where man is recklessly depleting natural resources and with increased populations, nature will eventually take its revenge.

A case of nature taking back its own

And it has. Incidents such as the recent flooding in Nyanza attest to this. Populations have now had to move further inland, which could trigger a conflict with the upper regions settled communities.

Kaplan posits that the environment should be understood and acknowledged as a matter of national security. However, housing development in urban centres has been haphazard, facilitated by corrupt municipal authority officials turning a blind eye when issuing building permits. The most recent incidence of this was the recent collapse of a building in Mvita, Mombasa which has so far claimed the lives of at least 3 people. Building experts have for long been lobbying against the construction of multi-storey buildings asserting that coastal soil is not as resilient as interior soils for building foundations. So far the developer of the collapsed building remains at large.

Nevertheless, the demand of a growing urban population continues to ensure that developers have a ready market. The resulting high density estates have in turn led to water reserves being severely compromised. While Kenyans watched with consternation about the cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe, little did they believe that the disease would somehow find its way into our borders.

The Coming of Anarchy

Just like the recent youth-led takeover in Madagascar, Africa has for long had uprisings among the youth population. African history has many examples where “Soweto-like stone-throwing adolescents” finally had it with aging leaders and took matters into their own hands against such repressive regimes.

However there does remain a window of opportunity to pre-empt this. If only the Ministry of Youth Affairs would pay due cognizance to the urban youth population living in squalid conditions, by pushing for the mainstreaming of youth interests in government policies that focus on strengthening families, internal security, health, environment and land reforms.

On the other hand, if the status quo remains, not even Nairobi’s skyscrapers will be able to conceal the anger of the youth when they finally decide to make a stand.

Election or No Election? Parliamentary Election or Presidential Election? The Hague or No Hague?

The recent  call by the National Council of Churches of Kenya for elections to be held immediately has generated intense debate among Kenyans. The posting below is just one view of the situation by the youth. We welcome comments from all Kenyan youth on their views. – Yipe

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My Fellow Young Kenyans,

Election or No Election? Parliamentary Election or Presidential Election? The Hague or No Hague?

The National Youth Movement realizes with concern that the country is headed for grabs and that the Young People of Kenya must arise and protect this country from the Angry Politicians who are hell bent to smuggling every little resource that this country is left with.

Call to Action,

We would like to ask all young people of Kenya to rally behind our call to action and start demanding for the immediate resignation of this government. The President and Prime Minister have failed in their only mandate to see to it that the National Accord is implemented. As such they need to step aside and either the country goes to an election or we at least have a presidential election so that we can elect leaders who are capable of leading this country.

This is a discussion that has elicited a lot of discomfort across the country. Many are saying that the country has not healed from the fangs that the Post Election Violence brought with it. The question is whether to continue having the same leadership defrauding off the people their basic rights or at least have changes in the leadership as a stop gap.

Many Kenyans are dying of hunger and starvation at the watch of the leadership. The more than 40 Cabinet Ministers have completely run the government broke and Kenyans will no longer afford to service such a huge cabinet. The need to resize the cabinet to 13 clean untainted ministers should not be over-reiterated.

Others are asking what is the space for the youth in the whole transformation agenda.

Key issues come to mind as we push for the changes that are critical

We the youth of Kenya MUST demand and bring about the following:

• Reduction of the Presidential Age Limit to 30 as an entrenchment in the constitution.
• Reduction of the retirement age cap to 50 until all the youth are employed in meaningful employment opportunities
• Ensure the participation of the Youth in all top decision making organs of our nation including NESC
• Hold community conversations of uniting the youth voices in order to take this country to the next level
• Vote in unison and send all the retrogressive leadership out of power.
• Push for the prosecution of all the corrupt individuals in this and the previous governments.

We are collecting ideas on what we can work on now in order to push for the changes. Please add your voice and let us see Kenya Saved. The TIME to ACT is NOW and we are going to be releasing an action point based plan which we shall start engaging. Be part of the Change, invite more young people to join the mailing list or send me their email addresses so that they are not left in this very big action.

Emmanuel Dennis

web: http://marsgroupkenya.org/partnershipforchange/

E-mail: p4c@marsgroupkenya.org