Use the Browser BACK button to return to listings

August 24, 2004

WORKING NATION WILL GIVE BIRTH TO OWNING NATION, MR. NGUNYI

By Isaiya Kabira

According to Mr. Mutahi Ngunji, (Sunday Nation 22nd August 2004 Insight column) President Kibaki's clarion call of a working Nation is driven by class interests. For Mr. Ngunyi, Kenya needs to be an owning nation. I have one basic question for the political scientist, a what comes first- do you first own, then work for it, or do you work in order to own the means of production.

On June 1st last year, President Kibaki outlined his vision for a working nation. The idea of a working nation, the President said was simply getting things working again so that the country could get back into production. His message of a working nation stressed the virtues of hard work to repair our institutions, to revamp the economy, to fend for our families and to guarantee prosperity for future generations. It was a message of the need to get government offices working again, getting the cog wheels of industries turning again, a message that we needed to motivate our farmers to get back to their land.

Mr. Ngunyi's concept of an owning Nation, was best exemplified in the 1990's when the basic virtues of hard work were replaced by a culture of get rich quickly - where the virtues of wealth creation were replaced by the art of deal making- where you owned what you had not worked for.

Mr. Ngunyi would want us to believe that our dream has been killed. That dream is alive and well. The Kenya dream is embraced in the hearts and minds of the 1.3 million pupils, who now have a chance in life after classroom doors were opened wide under NARC's free Primary Education. That dream is to be found among our sugarcane farmers who have increased their production by thirty two percent, after the government began paying them their dues. It lives among coffee farmers who have doubled their farm output, because of reforms currently underway in the sector.

Mr. Ngunyi has written many obituaries about this government for the last 18 months. Maybe he should start appreciating that the NARC cup may not be overflowing but it surely is not half empty but half full. Filling up the other half, is the responsibility of all of us.

President Kibaki leads a team that knows its obligations to the Kenyan people. The NARC team is to be found in empowered Ministers who now have a free hand to manage dockets under them. As President Kibaki has always told them "Ministerial appointments are only an avenue for serving the Kenyan population. You do your job and Kenyans will remember you and appreciate your work. Kenyans should begin demanding that empowered Ministers account for their positions and showcase their achievements and not be fed on political rhetoric. Those who will kill our dream are those who have daily preached to their people that they must forever "seek ye first the political Kingdom before their economic fortunes change'. It is those who have refused to preach the virtues of hard work to their supporters who will kill their people's aspirations and hopes.

Mr. Ngunyi should know that Kenya lost an entire generation of entrepreneurs following the near economic collapse of the 1990's. Those who must do the catching up are the thousands of young budding entrepreneurs who resigned their jobs to venture into business, only to have auctioneers at their doorsteps within months because of high interest rates charged by banks. The current low interest rates are serving well the majority of Kenyans and not just the propertied class Mr. Ngunyi would like to argue is trying to recover from the fallow days.

Mr. Ngunyi, should know that this is not a government of survival but a government of reform. I am tempted to tell him what Prof. Nyongo told Prof. Makau in an article last week - ' reform is not an event but a process'. The process has began and yes our cup does not overflow with reform magic, but it surely is half full even before our mid term period. Kenyans will soon begin reaping the benefits of reforms currently being entrenched by the NARC government. These reforms are meant to get our people back into production. We cannot get our people to be part of an owning nation, if we do not get them back into production, back into embracing the basic virtues of hard work.

When one Mzee John Michuki utilizes his lifelong acquired skill of high handedness to deal with hardheaded matatu operators, he is bringing control to a sector that serves the majority of Kenyans and not the propertied class that Mr. Ngunyi has claimed Michuki belongs to. The Kenyan dream is now to be found among millions of traveler's who can now enjoy a nap in a public service vehicle and dream about getting home safely to their loved ones. That dream is to be found among 2,000 Kenyans who would be buried 6 feet under this year, but are alive today because of one Mzee's single mindedness. It's not age that delivers but a resolve to serve the Kenyan People.

President Kibaki's cabinet is not made up of his 'utotoni' buddies. No- it is made up of the Ochilo's and Balala's in their 30's, dynamic women ministers like Karua and Ngilu revolutionizing our health and water sectors, mothers like Linah Kilimo who have used their positions in government, to bring peace among the Marakwet and Keiyo people who have been at war with one another for decades. And yes it is a blend of age and wisdom that is to be found among tried and tested Awori, Nyachae and Karume whose insight into Kenya's history will be a sobering agent for a country that must heal wounds. It is also made up of Kombo, Raila, Kiraitu, Mukhisa, Murungaru, Kalonzo, Tuju, Kirwa, Nyongo, Saitoti and others who have a chance to practice in their Ministries what they would so much like to implement if given a national mandate.

Mr. Ngunji has in the past argued that governments of National Unity are the weakest forms of government. However he may want to educate his readers about the experiences of coalition governments in countries such as Italy, Israel and now India. After a much hailed election victory for Sonia Gandhi's Congress Party of India, the intrigues of coalition politics have come back to haunt the Congress Party. Several of the partner parties that make the coalition government are already ganging up against the Congress party, all in the name of who is in charge of government: - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh or Congress Party Leader Sonia Gandhi.

Let us stop mis-leading Kenyans that NARC is letting the African Continent down on our coalition government experiment. When some coalition partners in government ganged up with the opposition to paralyse government business in parliament, was the President to sit back and hope that those who had on successive occasions voted against government, were going to reform? No Mr. Ngunyi, President Kibaki had a duty to all Kenyans to create a working government side that would push through his legislative agenda.

Mr. Ngunyi, must get away from the temptation to brand the majority of Kikuyus as people with brown teeth and bad breath. The Kikuyu's like other Kenyans would like to embrace the virtues of hard work and generate genuine wealth. All Kenyans suffered the brunt of economic mismanagement and grand corruption of the 90's. It is these Kenyans who will ultimately be the true stakeholders of the Working Nation.

Yes, President Kibaki is killing class interests when he insists that the government must install electricity and cooling facilities for the fishermen on Lake Victoria- when he writes off ten billion shillings in loans to sugarcane and cereal farmers in the western sugar belt-when government builds abattoirs for cattle owners in North Eastern province- when the President says no to Kshs 400 per bag of maize for farmers in Rift Valley. When the President is at the forefront of reviving K.C.C. , A.F.C, A.D.C., K.F.A. it is because he wants to facilitate the process of getting our farmers back into production.

When President Kibaki tells the people of coast province that we must re-look the issue of absentee landlords, he is not protecting a few propertied people, but seeking ways of availing the means of production to the majority of people, who have been squatters for the last forty years.

Indeed, in forming his new look government; President Kibaki was guided by the NARC manifesto. The manifesto clearly provides for the creation of a government of national unity. In the preamble of the manifesto, it is stated that '…and form a government of national unity and which not only marks a complete break from the bitter past, but also realizes the desired changes in social, political; and economic lives…'

(THE WRITER IS DIRECTOR, PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE)