By PETER MAKORI
If President Barack Obama had visited Kenya or Nigeria on his travels to sub-Saharan Africa, it would have been a travesty of democracy. Yet in some African media, especially in those two countries, there have been criticisms about Obama’s decision to visit Ghana.
Two issues stand out in the media discourse on the visit: Obama is criticized for avoiding his father’s homeland, Kenya, and he unexpectedly delivered what was perceived as tirades against African leaders instead of assisting them out of the political and economic abyss.
Obama dismissed the long-held view that the West was responsible for most of Africa’s problems. He told African leaders to change their corrupt tendencies and focus on building strong democratic institutions to safeguard governance for prosperity. He singled out Kenya’s poor governance and dysfunctional democratic institutions as classic examples of ruined chances for Africa to win itself a place on the world map.
I am an African Kenyan and I agree with Obama’s position. The U.S. president said that 40 years ago, Kenya’s per capita economy was larger than that ofSouth Korea. Today, the country is among the poorest nations while South Korea is a booming, industrialized economy.
One respected opinion writer in Nairobi suggested that bribery in Kenya’s employment sector had become the norm, not because the country’s institutions were corrupt, but because of competition for limited jobs!
Kenya was the only country in the world that observed a national holiday to celebrate Obama’s victory. The country’s leaders were strategically positioning themselves in the misguided expectation that the U.S. president, once in office, would blindly warm up to their corrupt regime.
Nigeria, one of Africa’s largest oil producers, felt chided when the President did not visit the oil rich nation. Just like Kenya, Nigeria has questionable democratic and human rights credentials. The 2007 elections were rigged. Fraud, bribery and corruption characterize the two countries’ political and social institutions.
There is nothing to show for the large oil deposits and other minerals in Nigeria as millions live in abject poverty. Despite the end of decades of military rulethat was rife with looting and plunder, Nigerians have yet to taste the fruits of true democracy.
Kenya and Nigeria are classified as among the most corrupt regimes in the world. While Nigeria has the dubious distinction of being the mother of first-class cons and global fraudsters, the U.S. Fund for Peace and Failed States recently classified Kenya as a failed state.
Recently, a retired diplomat from Europe told me several Kenyan human rights activists have been forced into exile in Europe and the United States after police squads in Nairobi killed some of their colleagues. Similar executions are reported in Nigeria regularly.
Kenya formed a coalition government with a total of almost 100 ministers, including their deputies, after the rigging of elections turned into ethnic bloodletting. This may be the largest cabinet in the world. Each minister owns two gas-guzzling luxury cars, plus two other vehicles, all at the taxpayers’ expense.
Several cabinet ministers have been mentioned in scandals involving stolen billions of dollars. The cabinet includes people who in the past have been associated with some of the most reprehensible economic crimes, theft and pillage of public resources.
Hundreds of civilians have starved to death in some parts of eastern and northern Kenya in the recent past. Animal carcasses litter dusty fields in these regions, evidence of wanton destruction of forests across the country. Kenya’s previously booming tourist sector remains in jeopardy because of the rampant destruction of the ecosystem.
Obama said his government would embrace countries that respected human rights and committed to democratic principles and the rule of law.
Obama has spoken candidly. It now remains the duty of African despots to reflect and make hard choices. I doubt that will happen soon.
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