It
is the brave contrarian who suggests that despite the now
well-documented and tragic failures of the political class it is not
wise to seek the professional services of the champions of the private
sector. Indeed, an examination of this months edition of The Nairobi Law Monthly
should not only reinforce any smidgeon of suspicion one may have
harboured against the so-called captains of industry throwing their hats
in the political ring, but it must demand an examination of the
ever-blossoming relationship between government mandarins and private
sector friends bearing gifts.
This month's cover story not only raises questions as to how an agency like the Kenya Airports Authority could enter into such a lopsided agreement with Peter Muthoka and his Transglobal Cargo Centre Ltd. It is by no means the only transaction that requires closer scrutiny; one must struggle to remember that despite the irregularities of the Anglo-Leasing contracts, Kenya is still making payments for a mysterious naval vessel that must surely have set records for the length of time it has taken for the ship to be launched by its builders. The suspicions that surrounded the concessioning of the Kenya-Uganda railway have never been cleared up, even after Roy Puffett and the criminally incompetent Sheltam Corporation exited the picture. Goldenberg and its bastard offspring remain a blot on our national conscience; its perpetrators continue to walk free, cocking-a-snook at every single one of us.
Except, perhaps, for a tiny elite whose careers began and flourished in foreign lands, the majority of the so-called professionals throwing their hats into the political ring, making promises as to the proper government of the counties, we seem to have forgotten, or are wilfully ignoring, the fact that many of them before they became private-sector champions began their careers in the government. It is not just captains of industry; lawyers, doctors, economists, teachers, accountants, engineers...there isn't a professional occupation in this country that does not have the fingerprints of the government all over its establishment. It is a trend that was established in the 1960s and 1970s; looking at the careers of the likes of Duncan Ndegwa and the late John Michuki and the establishment of billion-shilling companies such as Transcentury and Centum Investment, one is struck by the naivete of those Kenyans labeling these private sector privateers as our political messiahs.
Of the three elements of a free society, Kenya barely satisfies. For all its flaws, our rulers rule with (barely) the consent of the people. But the concept of the rule of law remains a cruel joke on Kenyans and the transparency and accountability fostered by a free, fearless and independent press remains a promise unfulfilled, save for the valiant efforts of outfits like The Nairobi Law Monthly. Before we begin laying the burden of carrying forward the reforms that this nation needs on the shoulders of the professionals from the private sector, let us be sure that the interests of the private sector and the interests of Kenyans mean one and the same thing. Otherwise, we will substitute one pack of hyenas with another. I can almost hear their demonic cackling.
This month's cover story not only raises questions as to how an agency like the Kenya Airports Authority could enter into such a lopsided agreement with Peter Muthoka and his Transglobal Cargo Centre Ltd. It is by no means the only transaction that requires closer scrutiny; one must struggle to remember that despite the irregularities of the Anglo-Leasing contracts, Kenya is still making payments for a mysterious naval vessel that must surely have set records for the length of time it has taken for the ship to be launched by its builders. The suspicions that surrounded the concessioning of the Kenya-Uganda railway have never been cleared up, even after Roy Puffett and the criminally incompetent Sheltam Corporation exited the picture. Goldenberg and its bastard offspring remain a blot on our national conscience; its perpetrators continue to walk free, cocking-a-snook at every single one of us.
Except, perhaps, for a tiny elite whose careers began and flourished in foreign lands, the majority of the so-called professionals throwing their hats into the political ring, making promises as to the proper government of the counties, we seem to have forgotten, or are wilfully ignoring, the fact that many of them before they became private-sector champions began their careers in the government. It is not just captains of industry; lawyers, doctors, economists, teachers, accountants, engineers...there isn't a professional occupation in this country that does not have the fingerprints of the government all over its establishment. It is a trend that was established in the 1960s and 1970s; looking at the careers of the likes of Duncan Ndegwa and the late John Michuki and the establishment of billion-shilling companies such as Transcentury and Centum Investment, one is struck by the naivete of those Kenyans labeling these private sector privateers as our political messiahs.
Of the three elements of a free society, Kenya barely satisfies. For all its flaws, our rulers rule with (barely) the consent of the people. But the concept of the rule of law remains a cruel joke on Kenyans and the transparency and accountability fostered by a free, fearless and independent press remains a promise unfulfilled, save for the valiant efforts of outfits like The Nairobi Law Monthly. Before we begin laying the burden of carrying forward the reforms that this nation needs on the shoulders of the professionals from the private sector, let us be sure that the interests of the private sector and the interests of Kenyans mean one and the same thing. Otherwise, we will substitute one pack of hyenas with another. I can almost hear their demonic cackling.
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