The
Chief of Defense Forces, General Julius Karangi, is a happy commander.
The Kenya Defense Forces have acquitted themselves professionally in
their year-long adventure in Somalia. Operation Linda Nchi is a success
whichever way one slices it. When it took the battle with al Shabaab to
Somalia and after it joined the AMISOM forces, the KDF have done the
nation proud and there isn't a soul in Kenya that would begrudge them
their moment in the sun. There was, however, a troubling note in his
address to the victorious troops. General Karangi went to some length to
repeat that Kenya was owed money from the United Nations regarding its
engagement in Somalia. This is something that Charles Kanjama explores
in this Sunday's The Standard (We should look at public sector wage bill objectively).
When George W Bush decided to fight terrorism globally, he did so even though there was no plan for paying for his wars. The bill, so far, has come to hundreds of billions of dollars and has ensured that the US budget deficit has ballooned to many trillions of dollars. This is a truth that has bedeviled every country that has ever gone to war in the history of mankind. Before the start of the Second World War, all the belligerents spent years preparing their economies to cope with the strain that a war brings. It is only after Germany felt secure economically did Hitler decide to launch his war in 1939. If the United States had not, in effect, subsidised the British economy in the years leading to Pearl Harbour, Britain may have lost the Battle of Britain. So it is strange to listen to the Chief of Defense Forces refusing to acknowledge a truth that is known by all warriors: wars are won or lost by those prepared to spend to win them.
The events of the past three weeks have demonstrated that the elite leadership of this country is living a fantasy life, where the national treasury is a bottomless pit that is available to satisfy their every wish or whim. Mukhisa Kituyi, the former Minister for Trade, traces this phenomenon to the 8th and 9th Parliaments (1997 to 2002 and 2003 to date). The upper reaches of the public service are not immune. One of the dailies even reports that a former Commissioner of Police owns a one-hundred and fifty million shilling home in the leafy suburbs of Karen, a claim that has taken the good former policeman 9 days to deny. Our elected representatives and a selected elite of the civil service live like princes of the fairy tales children are taught. Meanwhile, the Kenya Defense Forces has to go hat in hand to the bureaucrats at the United Nations begging for money to keep fighting in Somalia. Kenyans are now called to dig deeper into their pockets to not only support the lavish income of their elected representatives and a bloated public service, but also to pay for mysterious send-off packages for the army of hyenas masquerading as honourable Members of Parliament. Meanwhile, doctors, teachers, lecturers and nurses must resort to industrial action to have their day in the sun when it comes to the question of their incomes.
In a nation where the highest paid public servant earns more than a hundred times what the least paid earns, what business have we claiming that the future is bright for the army of unemployed youth of the nation? At over 80% youth unemployment, it is perverse and obscene for the likes of Rachel Shebesh to claim that they have a right to the millions they are claiming for themselves in the name of public service. It is manifestly immoral for this group of men and women to go about their thieving ways when they have done precious little to ensure that Kenyan youth not only have opportunities to better themselves, but the state of the national economy is robust enough that the KDF will not need handouts to fight rag tag militias in failed states.
When George W Bush decided to fight terrorism globally, he did so even though there was no plan for paying for his wars. The bill, so far, has come to hundreds of billions of dollars and has ensured that the US budget deficit has ballooned to many trillions of dollars. This is a truth that has bedeviled every country that has ever gone to war in the history of mankind. Before the start of the Second World War, all the belligerents spent years preparing their economies to cope with the strain that a war brings. It is only after Germany felt secure economically did Hitler decide to launch his war in 1939. If the United States had not, in effect, subsidised the British economy in the years leading to Pearl Harbour, Britain may have lost the Battle of Britain. So it is strange to listen to the Chief of Defense Forces refusing to acknowledge a truth that is known by all warriors: wars are won or lost by those prepared to spend to win them.
The events of the past three weeks have demonstrated that the elite leadership of this country is living a fantasy life, where the national treasury is a bottomless pit that is available to satisfy their every wish or whim. Mukhisa Kituyi, the former Minister for Trade, traces this phenomenon to the 8th and 9th Parliaments (1997 to 2002 and 2003 to date). The upper reaches of the public service are not immune. One of the dailies even reports that a former Commissioner of Police owns a one-hundred and fifty million shilling home in the leafy suburbs of Karen, a claim that has taken the good former policeman 9 days to deny. Our elected representatives and a selected elite of the civil service live like princes of the fairy tales children are taught. Meanwhile, the Kenya Defense Forces has to go hat in hand to the bureaucrats at the United Nations begging for money to keep fighting in Somalia. Kenyans are now called to dig deeper into their pockets to not only support the lavish income of their elected representatives and a bloated public service, but also to pay for mysterious send-off packages for the army of hyenas masquerading as honourable Members of Parliament. Meanwhile, doctors, teachers, lecturers and nurses must resort to industrial action to have their day in the sun when it comes to the question of their incomes.
In a nation where the highest paid public servant earns more than a hundred times what the least paid earns, what business have we claiming that the future is bright for the army of unemployed youth of the nation? At over 80% youth unemployment, it is perverse and obscene for the likes of Rachel Shebesh to claim that they have a right to the millions they are claiming for themselves in the name of public service. It is manifestly immoral for this group of men and women to go about their thieving ways when they have done precious little to ensure that Kenyan youth not only have opportunities to better themselves, but the state of the national economy is robust enough that the KDF will not need handouts to fight rag tag militias in failed states.
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