Why is Kenya failing? Go look into a mirror

Less than a decade ago Kenya exploded into post-election violence. When the violence stopped, with the help of the international community, we crafted an elaborate agenda to ensure the nation would not travel down the path of internal conflict again.

There was the Waki Commission whose report triggered the ICC cases. There was the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC), and the Kriegler Commission.

These, plus the celebrated brand new post-independence Constitution, remodeled institutions, new laws and changes to existing ones were designed to be fail-safe. So why is Kenya falling again?

Daren Acemoglu and James A Robinson, in 'Why Nations Fail', narrate a captivating story of two brothers born of the same parents but separated by war.

In 1945, at the end of World War 2, Korea was a colony of Japan. After the surrender of Japan, Korea was then divided into two spheres. South Korea was placed under the administration of the USA and North Korea under Russian Administration.

In 1950, during the Cold War, North Korea invaded South Korea and went as far as capturing Seoul, the capital city of the South, before North was repulsed. During the capture of Seoul, Hwang Pyong-Won managed to hide and avoided being drafted into the North Korean army. He stayed in the South and worked as a pharmacist.

Hwang Pyong-Won’s brother was a doctor working in Seoul, treating wounded soldiers of the South Korean army when he was captured by the North Korean army.

Hwang Pyong-Won never met his brother again until 50 years later when the two governments initiated a family reunification programme in Seoul in 2000.

Hwang Pyong-Won’s brother ended up working for the air force in North Korea, which was a good job in a military dictatorship. However, 50 years down the line, unlike his sibling, he had no car, he had no telephone, his threadbare coat was borrowed and he was as thin as a rake.

He had no money and didn’t want any from Hwang Pyong-Won as his government back home would take it.

In South Korea, Hwang Pyong-Won had similar living standards as those in Portugal and Spain. Across the border, his brother lived in conditions similar to those of a sub-Saharan African country. Hwang Pyong-Won’s life was 90 per cent better than that of his sibling because of only one difference: politicians.

Poor countries are poor because those who have power make deliberate choices that create poverty. They get it wrong not by mistake or ignorance but by purpose. Similarly, countries undergo or remain in conflict, not by mistake or ignorance, but because those who have power make deliberate choices that lead to such conflict.

A man who always tells lies, says that he always tells lies. That is true, so he is telling lies when he claims to be always telling lies. On the other hand, as it is false he is still telling lies.

Politicians do not operate in a vacuum. They are a mirror reflection of the society in which they practise their trade. Similarly, the law does not operate in a vacuum. It is a mirror reflection of the moral standards of a society. The law starts to fail when and where the society’s moral standards begin to falter and fall.

A strong and successful nation requires that its members share and embrace a common set of values and the knowledge that all its members, as a condition for such membership, will collectively and individually abide by that set of values.

Why is Kenya failing? Go look into a mirror. The only way to fix Kenya is for you to reset the values of the man or woman in that mirror to reflect the values of the Kenya you would want to live in. Only then will the politicians become repugnant.

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