Gichinga Ndirangu
14 November 2009
opinion
Nairobi — Sometime in the late 1990s, as donors tightened the purse strings on Kenya, a desperate President Moi dashed to London to plead Kenya's case before the head of the World Bank.
This was uncharacteristic of Mr Moi who never tired to chide Kenyans for pegging hopes on the West at the height of the clamour for political reforms. That Mr Moi made the London trip was an act of desperation by a man weighed down by the burden of office.
Attending a meeting in Rio de Janeiro around that time, an Indian government official reached out to me and asked, "Is it true that your president, an elected head of state, travelled to London to meet an unelected official -- the head of the World bank?". Before I could respond, a Brazilian chimed in, "If it happened here, we would insist that the president resigns!"
This scenario was about to be replayed early this year after Prime Minister Raila Odinga initially indicated he would honour an invitation by Kofi Annan to travel to Geneva before changing his mind. President Kibaki declined the invitation from the outset -- and rightly so.
Unelected functionaries do not summon elected leaders at head of state and government levels to foreign countries. It should strike Kenyans, but not surprise them, how much our leaders have made us lose face and national pride. To flip over Edward Clay's words, the West is literally vomiting on our shoes. You know it when the government of a foreign country imposes a visa ban on a Kenyan government official.
While on the face of it, such a move can be as innocuous as morning dew, it is highly symbolic in its capacity to embarrass the head of state and his government. When a foreign government decides to ignore the head of state and directly targets key officials in his government, it amounts to a vote of no confidence in his government.
It is interesting that many Kenyans, out of frustration, do not take time to reflect on what this means to the national psyche and our standing among other nations. But what is more tragic is the total lack of leadership and temperamental reaction by the targeted officials and Foreign Affairs ministry.
Most of those slapped with visa bans or at such risk have become embarrassed and desperate. Many protest their innocence and engage in quiet negotiations for a review. Others like Attorney General Amos Wako throw a tantrum. The coded message is that the US visa is a status symbol, a "must have".
The US and others have played ball, adopted a stick-and-carrot attitude and in the process emphasised the lack of depth in our leaders who are beholden to western consumerism, expensive junkets to western capitals at taxpayers' expense and a total lack of pride in being African.
Like in Chinua Achebe's The Trouble with Nigeria "our leaders do not live in this country" -- that is why a US visa ban is so troubling and the West knows it! When leaders fail to see the depth of contempt we have been reduced to and instead trip over themselves to secure favours from the West, it should come as no surprise that many Kenyans have lost hope and are queuing for the green card.
Our lack of national pride or sense of shame has lowered our self-esteem and standing as a nation. Because our leaders are far removed from the aspirations of ordinary Kenyans, they are impervious to the embarrassment of foreign envoys talking them down without butting an eyelid. Remember the dressing down of the two principals as they launched a national food appeal at KICC?
Leaders who will not pay tax yet have no qualms living large here and in western capitals will always overreach themselves to be in the American ambassador's good books rather than draw us towards a collective sense of purpose and nationhood deeper than a hollow affirmation of sovereignty.
There are lessons that Kenya can learn from a country like Rwanda where President Paul Kagame has re-engineered a national pride anchored on accountable leadership. While our leaders haggle over Passats, Rwandese ministers drive their own low-engine capacity vehicles maintained with a minimum government allowance.
After the conspiracy of silence by the West during the 100 days of genocide, Kagame was understandably piffed by the West. Since then, he has challenged Rwandans to look to their neighbours rather than to the West for solutions. His embrace of English in favour of French represents a strategic awakening that his country's long-term strategic interests are better served by forging closer links with regional partners.
Indeed, Kagame deals with the West on his terms. For that, the West has learnt to respect him. As Kenya slumbers, Rwanda, like the fabled phoenix bird, is slowly rising from the ashes. Given a leadership that is ever looking to the West for a quick fix rather than investing in its own people and institutions, it is little wonder that Kenya, a country of great promise, is increasingly spoken of in hushed tones as an example of a dream deferred.
To save Kenya, the mindset of our leaders must change through a collective sense of shame and a focus on national pride. Rather than throw a tantrum over the US visa, it is time Wako and others took a hard look at Kenya's deferred dream.
Gichinga Ndirangu is a lawyer and policy analyst.
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I dot not agree with the wrter despite him being a lawyer ,i disagree with him.It not right to always USA as heaven on earth.Ihave never been to that country and i see nothing important.It seams how our learned friends think of America. Its a shame to do things so that you can be praised by the west. Nigeria has suffered so much because of giving Uncle sam all its oil,now petroleum products are so costly despite it being a major producer. All what the west want is to benefit from us. So whether they are happy or not dont bother or lose your head the alternatives are there.