The death of George Saitoti in a helicopter crash on June 10th removes one of the most important players in Kenya's piranha pool politics. Saitoti served as a senior minister in the presidencies of Daniel arap Moi and Mwai Kibaki for more than 30 years, but he was more of an executive prime minister than a political boss.
Although he was planning to run for the presidency, his mixed parentage - Kikuyu and Masai - would never have given him unqualified support among the Kikuyu in Kenya's highly tribalised politics, while the Masai are not numerous enough to be big political players.
Although Kenya's professional classes may have voted for Saitoti, he was not a populist speaker and would have stood no chance against Uhuru Kenyatta for the Kikuyu vote. According to Charles Hornsby author of Kenya: a History Since Independence, "Saitoti was simply too reserved, distant, academic, and non-tribal - and he didn't have the common touch."
A maths lecturer at Nairobi University who also wrote an influential book on development, he was invited by President Moi to become Finance Minister in 1983. The end of the Cold War in the late 1990s meant that Britain and other western donors could force multi party democracy on Kenya and also move the economy from a highly regulated state managed model to a free market. Structural Adjustment accelerated that process but without the aid needed to support the transition. It was introduced at the same time as the one party state gave way to a multi-party democracy. Ironically, Kenya (the African nation most favoured by the West) was one of the last to introduce a multiparty system. Saitoti was a central figure in implementing both of these fundamental changes.
Multi party democracy meant competition and that meant Harambees to get the Wananchi to vote for the ruling party. Harambees are open air rallies at which the Wananchi - the ordinary people - are persuaded by the Big Men to vote for them. This means Nyama Choma (roasted meat), drink and wads of cash for the people.
But how was KANU, the Kenya African National Union, ruling party since independence, to raise money for Nyama Choma? The answer was Goldenberg - an export promotion scheme whereby anyone who exported gold or diamonds could claim 35 percent of their value as a state subsidy. The joke was that Kenya has very little gold and no diamonds.
Payment for the scheme came under the consolidated fund and therefore did not need parliamentary approval. But it did have to be signed off and Saitoti, as Minister of Finance, did just that. He even extended it. Whilst he may not have actually constructed Goldenberg, Saitoti implemented it, and almost certainly benefitted from it personally.
Some £2 billion were stolen from the Kenyan state. Most of the money went to individuals, Kamlesh Pattni who founded Goldenberg International, and Gideon Moi, President Daniel arap Moi's son. In all 487 companies, many set up just for the purpose, collected money from the scam. It was the moment when corruption in Kenya became the norm in big businesses and the upper echelons of state affairs. It was a moment when the corruption tick became almost bigger than the state dog it fed on.
In a subsequent inquiry, Saitoti and Pattni were named as culprits and Pattni was detained for a while. Then the whole affair was quietly dropped. The election had been won, and some of Kenya's richest politicians, including Moi himself, were now multi-millionaires. No money was returned. Later, some 23 senior judges were forced to resign as a result of their involvement in the scandal. In a strange way the Kenyan state survived.
Throughout all of this Saitoti, as well as other senior Kenyan politicians involved in the scam, were welcomed to London. This was despite a former head of the Africa department of MI6 heading a forensic investigation into where the Goldenberg money had gone. To the British and US governments the strategic and economic importance of Kenya trumped corruption.
Kenya's senior politicians became so wealthy that politics became a game based on 'eating' and 'feeding' - stealing and spreading the proceeds around an ethnic support base in return for votes. Appealing to and buying tribal loyalty became the name of the game. Kenya is probably now the most tribally divided nation in Africa. No wonder the 2007 election exploded into such violence.
Will it happen again?
With two tribalist leaders, Uhuru Kenyaata and William Ruto, facing a trial at The Hague which may start in March next year (the exact date will be announced on July 13th), the Kenyan election is wide open. Victory will go to the person who builds an alliance of tribal leaders. One thing is certain: Luo and Kikuyu will be on opposite sides. Raila Odinga, the Luo leader, will run and elements among the Kikuyu will do anything to stop him becoming president. For a while I thought that in 2008 Kenyans had reached the edge of the cliff and looked down. They wavered and pulled back. The militants were called off by their paymasters. Kofi Annan was on hand to help. Kenyans had seen a future that looked like hell and chose a fudged alliance of enemies instead.
That alliance is now falling apart. The new constitution has recreated a Kenya of 47 counties, whose elected governments will be funded by the state to spend as they wish. It is, however, likely that a local politician from the dominant ethnic group in each county will be playing the ethnic card to garner support.
In 2008 the main wars were in Nyanza Province (Luoland) where (Kikuyu) police shot down Luo protesters, around Eldoret where Kikuyu immigrants were burned out of their homes and murdered by Kalenjin, and in Nairobi where battles took place in the poor slum areas between different ethnic groups. If politicians play the ethnic card in the next election, this winner-takes-all war could be fought in most of the new counties between any or all of Kenya's 40-odd ethnic groups.
Richard Dowden is Director of the Royal African Society and author of Africa; altered states, ordinary miracles.
Comments Post a comment
how dare u call kenyatta and ruto tribalistic leaders? Was gordon brown, a scot, tribalistic? U write that 23 judges were sacked in 2003 for involvement in goldenberg. Wrong! they were sacked over graft generally. U say Saitoti was of mixed parentage. Wrong! The man is as kikuyu as they come.
The goldenberg matter wasnt quietly dropped! Saitoti went to court to challenge the report of an inquiry into the looting. His name was quashed from the report! You say saitoti served Moi and Kibaki for MORE THAN 30 years! Nothing! It is 29 years - 1983 to 2012!
This is a very poorly researched article filled with uncritical analysis, broad generalizations, and factual inaccuracies.
For example, if the author had done even cursory research into "harambee," he would know that it does not mean open air rallies. Rather, it was a name given to the self-help projects that were Kenya's principal form of local economic development prior to the practice's formalization in the Constituency Development Fund. These things shaped the political process in negative ways, but not at all in the manner that Dowden asserts. If he wants to know more about them, I can refer him to several books on the subject.
Furthermore, if the author had actually read Charles Hornsby's book on Kenyan history, he would know that the move to multiparty democracy was not merely a result of the gallant British and other Western nations suspending aid in 1991. There were widespread protests in Kenya in the early 1990s, precipitated by the brutal assassination of Robert Ouko, that exerted considerable pressure on the government to democratize. To deny the importance of these protests is to deprive Kenyans of all their political agency, and it betrays the author's staggering arrogance, so characteristic of his countrymen.
His description of the Goldenberg scandal also misleads. While there is a strong case to be made that opening up democratic competition increased the incentives for political corruption on a massive scale, it is patently false to insinuate that the tradition of "eating" in Kenyan politics began in the 1990s. Tribal favoritism was the unofficial policy of both presidents Kenyatta and Moi from the earliest days of Kenyan independence. If you want to know why, look to the British colonists and the history of tribal reserves and land redistribution in Kenya.
Also, if you want to know why Kenya exploded into violence after the elections in 2007, definitely don't listen to Dowden. Read the Waki Commission report, or talk to any Kenyan adult about it. The violence was, first of all, orchestrated and premeditated, almost certainly by Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto (among others); the election was rigged, and rigged in such an amateurish and sloppy way that it convinced nobody; the extended presidential campaign, which really started in 2005 with the constitutional referendum, and needlessly revived the incendiary majimbo debate and stoked revolutionary expectations; or, hey, if you want to keep things simple, consider the fact that the majority of Kenyan youths are unemployed and highly vulnerable to the evil machinations of ambitious politicians.
Tribalism? It's the economy, stupid.
As for whether "tribal" violence will occur again this election cycle, well, who can say? The establishment of county governments will have unpredictable impacts on politics in Kenya, but devolution in general will drastically reduce the winner-take-all stakes of the Presidential elections by bringing political decisionmaking closer to the wanainchi. We have good reason to be cautiously optimistic about the future of Kenya -- but change doesn't happen overnight.
But the point of all this is simple: Dowden does all of Kenya a profound disservice by suggesting that its people are beholden to some primordial animus and incapable of making rational decisions. Kenyans in general are coming to recognize the same thing my dear Kenyan friend Edward told me the first time I visited the slums outside Mombasa: there are only two tribes in Kenya - the rich and the poor. All this Kikuyu-vs-Luo nonsense is a distraction, one that ignorant and bigoted observers in the Western media seem all too keen to perpetuate. But Dowden is an intelligent man with decades of experience. There is no excuse for him not to know better.
This article has a serious deficiency in understanding of the Kenyan context.For example the pulling out of donors from kenya in the early 90's was not the reason why we are one of the most democratic countries anywhere on the planet.Its because Kenyans fought and worked hard for that.If the writter has ever been to Kenya by any chance he can attest to this. Assuming that Kenyans can only be tribal or tribal is another indicator of poor knowledge of the political topology of this country. Even from a layman's angle the constitution that this country passed is very progressive and not towards tribalism but towards greater integration even at the education reform level. Its sad to read such a poor document
to all kenyans brothers & sisters, i m not a kenyan but i been there. stayed with families and learn bout them. after reading this, just spent 1 min and think, if i hate someone, my kids will grow up hating someone, and its not going to end. to all those BIG MAN up there, if you have the power to help your country man, your kids will be proud of you, but if you have the power and misuse it for your own benefit, one day...when you are old and retired, your kids will be a BIG MAN, telling you to move aside, cos he/she wants a comfortable life without you, cos your kids learn from you as a role model. for the MIDDLE MEN, your position is very important, you are someone that could make the changes cos you are sandwiched between your top and your country men. so choose and act wisely for the benefit of ALL KENYANS. as for the citizen there (not in politics), stop listening to anyone, listen to yourself. some might be living in a comfortable environment, but are you helping the unfortunate one? No? why not? just because they are from other tribe? stop looking at tribes. help anyone that needed help. try blindfold and put an ear-plug on yourself...walk down the street and help anyone, you'll be happy, your kids will be so proud of you cos helping is from the heart, not from seeing or listening. For those unfortunate, i know its hard to pass each day. i know you guys will do anything to have a comfortable life for your children, but then....doing anything against moral are just like behaving like them. Be strong, i am sure GOD is giving you guys something better than anyone out there. So be strong & stay healthy, your kids are so proud of you cos they know, their parents are clean in heart and mind. Kenya is a land for all, so all should be united and help each other. Always remember, when i first arrive to the world, i came with nothing but with clean heart and mind. When i leave the world, i want to leave as such. Bless all Kenyans.
See All Comments