Uhuru's new Foreign Policy Approach: Pragmatic or Precarious?

Nicodemus Minde

In one of his analysis of Kenya's new foreign policy approach under President Uhuru Kenyatta, Peter Kagwanja remarked that Kenya’s foreign policy is emerging and is reflecting an assertive new Africa-centred approach as the central plank of Nairobi’s regional and global policy. He was writing this in the regional paper, the East Africa soon after President Kenyatta took oath of office on April 9, 2013. Kenya has historically been the 'hub' of the region, as evidenced by the international presence such as the UN offices in Nairobi. 

When Kenya gained political independence in 1963, it took a pure capitalist approach based on the Western model. Her relations with the West were thus strengthened by this. Kenya became the darling of the West and a close ally unlike her East African neighbors, Tanzania and Uganda. Tanzania had taken up the socialist model, Ujamaa, which President Nyerere described as 'Tanzania's unique model of socialism.' Uganda under Milton Obote also pursed a similar path. It was no wonder that Tanzania strengthened her relations with the likes of China, USSR, and Cuba, who were all communist states. Under President Daniel Moi, Kenya's foreign policy was quite pragmatic due to the Cold War at the time. However, Kenya maintained close relations with the West particularly US and Britain. However, since 2002 as my colleague puts it "the Kibaki administration had been keen on expand the pool of international partners. China was one such available partner". This has seen Kenya adapt an Economic Diplomacy Foreign Policy Agenda which focuses largely on trade, bilateral and multilateral business partnerships. 

Uhuru Kenyatta, during his campaigns said he would "look East" upon his ascension to president. Foreign policy commentators and media saw his move was instigated by his indictment at the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes committed during Kenya's Post-poll Violence of 2007/2008. Coupled with the former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson remark that 'choices have consequences' warning Kenyans against electing an indictee president, Kenyatta administration was without doubt going to pursue a "look East" approach. 

US President Barack Obama, whose father was Kenyan, has skipped Kenya from his latest African tour. He visits Tanzania instead, to the dismay of many Kenyans, who view it as a snob. Obama through the foreign department has explained that he visits Tanzania for economic reasons and most recently the White House explained that the ICC cases facing Kenya’s top leaders are the reason why US President Barrack Obama is skipping Kenya during his Africa tour which kicks off Wednesday next week. Outspoken critic of Uhuru Kenyatta, Makau Mutua reiterated this in his column on Sunday Nation stating that Mr Obama is simply giving Mr Carson’s truism a nod.

President Kenyatta will embark on a tour to Japan, Russia and China in a move seen by many as a counter-check to the Obama snob and reiterating his "look East" approach. Kenyatta has proven to be quite an astute politician who tries to balance Kenya's relations without necessarily being seen as an 'anti-West' leader. He has to trade like this since he still has a pending a case at the ICC.    

The Unacceptable face of Capitalism in Kenya: The Matatu Fare Madness

By Nicodemus Minde

Capitalism; Hidden Mysteries. A matatu in Nairobi's Thika Road

Francis Fukuyama famously declared the ‘end of history’. This was the antithesis of the belief that history is progressive and cumulative. All in all, his thesis was that liberal capitalist democracy had triumphed over communism.  The author explored the dynamics of international relations with the end of the Cold War. He was the literati progenitor of the discourse of the universality of post-Cold War triumph of capitalism. Alan Greenspan once said that ‘Capitalism is based on self-interest and self-esteem; it holds integrity and trustworthiness as cardinal virtues and makes them pay off in the marketplace. Capitalism is constructed by the thirst for more profitable productivity at the expense of moral obligations and societal virtues. Karl Marx, the greatest critique of capitalism says that this system saps into the original source of all wealth, from the soil to the laborer. Society has been built on such exploitation. From slavery to colonialism to now globalization, the cruel face of capitalism has oiled the engines of life.

Matatus in Nairobi

Britain’s Prime Minister Edward Heath is credited for coining the phrase “the unacceptable face of capitalism-to refer to the activities of Lonrho, the predecessor to Lonmin (the mining company operating in Marikana, South Africa). These companies are the embodiment of global corporate capitalism which saps not only the soil but the laborer in which the end result is profit. The phrase ‘the unacceptable face of capitalism” has caught my eyes in Kenya. Tanzania’s founding president Julius Nyerere famously labeled Kenya as a “man-eat-man society” ridiculing its capitalist approach to post-independent policies. Kenyans rebuffed this label by saying that ‘Tanzania was a man-eat-nothing society”. This was also a public ridicule to Tanzania’s socialist policies. Kenya has grown into a nation of extreme capitalist tendencies which has ruined the social fabric of its people. Hitherto, every form of the Kenyan society has been based on the antagonism of oppressing and oppressed classes. This has led to growth in the ugly face of individualistic capitalism. The class divide in Kenya is now of concern.

No where has this divide been much visible than the transport industry in Kenya. The capitalism code calls for non-state interference in the economy and the stringiest application of market forces of demand and supply. Today the matatu transport industry is in the hands of capitalist investors whose aims are profit. The matatus charge fares according to the ‘market forces’ of demand and supply. The demand and supply here is (1) flow of traffic, (2) weather changes, (3) residence status, (4) time of day etc. This has also led to a unique scenario which I believe only occurs in Kenya. The transport fares to the city and back are different. But again, this is a relational type of equation to factors affecting ‘the demand-supply’ of people’s needs when it comes to transport. 

Even with the completion of arguably the best highway in East Africa, the Thika road route remains the most notorious when it comes to fare variation and cruel exploitation of the public transport users plying that route. The matatu people have now solidified the exploitation of people by charging exorbitant and sometimes ridiculous fares. This is not unique to the Thika road route but is rampant in all other routes across the city of Nairobi. The Ministry of Transport and the government in general has not reprimanded this heinous exploitation of its people. The sad part is that people are now adjusting according to this ‘matatu fare madness’. These adjustable mechanisms are only unique in places where the tenets of capitalism have triumphed.            

Mau Mau win UK ruling

Via BBC News

Three Kenyans who were tortured by British colonial authorities can proceed with their legal claims against the UK government, a court has ruled. London's High Court ruled the case, relating to the 1950s Mau Mau uprising, could proceed despite the time elapsed.

The ruling means the case will now go to a full trial. Lawyers for the three hailed it as a "historic" judgement. While the government accepts UK forces tortured detainees it denies liability and will appeal against the decision.

Thousands of people were killed during the Mau Mau revolt against British rule in Kenya in the 1950s and 1960s. The government had initially argued that all liabilities for the torture by colonial authorities were transferred to the Kenyan Republic upon independence in 1963 and that it could not be held liable now. 

Lawyer Martyn Day (l) described the judgement as historic. But in 2011, the High Court ruled the claimants - Paulo Muoka Nzili, Wambuga Wa Nyingi and Jane Muthoni Mara - did have "arguable cases in law".

Their lawyers allege that Mr Nzili was castrated, Mr Nyingi was severely beaten and Mrs Mara was subjected to appalling sexual abuse in detention camps during the rebellion. A fourth claimant, Ndiku Mutwiwa Mutua, died earlier this year.

After the 2011 ruling, the case went back to the High Court in July to consider a claim by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) that the actions had been brought outside the legal time limit. The FCO said it faced "irredeemable difficulties" in relation to the availability of witnesses and documents.

The Grand Radar Corruption in Tanzania Explained

Book Review: The Shadow World Inside The Global Arms Trade

THE SHADOW WORLD by Andrew Feinstein is the harrowing, behind-the-scenes tale of the global arms trade. Pulling back the curtain on this secretive world, Andrew Feinstein reveals the corruption and the cover-ups behind weapons deals ranging from the largest in history - between the British and Saudi governments - to BAE's controversial transactions in South Africa, Tanzania and eastern Europe, and the revolving-door relationships that characterize the US Congressional-Military-Industrial Complex. He exposes in forensic detail both the formal government-to-government trade in arms and the shadow world of illicit weapons dealing - and lays bare the shocking and inextricable links between the two.

The Shadow World is a massive but eminently readable tome with content ranging from a history of the major players in the development of the industry, to a case-by-case study of the role of the trade in Africa – from the vast deals between arms manufacturers and governments, to the impact the trade has in perpetuating and intensifying African conflicts.

The book exposes the filth of corruption in different parts of the world through Western powers particularly Britain. In Tanzania, for instance, the author reveals the dirty deals that surrounded the harrowing purchase of the radar from BAE Systems of Britain. The book reveals how former British PM Tony Blair persuaded former Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa to buy an old technology radar. This was despite the fact that top officials in the foreign department of Britain were opposed to that move. Clare Short, who at the time of the purchase negotiation, was the Secretary of State for International Development strongly opposed the move cited the economic ineptness of Tanzania to buy the radar. Tanzania at the time had only eight military jets most of which were grounded due to their horrendous old state. Tanzania did not need a military radar system; in any case, it needed a national radar to bolster its tourism sector.

Despite these facts, Tanzania went on to buy £28 million radar system. In a report by The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) cited gross violations in the deal between Tanzania and BAE Systems. The BAE Systems then accused of ICAD of misinterpretation of the deal. The book also exposes the dealings by high ranking Tanzanian government officials in the purchase of the radar. These include among others, former President Mkapa, Andrew Chenge and Idriss Rajab. This is the tale of collusion of grand corruption between Tanzania and Britain.