Post Referendum.

I knew I'd have to say something about it sometime.

Everyone I've discussed the result with is looking at it from the point of view of their own interests, whether they are in big business, or run their own family business, or are farmers, builders, and so on.    I'm looking at things from the point of view of HATW, and Kenya.

One of our volunteers who is in Zambia at the moment also writes a blog which I have mentioned a few entries ago as being worth reading.   I'm sure he won't mind if I quote from it, with his first reaction to the UK decision to leave the EU.:-

I really didn't believe that the British people would make this choice. It seems to me that in a world which is becoming more connected, to choose to isolate ourselves in this way is an odd choice. What saddens me is that it appears to be a move made primarily out of selfish motives. We are keen to keep the benefits of a decent life to ourselves and not be prepared to welcome others, particularly the less fortunate, to share in our good fortune. I suspect that in fact the result will in fact be that we will be much poorer financially as well as being much poorer as human beings.

One immediate impact is that unless we increase the amount we send, our projects in Zambia will receive less today than yesterday. With fluctuations in the kwacha to some extent the differences cancel themselves out, because prices here go up or down as a result, but the drop in the pound it will have a direct impact."

All this of course, also applies to Kenya.   We'll have to send out a bit more each month for it to be worth the same in K. Shillingi as previously, and this in turn means we'll have somehow to raise a little more.

Another thing that occurred to me is that Kenya's Rift Valley farmers and growers of things such as snap peas, beans, roses that we buy in our supermarkets will be affected.

"If a UK recession triggers a fall in consumer demand in Britain, African exporters could be affected as well. For example, exports of Kenyan roses could fall, as UK consumers demand fewer of them.
The UK's trade deals with Africa are essentially the EU's trade deals with Africa. As the UK exits the European Union, all of those deals will have to be renegotiated.
That could take years, leaving trade relations between the UK and Africa in limbo."    (BBC world news)

 

I think the 'Brexiteers' were fed so many lies and opinions that they just didn't know what they were voting for, and what the results could be.

Probably best not to mention the referendum :-(

I was turning out a load of old newspapers and spotted this in a Daily Telegraph from April, which I must have missed. 

 

This could so easily apply to most African countries, and it certainly does to Kenya, where the poor get poorer, and the rich keep their money off-shore.

 

Its hard to find the actual amounts given by the UK to Kenya, but a 2013 figure suggests £98 million per year.   Is that all government aid ?    It doesn't seem very much.     Or is most of it via charities such as Oxfam, Water-Aid .... and even HATW ?    Its almost impossible to find a break-down of actual amounts given by the UK government on the internet.   But the above newspaper cutting suggests we need to rethink aid, and in what form we give it.   

Worth reading .... the blog of one of our volunteers in Zambia.

http://ourmaninmonze.blogspot.co.uk/

Chris goes to Zambia every year for six weeks or more, to Monze and PIZZ school.    Read all about it !

Corruption

Still reading about Kenya in all its aspects; I came across this article on a BBC site the other day ....


"In our series of letters from African journalists, Joseph Warungu considers what the collapse of a building in Nairobi reveals about Kenyan society.

13 May 2016

"Huruma" is a Swahili word meaning mercy.   It is also the name of the district of the city that has attracted world attention following the building collapse that killed 51 people.    Judging by the sad events of Huruma, and many other previous tragedies, it is safe to say that the majority of Kenyans live by the mercy of God.   The collapse of the building is a reflection of a society that is collapsing bit by bit, day by day.

Impunity means you can put up an unsafe building in an unsafe area and stuff it with desperate families.  And then sleep soundly, knowing that although something really nasty could happen to your tenants, there is nothing bad that can happen to you.

More than 30 buildings have collapsed in the last 10 years in different parts of Kenya, killing and injuring people.  An audit of the safety of buildings in Nairobi, conducted last year by the National Construction Authority, showed that only 42% of the buildings were found to be safe to live in.

The rule of law in Kenya has all but collapsed under the weight of impunity.  Furthermore, many do not trust the very people whose job it is to enforce the law - the police.  The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, a watchdog body established by the constitution, has said the police have been responsible for torture, killings and summary executions.  While action has been taken against some individual officers accused of taking the law into their own hands, not all have faced justice.

The one institution in Kenya that has stood the test of time and is unlikely to collapse any day soon is corruption.

The education system too has been teetering on the edge of collapse.   In March, the national examinations board was dissolved, following widespread cheating in national exams, which resulted in the cancellation of 5,000 results.    Some of this cheating is inspired and funded by the parents themselves, a sign of another institution - morality - in danger of collapse.  Morality stands little chance once discipline in Kenya buckles.  It is the indiscipline and impunity that gives people the confidence to drive dangerously in the wrong lane as police watch helplessly.

We have also witnessed examples of the collapse of clear leadership in key public institutions with negative consequences.

During the 2013 terror attack on the Westgate shopping centre in Nairobi, in which 67 people were killed and 200 others injured, the rescue operation was hampered by rivalry between the police, who initially responded to the attack, and the military, who eventually took over the operation.  It was a case of inflated egos, lack of co-ordination and confusion over who really was in charge.

Sometimes it is never quite clear who is in charge in Kenya.  The president himself has in the past found himself in an embarrassing position after pronouncing on one thing, or issuing a particular directive, only to be contradicted or overruled by another institution.

And this month we witnessed the collapse of yet another Kenyan virtue - hospitality.    The authorities have lost patience with the hundreds of thousands of refugees, mainly from Somalia who have been sheltering in Kenya. If the government has its way on the matter, the refugees will need to find a new home either back in Somalia or in a different country.

But the one institution in Kenya that has stood the test of time and is unlikely to collapse any day soon is corruption.

In almost every tragedy in Kenya, money will have changed hands.  In Kenya money speaks loudly, and it can silence anyone or anything. 

A study conducted in 2014 said some buildings collapse because contractors steal cement and use less steel.  Architects and engineers are also blamed for failing to verify the quality of the work or properly supervise construction.    And then you have the Nairobi City building inspectors who are overstretched.

As a result, the institution of corruption is always hanging about in the shadows and it never takes a day off.

The police were quick to take action following the collapse of the building in Huruma and arrested the owners, but they did not target the whole chain of people involved in the construction industry.

This though, is Kenya where we love painkillers to deal with the symptoms instead of treating the causes of the illness.  And because of this, our lives will continue to be at the mercy of God.  Until we reinforce our social, political, economic and governance structures to prevent the collapse of the Kenyan soul, the Huruma building collapse will repeat itself.

And our response will be to reach out for the predictable pill to kill the pain.

Hopefully one day those entrusted with public positions will move the nation from huruma (mercy) to another Swahili word, huduma (service)."


Having recently read the book by Errol Trzebinski  "The life and Death of Lord Erroll" all I can say is, that even after independence for so many African countries in the 1960's .... plus ca change .... nothing changes.

 

Time I wrote something !

I see the last entry was about five or six weeks back, tut, tut !   But I haven't forgotten Africa, and particularly Kenya.   I've been doing so much reading about Kenyan ancient history, and in the last few weeks, have been 'exploring' Happy Valley in books and articles .... the Wanjohi Valley north of Lake Naivasha, made famous by the permissive 'goings on' in the 1930's and 1940's.  

 

 

I remember an elderly lady who lived near us in Nakuru in the late 1970's who regaled me with tales of wild parties in the Happy Valley; I didn't realise what she meant then, but I do now !