People power leadership: Examples from developing nations

In this article we will try to learn from other developing nations on policies they have implemented that are working in favor of their people. The leaders in Kenya today, whose only quality is insatiable avarice, are unwaveringly bent on propagating the incessant pillaging of government resources. This is easily accomplished because of a politically indolent populace mesmerized by exiguous allurements in exchange for votes.
We seek to learn from those that have gone before us and those that are doing commendable works to empower their people. Some of the examples we will highlight have not found favor with developed countries due to practices such as nationalization of lucrative industries once operated by multinationals and the practice of government socialism. We are open to progressive ideas from any arena regardless of political ideology.
Costa Rica: peace promotion over insatiable impunity
Some of the material for this section on Costa Rica has been taken from Yes! magazine. Full article can be found HERE.
When the New Economics Foundation released its second Happy Planet Index, a ranking of countries based on their environmental impact and the health and happiness of their citizens, the No. 1 spot went to Costa Rica, population 4 million. The United States’ ranking: No. 114.
Kenya did have the unsavory distinction of making it to the rankings of the failed states index.
The Importance of Peace
Domestic and international peace has long been a priority in Costa Rica. In 1948, the country abolished its military, allowing it to spend more on health and education. Its University of Peace, established in 1980, offers a master’s degree in peace and conflict studies as well as ongoing workshops
Provision of health services
Nationwide, Costa Ricans benefit from a combination of government-run and private insurance options. Costa Rica promotes good health among its citizens even before they are born, sending doctors and nurses out into the countryside to provide prenatal care and teach parents how to raise healthy children.
Protecting the Landscape
The Costa Rican government’s promotion of peace and health for its citizens extends to a peaceful and healthy relationship to the planet. Costa Rica has pioneered techniques of land management, reforestation, and alternatives to fossil fuels. Spurred by rapid deforestation of its pristine rainforests due to logging and agriculture, the country began converting parts of its territory to national parks in the 1970s and prohibited the export of certain trees.
In 1996 Costa Rica introduced the Payment for Environmental Services Program (PES). Oil importers and water-bottling and sewage-treatment plants now have to pay a special tax to do business in the country, while other businesses contribute via a voluntary carbon-offset fee. The money is used to pay local people to protect the trees, water, and soil in their surrounding environment by abstaining from cattle ranching and illegal logging.
In a further effort to go green, the country has banned oil drilling within its borders and invests heavily in renewable energy sources like hydroelectric, wind, and geothermal power, which now provide 95 percent of its energy.
Bolivia and the succor of socialism.
When Evo Morales was elected Bolivia's president in December 2005, it represented a radical change in the country's history
Since 2005 GDP in Bolivia, one of South America's poorest countries, has jumped from $9bn to $19bn, pushing up per capita income to $1,671. Foreign currency reserves have soared thanks partly to revenue from the nationalized energy and mining sectors. The IMF expects economy to grow 2.8% next year, stellar by regional standards.
Although his government has been unable to accomplish much of what it set out to do due to the bureaucrats digging in their heels and the country's élites hating his populist rhetoric, Morales remains popular with his people.
Here is a summation of the policies of Evo Morales:
ECONOMY - Morales is trying to increase state revenue from energy and mining and has pledged to invest the extra cash to fight poverty. He has nationalized the country's largest telecommunications company, Entel.
ENERGY - Morales has sharply increased taxes paid by energy companies and energy companies including Brazil's Petrobras, Spain's Repsol and France's Total have agreed to continue operating in Bolivia under the rules set by Morales. Morales has also hiked the price Argentina and Brazil must pay for Bolivian natural gas.
MINING - Morales nationalized the country's largest smelter, Vinto, in 2007 and has increased taxes on mining companies.
LAND - Morales' ambitious plan to redistribute swathes of "illegally-owned" or "idle" land among the poor in opposition-controlled provinces was approved by Congress, but then stalled because of strong resistance from opposition governors.
SOCIAL PROGRAMS- Morales has created programs to give cash to school children, new mothers and the elderly with money from hydrocarbon revenues previously assigned to regional governments.

THOMAS SANKARA: ardent advocate of African self-reliance.
As Africa looks desperately for leaders of integrity and vision, the life and ideals of the late Thomas Sankara seem more and more relevant, especially in our rudderless Kenya.
Sankara, a charismatic army captain, came to power in Burkina Faso, in 1983, in a popularly supported coup. He immediately launched the most ambitious program for social and economic change ever attempted on the African continent. To symbolize this rebirth, he even renamed his country from the French colonial Upper Volta to Burkina Faso, ‘Land of Upright Men.’ As soon as he took office, he reduced the salaries of all public servants, including his own, and forbade the use of chauffeur-driven Mercedes and 1st class airline tickets.
The policies of Thomas Sankara:
• He was the first African leader to appoint women to major cabinet positions and to recruit them actively for the military. He outlawed forced marriages and encouraged women to work outside the home and stay in school even if pregnant.
• He launched a nation-wide public health campaign vaccinating over 2 ½ million people in a week, a world record.
• He was also one of the first African environmentalists, planting over 10 million trees to retain soil and halt the growing desertification of the Sahel.
• He promoted local cotton production and even required public servants to wear a traditional tunic, woven from Burkinabe cotton and sewn by Burkinabe craftsmen.
• He redistributed land from the feudal landlords and gave it directly to the peasants. Wheat production rose in just three years from 1700 kg per hectare to 3800 kg per hectare, making the country food self-sufficient.
• He started an ambitious road and rail building program to tie the nation together, eschewing any foreign aid by relying on his country’s greatest resource, the energy and commitment of its own people.
• Sankara spoke eloquently and unflinching in forums like the Organization of African Unity against continued neo-colonialist penetration of Africa through Western trade and finance. He opposed foreign aid, saying that ‘he, who feeds you, controls you.’
Sankara’s brief revolution offers an alternative or at least the possibility of another route for African development based on autonomy and local self-reliance.
Worthy mention:Black Panther party social programs
The Black Panther Party social programs sought to empower black people in America. Of special note is the Free Breakfast for Children Program, which spread from Oakland, to every major city in America where there was a Party chapter. Thousands upon thousands of poor and hungry children were fed free breakfasts every day by the Party under this program. The magnitude and powerful impact of this program was such that the federal government was pressed and shamed into adopting a similar program for public schools across the nation.
Conclusion
The policies we have cited had some drawbacks implementing and sustaining, we will concentrate on the good we can take away and make our own.
• The redistribution of idle land to people willing to work it is an issue that needs to be addressed. We have offered a solution several times before in previous articles.
• The promotion of peace as evidenced by Costa Rica is an idea that Kenyans should adopt. We should discourage political alliances based on tribes colluding to amass votes in order to wedge out rival tribes.
• Industries and processing plants polluting the atmosphere or the ground should have to pay additional taxes. These taxes would then be used to fund social programs.
• Supporting local production instead of relying on imports will go a long way towards self sufficiency. In order to do this we would have to establish community corporations and local sources of financing. We will address this topic in a later article.
• Reliance on foreign aid is a topic we addressed previously. Like Sankara did, we should utilize the energy of the people to initiate ‘public good’ community projects through volunteerism. We are working on a program aimed at members of a community exchanging their time for services instead of money.
We leave the reader with this quote:
"Every Kenyan man, woman and child is entitled to a decent and just living. That is a birthright. It is not a privilege. He is entitled as far as is humanly possible to equal educational, job and health opportunities irrespective of his parentage, race or creed or his area of origin in this land. If that is so, deliberate efforts should be made to eliminate all obstacles that today stand in the way of this just goal. That is the primary task of the machinery called Government: our Government."
- Josiah Mwangi Kariuki
We entreat all reform minded Kenyans to join together in a revolution at the ballot. We will make the egregiously inept elite cede to the will of the people who demand progress and better living standards today and for future generations!