A KENYA FOR THE PEOPLE

Of re-branding and ‘pigs in lipstick’

2011-12-29T20:42:00.000-08:00

President Obama, revered here by some and disdainfully dismissed by others, had this to say about his Republican rival during his campaign for the presidency, “You know, you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig”. This was in reference to the policies being offered by Senator McCain being similar to those of President Bush, thus implying that a vote for McCain was actually retention of the old regime.
The above quote aptly mirrors the goings on of our political parties here at home. Re-branding is the buzz word. Recently our Vice President changed the name of his political party to Wiper Democratic Movement from ODM-Kenya. Reason being, he did not want confusion at the ballot box with people intent on voting for him, voting for ODM instead. He changed his symbol from one and a half oranges to an umbrella. I think an appropriate symbol would have been an old rag or some baby wipes in keeping with his ‘Wiper’ name. Next, the Finance minister proposed changing his party from KANU (Kenya African National Union) to KANU (Kenya Alliance National Union) How clever! I can clearly picture the everyday voter discerning the difference. Our good professor has also has been busy. He held a recruitment drive on a day after a major holiday. How well attended was this affair? We can only hazard a guess.
A central theme runs through all these shenanigans being marketed as re-branding. They are still the same wolves whatever they decide to call themselves. And they want to be put in charge of the hen house called Kenya. I can positively predict that none of the chickens will make it to market.
What ails political parties?
-All are devoid of manifestos addressing the genuine concerns of the citizen. Most manifestos, if they have one, are drafted by lawyers. They are wordy yet say nothing.
-All political parties thrive on the whims of their founder. Remove the founder and that party is rudderless or dies immediately.
-All parties are detached from the grassroots. In the cases cited above, they all opened their secretariats in Lavington or thereabouts. How is the voter in the far flung areas of our country supposed to interact with their party? Well, an answer to that would be, “I will fly in on my chopper two months to election time and then its bye until the next election cycle”.
-All political parties treat campaigns as carnivals. Politicians doing road shows like aging rock stars, atop a truck, music blaring, looking pathetic trying to do the jig in vogue, dishing out blankets and cash. This does not add any value to their campaign nor does it help voters make informed decisions.
This is but a tiny fraction of the ills that plague our political parties and our politics in general.
What way forward?
-We propose manifestos be prepared with the input of those they hope to represent. This can be done through informal polling using samples. The benefit of this is that we can hold politicians accountable when they take positions contrary to our wishes and demands.
-We propose political parties be structured like corporations. That way they are free of personal influences and can thrive and grow long after their founders have departed.
-We propose that political parties have a permanent presence at the grassroots. This will enable party members to interact frequently with their party and party officials can disseminate party policy more effectively.
-We propose a different method of campaigning. How about town hall style meetings? Potential candidates can make their pitch and voters can voice their opinions in a back and forth type interaction. How about televised debates for presidential candidates like those held in North America? This would help voters differentiate the dunce from the well informed as regards their grasp of topics, ranging from the important such as the economy to the mundane such as how do we get our people to adopt a different staple food.
Lastly, and this may be contentious, I don’t think social media such as face book or twitter will any add any significant numbers to any candidates tally. I won’t defend this position, it just is so.
Comments are most heartily welcome.

From theory to practice

2011-09-20T09:55:00.000-07:00

Some members of Tuala youth initiative group with their donated football siting atop their home made one. Taken on 14th September.

In my efforts to get involved in local community development, I recently accepted an invitation to attend a fund raising for the proposed secondary school in our locality. They have a shell of the secondary school that was started but construction stalled after the contractor fled with the money half way through. The event was moderately attended and a fair amount was raised. This type of fund raising activity brings forth several troubling issues. Among them is the question of accountability. The money raised sometimes gets ‘misplaced somehow’ and those that sat in the sun baking as they handed over that they did not have, are left with nothing but hopes and dreams. Another issue is following through. As previously noted contractors are notorious for accepting money for a project and then abandoning it half way or not doing anything at all. It is usually difficult to pursue these shady contractors once they have accepted the money. Will the school get constructed in time for next year’s school intake? Time will tell and I will keep readers informed of developments.
I also attended a neighborhood meeting of Rongai residents and business people a few weeks ago. The topic discussed was garbage and sewage. As mentioned in the previous article, on entering Ongata Rongai from Nairobi, you are met by open sewage spewing a green murky liquid substance. It is said many a small animal that had the misfortune to stumble into these open drainage systems has been vaporized, never to roam the earth again.
In addition to the garbage and sewer issues, we also discussed building codes, access roads and a few other topics that were not on the agenda. At the end, the participants came up with four resolutions to adopt and implement. My take on this neighborhood meeting is that while the the nothing is going to be done as we have a very ineffective County Council that in my opinion earns a failing grade in the provision of basic services.
Getting Involved
I have begun visiting neighbors and town residents and have met a few development minded citizens. In the course of my ‘meet the people tour’ I met a group of local youth who work in the nearby quarries loading trucks with stones. A little background is deserved. Kajiado County has many rocky areas that are mined for building stones. At the entrance to our town, which is more like a trading center, a group of youth waits for trucks coming from outside the area. They then hop unto the trucks to be loaders of the building stones that are mined in the hinterland. The truck owners have an agreement with the local youth to provide loading work to them in exchange for buying stones from their area. I met the chairman of this group who shared a little about this group. He told me they are a registered group and have an account where every member contributes a set sum weekly. He told me that recently his group has stalled and contributions were no longer being given as regularly. He heartily welcomed me and told me he would like a visionary to help propel their youth group further. Since community activism is what I am all about, I humbly welcomed his invitation to work with his group in engaging the youth in social and recreational activities. The youth in rural Kenya are prone to partaking illicit brews due to boredom or lack of worthwhile engagements.
One of my first gestures of being involved was donating a football to the youth to play with as they waited for loading work. Previously they had been using a homemade football composed of nylon and bound together by sisal rope. This small token was received with much appreciation. Going forward we plan to start a local football team. Duties have been assigned. Among them are scouting suitable grounds, pricing hardware for the goal posts and approaching corporations for sponsorship.
I will keep readers appraised of developments.

Slumber not, dear mother land.

2011-09-17T09:24:00.000-07:00

Above photo: Once majestic Nairobi Railways, its frontage has been turned into a terminus for public transport vehicles. I took this on the 17th of September.

As ardent readers of my blog know, I was based abroad from the start of this very informative transformational blog. I am back home ready to assist and do my part in building this yet-to-be great nation. A sage once told me: “Even that America that people are fleeing to, was once barren and bare. Pioneers made it the way it is now. So build your America here in Kenya.” These words of advice, coupled with the fact that all my ideas for development can only be implemented while I am on the ground, made me transplant.
Initial Impressions
Kenya has changed these years I have been away. There are very few clunkers on the roads.There are some nice cars here and there but the vast majority of people still walk or take public transport. Nairobi has become overcrowded. While not rundown, its beauty has paled due to lack of maintenance. It is not a pleasant experience walking around this once great city, former pride of East Africa. On the positive, it is cleaner than it was during the former regime. People don’t litter for fear County Askaris may pounce on you from out of the blue. And gone are the days when women used to cook chapatis outside Times Tower building. There is no smoking on the streets; they have designated smoking areas where people huddle together like chickens during a storm to puff away, inflating their lungs with noxious fumes.
There are many more people especially the youth; sadly they have taken to aping western culture in song dance, dress and mannerisms. Generally, people are well dressed especially the ladies. Clothes, new and used are in abundance and it is thus easy to dress decently.
As for the roads, I have not been to see the famous Thika road and don’t intend to. A major modern highway leading to nowhere serves no purpose and we will be paying for it several generations down the line. What we need are feeder and access roads leading to densely populated areas or areas where commerce takes place. Other roads are still the same. There are no new roads in my area, Rongai which is outside Nairobi. The town has become very densely populated, trash everywhere, traffic a night mare with speeding drivers and non obedient matatus.
As regards communication, everyone has a phone. I mean from the tech savvy generation, up to the old grandma out in the country. Safaricom is very dominant as a supplier of mobile telephone service. Their Mpesa mobile banking system probably has more users then all formal banks combined together. Internet connectivity has improved tremendously according to those I asked. There are many internet capable phones being offered at affordable price points and the youth have taken to them in droves. Internet cafes are still popular as the price of a laptop or desktop is still prohibitive.
As is obvious, our greedy politicians have not bettered their ways, they are busy feeding themselves oblivious of their starving electorate. Recently without fanfare, they unanimously agreed to dip into the emergency reserve fund to pay their back taxes. And a day after a fire tragedy in one of the Nairobi slums, the Cabinet passed a resolution to shift the date of the next General Elections from August next year to December of the same year. The excuse given was flimsy at best. These are not the leaders that will transform this nation. Local Government is even more ineffectual. I will deal with them in the next article.
All in all, I am very optimistic about my motherland but we need a concerted effort with every ones involvement to propel this nation forward. Development will not take place with a centralized form of Government and the new Constitution is already stumbling out the gate as regards its implementation. Hopefully a new Government under a devolved type of administration will fare well as regards delivery services but it will only be driven by a completely new set of servant leaders. So my fellow Kenyans, choose wisely at the next Elections. To this end, we suggest an intense campaign geared towards civic education. I plan to start a civic education program and will be contacting civil society bodies for teaching materials.
Going forward I plan to post more development related articles and interviews with regular Kenyans. The tale of Kenya needs to told and I am optimistic this story will have a happy ending.
I sign off with this well intended Moi era Slogan that somehow went awry: “Peace, Love and Unity.”

Banana juice gold mine

2011-08-22T08:11:00.000-07:00

A very fine initiative from our Kenyan youth

Going green: Kenyan doing his part

2010-11-02T19:00:00.000-07:00

Here is another example from last year of an enterprising Kenyan using available green technology to become energy independent. Unfortunately our government is not supportive of such innovators because it takes away from the monopoly government energy producer.
We, the technologically savvy need to band together to bring a new order in the next General Elections.

Power of innovation

2010-10-06T04:37:00.000-07:00

Here is a prime example of innovation at work in our rural areas. We will shortly be doing a post about how we can fund such projects in order to develop sustainable rural economies.

Beyond implementation: The arduous task ahead

2010-08-14T19:04:00.000-07:00

The proposed constitution has passed the referendum stage and we applaud our brothers and sisters for voting in a civil and orderly manner. The work ahead of us is the implementation. It will be a hard upward journey given the radical proposals contained in the new constitution such as the new demarcations that will reshape the country into new governing units. In order to enforce the new constitution, various committees will be formed to push the implementation agenda forward. Story found HERE. The time line given is five years for full implementation which will take us well past the general elections of 2012. Some of the caveats will have to be functional before the elections such as the new wards (officials to be known as Assembly men and women instead of Councilors) and counties which will replace the provinces.
In my view, this constitution will be very expensive to implement, with the only immediate beneficiaries being the officials in the various implementation committees. The other longer term beneficiaries will be the holders of the purse strings when the devolution funds are released. As for the ordinary mwanainchi (regular citizen, man on the street), I predict a dismal and bleak future if we are to rely on this constitution to bring us any meaningful tangible progress. My dire prognosis is based on the hurried jostling by greedy politicians for inclusion in the various implementation committees for the lucrative allowances. I predict these committees will stretch their mandate as far as possible in order to milk the public coffers beyond their required time.
When the euphoria of this new constitution has dissipated, the millions of Kenyans just getting by will go back to their dreary existence while awaiting government progress that will probably not materialize in this lifetime. We do have viable options though.
Citizens United for Progress (C.U.P)
The above name will be one of our initiatives but locals are free to pick any name, the idea here is what is important.
This will be a grouping of local citizens, known to each other either through friendship, need or just banded together as neighbors. Their task will be to implement self help projects in their neighborhoods that will have an immediate impact on their day to day lives. Examples abound but they will be peculiar to specific localities. A previous article we did about neighborhood organizations can be found HERE.
‘Revolution’ through the ballot
If, as many Kenyans insist, progress has to come from the government, then we will definitely need a new set of leaders at the next General Election. In the premiere article of this blog we tackled the issue of what qualities a good leader ought to have. Here we will briefly reiterate what was previously said by posing a set of questions that may help guide the voter to make an informed decision come election time.
-Is the voter better off now as compared to the time their local government official was elected into office?
-Are there tangible public projects the official has initiated and followed through to completion that directly impact the voter?
-Will the prospective candidate’s record on matters affecting public issues be able to stand to scrutiny? Did they speak out when their fellow legislators adopted a stand that the rest of the country did not agree with? An example here would be the attempt by parliament for members to increase their pay to exorbitant amounts.
-How assessable is the official to the average voter? What is the response time if one were to inquire for information or assistance?
-What development ideas, concisely presented, does the candidate have when he comes vote hunting?
-What plans does the candidate have for including the voter in future development plans? For my part I intend to engage the citizenry in a form of participatory democracy where regular town hall style meetings will be held together with individual and interest group meetings held regularly. More details to be released after the registration of our party.
Conclusion
We as Kenyans have always been imbued with endless optimism even in the bleakest of times. It would be our wish that we use this state of euphoria we are enjoying to be vigilant, demanding and relentless as to the speedy implementation of this new constitution. The political class should not be allowed to use our goodwill to prolong, derail or skew the process of implementation in their favor.
Between now and the next General Elections, we need to seriously think about how we as individuals can help the country move forward economically and socially. Do we retain the old guard that will continue to fatten both belly and bank account on misappropriated public funds? Or do we pick someone with no corruption record and brimming with ideas on how to develop our nation?
Reader responses welcome.

Greed and Insecurity: Disparate brothers joined at the hip

2010-07-06T20:59:00.001-07:00

Two events were reported by the local media recently that though appearing unrelated, are actually bedfellows, united in concert to incessantly deny us the ability to initiate and sustain progress and development.
The first news item concerned a proposal by Parliamentarians to hike their pay from the basic salary of Ksh 871,000 to Ksh 1.2 million. The Prime minister and the Vice President would each earn Ksh 3.2 million and Ksh 2.7 million respectively. Lawmakers debated and unanimously approved the report by the Public Service Commission in a record 30 minutes! If this proposal is signed into law, it would put the MPs salaries on par with members of the United States Congress, with the Prime Minister making more than the President of the United States!Story HERE
The other news story was from a suburb outside the capital city, Nairobi. A neighborhood in Ongata Rongai was raided by machete wielding thugs at night. The thugs demanded that the residents open their doors whereby they were robbed. Neighbors who answered the distress calls were set upon by the thugs and two residents succumbed to their injuries. This particular story touches this writer on a personal level because we settled in this area having moved from Nairobi to escape the hustle and bustle of the big city and adopt a homesteading lifestyle. My parents were victims of a raid previously. Incidences such as these are on the rise in major urban areas of the country whereby idlers raid homes of hard working decent people in a bid to acquire minus the labor. This is a method of enrichment taken from the politicians, only that they, the politicians rob us minus the violence while in office. But during election time, the bloated politician and the scrawny thug sport no difference in their use of violence to attain their nefarious means.

Unbridled unabashed greed permeates all levels of Kenyan society from our lawmakers to the clerks in the civil service to the police force. From the theft of public resources, practiced and refined to a fine art by politicians to the ‘toa kitu kidogo’ (give something small) demanded by the police force manning unauthorized traffic checkpoints. This ingrained culture of impunity threatens to derail us from moving forward as a nation imbued with the capacity to provide for its citizens the basic economic and social necessities.
The private sector has not been spared from this insidious avarice. National exams are being leaked to students for a price. Employers are demanding a bribe from potential employees. We no longer have a nation of supportive and caring neighbors.
How then do we move forward to ensure a peaceful Kenya with hope and promise for the youth and assured security for those that have labored to attain a semblance of relative comfort amid the deplorable squalor suffered by many?
Some ideas
Police reform
-We propose that the government recruits the police force from the universities and high schools. Perhaps a course such as Criminal Justice could be introduced to focus on investigative techniques, evidence gathering, surveillance and other modern methods of combating crime.
- We also propose that police recruits have a minimum educational background and are proficient in both English and Swahili.
-We propose that community awareness be a mandatory course of police training. Topics to be covered would include: polite interaction with the public, how to deescalate a non violent altercation, humane treatment of offenders among others.
-We propose a salary increase commiserate with the risks involved.
-We propose, most importantly, that police officers live in the locality they have been posted to. In addition, the government should actively recruit locally with the aim of sending recruits to their home towns as active duty officers upon graduation. The advantages of this are: the new recruits are familiar with their surroundings and more or less know who local trouble makers are and will be quick to spot visitors with suspicious intentions. They would also be more vigilant as they would be working among relatives, friends and neighbors they grew up with.
-We also propose that significant and severe deterrents be imposed to those officers found to be engaging in misconduct. Sting operations and tip lines to an independent body to report police abuses of power would be helpful.
-We also propose that police officers be well equipped with the latest equipment. In the above story of the raid, two officers ran quite a distance to respond to the victims. The Minister for Internal Security visited the victims the next day in an imposing contingent of escort and security vehicles. All this while local police do not have even one vehicle to respond to the woes of taxpayers!
Youth Empowerment
The population of Kenya is mainly made up of the youth. The politicians in power now are not a representative sample of the people they purport to represent. It would therefore be prudent to take any advice from these rulers with a hefty dose of cynicism and a side of wariness. The bungled elections of 2007 and the violence that followed after, shows us how the youth is vulnerable to the machinations of our nefarious rulers. The attempts made by this government to uplift their living standards have failed. An example is the Kazi Kwa Vijana (work for the youth) program. Its aim was to engage the youth in activities such as digging trenches, environmental clean ups such as the Nairobi River and also tree planting. Some projects were started but there was no follow up, an example, trees being planted but not watered only for them to dry later on. Also payment has not been forthcoming for a majority of the participants with the money either being withheld in bureaucratic tie-ups or embezzled altogether.
Some ideas
-A massive effort needs to be exerted at the local level to educate the youth on civics and the role of law in their lives. This should not be a nationally driven effort but a local undertaking focusing on the needs of the particular locality. The perils befalling the urban youth are not the same as those experienced by the rural youth. Urban youth may need to be enlightened on how to live peacefully with neighbors from different backgrounds despite exhortations by tribal leaders to engage in genocidal mayhem. Rural youth may need to be enlightened on the futility of gang life and the benefits of abiding by the law.
-We propose the establishment of village level polytechnic institutions where budding entrepreneurs and talented inventors may be provided an avenue to learn and flourish. They would be funded by the local government and local business people with an aim to employing them or taking a stake in their innovations.
-To diffuse the latent restlessness in our youth, we propose every locality has a year round calendar of sporting, social and cultural events that will fill up their spare time in a positive manner. Regional tournaments would be a way to further engage the youth in pastimes such as sports, drama, music and dance showcases and other cultural events.
-Regarding employment, there are no obvious or easy solutions. The government has proven unable to provide for our youth so we should instead try to approach the private sector to secure economic opportunities.
-We would suggest unpaid internship/mentorship programs for the youth. Local trades-people would take in students as apprentices to study trades like mechanics, green house farming or environmental trades like making and installing solar panels among others. Upon the successful completion of the apprenticeship period, the graduate would get some kind of certification or stamp of approval from their mentors. Local banks would then issue start-up capital or they would be employed by their mentors. The business of the mentors would then grow and things that used to be made far away would now be manufactured locally. Less inter-regional trucking would mean lower prices and customized options for the consumer.
Conclusion
We will leave the task of trying to reform our moribund civil service to weightier minds than ours. What we do know is that our rulers today are not serving the people who elected them thus a revolution is needed at the next general election to elect leaders with the moral fortitude to eradicate corruption in government.
The above ideas are but a sample of what can be done in a participatory form of democracy whereby all participants are vested in the success of the society at the local level. To this end, I will be offering my candidature for the position of a local area councilor or assembly man if the proposed constitution passes. We will register our budding movement, the African Economic Democracy Party as a political party next year. Economic revolutionaries are welcome to join us as we retake and reform our nation. People Power and progress for all!

Gauging the health of a nation

2010-06-07T20:57:00.001-07:00

Recently polls have become all the rage especially in reference to the proposed constitution whose referendum is being held in August.
Whenever polls are done in Kenya, they are usually used to further the schemes of the ruling political elite to the detriment of the hapless ‘ordinary citizen’ who usually has no vested interest in the outcome of the polls. Perhaps we should start talking polls addressing the needs and concerns of Kenyans; this would than set the tone for the government’s development agenda.
A novel way to address the concerns of a nation through a satisfaction survey comes from the Kingdom of Bhutan in South Asia. Bhutan has managed to modernize while at the same time protect its ancient culture and traditions under the guiding philosophy of Gross National Happiness (GNH).
Bhutan’s guide to happiness: Gross National Happiness (GNH).
The concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH) was developed in an attempt to define an indicator that measures quality of life or social progress minus measurements of commercial transactions(as a key indicator)to directly assess changes in the social and psychological well-being of populations.
The term was coined in 1972 by Bhutan's former King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, who has opened up Bhutan to the age of modernization. He used the phrase to signal his commitment to building an economy that would serve Bhutan's unique culture based on Buddhist spiritual values.
An alternate to measuring wealth solely on monetary terms, this model was developed as a survey instrument to measure the population's general level of well-being
Each year, Bhutan's prime minister reports to the National Assembly on “the four pillars of GNH:
-Promotion of equitable and sustainable socioeconomic development
-Preservation and promotion of cultural values
-Conservation of the natural environment
-Establishment of good governance.
As a result, Bhutan has implemented policies such as:
-Establishing public schools with rotation of teachers between rural and urban regions
-Providing both Western and traditional medicine
-Maintaining at least 60 percent of Bhutan's land as forest
Although Bhutan's per capita household income remains among the lowest in the world, and despite unresolved tribal conflicts that have exiled Bhutanese of Nepalese descent to refugee camps, several indicators show a brighter picture:
• Life expectancy rose from 47 years to 66 years
• Infant mortality dropped from 103 per 1,000 live births to 60 per 1,000 between 1984 and 2001.
• The fraction of the population with access to safe drinking water rose from 45 percent to 75 percent in the same time period
• Adult literacy increased from 23 percent to 54 percent.
In 2006, Business Week magazine rated Bhutan the happiest country in Asia and the eighth-happiest in the world, citing a global survey conducted by the University of Leicester in 2006 called the "World Map of Happiness"
A second-generation GNH concept, treating happiness as a socioeconomic development metric, was proposed in 2006 by Med Jones, the President of International Institute of Management. The metric measures socioeconomic development of a nation's mental and emotional health by tracking 7 development areas:
1. Economic Wellness: Indicated via economic metrics such as consumer debt, average income to consumer price index ratio and income distribution
2. Environmental Wellness: Indicated via statistical measurement of environmental metrics such as pollution, noise and traffic
3. Physical Wellness: Indicated via statistical measurement of physical health metrics such as severe illnesses
4. Mental Wellness: Indicated via direct survey and statistical measurement of mental health metrics such as usage of antidepressants and rise or decline of psychotherapy patients
5. Workplace Wellness: Indicated via direct survey and statistical measurement of labor metrics such as jobless claims, job change, workplace complaints and lawsuits
6. Social Wellness: Indicated via direct survey and statistical measurement of social metrics such as discrimination, safety, divorce rates, complaints of domestic conflicts and family lawsuits, public lawsuits, crime rates
7. Political Wellness: Indicated via direct survey and statistical measurement of political metrics such as the quality of local democracy, individual freedom, and foreign conflicts.
Pertinent Points
If the Proposed Constitution were to pass in August, the nation would then adopt a devolved system of government that would replace provinces and districts with counties headed by Senators. The counties would have a County Assembly made up of Assembly Men representing the various Wards.
This proposed system of government would favor the policies we have been trying to formulate that address how to work towards sustainable rural economies.
In a county setting, wellness surveys could be conducted to ascertain how government funds should be utilized to best reflect the needs of local residents.
Since County Assemblies will be required to hold regular meetings, representatives of local community organizations, business people and concerned residents could bring proposals to be considered by the assembly for possible future implementation.
We would propose that local residents sit in on budget allocation hearings and have some input, via debate and proposal letters, as to how monies from the federal government will be allocated to the various development and social programs.
We would also propose that in all County Assembly meetings:
- They are open to local residents,
-Sessions are recorded and transcripts made available upon request to local residents.
-Records of the voting patterns of assembly members are made available upon request
-Records of attendance of assembly members are made available upon request
-Records of all financial transactions are made available upon request
Conclusion
It is our stated position that to become a healthy nation; economically, spiritually, morally and socially, we need to address the needs peculiar to every locality.
Unfortunately the local leader at the grass roots level is the very epitome of ineptitude. Anytime there is a news item about a Councilor, it is usually involves a rowdy meeting that invariably leads to fisticuffs or embezzlement of one kind of another.
In an effort to redeem the sullied reputation of the Councilor and to get an opportunity to implement the various ideas discussed here on this blog, I am offering my candidature for the seat of Assembly Man( upon the passage of the proposed constitution) in a local ward in Kajiado North Constituency.
I will be vying under the banner of our yet unregistered party, the African Economic Democracy Party.
Reader responses welcome.

Participatory Democracy: Giving power back to the people.

2010-05-22T19:30:00.000-07:00

This offering was prompted by a recent news story in the Daily Nation newspaper of Kenya. In summation, the story talked about a group of Councillors who had been invited to a conference in Nairobi by the President to seek their support in the upcoming referendum on the draft Constitution. The Councillors heckled and booed the speakers and when the President tried to address them they punctured the air with shouts of “pesa! pesa!”(Money! money!). This was in apparent reference to a demand for a pay raise and increase in their allowances before they would offer their support to the passing of the new Constitution.
Unfortunately, these are the kind of grass roots leaders we have today, imbued with greed and bereft of any development agenda, yet quick to hold the government hostage by demanding pay raises to do what they were elected to do.
This dismal lack of public decorum displayed by the Councillors only reinforces points we had noted in previous posts, such as this initial offering found HERE.
Dire prognosis
The government will not bring about progress or development, not in present Kenya or in the next few generations. This grim prediction can be avoided if several things are to occur:
- The government redefines its role. It needs to avoid engaging in commercial enterprise, such as seeking foreign investors to partner in government projects. News item can be found HERE
-The government needs to provide better services for taxes collected. Its record on security for its citizens is abysmal. Thugs run wild and even state security forces have been involved in dubious incidents of gunning down civilians without probable cause or provocation.
-Infrastructure needs to focus on rural areas. While having a modern multi lane highway is impressive to visitors, the rural peasantry needs accessible roads to take produce to market and to facilitate commerce regionally.
So in contrast we present two inspiring stories of communities that organized to take back local government from officials and vest it back to the people most affected by its decisions.
Porto Alegre, Brazil-Proponents of participatory budgeting
In the early 1990s, the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre, then-led by the leftist Workers’ Party (PT), garnered international attention for pioneering citizen participation in allocating a chunk of city resources. Now fifty thousand residents of Porto Alegre—poor and middle class, women and men, leftist and centrist, take part in the participatory budgeting process for this city of a million and a half people, and the numbers involved have grown each year.
Thousands of citizens sit through meetings, discuss budget priorities, and elect delegates to represent their neighborhoods. The result has been increased civic activity and city budgets which fairly address the needs of the whole city, rather than the wealthy and powerful few. The transparency of the process has eliminated corruption, which had nearly bankrupted the city. Democracy is thriving as citizens gain competence in talking with the mayor, specialists in agencies, and fellow citizens of different means.
Power and learning
The participatory budgeting cycle starts in January of each year with dozens of assemblies across the city designed to ensure the system operates with maximum participation and friendly interaction.
Each February, there is instruction from city specialists in technical and system aspects of city budgeting. Regular folks learn fast because what they are learning empowers them to change conditions that limit or extend their lives.
In March there are plenary assemblies in each of the city's 16 districts as well as assemblies dealing with such areas as transportation, health, education, sports, and economic development. These large meetings—with participation that can reach over 1,000—elect delegates to represent specific neighborhoods. The mayor and staff attend to respond to citizen concerns. In subsequent months these delegates meet weekly or biweekly in each district to acquaint themselves with the technical criteria involved in requesting a project be brought to a district.
At the second regional plenary, regional delegates prioritize the district's demands and elect councillors to serve on the Municipal Council of the Budget. The council is a 42-member forum of representatives of all the districts and thematic meetings. Its main function is to reconcile the demands of each district with available resources, and to propose and approve an overall municipal budget. The resulting budget is binding.
Since the participative budgeting program started:
• There are 120 public day-care facilities instead of two
• Fifty-seven new schools have opened; twice as many children attend school
• The percentage of homes with running water and sewer service has gone from 46 to 85 percent
• The transit system is modern, affordable, efficient, and widely used.
• Each year the bulk of new street-paving projects have gone to the poorer, outlying districts.
• In addition to these achievements, corruption, which before was the rule, has virtually disappeared.
• The Porto Alegre budgeting process is now used in 200 Brazilian cities, including São Paolo, one of the largest cities in the world.
Communal Councils in Venezuela- Revolutionizing democracy
Since the start of 2006, thousands of tiny Venezuelan neighborhoods, with an average of 200 families each, have been organizing communal councils. The councils are part of a broad effort to build a new political system of participatory democracy, in which citizens have control over the decisions that affect their lives. The councils are helping communities address common interests, funneling more money to basic community needs, and bringing people together in thousands of neighborhoods.
The story begins in the 1980s, Venezuela began an extensive decentralization process, launching mayoral elections and handing over new responsibilities to local governments. After Chávez was elected president in 1998, he continued the decentralization, but changed its emphasis. He called for transferring power not to local government, but directly to popular movements.
The Communal Councils Law was passed in the Venezuelan National Assembly in April 2006, it legally recognized the communal councils and, according to Chapter Five of the Law, established the councils’ right to legally receive and administer resources from government institutions.
The law recommends that each urban council contain 200-400 families, each rural council at least 20 families, and each indigenous council at least 10 families. These assemblies are to elect executive, financial management, and monitoring committees, as well as thematic committees based on local priorities (health, education, recreation, land, safety, etc.).
By law, they can receive funds directly from the national, state, or city governments, from their own fundraising, or from donations. In turn, the councils can award grants for community projects. If they set up a communal bank with neighboring councils, they can also make loans to cooperatives or other activities for use.
Effects on the community
Eight months after the law was passed, over 16,000 councils had already formed throughout the country—12,000 of them had received funding for community projects. That’s $1 billion total, out of a national budget of $53 billion. The councils had established nearly 300 communal banks, which have received $70 million for micro-loans.
The communal councils have implemented thousands of community projects, such as street paving, sports fields, medical centers, and sewage and water systems.
Getting people to participate
A national system of participatory democracy requires more participation from more people than any social movement or other form of civic engagement. Venezuelans are indeed participating in massive numbers. Thousands of communities, however, have yet to show much interest in organizing a communal council.
Encouraging participation.
-First, Caracas has delegated significant power directly to the communal councils. The allure of self-government attracts many people.
-The government has also provided direct positive incentives for participation. The most obvious is money. Many people get involved because they can get funds for neighborhood improvements, but only if they form a council.
-The councils attract people by making their events fun. Some of the more prolific councils mix music, food, and entertainment into their assemblies. These virtual block parties transform one of the costs of participation (tedious meetings) into a benefit (a good time).
-Finally, the government is trying to reduce the obstacles to participation. Because the councils are so local, the transportation and time costs of participation are less.
-Another approach is even more ambitious—freeing people’s time by making participation part of their jobs. Such a program could especially boost the participation of working professionals and could be coordinated by the state, like a form of community service.
Venezuela’s communal councils are still a work in progress, but so far, the results are promising. Thousands of communities are mobilizing as never before, taking advantage of their new power to decide government spending and policies.
Conclusion
From the above stories there are many fine examples that we will research and tweak to fit to Kenya’s local situation. The budding political party, The African Economic Democracy Party is currently a Think Tank dedicated to Rural Development policy formulation and implementation and will be charged with bringing to fruition these ideas here and in previous offerings.

The demerits of factory schooling

2010-05-08T18:47:00.001-07:00

In a previous article, we decried the usefulness of our education system, as it is today, in preparing students for nation building. In the article, found HERE, we took issue with the emphasis on the teaching methods used that emphasis rote learning to pass exams. The top scoring students in the national exams are feted while being cursorily reassured that they may have a promising future, while the lesser scoring students are discarded to fend for themselves in the informal sector, without further training.
In this submission, we will make arguments against this education system we have in place. We have to state that we are not diminishing the usefulness of a higher education especially in specialized areas such as doctoring, lawyering or other sciences. What we do wish to present is the argument that we should adopt a policy of giving our students a well rounded education to prepare them for a fulfilling life after school.
India’s Shikshantar: Rethinking education and development.
This grassroots movement, website HERE, encourages individuals and communities to reclaim control over their own learning processes, minds, and hearts. Its philosophy springs from the Gandhian principle of Swaraj, or liberation through self-mastery and self-awareness of the diverse and non-violent cultures, traditions, and values of South Asia.
For the people of Shikshantar, social change starts with individuals and communities existence and daily practices. That means drawing on traditional wisdom and imagination to build trusting communities; value indigenous expressions and local resources; and continually share skills, visions, and experiences across generations.
Community members involved with Shikshantar have transformed the entire city of Udaipur in Rajathstan into a learning ecosystem.
• Through songs, stories, films and publications, the community is regenerating Mewari, the local language that has been falling from use because of the government promotion of Hindi and English.
• Led by artists, farmers, healers, chefs and artisans, free workshops teach local crafts made from waste, media production, self-healing, slow food recipes, and sustainable agriculture.
• Shikshantar also offers resources to walk-outs - its term for people who have chosen to leave traditional schools - such as apprenticeships that give walk-out youth on-the-job training, real world vision, and the skills they need for green vocations and lifestyles.
The Community School: Offering alternatives through Relational Education
“Relational Education” is a form of education that places a primary focus on the development of trusting, supportive, and resilient relationships between all members of the learning community. It has been crafted by the staff and students at the Community School, Camden, Maine.
What the Community School offers to students, who are 16 to 20 years old, is unique and attractive – a six month residence that combines work, community living, and academics and results in a high school diploma regardless of previous success or failure in traditional schooling.
What it is
Teachers as Listeners
One aspect of our approach is that teachers must become listeners. We actually call our faculty teacher/counselors. Each student is assigned a “one to one” or advisor, who they meet with regularly to go over their progress in the program and to develop a trusting and supportive relationship.
Informal Time and the Experience of Each other as Human Beings
Teacher/counselors live at the Community School. Human interactions occur over a breakfast bowl of cereal, on a ride to work, in a late night discussion in the living room, during “informal” times when our “official roles” in the community are not as sharply defined. It is here that we find out that we are more alike than different.
The Development of Trust
Choice: Students have chosen to come to us of their own free will, they have applied to the School, gone through an extensive interview process and have chosen to stay after completing the two and a half week trial period at the beginning of the term
Sensible structure: Day to day life at the Community School makes “sense” – students work at jobs in the community during the day, are responsible for daily household chores, and study at night
Academic engagement: Students are involved in the structuring of their own courses; whenever possible curricular subject matter is relevant to the student’s interests and skill levels
Democratic decision making: Students are involved with faculty in making decisions regarding programmatic issues as well as codes and consequences for individual behaviors.
A Sense of Belonging
Because of its small scale (eight students, six faculty), residential nature, and focused goal, the School creates a learning community which invites a sense of belonging from the participants.
The School’s Outreach program which works with graduates and families to help them with their post-graduate lives.
Former students also play a role with current students through volunteering as tutors, panelists, special class presenters, and working in the program.
Responsibilities and the “Real World”
Students at the Community school hold jobs in the community and owe room and board. They do not graduate if they are not paid up. They have to find and hold these jobs in order to complete the program.
Pertinent points
-From the Indian Shikshantar movement, we learn the usefulness of preserving our own cultures and languages. Perhaps we can introduce tribal languages as options for students to study.
-Another idea would be to have students stay with a host family of a different tribe over holidays to learn their customs and traditions.
-Students who do not make it to University and don’t have funds to pay for technical school, could perhaps get apprenticeships with trades people to learn hands on. Experienced trades people could get a kind of teaching certification and would then give some kind of diploma to successful apprentices.
- From the Community School in Maine, we learn of the usefulness of students and teachers interacting in an informal setting. If our teachers scheduled activities with students such as eating lunch together while discussing the day’s news, attending sporting events and others, teachers and students would value each other more and would be more receptive to formal learning.
Conclusion
We ought to reconsider the Culture of Schooling because:
• It labels, ranks and sorts human beings. It creates a rigid social hierarchy consisting of a small elite class of ‘highly educated’ and a large lower class of ‘failures’ and ‘illiterates’, based on levels of school achievement.
• It forces human beings to violently compete against each other over scarce resources in rigid win-lose situations.
• Confines the motivation for learning to examinations, certificates and jobs while delinking knowledge from wisdom and practical experiences.
• It drives people to distrust their local languages. It prioritizes newspapers, textbooks, television as the only reliable sources of information. These forms of State and Market controlled media do not serve the interests of the general public.
• It destroys the dignity of labor and devalues the learning that takes place through manual work.
The African Economic Democracy Party, will be responsible for implementing the views presented here. We hope it will have a national appeal when we launch next year. We invite economic revolutionaries to join us to bring the progress only we the people can effect.
Reader responses welcome.

Debunking the old 'time is money' adage

2010-05-01T19:27:00.001-07:00

In this offering, We put forth the notion that the worth of a man should not be determined by how much he can consume or accumulate but by servitude and the gifting of a legacy of empowerment to these he has encountered in his life’s journey.
We argue that there is a life beyond capitalism and the greed that accompanies it. There is a life beyond the depletion of non renewable resources if we strive to live harmoniously with nature’s abundance. There is a better life for the workers of the world if employers put people first above profit.
We present this story of an alternate program that has been designed and implemented to value man’s contribution to the healthy and sustainable growth of society.
Time Banking-Strengthening communities through reciprocity
Time Dollars were developed in 1980 by law professor Edgar Cahn, who lamented that crucial work to improve people’s lives—such as child and elder care—is much needed but little valued. He saw that many who could do these tasks were idle and felt useless. To get people economically engaged, Cahn proposed a system where people earn credit according to the number of hours they work. These Time Dollars can then be “cashed in” for services, like yard work, tutoring, etc.
The necessity for a Time Bank
The monetary economy only pays for the specialized skills that produce the goods and services it requires.
Result: Certain kinds of work—rearing healthy children, preserving families, making neighborhoods safe and vibrant, caring for the frail and vulnerable, redressing injustice, enriching our culture, saving the environment—are not recognized, valued and rewarded as “real” work. People who invest their time in these areas, people who do not have money, and people who are perceived as lacking marketable skills are often rejected or discarded.
What is Time Banking all about?
At its most basic level, Time banking is simply about spending an hour doing something for somebody in your community. That hour goes into the Time Bank as a Time Dollar. Then you have a Time dollar to spend on having someone doing something for you. It's a simple idea, but it has powerful ripple effects in building community connections and promoting social justice by connecting people through reciprocity.
Time Banking is about local individuals helping each other out, one-on-one or with group projects. They help rebuild neighborhood networks and strengthen communities. It connects you to the best in people because it creates a system that connects unmet needs with untapped resources.
The Five Core Values of Time Banking
Assets -We are all assets.
Every human being has something to contribute. No more throw away people. We cannot overlook the unique skills and talents that each of has to offer others. Every member of society has talents that may not be immediately marketable or lead to employment but may be used to enrich the social fabric of a community.
Redefining Work -Some work is beyond price.
Work has to be redefined to value whatever it takes to raise healthy children, build strong families, revitalize neighborhoods, make democracy work, advance social justice and make the planet sustainable. That kind of work needs to be honored, recorded and rewarded.
Reciprocity -Helping works better as a two-way street.
The question: “How can I help you?” needs to change so we ask: “How can we help each other build the world we both will live in?”
Social Networks-We need each other.
Networks are stronger than individuals- People helping each other reweave communities of support, strength & trust. Community is built upon sinking roots, building trust, creating networks. The trust, sharing and mutual support of our social networks are essential elements of healthy communities and healthy individuals.
Respect-Every human being matters.
Respect underlies freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and everything we value. Respect supplies the heart and soul of democracy. We must respect where people are in the moment, not where we hope they will be at some future point.
Pertinent points
How would a Time Bank work in a rural setting?
The time bank would be set up on a website and on paper at the local community center and it would be run by volunteers. Local residents would sign up with their known talents and they would also list their wants if they have them at the time. As the list grows, residents would log into the website and see if there are people who require their particular expertise. If there is, they would be put in touch with the person in need. They would perform the task and earn a credit equal to about an hour of work. We will call this credit a ‘Time shilling’; we will come up with a catchier name later.
Some possible scenarios:
• A retired school teacher helps some high school students with tutoring. He earns credit in the time bank to use later. The students then log in the hours as owed to the community and they list areas they would be of use to the community.
• A farmer needs help with putting up a fence or other task on his farm. He previously donated some poultry products to a committee that was having a fund raising dinner to raise funds to renovate the local primary school and earned time shillings. He redeems his credits by requesting the high schools to help him put up the fence.
What kinds of services would be exchanged in a Time Bank?
Help at Home
• Child Care
• Cooking & Sewing
• Hair & Beauty
• Housekeeping
Community Activities
• Clean Up/Recycling
• Community Service
• Fundraising
Home Repair
• Car Care
• Carpentry/Construction
• Electrical
• Garden & Yard Work
• Painting
• Plumbing
Education
• Classes/Workshops
• Computers/Technology
• Personal Finances
• Tutoring/Mentoring
Conclusion
As we have said before, the rural areas are the life blood of our nation. We need to make them as habitable and sustainable as possible and reverse the rural to urban migration.
Our local governments are not the beacons of hope to hinge our future on.
Politicians are lacking in any development ideas and it would be the height of folly to expect progress from a bunch of fraudsters only out to enrich themselves through the pillaging of public resources.
Progress will only come through local community organizations tackling local issues. Local leaders aspiring to elected offices will have to pay their dues through the implementation of local projects.
We are in the process of finalizing a manifesto of our socially, politically and economically inclusive organization to be known as The African Economic Democracy Party.
Economic revolutionaries wanted, apply within.
Reader responses welcome.

A tale of two transitional towns

2010-04-17T18:23:00.000-07:00

The goal of this blog is to bring the reader inspiring stories of communities and leaders from around the world that are putting people first ahead of profit or power.
In this offering, we present two stories of two disparate towns with similar policies that emphasize economic self-sufficiency and promote a culture of empowered citizens making democracy work for them.
The following two stories were taken and condensed from yes!Magazine.
Burlington, Vermont: policies of inclusiveness and fairness
For 20 years, Burlington, Vermont, has been pursuing policies that are counter to the growth-at-any-cost trend followed by so many other medium-sized cities.
Here are some of these policies in different areas:
Groceries: When the city's last downtown grocery closed several years ago, residents realized that, as in many other communities, essential services were leaving the city center for the suburbs. The city decided to lease a city parking lot on attractive terms to a grocery store, through a competitive bid process.
The local food co-op won the bid, and opened its new 17,000-square-foot energy-efficient facility a year ago. The store now serves 1,800 customers a day and has met its sales projections from the day it opened. The co-op offers a full range of natural, organic, and traditional supermarket items at competitive prices, all with a bias toward locally grown food.
Housing and Land: With a housing shortage and a community-wide aversion to suburban sprawl, maintaining affordable housing is a challenge. The centerpiece of the city's response is the Burlington Community Land Trust (BCLT), the largest land trust in the country and the first to be created and funded by a municipality. With over 250 units—mostly single-family homes and condominiums—BCLT insulates affordable housing from market forces and land speculation, assures access to land and housing for low-income people, and preserves and improves neighborhoods.
Banking: The Burlington Ecumenical Action Ministry founded the Vermont Development Credit Union in 1990. The member-owned cooperative, which serves low-income and other underserved populations, is now self-sustaining. In the 10 years since it was founded, the credit union has provided banking services to 6,600 low-income Vermonters, made 4,900 loans with less than a 1 percent default rate, made available $35 million in capital, and provided financing for 250 new homeowners.
Democracy: In the early 1980s, then Mayor (now US Representative) Bernie Saunders, established seven Neighborhood Planning Assemblies to give citizens a vehicle for solving neighborhood problems, allocating funds for neighborhood projects, and choosing citizens to represent their neighborhoods on a variety of task forces and advisory boards. Since then, they've provided a platform for such citizen-led neighborhood improvement projects as clean-up days, home and business improvement awards, and tree plantings.
The Future: In 1992, Burlington purchased a 45-acre parcel of prime undeveloped land located along the shore of Lake Champlain and created a Waterfront Urban Reserve. According to the city's urban renewal plan, this will “reserve the right for future generations to determine what level of development should occur at this site.” For now, the reserve is open to the public for walking, fishing, biking, quiet contemplation, and periodic art events.
Belo Horizonte, Brazil: The City that Ended Hunger
To begin to conceive of the possibility of a culture of empowered citizens making democracy work for them, real-life stories help. The story of Brazil’s fourth largest city, Belo Horizonte, is a rich trove of such lessons. Belo, a city of 2.5 million people, once had 11 percent of its population living in absolute poverty, and almost 20 percent of its children going hungry.
Then in 1993, a newly elected administration declared food a right of citizenship. The new mayor, Patrus Ananias—now leader of the federal anti-hunger effort—began by creating a city agency, which included assembling a 20-member council of citizen, labor, business, and church representatives to advise in the design and implementation of a new food system.
• It offered local family farmers dozens of choice spots of public space on which to sell to urban consumers, essentially redistributing retailer mark-ups on produce—which often reached 100 percent—to consumers and the farmers. Farmers’ profits grew, since there was no wholesaler taking a cut. And poor people got access to fresh, healthy food.
• In addition to the farmer-run stands, the city makes good food available by offering entrepreneurs the opportunity to bid on the right to use well-trafficked plots of city land for “ABC” markets, from the Portuguese acronym for “food at low prices.” Today there are 34 such markets where the city determines a set price. There’s another obligation attached to being able to use the city land. Every weekend they have to drive produce-laden trucks to the poor neighborhoods outside of the city center, so everyone can get good produce.
• Another product of food-as-a-right thinking is three large, airy “People’s Restaurants” (Restaurante Popular), plus a few smaller venues, that daily serve 12,000 or more people using mostly locally grown food for the equivalent of less than 50 cents a meal.
• Belo’s food security initiatives also include extensive community and school gardens as well as nutrition classes. Plus, money the federal government contributes toward school lunches, once spent on processed, corporate food, now buys whole food mostly from local growers.
• The city, in partnership with a local university, is working to keep the market honest in part simply by providing information. They survey the price of 45 basic foods and household items at dozens of supermarkets and then post the results at bus stops, online, on television and radio, and in newspapers so people know where the cheapest prices are.
The result of these and other related innovations? In just a decade Belo Horizonte cut its infant death rate—widely used as evidence of hunger—by more than half, and today these initiatives benefit almost 40 percent of the city’s 2.5 million population.
The Belo experience shows that a right to food does not necessarily mean more public handouts (although in emergencies, of course, it does.) It can mean redefining the “free” in “free market” as the freedom of all to participate. It can mean, as in Belo, building citizen-government partnerships driven by values of inclusion and mutual respect.
Conclusion
Our nation, Kenya, is currently beleaguered by inept rulers who are besotted with the trappings of office. Devoid of any development ideas but quick to conjure up schemes to siphon off public funds, our rulers have clearly shown us that they are not agents of progression or enlightenment. The situation is exacerbated by an uninformed subservient populace mired in an endless cycle of poverty who are only too glad to do the bidding of the ruling political class in exchange for a false hope of a better tomorrow.
So how do we proceed? In the short term we hope to implement some of the ideas we have been presenting in this blog and tweak them for the local economies where our members reside. Our programs will be people led and decisions will be made by a consensus of member votes.
We are in the process of finalizing a manifesto of our socially, politically and economically inclusive party to be known as The African Economic Democracy Movement.
Economic revolutionaries wanted, apply within.
Reader responses welcome.

Solidarity Economics: Relegating profits, promoting people. Part 2of 2

2010-04-10T19:41:00.000-07:00

In our previous offering, we introduced Solidarity Economics as an alternative to the exploitative, capitalist system that is worker unfriendly and funnels profits to headquarters far away from where they are made.
In this article, we shall give more examples of Solidarity Economics at the community level and provide a summation of those that may be adapted to the Kenyan rural situation.
Mali: The Gift Economy
Gift economies, in which human beings are worth more than the market, are fundamental to most traditional and indigenous peoples. In its purest form, a gift economy is about the collective, allocation based on need, and abundance. Behind gifting is human relationship, generation of goodwill, and attention to the nurturance of the whole society and not just one’s immediate self and family.
One of these gift systems is alive and well in Mali, West Africa. It is known as Dama. The value of the gift is immaterial because its purpose is to maintain social connections by creating and strengthening friendships, family, regional community, religious grouping, and other social networks.
A second purpose of dama is to sustain and celebrate the values of sharing and humanity—what is known as maaya or ‘being human.’ Dama as a gift or service links neighbors, parents and relatives. An example would be if parent’s children are at a neighbor’s house at mealtime, they will be fed. If it is bath time, the neighbors will bathe them as well.
Thirdly, dama is an essential strategy for keeping the community well. Malians’ understanding of community is that it is only as strong as its parts. Only by all providing for each other will all survive and thrive.
In addition to trying to prevent anyone from being too poor, yet another purpose of dama is to prevent most everyone from becoming too rich. In Mali the cultural norm is to give away as much of your accumulation as possible, with generosity and the generous being most respected. Being rich in Mali means that the person has abandoned his or her values, that he or she is not giving enough to the needs around.
Services are also offered as Dama too. Examples include girls sweeping or washing dishes, running to the corner to buy sugar, tending a market stall, braiding hair and women caring for the children of a neighbor who has to leave home to work.
Gifts encircle each life cycle. When a woman gives birth, neighbors care for all her material needs for the first forty days, organizing themselves to share in providing meals, milk, and the like.
Malians today face the challenge of keeping dama alive despite the expansion of cash transactions. Dama and other non-market economies will remain strong and viable only if organized movements vigorously defend them.
Gifting in other parts of the world
Freecycle are Web-based gift networks where individuals can post or request free items from others in their community. Freecycle facilitates sharing and re-use and it claims to keep 55 tons of stuff out of the landfill each day.
More than 3,000 groups with more than 1.3 members have self-organized in more than 50 countries, with especially large concentrations in U.S., Canada, U.K., Germany, and Australia.
Really Really Free Market is face to face version of Freecycle. These non-commercial markets take place once a week or once a month, in a park or a roving location. To them people can bring things they no longer want and take things they now want. No cash is ever accepted, and bartering rarely is. Beyond goods, Really Really Free Markets give services like hair cutting, plus food and entertainment. Developing community, keeping items out of the waste stream, and having fun are all part of it.
Baby clothing exchanges are another form of gifting. In Queens, NY, parents leave too-small clothing for younger ones and pick up the next size for free.
Gift of Kindness is a group actively promoting gifting and compassion in all spheres of life. Among other ideas, they promote committing random acts of kindness such as paying for a neighbor or co-workers food at the local diner.
Community Land Trusts: Preserving land for posterity
A community land trust (CLT) is a non-profit, regionally based organization that takes land out of the speculative market and holds it for farmland or conservation, or as sites for housing or businesses. The long-term lease provides lessees with private ownership of buildings and improvements to the land. The resale formula excludes the land value from any future sale, keeping housing and farming permanently affordable.
Community land trusts are also used to support farm homesteads, the re-gathering of tribal lands, and the development of scattered sites for affordable housing.
Housing Trust Basics in the U.S.A
Buying land through a housing trust starts when the trust acquires a parcel through purchase, foreclosure, tax abatements, or donation. The trust arranges for a housing unit to be built on the parcel if one does not yet exist, then sells the building but retains ownership of the land beneath. The new homeowner leases the land for a nominal sum (for example, $25 per month), generally for 99 years or until the house is resold.
This model supports affordable housing in several ways. First, homebuyers have to meet low-income requirements. Second, the buying price of the home is reduced because it does not include the price of the land. Third, the trust works with lenders to reduce mortgage costs by using the equity of the land as part of the mortgage calculation. This reduces the size of the down payment and other closing costs, and eliminates the need for private mortgage insurance. In all, the trust can cut the cost of home ownership by 25 percent or more.
Informal revolving loan funds
Usually found in various forms throughout Africa and embraced by Africans in the Diaspora. It involves a group of people, most of the time women, who know each other either as friends or co-workers, contributing a set sum from every member per determined period. This money is kept in trust by one member and every period, one member will get the entire kitty. This then revolves until every member is paid then it starts all over again. The logic behind this participatory savings is that as an individual it is hard to save the required sum on your own. Once one is required to give their share in a timely manner as a condition of remaining a participant, it instills discipline and forced budgeting. Also the money is like a welcome surprise although in actuality it was your own periodic contributions that you were given at the end.
Pertinent lessons
• From House holding economies, we learn that we need to teach our children basic life skills (previous article).
• From Scavenging Economies, we learn that recycling could be economically beneficial if embraced (previous article).
• From the cooperative model, we learn that workers can buy out their factories or other workplace and be joint owners. They may even be able to open up credit unions to benefit their members. In a downturn they may work fewer shifts without any of them being laid off.
• From the Community Land Trusts example, we may set aside land in rural or urban areas for affordable housing or for farmland. We may even set aside land in urban areas for parks and recreational activities.

Conclusion
It is our opinion that government development policy as it is in Kenya will not move the nation forward. A few days ago the Nation newspaper reported that:
“Taxpayers had lost Sh445 million through theft and mismanagement of constituency funds. According to a report released by the lobby group, National Taxpayers Association, the cash that could not be accounted for, is feared to have either been pocketed by individuals or mismanaged by various Constituency Development Funds (CDF) boards in the financial years 2006/07 and 2007/08”.
This is dire news indeed. Coupled with all the other recent scandals, the one option we have is to embrace Solidarity Economics as a non exploitative people- first system of social and economic advancement.
The ideas housed in this blog will form the basis of a new people-power movement to be known as the African Economic Democracy Movement whose manifesto we are working on. Economic revolutionaries are needed. Apply within.
Reader responses welcome.

Solidarity Economics: Relegating profits, promoting people. Part 1 of 2

2010-04-05T09:40:00.000-07:00

Previously we addressed the topic of economic disparity in our nation. We painted a rather bleak picture of the present situation but a propitious future awaits us. It is our opinion that if we were to implement a policy of localized economics, where consensus and uniform participation were the foundation, we would move towards a more socially just and responsible nation.
What are Solidarity Economies?
Economy: The many different ways in which we human beings collectively generate livelihoods in relation to each other and to the rest of the Earth.
Solidarity: The process of taking active responsibility for our relationships in ways that promote diversity, autonomy, cooperation, communication, and shared-power (direct democracy).
Solidarity Economies are enterprises which rely on humane principles instead of the competition and greed often underlying the corporate market. They focus on getting everyone's needs met without exploitation, and they expand the possibilities for those who don’t have the funds to participate in standard cash markets. The values of respect, cooperation, and democracy are embedded into every step of the economic chain: creation, production, exchange, consumption, and surplus distribution.
Solidarity economies function through networks, associations, social movements, the non-profit sector, and worker coops. They emphasize women initiatives, ecological agriculture, ethical financing, and democratized technology.
Here are some forms they may take:
House holding economies—meeting basic needs with our own skills and work at home and on or with the land: raising children, offering advice or comfort, resolving relational conflicts, mentorship, teaching basic life skills, cooking, sewing, cleaning the house, building the house, balancing the checkbook, fixing the car, gardening, farming, raising animals. These are the types of work that have often been rendered invisible or devalued but they will be the focus for our social programs for the rural school going population of Kenya.
Collective economies—in their simple form these economies are about pooling our resources together (sharing): bringing food to a potluck supper, carpooling, lending and borrowing, consumer co-ops such as food buying organizations that buy food in bulk at a discount and share among members. Those based on common ownership and/or control of resources: such as health care collectives, community land trusts, and more.
Scavenging Economies—living on the abundance of Earth’s own gift economy: hunting, fishing, and foraging. Also living on the abundance of human wastefulness—salvaging from demolition sites, using old car parts and recycling instead of sending to the landfill
Gift economies—giving some of our resources to other people and to our communities: volunteer fire companies or neighborhood watch groups, community food banks, having neighbors over for dinner or throwing a neighborhood block or village party.
Worker-controlled economies—workers deciding the terms and conditions of their own work: self-employment, family farms, worker-owned companies and cooperatives.
The cooperative model
The cooperative model presents a stark contrast with conventional capitalist corporations. Co-ops offer shared ownership and democratic control. Those who benefit from the enterprise own it, and own it as equals: one member, one vote. The purpose of the enterprise is to benefit its members, not to use their economic activity as the basis for someone else’s returns.
Brazil: The Harmony Agricultural Company
The Harmony Agricultural Company has become Brazil's largest worker-managed business in the solidarity economy. It provides employment for 4,300 families who work 26,000 hectares of land, and its main activity is producing sugar at 48 mills.
When the company was in crisis in 1993, the workers applied for the owners of the company to be forced to declare bankruptcy, and took over the firm's administration, under the supervision of the justice system. Since then, they have resumed sugar production and diversified into other agricultural and industrial activities. They are also growing cassava, fruit, maize, potatoes and even raising livestock, in a family farming system based on agricultural cooperatives.
Benefits:
• The use of manual labor thereby creating more jobs.
• Social inclusion for area residents thereby less idlers and dependents on government welfare.
• More taxes for the municipalities thereby more public services offered.
• The local economy is boosted by the greater spending power of the residents.
• Rural-urban migration is reversed due to the availability of local employment.
Spain: Mondragón cooperatives
The Mondragón cooperatives in the Basque region of Spain form the best-known coop system anywhere, and have inspired emulators the world over. Launched in 1956, the Mondragón complex has grown from a single, five-member coop manufacturing kitchen appliances into a massive enterprise with over 30,000 workers and annual sales of $5 billion
History of Mondragón
When a priest named Jos‚ Mar¡a Arizmendiarrieta first arrived at the Mondragón parish in 1941, he found a town devastated by the Spanish Civil War. His aim was to confront high levels of unemployment that kept the region in poverty and isolation. His working philosophy was to put the rights and well-being of workers first, with growth mainly aimed at providing additional jobs and job security to employees. He set about rebuilding, establishing a vocational school for Mondragón's many working-class children who had no chance at education. Eventually, under his tutelage, five of the school's graduates went on to win engineering degrees and then, in 1956, start their own factory in Mondragón. Their domestic appliance company quickly generated strong profits. They reinvested these profits back into the business, reserving only a small portion for workers' own "capital accounts" which individuals could draw upon only when they left the co-op.
Challenges and solutions
When one of the Mondragón cooperatives fell on hard times, the worker/owners and the managers met to review their options. After three days of meetings, the worker/owners agreed that 20 percent of the workforce would leave their jobs for a year, during which they would continue to receive 80 percent of their pay and, if they wished, free training for other work. This group would be chosen by lottery, and if the company was still in trouble a year later, the first group would return to work and a second would take a year off. The solution worked and the company thrives to this day.
The central importance of workers permeates every aspect of the Mondragón Cooperatives. Even though the MCC businesses are affected by the global financial crisis, there is no unemployment within the MCC businesses. People are moved around to other jobs, or hours are cut without cutting pay. The wages for un-worked hours are to be repaid through extra hours worked later in the year.
Conclusions
We have stated our opinions, disdain actually, on globalization and the international trade pacts that are skewed in favor of industrialized nations. The Ministry of Local Government has undertaken some projects with its ‘development partner’, the European Union. We oppose this idea on the basis that it is non inclusive and non participatory for the people most be affected by the projects.
Solidarity Economics in its various forms, tweaked for the Kenyan situation, may provide the impetus to bring development to our nation. In the next article we shall give further examples and provide an adaptable summation of implementable ideas.
The ideas housed in this blog will form the basis of a new people-power movement to be known as the African Economic Democracy Movement which will later morph into a political party.
Reader responses welcome.

Story of Esau and Jacob Unfolds at James Gichuru Road

2010-04-01T04:44:00.000-07:00

We welcome guest writer, Mwarang'ethe, who authored this article.
From the Sunday school story of Esau and Jacob, we know that, Esau contemptuously surrendered his birthright for he was hungry after long days of hunting. All he wanted was rest and food, i.e. the stew of meat and vegetables which Jacob had in his possession. Simply said, Esau sold his birthright for miserable messes of pottage.

With this story in mind, let us take a walk along James Gichuru road which runs from Westland, cutting through Lavington, near Kawangware slums which then ends up at Dagoretti corner. This walk more than anything else, reveals that, we are a nation of Esau and Jacob. Now, as you walk along this road, if you are a keen observer of man and society, you will notice two very interesting things.

On the paved road, you will see very well dressed and well fed or over fed Kenyans/foreigners seated on their big fuel guzzlers as they cruise to and fro. Also, on both sides of this road, which are dusty or muddy depending on the season, you will see a lot of shabbily poor men and women walking in very hurried manner. These poor Kenyans, are either going to work, or coming from work. But, where do most of these poor Kenyans work? They work for the Kenyans/foreigners in the big cars. The walking masses represent Esau and those in big cars represent Jacob.

Now, the reason you will see a lot of poor Kenyans walking as we describe above is because we have chaotic, inefficient, dangerous and expensive transport system made of matatus. We know Michuki tried to improve it, but, we ask, how do you improve a perversion? The question then is why is it so difficult for Kenya to develop a well integrated transport system? We are told it is very expensive. But, is it so? We deny these falsehoods which Kenyans have swallowed for 50 years.

However, before we do so, let us say this. Whenever the development of Asian nations like Singapore is discussed by our politicians and scholars, including Professor Ali Mazrui, we are told that, it is because a nation like Singapore has been led by malevolent dictator. Is it so? Mazrui is an eminent thinker, but, we deny his answers as utter rubbish. So, how does Singapore provide its citizens with world class integrated transport system? It boils down to bidding for land/space. Sample this genius in integrated transport policy and compare it with the stupidity and madness of the Kenyan transport system.

Due to lack of space in Singapore, they have developed a unique market mechanism that equalize everyone's ability to share in the benefits of that scarcity. In this scheme, motorists are free to determine the road rents they are willing to pay. They do this in auctions where they compete to secure the right to drive on the highways. Those who fail in their bids or those who do not wish to own a car, share in the benefits of the road rents which are spent on providing first class public transport.

Given the land scarcity, Singapore has a sophisticated way of controlling car growth (in Kenya, we use scarcity of oil). The government constrains the growth of vehicles to 3% a year. To do so, it uses a range of tools which include the Certificate of Entitlement (COE), the Vehicle Quota System (VQS), road taxes and Electronic Road Pricing (ERP). Each month, a certain number of COE's are released. The vehicle entitlement is valid for ten years from the date of registration of the vehicle. Bidding is done electronically whereby, people determine how much they will pay in competition with other would be motorists.

The electronic road pricing is based on the pay - per - use principle that reflects the true cost of motoring. Singapore has extended this to points of congestion on major highways and it has been credited with having reduced the volume of traffic during peak periods. The consequence of this is that, the cost of motoring in Singapore is staggering.

In Singaporean dollars, in 2006, an Audi A 41.8 is $ 182, 000, for a BMW 328 (2.8 cc) $ 238, 000, for a Mercedes 200E: $ 201, 902, for a Volvo Estate 2.0: $ 160, 753. The alternative is you take the bus or train. Interestingly, the demand for the COE’s continues to rise and their prices in auctions that are open. This means that bidders can see what others are bidding for before they submit their offers. This reduces massive speculation.

What is the verdict of the World Bank on Singaporean transport system? It has concluded that:
(a) This system has helped attract foreign investment and there are no major negative side effects on economic growth or on the welfare of people on the lowest incomes.
(b) In addition, by rationing scarce physical space by price mechanism, Singapore has generated funds for investment in improvements much beyond transport and enabled reductions of other, less desirable taxes.

Thus, using a scheme that equalizes all citizens’ access to road/land, Singapore has been able to come up with a truly integrated transport policy. Those who cannot afford to run a car benefit from higher - quality public transport and lower taxes. In this scheme, there are no losers because road rents facilitate a sophisticated approach to sharing scarce space.
The collateral gains of this system include a dynamic economy at the frontier of technological progress and wage levels that employees of the West can only envy. No wonder, the OECD is always complaining of Singapore as an offshore since they want to hide the link between road rents and Singapore's low tax rate. However, the Singapore government is keenly aware that its success in the global economy depends on recycling rents back into its infrastructure so that equity is associated with efficiency. This policy has placed Singapore at the forefront of global commerce. Yes, fortunes are made in Singapore, but, they are not made in land speculation. That’s why in building highways, they do not reward landowners at the expense of the taxpayer as the African nations are doing.

Something to ponder about
(a) When Singapore gained independence which was at the same time as Kenya, some areas looked like Kawangware. Today, this tiny island is among the largest sovereign investors with over $ 247 billion as sovereign fund/assets. Mark you, this fortunes have not been made from commodities as in the case of Botswana.( one of the few post independence success stories) How much do we have as Kenyans in 2010? We answer mounting debts, poverty and senseless tribal conflict over land.
(b) In Kenya, if anyone wants to import a Hammer (remember the battle of Hammers in Kibera) or a Range Rover, we just allow them to import without questions and then allow them to blow dust on the poor Kenyans who fund these roads as they walk on the dusty pavements. Is this the way to build a just and peaceful nation?
(c) Does this sound like malevolent dictatorship, or a sound land policy as the foundation just like the one we have been advocating at work?

In a nutshell, if we had institutionalized this kind of land policy, we would be able to provide safe, efficient, affordable and accessible transport system for women who constitute the majority of those who walk to and from Kawangware slums along Gichuru road so as to go and clean the houses of bwana kubwa, i.e. bwana jinga.

Instead of such a simple policy, we come up with weird ideas of affirmative action to “uplift the welfare of our women.” How do you separate the welfare of men from that of women? These are mere delusions which will ironically, cost these poor women even more in terms of tax to pay these so called “women leaders.” Kenyans may go ahead with these schemes, but, we shall keep on shouting, yes, we know you are tired and desperate having waited for 20 years for the new constitution, but, just as Esau was tired and hungry, you have opted to denounce your birthright for miserable messes of pottage for we know he asked, behold, I am at the point to die, and what profit shall this birthright be to me? And, Jacob said, swear to me this day; and he swore unto him and thereby, he sold his birthright unto Jacob.
Bwana Mwarang'ethe among other things, is an eminent scholar in areas pertaining to: land redistribution, a new money system, International trade and others. He is currently preparing the national and international portion of the manifesto that will form the operating principles of this new inclusive economic- political movement.

Kenya’s pernicious inequality: The underpinnings of an economic revolution

2010-03-27T08:49:00.000-07:00

There is a simmering disquiet pervading the economically tyrannized of this once promising nation. This indefatigable class of citizens encompasses all tribes and both genders: the single mother in the informal business sector, the day laborer who treks many miles to earn a less than adequate wage, the many graduates from our universities and high schools who have no promising prospects of finding fitting employment, the youth-our brothers and sisters-who for want of a better life are drawn into nefarious and salacious activities and the rural peasants whose struggles to eke out a living are compounded by an unresponsive, predator government.
The economic oppressors are: the corruption laden government and its wily civil servants, the burgeoning middle class who are shielding themselves from the impoverished, employers who do not pay employees an adequate living wage and the primary oppressors, the politicians.
Background
According to a report (Pulling Apart: Facts and Figures on Inequality in Kenya) by the Nairobi-based Society for International Development (SID), Kenya is the 10th most unequal country in the world in terms of wealth disparities. Of Africa’s 54 states, it is the fifth most unequal
The 2004 report, using UN Development Program figures, states that Kenya’s richest earn 56 times more than its poorest: the top 10 percent of the population controls 42% of the country’s wealth, while the bottom 10% own 0.76%.
Inequality pervades every aspect of Kenyans’ lives, according to the report, citing enormous disparities - both in the capital and at national level - in almost every sphere of life: income; access to education, water and health; life expectancy; and prevalence of HIV/AIDS.
Kibaki’s role
Critics of Kibaki, who came to power in 2002, accuse his government of failing to address this inequality and of focusing instead on the economic growth seen over the past five years. Before he came to power on a wave of euphoria and hope after 24 years of rule under the autocratic Daniel arap Moi, Kenya’s growth stood at minus 1.6 percent. In 2007, it reached 5.5 percent and before the elections was predicted to hit 7% in 2008.
This growth has been concentrated in the service sector, with banks, tourism and communications companies making big profits. Prices of shares and property have also soared. But rather than trickling down to the worst off, this boom appears to have been very selective in its beneficiaries while the poor have seen the purchasing power of their Shilling shrink.
Critics argue that economic policies have not been pro-poor. This growth has been biased in favor of profits as opposed to being translated into jobs. Only a few have assets and property to participate in economic production.
With no collateral to obtain loans to engage in entrepreneurial activities, and with the unemployment rate at an estimated 40%, the restlessness and despair is an ominous precursor to an economic revolution that will pit the under-privileged against the landed if drastic interventions are not implemented.
Possible solutions
There is an urgent need to inculcate a new culture of living well as opposed to living better. Living well means having all basic needs met while existing in harmony with the natural world; living better seeks to constantly amass material goods at the expense of the environment.
We don’t need to compete for the necessities of life. We don't need to fight each other for them. We were bamboozled by the political elite at the last general election into violently engaging our neighbors while the instigators were not participants. Meanwhile the victors are those politicians that had positions created for them with accompanying motorcades.
We seriously need to ask ourselves how much is enough? A study was done by University of Illinois professor Ed Diener, and others, comparing the life-satisfaction scores of groups of people of radically different financial means. Scores were on a seven-point scale, with the happiest people scoring higher. Those on Forbes magazine’s list of richest Americans had an average score of 5.8. They were in a statistical tie, however, with three groups known for their modest lifestyles and strength of community: the Pennsylvania Amish (5.8) who favor horses over cars and tractors; the Inuit of Northern Greenland (5.9), an indigenous hunting and fishing people; and the Masai (5.7), a traditional herding people in East Africa.
Since the majority Kenyans will not be multi millionaires, we need to make do with less want of material items and settle for the necessities (to begin with) and a vibrant social life.
Here are some ideas we are working on:
• The formation of vibrant neighborhood organizations to address social issues. (This topic was addressed previously on this blog).
• More workplace democracy where people at the top are answerable to employees
• Worker owned cooperatives rooted in the community, producing for local consumption, hiring locally and reinvesting profits locally with some proceeds benefiting public projects.
• A localized barter system that would include a local currency and a system of swapping services provided for credits to access other services.
• A revolving informal loans program among member participants. This is widely practiced in Africa and has firmly taken root among Kenyans in the Diaspora.
• An overhaul of our education system to lean more towards technical training and entrepreneurship as opposed to passing exams and seeking employment without having any skills to start a business.( To be covered as a follow up article to an education one we did previously).
• Others including those that readers may deem workable.
In the next article, we will cover the topic of Cooperative Economics as a community based, worker driven vehicle to deliver a sustainable equitable economy to our localities.
Conclusion
With the General Elections round the corner, we need to prepare to send our agents of regression to permanent retirement. Their next public appearance should be at a trail facing high treason for crimes against the state (the people of Kenya). The rulers of this nation either do not follow the mood on the ground and the web or are insusceptible to the groans of a nation that has given and given (taxes, labor, and even blood) so a few political elite may ride around in SUVs and bulk up while a nation starves. Let them heed this warning; our day to day struggles will only strengthen our resolve to grow stronger together regardless of tribe or political affiliation!
The ideas housed in this blog and others we are working on will form the basis of a new political economic movement whose manifesto will be geared towards implementing the strategies discussed here. We are tentatively set to register middle of next year. We are now able to state that one of our members will be vying for a civic seat in a ward outside Nairobi.
Reader responses welcome.

Inspired localism: Practical lessons in sustainability

2010-03-16T20:59:00.001-07:00

In the previous two part series of articles, we talked about the ills of being dependent on foreigners for our economic well being.
So is there a way to bring development and progress to our rural areas minus foreign influence and an ineffectual government? This article will highlight residents from various developing nations who cared enough about their locality to engage in people centered progress. From the inspiring stories told here, we may take away several useful lessons in the development of local economies.
Kenya: local residents generate self reliance.
Residents of Kiangurwe, a rural community in the country’s central province, have started an electric company that is fueling a revolution. They are saying no to expensive kerosene imports and to the regional power corporation, Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC). Instead, residents are harnessing their own natural resources through a small hydropower company called Gpower.
Local residents volunteer two days a week to build a hydro dam and help fund the project through weekly contributions. Once the project is complete, members of the community will staff the organization that runs the dam, and those who helped build it will receive dividends.
A local funding system aims to ensure sustainability. Eight percent of the project is paid for by wealthy coffee and tea farmers who have bought shares in Gpower Ltd. Donors and subscribers will pay the other 92 percent.
Gpower’s first dam was set to open in late December, providing electricity to about 110 people. By the end of 2014, a total of 11 hydro dams are planned to be up and running on the Thiba River, serving a total of 11,000 households, 13 schools and two hospitals.
India’s Anna Hazare: A soldier for rural regeneration
Where Anna Hazare lives, no one starves. There is no disease. The environment is clean and wooded. All children are in school. The farm economy is booming, and there are no social divisions, no caste system and no racism. Women are empowered, and nobody smokes, drinks or goes to see decadent movies. Hazare, together with the villagers, converted a drought prone land into flourishing farm land. He created an economically self-sufficient community while simultaneously inspiring the poorest of the poor to lead moral, dignified lives.
Background
Ralegan Siddhi was a drought prone 4 sq km land where until 1975, only 80 of its 2200 arable acres were farmed. The annual rain -- about 400 mm in a good year but mostly a third of that ran off the undulating land. The 2000 strong population sat and stared at a hopeless future. Children died early, men beat their wives and disease ran rampant and about the only businesses that made any money was the liquor stills - 40 of them.
The transition
When retired army driver settled in the village, he donated part of his pension settlements from the army to renovate a local temple. In that temple he sought to instill in the villagers his five economic and moral points. They were:
• Prohibition
• Family planning
• A ban on open grazing
• A ban on felling trees
• Voluntary labor
The temple today houses a ‘Grain Bank’. Any family in need can borrow grain from this Bank. It must repay it with a little "interest", for the village has decided that things obtained free are not valued. The "Bank" started with the growth of community spirit. The village resolved that every family which had surplus grain should contribute, and the assessment was done by the villagers themselves. There has not been one case of a family having "defaulted" on the "loan" for they all know that they are borrowing from themselves
A youth group, Tarun Mandal was formed. The group worked to ban the dowry system, caste discrimination and untouchability. Liquor distilling units were removed and prohibition imposed. Open grazing was completely banned with an emphasis on stall feeding.
All elections to local bodies began being held on the basis of consensus which made the community leaders complete representatives of the people.
A school building was constructed using the resources of the village. No donations were taken. Money if needed was borrowed and paid back. The villages took pride in this self reliance. A new system of sharing labor grew out of this infusion of pride and voluntary verve. People volunteered to work on one another’s land.
Water is systematically harvested today; by percolation tanks, by check dams, by wells being recharged. Of the 1700 odd acres of arable land, 1100 to 1200 acres are under irrigation. The village in which a fifth of the families got no more than one meal a day, now markets vegetables, grain and milk.
The very way of life and relationships within the village has been transformed beyond recognition. Twenty years ago, the village was rife with disputes, due to poverty and addictions. Today every family contributes voluntary labor of one adult every week. Almost everything new that one sees has been built and accomplished by community labor.
Guatemala: Revolution at Nuevo Horizonte
Nuevo Horizonte is a small village in northern Guatemala. The streets are nearly devoid of trash as well as the advertising so ubiquitous throughout Latin America. The houses are surrounded by fruit trees and flowers. The residents seem particularly proud of their efforts to preserve a small, 250-acre chunk of intact rainforest which they have recognized for its ecological value in preventing siltation of the local lake.
Background
In 1954, a U.S.-initiated coup that overthrew the elected president of Guatemala served as the catalyst to a thirty-six-year civil war that pitted a succession of military dictatorships against leftist political organizations. The Guatemalan government’s response to community organizing was to label the opposition as “Communist” and send in the army. During the 1980s, the government began targeting the rural Mayan people, burning fields, razing entire villages, massacring men, women, and children, and assassinating priests. After years of suffering political oppression, economic injustice, and racial violence, many of the Mayan farmers organized an armed resistance movement using the jungles as a base. Finally, in 1996, the peace accords between the rebels and the government ended the war and provided an opportunity for the revolutionaries to continue their efforts, but without their guns.
Transition
The cooperative community of Nuevo Horizonte was founded ten years ago. Residents found an old ranch that had been cleared and burned. Arriving with nothing but the rags on their backs, they began to forge a community based upon their revolutionary principles of social equality and communal land ownership.
Each family owns their house and farm plot, the co-op retains ownership of pasturelands, the forest, the lake, and plantations of pine, pineapple, and lime trees. The co-op provides free day care, primary and secondary education, adult vocational training, and operates a pharmacy and clinic, charging as little as twelve cents per visit. Nuevo Horizonte also maintains two pickups and a minivan for anyone’s use.
The co-op’s explicit economic goal is to provide alternatives to the Central American Free Trade Agreement and demonstrate how communities can be less vulnerable to the negative effects of globalization. To this end, the co-op provides low-interest micro financing. The community now boasts a welding shop and two corn mills, and maintains its own seed bank to counter efforts by corporations to control crop production.
The revolution of Nuevo Horizonte is no longer being fought with guns, but with education, sustainability, and the integrity of the natural and human community coming together in a cooperative effort to provide for all.
Brazil: The landless retake the commons and thrive
Thousands of displaced Brazilian families are taking back the land, setting up schools, homes, cooperatives, and organic farms. This revolution is being led by the Landless Workers Movement (MST)—one of the most successful land reform movements in the world.
Background
The MST arose 20 years ago out of a desperate need for land redistribution in a country where ownership of arable land is disastrously skewed. Entrenched are policies that favor large-scale, export-oriented agriculture and wealthy landowners who fraudulently take land with impunity.
Between 1965 and 1985, half of the Brazilian population streamed into the cities in search of work, and the influx continues today. Giant slums rose around cities, and many families fell into poverty, drugs, and hunger.
The reforms of the MST
The MST mobilizes landless people to squat on or near idle land, in MST “camps.” Those in the encampments, along with supporters, pressure the government to enforce the Brazilian constitution, which declares that land must be used for its “social function.” This means that it must be cultivated for production if it is not being preserved for ecological reasons.
As a result of this massive nonviolent movement, more than 300,000 families have won land, and many are now living in permanent settlements, farming, studying at MST-organized schools, and supporting others who are likewise working to move back to the land.
The MST has established an educational network of more than 1,000 schools that teach literacy, sustainable farming, and leadership, and prepares people for professions in such areas as teaching and health care for use at their settlements.
The students are MST members who come from impoverished rural and urban backgrounds. At the school, they divide their time between study, work, physical education, and reflection, discussion of current events, music, and volunteer work. Non-violence education is integrated into all courses.
Students stay at the school for two months, and then travel back to their homes in MST encampments and settlements for several months to use their newly acquired skills. They continue this rotation until graduation.
The schools run as cooperatives; resources are shared between everyone, and everyone has a task that contributes to the whole, such as baking or gardening. Ideally, the students rotate through all the positions before graduation.
There is another way
In the settlements, MST works to demonstrate that people can provide their own food instead of importing and exporting cash crops—a system that has led to a large increase in poverty and starvation in Brazil.
Residents are proud to say that they practice 100 percent organic farming. When they first arrived they had the idea that they had to use lots of pesticides. With time, the community realized that they were spending more and more money on fertilizers and pesticides because the chemicals were exhausting the soil. The chemicals' side effects also caused illnesses within the settlement. The community decided to switch to organic farming. The settlements also raises cattle for meat and dairy, and fruits and vegetables.
Conclusion
Our economic fate as a nation will be determined by a system of cooperative development where all participants have an equal say in the decision making and implementation process.
Sadly we cannot rely on government, local or national, to bring any meaningful reform as it is laden with corruption and scandal. The rulers in power at this time will not bring progress by virtue of them being hold-outs from previous retrogressive regimes or thuggish opportunists lacking any agenda.
We are preparing a manifesto using the ideas we have garnered from around the world and housed in this blog and some yet to be published, to form the basis of a people’s political party tentatively set to commence operations next year. All are invited, regardless of tribe or political affiliation, to participate as valued members in this economic and social revolution. A brighter day and a gleaming future will only be brought about by ‘we the people’.

Tacit Imperialism: The bane of developing nations. Part 2 of 2

2010-03-10T20:54:00.000-08:00

We will conclude this series by highlighting the role of multinationals and their quest to reap maximum profits in cohorts with fawning corrupt regimes. Their plunder of Africa’s natural resources has led to the degradation of the environment and has brought enormous suffering to local residents.
The Niger Delta: The ravages of insatiable greed.
The Niger Delta region comprises of nine states, 185 local government areas and a population of about 20 million. The region is rich in natural resources, including oil and gas, cash crops including oil palm, rubber, cocoa, coconut, a diversity of aquatic resources and fertile land which supports year round agriculture.
The Niger Delta accounts for more than 90% of earnings from oil and gas and about 60% of federally distributed revenue. But despite its rich resources, it has one of the most crushing poverty levels in the world. It is also Nigeria’s least developed region. Seventy per cent of the people in the area are on the poverty line and the poverty level in the region is well above African standards. Health indicators lag behind the national average. Infrastructure including Medicare is also poor and the cost of food is high despite its fertile land.
Shell’s Environmental Devastation in Nigeria
Royal Dutch Shell, (Shell) began oil production in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria in 1958. It has a long history of working closely with the Nigerian government to quell popular opposition to its presence in the region. Shell’s operations in the Delta have led to the deep impoverishment of the local people and surrounding communities in the Delta that rely on the environment for their livelihood, often farming and fishing for market or subsistence living.
Gas flaring
Natural gas is a byproduct of oil drilling. In much of the world, this gas is either used for energy or re-injected into the well. In Nigeria, Shell and other oil companies burn it in a process known as gas flaring. The gas burned in flares is not the clean natural gas used for heating or cooking; the gas is contaminated with toxic compounds and the flares send huge toxic plumes into the air. The chemicals, which end up in local waterways and fields through soot and precipitation, include carcinogens such as benzene, a deadly chemical that can cause convulsions, chromosomal damage and birth defects. Many of the flares are located adjacent to Niger Delta settlements.
Shell and other oil companies ignored all orders by the Nigerian government to end gas flaring, choosing to pay a fine rather than clean up their operations. As of December 2008, there were over 100 flare sites still operating in Nigeria.
Oil spills
An estimated 1.5 million tons of oil has spilled in the Niger Delta ecosystem over the past 50 years. Many of the spills have taken place in sensitive habitats for birds, fish and other wildlife, leading to further loss of biodiversity and, in turn, further impoverishment of local communities. The spills pollute local water sources that people depend on for drinking, cooking, bathing, laundering and fishing. They also release dangerous fumes into the air, sometimes rendering villages uninhabitable and causing serious illness for those who are unable to relocate. Many of the oil spills can are attributable to poorly maintained infrastructure such as aging pipelines. Cleanup of oil spills is often very superficial, sometimes involving little more than turning the land so that the oil remains just beneath the surface of the soil.
Honorable mention: activist Ken Saro-Wiwa on behalf of his Ogoni people
Mr. Saro-Wiwa, who founded the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni Peoples (MOSOP) in 1990, was one of Shell’s most forceful critics because of the damage done to the delta environment. He brought worldwide attention to the human rights violations committed against the Ogoni through international campaigning and his poignant writing. He was nominated for a Nobel Prize and awarded the Right Livelihood Award and the Goldman Prize for his environmental and human rights activism.
In 1994, Ken Saro-Wiwa and other Ogoni leaders were prevented by the military from attending a gathering; at that very gathering, four Ogoni chiefs were killed. The military governor promptly announced that Ken Saro-Wiwa caused the deaths, and he and other leaders were arrested despite the lack of any connection between MOSOP and the deaths. A three-man tribunal was created by the Nigerian government to try the Ogoni leaders —known as the “Ogoni Nine”. The tribunal denied the Ogoni Nine access to counsel, a fair trial, and the opportunity to appeal the decision. The Ogoni Nine were convicted and were executed by hanging on November 10, 1995.
The case against Shell
Shell had a close relationship with the Nigerian military regime during the early 1990s. Shell was alleged to have provided the Nigerian army with vehicles, patrol boats and ammunition. The oil company requested an increase in security and provided monetary and logistical support to the Nigerian police. Shell frequently called upon the Nigerian police for “security operations” that often amounted to raids and terror campaigns against the Ogoni.
Beginning in 1996, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), Earth Rights International (ERI), and other human rights attorneys brought a series of cases to hold Shell accountable for human rights violations against the Ogoni, including summary execution, crimes against humanity, torture, inhuman treatment and arbitrary arrest and detention. The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York set a trial date of May 27th, 2009.
In June 2009, days before the start of a trial in New York, Royal Dutch Shell agreed to a $15.5m (£9.7m) out-of-court settlement.
South Africa: unrelenting squalor beneath a façade of splendor
This year marks the 20th anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s historic release from prison after being incarcerated for most of his adult life by successive racist white governments and their abominable apartheid regime. But 20 years after Mandela’s release and 16 years after the handover of government from the white Afrikaner rulers to the African National Congress, the people of that naturally wealthy country still find themselves shackled. Not by apartheid masters, but by grinding poverty and a plague of social miseries. Official figures show that over half of the mainly black population lives in poverty, with an unemployment rate of 25 per cent. There’s more poverty, disease, unemployment, violence and crime than ever before.
The handover of power was not so much a surrender by a discredited regime, it was rather more of a choreographed changing of the guard in which the white rulers dutifully stood aside to let the ANC leaders take their place. But the understanding was that nothing of substantive change – in terms of economic policy and wealth distribution in that country – would take place. Key players in these choreographed, political musical chairs were US and British mining companies, with the blessing of their respective governments.
While Africa’s richest country is mainly known for its gold and diamonds, it is also the main repository in the world for “strategic minerals”. Strategic minerals are those metal ores that are essential to the manufacture of armaments, weaponry, ships, submarines, aircraft, tanks and missiles. These factors moved the US and British to engage with the ANC. The US and Britain have become the top two foreign investors in South Africa.
Thanks to the ANC’s broken promises of liberation, millions wander and languish in poverty, disease and hopelessness. South Africa’s black majority is free – free to be poor, free to be unemployed, free to be mugged, robbed, raped or murdered, free to die of AIDS.
Conclusion
It is abundantly clear that the economic fate of Africa is solely the responsibility of Africans. Western powers and their agents, the multi nationals, will plunder our natural resources with wanton abandonment and pilfer any remains if the opportunity avails itself. Unfortunately their stooges, who are traitors of the people, are foisted among us as leaders, replete with the greed of their masters. They would gladly and effortlessly sell their kinsmen for shiny carriages, sumptuous abodes and inordinate amounts of heady intoxicants.
We ardently entreat the people of Kenya, who are all our brothers and sisters, regardless of tribe or political affiliation, to make a clean sweep of this elite band of conniving fraudsters. After this general election, their malevolent inclinations to economically suppress us while ravaging public resources will be confined to history, tales of awe animatedly retold to while away the time at the local social outlet. The diatribe in this section is the rambling of irascible, impatient for progress patriots, seeking the mandate of the Kenyan people at the General Elections of 2017 or 2012 if we organize soon enough. The issues we have tackled have always been accompanied by possible solutions. In the following year we will be registering a party and implementing our ideas on the ground. All are invited to partake in this economic and social revolution.

Tacit Imperialism: The bane of developing nations. Part 1 of 2

2010-03-08T20:59:00.001-08:00

In a previous article, we advocated for the adoption of protectionism to grow our infant industries. In light of several news stories from nations whose economies were set up to service a foreign market, we feel an even greater need to review Africa’s international trading pacts. We are of the opinion that Africa’s solution to its myriad of problems, both economic and social, will be solved by the formulation and implementation of home grown solutions. Solutions free from the imposed insidious international agreements that are perpetuated as ‘restructuring programs’ and ‘austerity measures’. In this vein, we will highlight the egregious machinations of multinational corporations and their western government sponsors that have kept Africa and other developing nations in economic servitude.
Kenya: Political independence swathed in economic peonage
The struggle for the adoption of the multi-party system of government during the Moi regime reached a crescendo in late 1991. A November meeting of the Paris Club Consultative Group for Kenya, which included the IMF, the World Bank, the U.S., the U.K. and France, suspended $350 in quick-disbursing loans and applied additional pressure for economic and political reform.
On Feb. 12, 1993 the government agreed as a precondition to the resumption of foreign financial aid, to implement a number of drastic austerity measures that included the devaluation of the currency by 25%. However donors were not satisfied with the implementation of the dictated measures. In November 1993, the Consultative Group reconvened and offered the Moi regime $170 million on condition that human rights and governance improve and that the KANU provoked ethnic clashes end. The government started to meet some of those conditions but after a year Moi scrapped the austerity measures citing they had caused further economic hardship.
Vital sectors such as tourism took a serious beating due to government mismanagement. Others, such as textiles and manufacturing, collapsed completely, unsupported by inefficient government policies and bogged down by widespread corruption, tribalism, and nepotism. The Kenyan story of these two decades quickly became one of unemployment and underemployment.
Qualified graduates of the universities and secondary schools became idle and frustrated, or took up menial jobs in small-scale trading and other informal sector activities. High taxes to maintain the overblown public sector suffocated the already feeble private sector. A majority of Kenyans saw their standard of living deteriorate steadily beginning in the mid-1980s through the 1990s.
Today we are still mired in corruption with scandal after scandal being the order of the day. Ministry officials in the Education department have stolen donor funds meant for free primary education, Other Ministry officials in the agriculture department sold imported maize to a neighboring country when Kenyans were starving. We have even sold the National railway line to a foreigner with dubious financial standing! Where is the indignation?
Greece: The European Union disciplines a truant lackey
The European Union has shown its righteous wrath by stripping Greece of its vote at a crucial meeting next month, the worst humiliation ever suffered by an EU member state. The council of EU finance ministers said Athens must comply with austerity demands by March 16 or lose control over its own tax and spend policies altogether. It if fails to do so, the EU will itself impose cuts under the draconian Article 126.9 of the Lisbon Treaty. While the symbolic move to suspend Greece of its voting rights at one meeting makes no practical difference, it marks a constitutional watershed and represents a crushing loss of sovereignty.
Austerity measures include freezes on public sector wages and an overhaul of the tax system. Greece must also reduce its deficit from 12.7pc of GDP to 3pc in three years.
How it started
Years of unrestrained spending, cheap lending and failure to implement financial reforms left Greece badly exposed when the global economic downturn struck. This whisked away a curtain of partly fiddled statistics to reveal debt levels and deficits that exceeded limits set by the eurozone.
So what happens now?
Greece's credit rating -- the assessment of its ability to repay its debts -- has been downgraded to the lowest in the eurozone, meaning it will likely be viewed as a financial black hole by foreign investors. This leaves the country struggling to pay its bills as interest rates on existing debts rise.
Will this hurt the rest of Europe?
Greece is already in major breach of eurozone rules on deficit management and with the financial markets betting the country will default on its debts, this reflects badly on the credibility of the euro. If Europe needs to resort to rescue packages involving bodies such as the International Monetary Fund, this would further damage the euro's reputation and could lead to a substantial fall against other key currencies.
So what is Greece doing?
The government has hiked taxes on fuel, tobacco and alcohol, raised the retirement age by two years, imposed public sector pay cuts and applied tough new tax evasion regulations.
Are people happy with this?
Predictably, quite the opposite and there have been warnings of resistance from various sectors of society. Farmers have begun blockading roads to demand greater government subsidies, while on February 10th; workers nationwide staged a one-day strike closing airports, government offices, courts and schools. More strikes are expected to follow. Greek customs officials expressed their anger by kicking off a three-day strike, the first of many stoppages set to culminate in a general strike. Greek workers fear there will be a rise in unemployment if these austerity measures are implemented.
Lessons from Greece.
An export economy built on servicing the needs of neighbors, to the detriment of its citizens, will eventually fail because prices and terms are susceptible to outside forces. An economy structured to feed its citizens before exports can adjust to fluctuations quicker because the decision makers and the consumers are within close proximity and are both vested in the success of this local economy.
Conclusion
Although the Greeks governments need to belong and appease the European Union fueled the crisis, an enlightened citizenry did not passively accept the austerity measures. They expressed their opinions through civil disobedience and demonstrations.
In Kenya, the greedy political elite kow-tow to western imperialism to their benefit but to the detriment of their own people. They visit upon us villainous after villainous scandal yet there is not a sliver of rage from the docile electorate. Where is the furor? It is imperative that we hold to account and banish to political oblivion these pernicious agents of regression. We will no longer bandy around recycled agents of former oppressive regimes. It is time for new untainted leadership from patriotic men and women prepared, with comprehensive plans, to propel our nation forward.
In the final part of this article, we will study the Niger delta as an example of the ill effects of imperialism. We will also study the economic state of South Africa, 20 years after the end of apartheid rule.

Cooperative Learning: an alternative to rote regurgitation

2010-03-03T20:56:00.000-08:00

The Ministry of Education recently announced the results of the KCSE exam at a ruckus event that would have been mistaken, by the casual observer, as an announcement of a great scientific discovery such as a cure for an aggravating malady. The brouhaha displayed by the winning team, the boys, was enough to drown the shrieks and wails of the losing team, the girls. Read the full story HERE.
Competitive rote learning as advocated by the Kenyan education system, should be eschewed and totally discarded in favor of cooperative learning. The aim being to teach all equally, every student contributing, their worth being recognized and rewarded.
What is rote learning?
Rote learning is learning which avoids understanding of a subject and instead focuses on memorization. It emphasizes learning by repetition; the idea being one will be able to quickly recall the meaning of the material the more one repeats it.
Rote methods are routinely used when quick memorization is required and it is frequently used to prepare quickly for exams.
The disadvantages of rote learning are:
• Whilst this is useful in learning some basic things, such as the times tables or the alphabet, it is narrow and restrictive and does not teach children to think or how to apply that information.
• If exam papers are not well designed, it is possible for someone with good memorization techniques to pass the test without any meaningful comprehension of the subject.
• It favors the proficient retainers by heaping egregious attention on them while shunning the students at the bottom of the 'league standings' who may have proclivities in other areas
• It is not likely to produce innovators and entrepreneurs because such an education system produces people who have been trained to think in the same way.
Rote learning is a way of imparting basic information, but teaching a child to think, experiment and question are all part of the education necessary to produce a well rounded individual.
Learning Circles
Learning Circles is a form of cooperative learning whereby small diverse, democratic groups of people meet regularly over a specified period of time to focus their different perspectives into a common understanding of an issue or problem. The discussion takes place in an atmosphere of mutual trust and understanding. The goal is deeper understanding by the participants and their efforts are often directed towards the construction of a final product or recommendation for a course of action.
Learning Circles as an education tool
Learning Circles can be used with learners of any age. After the basic learning stage, learning circles can be used to help students develop trust and respect for diversity of experience, and develop both listening and speaking skills among peers.
Learning Circles can bring together classes from large urban settings and geographically isolated rural areas and from around the world via the internet. Students with a wide range of educational, physical, and social abilities can interact with one another without regard as to how high the school is ranked nationally.
Theme Based Learning Circles
Themes are used to emphasize critical thinking and problem-solving approaches. Each classroom sponsors a section in one of the themes and their work is published in a review to be shared with other participants. Let’s examine some of the themes used in this innovative style of teaching and learning.
Places and Perspectives theme
The Places and Perspectives theme encourages students to explore regional history, culture, government, and geography by sharing their knowledge with people from different locations. The goal is to expose students to places beyond their own schools and communities in order to expand their outlook on life and broaden their views. For instance, a classroom studying history may interview native inhabitants or the elderly, or describe the historical attractions of the area. A classroom studying government might sponsor one of these sections: Examining local constitutions or monitoring Elections. Their final work will be published in the Places and Perspectives review.
The Society's Problems theme
The Society's Problems theme provides students the opportunity to explore problems that confront their communities and to work together as teams to propose effective solutions. The students research issues and discuss the impact of similar problems in diverse local communities. By comparing problems across different communities, students gain a deeper understanding of the complexity of these issues, and work together to propose solutions to them.
Learning Circle participants produce a final publication called Investigating Society's Problems covering a broad range of topics. The students may want to investigate teenager-related problems such as drugs, alcohol abuse, teenage pregnancy, abortion, school dropouts, runaways and academic pressure.
The Global Issues theme
The Global Issues theme focuses discussion on a broad range of environmental social, political, and economic issues which affects the Earth's entire population.
The final publication for this theme is the Global Issues Review. Students may choose to study sociological issues such as worldwide starvation and poverty, harmful and persuasive media, racism, or terrorism. Some science-related issues include nuclear weapons, protection of natural resources, pollution, changing weather patterns, and genetic engineering.
Possible government issues include: national conflict and cooperation, the role of the United Nations, the development of emerging democracies and international trade agreements.
Cooperative learning for adults
Cooperative learning, which embraces the learning circles concept, is a relaxed, simple, low-tech form of gaining an education and understanding of issues in an informal, egalitarian setting. It reflects a growing conviction that there is a collective wisdom in groups. In study circles, participants learn to listen to each others ideas, not as points to debate, but as different experiences that each individual brings to the table.
In the study circle, each participant feels empowered to think for themselves. All are free to say what they think, to sit back and relax, and enjoy learning and thinking. Participants are encouraged to speak their minds freely and to engage in friendly disagreement.
Equality
Unlike the traditional classroom - where inequality affects not only the student/teacher relationship, but the relationships between students -in a study circle, a person with a doctorate has no more status than a person with a high school diploma. Value is placed not on having mastered someone else's ideas, but on generating and communicating ideas of one's own.
Most often, there is a facilitator whose job is not to have mastery over the subject the group is discussing, but to keep the discussion going. Facilitators need be "expert" only in managing the group so that all are heard and the conversation stays lively and on topic.
Democracy
By managing the process themselves, participants practice democracy. What is democracy? It's a system of shared power, a system in which individuals feel they can affect the outcome of political decisions. In the study circle environment - where there is equality, respect for others, and excitement about the exchange of ideas - people are engaged in the most fundamental aspects of democracy. They will come to conclusions or make decisions through talking, listening, and understanding.
Connection
In study circles, "connection" is central. Participants seldom take part just to learn objective facts. The importance of what they learn lies in its connection to their lives, their own experiences, and the real problems and issues they face. A study circle is "education for life."
And, of course, the participants themselves are connected. When people talk about their lives, share their feelings, and listen to each other with respect, there is connection and a sense of community, a sense of belonging.
Education as transformation
Today, conventional education focuses more and more on careerism, seeing education in the narrow role of helping people get jobs. Study circles focus on self-realization and social transformation by encouraging participants to blossom as individuals and to bring about change in society.
Study circles bring people together to talk, to feel part of a community, and to practice acceptance of diversity, promote equality and engage in democracy.
The way forward
The learning circles method of education would probably be suited to students in the final stages of primary school and beyond. Here are some points to consider as we seek to not only educate but to also empower:
• Class sizes should be divided into groups at some time during the school day where a free flow of ideas is indulged. All the students can be given roles in the group when it is time for working on a project. Examples of roles could be: an illustrator, a model maker, the presenter, the researcher, the facilitator and so on.
• Instead of final exams, why not have presentation of material that students have researched and put together?
• Beyond high school, educators should think about prompting students towards vocational and technical schools. There are many bright students who may not be able to memorize and recite facts but have an inclination towards the trades.
• Take students on field trips to potential work areas where they may establish a mentorship with professionals.
• Educate students from every day examples. Lessons may be taught from the newspaper where students question news stories and the teacher uses this opportunity to impart a valuable lesson. Take for example the recent news story about the stolen funds donated by the United Kingdom for free primary education. This would become a lesson on the workings of the Ministry of Education, its budget, employee salaries, and the work of different officials and so on. An enlightened student bringing this information home to his parents would more than likely influence how his parents would vote at the next elections.
This section welcomes input from reform minded educators from Kenya and from around the world
Conclusion
There is material that goes further as to how to conduct a learning circle in detail but we will not dwell on this area in this article. We only seek to introduce this new way of learning and thinking. It will be a welcome departure from the vacuous rallies our rulers subject us to that are agenda less, replicated at varying venues with different needs and do not bring about any progress.
The progress and development of neighborhoods and localities will not be brought about by this corruption ridden government. It will be brought about by people getting to know each other, discussing their problems and mutually adopting a consensual solution for implementation. Rural dwellers share and have more in common with their neighbor than with that elite tribesman whose grandiose lifestyle, swathed in ill gotten trappings, does not reflect our experiences or struggles.
Full disclosure: The opinions expressed in this and other preceding articles will be part of the manifesto of a political party to be known as The African Economic Democracy Party that will be seeking the mandate of the Kenyan people in the general elections of 2012. We will continually strive to present solutions with substance to issues affecting fellow Kenyans in order to uplift the living standards of this generation and bring prosperity to future generations.

Neighborhood organizations: stalwarts of the local economy.

2010-02-24T19:48:00.000-08:00

In a previous article, we took the position that protectionism is an idea that merits further perusal as a means of developing our local industries. In this article we will attempt to define the role played by neighborhood organizations in reviving and stimulating the local economy.
What is a neighborhood organization?
A neighborhood organization is one made up of concerned citizens coming together to tackle the pressing issues that are peculiar to that locality. It should operate in a small enough area so that you can know everyone else fairly well, have a real voice in what the community does, and yet it is large enough to have real diversity, and offer and accomplish more than you could alone or as a household. If it is truly a community, with many overlapping relationships (co-worker, friend, neighbor, etc.), then it exerts an important pressure on its members to develop their personal integrity and take seriously the issues to be addressed.
It employs a participatory form of governorship as opposed to the representative form whereby we elect a Member of Parliament who disappears only to reappear at election time. Neighborhood organizations are invaluable in the pursuit of good food, good health, a pleasant home, a friendly community, satisfying work, time to play and a sense of security.
We will address some of the areas in which people working together can stimulate the local economy.
Community supported agriculture
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a way for consumers to buy local, food directly from a farmer. Here are the basics: a farmer offers a certain number of "shares" to the public. Typically the share consists of a box of vegetables, but other farm products may be included such as poultry or meats. Interested consumers purchase a share (aka a "membership" or a "subscription") and in return receive a box (bag, basket) of produce each week or other defined period. With techniques such as irrigation and green house farming, farmers will be able to offer produce free from the influence of seasonal rains.
Advantages for farmers:
• Gets to spend time learning the marketing aspect of the business.
• Receive payment early in the season, which helps with the farm's cash flow
• Will sell directly to the consumer so will retain the majority of the profit that would have gone to a middleman.
• Has an opportunity to get to know the people who eat the food they grow
Advantages for consumers:
• Eats ultra-fresh food, with all the flavor and vitamin benefits
• Get exposed to new vegetables and new ways of cooking
• Usually get to visit the farm at least once a season
• Find that kids typically favor food from "their" farm – this would lead to a more varied nutritious diet
• Develops a relationship with the farmer who grows their food and learns about how food is grown
• Food will be presumably less expensive since it has a shorter distance to travel and has less packaging
Civic engagement
Neighborhood groups, well organized would be able to take to task government agencies and the local county council on delivery of essential services. They would attend council hearings, if they are held, and demand some floor time to present their opinions. As a recent example, there was a fire in Ongata Rongai, a township outside Nairobi, The fire department from Nairobi responded after a while. From this story, we learn that the local county council does not have an emergency response department and it registers businesses without inspecting for fire alarms and fire exits. In such a situation, a neighborhood organization could demand accountability and an open audit of county revenues to ascertain how they spend it.
Local groups would also be able to hold adult awareness classes in topics such as:
• Civics and the rights of citizens under the law
• Health awareness and associated topics such as healthy eating and disease prevention.
• Cultural and sporting events. These would advance neighborliness and promote national cohesion devoid of stereotypes.
A sense of security
Neighborhood groups well organized groups would lead the way in demanding from the government adequate security for their region. For every cluster of population there should a police station or security outpost within reach to respond to emergency situations. They would demand the police stations have updated communications equipment and emergency response vehicles.
Neighborhood Watch Program.
This is a citizen ran program with roots in the U.S.A that may contain some useful ideas that may be adopted for rural and urban neighborhoods.
What it is
Neighborhood Watch is a crime prevention program that teaches citizens how to help themselves by identifying and reporting suspicious activity in their neighborhoods.
The town of Ngong, outside Nairobi, was recently hit by a spate of robberies whereby victims were drugged then robbed. Victims interviewed gave descriptions of the gang yet police have not apprehended them. Livestock are even being driven off farms by rustlers. An alert neighborhood, watching out for each other and raising the alarm can prevent crimes before they happen.
In addition, Neighborhood Watch provides citizens with the opportunity to make their neighborhoods safer and improve the quality of life. Neighborhood Watch groups typically focus on observation and awareness as a means of preventing crime and employ strategies that range from simply promoting social interaction to active patrols by groups of citizens. All Neighborhood Watches share one foundational idea, that bringing community members together to reestablish control of their neighborhoods promotes an increased quality of life and reduces the crime rate in that area.
Strategies employed
• After forming the initial group, consisting of resident volunteers, the group will identify any problem areas and set priorities on which to tackle and in what order
• They would establish a partnership with local law enforcement. Ways in which residents and the police can work together is: the police can help residents start patrol groups, the police can set up a dedicated phone line for tips to prevent impeding crime or tips leading to the arrest of law breakers.
• They would identify projects beyond crime prevention. One way to accomplish this is to create and embark upon new projects so that there is always a goal towards which the team is aspiring. Projects may include: building a neighborhood playground, regular town or village cleaning and beautification, volunteer work with the local hospital or school among others.
Community supported enterprises
Many businesses, especially in most rural areas, play an irreplaceable part in community life. They are the hub of the community, they are meeting and lounging places, and they are historical places while others provide unique services to locals such as credit purchases based on good faith.
It would therefore be prudent for neighborhood residents to support local businesses to maintain the unique life style that is the essence of rural life. Also by supporting local businesses, the money spent stays in the neighborhood and is reinvested enhancing the quality of life. Take the simplified example of the farmer family whose produce is sold pre-order. They then take part of their earnings and use it to commission uniforms for their school children from the local seamstress. She will then use that sale to pay her local taxes and spend some in the neighborhood. If her product is good and her business expands, she may hire employees. This will lead to more jobs for residents who will in turn have money to spend on other businesses. This is one way in which a community thrives and grows.
Tax revenue generated by local businesses will also be used to improve the provision of essential services such as health, education and security.
If a business were to run into financial trouble, the neighborhood organization could bail it out in a unique way by buying shares redeemable for goods or services later. Take the example of a neighborhood eatery. If in financial trouble, the neighborhood may purchase shares of the business at a set value in exchange for a cash infusion to prop the business up. When the business steadies, investors would then redeem their shares for meals over a period of time. This way the business remains operable and the residents have a place to eat and socialize.
Conclusion
Although neighborhoods, especially in urban areas, are invariably made up of residents, often with nothing in common, looking for affordable housing, they would be well served to get to know each other and take pride in the preservation and progress of their neighborhoods. Thriving and vibrant neighborhoods would by extension lead to a healthy and progressive nation.
Full disclosure: The opinions expressed in this and other preceding articles are excerpted from the manifesto of a budding political party that will be seeking the mandate of the Kenyan people in the general elections of 2017. We will continually strive to present solutions with substance to issues affecting fellow Kenyans in order to uplift the living standards of this generation and bring prosperity to future generations.

Arguments for the promotion of Protectionism

2010-02-17T20:57:00.000-08:00

Previously we decried the practice of agribusiness and extolled the merits of peasant farming as the viable way forward towards food self sufficiency. This article was prompted by a recent news item in the BBC. The article talked about the Kenyan flower growers facing sales leveling-off in the export sector this winter season. The ensuing effect has been the scaling back of labor.
Our position is that we should not be engaged in cultivating cash crops for export to the detriment of growing food to feed the nation. This leads us to recommend an enforceable policy of protectionism to regulate what we export and to safeguard infant industries.
This edict would entail a drastic reformulation of our trade policies including rethinking our foreign trade agreements.
What is protectionism?
Protectionism is the policy of imposing duties or quotas on imports in order to protect, from global competition, home industries from overseas competition. This in turn would lead to the growth of local industries, the growth of jobs and a better living standard for the citizens due to money being spent and reinvested locally.
Benefits of protectionism:
• Protects infant industries: When industries are just beginning, it makes sense to protect them from the perils of foreign competition at first, until the industry grows and matures. At that time the protection can be lifted and the mature company will be competitive.
• Raises government revenue: Government revenue increases since the Kenya government collects the tariff revenue. This revenue could be used to fund social welfare programs.
• Stricter enforcement of labor and environmental laws: With government monitoring, workers will be paid a fair living wage. Ground and air pollution laws will be enforced and those companies violating will be subject to fines and mandatory cleanup.
• Restricts market flooding of sub-standard wares: The government could establish a quality bureau to inspect all foreign made goods being imported into the country. The operating principle would be ‘we should not import it if we can make it’. An example would be the ‘mitumba industry’. The local market is flooded with used clothing from abroad yet we can make clothing here at home by supporting the cotton growers and the textile industry. An option would even be the growing of hemp for the textile industry.
Drawbacks
Initially the Kenyan consumer will pay higher prices for locally manufactured products because the production process will not be as efficient and will be fraught with errors as the learning curve grows.
Going forward:
• As workers become more experienced and efficient, prices will drop. The government will ease tariffs and producers will then be able to compete with foreign made products. If there is a surplus in production, it may be exported to neighboring countries thereby bringing in foreign revenue.
• There will be an increase in the availability of jobs in the manufacturing and agricultural sector. This will in turn stimulate the local economy due to workers spending more on other services.
• With an experienced workforce, they may then in turn train interns so skills are perpetuated generationally. The skilled workforce may also be able to apply their skills to other areas of the industrial economy.
• We would have to partition the huge tracts of idle land to give to citizens willing to work it. They would in turn pay land rent as the only form of taxation. We would not tax their produce. This would lead to a decent living wage for the people.
• To finance the budding industries, we will set up community banks to serve localities. They would service loans to individuals or co-operatives to undertake these ventures.
• As different regions specialize in the manufacture of different products, a limited barter system could be adopted for trade. Neighboring regions that do not produce could become processors.
Conclusion.
This article is purposefully rudimentary to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. We admit it calls for drastic changes in the way we run the economy but it needs to be done if we are to emerge from the economic doldrums that has perpetually engulfed the nation.
We will call on Kenya’s learned economists and other professionals for planning and implementation.
Full disclosure: The opinions expressed in this and other preceding articles will form the basis of a political grass roots movement that will be seeking the mandate of the Kenyan people in the general elections of 2017. We believe in presenting solutions with substance to issues affecting fellow Kenyans instead of the empty rhetoric and the petty quibbles that are the hallmark of those presently in power.

People power leadership: Examples from developing nations

2010-02-10T23:30:00.000-08:00

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!

Cuba: National policy for sustainable agriculture

2010-02-06T19:30:00.000-08:00

In the previous article, we took the position that sustainable agriculture was the way forward to help build vibrant rural economies. In this article, we will study Cuba as a success story in sustainable organic farming. This farming revolution was forced upon the Cuban people by their practice of agribusiness to serve an export market that collapsed after the Soviet Union withdraw support. This situation is eerily similar to what is being practiced in Kenya today by the growing of cash crops for export although not to such a grand scale.
The article below has been gleaned from several sources.
A brief history
From 1492 to 1898, Cuba was a colony of Spain. Both the native people and the forest were annihilated to make way for large cattle and sugar farms in the hands of a few wealthy owners and worked by slaves.
In 1898, the United States entered into the Spanish-American war, Spain was easily defeated, and Cuba was under US military rule from 1898 to 1902. Over the next few decades, U.S businesses and individuals acquired some of the best land and US marines were stationed in Cuba to protect US interests. Sugar production continued to increase in importance at the expense of food production, which caused greater reliance on food imports. Wealth was concentrated in a few hands, and the vast majority of Cubans continued to live in poverty without access to land or incomes sufficient to feed their families.
On December 31, 1958, the Batista government was overthrown, and a socialist government took power. The expropriation of US property in Cuba led to a US policy of isolation. By 1960, the isolationist policies caused Fidel Castro to turn to the Soviet Bloc. By 1962, Cuba effectively was a Soviet satellite. Cuban agricultural policies followed the Soviet model—large monocultural state farms were highly mechanized and heavily reliant on chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The Soviet Union subsidized this industrial model by trading its oil, chemicals, and machinery for Cuban sugar at preferential rates.
Then, in 1989, the Berlin Wall fell. Almost overnight $6 billion in Soviet subsidies to Cuba disappeared. At the same time, the US trade embargo tightened, and Cuba was plunged into an economic crisis that was further exacerbated by the United States passing the "Cuban Democracy Act," in 1992 which prohibited assistance to Cuba in the form of food, medicine, and medical supplies.
State implemented reform
Cuba radically changed the state sector in 1993; 80% of the farmland was then held by the state and over half was turned over to workers in the form of cooperatives-UBPC (Basic Unit of Cooperative Production). Farmers lease state land rent free in perpetuity, in exchange for meeting production quotas. A 1994 reform permitted farmers to sell their excess production at farmers' markets.
The reforms emphasized five basic principles:
• Focus on agro ecological technology: this was supported by the state/university research, education, and extensions system.
• Land reform; state farms were transformed to cooperatives or broken into smaller private units, and anyone wishing to farm could do so rent free.
• Fair prices to farmers: Farmers can sell their excess production at farmers' markets; average incomes of farmers are three times that of other workers in Cuba.
• Emphasis on local production: Urban agriculture played a big part in this reform. More on this below.
• Farmer-to-farmer training:this served as the backbone of the extension system.

Urban Agriculture
Another area in which an innovative approach has been applied is that of urban agriculture. The Cuban government promoted and nurtured the public enthusiasm for urban agriculture. It ruled that any unused city lot, even state-owned, could be taken over by citizens to grow food. Growers were permitted to sell their surpluses on the open market.
Government programs were launched to help city folks learn to farm. Experts explained organic growing, composting, and natural pest control and water conservation. Shops were opened to sell seeds and supplies. An estimated 1,000 kiosks for fresh local produce were set up at farm gates and busy street corners throughout Havana.
The popular gardens range in size from a few square meters to large plots of land which are cultivated by individuals or community groups.
Production in other agricultural areas
The reforms have not yielded dramatic results for sugar, meat, or dairy, nor for traditional import crops (rice and beans). Cuba continues to rely on food imports, as it has since it was colonized. Cuba buys rice from India and China, dairy products from the European Union, grains from South America and Eastern Europe, and meat from Canada and Brazil. Cuba has to buy these products from distant countries, adding on average 30% to the cost of food imports over what they would pay for US products.
Effect on meat production
Meat production and dairy production were hit particularly hard by the loss of subsidized Soviet feed and petroleum. The loss of petroleum meant that animal traction became a strategy to reduce reliance on farm machinery. Animal traction is also better for soil management, particularly given the smaller farm size after land was redistributed. However, the conversion to animal traction was impeded by lack of oxen and expertise. The solution was to prohibit slaughter of cattle without government permission (in order to build up the herd) and to create "schools" to train the oxen (and presumably farmers).
Other government programs
Social equity is a clearly a higher priority for the Cuban government than personal liberty. Despite being the second poorest country in the Americas, there is no widespread hunger; housing is generally free, if dilapidated and crowded; Cubans are one of the most educated populations in the world; and there is universal free health care. All Cubans have access to a basic (although minimal) diet through their ration card. Cubans supplement this with food they grow, barter for, or buy at farm stands, farmers' markets, or dollar stores.
The Future
It seems likely that Cuba will continue to promote agro ecological practices and to expand urban agriculture simply because they are yielding results. The bad experiences with large agricultural operations, both before and after communism, make it unlikely that anyone could credibly promote a return to large, high-input operations as a matter of national policy.
The positive results that farmers, university researchers, and extension are getting from the transformation of Cuban agriculture will likely encourage them to continue to pursue sustainable practices whatever comes next. Cuban people are eating better and healthier than before, though things are far from perfect. However, the relevant comparison is to other Latin American countries; Cuba simply does not have the widespread hunger, destitution, and suffering that are commonplace in countries with much higher GDP per capita.
Conclusion
There are many lessons we can learn from Cuba for Kenya:
• The government giving citizens plots to farm on in urban areas could go a long way to alleviate hunger and stabilize our food supplies in the urban areas.
• The food ration card to ensure all Kenyans get access to a basic diet is a positive. The government could contract local and rural farmers for this program.
• A barter system, food for food or food for services by urban and rural farmers would be an idea worth researching and implementing.
• The possible establishment of a sustainable agricultural department by the government to train urban and rural farmers in organic agriculture
• Discounted availability of seeds and agricultural supplies would help potential urban and rural farmers.
Next we a will study a few other examples from other developing nations that have implemented positive policies in sustainability.

Peasant farming: The viable way forward

2010-02-02T05:33:00.000-08:00

Previously we addressed and expounded on the ills of agribusiness. In this article we will make a case for sustainable farming as the answer to progress and prosperity. Many of the ideas discussed in this article are not novel. What we aim to do is to make them prominent in our campaign to retake Kenya by focusing on supporting a sustainable middle class in the rural areas. We aim to provide a financial, educational and social framework that will afford economic opportunity and support to family farmers who will form the bedrock of vibrant, sustainable rural economies. This is in contrast to the policy propagated by the elite entrenched land barons (with huge tracts held for speculation) who endlessly recycle themselves to protect their ill gotten gains.
What is sustainability?
Sustainability in general rests on the principle that we must meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. This definition is equally applicable in all areas of the vibrant rural societies we are trying to agitate for through our policies. We previously identified these areas and we will address them separately as we go along.
Why promote small farms?
Small family farms are the backbone of a community, a nation, and of society as a whole. A nation of family farms is settled, balanced and stable, and generally sustainable.
Sustainable farms are small. They're mixed, mixed crops, mixed trees and mixed livestock, with all three mixed together in an integrated pattern that mimics natural biodiversity and reaps the benefits of collaborating with nature. The main benefit is health: healthy soil, healthy crops and livestock, and healthy yields, along with low input costs.
Mixed family farms provide sustenance, food security and a healthy surplus for sale or barter, they far out-produce the bigger, mechanized farms.
What is sustainable agriculture?
Sustainable agriculture is a way of raising food that is healthy for consumers and animals, does not harm the environment, is humane for workers, respects animals, provides a fair wage to the farmer, and supports and enhances rural communities.
Principles of this type of agriculture include:
Conservation and preservation
In a sustainable system, soil is kept in balance. Crops are rotated through the fields to replace nutrients in the soil. Where there is livestock, animals graze the land, then manure from those animals is used to fertilize the soil.
Biodiversity
Farms raise different types of plants, which are rotated around the fields to enrich the soil and help prevent disease and pest outbreaks. Chemical pesticides are used minimally and only when necessary; many sustainable farms do not use any form of chemicals.
Animal welfare
Animals are treated humanely and with respect, and are well cared for. They are permitted to carry out their natural behaviors, such as grazing, rooting or pecking, and are fed a natural diet appropriate for their species.
Economically viable
Farm workers are paid a fair wage and farmers receive a fair price for their produce in the open market.
Sustainable farms support local economies by providing jobs for members of the community and purchasing supplies from local businesses. Farmers will also have money to spend on other businesses in the community that provide services or products.
Why buy sustainably produced food?
1. Health.
Grass fed beef is healthier than factory farmed grain fed meat. That frozen patty or that hamburger from that popular joint could contain meat from many different sources. It is surprising what they allow to go into the making of a ‘beef’ patty.
The concept of sustainability also involves eating local, which means buying food from a farm as close to you as possible. This cuts down on the length of time between when the food is harvested or processed and when you eat it. After being harvested, food begins to lose nutrients, so the less time between the farm and your dinner plate; the more nutritious the food is for you.
2. Tastes Better.
Most people claim that sustainably-raised food simply tastes better. We all know the difference in taste in eggs produced by free range chickens compared to those produced by factory farms.
3. Environment.
Sustainable farms do not raise more animals than the land is capable of sustaining. Family farms will take all the animal manure and use it replenish the earth. This eliminates the need for chemical fertilizers.
Factory farms cram too many animals in one place. The manure they make is then dumped it into our ecosystem resulting in rivers and the air becoming polluted.
Conclusion
This is by no means an exhaustive article; it only serves as an introduction to get a discussion going on how we can move our country forward.
The next article will be a case study of Cuba which when faced with a U.S. embargo together with the collapse of the Soviet Union managed to develop one of the most efficient organic agriculture systems in the world.
We welcome reader suggestions

Agribusiness: the salve that failed to soothe.

2010-01-27T16:41:00.000-08:00

Previously we talked about the maize shortage that plagued our nation last year. The government partly blamed it on an international food crisis that led to higher prices on imported grains. We also addressed agribusiness by noting its inadequacies to sustain food production for coming generations. In this article we will give cause as to why agribusiness is not the way forward for Kenya.
Until recently, agribusiness and large scale farming was the favored method of feeding western nations particularly America. It still is, but in the last two decades, peasant farming or sustainable agriculture has become a growing movement seeking to replace the highly chemicalized, mechanized, specialized, industrialized factory farms.
Although factory farms are efficient, they do have monumental drawbacks examples of which include:
• Topsoil depletion,
• Groundwater contamination,
• The decline of family farms,
• Continued neglect of the living and working conditions for farm laborers,
• Increasing costs of production,
• Disintegration of economic and social conditions in rural communities.
In fact, in April 2008, Sixty countries backed by the UN and the World Bank called for radical changes in world farming when they signed the final report of the UN's International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD). The key message of the report was that small-scale farmers and organic, agro-ecological methods are the way forward to solve the current food crisis and meet the needs of local communities.
And according to the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), land degradation may pose a serious threat to food production and rural livelihoods, particularly in poor and densely populated areas of the developing world. Some of the effects specific to regions would be:
• Nutrient depletion
• Agrochemical pollution
• Soil erosion
• Agriculture-induced deforestation
These are all linked to large scale food production particularly the growing of cash crops for export.
Health wise, the inordinate consumption of processed foods has led to an increase in ‘modern’ ailments such as arthritis and tuberculosis among others.
Weston A. Price (1870-1948) author of Nutrition and Physical Degeneration traveled more than 100,000 miles to study the diets and health of isolated primitive peoples in Africa, South America, Australia, Polynesia, Europe and northern Canada, at a time when such communities still existed. Wherever he found them, regardless of race, diet and climate, they were a "picture of superb health": they had superb physiques, perfect teeth, no arthritis, no tuberculosis, no degenerative diseases, and they were cheerful, happy, hardy folk.

That changed radically when he compared them to other, less isolated groups of the same peoples, charting a catastrophic health decline the closer they got to the "trade foods" produced by industrial society (processed foods grown by synthetic farming methods). He found it takes only one generation of eating industrialized food to destroy health and immunity.
What does this portend for Kenya? Since about 70% of the population lives in the rural areas, subsisting on locally grown food, we have not been affected as adversely by the effects of eating processed food. We also mainly farm following natural cycles so nutrient depletion in the soil is not as drastic as other nations that largely grow food on factory farms. We do however need to:
• Nurture the peasant farmer to produce locally for local markets thus reducing the need for imported grains.
• Encourage family farming as a counter to rural-urban migration.
• Reduce the acreage being used for cash crops and instead grow mixed crops and encourage animal keeping for poultry and meat products.
• Establish local processing plants to reduce the price of food due to transportation.
These among many other ideas may lead us to self sufficiency as pertains to feeding the nation.
The next article will address sustainable farming and organic farming as a viable option to building vibrant rural communities.
As usual reader suggestions and professional opinions are entertained.

The Ugali episodes: From staple to scarcity

2010-01-19T03:19:00.000-08:00

Maize flour often described as ‘the every man’s food’ became a rarity last year leading to an appeal for international food aid by the government. The maize shortage was partly caused by the drought and the maize scandal at the Ministry of Agriculture.
The government statement attributed the cause of the shortage to a host of international factors such as higher fertilizer prices, the oil crisis, and an international food crisis leading to higher prices on imported grains.
Based on our present mode of food production, we will always be a captive of international trade policies and fluctuations in market conditions far removed from our own. We will address our solution to sustainable food production in another article.
In this posting, we welcome back Mwarang’ethe, our partner in progress, who addressed this issue a while back. His opinions have recently been echoed by an MP seeking to pass a bill for a return to price controls on food prices. The relevant quotation in the story is, “maize and maize meal prices in urban areas have increased astronomically because, after liberalizing the market in 1993, we encouraged the emergence of highly-centralized large-scale milling facilities, promoting the consumption of highly-refined and expensive maize meal”. The entire story can be found HERE.
The Ugali Saga: A Better Perspective

Written by Mwarang'ethe

The shortage and cost of Ugali flour has captured the attention of Kenyans, and rightly so, in the recent days. Now, the question is, have we really been discussing the real issues? We venture to argue that many Kenyans are not aware of the real issues. This includes our politicians, journalists, etc. Thus, to the extent they we/are unaware, then, the real issues have not been discussed. (We will not discuss the issue of hoarding, as much as we know it is an issue).

So, what are the real issues? It is the objective of this short essay to bring out what the real issues so that the real debate can begin. The real issues can be discussed under the following headings:

(a) The nutrition question.
(b) The milling technology question.
(c) The quantity question.

1. THE NUTRITION QUESTION
There are three types of Ugali flour. These are:
(a) Whole maize meal.
(b) Partially de-germed maize meal.
(c) Fully de-germed maize meal, i.e. super sifted meal
From the nutrition point of view, the whole meal is the most nutritious of all. To that extent, medical people recommend we eat the whole meal. However, as many of you are aware, most Kenyans and especially, the educated (read brain washed) and those in the urban areas (so called urbanites) prefer the full de-germed. Why so? Well, to the educated and urbanites, this flour is whitish and therefore preferred. Also, since almost all fibers are removed so it is easier to digest.
Yes, it is easier to digest because; the fiber, nutrients like calcium, iron, niacin, riboflavin and fat are removed. Furthermore, the sifted meal also lacks two very vital types of proteins, i.e. globulins and glutelins, but has zein which is a poorer source of protein. Thus, under this heading, it is worth noting that we have adopted eating habits that are extremely poor in the name of sophistication. This is important considering that we rely on maize meal to the tune of over 70%.

2. THE MILLING TECHNOLOGY QUESTION

Taking cognizance of the types of meals, here, we venture to state that the sifted maize meal (full de-germed), is the most expensive to produce. This is because it requires very expensive meals called roll mills. On the other hand, whole meal is the cheapest to produce.
So, what are the implications? Since roll mills are very expensive, it is only the foreigners and some few very rich Kenyans who can afford such technology. However, if we had adopted the habit of eating whole meal, it would have given Wanjiku, the small scale miller, the chance to mill maize and sell to us. This would in turn lead to the operation of hundreds of small maize mills owned by Kenyans. But since we have adopted the habit of eating sifted maize meal, we have entrusted maize milling to the foreigners who use expensive IMPORTED and EXPENSIVE technology, whereas, the whole meal technology is CHEAP and available in Kenya and from other third world countries. Have you ever wondered why Africa keeps on getting poorer? Stop wondering, you can now see why.

3. QUANTITY QUESTION

Let's assume that we produce 1 metric tonne of maize every year. Let us also assume that we consume 1 metric tonne of maize every year. If we look at the situation this way, we produce enough maize meal for our nation. However, when we factor in the three types of maize meals, i.e. whole meal, partially de-germed and full germed maize mills, the equation changes.

If we mill 1 metric tonne of maize under the whole meal technology, we get back flour to the tune of 98%. If we use the de–germed meal technology, what ends on the table is around 80% of our initial input. Under the fully de-germed technology, we only get back around 60%. Simply, under the sifted maize technology which we have adopted, we end up with 40% deficit. This means that we have to IMPORT the 40% we lose under this technology. So, we have to look for $$$ and ££££ to import maize because we have lost it in the milling process. This seems to us nothing but madness.

3 (a) WHAT HAPPENS IN THE FULLY DE-GERMED TECHNOLOGY

Under this technology, we lose about 40% of our maize output because the by-products of this system are used as animal feed and oil production. For the animal feeds, much of this ends up being exported to the West to feed their animals, although some is used locally as well. Furthermore, most Kenyans cannot afford meat produced by these by products. Even more interesting, only 10% of the energy/food content of these by products is utilized by these animals. This means, that 90% of the food content in these by products is simply lost for good.

Conclusions

So what now? What Kenya needs is a different policy that encourages Kenyans to eat whole meal. If you read this essay carefully, the advantages of doing so are self evident. However, the question is, are the policy makers even interested in such a radical shift in policy? We venture to argue that they are not. But why do we argue so? Simply, when the big mills come to invest as foreign investors, they give the so called policy makers a share in the plants, (Remember Safaricom saga) and thus, they are accomplices in these schemes. Since Wanjiku will not give shares to these petty elites of Kenya/Africa, (we have nothing, but contempt for the African elite) she is not supported in her search for entrepreneurial success.
Finally, what we have written about this industry can be extended to other sectors of the economy. In that case, a wise person can start to see why Africa sinks into poverty every day despite all the efforts. We need a new way of thinking. It does not matter which incorrigible leader is in power, as long as we are ignorant of the very critical issues that contribute to poverty or wealth creation of any nation, we will remain a desolate destitute people. We invite the reader to engage in a constructive debate to put our country on the path to prosperity.

Ethics and the search for a national identity

2010-01-14T08:19:00.000-08:00

Ethics and the search for a national identity
In previous articles, we talked about the insidious corruption plaguing our government employees. The bane of our people will be this malignancy that has regrettably become a requirement for the procurement of government services.
So pervasive is this corruption that it is practiced in the private sector without any shame from the seeker or remorse from the giver. From the Failed States Index 2009, we learn that Kenya is ranked 14th out of 177 countries surveyed by the Fund for Peace. This may seem like old news, but in light of the recent scams orchestrated by ministry officials, and the ominous alliances being proposed by our copious legislators, we feel the need to sound an alarm now rather than sing a dirge over our nation later.
We interact daily with one another, in business dealings, in the work place, in school and at social gatherings. We therefore believe that in order to forge a national identity, we should seriously examine how we treat one another. Below are some suggestions that may minimize corruption and inculcate nationalism.
• Adopt a uniform code of conduct for all government •Employees: All employees should be trained in customer service. Issues like how to greet the public, how to transact business professionally and how to handle complaints should be addressed among others. A yearly review of employee conduct may determine continuation or termination of employment. Periodic impromptu ‘secret shopper’ operations should be carried out to flush out employees engaging in reprehensible behaviors such as bribery.
• Establish a dedicated hot line: This office will deal with customer criticisms and suggestions. This may take the form of regional centers throughout the country to bring services closer to the people. Complaints should be investigated and positive interactions should be rewarded.
• Establishment of regional Better Business Bureaus: They would comprise of local businesses associations dedicated to providing an excellent shopping experience. Their membership badge would be displayed prominently on their premises to reassure customers that they will be treated fairly and disagreements will be resolved.
• Cultural events: We would engage in regional and national events featuring sports, music, crafts and others. Participants would be drawn from students as well as the general public from all diverse areas. The expected outcome would be that participants would then teach their neighbors that other Kenyans may be different terms of language and appearance but we all experience the same joys and pain.
• Education and awareness: Schools should make ethics and morality a part of the curriculum from the onset until university level. Student exchange programs would make students appreciate other cultures different from their own. We should teach our children about our traditional history, the heroes of yesteryear from different tribes and the achievements and contributions of Kenyans towards our liberation.
As for nationalism, we previously talked about the importance of establishing local sustainable economies. An integrated neighborhood that worked and played together would be hesitant to turn on each other at the behest of greedy, power hungry politicians. That workmate, that friend from a different tribe, that fellow parent whose children go to the same school, is more likely to be of assistance in time of need than the politician who promised everything but will not be seen until the next general election.
Kenyans in the Diaspora are curiously nationalistic. One would think that living a comfortable life in the west would make them adopt western ways and reject the trappings of home. Conversely, they seek to retain and cultivate the ways of the motherland. They pine for all things Kenyan, food, music, film, news and social interaction through celebration of our national holidays. Absence makes the heart grow fonder they say, and it is only when we are separated from what makes us Africans do we get to appreciate the beauty and uniqueness that is Kenya. We may not be the greatest nation on earth, but we would like to believe we are the greatest people on this green earth!
Suggestions and reactions from readers welcomed.

Devolution and the case for a local economy

2010-01-11T17:43:00.000-08:00

Devolution and arguments for a local economy
Previously we discussed foreign aid as it is currently and how we can conditionally accept it, if we have to at all.
In this article, we will further stress our position that government should not be engaged in enterprise but should instead focus on delivery of essential services.
Devolution is the government’s idea of stimulating the economy at the grass roots level. What exactly is devolution? Simply put, devolution is the decentralization of development projects to the District and Constituency level. Its intention is to equitably distribute national resources throughout the country from the Treasury without bias. Several funds have been set up for this purpose. They are mentioned in this informative article HERE!
The one fund that politicians are incessantly yapping about is the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) they extol its virtues to bewildered masses as a panacea for all the ills burdening our every day existence. The government website touts it as a wealth building program at the grass roots level but in our opinion, it has not been a success due to it being plagued by problems some of which we have highlighted.
• Awareness. Many people are only vaguely familiar with the CDF and its operating structure and were not consulted in its implementation.
• Membership. The ordinary citizen is not represented in the myriad of committees that manages the fund. It is up to the discretion of the local MP to appoint the committee which will invariably be filled with conniving cronies of dubious extraction.
• Evaluation. There is no open avenue for idea presentation, project monitoring, and evaluation of completed projects. There are also no applicable consequences for shoddy, mismanaged, delayed or even non starter projects.
We thus reinforce our position that government programs aimed at resource reallocation only end up augmenting the illegitimately acquired coffers of those proposing them.
The way forward
How then do we work towards vibrant, healthy self sustaining local economies?
Our solution is in the exploratory stage so far but these are the areas we need to focus on if our communities are going to flourish.
• Local food sufficiency
• Locally owned financial systems (community banks)
• Businesses rooted in the community /community supported enterprises
• Locally based energy generation
• Local production for local needs
• Protection of open spaces and establishment of public parks
• Rezoning so that business and government buildings are centrally located in a down town area.
• Civic education awareness and citizen participation in the governing process
• Promotion of vibrant social outlets
• Local barter exchanges and volunteer programs
• Others
In a series of future articles, we will tackle the above issues. We will afford each area a posting of its own and we will give examples of sustainable projects that have been successfully implemented both at home and in other developing nations.
As usual reader feedback and suggestions are entertained.

LETS RETHINK FORIEGN AID

2010-01-06T06:39:00.000-08:00

Lets rethink Foreign Aid
Corruption has seemingly become a way of life in Kenya. One of the ongoing scandals is at the Education Ministry. Money meant for free primary education has been diverted to private accounts owned by Ministry officials. Some of the money was from foreign donors who have since frozen further funding until audits are done, culprits punished and the money recovered. Details of the story can be found HERE
It has become glaringly clear that funds from foreign sources, meant to alleviate poverty or implement development, are not making it to the intended recipients. Even food aid meant for the starving populace is impounded by corrupt officials and later sold on the open market.
The primary recipient of foreign aid is the government. It is in turn supposed to disburse this aid to citizens according to the donor’s intentions. Our moribund government bureaucracy instead concocts schemes to siphon off all the money to phony accounts for their personal benefit. This practice has now become putative and even celebrated in the corridors of power and it will continue unabated if we do not put in a system of monitoring how these funds are disbursed.
The situation has become so dire that even when the government did distribute funds as in this recent example shown HERE, the groups charged with implementing the intentions of the government distributed the money among members and disbanded!
We now have to seriously reconsider the role of the government and the way it delivers its services. It is our contention that government should not be engaged in funding any income generating projects. We are not talking about government run corporations but funds given to self help groups to run micro businesses such as posho mills. The government’s role should be to provide the following:
• Infrastructure. This means passable and well maintained main roads and feeder roads that should make travelling around the country a thing of ease. Said roads should also be well lit, secure from banditry and should take into account flooding
• Education. Build, maintain and adequately supply all government schools. The free primary education has been a good initiative but it has been riddled with scandal as noted above. The government should train and recruit enough teachers. Pay them well. Avoid overcrowding in the classrooms. If possible, provide a free meal to children during school hours. We should overhaul our current curriculum that stresses passing exams and replace it with training students to become entrepreneurs, trades people, science professionals or excel in any other areas that promote nation building as per their predilection
• Medical attention. The government should build enough regional hospitals with the capability to perform even the most complicated procedures. They should be adequately staffed with personnel and have enough provisions. The government should train and hire enough medical staff and compensate them well. Health awareness, healthy eating and disease prevention should be a part of the school curriculum together with similar campaigns aimed at the general public.
• Security. It is the right of every citizen to be protected from nefarious elements from within and from marauders without. The government should train and recruit enough police personnel to deal with any eventualities that may threaten our safety. There should also be a department specially trained to deal with mishaps that require large scale coordinated responses.
What then do we do with the foreign aid that the west feels so compelled to throw into our laps? We think that foreign aid in the form of money should be rejected by African governments all together. If we have to have foreign assistance, let it be in the form of:
• Technical assistance. Our foreign friends may lend us technical experts to help train local professionals in development projects
• Equipment. We will accept donations of heavy equipment for use in infrastructure projects or other equipment for use in rural projects.
• Election monitoring. We will accept personnel to monitor our General Elections and report back to the world as to their fairness.
These things among a few others we may accept. The only item that we should summarily reject is foodstuffs. It is totally unacceptable for Kenyans to be dying of starvation while we could be producing more than enough to eat and a surplus for export. We will deal with self sufficiency as it pertains to food in a later article.
Conclusion
We are of the opinion that foreign aid should be completely factored out of the working budget of the government of Kenya. In A previous article, we put forth the proposal to fund all government expenditure through the use of the Land Value Tax. In a future article, we will look at how we can move away from a dependent, groveling citizenry to establishing vibrant, local, green, self sustaining communities that will hold government accountable.
As usual reader comments and suggestions are welcome.

Land Value Taxation bar all others!

2010-01-02T07:40:00.000-08:00

Land Value Taxation bar all others!
In a recent article, we declared that land is an inalienable birthright and gave historical references to support our position. This post was prompted by a recent article in the Daily Nation found HERE. In summary, the article aired the grievances of Malindi District farmers who opposed a 2 % valuation of their land as a tax to be paid to the local council. They worried about the clause that said defaulters land would be seized and sold.
We will introduce the reader to Land Value Taxation, its benefits and its application to the Kenyan situation.
What is Land Value Taxation?
Land Value Taxation is a method of raising public revenue by means of an annual tax on the rental value of commercial, agricultural and idle land from owners with clear titles. It would replace, not add to, existing taxes. The value of every piece of land would go through a yearly assessment process and a land value tax would be levied as a percentage of those assessed values.
"Land" means the site alone, not counting any improvements. The value of buildings, crops, drainage or any other works which people have erected or carried out on each plot of land would be ignored, a vacant site in a row of houses would be assessed at the same value as the adjacent sites occupied by houses.
Ours is but a simple explanation. There are numerous sources of information on Land Value Taxation. We urge the reader to become more informed and invite them to join the discussion so as to add to the knowledge base.
The advantages...
• A NATURAL SOURCE OF PUBLIC REVENUE. All land makes its full contribution to the local Council or other body, allowing reductions in existing taxes on labor and enterprise.
• A STRONGER ECONOMY. If we tax labor, buildings or machinery and plant, we discourage people from constructive and beneficial activities and penalize enterprise and efficiency. Manufacturers in turn pass on these taxes as higher prices to consumers thereby reducing their buying power.
• The reverse is the case with a tax on land values, which is payable regardless of whether or how well the land is actually used. It is a payment, based on current market value, for the exclusive occupation of a piece of land
• A MORE EFFICIENT LAND MARKET. The necessity to pay the tax obliges landowners to develop vacant and under-used land properly or to make way for others who will. The tax on land value penalizes land speculation and rewards development.
• NO AVOIDANCE OR EVASION. Land cannot be hidden, removed to a tax haven or concealed in an electronic data system.
How would we implement it?
We would like suggest a panel made up of government officials, members of civil society, surveyors and economists to be the assessors and administrators of this Land Value Tax. There would probably be a panel for every province and they would assess land values district by district
They would meet in an open forum to present their figures. They would take suggestions from local residents as to what public projects would be given priority. A subsequent meeting would deal with how well the projects or services were implemented. Local residents would give feedback on the work done by the panel and members found wanting would be dismissed. All books would be available for public perusal.
It may be difficult to ascertain or trace ownership of land. We would not want the burden to fall on business renters or farmers who have leased land for commercial ventures
Conclusion
This is a daunting task ahead of us. It will be met with resistance from large land owners who have acquired idle land (through legal and illegal means) which they later resell at a profit gained from no exertion of their own on the land.
If well implemented, this tax would pay for many essential services such as education, security, infrastructure and medical services. Kenyans regardless of their station in life would be availed services essential to their well being and growth.
In addition we would collect taxes on all wealth originating from the land such as minerals, forestry products and fish from our lakes among others. Also any commercial activities harming the land or environment would be taxed. Examples include but are not limited to: the oil refining industry, polluting factories that spew waste into our water systems, factories that pollute the air and disposal firms that make use of landfills.
The issue of land has always been a contentious one in Kenya. Hopefully this new system will reward entrepreneurship and curb land speculation while prudently utilizing earth’s resources for our betterment and leave a legacy for future generations.
As usual we invite reader comments and suggestions

SECURING OUR AFRICAN RESOURCES FOR OUR OWN BENEFIT

2009-12-23T16:15:00.000-08:00

Guest writer and partner in progress Mwarang’ethe responds to a recent article in the Daily Nation that was a reaction to the acceptance speech that President Obama gave in Oslo.
In summary, the article bemoaned the fact that the United States was aggressively waging wars in Iran and Afghanistan where their strategic, national security and commercial interests were at stake while ignoring the commerce- driven conflicts in Africa that are meant to sate the greed of western corporations.
Full article HERE
SOLUTION TO AFRICAN RESOURCE CURSE
LIES IN THE ENFORCEMENT OF PROPERTY
AND NOT IN OBAMA
By
Mwaniki Gachuba III 21st December, 2009 @ gachubah@yahoo.com
In a recent article Professor James Gathii, lamented that “Obama forgot resources wars that are the bane of Africa,” Daily Nation, on 21st December, 2009. In rejoinder, we assert that, the leadership to end African resource wars should come from Professor Gathii and other African lawyers versed with international law and not Mr Obama. This is so because Mr Obama is the head of the Western Empire which has practiced mercantilist acts against Africa and it people for centuries and cannot change how this Empire behaves towards Africa. The reasons are simple and obvious. Through the mercantilist acts this Empire has managed to keep itself rich while impoverishing and killing Africans. One of the most efficient methods this Empire has used against Africa is the deliberate and conscious efforts to ensure non – enforcement of well known property laws in international trade laws.
We therefore, suggest that, since Professor Gathii is well versed with International Economic Law than President Obama may be, he is in a better position to offer leadership on the African “resource curse” than President Obama. We will outline briefly how looting of African resources can be stopped using well known legal principles if Africans versed with international law like Professor Gathii were to offer the required, but, missing leadership.
Article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights declares that: “All peoples may, for their own ends, freely dispose of their natural wealth and resources ... based upon the principle of mutual benefit, and international law. In no case may a people be deprived of its own means of subsistence.” Taking for instance the example of Congo, it follows that the minerals under the soil in Congo belong to the people of Congo. From this, it must follow that, for there to be free and lawful disposal of these resources, such disposal must be for the ends of Congolese people. Thus, if there is any disposal that is not for their own ends, it amounts to deprivation of people of Congo of their own means of subsistence and therefore, in contravention of known human rights instruments.
In accordance with well known legal principles, if a robber armed with superior weapon takes anyone’s property, such a robber cannot in justice claim to have valid title to that property. It then, follows and must follow that, whoever buys this property, also, does not get a valid title although he may be in possession of the property. There exists no reason why this analogy does not hold true to the natural resources of Congo or of Africa in general. It therefore, follows that, for anyone to be able to dispose and pass over good title to Congolese minerals to foreigners, the people of Congo must have freely consented to such disposal.
However, when it comes to Africa, the above well known legal principle is forgotten. As a result, whoever controls a certain territory by force is wrongly
assumed to have the right to dispose the natural resources in that territory. In other words, might makes right when it comes to African natural resources. By allowing this dangerous principle to stand, the international community has refused to enforce the right of ownership of natural resources enshrined in international human rights instruments to the benefit of Africans.
By so doing, we have perpetuated resource conflicts because, every war lord knows that, all he needs is a few guns to capture and control a certain area and then he will be free to dispose the minerals thereof. More so, those who are excluded from the gravy do their best to retake the territory or if it is a whole nation like Equatorial Guinea, they seek to overthrow the sitting president so as to be able to also dispose these resources themselves. Thus, the failure to enforce rights to natural resources is the root cause of endless violence in Africa over the natural resources.
The reasons as to why the international community has turned a blind eye to this theft are not difficult to discern. Simply, the rich nations which President Obama leads are happy with these arrangements because this ensures access to cheap African minerals no matter who is in power and however he came to power. And, since these raw materials are the basis of the wealth and power of the rich nations, they will do nothing about it. It is from this perspective; we assert that, expecting President Obama to do anything about the resources wars in Africa is a pipe dream.
So, what can we do as African lawyers? A lot, we would say. What Africans lawyers need to do is to fight to bring the trade in African resources under proper market and legal principles of ownership and sale. Under these rules, African lawyers must assert that, the HUMAN RIGHTS of its people are violated when anyone takes by deception, manipulation or force the natural
resources of any African nation. This would mean that, for Africans to be deemed to have consented to sale of their resources, they must have civil liberties and political rights which can enable them to properly scrutinise the sale of their resources.
For instance, when President of Equatorial Guinea sells the oil from his country, it is impossible to assert that the people in this country have consented to such sales. It is so because these people do not know how these sales are conducted, and who gets what. They cannot protest these sales without torture, detention and such other acts.
This being the case, the question is, since the President of Equatorial Guinea sells this oil because he can, i.e. because he can threaten and kill them, does this give him the right to transfer the title to their oil to outsiders? We say no for in simple words, he is stealing the resources of the people of Equatorial Guinea and purporting to sell it for their benefit. Flowing from this, it must follow that he cannot pass a good title of this oil to the buyers. Thus, the buyers of oil from Equatorial Guinea are dealing with stolen goods. Therefore, those who buy and ship these resources while knowing they have been stolen are accomplices in violation of Equatorial Guinea’s people’s right to their natural resources.
Following the above principles, it seems that if African lawyers can organise themselves, they can easily act on behalf of Africans to enforce the property rights of the African people all over the world. The question is how Kenya, Western, Chinese would or Indian courts determine if a ruler or a warlord has the consent of his people to dispose their resources?
We would suggest that, among others, the Freedom House reports which rates both civil liberties and political rights can be brought to bear to demonstrate that these goods are stolen.
In accordance with Freedom House scoring sheet, states like Equatorial Guinea in 2008 was rated 6 on civil rights, 7 on political rights and the status was declared as Not Free.1 By rating Equatorial Guinea at 6 on civil liberties, it means that:
“People in countries and territories with a rating of 6 experience severely restricted rights of expression and association, and there are almost always political prisoners and other manifestations of political terror. These countries may be characterized by a few partial rights, such as some religious and social freedoms, some highly restricted private business activity, and relatively free private discussion.”2
By rating it at 7 on political rights, it means that:
“For countries and territories with a rating of 7, political rights are absent or virtually nonexistent as a result of the extremely oppressive nature of the regime or severe oppression in combination with civil war. States and territories in this group may also be marked by extreme violence or warlord rule that dominates political power in the absence of an authoritative, functioning central government.”
Now, if these are the conditions in Equatorial Guinea, can one say in justice and equity that their natural resources have been disposed in accordance with Article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights? Since it is possible to prove that much of the money from these resources end up in the
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1 http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=22&year=2008&country=7389. (21st December, 2009).
2 http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=351&ana_page=341&year=2008. (21st December, 2009).
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personal accounts of the President and his cronies, it seems that this is not a difficult case to prosecute successfully against companies trafficking stolen goods either in the West or in the African soil. The sums recovered from such buyers would be entrusted to an impartial body for disbursement for the sole benefit of the people of Guinea for instance. More importantly, this would deprive war lords and other petty dictators the means to buy weapons to enslave their own people.
When the Western economic interests were threatened, they entrusted their international lawyers like Louis B. Sohn and R. R. Baxter to work on the “Responsibility of States for Injuries to the Economic Interests of Aliens.” We ask, has the time not come for Professor Gathii to lead a team of African international lawyers in drafting, “Responsibility of Multinationals for Injuries to the Economic Interests of African People Due to Theft of Their Natural Resources?
As usual reader comments and suggestions are welcome. Those interested in joining a dynamic nationwide movement to retake Kenya are encouraged to register so we may start organising.

THE MONEY QUESTION

2009-12-22T06:13:00.000-08:00

Welcome. We are honored to have guest writer Mwarang'ethe who will discuss the money issue as pertains to the Draft Constitution. We welcome reader comments so please feel free to agree, disagree or offer suggestions.
THE MONEY QUESTION,
THE DRAFT CONSTITUTION
&
FREEDOM
By Mwarang’ethe
The strongly held belief in the 21st Century that bankers have a divine right to create money out of thin air, and thereafter charge interest/usury and thereby enslave those who honestly labor, will be looked at by the future generations as an obnoxious idea as we look today at the vicious idea pregnant with peril, of the bygone ages that, kings had divine right to rule.
The Prayer
The Kenyan total national debt is expected to reach Sh1.33 trillion by 2012. Such a monstrous debt that enslaves the current and the future generations without their consent arises from the entrenchment in our laws the DEBT BASED MONETARY system. Given this grim milestone, we beseech the Committee of Experts and the whole nation to embrace the CREDIT BASED MONETARY system in the New Constitution. Credit based monetary system is the only way of ending this debt servitude by providing debt free, stable and honest currency and thereby ensure just distribution of power and wealth. To achieve this, we urge Kenyans to preserve and entrench the fundamental and natural right to issue money
in the New Constitution. This must be so, for right to issue money is the basis of all other rights.
Fundamental Declarations:
1. The utilization of money as a medium of exchange does not depart from barter trade. Thus, the sole OBJECTIVE of money is to split barter into two halves. The receiver of money gives value thereof, but, receives only a promise of value. When this promise of value is handed to the subsequent seller, the original receiver of money requisitions his half of the barter transaction. All money does is to bring about time element into barter and thereby give the receiver of money the power to requisition his half from any other trader and in any commodity or service, at any time. This way, money expedites and multiplies exchange leading to greater variety of production and thereby raises the living standards.
2. Money being a liberator of exchange is also a vehicle of human trust and confidence. Its substance is the pledge that he who takes will also give. This pledge of faith is the sole basis of the power to issue money. Thus, he who issues money to cover his purchases must be prepared to redeem his pledge by selling on the tender of the monetary instrument from any person.
3. From above it follows therefore, that the SOURCE of money must be in tune with:
(a) The first cardinal truth of money that no one, whether the government or the individual can ISSUE/CREATE money without BUYING something.
(b) The second cardinal truth of money that sound money must be BACKED with something and the act of backing can only be the act of SELLING.
(c) From these two undeniable laws of money, it follows therefore, that; contrary to universal, but, ignorant opinion, commercial banks (excluding savings banks) do not issue or loan money. Banks do not lend their capital, surplus or depositors funds. They merely authorize the so – called borrowers to increase money supply i.e. issue money and the deposit so created is what is called a loan. This gives bankers who create nothing an unchecked and a dangerous monopoly. They use this monopoly to reject genuine requests to issue money for productive sectors of the economy and when they do, they demand a tribute for no services delivered from wealth creators. Thus, banking as constituted today greatly hampers commercial exchange and therefore, retards human progress.
4. The tap root of freedom is unrestricted exchange. All other freedoms are appendixes of this tap root. We are free to the degree we are able to enjoy social intercourse. The enjoyment of the social intercourse is measured by our mental and material wealth. Our mental and material wealth is dependent upon our productivity. Productivity is dependent on our exchange facility since we produce for ourselves indirectly through exchange with other men. Therefore, unhampered exchange is the neck of the bottle of freedom and happiness. If growth of freedom is dependent on freedom of exchange, whatever impedes exchange must be rejected while that promotes exchange and therefore, freedom of mankind should be welcomed.
5. Unrestricted exchange is dependent on the freedom to issue money which is rooted in natural law. Given its roots in natural law, any man made law that attempts to thwart it has no validity. This is so because to the extent this fundamental freedom is curtailed; all other freedoms, so loudly proclaimed in human rights instruments are equally curtailed for they are an offshoot of the freedom of exchange. More importantly, curtailment of this fundamental
right converts the government into a master and not a servant and thereby, renders the citizen a subject of his own creation.
6. So as to ensure unhampered exchange, and therefore, freedom that invention of money paper money promised, we urge the Kenyan people to abandon the current debt based monetary system for not only does it hamper exchange between wealth creators who are the majority and therefore their freedom at the behest of the few bankers who create nothing, but, also, perverts democracy because the source of money determine the social, economic and political outcomes. The current system makes money readily available to speculators who create financial bubbles while limiting and making it expensive to those who are in the productive sectors of the economy.
7. For money to be sound, stable and adequate, it must spring from where wealth springs from, namely, the wealth creators. Ability to create money must be matched by the ability to produce wealth. By so doing, we can be sure that money is backed by value and thereby prevent inflation so as to maintain stable prices. This will enable effective coordination between production and consumption. This requires adoption of a monetary system designed as a utility and responsive to the needs of mass distribution. The only monetary system that can meet the needs of the people is the credit monetary system which will enhance exchange while not perverting political democracy.
Money Question in the Harmonized Draft Constitution
Although not exhaustive, the following sections in the Harmonized Draft
Constitution is relevant to the vital question of money
1. S.253 empowers the national government to borrow money from any source.
2. S.254 (1) gives the devolved government powers to borrow money.
3. S.555 declares public debt of the Republic a charge on the Consolidated Fund.
4. S.269 establishes the Central Bank of Kenya and gives it monopoly to issue the currency of Kenya
5. S.270 requires the Central Bank of Kenya to:
(a) Promote and maintain the stability of the value of the currency of the Republic.
(b) Issue notes and coins.
(c) Promote balanced and sustainable economic growth.
(d) Promote efficient banking and credit system.
6. Chapter Seven which deals with Land and Property
The question is, has the Harmonized Draft Constitution come up with a sound law or framework for issuing stable bona fide money or medium of exchange that is necessary for a proper functioning of free enterprise economy which we must have so as to create sustainable economy for the new Republic?
Having gone through the above sections of the Draft Constitution, we are forced to conclude that, Kenyans are yet to appreciate the true cause of their miseries and tribulations. Consequently, they have not removed these causes, for they remain embedded in their new Constitutional dispensation. Simply, it is a case of old wine in new wine skin. As a result, there will be no change and the consequence will be more disillusionment and perhaps, total failure of the Kenya state in the near future.
Contrary to popular delusions and fantasy, the true causes of Kenyan miseries have not been President Kenyatta, Moi or Kibaki. They have been twofold.1 These are:
(a) The monopolization of land by a few.
(b) Monopolization of money by a few.
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1 Other factors include monopolization of media as well as external factors like neo – mercantilism dressed in the language of free trade by the rich nations. Through neo – mercantilism policies, the rich nations appropriate wealth of the poor nations and especially Africa. How Africa may counter these policies is a subject for another day.
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We have discussed how land should be dealt with as an inalienable birthright elsewhere. Here, we deal with money and how to link land and money creation powers.

This particular article then goes on to define what money is and tells of the Consequences of Money Creation Monopoly by Government and Bankers. It is a very enlightening but lengthy read to post here in its entirety so we urge the reader to email us for the full copy. Read it and comment and let’s get a discussion going

Land is an Inalienable Birthright

2009-12-07T03:30:00.000-08:00

We are going to address the land question as mentioned in the Draft Constitution.
We welcome Guest writer Mwarang'ethe who will elucidate on what other eminent thinkers have said on this subject. We welcome comments and suggestions. In a later post we will bring to your attention to places where the Land Value Taxation system has worked or is working.
LAND IS AN INALIENABLE BIRTHRIGHT

Having examined CHAPTER SEVEN of the Draft Constitution entitled LAND AND PROPERTY, we have come to the conclusion that, although on appearance it looks a better deal than the current one, this Draft Constitution dwells on EQUALIZATION OF FORTUNE and entrenchment of MONOPOLIZATION OF LAND by a few. We believe that, this policy falls short of the objective of a well designed agrarian reform which is the EQUALIZATION OF RIGHTS of all citizens.
To ensure equalization of rights as opposed to chaos of equalization of fortune and continued monopolization of land, we propose the inclusion of the following maxims in the Draft Constitution:
(a) Acknowledging that, the Almighty and Eternal God, having created men free and equal in respect of their rights and having given the earth in common to all men, every Kenyan has a birthright that is original, inalienable and indefeasible by any act or determination of others to an EQUAL share of the property in the land/natural resources in its original state. This is a maxim of natural law.
(b) It is also a maxim of natural law, that everyone, by whose labour any portion of the soil has been rendered more fertile, has the right to the additional produce of that fertility, or to the value of it and may transmit this right freely to other men.
(c) LAND/NATURAL RESOURCES VALUE TAX (including landing slots, airwaves etc), POLLUTION and WASTE shall be the main source of revenue for running the affairs of the Kenyan state. There shall be no taxation of INCOME, CAPITAL & EXPENDITURE etc until the
WHOLE land value, pollution and waste tax has been collected and utilised productively.
Brief Explanation for these maxims
Having started well on the s.79, the Committee went adrift and ended up with a land law that is ambiguous and will cause unnecessary economic and political tension. Our considered view is that, you have ended here for you and the whole nation has been and is still labouring under a false and a very dangerous doctrine that, land/natural resources can be called a man's property.
If this Harmonised Draft was the product of the man in the street, the incorporation of private property in land in the Constitution in s. 81 would be understandable. Since you are lawyers, who are supposed to be learned, ingenious and friends of mankind, you have no liberty to find this inquiry useless or troublesome as common men would do. You must therefore, summon courage and perhaps a bit of divine wisdom to examine this absurd and pernicious right to absolute ownership of land.
However, one must appreciate the fact that due to the conditioning we receive as we grow up and in our so called law schools, it is not easy to see through this false and dangerous doctrine of absolute title in land that our law professors
have propagandised to their law students for centuries. In the words of Smith,1 while discussing the subtle monopolization of land, he notes that:
“If I were to avoid saying anything threatening to the reader I would leave out this chapter, but the subtle monopolization of social wealth started here. The powerful structured their superior rights into ownership of land hundreds of years ago. These excessive rights are now ingrained in law and custom.”
Smith, further explaining the injustice of one person having unrestricted ownership of another’s living space on this earth, says that:
“This practice is only customary; it is part of the social conditioning that we all receive while growing up. Being thoroughly conditioned, and having never experienced or imagined anything else, few ever realize that under the current structure of land ownership they may not have all their rights. Instead, the possibility of eventually owning one’s piece of land is viewed as evidence of full rights. Being conscious of the not –so-distant past when common people did not have even this privilege, citizen’s view and celebrate these limited rights as full rights.”2
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1 J. W. Smith, Ph.D, The World’s Wasted Wealth 2 – Save Our Wealth, Save Our Environment. Cambria, California: The Institute For Economic Democracy, 1994 at 339.
2 J.W. Smith, The world’s Wasted Wealth 2 (n 2) at 339 – 340.
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Thus, by succumbing to this false but widespread doctrine of private land or property in land, you have engrained in our fundamental law as the powerful did centuries ago, the most dangerous monopoly every witnessed in human history. You have therefore, failed to heed the immortal words uttered by Jean Jacques Rousseau in his “A Discourse on the Origin of Inequality,” that:“The first man who, having enclosed a piece of ground, bethought himself as saying “this is mine,” and found people simple enough to believe him, was the real founder of civil society. From how many crimes, wars, and murders, from how many horrors and misfortunes might not any one have saved mankind, by pulling up the stakes, or filling up the ditch, and crying to his fellows: “Beware of listening to this impostor; you are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us all, and the earth itself to nobody.”3
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3 J.J. Rousseau, The Social Contract and Discourses by Jean – Jacques Rousseau, translated with an Introduction by G.D.H. Cole.
This book is available at libertyfund.org
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This dangerous monopoly you seek to entrench was described by an eminent Scottish philosopher who was a contemporary of Adam Smith, but whose work was “suppressed” in these words:
"All these untoward circumstances which take place ... may be traced up, as to THEIR CAUSE, to that EXCLUSIVE RIGHT to the IMPROVABLE value of soil which a few men, never in any country exceeding one hundredth part of the community, are permitted to engross - a most oppressive privilege, by the operation of which the HAPPINESS of mankind has been for ages more invaded and restrained, than by all the tyranny of kings, the imposture of priests, and the CHICANE OF LAWYERS taken together, though these are supposed to be the greatest evils that afflict the societies of human kind.
The silent but pervading energy of this oppression comes home to the bosoms and to the firesides of the LOWEST ORDERS OF MEN, who are thereby rendered MEAN - SPIRITED and SERVILE. It begets in them also, for their own defence, so much CUNNING, FRAUD, HYPOCRISY and MALIGNANT ENVY towards those who enjoy affluence, that by its wide and continual operation the virtue of mankind is MORE CORRUPTED, and their minds mode debased..."4
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4 W. Ogilvie, Birthright in Land. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., Ltd, 1891 at 27. Words in capital letters are inserted by the present author to emphasize.
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Having noted the above, we can now state that all right of property is founded either on general right of occupancy or common occupancy and labour as discussed below.
In the Book of Genesis 1: 26, the Almighty Creator, tell us that having made man in His image, He said, “... and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” There can never be any other basis for man’s dominion over the earth. Given this, it follows and must follow that the earth and all therein, are the general property of all mankind as a gift from their Creator. Thus, with the Almighty God having given the earth and all therein to mankind in common occupancy, each person born into this earth by nature has a title to an equal share of property in land.
The other method of acquiring title to land is through labour. It is through labour that the man, who owns more than his equal share of the land in his country of birth, has acquired the same. It is through his labour i.e. through purchase or the labor of those he might have succeeded, that he has acquired title to more than his share of land. However, such a right founded on labor cannot supersede the natural right of occupancy of other men in the original share of land.5
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5 W. Ogilvie, Birthright in Land (n 6) at 11.
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From the above, we are forced to admit that, since no man expended any labor in creating the earth, it is not possible for any man to call land his private
property. What a man can call his own private property is only which he has produced with his LABOR. Thus, since no man produced the land/earth, it is self evident that, it belongs to all men in common and therefore, is an inalienable, indefeasible birthright to all at all times.
The object of all political associations is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man. Since right to land is one of these natural rights of man,6
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6 Other natural rights of man are: the right to life, liberty, security and the right to resist oppression.
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it cannot be considered heresy to declare and we beseech and pray to you and to the Kenyan people, to have the following maxim declared in the Constitution that:
Acknowledging that, the Almighty and Eternal God, having created men free and equal in respect of their rights and having given the earth in common to all men, every Kenyan has a birthright that is original, inalienable and indefeasible by any act or determination of others to an EQUAL share of the property in the land/natural resources in its original state. This is a maxim of natural law.
Having made the above observation, we are also aware that it is declared in the Genesis 3: 19 by the Creator that, “In the sweat of your face you shall eat.” By this we understand it to mean that, what man has produced by his labour, it is his property and the objective of any political association must be to protect man’s property. Arising from this observation, if man has expended his labour, or those he has succeeded have expended any labour to improve the soil, then, that improvement and or the value thereof, is his property and he may freely transmit to other men. In other words, cultivation and improvement of land can only give title only to their results, not to the land itself. Flowing from this, we urge you and the Kenyan people to see it fit to be declared in the new Constitution that:
It is also a maxim of natural law, that everyone, by whose labour any portion of the soil has been rendered more fertile, has the right to the additional produce of that fertility, or to the value of it and may transmit this right freely to other men.7
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7 W. Ogilvie, Birthright in Land (n 6) at 12.
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From the above two declarations, it is obvious that, by declaring that all men are equally entitled to the use of land does not involve in any way socialism or communism and we need not tamper so much with the existing arrangements as the draft proposes. Also, it is not necessary that the state manages the land. To engage in these activities as the draft declares is to engage in equalization of fortune. This type agrarian reform did not work with Tiberius Gracchus of the Roman Empire and has not worked in Zimbabwe and is fatally failing with dreadful consequences in South Africa that we shall witness in the fullness of time.
Instead of equalization of fortune, which is a dangerous route, all we need instead is an arrangement whereby all the land rent that has been going into the pockets of the few, is taken via taxation to fund the common purposes. To do so, we must deny and utterly reject the vicious idea of “divine absolute land titles” and replace them with conditional form of private ownership of land. This will ensure security of possession and thereby retain use rights and ownership of land for homes, businesses and production will be both easier and cheaper.
This is so because, in the words of Ogilvie, on the first maxim (men have equal right to land) depend the FREEDOM and PROSPERITY of the common people and on the second maxim (man has right to property in the improvements of land) depend the perfection of the art of agriculture, improvement of the common stock and the wealth of the community.8
Since not every Kenyan will be able to acquire an equal physical piece of land, in terms of what this draft proposes, we would not have attained freedom, equality and prosperity of the common people. More so, nor could an equitable division of land with the consent of all, even if it were not impossible that such a division could be made, give valid title to private property in land. This is so because, the equal right to the use of land would attach to all those thereafter born, irrespective of any agreement made by their predecessors.
However, reconciling these two maxims is not difficult as it seems in a free market economy. The first thing we need to acknowledge is that in a free market economy is that in accordance with Ricardo’s law of rent that all incomes above that is necessary to maintain labour will accrue to the owners of land without the expenditure of their labour.9 Seen this way, if we can adopt Ogilvie’s view10 for explanatory purposes, we can see that land has three prices:
(a) The ORIGINAL value of the soil prior to any improvement.
(b) The IMPROVED value of the soil which is bestowed by the owner and his successors.
(c) The CONTINGENT or the CAPITALISED value of land.11
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8 W. Ogilvie, Birthright in Land (n 6) at 12.
9 F. Harrison, Ricardo’ Law House Prices and the Great Tax Clawback Scam. London: Shepheard – Walwyn (Publishers) Ltd, 2006). See also, F. Harrison, Wheels of Fortune. London: The Institute of Economic Affairs, 2006; F. Harrison, The Power In the Land – Unemployment, the Profits Crisis and the Land Speculator. London: Shepheard – Walwyn (Publishers) Ltd, 1983.
10 W. Ogilvie, Birthright in Land (n 6) at 13.
11 J.W. Smith, The world’s Wasted Wealth 2 (n 2) at 348 He accurately predicted that the massive capitalization of land values would eventually cripple the Japanese economy.
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In accordance with dictates of self evident essential demands of justice and equity, the land owner can only claim the IMPROVED value of the land as his property for he has expended labour on that portion. However, to the ORIGINAL and the CONTINGENT/CAPITALIZED value he has no right. These two values must reside in the community at large. In the words of Smith:
“It is land held in unrestricted private ownership that creates high capitalized land values. True free enterprise requires breaking that monopoly through restricted ownership; society should collect the rent. Distribution of land by capitalized value (price) would then be replaced by distribution of land by rental value paid to the society. ... Thus those who use it for production or distribution will, almost universally, have secure ownership of the land. The land rent would go to the society, the interest to the owners of capital (improvement, livestock, or inventory), and wages to the farmer, businessperson or entrepreneur.”12
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12 J.W. Smith, The world’s Wasted Wealth 2 (n 2) at 348.
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Recalling God’s law that “In the sweat of your face you shall eat,” the refusal to collect this rent violates rules of equity and justice in the eyes of men and God the Almighty for it is robbery by a few against the majority. This is in violation of the law that, thou shall not steal. By refusing to acknowledge this basic Biblical economic truth, we have stifled the development free market economy and thereby delayed an increase in social efficiency equal to the invention of money and printing. Flowing from the above, we believe and it is well documented that, the best way to restore birthright to all Kenyans is to tax ALL land rents and fund common services like defense, police, courts and infrastructure just to name a few. To do so, we urge an enactment of this maxim in the new Constitution:
LAND/NATURAL RESOURCES (including landing slots, airwaves etc) VALUE TAX, POLLUTION and WASTE shall be the main source of revenue for running the affairs of the Kenyan state. There shall be no taxation of INCOME, CAPITAL & EXPENDITURE etc until the WHOLE land value, pollution and waste tax has been collected and utilised productively.
The appropriateness of land rent as the best means of funding the affairs of state is widely acknowledged by the greatest economists and thinkers of all ages. For instance, Adam Smith observed that:
“Land is a fund of a more stable and permanent nature; and the rent of public lands, accordingly, has been the principal source of the public revenue of many a great nation that was much advanced beyond the shepherd state. From the produce or rent of the public lands, the ancient republics of Greece and Italy derived, for a long time, the greater part of that revenue which defrayed the necessary expenses of the commonwealth. The rent of the crown lands constituted for a long time the greater part of the revenue of the ancient sovereigns of Europe.”13
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13 Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, CHAPTER II: OF THE SOURCES OF THE GENERAL OR PUBLIC REVENUE OF THE SOCIETY. Accessed from libertyfund.org/title/119/212385 on 2009-11-22.
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He further added that: Both ground-rents and the ordinary rent of land are a species of revenue which the owner, in many cases, enjoys without any care or attention of his own. Though a part of this revenue should be taken from him in order to defray the expenses of the state, no discouragement will thereby be given to any sort of industry. The annual produce of the land and labor of the society, the real wealth and revenue of the great body of the people, might be the same after such a tax as before. Ground-rents, and the ordinary rent of land, are, therefore, perhaps, the species of revenue which can best bear to have a peculiar tax imposed upon them.
Ground-rents seem, in this respect, a more proper subject of peculiar taxation than even the ordinary rent of land. The ordinary rent of land is, in many cases, owing partly at least to the attention and good management of the landlord. A very heavy tax might discourage too much this attention and good management. Ground-rents, so far as they exceed the ordinary rent of land, are altogether owing to the good government of the sovereign, which, by protecting the industry either of the whole people, or of the inhabitants of some particular place, enables them to pay so much more than its real value for the ground which they build their houses upon; or to make to its owner so much more than compensation for the loss which he might sustain by this use of it. Nothing can be more reasonable than that a fund which owes its existence to the good government of the state, should be taxed peculiarly, or
should contribute something more than the greater part of other funds, towards the support of that government.”14
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14 A. Smith, an Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (n 18).
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We find the same sentiments expressed by Alfred Marshall, a great economist who straddled the classical and the post – classical period of economics for he wrote:
“Looking forward rather than backwards, and not concerning ourselves with the equity and the proper limits of the present private property in land, we see that part of the national dividend which goes as earnings of land is a surplus in a sense in which the earnings from other agents are not surplus... there is this difference between land and other agents of production, that from a social point of view land yields a permanent surplus, while perishables made by man do not.”15
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15 A. Marshall, Principles of Economics, 4th edn., 1898. VI. Ch. II, Para.13 as quoted in N. Tideman (ed) Land and Taxation. London: Shepheard – Walwyn (Publishers) Ltd, 1994 at 23.
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Given the limited time and scope of this proposal, it is not possible to deal with all great thinkers who have written on the subject of land and land taxation and the benefit it would bring to humanity if well implemented.
For instance, by collecting rent from its natural resources, in particularly, oil, Alaska was able to give its citizens a dividend of $ 1, 143, 172, 725 in the year 2000 which amounted to an individual dividend of $1963 per person.16
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16 A. Hartzok, “The Alaska Model of Governance – Resource Rents for Public Investment and Citizen Dividends” (Spring 2002), No. 02(1) Geophilos at 60.
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There is no reason why for instance, Angola and Nigeria could not have adopted such a scheme. Instead, they allow foreign companies to book their reserves into their books and thereby, capitalize the same in foreign stock exchanges so as to enrich foreigners, even as their citizens sink into poverty.
Should the Committee of Experts desire to educate itself more on this question, we stand ready to provide materials in our possession. We also stand ready to assist the Committee to get in touch with some of the leading thinkers on the land question that are in a position to design a land policy conducive to equal rights. However, should the Committee and the nation at large ignore this opportunity; it will go down in history as having squandered an historical opportunity to remove the entrenched fiscal folly that characterises the modern state whereby, the annual public value of the land is monopolised or privatised by a few while taxing the majority poor to increase the value of this land. This fiscal folly is in direct violation of the word of God that, “The profit of the earth is for all; the King is served by the field.”17
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17 Ecclesiastes 5: 9. King James Bible. Available at http://kingjbible.com/ecclesiastes/5.htm. (21st November, 2009).
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In this, there no doubt the Bible is referring to the rent thereof, and if we replace word King with state, we can start to see how Solomon made Israel very prosperous having prayed for divine guidance on how to govern.
Furthermore, by taxing the poor to increase the land value to be appropriated by a few is in direct violation of the following maxim:
"They shall build houses, and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build and another inhabits; they shall not plant and another eats; they shall not labour in vain nor bring forth for trouble."18
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18 Isaiah 65:21.
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To try and hide the fact that the cause of modern poverty is taxation of the majority poor to enrich the few as Prophet Isaiah clearly denounced above, we have come up with the so called welfare state. However, this has not worked and will not work for poverty is institutionalised in the structure of the modern state.
One may ask, is there any evidence of the fact that the poor “plant and another eat” whereby, we tax the poor to enrich the landed interest? Yes, we can give three examples. On 8th October, 2009, the East African Standard reported that: “Thika Road Expansion to Increase Property Value”19
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19 J. Okoth, Thika Road Expansion to Increase Property Value. Available at http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/business/InsidePage.php?id=1144025878&cid=464. (21st November, 2009).
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Here, we see a clear example of land appreciating value not due to expenditure of labour by the owners of the land, but, as a result of infrastructure built by the tax payers. Also, on 5th September, 2009, the E.A. Standard reported that: “Land grabbers threaten economic stimulus plan.”20 Also, on 24th July, 2009, the “Nation” reported that: “Investors scramble for Lamu prime land.”21
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20 M. Aron, Land Grabbers Threaten Economic Stimulus Plan. Available at http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/InsidePage.php?id=1144023200&cid=14&j=&m=&d. (21st November, 2009).
21 M. Mwajefa, Investors scramble for Lamu prime land. Available at http://www.nation.co.ke/News/-/1056/629304/-/ul2en8/-/index.html. (21st November, 2009).
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Here, we see a few foreigners have bought land in anticipation that tax collected from a Turkana who will never perhaps even visit Lamu in his lifetime will be used to fund infrastructure which will raise the value of the land. The question is, will the draft Constitution smash this naked robbery of the poor? Sadly, we venture to say, with bitter disappointment, no.
Thus, it seems to us that, on the one hand in the words of Fred Harrison the outcome of the confused arrangements of this draft will be nothing but a state with divided loyalties. It will proclaim to represent the welfare of all citizens, but, in reality, it will be protecting the rent – seeking interest of the privileged few.22
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22 F. Harrison, Ricardo’ Law House Prices and the Great Tax Clawback Scam (n 12). See also, F. Harrison, Wheels of Fortune (n 12).
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On the other hand, if the Kenyan government tries to repossess already privatized land, it will fail spectacularly as South Africa has failed and in the worst scenario, it will bring chaos as we have seen in Zimbabwe.
Given these unpleasant outcomes, it seem to us that, the only way is to look forward and not backwards as Marshall informed us and collect the land rent or what he called annual public revenue and fund common expenses. By doing this, we would have ensured every Kenyan’s right to earth’s bounty without laying claim to anyone’s equity. Your draft must come out clearly and unambiguously on this proposition. May the God Almighty give you the courage, wisdom and the fortitude necessary to carry out this sacred obligation so as to restore our God given birthright which a few robbers have dared to rob mankind for so long.

The qualities lacking in our MPs

2009-11-22T21:28:00.000-08:00

We are halfway through the election cycle and I believe it is time we issued a report card on the performance of our MPs. This post was triggered by the virulent response by our “honorable” members of Parliament to the request by the Finance Ministry to return their gas guzzlers in exchange for more fuel efficient vehicles. As we all know, some complied while others delayed and others were openly defiant. One MP claimed that small cars are for teenagers and thus he cannot be seen driving in one. This will certainly not endear him to the youth come election time. Another MP quipped thus, “The newly mandated small cars would not be able to take me to my constituency”. We say: develop your constituency sir! Build a road or two, then you will be able to visit regularly and your constituents will enjoy smooth roads to drive on when they finally get around to affording a car.
The point of this article is try and point out the value system of these leaders and where we sit on their priority list. Do I want an MP who will chase me down the street while hurling rocks in the general vicinity of my cranium? This inglorious episode is documented on NTV. Do I want my MPs to take a taxpayer sponsored sojourn to the Coast while I sit in darkness trying to conjure up Ugali into my empty bowl? Do I want my MP to be traversing the country trying to launch the “tujipange” express train to state house while I walk many miles to work or to find work?
Anyway I would like to ask the reader some questions to ponder.
-Have you ever met your MP in person? Has anyone you know met him or her?
-Does he or she have any contact information? Is there an official phone line, Email or a website to forward inquiries or leave feedback? If there is a line of communication, how timely, if at all, is the response time?
-How often do they travel back to their home towns to give you a progress report and partake in afternoon tea?
-Are there any public projects they have initiated that have touched your life personally? Examples would be paved roads, increased security, schools with adequate teachers and supplies or a well serviced hospital or clinic. Has he or she even planted one miserable stringy tree?
The overriding question would be: Has your life taken a turn for better or worse since he or she has been in office? One would argue that it is up to the individual to advance themselves but at the moment we Kenyans are obsessed with the political elite, acting on their noxious utterances with no regard to self or neighbor as happened after the bungled 2007 Elections.
We will offer some suggestions that may be tweaked to become solutions.
Approach that member of your community who has devoted themselves to the service of the public without regard to their personal safety and with no expectation of a reward and request them to run for office. Many examples abound that are peculiar to their particular communities. We will highlight a few. There is this gentleman Peter Kithene who started a clinic in his home town Muhuru Bay by the shores of Lake Victoria through funding he acquired abroad. This is a man who chose to invest in a public project in his home town that will outlive him and benefit many. There is this lady Mary Njeri Kamau who started the Kihara Feeding Program making lunches for needy school children. Olympic gold medalist, Kipchoge Kieno now teaches children and tends to orphans among the other things he is doing to improve his community. There are others and we invite you to share their stories here.
In a later post we will try to construct a road map for community based aspirants seeking public office. Feel free to offer suggestions.

Intoduction

2009-11-20T16:32:00.000-08:00

Greetings to all fellow Kenyans at home and abroad. Welcome to our Blog. We invite reform minded Kenyans to join us to agitate for and partake in meaning full change for all Kenyans regardless of their background or political affiliation. Please feel free to register and contribute ideas on how we can move our country forward. We will try not to engage in politics but we will discuss political issues as pertains to their effects on policies imposed on Kenyans. We will also focus on how to implement community based ventures for our youth in rural and urban areas. We will also have a lighter side discussing social issues.