KAIKAI’S KICKER: Kenya talking big, acting small

In some political quarters in Kenya, the word Singapore is the flagmast of our developmental aspirations. President William Ruto, his political allies and members of his administration frequently use the analogy of Singapore to paint a picture of the desired destination in terms of development some time in the future.

If to bolster the same aspirations, I want to invite Kenyans to cast their eyes closer home. Rwanda is a small nation. So small that many counties in Kenya are larger in size. But Rwanda is happening. You may not see or say it, but Rwanda is quietly growing into that Singapore model of your aspirations. What Kenya expresses in words, Rwanda puts in action.

As we approach 20 years of talking about improving or constructing a new modern international airport, Rwanda is just about to inaugurate its world-class airport constructed in partnership with aviation giants and experts like Qatar Airways. The airport located in Bugesera south of the capital Kigali is definitely going to eat Kenya’s breakfast.

We have spent decades believing we are the region’s hub, to the point of complacency where somehow we think we don’t need to do anything about it. A lot of who we are started being shaped by what is in our minds rather than by the reality on the ground.

We have perfected the art of talking big, and acting small. Our minds and mouths carry some of the world’s best infrastructure – dual carriage roads complete with dramatic interchanges and overpasses, we spew the best healthcare system as if none of our VIPs ever die at home let alone being hospitalized here; our minds and mouths project the happiest farmers and fishermen, we proclaim the best and most abundant produce even if it doesn’t quite exist like milk be it of cows or buffaloes… we have all of it in plenty, just that you cannot find it in supermarket shelves.

Well, let me say, self-belief is good and Kenya can be any counselors’ dream client. So much goes on in our heads that we now throw around names like Singapore, South Korea and even China.

The reality is, all those great aspirations will stay in our heads because so little is happening to take us towards the realization stage. If we talk of Singapore as I talk of Rwanda, then we must remember as John Maxwell said that: “Everything stands and falls with leadership.” It starts with leadership. And indeed. The leader. Singapore had founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and Rwanda has President Paul Kagame.

Kenya has instead had many false starts starting with an independence generation that planted personal greed as the basis of power and politics. We have been drifting in and out of consciousness since independence with a vision that is either non-existent or incoherent. But we have particularly been losing it the last 15 years during which our politics have lost both maturity and a sense of limits.

A new culture has for the last 15 years taken root; a culture of permanent campaigns. Full-time. Full throttle campaigns. Politicians, election winners and losers have not rested since 2012 or thereabout. Successful ones have literally been running the country from the sunroofs of the luxury fleets funded by taxpayer monies.

Time in Kenya has been collapsed into one endless campaign season, yet we somehow believe we can fake our way to the prosperity levels of Singapore! Until something changes about how we lead or govern, just forget Singapore and don’t even think about Rwanda.