Proudly Kenyan

We take for granted so many things as Kenyans. Its because we are too used to the peace and the some form of prosperity in the country. Day in day out people complain about the state of affairs in Kenya but how many times have we sat down and actually appreciated the fact that we have a country? We compare our country with the likes of Singapore, South Africa and even to some extent the United States of America. How many countries do we think look up to Kenya just for some form of peace or even the level of freedom and education? Kenya is growing and despite the critics, most of us Kenyans have a lot of opportunities. We have seen people from the slums rising to become rich and famous. We have seen the kadogo economy working to favor those who are not well off economically. As Kenyans we have survival tactics and we thrive.

Most people however choose to look at the glass half empty. Mombasa for example is a land known to many Nairobians as ‘mji wa furaha’ which according to some scholars is quite the opposite at least for the Mombasa residents. The elites in Mombasa call the shots. The politics are controlled by drug barons. I just read an article on Mombasa claiming that it is a ticking time bomb. What I do not understand is why the Mombasa youth want special treatment from the government. They keep blackmailing the government with the threat of joining Al Hijra or Al Qaeda. This is a country and the interests of 40 million supersede the interests of a few extremists claiming ‘Pwani si Kenya’. Education is now free in Kenya and we all know knowledge is power. The amount of greed in the Kenyan Coast has led to the youth becoming beach boys and prostitutes and later on blaming the government for doing nothing about this vice. The level of education in the Coast has dwindled over the years and God forbid they have their way and secede from mainland Kenya, the poor will continue languishing in dire poverty and the rich will continue getting richer.

We have had a lot of issues with our leaders and even the security system in our country but our country has not yet gone to the dogs. Countries around us and in the world over are looking up to us as an example to emulate. There is nowhere in this world that the citizens do not complain about the state of affairs in their government and the blunder that some make is actually trying to oust the reigning leadership. This to me is a very selfish and silly idea. A form of government whether dictatorial or democratic is better than anarchy. Kenya has a legitimately elected government whether you believe otherwise or not that’s your opinion but the Jubilee government is in power and the least we can do is support their leadership. The pains of losing a country is unimaginable just ask the Somali natives. Libya and Egypt were the leading economies in Africa but at the moment the citizens of these countries live in uncertainty not knowing what will happen next.

America is usually termed as the land of milk and honey. But what exactly is the definition of milk and honey? In my opinion Kenya is the perfect description of that kind of land. One can work so hard to get rich but at the same time enjoy his hard earned money. In Kenya we are given opportunities to explore our talents, ideas and hobbies. People leave Kenya to go to the so called developed world only to make money that they can’t enjoy. Given these countries are beautiful. The infrastructure in Dubai, the social amenities in the UK and just the kind of comfort one enjoys in Malaysia is what most Kenyans look up to.

However though, despite it all I would still rather be a Kenyan living in Kenya. This is one of the very few states where we sincerely love and cherish one another. Don’t raise an eyebrow towards that statement because it’s true. Kenyans have a lot of negativity but someone somewhere will always raise a helping hand towards her fellow citizen. The president himself sponsored a poor boy through high school just because he made him laugh. Where else would you hear such stories? People contribute money for just causes every other day. I am so proud to be Kenyan because I can air my views without getting arrested. My opinions count either to influence other people’s train of thought or just for the mere fact that I want to air them out. I am so proud to be Kenyan because I can sleep and wake up and go about my daily business without fear of constant tension. Yes the country has faced a lot of clashes and terrorist attacks but we are a resilient people.

The other day I was reading an article about xenophobia in South Africa against the Somalis. Somalis living in South Africa prefer going back to their war torn country due to the hate crimes propagated towards them by the South Africans. This just goes to show without a peaceful state one lacks a sense of identity and security. Somalis are quite a hardworking people but despite this, they face a lot of discrimination world over. Our security mechanism may not be the best but its way better than having none. Our government may be full of corrupt people but at least it’s a working government.

We all witnessed when the whole of Somali government worked from Nairobi due to instability. We all saw the joy of the Southern Sudanese when they got a country. Many Kenyans keep comparing our country with others but whatever happens we are Kenyans and we should start appreciating the little good things we have. No matter where you go whether rich or poor as long as it’s outside our boarders you will forever be termed as a second class and even third class citizen. They will consider you an alien in all the other countries. When you go to the tourists destinations, you will definitely pay higher rates. The fact that you do not understand the culture of the host country they will treat you like a different creature either wanting to take advantage of you or treating you like trash because you are not one of them.

Kenya may not be the best country in the world but ask the foreigners who flock here in billions they will tell you a different story. Let’s not concentrate on the evils of this country.  We have way more beauty to showcase than the evil. Let’s not keep fighting about things that do not make any sense like ethnicity because if at the moment u claim to hate everything about Kenya, ask the Somalis, Syrians, Afghans, just to mention a few what they are feeling towards their countries. Somali was once a peaceful country but due to silly misunderstandings and greed, they lost their country just like that.

We are a country of bright people let’s try to solve our issues internally other than calling to the international community to solve our problems. And yes I am talking about the ICC lest we become like the Serbs and Bosnians. And on that note the media should be very responsible in what they report. Yes we need information but really, national security overrides any form of information. I do not think it was wise to show the Westgate expose. In my opinion it was too soon and it was to the wrong audience. Anyway I digress. My point was that we are lucky to have a country very highly respected for that matter, Lets all join hands to protect it tooth and nail like the North Koreans protect their state and proudly say ‘Najivunia Kuwa Mkenya’. For once let’s think of what we can do for our country and not vice versa. Let’s try not to blame the government for every little thing. Know the laws and follow them to the letter and let’s see how well that will work.

My thoughts on African economies

Watching some of the documentaries of America I am left wondering just how much can one man bring change to his country and at the same time become insanely rich. Of late there is talk about African economies rising while the Western countries are in recession. I applaud all the African states that are doing well in the economic front but really I do not think that’s a reason to celebrate and shun the West. For one, Africa is rising because that is the only way they could go. Correct me if am wrong but the improvement of infrastructure,  I.T. developments and innovations and improvement of social amenities are some of the elements that improve the economies.  Other significant showcases of economic growth include job creation among other things. (Now am left wondering every year governments promise job creation but at the same time the population keeps growing steadily how then will the governments succeed in this promise? Sometimes I think a number of children policies should be initiated in Africa lest we become like China).The thing all the African countries are doing is emulating the West and trying to reach the levels of their economies. I do not dispute that but seeing where the West has come from and where they are today, is that really the way we as Africans want to go? In my opinion, African countries are both very lucky and very unlucky at the same time. It all depends on how we look at things or what we choose to follow from our predecessors.

The West has been defining the world for a very long time now. But the Asian countries chose to stick to their traditions and instead of letting the West define them, they chose to define and develop themselves. Do not get me wrong here when I say the Asian countries developed themselves, to a large extent, these countries had a lot of help from the West especially America. The big question always arises; how come the Asian nations developed so rapidly? Kenyans compare the economy of Singapore and of Kenya which was at par in 1963 when we got our independence. First we all know Lee Kuan Yew the then prime minister of Singapore cannot be compared to Mzee Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel Arap Moi who were too greedy, corrupt and selfish. They also did not have the intellectual capacity to grow Kenya’s economy to equate it to Singapore. However, that is a very shallow comparison in terms of economy. Apart from corrupt leadership in Kenya, Singapore had the advantage in terms of investments. While the West was busy exploiting the resources in Kenya, they were investing on the other hand in Singapore. The other reason is the fact that Singapore is such a small state with a smaller population. Controlling and growing such an economy would not be as difficult as was in the Kenyan situation. But again I am not trying to defend Kenya’s underdevelopment.  We should have done way better than we are right now.

African countries are going through the same transitions as all the developed economies went through. It really is absurd for the international system to look at Africans as backwards due to the constant civil war yet all these countries went through some form of wars to get to where they are today. For example Europe went through a thirty year war that brought about state sovereignty after the signing of the Westphalia treaty in 1648. America went through a series of revolutions and civil wars to be the country it is today. Again I am not trying to defend African countries. The 21^st century has ensured that education is available to a larger population in Africa and the media too has raised awareness on a lot of the issues other countries are facing. It is for this reason I would urge Africans to learn from the mistakes of others and try to develop their countries. America was built by a few men who were courageous, ambitious and very strong willed the likes of Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie just to mention a few. These men did all they could to stay on top of the rich list and they used crude methods to attain it and through their ambitions, they managed to define the American capitalistic culture.

Today America has progressed in many ways and the world looks up to her to define their individual cultures. However, Africa is over 200 years behind and looking up to America is not really the best way to go. The problems Africans are facing now are considered charity work by the West and it is for this reason I would think that simple innovations would help move our countries forward. Great innovations in technology have given Kenya a platform in the international system.  More needs to be done however which brings us to job creations and improvement of people’s lives. In Kenya for example we used to study about pyrethrum and sisal as cash crops. Some of these crops have lost their monetary value and in turn lost their importance in the Kenyan farms. We have witnessed a surge in the real estate where people opt to uproot their plantations like coffee and tea to build flats for residential and commercial purposes. We have seen people cut down trees for the same reasons to provide shelter for the increasing human population. Have we learnt nothing in school? The topic of discussion nowadays is global warming so we need our trees not only for Africa but also for the rest of the world. We see tourists flocking our countries in billions of numbers yet we still rush to kill our wildlife and pollute our beautiful beaches. The reason why the tourists come is because these animals are phenomenal to them. Most got extinct in their countries so we need to work harder to preserve these God-given heritages so they would not be a case of the dinosaurs.

Africans we need to be smart. Competing with the developed countries in my opinion is not a very bright idea instead setting a bar that all developing countries would want to follow now that would be better, like China. And do not also criticize what I am about to say but I think the only way the African economies would grow is through having a benevolent dictator. This democracy vibe has brought us nothing but death, animosity and poverty amongst ourselves.

THE ORGANS OF UNITED NATIONS

A lot has happened in the past few days where we have seen a terror attack that was imaginable in the minds of Kenyans. Yes we have seen grenade attacks here and there but a hostage situation, in Nairobi, these are things we only see in the movies and to some it still is a nightmare rather than a reality. I would like to take this opportunity to send my condolences to the families of the victims who lost their lives at the Westgate siege. I would also want to applaud all the Kenyan heroes who did their part in making this situation almost bearable. To all the military forces who risked their lives to save those of others, the volunteers who worked tirelessly to ensure the injured were being treated, those who gave off their time to support the police, journalists and everyone at the area with food, moral support and any other thing they could I applaud you. Most of all appreciation to every Kenyan who donated blood, money, resources and those who went down on their knees to call upon God for protection and victory, your prayers were answered. These have marked some of the saddest days in the Kenyan history but like all the others, Kenyans shall overcome and this horror will just be a dark past in our Kenyan history. It is in this time that Kenyans showed what they could do for their country without necessarily waiting for what their country could do for them.

As this was going on, nations from all over the world send their messages of condolences others even helping out with the military support and aid. Understanding the core of international relations can help put to perspective why this was so and what exactly the president meant by friendly nations. As Kenya was grappling with the effect of the terror attack, world leaders gathered in New York for the annual United Nations General Assembly. This is basically the gathering of the heads of states to deliberate on issues affecting the International system and try to come up with solutions to some of these problems. The General Assembly is the policy making body of the UN. Here all the member countries have one vote and resolutions are usually passed based on a simple majority unless its issues dealing with budgetary allocation, admittance of new members or security issues that require two thirds majority. As mentioned in the previous blog, all states are rational and have selfish interests for the sake of their national security and this informs the choice of the votes. In some instances when the resolutions do not really affect a state directly, they might choose not to vote or support or oppose a motion on the basis of who has proposed the motion. This is where friendly nations come in. States will support other states that align their foreign policies with theirs. How well a country supports another and their relations inform the decisions to support or oppose a motion. States go through high level lobbying to get support for resolutions and in many cases votes are trade-offs for something   that will benefit their country.  Sometimes it comes in terms of aid and this is commonly referred to as check-book diplomacy. African states have fallen victim of these trade-offs and ended up signing and ratifying resolutions that do not benefit their states case in point the famous Rome-statute.

There is also the Security Council which is the most powerful organ of the United Nations. The Security Council has 15 members. 5 who are permanent and have veto powers and 10 that are rotational. The 5 veto powers include the United States of America, the United Kingdom, France, Russia and China. Why you may ask did they qualify to be the permanent member of the United Nations Security Council? Simple answer that has been given in many of the literature is because they defeated the Axis powers (Germany, Italy and Japan) in World War 2 to bring about world peace. Well part from China which did not play a part in bringing an end to the war but I guess the Chines were too many they had to be given a slot by default. They (allies) also were the founders of the United Nations. The aim of the Security Council is to maintain international peace a job they have failed miserably (in my opinion) due to their selfish interests. For any resolution to be passed all the five permanent members have to be on board but once any of the powers veto a resolution, it cannot be passed. The veto powers by the USA have worked against any resolution to bring peace between Israel and Palestine at the same time Russia’s and China’s veto powers have frustrated any efforts of bringing Syria to peace. There have been efforts to try and amend the veto powers or make them rotational but the states with these powers have continually vetoed this move. The other ten rotational members are usually elected by the general assembly and only serve a term of two years.

The other very important organ of the UN is the secretariat headed by the secretary general. The current SG is Ban KI Moon of South Korea. The main aim of the secretariat is to carry out the administrative, executive and political duties of the Organization. The members of the secretariat are drawn from all over the world and thus they become international civil servants. As for the Secretary General, The UNSC proposes his name to the general assembly for a vote. In a perfect world, this organ and the SG are supposed to be independent but history has proven otherwise.

The remaining three organs are the Economic and Social Council, which deals with matters of economy and social issues. They bring to the limelight issues to be discussed and propose policies to improve the nature of economy and social issues. The trusteeship Council was put in place to supervise the territories that were still under trust system to help them attain self -government and help in the progress. Their mandate has been fulfilled and was thus suspended in 1994. Last but not least is the international Court of justice. This should however not be confused with the International Criminal Court. Whereas ICC is meant to persecute individuals who perpetrate crimes against humanity, the ICJ is meant to resolve disputes between states.

Now that is the basic structure of the UN and these organs are responsible for the international relations as we know it.

IR Degree

This blog was born out of frustration. Having been in school for four years then start tarmacking with your IR degree that's when you realize you have been living in your own bubble the past four years. i want to believe that IR is a fairly new field in our education system and that is why almost everyone tends to ask what that is. I have been walking up and down in such of internships so that i could finally realize my dreams as an undergraduate but this is when my tiny bubble was burst. what is more shocking is that even some government institutions do not seem to understand what this degree entails or what exactly it means to be an IR degree holder. so i have made it my objective to educate the public on one of the most important fields in Kenya that has basically been taken for granted and this when you will realize that what you learn in school is quite important whether you pursue it as a career or not.

So what exactly is IR and what does it entail? Well IR in full is International Relations and no its is not the same as PR (Public relations) neither is it international relationships. It is just that International Relations. This field basically deals with the relations between states and how states relate in the international system. As a Kenyan citizen, we might be so closed to concentrate on the internal politics of the country and tend to ignore the influences of other countries in a country's political, economical and social scene. Sometime without knowing it, we find ourselves very ready to condemn the government without paying attention to the dynamics that lead to the decisions made by the government. More to that due to our ignorance and the judgmental attitude we have adapted in Kenya, we seem to loose out on the understanding of some of the basics that govern the country and are easily lured by the media and the parliament who in most cases are more than happy to influence our mindsets but whether you like it or not, education in whatever degree helps one to have a mindset of their own and have a higher order thinking so that whether you get a job or decide to start your own business, it is this thinking that will influence your decisions and the experiences gained in school will help fashion your future.

Anyway i digress. as i was saying IR basically deals with a state and how it relates with other states. Many states are in competition to have the influence over other countries whether militarily or economically so please do not be so naive as to believe that there's a country that will help your country out of its goodness to humanity or wants to see your country prosper. IR 101,
Realism at its basic explanations seeks to demonstrate that states in the world arena are driven by their selfish ambitions. As such, realists describe states as being rational and will thus make decision that would benefit or progress their national interests. States will struggle to maintain the status quo in the international system and as a result the international system has been characterized with power struggles among states all trying to outdo the other militarily, economically and even socially (Rourke, 2009). So my fellow Kenyans be very skeptical about what the media feeds you. The States is not fighting for your rights neither is China making roads solely for your benefits but to find out more on China's interest in Kenya and Africa be patient i will still fill you in on subsequent blogs. 

Last but not least International relations entails three major fields: diplomacy that basically deals with envoys or representatives to foreign countries to propagate a states interest in the host country. These are the individuals who drive red plated cars around town and live luxurious lives in your country. Don't be so bitter at the end of the day it is for your countries benefit because they have diplomatic immunity and they need to be treated like important guests.The other field is conflict resolution; this involves mediation, negotiations and even military intervention to bring peace to a conflict zone again not only for the benefit of the conflicting state but also for the mediator's state. Case in point Kenya's involvement in conflict resolution in the Sudan-South Sudan case or even Somalia. Last but not least development issues. now this is where the NGOs come in.

All in all IR is a wide field and very interesting at that and by now i hope you have understood the basics of IR why it is not PR.
Be curious, be inquisitive and be ready to learn. I will help you demystify international relations and how what happens in one country directly or indirectly affects Kenya as a state or how Kenya's political and economic environment affects the international system. Now have a curious day today till we meet again.