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.