[kictanet] Goodyear to pay Sh1 billion for bribery in Kenya and Angola - News - nation.co.ke

[Dennis Kioko]

Mwendwa, a more modern saying states that a nation will vote for leaders
that represent the majority, hence a nation of average people vote for
average leaders.

A reminder that our education system remains broken, with only a few
benefitting from actual primary and high school education.

Many barely get through with some education, and about 200,000 of 800,000 -
1,000,000 are lost after KCPE (and poor Free Primary Education) to lack of
High School slots.

It doesn't help the poor appreciate shiny projects and cash handouts than
High Schools and Hospitals, whose benefits aren't apparent in the short
term.

As for activists, the founder of the Institute of Economic Affairs, and the
author of the Road to Serfdorm, wanted to fix politics by becoming a
politician.

A university professor convinced him that that wouldn't work, and his best
short was from outside parliament.

If he joined politics, he would behave like the average politician(happens
in most countries). Proof locally is that despite many brilliant lawyers
being Kenyan MPs, parliament still passes laws that contravene the
Constitution and other laws.

So, the chap I'm referring to ended up forming the Institute of Economic
Affairs, a think tank that is credited with shaping Margaret Thatcher.

If it weren't for Thatcher, Britain would not be the economic giant it is
today. Having not suffered much from wars and recession, unlike Germany
which is now Europe's largest economy, most lobbies and cartels had
remained intact through the years, and were broken down by Thatcherism.

Countries rarely transform without massive shocks, like Kenya's post
election violence and a new constitution that promotes technocratic state
institutions rather than state institutions revolving around a powerful
presidency ( who is under political pressure to tamper with state
institutions).

Lobbies, Cartel, oligopolies and Unions cost a country much by encouraging
a status quo of inefficiencies ( see taxi lobbies/unions vs Uber/other taxi
apps).

Thus, to cut a long story short, the best shot for civil society remains
outside government. They should leave politicking to politicians.

Secondly, Kenya badly needs to fix the gaps in "K1 - K12" education,
otherwise the less educated will pull us down. More education means higher
incomes which means more spenders which means larger economy.

On Sun, 1 Mar 2015 12:39 Mwendwa Kivuva via kictanet <
kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

> There is an old saying " the people get the leaders they deserve". We
> tolerate a lot of mediocrity.  At the same time the corrupt in leadership
> are a reflection of the entire society. In 2002, we had a huge number of
> civil society activists join government in very senior positions. After a
> years in power, we could not differentiate them from the Moi era
> cleptomaniacs.
>
> There is no silver bullet out there, unless we change personal ethics we
> espouse.
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