Mutuma Mathiu *Kenya must recast relations with donors and development partners.** *
*I can see a hole in the government being announced, as we used to say in the military, by our young friends now resident in that big colonial mansion near the park.* *But let me lay some foundation. I am a great respecter of brains. I believe clever people make things happen quicker because they are creative and can innovate.* *But I also know there is a difference between management – the objective application of human and other resources to achieve objectives – and political leadership, which is the ideologically guided application of the same things for the common good.* *At this stage in our development, we need a central, systematic and comprehensive set of beliefs on which decisions will be hanged. So, from an ideological point of view, what do we need to think about?* *First, Kenya must recast its relations with the international economic system. The path we have followed for 50 years just doesn’t work. The policies, some of them stupid policies, of the World Bank and the IMF, which sometimes appear designed to help rich countries live off poor countries – these are the people who told us not to subsidise education and praise countries which sell water to Western companies – have no place in our future.* *Kenya must resist the policies of Bretton Woods; if those two do not wish to lend without dictating economic and social policies, they can go to hell. * *Kenya must have a more independent foreign policy and, while maintaining friendly relations, must really step back from a full commitment to the West. There must be things we agree on and work on together, and there are things we are better off working with other countries.* *There must be a strong element of reciprocity in the calibrations of relations: buy from those who are willing to buy from us, stand by those who are prepared to stand by us. The age of uncritical, puppy loyalty must be buried forever.* *The government must ban the application of conditions to aid and we must have a programme to eliminate foreign funding for core sovereignty functions such as security and the economy.* *Secondly, Kenya must pursue a sustained policy of balanced military expansion. I know the arguments against military spending and I know we are a poor country.* *I choose to reject those arguments. If military spending was such a bad thing, would the leading countries of the world --- US ($682bn), China ($166bn), Russia ($90.7bn), UK (60.8bn) – be spending so much money on it? A strong military is a guarantee of our freedom and critical for the protection of our interests.* *One source I have seen ranks Kenya the sixth leading military power in Africa, after Egypt, Ethiopia, South Africa, Nigeria and Algeria. Well, this might make certain people feel they have bragging rights.* *That’s not my concern, though. In this region, it does not pay to be weak. For example, a country that is unhappy with the proposal for development of port and oil facilities in Lamu and along the Northern Development Corridor might try to derail the project by financing the Mombasa Republican Council to cause instability and kill the project. If you have an army of 2,000 men in bogus khaki and five rifles, how do you protect yourself?* *Equally, there are territorial disputes with Southern Sudan and Somalia. The mineral wealth off the Indian ocean will probably lead to regional conflict. Even as we develop mechanisms to achieve peaceful settlement and sharing, it makes sense to be prepared for other eventualities.* *Thirdly, our economic policy must stop looking inward. We must aggressively look outwards.* *There are many opportunities for regional and continental cooperation. Kenyan should not be afraid to open its markets, including the labour market, completely to the region.* *It must be a place where the best East African talent finds a home and capital finds a good return. Kenya will not grow rich trading with Europe or Asia, but it can grow wealthy partnering with other African countries.* *Our economic model should be regional where we encourage willing partners to invest with us and share in the benefits.* *Finally, Kenya should be a country for all, not just for the tribes which voted for Jubilee. I have run out of space; we’ll continue the debate.*
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