Economic Existence, The Credit Score and Contradictions of a Capitalist System

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A credit score is based on a person’s ability to pay back what he/she has borrowed. The critical component of a credit score is the credit history, essentially your sins or virtues of the past, based on how you have made your regular payments to your creditors–banks, mortgage lenders or credit card companies. Now, here is the glitch. If you have a checkered or erratic history of paying back what you owe (especially for credit card holders), or you default on your loan by declaring bankruptcy or failure to pay your mortgage, your credit score will go down. That means you are a “bad risk”, an economic “goat” who financial institutions and other lenders have to avoid. That will be reflected on a low credit score.

What if you are economically conservative and try to live within your own means by avoiding borrowing, or if you borrow, you pay on short notice. This means that you will have no track record that credit analysis evaluators can base their judgment on. An unknown “economic animal” is a “bad risk” that should also be avoided. This will be reflected in a low credit score. In fact in extreme cases where people have never borrowed any money, then they have no “economic existence”. They have moved into the pale of humanity and heavens forbid if they show up at a financial institution to borrow money. They will meet with the proverbial brick wall and will politely be shown the door!

The Moral

You are damned if you are poor or struggling financially. But you are also damned if you are financially secure,  and refuse to be ripped off by financial institutions whose profits depend on extending credit and charging interest! Personally I fall in this category and when I showed up at a dealership to buy a car, I had a hard time securing an auto loan. But I persuaded a credit company to lend me the money so that I can establish my “economic existence”. This year I will sell my house and pay off the remaining modest balance on my auto loan. When I do this, I will also fall off the radar of the credit analysis snoops. That does not matter, because I will completely relocate to Kenya and come back to the US for health check ups and visiting with my children.

Uhuru and Raila Decide to Work Together!

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It is said that politics often leads to strange bed fellows, and so let it be with what the Kenyan public saw today, March 9, 2018: Uhuru and Raila coming together to announce their decision to work together. If Raila and Uhuru were divided by truly ideological fault lines of “left and right”, their decision would be dubbed by people on the left as “class collaboration”! But we have none of this type of situation in Kenya. All what the “wananchi” (citizens) want are jobs that pay a living wage, decent housing and healthcare, clean and safe drinking water, affordable education for their children, etc. This is the tall billing that the different political parties have to deliver. To do that they have to collect revenues from different sources and allocate money efficiently and fairly in all parts of Kenya. The government has to control wayward expenditures such as the salaries and fringe benefits of members of parliament and civil servants,  and deal with corruption, etc. This was not evident even when Raila was the in the government.

Despite party differences, the needs of the people are the same throughout Kenya. The modalities through which such needs can be satisfied does not differ much across the different political party platforms. So why do we have different political parties? The answer is: because we have different tribes and political constituencies that are largely tribal! To avoid the “zero sum” politics of the gain for this tribe is a loss for another tribe, the coming together of Uhuru and Raila is actually a matter of objective necessity that is determined by the nature of hopelessly tribal politics!

Unpacking Tribal Domination Through Tribal Myths: Tribal Hegemonies

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This is a complex issue, but for the sake of simplicity I will reduce what I am going to say into itemized propositions:

  1. Leaders use tribal voting blocks to win elections. The main reason for this is because Kenya is still a tribal society and political constituencies tend to be homogeneous in terms of tribal affiliation; that is true even in large cities where you will find members of the same tribe living in the same urban neighborhood. That has been the pattern since the days of British colonialism in Kenya!
  2. If you appeal to your “tribesmen” to win elections, what are you going to give them in return? For the vast majority of Kenyans with modest to no income, not much!
  3. For show and tell the “unGodly” leaders undertake high profile projects–a road here, a bridge there, a school over here, etc; these do indeed help wananchi with their “mikokoteni” (wheeled carts) in transporting their produce to the markets. But by and large, the big infrastructure projects in particular are of more benefit to the wealthy. Heavy commercial trucks can undertake long distance hauling of goods for the global as well as Kenyan market places. Today in Kenya, you will see an incredible sight of huge 18-wheel trucks strewn all over the place along the Mombasa-Nairobi road.
  4. Whatever the “unGodly” leadership does, they understand that the passport to great riches depend on the construction of a modern infrastructure. Uhuru Kenyatta and Ruto cannot continue to amass their wealth without undertaking these “mega” projects. Besides there is the political payoff of using such projects for propaganda and winning elections.
  5. Big projects and foreign investment also yields tremendous dividends in terms of bribes, shake-downs (extortion of foreign investors), etc. Remember Biwott? He was called “Mr. ten percent” because that is allegedly what he demanded from investors whether local or foreign. Rather quietly the “unGodly” Kenyan leadership has been doing the same since our independence.
  6. Kenya is not a static society and there has emerged a class of middle income class of professionals in both the private and public sectors. These are people who the “unGodly” has to bribe through loans from bank that they control or influence, appointments to state and parastatal institutions, etc. Since the days of Mzee Kenyatta, the Kikuyu in particular have been the beneficiaries of this process.
  7. Primitive accumulation is a process where people use both legitimate as well as illegitimate means of building their wealth. Take an example of Ruto. Unlike Uhuru whose father did the dirty work of primitive accumulation way back, Ruto started with virtually nothing. Today he is one of the wealthiest men in Kenya. This wealth was not amassed by the simple gospel of “hard work” that is preached to the everyday people!
  8. When people talk about “Kikuyu” this or that, thinking that all the Kikuyu have fared very well after years of “Kikuyu” domination. The reality is that the vast majority of the poor in Kenya today are Kikuyu. The same goes for the Kalenjin after years of Moi’s leadership. In fact during the heyday of Mzee Kenyatta and Moi, members of their respective constituencies in Gatundu and Baringo were among the poorest people in Kenya! How about that? But you would not know that when you hear the political rhetoric in “tribalized politics”.
  9. The GEMA (Gikuyu, Embu, Meru Association) “hegemony” has become a belief system that a vast majority of Mt. Kenya tribes subscribe to, whether rich or poor! Mzee Kenyatta started it all with the oath “the Flag of Kenya Shall Not Leave the House of Mumbi”. Mumbi being the mythical parent of all of the GEMA clans.
  10. “Nyayo” politics of Moi took a page from Kenyatta and created another hegemonic myth that saw the ascendance of the Kalenjin. Moi. who was described as “professor of politics” had learned well from Mzee Kenyatta, hence his famous political line of “nyayo” (following the footsteps)!
  11. Kenya today has come full circle with Uhuru (GEMA) and Ruto (Kalenjin), who have implemented the same political strategies and tactics of tribal hegemonies.
  12. Projecting the past into the future: Jomo Kenyatta (1964–78); Daniel arap Moi (1978–2002); Mwai Kibaki (2002–13); Uhuru Kenyatta (2013– ). Beyond this Uhuru would like to have his 10 years (constitutional statutory limits), Ruto 10 years, and then Uhuru’s son 10 years. You can understand why hegemonic myths are such powerful ideologies of domination. They are tried and proven instruments of power in Africa.

Intel Processors

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Below is some information from Intel Corporation that may be helpful for making decisions about laptops for your children. Many computer retail stores in Kenya have been selling “new computers” with outmoded technologies. They have been using Africa as a dumping market place for computers that have been rendered obsolete by newer technologies. When it comes to processors in particular, that is where we see consumers being played! Here is a rough guide on the “genealogy” of processors.

Intel Processors

Intel® Core™ Processors

Manage 3D, advanced video, and photo editing, play complex games, and enjoy hi-res 4K displays.

Intel® Xeon® Processors

Deliver cloud computing, get real-time insights from data analytics, increase data center productivity, and scale easily.

Intel® Xeon® Phi™ Processors

Optimize performance for highly-parallel workloads, while maintaining a unified hardware and software environment.

Intel® Atom™ Processors

For mobile devices and energy-efficient servers. Get great perfromance and long battery life in a small package.

Intel® Pentium® Processors

Accelerate portable 2-in-1s, laptops, desktops, and all-in-ones with a feature-packed processor.

Intel® Celeron® Processors

Support basic consumer applications, HD video and audio, and web browsing with reliable performance and high value.

Intel® Itanium® Processors

Breakthrough performance, reliability, scalability, and availability for mission-critical applications and workloads.

Intel® Quark® Processors

For Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Get low power consumption, integrated security, and scalable architecture in a small form factor.

Remembering Prof. Ali Mazrui

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In a private message someone once asked me whether I knew Prof. Ali Mazrui, and I responded by saying: yes, he was my elder brother. The person actually believed me, but I corrected him by narrating the following brief story.

In the 1960s, some of us undergraduate political hot heads in Canadian universities were quite exasperated when we read “controversial” articles in the magazine “Transition” published in Uganda under the editorship of none other than Prof. Mazrui. Two articles authored by Prof. Mazrui: “Kwame Nkrumah: The Leninist Czar” and “Tanzaphilia”, touched off a storm of controversy among African intellectuals across the globe.

During this period, I was deeply involved in both student politics at the University of Waterloo, and the left student movements of the 1960s. I graduated from Waterloo in 1966 and proceeded to Northwestern University to pursue graduate studies. It was at Northwestern University in 1968 where I met Prof. Mazrui personally in a world conference on “violence” as a means of effecting change in society. Prof. Mazrui was one of the scholars who delivered major papers that set the stage for discussions. I played a small role as a student discussant for a paper which I cannot even remember now. At the time, I was preparing to travel to Kenya to conduct my PhD thesis research on “Ethnic Relations and National Integration”.

After graduating from Northwestern University in 1971, I became an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, in 1972. During my promotion from “assistant” to “associate” professor in 1978, Prof. Mazrui, who was a Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan, wrote a powerful letter of endorsement for my “promotion with tenure”. These letters of support carry a heavy weight in the deliberations of the “Executive Committees” of each department in the United States academic system. In effect, your intellectual peers stake out their academic reputations and accomplishments in extending letters of support to you.

My next encounter with Prof. Mazrui was in 1979 in the “Fifth Congress of Pan African Studies” in the then Zaire. Prof. Mazrui was one of the “special rapporteurs” of the conference proceedings that were published in Paris, France. My contribution was the following paper: “Dependent Development and Urbanization in Kenya.” In V.Y. Mudimbe, ed. Africa’s Dependence and the Remedies. Paris, France: Berger-Levrault, 1980. Pp. 168-183.

In the 1980s, Prof. Mazrui was invited from time to time at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, to give special lectures on development and African politics. During these occasions, I engaged in private discussions with Prof. Mazrui on a variety of topics ranging from his own work to his personal experiences with African leaders and scholars. This is when I came to appreciate even more the depth of Prof. Mazrui’s intimate knowledge of African politics and his analytical savvy in laying bare the logic at work in the thinking of African leaders. Beyond this, we shared some lighter moments of jokes about “Pwani” (Kenya Coast), and our own unique roots in Muslim culture and the Coast.

We all miss you Professor Mazrui, and we shall try even harder to follow your giant footsteps in the march towards the dawn of a new day in Africa.

Mwalimu Edari

Jaramogi Oginga Odinga: A Man Who Paid a Heavy Price for His Exalted Beliefs!

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If you don’t believe in exalted principles that go beyond “tribalism” and “realpolitik” you cannot understand why Jaramogi Oginga Odinga orchestrated the freedom of Kenyatta and the chant of “no uhuru without Kenyatta”. That was a high point in Kenyan political history. It was the culmination of the long protracted nationalist struggle that began with Kenyatta in the 1930s and formation of the first “crypto-nationalist” movement of the “Kikuyu Central Association” and publication of the paper “Mwigwithania”.  Kenyatta later  left for England where he joined forces with the larger “anti-colonial” movement with such prominent leaders like George Padmore (West Indies), Kwame Nkumah (Gold Coast), Nehru (India), Sukarno (Indonesia). This was a world-wide anti-colinial movement. When Kenyatta came back to Kenya shortly after WWII, he joined forces with other nationalist leaders under the banner of Kenya African Union (KAU). Prominent among these were Achieng’ Oneko, Kungu Karumba, Paul Ngei and Fred Kubai. All of them including Kenyatta were sent to prison in Kapenguria!

It is this legacy that Jaramogi Oginga Odinga inherited with the Kenya African National Union (KANU), on the eve of Kenya’s independence. Many in the colonial administration in Kenya and the UK did not want Kenyatta to become the president since he had been billed as the leader of MAU MAU. That was thought to be a “risk” for British interests in Kenya. In fact the last outgoing British governor in the Kenya Colony and Protectorate described Kenyatta as a “leader of darkness and death”. By the same token, the nationalist movement in Kenya led by Jaramogi, regarded Kenyatta as pivotal in terms of a radical departure with politics of acquiescence and an accommodation. The British had their own line-up of leaders who they had groomed to take over. The latter included Tom Mboya, a darling of both the British and the Americans.

Unfortunately all these developments were upstaged by the larger global alignments generated by the post-World War II fever of the “Cold War”. This split the nationalist alignments in Kenya along the same lines: the “left” (Jaramogi Oginga Odinga), and the “right” (Tom Mboya). The labor movement in Kenya was also split between the Trade Union Congress (left) and the Kenya Federation of Labor (right). Kenyan labor movements were further aligned with the larger global labor movements of Word Trade Union Congress–left, (with TCU as an affiliate through the Ghanain body of the same name), and the International Confederation of Free Trade Union, “right” (with Mboya’s KFL as an affiliate).

To say that Jaramogi Oginga Odinga had himself to blame for not being the president of Kenya and chose instead to orchestrate the presidency of Kenyatta, is a profession of the lack of understanding of the exalted principles that motivated his actions. That also explains why we are still stuck in the mud in the quagmire of “tribalized politics” in Kenya! Ironically, it is the very same dungeons of “tribalized politics” whose contradictions will usher in a new era in Kenyan politics. We have here an illustration of the dialectical process of development at work!

The Kenya-Southern Sudan-Ethiopia Transport Corridor

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The Lamu Port and Lamu Southern Sudan-Ethiopia Transport Corridor

{From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia}

(LAPSSET) aka The Lamu corridor is a transport and infrastructure project in Kenya that when completed will be the country’s second transport corridor. Kenya’s other transport corridor is the Mombasa port and Mombasa – Uganda transport corridor that passes through Nairobi and much of the Northern Rift.

The project will involve the following components:[1]

The project was initially conceived in 1975 but never took off due to various reasons. The project was later revived and included in Kenya’s Vision 2030. LAPSSET cost was estimated to cost $ 16 Billion in 2009.[2] Recent estimates arrived after studies now put the cost of the project at between US $ 22 Billion [3] and US $ 23 Billion.[4]

The timeline of the project is not clear including when it started and when it should be finished. Some projects like the Isiolo-Merille projects began in 2007. At the peak of the project, between 2013 and 2018, it is expected that the Kenyan government will be spending about 6% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product or 16% of its annual budget on the project.[5] The project is in turn expected to contribute an additional 3% increase in Kenya’s GDP by 2020.[6]

Key towns in the project are Lamu & Isiolo in Kenya, Juba in Southern Sudan and Addis Ababa in Ethiopia.

Lamu Port and Manda Bay

Lamu Port is expected to consist of 30 berths when complete, will cost US $ 3.5 billion and be 1,000 acres in size.[4] The port will be a deep water port at 18 metres depth.

From bids requested by the Kenyan Government, the first phase of the port will include 3 deep water berths with a capability of handling ships with a dead-weight capacity of up to 100,000 tonnes.[7] The port will be built at Manda Bay and is expected to be operational starting December 2012.[5]

Although the planned infrastructure will have irreversible environmental, social, and demographic impacts on what is a unique area and politically sensitive area, up to this point in time, state-decision makers have proceeded without consultation with the Lamu community as the key stakeholders or an environmental impact assessment.

In 2009, Lamu Environmental Protection and Conservation (LEPAC) spearheaded an initiative to unite groups and individuals in a campaign to save the Lamu Archipelago against the proposed Lamu Port. Out of this initiative, a coalition of groups came together under the banner Save Lamu, a registered community-based organization (CBO).[8] The coalition includes community members from over 15 local and national organizations. As a result of its successful work in such a short period of time, Save Lamu was recently nominated as Civil Society of the year 2011 by Muslims for Human Rights (MUHURI) to recognize its contributions to human rights on the Coast Province. The demands of the community groups as per their petition are[9]: 1) The Government of Kenya (GOK) publicly shares all information on the proposed project to the local communities; 2) The GOK publicly facilitates for a comprehensive environmental impact assessment to be carried out by independent experts; 3) A participatory process is undertaken with the local communities involved in the assessment of the impacts and planning of the proposed project; 4) The land rights violations against the indigenous Lamu communities are adequately investigated and addressed before any further development plans are inaugurated.

Standard gauge railway line to Juba

A railway line will run from Lamu to Juba, a distance of 1720 km and will be capable of handling trains with speeds of up to 160 kilometres per hour. This will be at an estimated cost of $ 7.1 billion and is to be completed by 2015.

The railway line will be lined to the existing railway network and to Mombasa port by a line running from Lamu port to Mombasa port.

By 2030, the railway line is expected to handle 30 daily trains to Juba and 52 to Addis Ababa.[4]

Road Network

LAPSSET road projects will run from Lamu to Isiolo and onwards to Juba and Addis Ababa through Moyale. This will be a 2 lane highway and will be at a cost of $ 1.4 billion.

The road from Lamu will pass through Hola and Bura to Garissa.From Garissa, the main branch will run to Isiolo while a second branch will run off to Mwingi and Matuu for exploitation of coal in the Kitui Basin. Isiolo will be linked to Nairobi through one route, to Nakodok, near Lokichoggio via another and to Moyale via the third route. Southern Sudan will be in charge of constructing a route from Nakodok to Juba while Ethiopia will construct a road from Moyale to Addis Abbaba

 Isiolo – Moyale Road

Construction and upgrading of the 136 kilometre[10] Isiolo – Merille road which is part of LAPSSET commenced in 2007 and the road was finished in 2011. The road was upgraded into a 2 lane tarmac road. Construction of the Marsabit – Turbi road, also part of LAPSSET, commenced August 29 20l1 with an expected delivery date of April 4, 2014.[11]

Moyale – Addis Ababa road

Contsruction of the 193 km Ageremariam-Yabelo-Mega already began.[citation needed]

Oil Pipeline

The Oil Pipeline is expected to cost $ 4 billion.

Oil Refinery

A proposed oil refinery in Lamu will cost $ 2.5 billion and is expected to refine 120,000 barrels of oil a day.

Three Resort Cities

Proposed resort cities at Lamu, Isiolo and Lokichoggio on the shores of Lake Turkana will cost $ 1.2 billion.

Isiolo Resort City

The Isiolo resort city is to be established under a public private partnership at a cost of Ksh. 18.9 billion. In 2012, the Isiolo County Council was asked to set 6,500 acres of land aside for establishment of the resort city. The site is located at Kipsing Gap, 20 kilometres west of Isiolo town.[12]

The site was identified by Japanese Port Consultants after a nine month feasibility study. The consultants also developed a conceptual design for the resort city with more than 10 preliminary models of the city. The plans include rules on land usage and guidance on private sector and local community involvement. The plans also cater for growth and development of the city for the next 20 to 30 years.[12]

Under Kenya’s new constitution, it will be mandatory for the government to get consent from the locals before commencing with the project. Residents will be compensated for the acquisition. The local council will then acquire the land title and make money from leasing out the land and charging rates.[12]

The city will be situated between Katim hill and Oldonyo Degishu hill. Neighbouring game parks and national reserves include Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in the south, Buffalo Springs and Shaba National Reserve to the North, Samburu Game Reserve and Ewaso Ng’iro River to the West. The area also boats a wide variety of plants and animals, including the big five, leading to it also being known as the Jewel in the crown.[12]

Kipsing Gap was picked in preference of Kulamawe and Archers Post due to security, accessibility, cultural diversity, natural diversity, wildlife, water availability, electricity, sewer system among other factors.[12]

In January 2012, 32 councillors led by chairman Adan Ali and Town Clerk Morris Ogolla and legislators, professionals, women group leaders were briefed by government officials on the importance of the resort city.[12]

Attractions will include three star to six star hotels, a local art and craft museum, theatres, conference centres and cultural events.[12]

Additional Infrastructure

This includes proposed power generation facilities, water systems and communication facilities. This component of LAPSSET is expected to cost $ 2.5 billion.

Conflict related to LAPSSET

Kiss TV[13] reported in January 2012 that a series of armed attacks in Isiolo in 2011 and 2012 was related to the proposed resort city. Contrary to opinion that the attacks were related to livestock banditry which is common in Eastern Kenya, it was found that recent attacks occurred in households where there was no livestock. The violence was instead linked to individuals who are said to have grabbed land for speculative purposes. “It is highly likely that politicians and private business interests on the Borana, Somali and Turkana sides are behind an organised attempt at provoking an all out war between the communities.” The communities are also said to have each grabbed and enclosed large piecese of land thus encroaching on community grazing lands.

Areas involved include Wamba, Merti, Laiasmais, Isiolo Garbatula and Tigania East. Communities involved include Borana, Turkana, Somali, Meru and Samburu.

Other factors in the violence include Kenya’s 2012 General Elections.

Additionally, the Lamu Port has been a source of contentious issues following numerous fraudulent land transactions in the region. The local communities of Lamu have so far threatened legal action against the project as a result of the failure of the government to address historical land injustices prior to its implementation.[14]

The Internet and US Conglomerates: Contradictions of Our Times

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The internet was initially conceived and developed by the US Army and the Department of Defense for their own use in the American quest for “control and management” of the world. This was in large measure driven by the Cold War fever deriving from the John Foster Dulles doctrine of “containment of communism”. Well, today the internet is a global phenomenon that serves both global conglomerates as well as millions of small businesses and people like you or me. It has also opened a democratic space of open source computing where lots of good things are available to many of us without paying a dime.

However, as is usually the case in capitalist development, small outfits and individuals have also leveraged the power of the internet to develop into “conglomerates”. This is the story of Bill Gates and Microsoft and the guys at Google. It is an immutable law of capitalist growth and development that due to the constant drive towards making maximum profits, capitalist enterprises will invariably resort to mergers, anti-unionism, tax evasions, political payoffs and corruption, and outright criminal activities including kidnapping and murders.

The Other Side of the Internet: Teachers, Activists and People of Goodwill

Counter-poised to the quest for “maximum profits” is the philosophy that drives many teachers, activists and countless others whose exalted vision of humanity goes well beyond the imperatives of the profit making calculus of the capitalist system and giant corporate monopolies. Let us keep alive this spirit of serving humanity by doing whatever we can to help others in need or distress. This was supposed to be my Sunday sermon for yesterday (April 23, 2017), but I got sidetracked by my exuberance of hearing from a Kenya lady I assisted with statistical modeling using “free” resources from the internet, thanks to the “democratic space” provided by the institutions of higher learning such as the University of California, Los Angeles.

The Challenges of Sustainable Development in Africa

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Sustainable Development Links

https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/

http://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/december-2014/sustainable-development-goals-new-targets-hold-promise-africa

http://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/april-2012/africa%E2%80%99s-priorities-sustainable-development

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/africa-in-focus/

https://www.africare.org/the-challenge-of-environmentally-sustainable-development-in-africa/