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Elevating the Place of the Kenyan Diaspora

Hon. Peter MUNYA, MP, Assistant Minister for Internal Security

Hon. Eric Gor SUNGU, MP, Kisumu East Constituency

Prof. Makau MUTUA, Distinguished Professor, Buffalo

Dr Matunda NYANCHAMA, CEO Agano Consulting Company & Founding President, Kenya Community Abroad (KCA)

Madam Mkawasi MCHARO, President, KCA

Officials and Members of KCA

Wazalendo Wenzangu

Distinguished Guests and Participants

Ladies and Gentlemen:

It is with profound delight that through God’s immeasurable love my family, friends and I are assembled with you here today, not only to receive this coveted Award, but also to witness and be part of the auspicious 10^th celebrations of the KCA AGM. This AGM/Dinner/Award Gala is not only memorable because it is the 10 ^th one since Kenyans and Kenyanists gathered here in the US to both celebrate the founding KCM AGM and meaningfully mobilize the Kenyan Diaspora to stand up against authoritarian rule, but also because it is special as it reminds of our rich history and heritage, recalling the long windy and oft treacherous road we have walked in attempts to realize a better Kenya for ourselves and our off-springs. Memorable because the day "Saba Saba" evokes both many fond as well as sad memories as we recall the bloody encounters that Kenyan Patriots persevered at the hands of cruel state operatives that allowed themselves to be misused by a government insensitive to the wishes of the many. Memorable because the day is not only "Saba Saba", but it is "Saba Saba mara Tatu " . Memorable because this AGM takes place against a backdrop of a forthcoming historic general election that portends great opportunity to make or break our country, being the first opportunity for a truly democratic election following the decisive defeat of the only party that many Kenyans have known since gallant Kenyans like Jomo KENYATTA, Ramogi Achieng’ ONEKO, Bildad KAGGIA, Tom MBOYA, Jaramogi OGINGA-ODINGA, Pio GAMA-PINTO, Paul NGEI, Kungu KARUMA, among others, led fellow Kenyans towards total rejection of the unsolicited British rule was ousted in a democratic election in 2002. Memorable because it is the first AGM being celebrated when all the acclaimed "Kapenguria Six" are no more. Memorable because it happens when for the first time all and sundry are beginning to recognize the rightful place and import of the Kenyan Diaspora. And memorable because it is for the first time that something that may not have affected our past as it is destined to affect our future - innovation, science and technology - is being recognized and awarded by Kenyans, and unexpectedly so championed by the Diaspora Kenyans.

In accepting this Award, I cannot forget to thank you all who are gathered here today to participate and witness this memorable occasion as well as those who will watch and read about this event in one form or the other, thanks to the wonders of the information superhighways. I’ll humbly request you to bear with me as I go through a countdown of some five issues that are presently so dear to my heart. They include: my recollections of the aborted NARC Dream and its betrayal, some of the key general deplorable issues presently inflicting Kenya, the recently announced Kenya Government’s Vision 2030, my own experiences with what may soon become the "Singapore of Africa" - Rwanda, and the fast growing recognition and role of the Kenyan Diaspora. In addressing some of these key issues, I will be sensitive to the fact that dinner has been laid before us, and I have no reason to de-appetize you, Ladies and Gentlemen, and therefore I will not be able to delve into as much detail as I would have loved to on some of these issues.

Contrary to the popular belief, the NARC dream of 2002 is still very much alive - may be not so much with the political leadership, but certainly with the people and the progressive Kenyan leadership found from among all cadres of society, including ordinary Kenyans, politicians, professionals, entrepreneurs, clergy, civil society, Diaspora, and so on. We said we would deliver a new Constitution. Kenyans still want a new constitutional order. We said we’ll stamp out corruption. Kenyans still yearn for a corruption-free state. We said we’ll de-ethnicize the Kenyan mind. Kenyans still want nepotism and tribalism permanently kicked out of its midst especially in government. We said we shall build a genuine "Government of National Unity (GNU)"; Kenyans still yearn for such a government. And many more! I say these because I was very much part of the NARC evolution as anyone else would claim to be. I recall with nostalgia how we used to meet over "tea and mandazis" with he of the garb and Queen’s English, my good brother and patriot Michael Kijana WAMALWA to just convince them that this is what Kenyans needed, and that for once "it would work". As founding Convenor and Secretary of the National Alliance (NA) that gave rise to the National Alliance for Change (NAC), that in turn gave birth to the National Alliance Party of Kenya (NAK), that ultimately brought forth the now despised and discredited National Rainbow Coalition, I can lay claim to be privy to some of the undercurrents and motions we went through to get what was achieved in 2002. At any rate, in my Gacuriro house in the lovely City of Kigali, I still keep the very founding (and not so much talked about) Memorandum of Understanding under the original signature and seal of the well known Kenyans like Prof. Wangari MAATHAI of the Mazingira Green Party of Kenya, Michael WAMALWA of FORD-Kenya, Wanguhu NG’ANGA of FORD-Asili, Ngegi MUIGAI of SABA-SABA Asili, Prof. Anyang’ NYONGO of the SDP, Mwai KIBAKI of the DP, William OKOTH of SPARK, Prof. Kivutha KIBWANA of the NCEC, and so on, them numbering 13 in all, not to mention the youngest (yet perhaps the most effective of them all) member to later join, the LDP/Rainbow Alliance.

NARC and victory all came to be - I would hesitate to say "pass". Against all the initial pessimism, including the sections of the fourth estate which variously referred to the PPF (Progressive People’s Forum), the group behind the scenes that brought together the NAC/NARC team as "little known self-seekers". In saying so, I must acknowledge that had it not been for the same media and modern communications generally - the FM stations, the radio, Mageuzi/NARC rallies, newspapers, religious congregations, handbills, billboards, the mobile revolution (including SMSs), the Internet and all - NARC would not have whipped KANU the way it did. And this is partly why I am happy we are today together celebrating the arrival of the Kenya’s National Information Infrastructure (KNII). And this is why I am delighted that as we sit here, we are hearing that the ICT industry in Kenya is a sector that is today recording one of the highest, unprecedented growths, and we haven’t even scratched the surface yet! Is it any wonder that Safaricom, which is only an 8-year old company is already raking into billions of KShs, being the undisputed "most profitable" company in East Africa! This is why I am delighted that Ministers Mutahi KAGWE and PS Bitange NDEMO can today look directly on the face of Kenyans and tell them "you know what, we are going to create the highest number and some of the most well-paying jobs through business processes outsourcing (BPOs) in Kenya, and to do that we are going to wire up not only our villages and constituencies, but also build a 5,000 km national fiber backbone across the hills and valleys of all-Kenya, not to mention the undersea cable that will soon dock in the historic coastal city of Mombasa - precisely so at Fort Jesus". And this why I am delighted that Minister Amos KIMUNYA cannot only say that "this year, I am putting XYZ billions of KShs into the ICT sector", being one of the major priority "investment" areas, but can also (like now his Bro. Henry OBWOCHA) find and create time to recognize and visit with the Kenyan Diaspora. Is it any wonder that not only senior government officials and corporate executives, but also the Kenyan "hammers" and more are increasingly recognizing the role of the Diaspora?

In short, NARC has made some good strides. It has opened up the democratic space; I hope I don’t have to visit Kodiaga, Kibos and Industrial Area Prison anymore. I hope my Bro. Omingo MAGARA will no longer have to lose his life like the senior MAGARA did when he was coming to see some of us at the Kisumu courts. I hope the Artur Brothers (or whoever else) won’t have their way to eliminate the KALONZO’s or RUTO’s of this world (oh God, why would one want or even think of doing that?!). I hope the likes of my Bro. George KAPTEN and the unsung Rose BARMASAI - and many more - will lose their lives "in mysterious circumstances". Besides, NARC has brought us free primary education (in 2002, Kenya was reported to be the only other country in the world - in addition to Somalia - not to have UPE)! And they have brought the CDF, the constituency bursary fund, HIV/AIDS fund, and so on. And we are told, they have revived the economy - in spite of the fact that the number of absolute poor Kenyans having grown from 52% to 54%. Perhaps here I would be more inclined to share the same position as those who contend that the 6% reported growth has been "in spite of government". Thanks to the leading business entrepreneurs like Chris KIRUBI and Karanja KABAGE (and others) amongst our midst. And thanks of course to Charity NGILU for having introduced free anti-retrovirals (even though "they" shot down her "Health Insurance" Bill); and in the hope that these will not make Kenyans more complacent and reckless, but instead help to make the "funeral management industry" less lucrative.

So, there are many things NARC has done, but there are many more they have not only failed to do, but even aggravated. Even in the ICT sector, for instance, I am one of those opposed to the phantom "privatization of state corporations", like the planned off-loading of public-held Safaricom shares. But that itself would be a whole topic on its own, and allow to chose not to go that route. In the same vein, hopefully the Diaspora will be able to convince the wider Kenyan community to embrace even more the spirit of regional integration like we are doing with the EAC - and as we also need to do with NEPAD, etc. I remain pretty much perturbed with Kenyan's non-participation in the NEPAD/EASSy under-sea cable project, but that being a loaded topic meriting its own slot, I’ll leave it too to another day.

There are several areas where NARC (of President KIBAKI - as there are many "NARC’s"!) has faired very badly. What makes me even sadder is that the opposition as currently constituted doesn’t seem to me to be the answer. Perhaps the "New Vision" or "Third Force" being tossed by the likes of my Brothers Reuben MARWANGA, Makau MUTUA, Matunda NYANCHAMA, WAMs, etc, is something Kenyans need to pay a closer attention to. NARC may be dyeing or dead, but the dream remains alive.

For a long time, the respective governments of Kenya have operated as "radarless" captains. I am delighted for the first time that the current government has come up with a Vision. A vision sets goals and objectives, strategies and tactics of achieving some end, with clearly defined, time-bound measurable key performance indicators, timelines, budgets and possibly well considered cost-benefit and other economic, financial, social, cultural and environmental analyses. It would seem that for time immemorial (at least since independence), we have been working with neither a global vision, strategy, nor any clearly defined way ahead! It would be unfair to conclusively say that we have never had a vision. To give KANU credit, there sure have been some attempts to come up with a resemblance of a national vision, perhaps one of the most celebrated being the " African Socialism of 1965" . More recently, at least two attempts (even if they were discarded as soon as they were produced) were the "Water-for-all by 2000 ", and the talk of "Industrialization by 2010/20" , etc. They may have been incoherent, but they were there. Also almost as a ritual, we have seen the 5-year rolling development plans which the government of the day was expected to go by. Of course 5 years is a rather short (but nonetheless important) span in a nation’s life for realization of any meaningful vision. Besides, while at the off-set there was some attempt and discipline to follow these plans, the practice died off under MOI. To that extent, NARC has to be given credit for coming up with a "national vision". One presupposes that what this government is doing is to set a structured approach to development, as progress doesn't happen without a clearly elaborated plan with corresponding action. We all know that "those who fail to plan are indeed planning to fail".

I nonetheless find two very serious flaws with the NARC’s "Vision 2030" in at least two significant ways: the process and the "vision" in it. In critiquing the Vision, I must declare from the off-set that I haven’t had the privilege to read it; besides, I gather that even some of those who have requested copies of it from the secretariat are yet to get them! But even going by what I have followed in the public media and comments have heard from people who have interacted with some members of the "Economic Council" and/or secretariat, I feel sufficiently armed to express my two concerns herein. I must further reiterate that NARC put together one of the most competent teams one could ever think of! And even more recently, they brought on board a leading world-renown economist - Prof. Michael PORTER of Harvard Business School to critique the working documents. Nevertheless, in my mind, it is not enough for a Vision to just get a group of experts to draft one, walk it through Cabinet and call it a "National Vision". The Rwandan Vision 2020, for instance, vibrates with almost every Rwandan - local and Diaspora. It is not uncommon to find makeshift kiosks and hotels in far-flung towns labeled "Vision 2020", meaning it is engraved in the public psyche. A Vision has to be owned by the people. I am hoping the Kibaki Administration will not rush this thing through without taking it first to the Kenyans - through a process almost as rigorous as the MDGs/poverty reduction strategy papers (PRSPs) and/or the "Bomas" constitutional reform process were. While some may reason (and rightly so) that Bomas was too much tilted towards KANU/NDP, but still it was better than many other processes we know where the Kenyan government has always assumed it can think and decide for Kenyans as if we are mere morons. In the development of PRSP I too, the government went to some length to involve "the people in". NGOs like ABANTU for Development (may God rest her soul in peace - Sister Dr Wanjiru KIHORO) did a very good job sensitizing sections of the populace. In my (then) constituency, I remember pretty intimated grassroots debates/workshops, etc, towards this goal. We can also do the same, if not better, with the Vision 2030 process. Perhaps it is time we started emulating Mwalimu NYERERE's simple approach of using the mass media to galvanize Tanzanians towards a common goal; I believe it was the same in Botswana and now Rwanda. We should be working towards a culture of accountability and direct citizen participation; the spread of FM broadcasting and Internet provide ample vehicles for popularization.

I wouldn't want to believe that Kenya's Vision 2030 hasn’t been sufficiently inclusive and participatory, short of it going through a wider consultative process - and "being taken to the people". When I talked to a CEO of one of the Kenya’s blue-chip firms, he told me that in a luncheon meeting, he once challenged the project driver, my good old friend and former colleague Dr Octovan GAKURU on why they were not taking the Vision to Kenyans before enacting it. The response was typical - defensive as ever. He was told "we have been to the districts". The former’s reaction was equally befitting: "then my district is certainly not one of them because we/I have not heard". Surely, if a CEO of a leading Nairobi-based ICT company (or a caucus he belongs to) has not been consulted, then I wouldn’t consider the process to have been participatory! I am sorry to keep going back to Rwanda (but that's one success case I know fairly well): one of the pillars of the Rwandan Vision is "transformation of the people and their participation". One of the things the Government knows how to do there is "mobilizing the people". I repeat once again (and this is more strengthened as I read [presently] the memoirs of Prime Minister Lee of Singapore and Prime Minister Mahathir of Malaysia) - a successful vision has to be 'engraved in the minds and hearts of the people'. I often say President KAGAME dreams, walks, talks "ICTs and the knowledge-economy". In the same manner, numerous Rwandans too "dream, talk, drink, walk ..." Vision 2020". My fear is that in the rush for election scores, someone may attempt to adopt/formalize the Vision before "taking it to Kenyans", and getting their input "to own it and for buy-in". That would be a gross mistake.

The second contention I have with the Vision 2030 (even as I confess I haven't read it; but from reports we have heard its goal is to attain for Kenya "mid-income status by 2030"). Why do we keep aiming so low, often comparing ourselves with Somalia (by the way, until KIBAKI, Kenya and Somalia were reputed to be the only two countries in the World not to have universal primary education), Sudan, Rwanda, etc? In this case, even Rwanda looks better: they aim to become mid-income by 2020 - and they seem set to attain that. If Rwanda can do it by 2020, why should Kenya wait to do it by 2030? Unless I don't understand what constitutes "mid-income" - and the experts on this in our midst can advise! Rwanda hopes its annual per capita income will be US$ 900 by 2020 (from under $200 at the beginning of the plan period - 2000). Kenya's per capita is already over $800; in my mind, Kenya is already "mid-income" and should be aiming for 'something better'. If "everybody" wants to be mid-income by 2010 or 2020, the sleeping giant that Kenya is, you would have thought would have come up with something more innovative. While it is VERY important to be realistic, it is also important to aim high. Aiming low to me is not equivalent to being realistic. My understanding is that South Africa, for instance is mid-income already by any measure with a per capita, I believe around US$ 4,000 (the Malaysian Super Corridor team Rwanda has engaged to help us attune our policies tells me their per capita, if I remember correctly is about $8,000-12,000!). We (Kenya) don't live in a vacuum. In a situation where our neighbours who came before us have already set goals "to become mid-income economies" by 2020 (for Rwanda) and 2025 (for Tanzania - most of these visions are online), why need we become "mid-income" 10 years after Rwanda, 5 years after Tanzania, and 30 years after South Africa?

In my nomenclature, I wouldn't call Malaysia, Singapore, etc, "mid-income"; I would rather call them instead "upper mid-income" or better "advanced mid-income" economies. If Kenya aimed for that, I would have no problem. After all, if Korea, Singapore, etc, did it in 30 years, why can't we in 30 years (over and above the 40 years we have already squandered)? Of course the mistake is more KANU's than NARC's; but two wrongs don't make a right, even as we laud NARC for seeing it fit to evolve a vision. Indeed, I gather that the Vision 2030 team has been looking at the experiences of other similar countries, notably India, Brazil, South Korea, Morocco, Malaysia, etc. Yes, it is important to look at these countries which have been or were once in similar economic conditions, but have since broken the veneer of development. And am not in away suggesting that we could by 2030 leapfrog and become a "high-income" country (e.g. the USA, UK, Sweden, Canada, etc.). Whereas it is important to be realistic about the goals, challenges, impediments, etc, and take modest steps, (lest the plans are condemned for being of - to borrow my friend Dr MATUNDA’s words "pie in the sky" kind), the target needs to be raised high enough to make it worth our while.

But issues of target, milestones, time-frames are secondary: once the process is made transparent and participatory, all that shall fall into place. And achieving greatness doesn’t stop with developing a Vision; there must be a plan to implement it as "we walk the talk". For its successful implementation, leadership will even be more key in driving the necessary changes and transformation as people like Prime Minister Mohamed MAHATHIR of Malaysia and Lee of Singapore have done.

Publicly stated official reports indicate that one average, the Kenyan Diaspora remits back home on average KShs 50 billion per annum, making this the second largest "foreign currency earner", after tourism. The Hon. Minister and the leading entrepreneurs in our midst can give us even more accurate figures, but from where I stand, this means that what you people bring back home is more than what we get individually from coffee, tea, pyrethrum, etc, and its volume is higher than what we get from the donor baskets. And what is more: its benefits are more direct and therefore more effective. Let me elaborate why I say this: I am aware of at least one multi-lateral agency which when it administers a fund or program, about 10-15% of the entire program cost goes into its administrative overheads. This is not to talk about the other related legitimate and illegitimate costs of "expatriate" consultants, chai for officers on the supply-chain, etc. Yet on the other hand, the remission by Diaspora even though in small (but numerous) measures, they tend to go for the most needy or high-return cases - either fees for a sibling, hospital bills for a distant relative, or investment into an estate’s development. They tend to be more direct, usually with minimized overheads, and therefore more likely to register better value for money.

In the past, the Diaspora has not taken as an active role to the scale I sense emerging this time round. Of course this is not to say "we" have in the past been passive observers of the Kenyan political-economy. Far from it, we have been much more than that. At any rate this is why today we celebrate, for instance, KCA AGM’s 10^th Anniversary. We have been as much part of Saba-Saba as any other Kenyan patriots. And what more befitting day would it have been than today to once again assemble in this great State of Delaware - the First (and even better for me - Adventist) State! In my mind, what makes this year different, firstly is the growing recognition of the importance of the Diaspora by various Kenyan secular (and also non-secular) actors. Secondly, and perhaps even more importantly, the increasing number of Kenyan Diaspora who are boldly saying "we can no longer sit on the fringes as our country slowly slips into the woods", and are gearing to take the mantle and be part of the transformation process, either by investing in the Republic, or taking the bull by the horns and gunning for parliament. To such bold Kenyans, I say cherio, and I encourage even more Diaspora Kenyans to come out and respond to this historic call of duty. Together, we’ll be able to push through the many desired changes. This is why initiatives like KCA, Kabunge, the New Vision for Kenya (a.k.a Third Force) and others are welcome developments that should be encouraged and supported.

It is important to note that the Diaspora is but only a part of the immense, unparalleled existing Kenyan human capital. It is no secret that within Sub-Saharan Africa (and possibly beyond), Kenya stands out distinctly in terms of the human resource it has - both home and away. It is not unusual to find Kenyan experts doing one outstanding thing or the other at the MIT Labs, in South African Universities, or in the UN atomic inspection labs in Vienna, Austria. Is it any wonder that Prof. Calestous JUMA is fast emerging as Africa’s voice on innovation, science and technology? Yet before Dr JUMA, we had Prof. T.R ODHIAMBO - he of the ICIPE fame. In spite of TR having established himself as Africa’s leading scientist and researcher, didn’t we allow him to die like a dog? And even in the services industry, is it unusual to walk into a leading airline’s booking counter-set in Qatar or Dubai and find an all-Kenyan ground crew? Yet the government to date does not seem to have come up with a comprehensive strategy to nurture and develop this unique, God-given talent - both for the domestic as well as Diaspora exploits! In a world that is becoming so increasingly competitive, it is important for a nation to identify both its comparative as well as competitive advantages. One of Kenya’s competitive advantages is the availability of a large pool of skilled human resource. To quickly elevate Kenya into an "advanced mid-income" economy status, the development, harnessing and optimal deployment of its human capital must be one of the pillars upon which any of Kenya’s long-term vision is anchored.

In receiving this Award today, I recognize that my own limited personal and human efforts would not have achieved even those modest strides we have been able to make. And I beg therefore to dedicate this Award to five very special influences on my life. Firstly, is to God Almighty, in whom all things become possible. And as the Holy Book says, "if God is for us, who can be against us". Quoting Martin Luther KING JNR: "The new age … reminds us that the universe is on the side of justice. It says to those who struggle for justice, ‘You do not struggle alone, but God struggles with you… Truth crushed to earth will rise again’".

Secondly, I want to dedicate this Award to the Kenyan people (as exemplified through its leadership) who provided the fertile ground for some of the ideas we had to experiment with in those early days of Internet escapades. The Kenyan Diaspora, several of which Ndugu MATUNDA already talked about contributed tremendously in showing the way and inspiring us. On the ground, three individuals in MOI’s government made it all happen: Micah CHESEREM (then Governor of the Central Bank), Dr Benjamin KIPKORIR (then Ambassador to the US), and Maj. Gen. Wilson BOINET (then Head of Intelligence). Without the support and intervention of these gallant sons of Kenya, Internet would not have happened in Kenya - at least not when it did on that historic night of 24^th October, 2004! The "progressives" in our midst - some of them with us in this hall today including Ndugu BAKULI, yet others having fallen by the way side as did Father KAISER and Bishop MUGE, in separate ways, you made it happen. You all watered the seeds into germination. Thirdly, I would like to most sincerely thank and dedicate this Award to the government and people of Rwanda for the unique opportunity to learn and serve. While I shared with you some of the experiences in public administration I learnt, spending time in Rwanda has also taught me at least two personal experiences: humility and the thirst to "look at the bigger picture". Fourthly, I wish also to dedicate this Award to those pioneer African Internauts and Africanists - both sung but more so unsung pundits who spent countless sleepless nights under very harsh and often hostile conditions to make it happen. These guys dedicated their lives to a just course; a course they strongly believed in; and they did not disappoint. Ranging from Maputo to Cairo; from Kampala to Dakar; from Boston to Grahamston (South Africa); from Toronto to Helsinki; and from Washington DC to London, this feat would never have been achieved. Steve GOLDSTEIN, without the US-NSF support to Randy BUSH one of the World’s leading Internet fundis , the initial packets to flow out of Kenya’s ground and airspace would not have happened. Of course without the all-time Father of Internet, Vint CERF, there would never have been Internet-1 to begin with! And thanks too to John SUTHERLAND of the British ODA (now DfID) for having provided the "pipes" that enabled Kenya to be part of the information superhighway. Last but not least: my family. Firstly the wider family: the innumerable number of friends, relatives (like my hosts the ONYANGO’s) and associates, I owe it all to you. Without that little institution that was once hoped could be "an ICIPE of computing", ARCC, and those dedicated staff and alumni - all totaling to more than a third of Kenya’s practicing Internet fundis. I have just today learnt that one of them run our own famed Mshale! You may not be here in body, but am with you in mind. And the Rangwe people who gave me a unique opportunity to influence the legislations that eventually that paved way for the Internet and the information superhighway to happen - thank you all! My beautiful family - Jeddy and the kids. You endured many lonely days and nights in our quest to lighten the dark continent. Essy, Ant, and Baby Kylie, you will permanently go into the annuls of history for having played your part by offering one of your bedrooms to host the pipe through which initial Internet packets flowed freely into Kenya. To the KCA leadership and membership who found it befitting to bestow upon me this Award for the modest achievements, and to you all who have found time to be with us today, and those who may not have been able to do so - but will follow these proceedings one way or the other, I love and thank you all.

May God bless you.

Akelo nyar Kager, jaluo@jaluo.com

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