A Lesson In Political Economics From A Wise Old Man Who Didn't Go To College

As we enjoyed our political discussion with my Digo friend (see later post) in the sweltering heat and humidity of the Coast, there was another man with us who listed quietly and only made the occasional remark.

He said very little about himself except I gathered that he is not a Digo. I estimated his age to be in the early sixties and he was very keen about on listening to President Kibaki's Madaraka day speech.

My Digo friend and I teased him about having received a bribe from Narc-Kenya. He denied it and just said that President Kibaki's knowledge of economics had greatly helped the country's economy and that if we gave him another 5 years the Kenyan economy would be a major force to reckon with in Africa. My Digo friend almost stood up and probably would have had it not been for the small child she was breast-feeding.

She made it clear that there was no way the President was going to get re-elected in 2007. She said the people had made up their minds, Kibaki would have to go.

The wise old man was unmoved and went on making his points quietly and calmly. He lamented that the President's Madaraka day speech in Kiswahili (which he understood better than English) had been so short. That was the only problem he saw with the Kibaki administration, an inability to pass on economic prosperity to the common man. He linked his limited knowledge of Kiswahili to his limited knowledge of what the poor ordinary Kenyan goes through.

I marveled at what I was hearing. I felt that I had no business writing this blog when there were such wise and yet uneducated thinkers out there.

No matter what my political inclinations are, it is a fact that Kenya is now beginning to see the positive results of President Kibaki's economic policies. Those policies which I have deeply criticized in this blog, several times, are just now beginning to bear fruit.

Just to give one example. The Kibaki administration has championed a strong shilling which has virtually wiped out the Kenyan horticultural sector causing thousands to lose their jobs. But it is that strong shilling that has greatly cushioned the nation against the effects or spiraling world oil prices that are playing havoc with the economies of other African countries. As a result the strong shilling has probably saved many more jobs than were earlier lost.

And of course the old man is absolutely right when he points to the weakness of this administration in its' inability to pass on the benefits of a stronger economy to the ordinary jobless, starving Kenyan.

Still Kibaki must go in 2007 and the reigns of leadership must be passed on to a new generation of younger leaders who though inexperienced are bound to have plenty of new ideas.