Mungiki: Kenya’s Demographic Time Bomb
A few readers have left comments here talking about Kenya’s demographic problems, which essentially involve an exploding population that will put pressure on Kenya’s limited resources coupled with a very large segment of the country being under the age of 30.
I myself have mentioned here, time and time again, that the economy in Kenya is not making sense to me. Outside of traditional farming, I can’t figure out what else people are producing and without production, you simply will not be able to create enough jobs for that crucial group of under 30′s.
The saddest thing here is that it takes a very long time to transform a country and by the time Kibaki leaves, he’ll essentially have wasted 10 years.
This is why I think that political leaders should be readers. They should sit down and read about countries that have managed to transform themselves because when you do that, you really get a sense of how hard it is and how focused you need to be.
These politicians are not taking their jobs seriously and it’s just not right. They are running the government like a bunch of spoiled teenagers.
**When you post your comments, I’d like you to focus on money, the economy and it’s links to these kinds of social problems.
Slightly off topic, but I’m liking the new format.
But back to the matter at hand: even China was struggling with unemployment before the downturn. Despite it’s strength as a producer of exports to the rest of the world, its factories were still unable to provide jobs for all, and despite the significant migration to urban areas for work, there are still areas of the country that are no different from some of the least developed parts of Kenya. So hoping to emulate that country’s progress is nothing but a pipe dream.
I believe the approach Kenya takes needs to be twofold: first, while it may be anathema to those who are fans of the free market, there needs to be an element of planning for the economy. Not the insane quotas and production targets of Communist Russia, more akin to a 5, 10 or 20-year strategy for what the country is doing and what it will do next.
Second, we desperately need to get a handle on the education system. At present, we shed an enormous quantity of students at each school level. Not every primary school student goes to secondary school, and there aren’t enough university or college placements for students leaving secondary school. Turning these people out onto the street with no qualifications or opportunities is a recipe for disaster. As Aristotle said, “Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime.” This should serve as a warning to us all.
And I fully agree with you about our politicians being readers. We should expect them to be highly educated, widely read and able to do their jobs. How many of the current batch of MPs have degrees? How many have studied even basic economics? But we also need to blame ourselves: before they became politicians, they were simply candidates with no track record. We elected them anyway. The Kenyan electorate needs to fall in love with technocrats rather than flashy businessmen or the village big men. Only then are we likely to see any substatial change.
KE, please dont talk about politics. You lost credibility when you so blindly supported Kibaki when it was obvious to many that he is past his sale date.
Tusker:
Lost credibility? How can I lose credibility in a game dominated by devilish thugs?
I simply picked my devil (aka Kibaki) and you picked yours (aka Raila). And still to this day I am would say that I am glad Kibaki “won” because I think that the Kalenjins around Raila would have been far more dangerous for the country than even these mungiki’s.
However, Kibaki is refusing to rule like a dictator, which is what I said he should have done. i.e. rule like a dictator, but clamp down on the corruption, but he is doing neither and that’s why he is failing.
A country that has 60% of the population living in poverty cannot be ruled democratically. It must be ruled with a firm hand until you get those poverty numbers down to about 15 or 20%.
KE, For your blogs sake you should not forget what you have ever posted here as for this information age your links and posts speak for themselves as when the solution is ideological others turn it tribal and that is why we are in the mess.
For now we have to wait for the government to be bankrupt first because who is lending right now?
Depends on the kind of dictatorship as Moi’s 24 years make for a nice counter argument.
KE said “….because I think that the Kalenjins around Raila would have been far more dangerous for the country than even these mungiki’s.”
What exactly does KE mean by dangerous? If KE’s conception of a Kalenjin is a 15 foot tall, 500 kg, one-legged, one-eyed beast then that would make sense. May be its just me but the Kalenjins I know look and behave like kikuyus (which is to say they are ordinary homo sapiens) in most respects, except, kalenjins tend to win more medals at the Olympics. What KE appears to be communicating is that he is afraid of Kalenjins for reasons that are not obvious to the rest of us. If, say, its documented that Kalenjins commit more violent crimes than anybody else then KE’s assertion of Kalenjin danger would make sense in which case then, it would be a matter of law enforcement not politics.
@Mwiso
Just look at his blog on Ruto, KE stopped short of calling for assasination of Ruto. And on the Mungiki thing, KE has no credibility either since during the PEV he was offering Mungiki moral and possibly financial support as they butchered other tribes in Naivasha and Nakuru. Now those same pangas that you bought for them have been turned against you own people. And what do they do? they form yet another vigilante group to counter Mungiki, once this Bantu vigilante succeeds, they will turn against their current benefactors and become Mungiki 2. this vicious cycle will continue until Kikuyus address the root cause of such wealth and income disparity in their society, which I believe to be the highest in Kenya.
Mwiso:
The danger I’m talking about is the violence that uprooted half a million people in two days. That violence was planned, it was funded and it was lethal.
This is why I’m saying that Raila and Ruto are not exactly good alternatives to Kibaki.
Tusker:
I don’t know why you keep saying that I am defending mungiki, but anyway, let me ask you a question:
Do you think the income disparities are worse under Kibaki than they were under Moi?
KE
Under Moi error(yes error), inflation was kept at bay and except for a few Moi mafias, for the most part the middle class was relatively poor.
During Kibaki’s error, inflation shot through the roof while the middle class incomes increased as a result of increased productivity. So Kibaki’s error benefited the middleclass at the expense of the poor. This problem is more pronounced in central province.
Is Tusker Baridi the same as Cold Tusker ?
KE
Let me first congratulate you on the new look. I like it.
As for Mungiki, I have always said that the law should take its course.
The root cause, as many have said, is the social destabilisation of the society that has occured in recent years. I do not believe it is entirely financial. It is a result of social breakdown and the loss of important values such as the respect for life.
Those who think that Mungiki is a Kikuyu problem are mistaken. Other communities and societies have experienced this before. Look at the way people are burning each other in Kisii; violence by Kalenjins in the RV; Cattle rustling in the North Rift; Banditry in NEP.
We have also lost important conflict resolution skills.
KE
Congrats for the new look!!!
KeIo
At least you realise Mingiki exist (you had denied existance on this blog)
Again you want to draw other comunities to this menace….the answer is NO.
Mungiki is strictly Kikuyu & Kikuyu alone
Its nothing but Kikuyu culture
Let me explain
1) Its not financial (as you said). I agree with you here. after all Central province is the most well off of all Provinces in Kenya.
Kambas,Kissis,Luhyas,Luos are poorer but you NEVER here extortion gangs among them.
ITS CULTURAL
Yes. its a unique Kikuyu trait. They fear WORK like plague…HENCE they resort to pseudo works like
1) Extortion & racketeering (in an ethnic scale)
2) Hawking …the least of all works (pushing ready things)
I MUST congratulate Kirinyagans though for standing up to this lazy BUGS
KE
If they (kalenjins) planned & executed eviction of 500K in two days…then they Must be the most
1) secretive people in world
2) displined people in the world
3) organised people in the world
We live with Kalenjins here in NRB and i can tell they humble,beer loving PEOPLE ORDINARY in every way except when it comes to SPORTS~
Your thesis must therefore be WRONG!
Lord
I will not be dragged into some kind of tribal debate. I am way above that.
What I said is that whatever is happening is a manifestation of the breakdown of social order. The problem may manifest itself in other ways in other communities.
I am aware that there are people laughing because the people who died are Kikuyus but I can only say that they will soon be laughing at themselves. It is only a matter of time before this kind of criminality manifests itself in their own communities.
@LORD
You must resent Kikuyus by the way you try make your point in your comment. Banish that from your heart. To correct you a bit.
It’s true Mungiki is largely Nairobi and Central problem with majority being Kikuyu members but there are instances here in Nairobi where guys from other ethnic gruops have been recruited. But don’t forget we have all manner of gangs operating in different parts of the Country.The SLDF, Chikororos, Baghdad Boys, Taliban, Kalenjin worriors you name it…So it means we have deep rooted societal problems mostly caused by poverty and inequality. Mungiki has a spiritual/religious angle to it and just like any religion when things become radical and extreme with a mixture of poverty and desperation, we get to see what we are seeing today.
On your other point. Kikuyus are lazy and don’t like to work. There is nothing but further from the truth. Most Kikuyus are hardworking people. Maybe you can accuse them of being over hardworking and always running after business and money at expense of other things but to say they are lazy, there is nothing further from the truth. As you know most businesses and enterprises in All Kenya Major towns are owned by Kikuyus. In Most big corporates listed in NSE and even multinationals are headed by Kikuyus. Am sure most got there through hard work.
About Kalenjins. You are right most Kelanjins are good natured people. But when you have politicians inciting villagers (even some city dwellers fall for this) to hate another ethnic group it leads to genocide. Even good people get caught up in the evil of the moments and do things there will otherwise not do. Some are even threatened and coerced to join the murdering spree or else face the same consequence as the enemy.
About being organized yes, the PEV in RV was well organized and executed. About secrecy, nothing is secret. The only question is why the intelligence received was ignored by the security agencies that could have done enough to stop them.
So to conclude, I see Mungiki being a big societal problem that cannot be wished away as being a problem of one community. The fact that they are in the news more has captured our attention but lets not forget, ‘suspects’ of witchcraft are being burnt alive regularly or even being beaten and stoned to death in Nyanza and Coast. Children are acting out live pornography in Kibera to earn money. Idle youths hang around highways and byways in Rift Valley and Nyanza waiting for accidents to happen to rob the hapless victims or to siphon fuel…..Our society needs to be revamped, but it cannot be done with outdated tribal sentiments like the ones you are expressing through your comment.
Noni
Thank you for that. You could not have put it better.
I have come to discover that Lord is a Kikuyu hater. The funny thing is that Kikuyus will never leave Kenya and they will always play a central role in Kenya either in government or out of government.
We need to rise above this pettiness and see ourselves as one people with one destiny.
@Noni
Thank you for your time & reaction but….
Some facts!
Mungiki members are in hundreds of thousands ,maybe 1 million
Kikuyus are NOT the poorest people in Kenya. Infact all annual treasury economic indicators PUT central province at Number ONE economically
If they can produce ONE MILLION mungikis who basicaly extort from kikuyus…then basically its cultural
Burning witches in Kisii was and is NOT about MAKING MONEY…
SDLF was NOT about Making Money…
Pornography is NOT about making money by extotion
Do you know what extortion is ?
Get this candidly and EXPLAIN to us why Kikuyus (in hundres of thousands if not millions ie mungiki) extort.
Even Mafia in Italy are not that many
Stop this interlectual blackmail of accusing others of ‘tribal incorectness’ when they lay out FACTS or seek explanations
EXPLAIN
KeiO, Noni
Every time KE hurls hate message against Kalenjins NONE of you KeIO & Noni complain
Because you Think KE is yours Eh….
Your are what i call INTERLECTUAL DISHONESTs’
Lord
Your thinking is prehistoric. Like that of the cavemen.
I do not care what KE said or did not say. But what you said is wrong and you know it is wrong Infact, it is hatemongering and it only serves to strengthen the resolve of those of us who are opposed to tribalism in all its forms.
I do not personally know KE and I cannot be bothered about his or her ethnicity. It is his or her views that I respond to, not her or him as a person.
As for intellectual dishonesty, you are not even capable of that because your own intelligence, if at all you have any, is BELOW AVERAGE.
Keio
Its amazing how you crash…like a kid. You sure can not exercise whats up there!(head).
Just practice slowly
Tusker Baridi: During Kibaki’s error, inflation shot through the roof while the middle class incomes increased as a result of increased productivity.
Are you sure this is right? I would say the “middle class” (however you define that) increased during Kibaki’s time because of access to cheap credit (aka loans). There was no real increase in production (unless you can provide examples of this increased productivity here).
Lord:
I don’t know why you keep hating on hawkers. Kenya, unlike most other countries in Africa, does not have mineral resources. What are people supposed to sell?
In fact, one could argue that America is a country of super hawkers since 90% of the goods sold in America are not produced or manufactured there.
So, what would you prefer that these Kikuyu hawkers do? (besides farming).
I think if people stop breeding like rats, then we wouldn’t be having rampant unemployment. If only Kenyatta and Moi had free primary and secondary education. We’d be having the fertility rate and average income of a middle-income Asian country.
So what the government needs to do is to pay women that agree to have Copper T IUDs something small every month. Condoms are not an option. I mean, I’m well educated but won’t use condoms with my wife.
Anonymous: I mean, I’m well educated but won’t use condoms with my wife.
Someone told me that the highest form of transmission of HIV in Kenya is from married couples because they are not being faithful to each other (particularly the men) and they are refusing to use condoms with their wives. Very dangerous.
This is one of the problems with African culture and why HIV has spread so fast: It’s people having multiple sexual relationships at the same time. In the west, they tend to practice serial monogamy, which is one relationship at a time, but Africans are not just breeding like rats, they are behaving like them.
IUD’s are outdated. They should distribute other forms birth control medication.
kenyanentrepreneur wrote:
I don’t use condoms with my wife lakini I don’t sleep around and we get tested annually coz of health insurance. I mean, the equipment is the same and sleeping around is not only deadly, it’s also expensive. As a dude, you have to decide whether you want many flats or many chics.
Secondly, my bibi uses an IUD coz of pill side effects and of course my refusal to use a condom. She can also easily forget to take the pill or we can easily run out of condoms in the heat of the moment. That’s why IUDs are a realistic option for Kenyan women who aren’t dogging and whose husbands aren’t dogging.