Our Drunken Finance Minister
You know, sometimes, I want to feel sorry for Uhuru Kenyatta because I think that he’s been thrust into a life which he neither desired nor wanted and because of this, he’s never really prepared himself for the situation he is in today. He spent his youth drinking, womanizing and partying, not reading books on economics and trying to figure out how to transform his country.
If you look at the most successful politicians today, there’s one thing you begin to notice about their lives and it is that at a relatively young age, they develop this calling for public service and they begin to structure their lives in a such way that will prepare them for the pressures and demands of that life.
George Bush, like Uhuru Kenyatta, spent his youth partying and that’s why his presidency was such a disaster. He had not prepared himself (intellectually) for the rigors of public life. Bill Clinton however, knew that politics was going to be in his future and he prepared himself for that life by excelling in school and by reading and learning rigorously. If you read Obama’s first biography, you will discover that he (too) knew that his life was going to be in public service and he started preparing for this career very early on in his life. In his book, he says that he decided to get serious about his life during his second year in college and this was when his transformation began. Obama did not just become successful two years ago. His success has been accompanied by years of preparation.
The problem I am seeing in Kenya is that too many politicians have simply not prepared themselves for this life and as a result, they are not able to do their jobs properly and that is why the country is not changing! I’ve come to believe that in order for a government to actually make a difference, it needs to hire thinkers; It needs to hire people who read books and people who have been to school and people who have spent their lives thinking about these issues and trying to come up with solutions. There’s a certain level of passion and commitment that you must have if you hope to truly and fundamentally transform a country and without this passion and preparation, you simply will not succeed.
The ministers in Kenya (almost universally) seem to lack this “passion” and as a result, they are not taking their jobs seriously and it is becoming utterly ridiculous. The president himself is not taking these ministries seriously and that is shameful because people are suffering (they’re even starving). They’re running the government like a bunch of spoiled, immature teenagers who seem totally oblivious to the implications of their actions.
Do I think that Uhuru Kenyatta is trying to steal money at the treasury? No, I don’t. He already has money. I think he’s just clueless. He doesn’t know what’s going on in that ministry and he doesn’t have the necessary qualifications to make the important changes that are needed and once again, I am going to say that the PS (Kinyua) is a joker. Kinuya is not a thinker. He’s a paper shuffling bureaucrat. He’s not a Manmohan Singh, the Oxford educated economist who introduced reforms that transformed India’s economy. Paper pushers are not policy initiators. Their focus is on maintaining the status quo not on bringing about change. So, if the president decides to surround himself with a bunch of tribal paper pushers, there will be no fundamental changes ever and this is what is now happening. The wealth is simply being transferred from one tribal ruling class (the Kalenjin) to a new tribal ruling class (the Kikuyu).
The country is not being fundamentally transformed and this will lead to continued instability.
Other News:
**Looks like judges in Kenya are going to be getting a 100% pay raise. At some point, this whole thing is going to come crushing down because you can’t keep using the bulk of taxpayer money on non-income producing expenditures, like salaries, especially for public officials who aren’t doing much of anything.
Where are they going to get the money to keep paying these exorbitant salaries once all the parastatals have been sold?
I keep seeing the KRA commissioner talking about what a great job they are doing when it comes to tax collection (and they are) – but it’s not going to make a difference if these politicians keep using YOUR money to just lavish themselves with these obscene salaries.
I’m surprised the KRA commissioner isn’t linking this issue of tax collection to tax expenditure. What’s the point of bragging about how much you’ve collected in taxes if the money can’t even be used to feed 10 million starving people?
Very insightful article.
How much does Uhuru drink? Look at his eyes. The man looks like he sleeps in a brewery.
A few months ago we heard that there wasn’t money for free secondary education, teacher’s salaries, minimum wage increase, etc. Today there’s enough to give AG & CJ 100% raise. Kwani Houdini is working for the treasury?
But on the real, this is rather upsetting. And I don’t agree that UK would not steal because he comes from money. That theory has been proven wrong on many occasions. If he’s prepping for 2012 presidency(oh no!) as is the belief, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind using someone else’s money. On other hand if your theory is true, then he is incompetent and should step down. Has he heard of GIGO? If he can’t account for Sh9.2bn imagine what will happen with the Sh33bn being loaned by the US.
KE,
I don’t think the two are comparable in any sense of that word… i.e Kinyua and Manmohan. Obviously for something like 9.2 Billion to slip his eyes as the Finance P.S… I think he completely loses my support for such a blatant mistake.
I also agree with you. The path Uhuru Kenyatta chose in life does not reflect anything that Can bring real change in Kenya. I mean, common… If Uhuru did have any dreams… He should have wrote a book too… Just like Obama… Dreams of my father. I’m pretty sure it would not be best seller. Nobody would want to be a part of a trifling chain smoker life.
I can’t even Imagine Mama Ngina Sitting with him and telling him he’s successful. This guy is a disgrace to the entire continent. I wonder what he thinks when he sees people like Obama whose parent come from Kongelo and are peasants…. Doing big things… I guess he pities himself… Knowing he blew it.
You cannot compare Kenya and India.
You should compare India and Africa.
Several observations:
1. the writer of this blog has clearly not met Kinyua. The man is actually quite smart. In his common sense way, he knows the solutions to most of the problems facing his docket. His officers are also some of the smartest and well qualified Kenyans you could put in those positions and the good thing is, the core team is very diverse (not just one region of the country). Your tribal comments on this issue are slightly off the mark.
2. There is clearly a major problem at the Treasury. The control process around papers leaving that office are actually quite elaborate which lends credence to the suspicions that the error was not inadvertent.
3. UK does look out of depth at the Treasury but I also think this story has more to it than meets the eye especially as he has shown a rather interesting ability to learn on the fly. Remember the 2002 campaigns? I believe that everyone carries in them the potential for greatness. He may yet surprise us all.
4. Watch also how quickly Oburu Odinga seems to be taking to the Treasury function. His last comments (made off the bat) seemed very well informed and statistically driven.
I am a keen supporter of UK and I am really willing for him to succeed in this docket.
I know he will.
I’m assuming you’ve met him and if so, why do you think he’s so smart?
I’m also assuming that if you think he is that smart, you believe that his ability to fully function is being constrained by the politicians, not by his own incompetence?
Oburu Odinga has no real power at that ministry. PNU would not allow that. Oburu is the brother of public enemy number one.
uk is a really smart guy i don know how he got himself in this mess.look out am very sure that he is the only guy in this govt never implicated in any scandle,i believe in him to be our countrys saviour.remember when he told ministers to stop making unnecessaly travels,who else do you think would do that?
Here in the west, he would have ended up being on a foundation board. His alcoholism would disappear, as it looks like deep down even he knows he is not suited for the job.
I am sure there are a lot of people who would like him to get the position, as he would not be politically strong enough to stand up to them.
Uhuru 2012….. I don’t even know where to begin. I hope those who love the idea of a Kenya will be in a position to stop, or derail the train.
This is an unfortunate set of circumstances. It seems the government is blundering too often. But at least there is some form of accountability. What needs to happen is an Exit strategy from economic AID given to us by the world bank and other AID organizations. They are one of the Key things holding Kenyans and Africans back. Let us create our own wealth. http://stopaid.org
KE,
Nice trick question right there!
In answer to your first one. Yes I have met him a number of times over the years since I first came here. I sought to clarify that your depiction of him as “PS (Kinyua) is a joker. Kinuya (sic) is not a thinker. He’s a paper shuffling bureaucrat.” is a bit off the mark. Kinyua may not carry a long academic cv but the man has a very deep understanding of inter-ministerial workings, he has an amazing ability to cut through @%*! to get to the core of numerous proposals and requests that come through his office and has prevented his political bosses from making some astounding errors in policy using his very disarming approach. Could some other Kenyan do a better job? Quite possibly. Is he a hapless, paper shuffling bureaucrat? No Sir.
As to the trick question of who or what prevents him from doing his job better, I would be falling into a familiar logic trap to push the blame to others. I leave that question to bolder men.
You say PNU would not let Oburu get real power at treasury? Methinks you underestimate the Odingas. Their specialty is building influence from grassroots before making the play for the big deal. No where does this work better than in bureaucratic systems such as a Ministry where even the Tea-lady has more importance than the position suggests. Watch how Oburu rises to make authoritative statements on his docket as time goes by.
KE,
I think a times you give attention to replies which carry NO substance.
So what if Thuna Kumba met PS. Kinyua ? This is not the point…. Knowing about something and being stellar in performance is TWO Different things.
There are people in the west who know so much…. but many of them are not the best in performance….
When a person is given a public trust to oversee… There is NO – If’s or Buts about anything.. He accepted a public role and should be condemned accordingly when he performs poorly.
People want to see the end product…. NOT SLEAZE….
Sleaze is Kinyua’s undoing… He might know how to run the finance docket in theory but not in practice…
You people need some awakening… This is not a private company we talking about.. This is Public Trust !!