Fikira and Maoni on the Kenyan Crisis 7

Waache uwongo. Kenya tunahitaji Foreign Aid. The government claims that it has been financing more than 95% of its budget through taxes! This at the moment is a CLAIM and needs verification!!

I stand to be corrected; it is incorrect to say that Zimbabwe is surviving without aid. The crisis in Zimbabwe is beyond your mere description. Economic sanctions distort macro-economic variables of the country- things like foreign exchange, interest rates, employment, inflation etc. Get time and investigate a common Zimbabwean and you will hear surprises. In short, Zimbabwe is at the brink of collapse and the sooner we have that dictator out of power, the better. Perhaps that is exactly, what we need to do in Kenya , get this illegitimate and unpopular president and move on with life.

It is also a little early to purport that Pakistan will soon face sanction, given its strategic position to the US . More so, its open door policy to UK to investigate the death of Bhutto tells a lot about its relationship with the West. Pakistan provides a nice battle ground for US to flush out the so called terrorists and I doubt if the US foreign policy is that negative to it. (I stand to be corrected and call you to convince me otherwise)

It’s very dangerous to purport that Kenya can work without aid. Consider understanding how much a typical African government needs to cope with its capital investments. We are disillusioned by the politics of aid to think we can’t do without it. Our politicians tell us we are domestically raising resources to build the economy but they make endless trips to donor countries. All these are politics. Aid is paramount. As an economist by the name Frank Junior urges, if only aid was only put to its correct usage and well managed! (Recall the question of ineffective aid fungibility)

Regarding the relationship between international economic sanctions and their effect on a common Kenyan, I call upon the person who raised the question to fall closely how common Wananchi of Zimbabwe are suffering. Also, fancy figuring out this, we need aid to build that road stretching from Bungoma to Webuye so that a farmer can transport his farm produce for sale. Those sanctions will turn round the macro-economic enviroment and theirr effects will be felt at the very household level. Did you see mamas from Zimbabwe carrying money in sacks just to afford a kilo of meat?

Regarding issues of hatred and so, the primary question that you may consider asking is’ ‘why the hatred?’ I call you to engage with all sources, written literature and others, to provide the answer to this question. Calling upon people to stretch hands of love to one another is not the solution. Perhaps we need to learn from the post-genocide healing model of Rwanda . The ground can only be broken if we dig out to find what are the causes of these bigotries. Recently, I asked a group of friends not only to pray, but also requested them to seek justice and truth along side their prayers, otherwise they are deemed blanket.

Look at this link for the Zimbabwe situation
http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/index.php?storyID=7303&WT.srch=1