Rachel Ramprasad: During Daniel Moi's Presidency in Kenya

DURING DANIEL MOI’S PRESIDENCY IN KENYA
BY RACHEL RAMPRASAD

The memoir It Happened on the Way to War states that Kibera is the largest slum in Africa. The author Rye Barcott creates an awareness of the horrendous living situation the citizens of Kibera have to live with. Ethnic violence, poor economy, and unsanitary living conditions are the largest problems in the slum. Kenya is a country of democracy, so shouldn’t an elected president be helping his people? As a president, it is on his shoulders that Kibera improve, not get worse. It is his job to make the environment livable for his people. President Daniel arap Moi – could he and did he help to stimulate economic growth and living conditions in Kibera?

President Moi could in fact stimulate economic growth in Kibera, he did try to until his last term, when he decided to retire (“KENYA: Focus on Clashes”). During his last term, he passed a law so that landlords in Kibera must lower their rent (“KENYA: Focus on Clashes”). This could have been one decent thing he has done his 20 year rule because by lowering the rent the people now have more money in their pockets to put elsewhere into the economy. Now at least many citizens could afford to have a roof over their heads. However, this caused a feud between landlords and tenants, and 3,000 tenants were displaced from homes. Many houses were destroyed and many became homeless (‘KENYA: Focus on Clashes”). Policemen also “raided homes and shops and stole money and property” (“KENYA: Focus on Clashes”). So, instead of the law helping the citizens and the economy, it created havoc, and further destroyed the economy by destroying shops and consumer goods.

Some may say he tried to help the citizens and the economy with lower rent, and it was the citizens that didn’t want to cooperate, but I say he was the one that caused the citizens to turn that way, and caused the economy to plummet to begin with. During President “Jomo Kenyatta’s presidency Kenya became one of the most stable and prosperous countries in Africa” (Crawfurd). When Moi took over, he created “Pro-government troublemakers”, and human rights abuses escalated (Närman). Not only that, but Kibera, a once prosperous place people went for job seeking, is now the biggest slum. The chaos could have been the President’s intention all along, not helping the Kenyans. Some believe it may possibly have been his intentions because when Ethnic clashes broke out in Kibera, the “Government stayed passive”. “Some feared that Moi would like to see chaos break out in Kenya after he gives up presidency” (Crawfurd).

Chaos did break out in Kenya. Moi is one of the people that caused different ethnic groups to hate and start fighting each other to this extent to begin with. He and his party thought that by having tribal wars, he will win the election because by having different tribes go against each other and fight, they will turn into rivals, and have no choice but to vote for him and his party (KANU). He was right because he won. The tribes preferred a national party (KANU) to win instead of a rival tribal group. Since every tribal group hated the other tribal groups, they lost votes, causing the national party to win. (See Conor O’Brien’s essay on our course blog for more on how he used different ethnic groups to win elections.) Moi has been playing with ethnic groups from the beginning to get what he wanted, so hurting them because of the rent war was only the icing on cake.

Not only did he use violence between ethnic groups to stay in office, but he cheated the voting system. Moi “use an intricate ethnic balance to ensure he had a majority behind him in parliament” (Närman). He cheated the system so that only those from different ethnic groups favoring his side won the election. By controlling who got into parliament he had no opposition which allowed him to do as he pleased. (See Nia Owens’s essay, also on our course blog, on political structure for more on how President Moi cheated the system to win elections.)

So what was Moi doing in office other than corrupting the voting system, was Moi trying to stimulate economic growth? According to Phil Ponce, the chaos hurt Kenya’s tourist industry, and that further weakened the economy. No one wants to go to a country where violence is everywhere. Foreign investors didn’t have enough confidence in the stability of the country to want to invest (Ponce). As a president he decided to introduce an economic reform program, only the $220 million loan was suspended because he failed to tackle corruption (Ponce). Corruption he helped to create, I might add. At the time he was the second richest man in Africa, yet the place he governed was a slum. He bought votes, cheated the voting system, harassed or killed opposition members, uses the police and military to benefit himself, and caused ethnic clashes (Crawfurd). One would say Moi somewhat turned into a dictator in a supposedly democratic country (Närman). He then could do whatever he wants--decreased living conditions in Kibera, ruin the economy, and remain in parliament for 20 years.

To be fair, eventually when the UN and democratized countries came down on him, he agreed to political reform. He allowed Kenya to once again have opposition parties and have more access to the radio and television (Ponce). He also requested for international aid when Kenya was lashed with severe drought and famine (“Kenya” 2283). So maybe Kibera turning into a slum with thousands unable to purchase goods and medicine wasn’t completely his fault. The drought and famine contributed greatly to that. However, if he handled the chaos and did not add to it, his country would had more aid coming in from industrialized nations bettering his people.

Also, if he were not so corrupt his people might had clean water in a drought. The World Bank suspended the public-sector water projects because large scales of the funds were misused (“Kenya” 2283). This clearly shows how corrupt the government was. Nonetheless, to be fair, “the Government banned all forms of irrigation in an attempt to conserve water supply in Nairobi” (“Kenya” 2283). But then this is only after the World Bank suspended the water supply because they (Kenya government) exploited the funds.

Similar to the World Bank even the Germans took their aid away when it was passed to the Kenyan government. The Germans only gave to the famine victims through a charitable organization, not when it was controlled by the government (“Kenya” 2283). They too knew how corrupt the government was and didn’t trust them. In the memoir Barcott states that NGO’s were spending money on themselves not on Kibera, living luxurious lives (60). President Moi one of the richest men in Africa (“Kenya”) was after all living in a mansion right outside the slum (Barcott). While it’s normal for an elected president to live well and have nice things, I don’t think he and the NGO members should have such a luxurious lifestyle when their country is suffering severe drought, famine and a plummeting economy. Where were they getting the money from? Does he deserve so much wealth? In addition, the drought affected the power industry (“Kenya 2283”) so the economy is in a deeper hole than it already was.

Did President Daniel arap Moi help to better his country’s economy and living conditions? My research shows that President Moi is the reason for his country’s economic failure and poor living conditions for his people. The president before Moi left the country as a prosperous nation. Moi left the country in a major economic crisis with thousands homeless and famished. Some say Moi left the country in a dark age, and I concur with them. He and other members of the government took money from aid around the world to benefit themselves. He also created the violence against different ethnic group to remain in office. Eventually he tried to help the country but it was too late, the country was far too corrupt for outsiders to help.

The good news in all of this is the president after Moi, Kibaki, started leading the country in the right path, focusing on rebuilding the economy and on education (Närman). He believed every kid should have free access to education. He took the power away from the corrupted party Moi was part of.

WORKS CITED
Barcott, Rye. It Happened on the Way to War. New York: Bloomsbury, 2011. Print.
Crawfurd, Jacob. “Kenya Timeline.” The Crawfurd.dk. 1996-2011. Web. 7 Sept. 2011.
“Kenya.” The Europa World Year Book 2001. 42nd ed. Vol. 2. N.p.: Europa, 2001. 2283. Print.
“KENYA: Focus on Clashes in Kibera Slum.” IRIN Humanitarian News and Analysis. IRIN, 2011. Web. 6 Sept. 2011.
Närman, Anders. “Elections in Kenya – What Now?” Nordiska Afrikainstitutet. Göteborg “U”, Sweden, n.d. Web. 7 Sept. 2011
Ponce, Phil. “A Kenyan Controversy” transcript from PBS News hour. 5 Jan. 1998. Web. 7 Sept. 2011