Calm will prevail in Kenya's elections

The elections in Rwanda and Kenya were bound to attract international attention. Consequently, reams of newspaper space gave way to examination of their national histories vis-à-vis the people’s motivations and likely choice of leaders and their development agendas. Also aware of the resulting social media chatter, that’s how I left for Nairobi to be in the thick of the elections. One gets a better feel of the heat closer to the boiler room. However, in my usual social joint where I fraternise with veteran East Africans, the attention has been not so much national as regional. In the outcome of a general election is consolidated a nation’s will to the broader regional aspirations. It is the same for the EAC, as it is for the European Union regarding Brexit, or globally regarding US President Donald Trump’s lamented policies. This is to say Wanjiku – to borrow the Kenyan socio-political nom de guerre for the average citizen – has her say on issues beyond her boma (homestead). This is a truism in as far as she exercises her right to vote. It is, therefore, obvious she confers the mandate her choice of leaders to meaningfully impact her life wherever their travels may take them in her name as a tax payer. Thus represented, she need not necessarily be conversant with the fundamentals of globalisation, which is itself an imprecise term that could mean anything between borderless goods and services, including capital and ideas. Nevertheless, a subject that has kept cropping among my friends in the joint is the suspicion of a local trend towards protectionism. They generally agree Dr Mukhisa Kituyi, the UN Conference on Trade and Development Secretary General, had a point to express the same concern at the 2nd East African Manufacturing Business Summit held in Kigali recently. “We still have national tendencies instead of regional,” he noted, urging, “We need to yearn for something bigger than state protection.” Dr Kituyi might have been echoing the cadenced optimism by China’s President Xi Jinping at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January this year against the view by some gathered international leaders that globalisation may have reached a tipping point. Countries must resist the temptation to retreat into harbour, President Xi was quoted saying, but instead have the courage to swim in the vast ocean of the global market. The view that globalisation is at serious crossroads was held by, among notable others, the Zambian economist Dambisa Moyo who spoke of “significant losses” she was not sure “we are going to be able to remedy under the current [global] infrastructure.” The perception is based on the “losses” that have led to the inequalities, for example, that precipitated Brexit and made it possible for the Trump presidency. However, this concern only speaks for the aspect of globalisation related to goods and services, which necessarily creates losers and winners. The contra argument is that there is little to worry about, as globalisation also falls on the side of creative ideas to offer universal solutions. This suggests that humanity is in the throes of development in technologically driven change over which politicians have little control. In technological innovation, the argument suggests, globalisation is moving as it should towards equalising opportunities for all and sundry. After my group of laymen somewhat agreed that the outlook summed up the general situation, it observed that while the Rwandans have unequivocally spoken of their popular choice, we should expect that whichever side of the coalition takes the Kenyan vote both countries will be tandem in their mutually inclusive aspirations in the larger EAC. The key is to ensure that the benefits of the integration and liberalisation sought in the region have been equitably shared to avoid a Brexit scenario in which losers increase in number and become vociferous. More immediately, however, while there have been concerns that the unguarded rhetoric by some Kenyan politicians may inflame violent passions that could spill across borders, we were among the optimists. There may not miss a skirmish of two, especially in the high stakes race in the devolved dispensation, but we were among those who expect the Kenyan elections will largely be calm. The region looks up to Kenyans’ civic responsibility to deliver on this. Twitter: @gituram

Opinions

Calm will prevail in Kenya's elections