| 19 May 2007 04:15 SOMALIA WATCH |
Analysis |
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Story Filed: Sunday, March 17, 2002 2:05 PM EST Mar 17, 2002 (The Monitor/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) -- This is the second and last part of Timothy Kalyegira's analysis of the Kenya situations in relation to it's neighbours. In the first part, published last Sunday, he dwelt on how the uneven treatment of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania by their colonial masters Britain has set them apart to this day: A Kenyan woman who works in Uganda remarked in October 2001: "The trouble with Ugandans is that you are not aggressive!" In that one sentence, she summed up the character of the Kenyans. Ugandans, by their outspokenness and outgoing nature, outshine the Tanzanians, Ethiopians, Rwandans, Burundians, and make them seem timid. The Kenyans, for their part, make Ugandans seem quite timid and mild. It is hard to know where to start in describing the Kenyans. Perhaps it is their culture. Perhaps it is because they have been a capitalist nation for the longest, unbroken span of time, in comparison with all their neighbours and as such, life in a market economy has made them what they are. Perhaps it is their education system, heavily influenced by the British. One thing stands out about the Kenyans --- aggressiveness, openness, and frankness that pervades the society, especially the largest single ethnic group, the Kikuyu. If you encounter the closed, narrow minds of the Ethiopians, the slow ways of the Tanzanians, the craftiness and cynicism of the Ugandans, the suspicious, secretive minds of the Rwandans, the open and cosmopolitan Kenyan mind is bound to come as a breath of fresh air. Nairobi, you might be tempted to think, should have been the headquarters of the OAU. Whether tourism is the factor, or the fact that they have hosted refugees from their war-torn neighbours for so long, or it is their capitalistic, urbanised economy, is hard to tell. The Kenyans, even when you tell them what country you come from, never or hardly react as if you are a stranger. To them, you are a person, more like a potential client. A Kenyan is up front, direct and some might even say, a little wild. There is such a go-getter element to the country that you might be led to feel that the whole country is made up of businessmen. There seems to be an endless drive to set a business target, hassle and drive toward it, and once achieved, set another one. Kenya gives the impression of being, more than all its neighbours, a corporate society, a society where people are slotted less into tribes than into companies and business corporations. In Tanzania, you are a Tanzanian. In Uganda, you are which political party you belong to and whose dinner party you attended last night. In Ethiopia, you are what you look like. In Rwanda, you are what ethnic group you belong to. In Somalia, you are which clan you belong to. In Kenya, you are which business card you carry. Over lunch at the YWCA restaurant in Nairobi, a Kikuyu girl summed up the mentality of her tribe, which came to influence the Kenyan national character. Land is the obsession of the Kikuyu people. Land, property and other capitalistic symbols are the prized possessions of this largest and most influential of Kenya's tribes. The Kikuyu are attracted to money, profit, business, and the whole concept of getting ahead, more than any other Kenyans, with the exception of the Whites and some sections of the Asian community. I would have to add that the people of Mombasa, most of whom are Muslim, tend to reflect the mind frame of most other Muslims. (But I will not go into that.) Most of mainstream Kenya is Christian, with about five percent Muslim, and of the Christians, two-thirds are Protestants. The fact that Protestants are in the majority in Kenya, starts to shed some light on the difference between Kenya, and the mainly Roman Catholic Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Congo, and Burundi, or the mainly Orthodox Ethiopia and Eritrea, and the Muslim Somalia, Sudan, and Djibouti. Protestants, as a whole, tend to be outspoken, open, entrepreneurial and westernised, a reflection of their counterparts in America, Australia, Canada, Britain, New Zealand, Sweden, and South Africa. The other thing that struck me while in Mombasa and Nairobi was the indifference that Kenyans have to the things that, for example, the Ethiopians hold so dear to them. I talked about Kenya's world-class middle and long distance World and Olympic athletes and complimented the Kenyans I talked to, on these great champions. The Kenyans would smile at that, but seemed uninterested in spending hours talking about their Olympic glory. I also gushed out my surprise that, contrary to what I had been hearing, Kenya was still a strong country and economy. Again my comments would be met with a smile, but then the conversation would go on to other things. Unlike the Ethiopians, the Kenyans do not seem particularly interested in the glow that comes with their country's economic size, sporting achievements at the Olympic Games, and event the beauty of their women. To them, these are nice things to loom in the back of the mind, but not to be dwelt on, as if they were all that it takes to be a nation. Some of the Kenyans I talked to wondered what my surprise over Mombasa was about. As far as they are concerned, in their matter-of-fact way that is typically Kenyan, Mombasa is a dirty city which they find small and boring. This "small" Mombasa that the Kenyans don't take seriously, is the size of the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. On the streets, Kenyans walk at a brisk pace, as if rushing off to the next company meeting. When you overhear their conversations as they walk past you, it is usually about work, this meeting, that appointment, the clients that they have to see. What I also remember is that these days in Nairobi, the people speak much more English amongst themselves than when I last visited in August 1993. In 1993, you heard Kiswahili all round you and recognized it as the national language that it is. In February 2002, English, at least in Nairobi, is fast beginning to out-speak Kiswahili as the language of business, leisure conversation, and even the language of style. And the Kenyans generally do speak better English than Ugandans, even though in Uganda, English is both the official and de facto national language. The general personality of the Kenyans is one that is open, up front, confident, and aggressive. How is it, then, that these go-getter and aggressive Kenyans find their economy controlled in large chunks by the Whites and on a smaller scale, by the Asians? Too long a story to narrate. But in short, the Black Kenyans, like most other Africans, have not worked out the secret of association and working in organizational, joint ways. They chase after money and profit, but it ends up more or less as a case of every man for himself. An Indian Kenyan girl in Nairobi, when I asked her why it is that Asians prospered in Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania, explained to me in simple terms --- the Asians look out for each other and help get each other started and going. And then also, the Indians save their money, whereas most Black Africans can and do make money, but their flashy consumer lifestyle, the individual pursuit of success almost deliberately at the expense of each other, work to undermine their achievements. Uganda's advantages over Kenya While, by Kenyan standards, Ugandans might seem unruly and unable to work within institutions, it has an advantage that Kenyans might not appreciate. It is true that Idi Amin completely destroyed the morale and structure of the civil service and that with inflation in the mid 1970s over above 200 percent, it did not pay to work for a company or government department which paid you a fixed salary, while the cost of living spiralled out of control by the month. But this crisis of the 1970s and 1980s gave Ugandans an adaptability and realism that Kenyans do not yet have. For example, offices and job titles still mean much to Kenyans in a way that long ago lost value to Ugandans. To be a Managing Director, an Executive Director, a General Manager, still carries weight to Kenyans, by and large. To Ugandans, hardly any office in the country carries much weight per se, except perhaps for the presidency. President Yoweri Museveni completely unmasked the trappings of power and offices with his casual and down-to-earth style. To a Ugandan, if the job pays, then it can be done. Job titles bear little meaning to the average Ugandan. There is a form of "window dressing" that would impress the Kenyan, which would have absolutely no impact on a Ugandan. In the main newspapers of Kenya, the Daily Nation and The East African Standard, the general news coverage concentrates on the "big people", the "bosses", the "top men". Even DJs on radio and night clubs are referred to by the title "Mr." In Uganda, even the president is simply a man. The news stories will go, "Museveni urged the farmers to do A or B." The title "His Excellency" is almost unheard of, even in the government-controlled media. Secondly, although Kenya is a far larger economy than Uganda, the gap between the rich and poor, and the VIP establishment and the ordinary people, is so much wider in Kenya than Uganda. In Uganda, the managing director of a company will own a car not very different in cost and value from that of the sales executive, and no one sees this as odd. Some cabinet ministers have been known to get into taxis and ride along, just like the ordinary people. It is not easy to tell the difference between a Member of Parliament, a cabinet minister, a newspaper editor, or company sales executive. They drive the same cars, play tennis at the same clubs, shop in the same places, and are generally not far from each other. As such, Ugandans appear to be much more connected to their country than Kenyans. Because Uganda is a more equal society, Uganda's newspapers and television stations seem to reflect the general society better than Kenya's do. You would never know the extent of the sophistication and charm of Kenya's people, if all you depended on was their newspapers. The Kenyan newspapers tend to focus on the "prominent people", while in Uganda, everybody from President Museveni down to a drunkard by the roadside features in the newspapers, and on a regular basis. So in that sense, Uganda is "more real", more natural a country than Kenya, even though Kenya generally does better in overall economic terms. The ordinary Ugandans, in a real sense, are masters of their own destiny in a way still foreign to most African countries. Kenyan girls, Africa's most sophisticated Of course, this travel article on Kenya would not be authentic if it did not mention another fact about that country. Most of us in Uganda have known this for many years, but we would rather not talk about it. But it is something that hits out at you from every direction when you are in Nairobi. Even the major companies in Uganda have noticed that and now act on it. What is it? It is the magic, the fact that, plain and simple, Kenyan girls, especially those from the central areas and Nairobi, are probably the most sophisticated and charming girls in Africa, or at least in non-White Africa. Or to put it another way, one of the mysteries for some of us, is why up to now a Kenyan girl has not won the M-Net Face of Africa modelling contest. It is something hard to understand. Another thing even harder to understand is why there seems to be such a wide gap between the female Kenyans and the male Kenyans. The Kenyan men come across to Ugandans as fumbling, salaried men, who go about life at their jobs which they hate and are relatively plain, lacking the charm of the Kenyan women. As for the Kenyan babes, it is an altogether different story. It is as though they were airlifted to London, stayed there for half their lives, and then were returned to Kenya. The persona of the urban Kenyans is where the distance between Kenya and the rest of East Africa and most of Africa, is most felt. Several girls present shows on Nairobi's FM radio stations. As soon as a female DJ comes on air and begins to speak, you are immediately hit by the powerful personality, the force and directness of presentation, her confidence and charm, and fluency in English. The Nairobi girls of this sort are just too many, that it brings into focus the question of the Kenyan educational system. There has always been an assumption that Uganda has the best education system in East Africa. This is one myth I had to painfully abandon. In Nairobi's corporate world, you encounter this sophistication and sense of the go-get-it drive and professional polish that must be something to do with the schools they come from. Several Kenyans schools are still essentially run by British teachers and instructors. It is at this point that I begun to realize the full extent of the damage that Idi Amin did to Uganda. Starting about 1973, Amin expelled nearly all the British and American and Israeli citizens in Uganda and a few American missionaries stayed behind. Overnight, Uganda lost some of its best ever teachers and an entire two generations were given up for mediocrity. The education that in Uganda only the children of the well-to-do get from a handful of private schools, is still more widely available in Kenya. Most Ugandans seem unsophisticated and flat when compared with these Nairobi residents. The loss is one, I fear, we might never recover from soon. I said earlier that it surprises me that a Kenyan girl has not won the M-Net Face of Africa modelling contest. I was referring to more than just their command of English and forceful sense of confidence and directness. I had in mind too that these sisters of ours are also some of the most beautiful Black women anywhere in the world. If you combine that with their personalities, you have the force to reckon with in Africa, that hardly any other country has. I now tell your typical Kenyan beauty from a crowd. Clearly, there are certain characteristics that stand out. They typically have a prominent dome of a forehead, where the hairline starts further back than usual. There is, for most of them, the light complexion with the appearance of someone who has just had a bath. There is the dark patches around their eyes which most seem to have; the dark, raspberry coloured gums. And then, of course, that confidence and urbane air about them. Above all, however, is their general lack of the cynicism that makes you get tired of the Ugandan character. While these Kenyans are aggressive and direct in their dealings, they still have a certain innocence about them, the innocence, wholesome side and (for lack of a better word), sincerity that comes with people who have never seem their society collapse in quite the drastic way that Uganda did. They still believe in institutions, still believe in the honour of putting in an honest day's work for an honest day's pay. In Uganda, one easily notices the restless way in which we work, constantly wondering why we should be "tied down" at the desk whereas one could be cracking a deal and making quick money. No wonder that many companies in Uganda are increasingly beginning to employ Kenyans in their key positions, the positions that require a business-like devotion to work and that aggressiveness accompanied by urban sophistication. Kenya as a society, it should also be noted, has a high number of the Christians who are described as "born again", and this could be another explanation for the "innocence" that you feel when you are around many people in Nairobi. All this might prompt me to issue a Fatwa calling on all single and confident Ugandan men to turn their attention onto Kenya girls in all their future foreign policy considerations! Among the other things that I sensed about them was that, even when talking among themselves, these girls generally speak at large, at a broader level than the gossip with which most of us associate Ugandan girls. There is such a large difference between them, one wonders what to think. Ugandan men seem a little more "styled up" than the Kenyan men, at least that is the consensus among Ugandan girls, who have little patience with the Kenyan male! Conclusion To wrap it all up, I have to admit that I was grateful to discover that although Kenya has gone through its rough patch over the past eight years, the damage has not been as bad as we were led to believe. Kenya is still Kenya. But what Kenya is, reminds one of the other looming fact --- were it not for the British and other western hands, it would be hard to picture Kenya being different from Uganda or the other countries in the impoverished Africa. Kenya's level of development is enough to end the debate about whether colonialism was a tragedy for Africa. Colonialism certainly was the factor that set Kenya apart from its neighbours. The lesson of Kenya made me realize that much of Uganda's politcal belief system was built around illusions. We blamed our backwardness on the "bad leaders" we got. I begin to feel that, even if we did not have the Kabaka crisis of May 1966, the nationalization of major corporations in 1970, the Idi Amin coup of 1971, the 1978-79 Uganda-Tanzania war, the rigged December 1980 elections and the subsequent 1981-85 civil war --- even if none of these major and cataclysmic events had taken place and Uganda's GDP had been growing at 5 percent every year from 1962 to 2002, we would still not be where Kenya is. We would be much better off, that's definite. But at best, Kampala would be between Mombasa and Nairobi in size, Jinja would be what Entebbe and Kampala are combined, Mbarara would be where Jinja and Mukono combined are today. But we would still not be where Kenya is. Copyright The Monitor. Distributed by All Africa Global Media(AllAfrica.com) KEYWORD: Uganda |
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