...
written by Mogoka Shtim , February 27, 2008

The link to the Wanyama article is not working. Care to share?
Thank you for the pointer, it has now been fixed. Eds

Stev-O!
written by Daniel.Waweru , February 27, 2008

Africa exists. The term is not (just) a geographical designator. John Iliffe claims, fruitfully, that the geography of Africa made state-building exceptionally difficult. (cf. Chapter 1 of of Africans: The History of A Continent). That profoundly affected the habits and aims of African societies. Hence the emphases on honour and fertility, the importance of generational conflict, and hence, maybe, the survival of thick forms of ethnicity.Africa has survived into the present. It's a group of people who share a history and a position in the world order, and who therefore need to work together. It is possible to think of Africa without falling into unanimism or Afrocentrism.

Uncontroversially, African leadership has been extremely bad. From the Kings of Dahomey butchering, enslaving and selling their neighbours, to Mobutu's very grand larceny, our betters have repeatedly proved anything but. Why? Jean-Francois Bayart claims that the historical difficulty of gaining state control over people and territory by purely internal means means that African leaders are proner than is usual to gang up with foreigners, the better to entrench and expand their power. Suppose that's true. It still doesn't account for why we let them do it. Especially when we've had half a millennium to spot the disastrous consequences thereof.

...
written by manta ray , February 27, 2008

The African problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility, to the challenge of personal example which are the hallmarks of true leadership.

The African problem is the unwillingness or inability of its people to rise to the responsibility, to the challenge of personal example which are the hallmarks of true patriotism, and hold their leaders to account.

re:
written by Mr. Vikii , February 27, 2008

The African problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility, to the challenge of personal example which are the hallmarks of true leadership.

The African problem is the unwillingness or inability of its people to rise to the responsibility, to the challenge of personal example which are the hallmarks of true patriotism, and hold their leaders to account.

Pewa kitu Manta ray. We have to come to terms with the fact that our leaders are as rotten as those they lead. It cannot be that we have a leadership problem in almost all of Africa's countries (and this has been the case for as long as I can remember). This is not a problem of leadership per se. It has everything to do with our integrity as a people. The citizens are the pools from where we draw our leaders. A rotten citizenry will surely guarantee a rotten leadership.

re: re:
written by manta ray , February 27, 2008

Pewa kitu Manta ray. We have to come to terms with the fact that our leaders are as rotten as those they lead. It cannot be that we have a leadership problem in almost all of Africa's countries (and this has been the case for as long as I can remember). This is not a problem of leadership per se. It has everything to do with our integrity as a people. The citizens are the pools from where we draw our leaders. A rotten citizenry will surely guarantee a rotten leadership.

Cheers! Mr Vikii. I really appreciate that you can see it. People must be ultimately responsible for their circumstances, and not held hostage to the idiocy of Kenya's politics and the mainstream media.
Why, for instance, do Kenyans have to plead with Kibaki and Raila to come to some selfish personal agreements in order for Kenya not to plunge into chaos? Kenyans can simply ignore them and make peace on their own.
We do not need politicians to hold our hand to do so. We can take the initiative from them and then tell them to go to hell.
If they cant make peace, we will make peace for ourselves and on OUR own behalf, NOT theirs. If they want to chop each other up with pangas after that, we will provide the arena and the means.
There is nothing politicians fear more than to be ignored and to be of no consequence.

peweni vitu
written by Stephen Wanyama , February 27, 2008

Yes, Pewa Kitu both of you. We have repeated this on these pages, endlessly. We cannot just wait for someone we love to get to State House, we can start making changes where we are, whether in leadership or not. I like the new Kisumu mayor, you know there are a number of Kisumu people here, and we are happy Mheshmiwa our new mayor is calling for investment, he wants to make Kisumu a business hub. He would be happy to know that Kibaki shares that view, having promoted our Kisumu as an EAC HQ and also lobbied for Kisumu to be a Millenium City. I am not happy to have him imposed on the city, but at least he is not mtu wa sadaka, he knows we must rebuild our city ourselves. That will be impossible if Raila and Balala return to mawe na visu politics. Let's hope they do not mess it up for him.

But even on a lower level than that, there are Kenyans making a difference in Saccos, school headmistresses, village headmen, even Pastors making a difference. The fact that there are different dynamics on the national stage, or that there are serious barriers to entry does not mean there is something wrong with the leadership itself.

The suggestion that there must be war if these talks fail is just the most ridiculous thing to come out of Kenya in the last 100 years. No doubt, it is on page 69 of the ODM hymn-book, next to the picture of Mwangaza holding a picture of Raila holding a picture of Obama. It really would work magic if these people, as they sung that hymn, remembered that Raila Odinga is not worth dying for.

Waweru,
Let me gather my thoughts and respond.

Precisely
written by Isindu Mwangaza , February 27, 2008

Why, for instance, do Kenyans have to plead with Kibaki and Raila to come to some selfish personal agreements in order for Kenya not to plunge into chaos? Kenyans can simply ignore them and make peace on their own.
We do not need politicians to hold our hand to do so. We can take the initiative from them and then tell them to go to hell.
If they cant make peace, we will make peace for ourselves and on OUR own behalf, NOT theirs. If they want to chop each other up with pangas after that, we will provide the arena and the means.
There is nothing politicians fear more than to be ignored and to be of no consequence.

Can I just say........uhm Precisely!
I think the moral in Chinua Achebe's thesis explores the right to life with dignity on the African Continent. Vulnerabilities abound and explored, a significant variable, that of Political Will or lack there of is a constant in every violent episode testament of human suffering.

to say the truth....
written by Ken Opalo , February 28, 2008

I am inclined sometimes to believe that societies get the leaders they deserve. Our leaders are products of our societies. May be if we were just a bit more intolerant to mediocrity. May be if we just told the truth a bit more often. May be if we worked a bit smarter. May be then Africa would be different.

Africa and leadership
written by Tabitha , February 28, 2008

Iam just wondering whether the chess like game between Raila and Kibaki is meant to help Kenya or its for their individual gain.Trust is the main problem between the two for each does not know what is hidden by the other under the table for them after signing the agreement.

Pray and fast for kenya.

Africa
written by James Macharia , February 28, 2008

People are too hard on Africa. We are a people with virtually no history before the advent of the Europeans. Alas our way of recording our history was too feeble to survive the European invasion. Were our traditional societies as corrupt as we are now? My gut feeling is that they weren't. The African social fabric and society was really extremely developed and sophisticated. It had taken years to develop and that wisdom was just thrown away irresponsibly. There were all elements that we can now look back to now and emulate. Our problem is that we retained little that was our own. We went headlong and are now but pathetic carbon copies, of that which is European. On top of that we are playing in a game where we don't make the rules. If anyone had any doubts at to who really runs what, look at those issuing threats. It's Washington and Brussels. We are still young. 44 years old. Mere kids in this game known as the modern state. This is probably why we are being treated as such by the adults who live in Brussels and Washington. Those cheering from the galleries at this blatant interference are merely weakening us. A homegrown solution is infinitely better than one imposed from outside. ODMs rush to foreigners to sort our problems instead of seeking to trust our own is disquieting. What happens when they ascend to power. They'll sell off the little we have for 30 pieces of silver. Despite the grim outlook, Africa has produced some distinct leaders who cannot be ignored. Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, Nelson Mandela, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta (controversial), Kwame Nkrumah. Obviously the path set forth by Kenyatta and co, brought us peace and stability for 44 years. Like it or not, it's now Railas and Kibakis chance to put us on the path that will guarantee us peace and stability for the rest of eternity. The dynamics have changed. Kenyatta and Moi ruled with an iron fist. Kibaki is different and that difference has been interpreted for weakness by his adversaries. And yet our country has also produced a wide range of strong figures that we can all be proud of. The Late Tom Mboya and the late Dr. Robert Ouko, among many others come to mind. There are ideas we can still from big bro USA. Like encyclopedia documenting our greatest heroes like Dedan Kimathi. At the end of the day, they'll come from all of our peoples. I'm sure Kenya will one day take its place among the greatest nations of this planet. What we are experiencing now is merely a setback. If we emerge out of it, we'll be much stronger. Our leaders, though have to look beyond the West for solutions, we must strongly look at the structures our fore fathers had developed too and see how they can be integrated in the Kenya of today.

re: Africa and leadership
written by James Macharia , February 28, 2008

Iam just wondering whether the chess like game between Raila and Kibaki is meant to help Kenya or its for their individual gain.Trust is the main problem between the two for each does not know what is hidden by the other under the table for them after signing the agreement.

Pray and fast for kenya.

It's the nature of representative democracy. Once you vote you chose someone to represent you and trust them to do the right thing for 5 years. It's like a game of Russian roulette. Sometimes you get lucky. So to answer your questions the two men are representing a myriad of interest. Their own individual ones, the people who voted for them, the people who sponsored their campaigns and in the case of ODM the interests of the foreign masters pulling the strings in the background and issuing threats in the foreground. God only knows what Raila had promised whom.There's also th little fact that both believe steadfastly that they won the elections, so none is really interested in sharing the cake. Least of all Kibaki. And just maybe, each thinks that the solution that they have is the right one for this country. I'm not cynical at all.The question is would you rather trust great granny or granny. Great granny is very experienced but granny has 4.3 million angry devotees, ready to unleash havoc at the beck and call of Granny and they are armed with stones, sticks and bows and arrows.

...
written by smukwana , February 28, 2008

Can you imagine for a moment that you woke up one day and there was not a single mention in the press about our politicians? That for 24 hours, we operated as if our leaders had been raptured to another world? The very thought of it makes me grin ear to ear.

re: Africa and leadership
written by manta ray , February 28, 2008

Iam just wondering whether the chess like game between Raila and Kibaki is meant to help Kenya or its for their individual gain.Trust is the main problem between the two for each does not know what is hidden by the other under the table for them after signing the agreement.

Pray and fast for kenya.

Tabitha, you still don't get it. Kenya does not have to stall and die because Kibaki and Raila cannot agree. My message and, i believe, also that of Mr Vikii and Stephen Wanyama is that our collective fortunes and destinies cannot afford any longer to be in the hands of those two and their close advisors and ready cheerleaders like MPs, the mainstream establishment media like the Standard and daily Nation, KBC,Citizen, Nation and KTN TV,and their cynical supporters in so-called civil society. The only credible civil society organisation is the Red Cross.
When you sit there waiting for Kibaki and Raila to "rescue" us from catastrophe, you are effectively giving them the power to mess around with your life as they please.
Do not look into the BOG for inspiration, there you will only find bottom feeding lowlifes called politicians i.e Balala, Nyong'o, Mwenje, Kamanda, Kajwang, Ruto, councillors etc. Look into the skies and see how the eagle flies, and understand what true freedom is.

...
written by a guest , February 28, 2008

It can't, surely, be that there has been some outbreak of motiveless malice afflicting all and only African leaders, can it?

Hello, we have a little glitch here, please repost making sure not to use apostrophes, quotation marks or dashes. Apologies for the inconvenience, Eds.

...
written by a guest , February 28, 2008

yes @eds, duly chastened... ) my bad

...
written by a guest , February 28, 2008

ah... asante sana @Eds...

It can't, surely, be that there has been some outbreak of motiveless malice afflicting all and only African leaders, can it?

I´m so much tempted to say there is but that would be stretching it. The thing is, our system has more potholes than the worst road in any African country. Corrupt leaders are to be found everywhere. The difference is; how much does the system let them get away with? How much power do they have in decision making?

A rotten citizenry will surely guarantee a rotten leadership.

Voters in Africa are just as gullible as voters everywhere else in the world. When all has been taken away from you but hope then you buy all the crap sold to you by the most eloquent politician promising you manna in droves. So to blame say a society is as rotten as the leader is not only a tad harsh but also generalising. Our leaders need to be taught a lesson in being humble. Yes, power doth corrupt and in their greed they forget the same people who served them this post on a silver platter. Kibaki and Raila are not in the least bit concerned about Kenya as a nation; if they were they would have brought an end to this idiocy they dare to call politics before it went so far and brought on so much misery. We need leaders who are ready to work to the west but not bow down to them. It is impossible to shut out the west today... to name but a small example. Globalisation - the west cannot and should not expect Africa to play with same rules in world trade as they do. That would be like expecting the almost forgotten Gor Mahia to play in the same league as AC Milan or Manchester United. It is therefore sickening to see Raila rushing to the west for help every time he decides to cry foul. It is sickening to see him boast of `connections´ abroad as a way of trying to impress, because the only impression given is that he has already sold his soul and the rest is just a matter of time: when he gets into power and clinches the deals he made, as one James Macharia insinuates.

Do you think Achebe is right, and if you do, why? And is Wanyama right - is there really an Africa?

There definitely is an `Africa´, there is `African food´ and of course `African culture´. Chinua Achebe certainly hits the nail on the head but while we point fingers at our leaders, we forget that the other remaining fingers are pointing towards us. We can as a people refuse to be corrupted by our leaders. Why do we stoop to anarchy? We should stop expecting them to work wonders and deliver us from the hell hole we landed in; we should take a minute (even longer if necessary) to contemplate the consequences of our actions. We should learn from our mistakes and those committed by others. We, as a people, have a lot more power in our hands than we think. When will we realise that revenge breeds revenge? Why can´t we just stand up and say ``NO´´ when a leader tells us to take to the streets and revolt. We know nothing but trouble will come out of it but we do it nonetheless. I would take part in any demonstration any day if I knew that we had well organised and functioning security. We definitely don´t have that in Kenya, so count me out. To name but a few - we saw Rwanda and thought: how could they? We saw Liberia and Sierra Leon and thought: good Lord! We stopped seeing Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda and Chad because somehow it´s become `normal´.. sad sigh. To deny Africa because of all the rot that has settled in our society is just plain silly. There was `Africa´ before all the Asians, Arabs and Europeans came. We may not have as much history documented as the west, but we have the power of narratives. There are very good works on African literature, African history. Seek and ye shall find. Our culture, culinary arts etc. may have been influenced over the centuries/decades, this though is a topic for another day... duty calls

It would work like magic for you if you were properly signed in and able to edit your own comments don't you think? Eds.

State of Africa
written by Kim G , February 28, 2008

I recommend the book titled The State of Africa by Martin Meredith. You can get a review on Amazon.

From the book, one concludes that the main cause of poor leadership in Africa is attributable to the influence of foreign powers. The United States, Britain, France, Russia, Cuba, Israel, China, Libya and the Arab world have all had an influence in our leaders of Africa. It seems like nobody can become an African president without the backing of one or more of these powers.

Unfortunately, these powers are in it for themselves. Theodore Roosevelt once said this about a certain dictator, He is a SOB but he is our SOB!! Thats their guiding doctrine. People like Macias Nguema, Idi Amin, Bokassa, Banda, Botha, Savimbi, Mengistu, Taylor, Doe, etc had superpowers willing to go to war in their defense. Because these people were selected rather than elected and they knew it, they were determined never to groom anyone who would take power after them in future. In the case of Macias of Equatorial Guinea, he went to the trouble of killing all literate persons in the country.

Now you know why the foreign powers are involved in Kenya. We need a leader or leaders pragmatic enough to accept this while working in the interests of their own people. Theres no use saying we can do without the west because we know thats a lie. We need leaders who can create a win win environment that benefits the people as well as the international powers. It can be done.

...
written by Stephen Wanyama , February 28, 2008

Waweru,
I believe Africa is a racist idea, it is the construction of a world, a culture, a people, a society out of the idea of difference. The very words African culture recall to me the use of the word culture to discriminate between that which was rarefied and that which was common. Everything that was not the done thing, henceforth became African culture, stuff from the Dark Continent and so it persists to this day.

I feel strongly the urge for pamoja and undugu but this spirit is entirely contrived. I have nothing in common apart from my skin-colour with a Wolof man, a Khoisan man has absolutely nothing in common with a Luo man, and all of us are supposed to have some common culture, a common worldview.

In my article from before, and in the subsequent comments, I had argued that the very term Africa and everything it can be affixed to, is problematic for it assumes common characteristics where there are none. For example, you hear all the time about how African countries are plagued with AIDs. Is this true? I mean just next door in Somalia and Djibouti there is close to no AIDs, whereas in India there is a proper epidemic about. You hear about African corruption, as though there isn't serious mind-boggling corruption in Liechtenstein or in Japan or the United States.

What is it in your mind that connects all of us, as Africans beyond our skin colour (I hope we are also in agreement that race is a social construction with no biological basis?) Different languages, different ancestry, different cultural systems (many of which have more in common with groups outside than inside Africa). Even that which you claim we share (colonialism, slavery, neo-colonialism, racial discrimination) is not ours alone.

continued
written by Stephen Wanyama , February 28, 2008

It seems to me that the absence of Africa-wide interaction, in the way that Buddhism did for South East Asia, or Christendom for Europe, the absence of continental wars, even awareness of the existence of others, completely blows out of the water the idea of 'Africa'. The Maghreb is much more European than it is African in ever sense, Somalia and Ethiopia similarly share much more with the history and culture of the middle east than they do with the Bantu. We really are forcing issues constructing this 'Africa'. It does not exist anywhere but in our imaginations. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but I believe we take it too far.

By the way, is Boer culture part of this African culture? If not, why not? Is Yaaku culture? Is San culture? What exactly do we share so they become a common culture?

I am still amazed that people do not realise the word African is a put-down. By succumbing to the idea that there exists an African identity we are taking on the restrictive chains of race and shackling ourselves to the onerous (and real) burdens of peoples and cultures we have never met.

The very term African allows us excuses that really we have no business making at all. For example, the standard line that Africa has suffered from slavery and colonisation. The Bukusu suffered neither! People in West Africa sure did, but so did the Malays, and look where they are now. They see local problems and deal with them locally, they do not gather around trying to draw collective warmth from the chips on their shoulders, they get on with it.

Kenya has a problem with her leadership, it is by no means unique to Kenya. It is actually very similar to what you have in the USA, or what you have in the UK. We have inherited, chosen to inherit bad systems of government, we suffer the symptoms that all new states suffer, and we have for whatever reason refused to bring our economies into the 21st Century. But to describe our problem as African, is to advance a racist argument that our economic and social retardation has explanations in our blood, in our very nature, and that is what I am refusing to buy. Thank God Achebe did not extrapolate and label his book, the trouble with Africa.

StevO
written by Daniel.Waweru , February 28, 2008

Steve, prelim response,

I feel strongly the urge for pamoja and undugu but this spirit is entirely contrived. I have nothing in common apart from my skin-colour with a Wolof man, a Khoisan man has absolutely nothing in common with a Luo man, and all of us are supposed to have some common culture, a common worldview.

Bukusu is a Bantu langauge; Wolof a West Atlantic. Both are Niger-Congo languages. Evidence that you and some random Wolof guy might have a common ancestor from 5000 years ago. Not bad, eh?

...
written by amollous , March 04, 2008

Do you speak `afrikanish´ is a question that I´ve been asked more often than I care to count or get worked up about. I admit I did get worked up in the beginning and when the question finally came if I understood the language spoken by the bush men in `the gods must be crazy´ ~ it had to come, it was inevitable ~ I laughed out loud. Since then I´ve acquired a tactic; if asked if I speak `African´ I in turn ask if they speak `European´. The reaction is worth catching on camera. First comes the puzzled expression, then the blank one and then deep blush when they realise their folly. Lovely! I read recently that there are 2058 languages in Africa. To be on the safe side, I´ll place it at a vague `over 2000´ which brings me to a discussion I found was not only restricted to `Kenyaimagine´ but also on other sites (you might want to check out www.granta.com) I stumbled upon this splendid site with wonderful works of literature on a day such as this when there was absolutely nada to do at the office. The trials and tribulations of an intern about to finish her internship. You´d think the opposite would be the case as I rush to tie up lose ends and polish up my report, but I´m getting derailed here as usual. . .

I often find myself making the mistake of generalising Africa. John Ryle in his article (to be found in www.granta.com)`Introduction: The Many Voices of Africa´ writes so passionately about this I´m almost inclined to agree. `Africa is far less homogenous~geographically, culturally, religiously and politically~than Europe or the Americas. South Africa and Burkina Faso have as much in common as Spain and Uzbekistan´, he says. Stephen Wanyama in his comment to the open thread article in `Kenyaimagine´´ believes ``Africa´´ to be a racist idea. You can find specialized books to back up any argument you come up with so I will refrain from quoting facts and pieces of literature and depend entirely on the power of observation.

Are we really that different from each other? Is Africa really as diverse as we´d like to believe? I live in a small town in northern Germany called Wilhelmshaven. Wilhelmshaven has about 82000 inhabitants, 30/40 of which are Africans. Of these 30/40, maybe 10 are Kenyans. There are about 12 Africans in the university I attend. When I first started there were only 6 of us. I know all the Kenyans on a `hi~hi´ basis as I like to call it. When asked why we weren´t close, I replied as honestly as I could. When it comes to friendship, I prefer quality not quantity. We are simply not on the same wavelength. We have different interests and even back home I wasn´t friends with the whole estate. However when we (africans from different countries) do get together and start reminiscing on the `good-old-days´, we realise we have the same story to tell. The similarities are mind boggling and when you look at photos, you can´t help but smile as you see your own homestead in a photo taken in some village in Gambia, Senegal or Ivory Coast. You see the people smiling into the camera sitting on wooden benches or car tyres fixed to the ground. You recognise the little children playing barefoot in the background with stomachs protruding from months/years of drinking porridge for breakfast, lunch and supper. You see the bougainvillea fences and the neighbouring plot where the owner ran out of money just as they were done with the foundation and the planned `mansion´ never materialised. Our university often arranges a get~together for the foreign students with different themes. On this particular evening the theme was `Africa´ and I was asked to give a speech on Africa. I spent days and nights trying to come up with something suitable that would encompass the whole of Africa in a summarised version. I couldn´t. The creative side in me simply failed me this time. My other friend from Gabon was also asked to say a thing or two. My friend chose to talk about Gabon and I chose to lay to rest the stereotypes that many of the German students have about Africa. But even as my friend talked about Gabon and showed slides of his country I saw so much of Kenya in those pictures. An untrained eye could not have been able to see the difference. As I held my speech full of anecdotes that had everyone in stitches and all the other Africans nodding in agreement, we felt like one. We were Africans and proud to be Africans. The bad governance is something certain countries such as ours have inherited and may hopefully get rid of in the near future. And when we say Africans are still of the opinion that the west owes them for slavery and colonisation, aren´t we once again generalising? Isn´t it a tad harsh to claim the term `African´ were a putdown? I smile easily, I´m jovial most of the time and I always feel good when I see a black face in a crowd. They don´t always smile back and at times it´s even been mistaken for a `come~on´ or invitation of sorts. Selber schuld the German would say: after all I don´t go about greeting and smiling at everyone even when I´m in Kenya.

I´m a Luo and I´m rediscovering and re-learning this beautiful language even when I know it´s of no use in the international world I´d like to work in. I don´t know much about Luo traditions either; it still doesn´t stop me from being one. I´m a Kenyan even though I don´t like all things Kenyan and even when the identity card I hold at the moment says otherwise. What makes you so proud to be Kenyan, they ask me. I don´t know, I reply honestly. I´m an African and I wouldn´t change that for anything.

I don´t see the term `African´ as a shackle to all that has gone sour in African nations, neither does it call for excuses. The `African problem´ Chinua Achebe refers to is not meant in a racist way; rather (and here I´m assuming, not that I can read his mind) he, as we all tend to do once in a while, generalises by insinuating that this is a problem seen in all of Africa. Maybe he should have written `The problem of most African nations. . .´, but then again we wouldn´t have had this lovely discussion here, now would we?

I find the term `dark continent´ more insulting (though if taken literally slightly amusing).

Africa
written by Paul Kimani , March 04, 2008

Wanyama, I don't get your beef with the term 'African'. A European wouldn't spend acres of space trying to argue against the word "European'. Instead they've embraced their European-ness and made something out of it.

amollous, it is arguable that the differences between human beings have been grossly exaggerated. We make mountains of differences out of nothing. IMO, there isn't that much difference between white and black. There is arguably much more difference between male and female than there is between black and white.

Another thing it has been suggested elsewhere on this site, that it might not be a bad idea to invest in our cultures while they still thrive. Modern day life is not friendly to ethnic tongues.We can do that by building institutions of higher learning where people can learn their tongues or others in spoken and written. The lessons can be augmented by lessons on the traditional societies. Why should we restrict languages offered to German and French in Kenya? We might find just as much satisfaction in learning Luo, Luhya or Kamba.