3. Is foreign aid good for Kenya? What are the arguments for or against using pure capital to improve the quality of life for Kenyans? Besides aid, what are some other solutions to Kenya’s underdevelopment?
Foreign aid has been pouring into Africa since after the Second World War and the creation of the United Nations. Over the past 50 or so years billions of dollars have been invested in African countries to try to help reduce and eliminate poverty and the plethora of problems associated with it such as: diseases like HIV/AIDS, human rights, corruption, lack of food and water supplies. However, after years of aid money steadily coming into Kenya it is still a country with a surplus of poverty and problems. From petty and grand corruption, or inequality and disparity, or ethic clashes, or human rights violations and excessive crime rates, Nairobi itself is nicknamed “Ni-robbery.” Kenya continues to be a country submerged with deep seeded issues, even with foreign aid and money flowing into the national GDP. The timeline comparing the amount of foreign aid money pumped into Kenya corresponds with an increasing rate of poverty (Warah 14). Foreign aid in Kenya is not working; the current foreign aid in Kenya is not working.
The quality of life for the majority of the Kenyan population is below the poverty level. Within the past 40 years the number of slums in Kenya has almost quadrupled according to UN reports Warah cites in the introduction to her anthology, Missionaries, Mercenaries and Misfits (14). And according to Victoria Schlesinger’s contribution to the anthology, “at least 50 per cent of Kenya’s 35 million people live below the poverty line,” and a possible two million people infected with HIV/AIDS (Schlesinger 24). These are current statistics. Why are these numbers still staggering with years of foreign aid behind Kenya? Foreign aid has not only failed Kenya it has helped to perpetuate its instability, impermanence, and dependency of the country and its population. However, the idea to pull out foreign aid from countries like Kenya is taboo, “… the development industry is perhaps the only industry in the world where results… do not determine whether or not it will survive,” (Warah 9). The liberal constituency circulating among “developed” nations will not allow foreign aid to be cut off (Farrell).
Ideally, countries that can afford to give aid should feel an obligation to allocate a portion of their surplus funds to areas not as fortunate. However, the ultimate goal should be to create a state of being where foreign aid is no longer needed within that particular nation state. Many international organizations, non-profits, NGOs and the like are all in full support of helping nations like Kenya simply because Kenya is attractive to foreign aid donors. Large organizations like the United Nations (UN) have many programs and fund raising efforts to donate to Kenya, and they are not trying to perpetuate the state of poverty, in fact they believe they are doing the country good by supplying these aid funds and programs on the ground. Again this ideally should work however, the UN and other organizations are infiltrating a culture they don’t personally understand and are trying to implement their ideas of what is best.
Kenya is attractive to foreign aid because it represents of the “real Africa.” Media propagates this thought through Public Service Announcements (PSAs), documentaries, and the exploitation of the worst. Photos of malnourished children, littered streets, statistics showing high crime rates and violence all which propose that Kenya is a dangerous place full of starving people and poor sanitation. While these may be true it creates this image of pity towards Kenya and other African cultures. Through these medias Kenya appears to need our help, eventually Kenyans believe they need our help, and the government keeps asking for help. This is how the responsibility of Kenya went from, “fathers of nations” to “lovers of nations,” (Wainaina 87). It is a continuous cycle where Kenya is now completely dependent on aid to function:
Late in 2005 we heard that people were starving to death in many places all over Kenya. Immediately, the government urged the donor community to help. And the donor community urged the world community to help. And we saw large sad eyes of many nameless people on the very verge of death; and caring spokespeople, all white and tanned, told the world: People are dying! (Wainaina 90).
While awareness and education of these horrible situations is valuable to promote compassion and understanding the pity is harmful. It allows for aid workers and donors to feel good about what their doing with ignorance for the actual outcome- the fact that there hasn’t been sustainable growth or advancement on a large scale. What is not shown are the bustling cities like Nairobi, the business opportunities, and innovative thinking coming from Kenya. Mobile banking came out of Kenya and it reshaped banking as the world knew it.
Dambisa Moyo in her novel Dead Aid and Binyavanga Wainaina in her article “The Power of Love” both express their concerns of the economic impact of aid. They believe that looking at Kenya as a business venture, rather than a charity case, could provide sustainable means to pumping money into the economy from locals for locals (Wainaina 89). Kenyans need jobs, Kenya needs money however, and it needs a sustainable income so it no longer is dependent. Moyo and Wainaina argue they need a model like Chinese, “…the Chinese do not view Africa’s development as charity, but as a business opportunity” (Wainaina 89). Moyo also claims that the money currently being fed into government funds is only being redistributed within the government through political corruption. A concept Michela Wrong explores deeply in her novel, It’s Our Turn to Eat. This redistribution of government funds is also expanding the gap between the rich and the poor (Warah 9).
This divide, specific to Kenya, comes from a history of a country founded on exclusion and an entitlement to everyone’s greedy share. Since independence there has been large tension between ethnic groups, “The Kikuyu knew in their hearts that they were doing unfairly well out of the Kenyatta presidency,” (Wrong 113). This was only followed by the Moi regime, which the Kikuyu tribe tried desperately to eradicate with the Gikuyu, Embu, Meru Assiciation (GEMA). These ethnic tensions provided a platform and an excuse to take funds that do not belong to them, “… those fortunate favours can always convince themselves their luck is somehow deserved,” (Wong 113). This corruption is a cause enough to stop the flow of aid capital to the Kenyan government. It is harming rather than helping, intensifying the gap between the wealthy and poor.
Corruption is not the only problem with capital aid. The dependency on the international community provides many concerns as well. With corrupt politicians “eating” away at funds and the lack of civic education there are no funds to provide for basic public goods, which should be provided by governments. Instead Non-Profits and similar organizations provide private solutions for public problems. When the government could potentially create jobs and eliminate parts of the informal sector providing the universal basic goods that every citizen has a right to.
To reiterate, foreign aid is not helping. In fact it is adding to the struggles within Kenya and other African countries receiving it. However, aid is not a bad thing. The concept of helping others globally is inspiring. The concept of aid needs to be reformulated. Aid needs to be individualized and specialized through collaborations of people and cultures to work towards the goal of sustainable solutions to various problems. There is no global solution to poverty as the Millennium Promise claims to, “Doing all of it, all at once” (Warah, 30). If we want to see change you can’t just have a good-sounding idea, it need to be a well researched and studied. A solution that applies to individual people or cultures and is implemented by the people who it affects the most, not from foreigners as Jeffery Sachs did. Dumping capital into governments doesn’t do any good either, if anything it perpetuates greed and corruption as seen first hand in the Kenyan Government and the notion that people need this help; why can’t they do it themselves? Unfortunately, the media and programs like the MVP maintain this notion of pity and non-progress.
Aid is necessary in a form of sharing knowledge and ideas, we are a globalized generation and the world is our home. But the world is also diverse we need to understand, accept that and allow for a flow of knowledge to spread appropriately. An innovative way to aid should be imposed to empower those who are lacking or who are in need. A form of collaboration, not an outpouring of money or installation of our (our being the "western world") ideas and taking over insisting we have the “right” way to do things.
Works Cited
Farrell, Lynsey. "The Myth of Development." Politics of Culture In Kenya: Week Seven.
Nairobi. 11 Oct. 2011. Lecture.
Kenyans for Kenya. Web. <http://www.kenyans4kenya.co.ke/>.
Schlesinger, Victoria. "Journey To Nowhere." Missionaries, Mercenaries and Misfits: an
Anthology. Ed. Rasna Warah. Central Milton Keynes: AuthorHouse, 2008. 23-44. Print.
Wainaina, Binyavanga. "The Power of Love." Missionaries, Mercenaries and Misfits: an
Anthology. Ed. Rasna Warah. Central Milton Keynes: AuthorHouse, 2008. 87-91.
Print.
Warah, Rasna. "The Development Myth." Missionaries, Mercenaries and Misfits: an
Anthology. By Rasna Warah. Central Milton Keynes: AuthorHouse, 2008. 3-20.
Print.
Wrong, Michela. It's Our Turn To Eat: The Story of a Kenyan Whistle-Blower. New
York: Harper, 2009. Print.
don't forget to smile today!
Your discoveries are resulting in views that are truthful, humane, and most importantly compassionate. I am so proud of you. ILY.
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