{"id":426482,"date":"2011-05-19T02:08:07","date_gmt":"2011-05-19T02:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/05\/19\/key-lessons-from-tunisia-and-egypt\/"},"modified":"2011-05-19T02:08:07","modified_gmt":"2011-05-19T02:08:07","slug":"key-lessons-from-tunisia-and-egypt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/19\/key-lessons-from-tunisia-and-egypt\/","title":{"rendered":"Key Lessons From Tunisia And Egypt"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Nairobi Star<\/a> (Nairobi)<\/p>\n

Miguna Miguna<\/p>\n

18 May 2011<\/p>\n

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opinion<\/p>\n

Swift. Decisive. Firm. Focused. Those words describe the events that emanated from Egypt last week. Three short months after the popular revolutionary overthrow of Hosni Mubarak, his former tourism minister, Zuhair Garranah, had been arrested, charged, tried, convicted and sentenced to five years for corruption. He went down with two politically-connected businessmen. They were punished for disappearing with public funds worth US$51 million. That’s about Ksh 4.3 billion. The public lost the money after the ex-minister authorized the sale of state-owned land well below the market price.<\/p>\n

In other words, Mr. Garranah is serving a five-year sentence for doing what Kenyan politicians have done with impunity since independence. Millions of hectares of public land looted. Forests decimated. Public assets expropriated and sold; their proceeds never to be traced. From Goldenberg, Anglo Leasing to Grand Regency Hotel saga. From Ken-Ren, the Free Primary Education Scandal to the Foreign Embassies Properties’ Scams. The story is the same. Senior public officials in Kenya loot and plunder public assets without any fear that they will ever be brought to book.<\/p>\n

In Egypt, Mr. Garranah’s business associates are the equivalent of the ubiquitous Kenyan “tycoons” involved in the Goldenberg, Anglo Leasing and other mega scandals. Here in Kenya, money laundering, smuggling, drug peddling and gun running only give the culprits tickets to exclusive clubs, leadership of state corporations and financial institutions. Invariably, the ultimate price is “political leadership.” Massive theft transforms thieves into “industry titans.” “Success” in Kenya is no longer associated with hard work, academic excellence, innovation, invention or entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n

It’s now in vogue in Kenya for all former and current thieves to strut around like peacocks shouting about their massive wealth, influence and “popularity.” After a short while, the known public looters begin calling themselves “born again Christians” and are soon “crowned” ethnic kings ready for the most coveted national offices! It’s a national tragedy really.<\/p>\n

Yet in Egypt just the week before, Mubarak’s former interior minister, Habb al-Adhy, was jailed for 12 years for money laundering and profiteering. A number of former senior government officials are being investigated for various human rights violations and racketeering. Mubarak himself is under criminal investigations and is likely to be charged with various crimes. All the former strong man’s bank accounts have been frozen.<\/p>\n

More than twenty Mubarak-era ministers and businessmen have been detained, awaiting charges and prosecutions, since the strongman’s fall.<\/p>\n

The revolution that overthrew the Mubarak dictatorial machine defied virtually all classical rules. First, it was relatively peaceful. This was unprecedented, especially considering the population of Egypt. Even more surprising was the number of casualties in the epicenter of the revolutionary activities, Cairo. By all accounts, Cairo is a bubbling metropolis; easily the largest in Africa and the eleventh metropolitan area in the world. It was nothing but a miracle that only about 846 civilians died during the eighteen days of revolutionary activity in Egypt.<\/p>\n

Compare that to our record of 1,500 dead; 600,000 displaced; tens of thousands injured and maimed; and billions of shillings of property destroyed during our two months of post-election meltdown. Yet, three years after the catastrophe, no real and major perpetrator has been investigated, charged, prosecuted and sentenced. Instead, we have a section of the government spending billions of our hard-earned shillings trying everything possible to undermine any and all means to bring those perpetrators to account.<\/p>\n

The second rule the Egyptian revolution defied – like the Jasmine one in Tunisia before it – was the fact that it was televised. From Al-Jazeera, BBC, CNN and other world networks, we watched the activities as they were rolling. Previously, revolutions were planned and executed in secrecy. They were also extremely bloody.<\/p>\n

The last unique characteristic of the Egyptian revolution is that, so far, it hasn’t consumed or “eaten its own children”. All over the world, revolutions experience contradictions leading to self-destruction. But unless we shape up and implement the Constitution faithfully and quickly, the Jasmine route remains wide open.<\/p>\n

As a country, we need to learn critical lessons from both Egypt and Tunisia. In both countries, the popular revolutions were precipitated by grinding poverty, high unemployment, inequity and political repression. These four maladies are prevalent in Kenya and played a significant role in creating the conditions that erupted into the 2007\/8 post-election violence.<\/p>\n

As a country, it is imperative that we recall the circumstances that led us to the formation of the grand coalition government, the necessity of fully and expeditiously implementing the Agenda Four reforms and why the Constitution must be diligently implemented before the 2012 elections.<\/p>\n

The Constitution cannot implement itself. Neither can it be implemented by those who don’t understand it or haven’t embraced it. A reform-inspired Constitution can only be implemented by reform-minded and knowledgeable professionals. Those who directly presided over the rot or contributed to its flourish shouldn’t have any material function in the implementation process.<\/p>\n

In order to cleanse our body politic and institutions from corruption, incompetence and repressive tendencies, we must be courageous enough to steer clear of anti-reformers, especially those that “distinguished” themselves in the service of the ancien regime! We must be swift, decisive, firm and focused.<\/p>\n

Miguna is the PM’s Advisor, Coalition Affairs. The views expressed here are his own<\/em><\/p>\n

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