Identifying continent’s richest is wild goose chase

Otuma Ongalo

In Africa wealth declaration is a serious taboo. It is a taboo because many of those who have amassed riches constantly look over their shoulders due to morbid fear. Even if you toiled through the straight and narrow you don’t go around declaring your worth. In a continent fraught with endemic poverty, there will be so many outstretched hands waiting to reap from your sweat.

The cousin to step-son of your grandfather’s second cousin – whatever the relationship is – will never tire reminding you that the blood that flows in his vein is the same as yours. In Africa, the left hand does not know what the right hand owns. Many fellows whose trumpet call is sounded leave their families impoverished in spite of having millions of shillings in their bank accounts.

It is a gigantic task trying to unravel who owns what in this unique continent. And that is why I take with a pinch of salt the so-called Forbes Africa’s bid to unravel the continent’s billionaires. The initiative is noble but can we take to bank the report on 40 most moneyed individuals on the continent? I don’t know about others elsewhere but the revelation that got my attention was that Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and business mogul Chris Kirubi are Kenya’s richest people.

Uhuru is allegedly the richest in Kenya and 26th in Africa at Sh45 billion while Kirubi is second and 31st in Africa, valued at Sh27 billion.

Now, it is not in dispute that Uhuru and Kirubi are men of means. It is even possible there are worthy much more than the figures released by Forbes Africa, not the Forbes that often keeps the world inundated on the movers and shakers of the capital world but a franchise.

The flamboyant Kirubi is business savvy and I’m yet to sniff a whiff of impropriety in his dealings. In fact, he is the epitome of the dictum that hard work pays and the world is full of opportunities for those who dare to dream. However, I refuse to believe that CK, as he is popularly known, is the second most chumed man in Kenya, with a mere Sh27 billion.

When you look at the Forbes Africa list you cannot help but wonder aloud the whereabouts of the Chandarias, Merallis or billionaire ‘mzungu’ businessmen.

Several Kenyans are damn rich and would reduce the likes of Kirubi and Uhuru to ordinary millionaires but their real worth will never be known.

It will never be known because they would rather die than discuss their rise to financial stardom. For how do you, for instance, tell the whole world that you are what you are after many years of dealing in narcotics and reducing millions of individuals into zombies? How do you confess that your place on the financial pedestal is courtesy of turning public service opportunities into time of eating?

The initiative by Forbes Africa is noble but the real truth of who owns Africa in general and Kenya specifically will never be known if it simply scratches on the surface and relies on rumours.

The method used to arrive at findings leaves many yawning gaps while the outlined sources of information are clearly wanting. Forbes missed an opportunity to unravel the otherwise very interesting topic. You do not use the West’s yardstick to assess riches in Africa.

Forbes initiative risks suffering the fate of political opinion polls, which have now sunk so low that, it is difficult to separate serious pollsters from political mercenaries.

Time is ripe for real Forbes ranking to come to Kenya and Africa, but it must be convincing. That mainstream media gave the "who is richest" story a wide berth is clear indictment of its credibility.

I do not know how the list of billionaires has been received elsewhere in the continent but if Kenya’s case is anything to go by, the many billionaires around are yet to stand up.

It is easy to fall prey, but Forbes Africa should not lose heart and hope. Their intentions are noble but should be more realistic in endeavours to tell a credible story.