Nairobi based social justice advocate Ben Philips reckons the best way of measuring inequality is to calculate the number of private security guards employed in any given country. That being the case, Kenya is definitely one of the most unequal societies on the planet.
There are currently half a million security guards deployed on a daily basis to protect the rich from the poor. That effectively means 1 per cent of the population is employed to secure the property and wealth of another 1 per cent and to keep the other envious 98 per cent at bay. Startling! To ensure that these guards are more effective and equipped, the Security Regulatory Board under the influence of Fazul Mohamed – better known for his incessant bullying of civil society organisations – now wants to give fire arms to a considerable percentage of them.
Annual basis
This would suggest that the poor are getting more desperate and so more stringent measures are required to contain them. No measures or proposals however are presented to reduce the appalling disparity in wealth among the citizens. The inequality is undeniable. According to Oxfam, 8,300 Kenyans own 99.9 per cent of the wealth while the richest 10 per cent of population earn twenty-three times more than the poorest 10 per cent of the population. Seventy nine per cent of Turkana County residents remain desperately poor despite receiving Sh10.7 billion in devolved funds on an annual basis.
Inequality is of course a global problem with the top 1 per cent of earners in USA having their salaries tripled in the past four decades while the average income - adjusted for inflation - has remained the same over the matching period. In India 5 per cent of the population own 50 per cent of the wealth which leaves one billion plus to scramble over the remaining half.
Moving beyond the statistics and moaning, the concern remains as to why or for how long the masses remain docile in the face of looting and inequality? Is it only the politicians who can mobilise millions? Are the ruling and looting classes in any way worried that in the words of Mr Kenyatta the public may take the law into their hands in the face of failure to prosecute the culprits?
In the past weeks we have witnessed hundreds of thousands in Venezuela and Algeria organise protests over atrocious political leadership. Most noticeable however was how grandmothers and children all joined the demonstrations without any fear of being battered by police who know that their role is to maintain peace.
However, when airport staff at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi held a peaceful and legitimate protest last week the government unleashed the dreaded GSU. The sight of uniformed KQ staff running from baton wielding officers relayed a strong message that police will unapologetically use excessive force at the discretion of the executive, regardless of what the Constitution says about rights to protest or strike. Is the fear of ferocious police force serving the interests of this regime the major factor in deterring public protest in Kenya? Maybe!
Protests, however, take place all over the republic on a daily basis but they are almost always localised and based on an issue that touches the lives of the affected in their own village or locality. Boda boda drivers, matatu touts, coffee farmers or concerned citizens protesting about failed development projects have no hesitation in expressing their anger even at the risk of arrest or violence. However, it is almost impossible to garner support around any national issue as the red brigade who took to the Nairobi streets discovered last weekend. They may have secretly managed to plant banners on major intersections depicting the Jubilee leadership as representing the face of corruption in Kenya, but they couldn’t persuade the masses to join them on the streets.
Of course it is never easy to get power organised and to ensure that pressure from below brings whooping change from above. Yet it is possible as Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Gandhi, ANC and dozens of others have shown. It takes time, generosity, ingenuity, creativity, integrity and humility to organise and build protest movements. Kenya however currently lacks charismatic figures of integrity whose appeal is across the board and whose message and methods would inspire courage and participation. The ruling classes know this!
- [email protected] @GabrielDolan1
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