Lessons Kenya can borrow from China on development diplomacy

President William Ruto and his wife Rachel greet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping and the latter's spouse Peng Liyuan at the Great Hall of The People in Beijing, China. [PCS]

The country’s geo-economic leanings has been a matter of speculation since the Kenya Kwanza government took over reigns of power.

For the critics, the administration has turned the country into a puppet of the West. While I claim no expertise on matters diplomacy, the engines of economics are oiled by evidence and indicators that help us finding meaning to real-life phenomena in literally anything.

The fact that it took the President at least 13 months to make his maiden trip to Beijing is not trivial from an analytical point of view.

For starters, the government’s own data that is publicly available indicates that China has risen from insignificance to become the single largest bilateral lender to the country in the last two decades alone.

Besides, the Chinese dominance and influence in the country’s infrastructure development will live with us for many years to come. Along the corridors where these projects pass, there are traces of citizens of mixed descent who cement this shared history, regardless of which direction the official foreign policy goes.

Scanty details

There is nothing that confirms the changing fortunes among the two nations than the President’s maiden official visit to Beijing for the Belt and Road summit this past week. A casual search across mainstream media on the specifics of what would count as the return on investment confirms the scanty nature of the details.  

The official statement on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China is evidentially highly guarded, opting for generalities of shared interest stretching over the past six decades.

On the Kenyan side, State House seems to amplify the engagements with commercial entities as opposed to the official engagement with his Chinese counterpart, President Xi Jinping on Wednesday night. This is unlike the fanfare that has characterised the President’s state visits within the region and the West in his many trips abroad.

In as much as we may not want to ‘read elephant’ where one does not exist, there are traces that all is not rosy among the two states as has been over the past two decades.

That notwithstanding, there is a lot to learn from the Chinese on how to turn around an economy and deliver a shared prosperity that has eluded the country over this past 60 years of independence.

Coincidentally, we are celebrating Mashujaa Day the same week, with nothing much to be proud of for our true national heroes. The Chinese’s meteoric rise into economic stardom and global influence may sound superficial or academic for those that have not lived and experienced it. But I have; it is real and felt in the streets where ordinary folks live.

Today, we explore five critical reform initiatives that have defined this Dragon economy and find what lessons we could pick from them.

One, there was clarity on the national development agenda – as China struggled to find her footing from the disastrous economic policies of Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping is quoted saying “Black cat, White cat, what does it matter what colour the cat is as long as it catches the mice?” The context of this quote was on the experimentation on a transition from socialism to a market-leaning economic system back in 1979.

The import of this statement is that we need not waste productive energy on trivialities at the expense of what works for us to achieve our development goals.

Take for instance the ongoing distractions on who owns what shares in this government; if the true intend is to serve the country and the people, why should it matter who is appointed to which state office?

For three years, I lived among the Chinese people, and I know for a fact that there, public service is presumed to be a great honour to serve their country. This duty to the country is sacred for them.

Here, shareholding connotes ‘our time to eat’ as the primary motive for going to public office.

Chinese genius

Two, the focus was on price and ownership incentives for farmers – for those who understand the Chinese economic system well - is probably the genius behind what China has become today. From centralised planning and price controls, this policy targeted farmers to enable them to sell a portion of their crop on the free market.

Being at the bottom of the economic pyramid, Deng Xiaoping understood China could not attain her vision without enough people in the farms to produce food to ensure the nation was self-reliant, while, at the same time, not depriving those folks of their right to attain household and individual prosperity.

This intervention represents the bottom-up transformation component of the Chinese mixed developmental approach. Some of the notable incentives for farmers was exemption from the one-child policy for farmers, larger housing space per household and provision of adequate infrastructure and amenities similar to those in the big cities in the farms. Cost of key amenities like rent and transport to this date is relatively cheaper in townships where farmers live.

This is akin to KK’s Bottom-up Transformation Agenda. However, while here the agenda lacks specificity and is largely designed to serve political and power games, the Chinese model was sincere and driven by a desire to improve the welfare of her people.

Overall, this intervention was instrumental in moving over 800 million people from below the poverty line between 1979 and 2010. In the last decade, they have refined their own poverty line, away from the global one.  

Three, citizens were encouraged to start their own businesses – the entrepreneurship spirit that runs deep in the Chinese economy and society did not happen by accident, it was premeditated and promoted by the government outside the large state presence in commerce. Right from the village and township enterprises for farmers, the entrepreneurial spirit drives light industries and manufacturing. This is in complete contrast with our domestic environment where tender-preneurship is what is equated to entrepreneurship. Besides toxic taxes, the Kenya Revenue Authority seems hellbent to finish what is left of business in the country through threats and intimidation.

Practical implications

Four, gradual implementation of reforms - the Chinese economic system is build based on what works only. In 2013, I was privileged to participate in a short programme at the Chinese Academy of Governance (their equivalent of the Kenya School of Government) on government reconstruction processes.

A year later, I enrolled for a doctoral programme in one of their best-applied macroeconomic university. Believe you me not, for the Chinese society, science, evidence and practical implications of policies for the people run very deep in government decision-making.

Deng Xiaoping called it “crossing the river by touching the stones”. As a consequence, the real Gross Domestic Product growth rate averaged 9.5 per cent between 1979 to 2018. This means China has been able to double its economy in real terms every eight years.   

Five is on decentralisation of economic policy making, which was driven through special economic zones and empowering regional governments to drive local economic goals. One of the key parameters that is used to evaluate Governors in China is the GDP of their provinces, not the size of the convoy of cars that chase after the boss like here. China has very highly specialised cities for manufacturing, trade and technology.

Overall, it would be naïve for any government to sidestep the influence of the Chinese economy in the global economic order.

Even the West understands this pretty well. In any case, the Belt and Road Initiative that the President was attending is the epitome of Chinese integration of political, diplomatic, intellectual, economic and financial might. The Chinese economic reform exploits are well documented on https://www.everycrsreport.com/ (a non-partisan blog that analyses issues of public debate).