Exclusion is the only game in town and we are all to blame

Pricing is not just about money. It can be used to discriminate legally. [iStockphoto] Why do you pay more for soda and other drinks in high-end hotels? The quick answer is that you pay for ambience, location and "coolness." But the better answer is that you pay for an exclusivity premium. You will be away from the noise, loud music and ordinary citizens. The same applies to members' clubs and first class on planes despite the plane moving at the same speed! Have you noted another layer of exclusivity has been added lately - booking? I recall visiting a restaurant during lunch hour to be met with a simple question: do you have a booking? This is despite the fact that the restaurant was empty. Let's not digress too much, pricing is not just about money. It can be used to discriminate legally. If you can't get some services or products, you blame your pocket. You even feel sorry for yourself. With time, we have learnt to exclude the forces beyond our control that with time conspire to keep us in our place. This includes our cultures, beliefs, and laws and regulations perpetuating the status quo. When we say ignorance is no defence in law, how do we reduce that ignorance? How did we get here? Since the dawn of civilisation, exclusivity has been the currency. Even our traditional societies had exclusivity with chiefs and the elderly having certain rights and privileges. Justify discrimination Exclusion was based on well-accepted criteria. In Central Kenya, for example, they say uthuri wa gitonga ndunungaga (a rich man's fart doesn't stink). Today, exclusivity is based on money, an alien concept. But the high priests of social science - economists - have tried to justify discrimination; they prefer to call it market segmentation. Don't they call corruption rent-seeking? The objective of market segmentation is to make as much money as you can by skimming the cream. How else would you explain one establishment selling a soda for Sh400 instead of Sh10? You could be surprised to find that those who pay less, pay more as a percentage of their income! We also feel good when elevated to a higher status compared with others either because of inheritance, what we own, or what we do. Have you noted the popularity of titles nowadays, even compounding them like Dr XYX, Ph D or Reverend and Dr among others? Exclusion has a price. That is why membership in clubs keeps rising. Those who can afford feel good for being among the chosen few, more like winning a lottery. Exclusivity begets exclusivity. What's strange is that those previously excluded are more vocal when they suffer exclusion. A good example is old immigrants resisting new immigrants. An economist could add: reducing the supply of exclusivity raises its price. Ideally, clubs and other high-end places could use auctions to make money more. They prefer other exclusion criteria like using references. Others argue that exclusion is the lazy solution to a more fundamental problem - scarcity. Why not build more high-end hotels and golf courses, and increase first-class seats on planes? Another fact drives exclusivity: it massages our egos - a good cure for our inferiority or inadequacy. In a country where recognition is rare, anything else that gives a semblance of recognition, even by an invisible audience is welcome. Exclusion obeys the laws of supply and demand. Those who get inside elect new barriers to entry ensuring the extension of exclusivity. Professional associations have been accused of this by ensuring the prices of their services rarely decrease, and the brand is not diluted. Once we accept exclusion as normal, we cheer and support it. A good question is why do we have food for watu wa Nairobi (people from Nairobi) at funerals? But exclusion has a cost. Talents are frozen outside and those on the inside often relax. That is why the most enduring exclusion machine - the monarchy - was superseded by democracy, which too, learns to exclude using laws, regulations and money. Others think exclusion forces us to work hard so that one day we can be excluders. That's partly true if we move up the social economic ladder because we work harder, and not because of our networks. Meritocracy has often muted exclusion like changes in laws that entrench equity. But it often takes violence in some countries to end exclusion and open opportunities for all. Remember exclusion during colonialism and apartheid? Some argue the hustler movement was popular because it promised to end exclusivity, or is it inclusivity? It is still too early to judge the new regime's criteria on this beyond political affiliation. But if history is a guide, the new regime will develop its exclusivity criteria. Let us wait and see.

Exclusion is the only game in town and we are all to blame

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