EU envoy: When Kenya postponed drought

European Union(EU) Ambassador to Kenya Henriette Geiger during the ERASMUSPLUS Scholarship cocktail party at EU residence in Nairobi on July 28, 2022. [Boniface Okendo, Standard]

European Union says the drought situation obtaining in the country was suppressed last year over the election period in favour of the polls.

In candid reflections, EU Ambassador to Kenya Henriette Geiger says the drought was "basically shut out and kept out of the public eye for the elections so it would not upturn the applecart."

"Also, in the area where you have the drought, you have very few votes. So that was not a significant election deciding population. And that's probably why not much was done for them during the election," she said in an interview.

In the reflections, the ambassador praised the police for splendid conduct over the poll period, saying they turned out to be the "biggest surprise" given the tensions in the run up to the poll.

They were well-prepared, well trained, measured, non-intrusive and conducted themselves in an exemplary manner, she said.

"I texted the Interior minister and I said you have done a remarkable job and please congratulate all the police forces on this and that this is not only my opinion, but that of all the diplomatic community and the other stakeholders," she said.

However, she said a lot needs to be done on building trust and confidence with the population as far as the police is concerned. She said police conduct over the election is positive step towards building confidence. In the interview, the Ambassador spoke of Kenya's budding political maturity and the need to build on it, the urgency for democracy to deliver practical solution to the people, and the urgency for Kenya Kwanza administration to tackle drought and hunger.

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The interview is part of a series of stock-taking sessions with players of last year's election conducted by European Centre for Electoral Support and National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) in the framework of "ProPeace Kenya" which is supported by EU. The Sunday Standard obtained exclusive access to them.

What was the role of the EU in the electoral process including the post electoral phase?

I think over the many years of working in partner countries, we have realised that coming in from the outside, and trying to change something doesn't work, hasn't worked and will never work because change can only come from within, so if the people of a country are convinced they need a change, they will change. So, what we can do is bring in ideas, we can stimulate things, we can support certain ideas that come up... But the work has to happen from the ground up otherwise there is no sustainability. For us, with the big development projects and programmes that we came in with, what we do now is we are supporting country priorities. So, we first sit, we talk, we listen and then we see what is the joint interest and then we go in where we think we can add value. So, that is our current strategy and in the NGO's sector, I think also the listening and working with, has become a norm rather than the exception.

Climate change appears to be quite a danger and huge disruptive force to not only social cohesion and peace. How do you see the link with election and how can it be tackled in the Kenyan context?

Well, some people say in Kenya the drought goes with the election. Each time there is an election there is a drought for some reason or another. So, but what I've seen here is that the drought was basically shut out and it was kept out of the public eye for the elections. So, it's so it would not upturn the applecart. Also, in the area where you have the drought, you have very few votes. So that was not a significant election deciding population. And that's probably why not much was done for them during the election. But I would say that the fact that drought and the election has so far worked more or less in Kenya means that even in a difficult internal situation, you can have democratic elections. But in the long run, I think the exclusion factor in a society is dangerous for any democracy. And if now, in the next five years, the social and economic exclusion of that part of the country so the North East is not seriously tackled, we may have a bigger problem in 2027. And we have seen in these elections that social-economic questions were at the center of debate and not dominated by the ethnic questions like in the past.

In terms of institutional support, what is the EU doing and is it translating into tangible results from what you are observing?

First of all, the awareness in Kenya that shutting out a significant part of the population from socio-economic development does not work in the long run. You cannot have sustainable development without a more equal distribution in the society. And the recent history shows that not one country managed to go upper middle income level without addressing economic inequalities. Once that realisation has sunk in that you cannot leave a large portion of the population behind, and just race on to the next level, then serious action will be taken. And as EU, we cannot do that for Kenya. First the realisation then there has to be political willingness to do something about it. We're ready to come in with our instruments. I have already offered that to the government, and there has been a positive response. Even before the elections, we had developed together with the World Bank, the UK, UN, ourselves a sort of marshall plan for the North East together with the governors, and in my talks with the governors, I said you have to join forces as the governors of these counties and make joint efforts and joint demands and we are ready to come in. We have been supporting devolution, for years now, and politically and financially, and we are going to the next level of devolution now, which also means ensuring transparency of spending at the local levels. I think that it is very key that we come up with solutions for sustainable livelihoods in that dry belt.

From your own projection, and with the benefit of what Kenyan women have done, including with your support, when do you project Kenya getting its first female President?

We have been supporting women for a long time and the whole idea is to build a goldfish pond of women that want to engage in politics and then can present themselves in elections. In the last elections, we have seen that women still face a lot of problems. Still, it's an excellent result that we have now seven female governors and that we had one female vice presidential candidate.

There is hope that next time, maybe we will even have a presidential candidate or at least many more women in county governments or in Parliament. But what we want to support the women in a leadership in the implementation of their policies. I think Kenya is more ready than the US for a female president but the bias against women is strong, especially those in politics. And we as female ambassadors of the EU but also UK and US, we are actively promoting women leadership. And when we sit together with Kenyan women of all walks of life, they can't believe that Europe still has strong obstacles to women. In some countries, voting rights for women were only introduced a few years ago. Is some places until a few years ago, a woman had to get written permission from the husband to work outside of the house...So in that sort of global environment, it is clear women leaders still have a tough time...What we have seen as the most powerful tool for change is girl education.

What is the future of short-term and long-term support and cooperation with Kenya's institutions, and generally the country?

Very good question, and nobody has an answer to that. Europe is at war right now and everybody is trapped for resources. But as the same time, I should say our objective is to make ourselves superfluous at least as superfluous as a development cooperation provider. And that does not mean we want to get out of Kenya as political partner or a trade and investment partner, we want to be strong and present. But Kenya itself says trade not aid. So this is where we want to go, we will support but we will support the efforts that are the priority of the country itself. And we see that the country in Kenya wants to move towards a green economy, a green transition. Kenya is best example for so many countries. They almost reached 100 per cent of renewables in energy. There is only very little left to reach the 100 per cent which country in the world can say that of themselves? And the final thought on this one is, we really want to partner with the government to fight corruption. If we tackle corruption nobody will need to do any development corporation work, ever!