By Donald Ngala
It may seem like ages since the late Mwalimu Julius Kabarage Nyerere of Tanzania declared Kenya to be a man- eat man society. In response, the then attorney general Charles Mugane Njonjo quipped that Tanzania was a man eat nothing state due to its socialist “ujamaa” economic policy.
Much water has flown under the bridge since then and the two countries have undergone tremendous changes both politically and socially. The result has been that Kenya has emerged as a ravenous, capitalistic economic powerhouse in the east African region while Tanzania is the gentle humanistic brother next door. This was evident when at the outbreak of the post election violence in 2008, Tanzania played a leading role in brokering the peace process which saw Kenya return to sanity and stop the mayhem and bloodletting.
The former president Benjamin William Mkapa was among the eminent persons who oversaw the negotiations that returned the country to its senses, while the current president Jakaya Kikwete witnessed the final signing of the accord that set up the coalition government.
So the big question is why are Kenyans such a trigger happy people? Why are they so disagreeable? Why do they argue and play the blame game all the time? Why are their Tanzanian brothers and sisters more gentle and agreeable?
It is the contention of many political observers that this is borne out of the ravenous nature of our politics. This is the capitalistic system exported to Africa, the Americas, Australia and Asia at the height of Imperial British Conquest in the 19th century.
The expansionist policies of the British was informed, not by good brotherhood but by the more basic and atavistic reason of hunger for natural resources due to overpopulation on the British Isles and the rest of the European continent.
This had been caused by the foregoing Agrarian revolution which has enabled the Europeans to raise enough food for the masses leading to an unprecedented population explosion. These masses needed to be fed and housed but since lebensraum or living space was scarce, land and other resources had to be found somewhere.
The European monarchs sponsored exploration expeditions which “discovered” lands beyond the seas in the Americas, Asia, Africa and Australia. Most of these lands were usurped either through cunning and conniving, military conquest, outright extermination of whole populations or a combination of some or all the above.
There then followed a period of subjugation of the native to the colonial yoke and blatant exploitation of the colonies for the benefit of the “mother-land” colonizer. Suffice to say, this ran its cause and the native growing enlightened demands his rights and land back.
During the liberation of the colonized, whether pacifically or by force of arms, the colonizers deliberately sought out the weak-kneed and the collaborators who could not oppose them to safeguard their capitalistic interests. Thus the scenario was created whereby the sons of the collaborators are the ones who benefited most from the new set up, not necessarily those who deserved to be rewarded. Ironically, those who had paid obeisance to the conqueror had to take care of his interests upon his departure.
Independence therefore did not mean an end to dependence on the western powers. Capitalism and its raw forms of money worship and the attendance desire to worship the moneyed has continued to drive the former colonies to extremities of begging outright submission to the western yoke.
In short, the west continue to rule us, They decide who occupy our statehouses or presidential palaces- which they built- and woe-betide you if you decide to defy them like Ggagbo, and they come to take you out of the most secret bunker in “their” palace, because they know exactly where you are hiding.
The idea that only those who collaborated with the white colonialists should benefit from public largesse goes against the grain of social justice. And here we are not talking about the extreme “ujamaa” type of socialism but a simple equitable distribution of the national cake.
Anyone who has lived or visited Tanzania will attest that despite its economic challenges compared to Kenya it has humanity (utu) which carries across the country and serves its wananchi very well. This can be credited to Nyerere who subjugated tribe to nation unlike Kenya where the British colonizer practiced divide and rule and therefore left a legacy of people identifying themselves as tribe first and nation second.
That the old man laughed his opponents off the mainland was a plus for the nation. His enduring legacy has seen Tanzanians realize the dreamed-of desire of everyman and woman, to be humble and proactive at the same time.
This has been evidenced by the expulsion of those avaricious Kenyans who invaded Dar, and importing impunity from back home, tried to take over Bongo-land. They were unceremoniously bundled out, and sent packing back to Nairobi.
The same fate faced those dare-devil trigger happy Nairobi thugs, car-jackers and robber-barons who invaded Tanzania and literally, western-movie style, threatened to take over the sleepy town of Moshi. They mistakenly thought that the Sheriff of the town was sleeping on the job. They were in for a rude shock. At the end of the shootout; Moshi Sheriff 7, Kenyan villains 0.
That Tanzanians hold us in contempt is demonstrated by their refusal to adapt to the Kenyan model of capitalist democracy wholesome. Largely they practice their own homegrown solutions to their problems.
When Kenyans first arrive in Bongoland, they are amazed at the “excess courtesy” displayed. “Tafadhali naomba nikuzie nini?” (Literally:Please, what can I serve you with?). The Kenyan, used to the rude and no nonsense “Unataka?” (What do you want?) back at home cannot fathom this. He or she has been brought up with inspiring moments in soccer stadiums where differences are settled at the blunt tip of stones.
He is daily bombarded by councilors hurling stones when running for mayoral seats. It is a tough world man, the Kenyan psych has been conditioned to believe. They enter Tanzania expecting to be harassed by police, insulted by the “Dala dala” tout after struggling to board the damn thing.
Nope, nothing like that here, kaka, he is told. His mind can’t digest this. So he comes back home and ironically, the first thing he does is complain Tanzanians politeness. What is wrong with us Kenyans?
What we forget to realize is that all that pressure in our society equals a massive dose of stress. Every day you arrive from work or whatever endeavours you engage in, you have a heavy dose of stress. And it is this pressure cooker which eventually burst forth after the 2007 elections. In the words of Shaw: The centre could no longer hold, things had to fall apart.
Much of it has been blamed on negative ethnicity, and that could be partly true. But methinks the main culprit is our economic system. Remember Clintons quip: “It is the economy stupid.” This is informed by the fact that if my neighbor’s and his children’s tummies are full, he or she will find little reason to quarrel. On the other hand, if he sees me gorging myself while he and his are starving, there is every reason for him to resent my station, all other circumstances not-withstanding. When my member of parliament refuses to pay tax on his or her 1 million shilling paycheck while the lowly teacher who takes home 13 thousand shillings is taxed, then there is something very wrong in the state of Kenya. As Chinua Achebe said, the Mp is simply taking too much for the owner to see. The owner here is the electorate, the man who toils on the farm from sunrise to dusk to put food, literally, on the table. This is the very same farmer who is taxed to pay for the luxury of one individual when the amount of 1 million which the MP earns can virtually feed more than ten families in the village.
It is a man eat man society indeed, where you are either eating or being eaten.
