KENYA IS IN A CRISIS: ALL MUST SACRIFICE AND STRUGGLE TO SALVAGE THE MOTHERLAND

Yes, Kenya is in an economic, financial, social, environmental and moral crisis. The causes of the crisis arise from both objective and subjective factors.

The objective factors include the effects of climate change that are adversely affecting not only Kenya but also all human beings, societies and nations of the World and that have been the subject of the COP 27 global conference on climate change that took place in Egypt in November this year.

Although human beings – including, of course, us Kenyans – are partly responsible for climate change and its adverse effects upon the environment and human development by carelessness and gross exploitation and misuse of nature causing erosion and pollution of the biosphere, climate change is also the result of the objective forces of nature that are complex and often beyond the control of human beings. This has been exacerbated by the industrial countries of the North that have polluted the biosphere through decades of emissions of gasses from fossil fuels in their rapid industrial development.

The imperialist instigated Ukraine/Russian war that continues to cause destruction upon human settlements, food, energy, economic, financial, social, political, and insecurity crisis of all sorts throughout the World – including in the same imperialist states and nations that are flaring up the flames of the war – are also, of course, partly responsible for the problems Kenya is facing which should not be blamed entirely to the government of the day or the citizens of the country.

Yet, there are subjective causes of the present crisis in our country – and also in the World -that are escalating poverty, underdevelopment, suffering, premature deaths and general human insecurity. These include causes that we can control as human beings and nation but have failed to do so because of adopting and adhering to the wrong ideology and its socio-economic system that is the basis of greed, egoism, corruption, injustice, violation of human rights, exploitation of person by person and misuse of nature. In fact, the problems have always existed only that they have grown to become the present crisis. I am happy that the Kenya Kwanza Government led by President William Ruto is committed to the process of removing some of the reactionary policies that have ruled Kenya since colonialism.

The capitalist path of development with its neo-liberalism and trickledown economics that Kenya has adopted hitherto, works against sustainable development while leading to the misuse of human and natural resources that in turn create conditions for the harsh impacts of climate change like the present drought, floods, agricultural failures, destruction of flora and fauna and of escalation of the consequent poverty, suffering, underdevelopment and the deaths of people, wild and domestic animals that Kenya is experiencing today.

Successive governments and the people have hitherto only paid lip service to sustainable development and environmental matters. The Kenyan people collectively made the constitution in 2010 that singles out the environment as one of the most important issues of our nation. This has resulted in successive Parliaments making numerous environmental and related laws, policies and regulations. Unfortunately, the laws are hardly followed by strict implementation. Yet, the consequences of not implementing environmental laws as effectively as we ought to have given rise to the rapid destruction of forests, water-catchments, sea, lakes, soils, wildlife, riparian lands, human settlements, etc.

In fact, the present crisis is one of the manifestations of nature’s revenge to the destructive activities caused by the carelessness and greed of us human beings justified by the capitalist and imperialist ideology, system and praxis.

In the era of scientific and technological revolution in the globe, the majority of Kenyan human beings hitherto remain dependent on nature like wild animals: exploiting while adding or renewing nothing in return. We cut trees but do not plant them; we use water but pollute it while destroying its sources -water catchments; we hardly conserve the soils we depend on for our agricultural activities; we utilise biodiversity resources without bothering to conserve them; we use fossil fuels as though they will last forever while paying only lip service to their effects upon nature and life around us.

Thus, for example, today the animals are desperately waiting for rain and us Kenyan human beings are also desperately waiting for the rain; both domestic and wild animals are dying of hunger and us human beings are also dying of hunger – many times with animals beside our starving or dead bodies. And even when the rain does come – as it eventually certainly does – the water rapidly flows to the sea and we return to the same situation, as we have hardly prepared the peasants to tap the water in small and large dams for irrigation, conserve wetlands and sources of water. Besides, many times, simultaneously, we are ravaged by floods that we expect but do little to control or utilise.

The capitalist system that informs our country’s political, social and economic policies, is brutal and immoral as it is based on the ideology and practice of elitism, egoism, greed, corruption and exploitation of person by person. Just now there are people and families whose wealth amounts to millions, billions or even trillions while millions of Kenyans are dying of hunger and wallowing in poverty and suffering in front of all to see. The elites in the executive, judiciary, legislature, commissions, state economic institutions, and even in NGOs including religious organisations and institutions, who pretend to work for the interest of all Kenyans, earn exorbitant salaries while those in the lower echelons of the civil service civil society organisations and the working class are paid peanuts.

Individual families and ranchers own hundreds or thousands of acres of land – most of which is idle with no productive use – while millions lack or have hardly any land to subsist on or to add to national food security. All this while the elite, including religious leaders, are shedding crocodile tears about the adverse effects of climate change on the peasants, workers and the poor masses who are suffering and dying before our eyes.

A human being must grow to be an independent, conscious, creative social being. This means, in the context of Kenya, the government and citizens – global climate issues aside – he/she must strive to implement policies – including from the Constitution of Kenya – of realising our humanity as a people and a nation that prevent us from getting on the path of social progress and sustainable development.

As human beings, we must not passively depend on nature or led by morals of selfishness, egoism, greed and of exploitation of person by person. Instead, we must always learn from the historical achievements of our country, and also the World, about what to do and not do in relation to nature, our survival and development. We must always strive for freedom, i.e., to utilise scientific and technological achievements in Kenya and the World hitherto to enhance our comprehension of the laws of nature and harness them for sustainable development. Sustainable development must also mean conserving natural and human resources and sharing them equitably and justly.

It is not easy to come out of the present crisis; especially considering that the Kenya Kwanza Government has inherited an economy devastated by foreign loans, corruption, gross mismanagement of the economy – plus the morals of greed, egoism and primitive accumulation that have become a culture in Kenya. However, notwithstanding this, the government in power today has no alternative but to lead in by making and implementing short term and long term policies and measures of taking the country out of the present crisis. In fact, the government is already grappling with the problem. This article is aimed at supporting all initiatives geared towards contributing to providing solutions to the problem.

It is a problem because it, of necessity, demands courage and hard decisions by the President and his government as implementing the necessary measures of salvaging the economy and putting it in the path of recovery will rattle the elites, particularly of politicians and professionals in the state and public service enslaved by the reactionary capitalist culture of egoism and greed. After all, it is not easy to decide to commit class suicide!

So, now that drought, food shortage, hunger and starvation has become a persistent crisis, the national and county governments must use the resources at their disposal prudently to ensure the supply of food and water – and all that is necessary for life – to the citizens first and fast to ensure people do not continue to suffer and die. There is no need of implementing other programs before we ensure the lives of the citizens who are the ultimate aim of all development are secured.

President Ruto has proposed a budget that takes into account the present economic crisis by ensuring that government ministries and departments cut expenditure to allow the government to save for the immediate necessary expenditure of alleviating the crisis. Each Cabinet Minister has decided to contribute one month of their salaries towards helping Kenyans ravaged by draught and hunger. This is an important step but it should be followed by measures of dealing with the bloated wage bill caused by pampering the elites of the state and public officers. For unless we are burying our heads in the sand, the truth is that the country cannot afford the large salary packs and allowances paid to the elites that gobble the taxes of the citizens at the experience of development and welfare of the rest of society. It is time Kenyans express their patriotism in words and deeds which must mean making sacrifices to save the nation. The ruling elites must lead by example in this regard.

The huge salaries paid to the elites of politicians, civil servants, military, police, national intelligence, judiciary, commissioners and also NGOs, heads of religious organisations, etc., are too big and should now be rationalised and reduced to help reduce the gap between the rich and the poor and allow money circulation to trigger the revival of the economy and put it on the path of growth.

There is no justification for any state or public officer to earn a consolidated salary which is more than five times that of the lowest paid officers. Those in charge of rationalising salaries should propose that the packs of top earners of state and public officers be cut by at least half and that of lowest earners be made to be at least thirty thousand per month. Parliament should adopt and legislate this and ensure its immediate implementation.

At the same time, the war against corruption must be fought and won at all costs. The leaders must lead the citizens in the war against corruption that threatens our nation by pushing it to become a banana republic or failed state. It is time we talk less about the cancer of corruption and do more to fight it. All arms of government must work together in fighting this war while the citizens themselves must refuse to participate in corruption and instead, if need be, invoke mass action allowed by the constitution to fight the war against corruption wherever and whenever it rears its ugly head.

All Kenyans should support the bottom up economic plan of Kenya Kwanza in words and deeds instead of dismissing it cynically and hypocritically, as the so called opposition is doing. For PLAN is aimed at doing away with trickle down policies of neo-liberalism that have failed to bring about sustainable development and have succeeded only in widening the gap between the rich and the poor. If the opposition cares about the masses of Kenya they should support the bottom up PLAN of Kenya Kwanza, improve it where need be, and then challenge the government about whether it is implementing the PLAN or not.

The government should implement progressive land reforms aimed at providing land to the tillers to ensure land is given to those who need it and use it for production of their livelihoods and for food security and other needs for their families and nation. No Kenyan should be a squatter or landless in his/her own country. The land reforms should ultimately turn urban land to the state to ensure town planning and ensuring that every Kenyan lives in a decent house will all the basic amenities.

There must be strict implementation of environmental laws everywhere in the country as a matter of life and death. Riparian laws must be observed by all citizens and all inhabitants of the country. No development structures should be erected in riparian lands and those erected therein must be removed in the soonest time possible. There must be no farming of crops in river valleys apart from crops like bananas, arrowroot, cane sugar for chewing, etc., that provide cover for the rivers to reduce evaporation and soil erosion. Riverbeds should be used to retain water to be used for irrigation for small-scale farming by peasants on and along hillsides. The farmers should be trained and encouraged to use suitable farming methods of preventing and reducing soil erosion and planting suitable food and cash crops.

At least twenty percent of all arable land, including private, communal and state owned parcels of land in the country must be set aside for the planting of fruit, indigenous and wood trees. All households in the country must be surrounded by trees. Schools, churches, mosques and all religious, government and other institutions must plant trees in their surroundings while using suitable methods to tap rainwater. All urban areas must plant fruit, indigenous, and wood trees as part of their town planning and projects. All towns must also contain recreational parks with suitable food, indigenous and wood trees in them. There must be strict implementation of hygiene laws in rural and urban areas. If implemented, the measures suggested in this article could help in salvaging the country from the present crisis and putting it along the path of sustainable development and social progress.

Mwandawiro Mghanga,

National Chairperson, Communist Party of Kenya (CPK)