President William Samuoi Ruto has announced an initial group of eleven cabinet ministers, with about six positions still pending. What is happening in Kenya reflects a broader political crisis affecting Africa. This represents a second, alarming wave of political change sweeping the continent.
From the Arab Spring to the Sudanese civil war, the world is witnessing Africa’s forceful shedding of postcolonial legacies with unprecedented urgency. This article explores President Ruto’s challenging task of balancing the appointment of political allies to key positions while addressing the Gen-Z demand for a more egalitarian society.
The political challenge in Africa, exemplified by Kenya, concerns the pervasive elitism that is out of touch, insular, corrupt, and self-serving. Nearly all African regimes are grappling with this crisis of entrenched elitism while trying to avoid its backlash.
Elites are extremely powerful and support regimes that cater to their needs. As soon as they perceive that a regime no longer protects their interests, they oppose it. This elitism is precisely what Gen-Z despises and is determined to eradicate in their quest to create a more just and fair society.
Gen-Z, often misunderstood and ostracized worldwide, carries the future of our world. They are clamouring for meaningful reforms. This leads me to ponder why the majority of school arsonists are from Gen-Z.
I’ve come to realize that Gen-Z’s lack of confidence in the education system, which is a relic of colonial heritage, is at the root of the issue. Originally designed to produce clerical workers, colonial education focused on rote learning without fostering independent thinking and action.
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We have zealously protected this system as if it were a magic solution to our economic woes. While it may be a pivotal element, it is fundamentally flawed.
What the school arsonists are asserting is that the resources wasted on this outdated form of education could be better utilized elsewhere. They are calling for an end to the colonial education system and its replacement with comprehensive vocational training. They advocate for practical exams set by each school, focusing on hands-on skills rather than written tests.
Ending exam cheating and the glorification of paper qualifications is essential. Young people seek practical skills rather than cramming their brains with irrelevant information that they will seldom use in their lives.
The barrier to these aspirations comes from ageing politicians and bureaucrats who excelled in colonial-style education, memorizing formulas and historical data unrelated to current labour market demands, especially in self-employment.
While political leaders preach the virtues of self-employment, they contradict themselves with outdated educational syllabi, excessive taxation, and stifling bureaucracy. True self-employment flourishes under minimal taxation and bureaucracy, yet it is hindered by the very policies meant to promote it.
What is happening across Africa, incompetence is in managing the economy to total destruction. And, those unfit to lead Africa are cunning enough to kill competition through statutorily “Independent National Election commissions”. The commissions are only nominally independent but in substance, they are there to commit election fraud ensuring incompetence rather than competence rules Africa.
Since Africa is managed by incompetent minds no wonder taxing the poor while picking bribes from the rich is legalized and functionalized. In fact, the poor are milked dry to ensure that they are too weak to challenge the status quo. The biggest insecurity of the status quo is an emboldened middle class, and this is why any elements that challenge the establishment are dealt with swiftly with ominous consequences.
It is in this light that President Ruto’s dilemmas and challenges in forming the next government should be understood. The aspiration of an average Kenyan is to have leaders who serve their people but the current crop of leaders does not subscribe to those aspirations as seen by filthy emoluments and perks that the rulers of the day had apportioned for themselves.
One inertia towards tax payment compliance is what the government does with those taxes. Most African countries spend over 80% of the recurrent budget to clear wage and hefty allowance bills, SUVs for leaders every year and interest payments for the national debt. In short, all African governments are tax and spend robots, and whoever stands in the way is neutralized as soon as it is feasible.
In Africa, members of Parliament earn 10 to 20 times more than medical doctors and the lowest government earners receive 1,000 to 4,000 times less than MPs. Only in Africa are sitting allowances exclusive to MPs, while civil servants go without.
Every year, budgets allocate funds for new SUVs for leaders, ignoring maintenance culture. Additionally, senior politicians and bureaucrats often receive salaries from big miners or own shares acquired through political influence.
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President Ruto now faces a government resistant to egalitarian values. Many of his political allies are perceived as corrupt, and distancing from them could weaken his political stance. The inclusion of David Chir Chir in the first batch of ministerial appointments highlights the challenge of aligning with Gen-Z’s aspirations for reform.
Mr. Chir Chir and another close ally of President Ruto, Mr. Murkomen, are viewed as symbols of official corruption within the cabinet. Chir, previously dismissed for alleged graft under President Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration, has raised concerns about why President Ruto would revive his political fortunes—suggesting possible complicity.
Murkomen, previously engaged in law and journalism, was unexpectedly assigned to the influential Ministry of Roads, despite lacking relevant qualifications. His critics claim he has contributed little beyond demanding kickbacks, but he expects reappointment for his loyalty to Ruto during past political challenges.
In Tanzania, similar challenges and dilemmas are prevalent. The president, whose inauguration was marked by resistance, now grapples with acute paranoia and insecurity. It’s unsurprising to some that she has surrounded herself with incompetent advisors whose primary qualifications are their previous roles as MPs, cabinet ministers, or top national leaders within the ruling CCM party.
Looks like more and more presidential appointments are carried out to buy loyalty rather than crafting a team that will solve mundane public problems. Her insecurities explain why a former president was rewarded with a new SUV and his scion is hibernating in a junior ministerial docket doing nothing worthwhile of reporting.
Paranoia amply demonstrates why the widow of a former president was also garlanded with a new house and spouses of national leaders were showered with another soft landing above the constitutional imperatives. It also expounds why taxes and health insurance are expected to be squeezed from those who munch one meal every third day.
Most Tanzanians these days do not have a long call every day because the belly is empty. Constipation twice a week is all they have and expecting them to fund the government and feed the bureaucracy at NHIF is just being “out of touch” and insular of what is happening on the ground.
As politicians and senior civil servants apportion a huge portion of the budget to cater for their excesses, what they fail to grasp they cannot provide leadership to the rest of us. Only Nyerere understood this golden principle as spelt out in the scripture that “…… those who lead you must live like you….”
In summary, Tanzania’s system involves taxing the poor to enrich leaders, while big taxpayers bribe senior civil servants and politicians, evading their statutory obligations. To perpetuate this blatant exploitation, incompetent ministers are appointed who neither question nor resolve issues. Given that ministers are ineffective, it’s no surprise that boasting about INEC as a ruling party’s tool for election fraud occurs without repercussions.
We have a Minister of Infrastructure devoid of education background and experience bringing nothing to the table. While the late Dr J.P. Magufuli did not have the education and experience background on infrastructure at least he brought passion and energy but the current minister lacks both.
He cannot inspire anybody or help bring out the best of anybody. The same can almost be said in all Ministries. What we see is fast-driven, sparkling SUVs sprawling dust at us as if the life of the occupants depends on timeliness. We know from their abject performance, that it is all an act of deception and intimidation.
It may be too early to predict what will happen to the Mr Ruto’s regime but after a peek at his first eleven ministers, it is becoming increasingly clear to me he has lost the plot and that all his days in office he will face mounting opposition and he will have no peace and will achieve very little.
In Tanzania, we have a window of about ten to twenty years before a civil war breaks out because the contradictions in our society cannot be addressed by a crop of leadership we have which is greed, self-serving and insulated from the plight of the majority who are extremely poor.
