A DIGITIZED ARTICLE ON NY TIMES : https://www.nytimes.com/1975/10/17/archives/corruption-and-repression-mar-the-success-of-kenya-kenyas-success.html
Although larger pie for the fast‐multiply Jomo Kenyatta has governed ing population of 13 million.
better than most African leaders, the aged President of Kenya faces growing and open public disenchantment—what a Kenyan calls “a poisoned political atmosphere.”
Mr. Kenyatta, a pragmatic conservative, has helped to build a solvent, working and, until recently, fairly free society in which steady economic growth has produced an ever
In recent years, however, Mr. Kenyatta has damaged his political image and alienated more and more Kenyans by abuses of power, by piling up a growing fortune and by moving to stifle the development of a freer society in this East African nation.
[Mr. Kenyatta warned Parliament Thursday that dissidents would not be tolerated, Reuters reported. “People appear to have forgotten that the hawk is always in the sky and ready to swoop on the chickens,” he reportedly told Parliament, which had just seen two prominent members placed in detention. Page 5.]
Another situation involving the President that has disturbed Kenyans is that he has neithar restrained nor disciplined his family and his closest associates in their amassing of wealti, much of it through evasions of law and the exploitation of such national resources as wildlife and forests.
Last spring the President reportedly wrote a letter to a farmers’ cooperative telling it not to renew the question of a $196,000 debt he had incurred for seed, fertilizer and other supplies for his several farms. The letter said he did not intend to pay even though the debt would have to be absorbed by fellow farmers, many of them smallholders.
A Kenyan whO saw the letter was asked why Mr. Kenyatta did such things. “In a perverse way it’s a matter of principle,” the Kenyan replied with a smile, “the principle being that he doesn’t think he has to pay for things.”
This incident, known only to a handful of people, would be all too believable to many. It came at a time when a majority of informed Kenyans already believed that Mr. Kenyatta—or at least his closest political advisers—had ordered the murder early this year of a political critic, Joshia M. Kariuki.
The controversial record of Mr. Kenyatta and his family has come to light in recent years partly because little effort has been made to conceal it. Politically conscious Kenyans, diplomats and foreign residents—some of them victimized witnesses—make the assertions, most of which have not been denied.
Examples include the nearly instant expulsion of businessmen who have attempted to collect large overdue bills from the Kenyattas and corporate records clearly indicatincr the family’s participation in illicit trade practices.
Few Efforts at Denial
Mr. Kenyatta has almost never attempted to deny the charges against him and his associates, partly because they are mostly made by word of mouth or by innuendo in Parliament. In speeches, however, he often seeks to divert the debate by accusing critics of denigrating “our independence” and of trying to “spoil the name cf our Government.”
One result of these personal excesses by Mr. Kenya tta and his family has been to damage the President’s reputation at home and abroad and to obscure many of the undeniable contributions and impressive accomplishments of a career that dates to the fight against British colonial rule in the early nineteen‐fifties.
Another result has been the development of deep and groving cynicism. Even the most implausible, and in some cases clearly unjust, rumors are given a serious hearing by many.
At the same time there has been an erosion of the political institutions and climate needed to maintain the sort of praematic, capitalist and individualistic society that Mr. Kenyatta has done more to nurture than any other postindependence black African leader.
“He has, in effect, destroyed his own reputation, and I am damned if I can understand why,” a longtime foreign resident commented.
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Damaging Legacy
The corrosive and damaging legacy of recent years includes the following incidents:
¶ The murder of Mr. Kariuki, a popular member of Parliament who built a nationwide following partly by asserting that a new black elite in Kenya was growing wealthy while the majority lacked full opportunity. The killing was so clumsy and blatant that an aroused Parliament accused security officials and presidential advisers of complicity and the police and others of a vast cover‐up to obstruct justice.
¶ The murder of the popular and influential Minister of Planning, Tom Mboya, in 1969, as well as the mysterious deaths of other figures.
¶ The continuing acquisition by Mr. Kenyatta, his family and his coterie of large and valuable farms in a land‐hungry nation.
¶ The open attempt by Mr. Kenyatta’s unpopular fourth wife, Mama Ngina Kenyatta, and her associates to seize a valuable ruby mine, prospected by two American geologists, ‐by engineering the destruction of public records and the deportation of the owners.
¶ The participation, indeed dominance, of the “royal family” in such ostensibly illegal practices as trade in charcoal and ivory. These practices threaten to do irreparable ecological damage to a country that is poor in minerals.
Modest Cult of Personality
Political morality may be relative, so that Mr. Kenyatta’s record might appear to be relatively good in the African context. While attempts are made to foster the cult of the individual in Kenya, it is not practiced with anything approaching the fervor shown by President H. Kamuzu Banda of Malawi or President Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire.
Corruption is mild by African standards, possibly because the Government had provided more legitimate private economic opportunity than exists in most countries on the continent.
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Perhaps most important of all, Kenya is far from a police state. There is an atmosphere of considerable personal freedom. Though this might be a result of police methods and coercion that have been halfhearted or not always effective, Mr. Kenyatta has shown no real determination to confine the people to a mental straitjacket and Kenya is one of the least ideological of countries.
Unlike most African nations, small but growing middle class has emerged here. At one point in the early seventies at least 700 new autos a month were coming onto the streets of Nairobi—a city of 700,000, most of whom are poor—and the rate is not much less now depite leapfrogging prices.
These very aspects of life and society have intensified President Kenyatta’s problems growing from the arbitrary USE of power and the collection of persqnal wealth. The increas. ingly politicized and well‐in. formed public is less willing to forgive, and certainly will not ignore, reports of his family’s, doings.
Tame and Timid Press
The tame and timid press almost never discusses such issues, but the information gets around with great speed.
It is a common occurrence for an American or British tourist to return to Nairobi from a bus tour of national parks and game reserves that has given him detailed familiarity with reports of political scandal and economic corruption, provided by garrulous bus drivers and bartenders.
It has been equally common for servants to regale their employers with detailed—if not necessarily accurate— descriptions of the doings of the Kenyatta family, including holdings of corporate stock.
Although foreign publications containing articles critical of the leadership are commonly seized by the Government before they can be put on sale, copies filter through and are reproduced by the hundreds. Those who pass them from hand to hand include senior civil servants and prominent politicians.
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An educated member of the Kikuyu tribe who spends time on country buses and in humble bars said, “The people of this country know exactly what is going on, and they don’t like it.”
In the view of journalists and other onlookers, the situation is such that the stability and continued existence of the Kenyatta Government are threatened.
Army Appears Loyal
However, there is little if any concrete evidence to sustain this view. While a miliatry coup d’état is always possible, Kenya’s seven‐battalion army has maintained a nonpolitical, militarily professional attitude and has never shown a hint of disloyalty. Nor does any conventional political challenge to Mr. Kenyatta appear plausible.
On the other hand, a muted political “conspiracy” of a special kind certainly does exist in the conviction of a loose zoalition of dissidents that if, Mr. Kenyatta cannot be dislodged — or influenced to thange—it will be possible to lame his successor and change he country after he dies.
Mr. Kenyatta has kept his late of birth a secret and may not even know it himself. Conflicting and fragmentary bits af evidence indicate he is 85 years old or even older. This great age has not brought any apparent reduction in his mental powers, and he is still remarkably vigorous, although at public functions he often takes a staircase at a slow, careful
In the almost 12 years that he has served as Kenya’s first President there has been a clear and steady change in his style and perhaps in his priorities.
The popular pre‐independence leader, wearing a leather jacket and beaded belt, has been supplanted by a man in pinstripe Saville Row suits, complete with vest. He is surrounded by heavily armed bodyguards and travels in large motorcades.
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Cabinet’s Role Secondary
Although he has by no means lost interest in the day‐to‐day workings of government, he has altered his methods of control. His Cabinet, which contains some able men and at least one or two of very high quality, reportedly met only six times in 1974. Even in the present period of crisis caused by the resentment over Mr. Kariuki’s murder, it has hardly met more often.
The President’s manner and temper have become increasingly violent in recent years. Cabinet ministers dislike raising serious questions with him after lunch because he sometimes subjects them to temper tantrums.
An official of the creamery cooperative attempted to explain that an imbalance between price controls on dairy products and producers’ prices for raw milk was causing a serious deficit in the marketing cooperative. Mr. Kenyatta struck him on the head with a cane.
The real power is not so much delegated to the Cabinet or shared by Parliament as wielded on the President’s behalf by an inner circle of advisers and assistants. This circle includes the provincial commissioners who are appointed by and solely responsible and responsive to Mr. Kenyatta.
Losing Battle by M.P.'s
They often appear in khaki uniforms, and even solar topees, that give them an uncanny resemblance to the white colonial officials they replaced. Their roles and attitudes, often reflected by their subordinates, bear a similar resemblance.
Parliament has waged a long but losing battle to maintain even its dignity, much less its power against the provincial officials, whose pronouncements have the effect of law, while they are virtually immune from the rule of law. The commissioners often refuse to let members of Parliament give speeches in the countryside; on number of occasions they have summarily stopped a public meeting when they did not like what was being said.
Two years ago one of the provincial commissioners went to a Nairobi court, where he accosted a member of Parliament who had accused him of involvement in smuggling. When the commissioner struck the politician, policemen bundled him off with the intenon of charging him with assault. By the time the police car reached the station, a telephone call from Mr. Kenyatta’s office had ordered his release, which was promptly effected. The M.P. was sent to prison for making “unsubstantiated” accusations against an official.
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Another important—and controversial—element in the Kenyatta system is Mbiyu Koinange, the son of an important tribal chief and the brother of Mr. Kenyatta’s third wife, now deceased. As the Minister of State for the Office of the Presidency, he is constantly at Mr. Kenyatta’s side and appears to be the most influential political adviser while also serving in effect as head of the civil service.
Summary Deportation
The 15‐member select parliamentary committee that investigated the Kariuki murder—and established an African politicial landmark with its strong criticism of the Government—named Mr. Koinange as one of a list of people who should be investigated.
The President’s family may be an even bigger issue than his inner circle.
Partly because the President’s 43‐year‐old wife, Mama Ngina —”Mama” is the Swahali equivlalent of Miss or Mrs. —is feared she is one of the most unpopular figures in the country. A few years ago an Asian businessman was sum madly deported with 24 hours’ notice after he had “insulted” Mama Ngina by asking her to pay an overdue bill for clothing.
Mama Ngina is a leading figure in the Kenya Trade and Development Corporation, with partner, George Criticos, and is known to be deeply involved in a number df other businesses. Some conservationists assert that she is one of several leading figures involved in the export of charcoal to the Middle East, where it brings high prices.
Because it takes 10 tons of wood to make a ton of charcoal and because much of Kenya is scrub desert, the proliferating trade is causing deforestation and increasing erosion.
In 1971 the Government announced a ban on charcoal production on the coast, and this year it was made nationwide. But, as was the case with a 1973 prohibition on the export of or private trade in ivory, the charcoal rulings were never made official through publication in the Official Gazette. In any case, such policies do not seem to apply to the elite.
Daughter Also in Ivory
Foreign conservation experts say Mama Ngina is involved in the ivory trade, which may eventually wipe out Kenya’s great elephant herds. In a long, detailed series on the Kenyatta family this summer The Sunday Times of London asserted that in June, 1973, she bought $264,000 worth of ivory from the national, parks—which had obtained it from drought‐killed animals—but never paid for it.
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The President’s 47‐year‐old daughter, Margaret, who is Mayor of Nairobi, is also deeply involved in the ivory trade through the United African Corporation, of which she owns almost half the shares. It has continued to export ivory since the 1973 ban.
The controversial behavior of the President and his family has tended to polarize politics.
No elections to the Kenya African National Union, which since 1969 has been the only legal party, have been held since 1966. The reason is clearly that the members of the inner circle believe—as do the President’s political enemies—that dissidents would seize control.
There has also been serious estrangement between the administration and Parliament, which has little real power but which provides a still‐valuable forum and, up to now, a fairly safe platform for the criticism of abuses.
The murder of Mr. Kariuki brought forth a torrent of anger in Parliament, with one member asserting that Kenya was being ruled by gangsters. Despite strong Government efforts to prevent it, the body en dorsed by a one‐vote margin the select committee’s report, which, in the words of Attorney General Charles Njonjo, implicitly condemned the Government.
At first Mr. Kenyatta seemed stunned by the blast of criticism. Since then he has rallied politically, not through ordinary political persuasion but by the use of the mailed fist.
He ousted a Cabinet minister and two assistant ministers who had voted to support the committee report. Then he began to make threats to expel from the Kenya African National Union members, of Parliament who did not support the Government or the party’s policies even though it has no discernible policy and Mr. Kenyatta has made it moribund.
Since such expulsion could be used to force critics out of Parliament, the threats have been effective and open criticism of the Establishment has declined.