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Former Prime Minister Talks about Kenya’s Challenges, Future
At BU, Raila Odinga lectures, studies, targets misconceptions
BU Today
Susan Seligson
5/22/2014
Excerpt:
The Republic of Kenya is facing numerous daunting challenges, including terrorist attacks, a tidal wave of refugees from embattled neighbors, pervasive corruption, and a capital increasingly engulfed by restive shantytowns and slums. The latest attack, twin explosions on Friday, May 16, that killed at least 10 in a downtown Nairobi market, resulted in the arrests of thousands of immigrants and refugees, most from Kenya’s ravaged neighbor Somalia. But Raila Odinga, who has been in residence this spring at BU’s African Presidential Center, believes that with the right leadership, his nation, rich in natural resources and tourism, could be poised for stability and prosperity.
The son of Kenya’s first vice president, Odinga has been a prominent opposition figure in East African politics for decades. He has held various cabinet posts and elected positions and served as prime minister from 2008 to 2013. Last year, after his second run for the presidency, he conceded victory to Uhuru Kenyatta (son of Kenya’s first president and founding father Jomo Kenyatta) when Kenya’s high court denied his appeal of the close election results. Longtime leader of a string of opposition parties, he was first elected a member of Parliament in 1992 and served as Minister of Energy from 2001 to 2002 and as Minister of Roads, Public Works, and Housing from 2003 to 2005.
Odinga’s rising and falling fortunes in public life include six years of imprisonment, without a trial, for alleged treason in connection with his suspected role in a failed 1982 coup attempt against former president Daniel arap Moi. While he remains a high-profile politician—he heads Kenya’s main opposition group, the Orange Democratic Party—Odinga has been taking a breather in the United States, where he has devoted his time to teaching and studying at BU and lecturing at campuses around the country.
BU Today spoke with the former prime minister at his Bay State Road office about the challenges faced by his nation and the region.
BU Today: What are the biggest challenges your nation is currently facing?
Odinga: Kenya is facing serious challenges, especially today—one: high rates of unemployment; two: the cost of living, which is very high indeed. The government has introduced taxation that increases the prices of basic commodities. There is also the cost of transport, and the high cost of rent for housing, the costs of energy, electricity, and so on. So all this is translated to a very high cost of living. Another very big issue is security. There are a lot of terrorist attacks in Kenya—grenades and bombs, robberies, and ethnic clashes. And finally, there is the problem of corruption. That is a very major challenge.
Why is corruption so endemic?
What we know is that systemic corruption is very difficult to fight. You have to strengthen the institutions able to fight systemic corruption. We’ve tried, in our time, but in a grand coalition government it is not one of the easiest things. People take refuge in coalition defenses, in passing the blame.
Is the newly established Supreme Court above corruption in Kenya?
I think the judiciary is facing major challenges. We started with the process of judicial reform, which is as yet incomplete. We had a task force set up to vet the judges and also the staff of the judiciary. Some judges and magistrates have been vetted, but not all. We’d never had a Supreme Court. The highest court was a court of appeals. The new constitution, approved in 2010, established a Supreme Court of seven judges, headed by the chief justice, who is also the head of the judiciary generally. There is an independent commission which deals with hiring and promotion and firing of the staff on the judiciary. In the past, judges were appointed by the president, but that is no longer the case. Now this commission does the vetting.
The biggest danger threatening the judiciary is the encroachment on its independence. We see wars being fought, like Parliament refusing to honor certain rulings of the judiciaries.
What is Kenya’s strategic role in the war on terrorism? Why is a Kenyan military presence in Sudan and Somalia necessary?
Kenya borders Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda, and Tanzania. The entire Horn of Africa is a very strategic area because it is the route to the Middle East. This region has been very volatile, as you know. So we have Somalia, which has not had a democratic government for the last 24 years. And then Ethiopia, which is also having internal strife among various ethnic groups. Then Sudan—though South Sudan attained independence about four years ago, there is still political instability and ethnic strife. Because we border Somalia, we bear the major brunt of hosting its refugees. In fact, before the Syrian crisis started, we were housing the biggest refugee group in the world, about half a million people.
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View the complete article, including photos, at:
http://www.bu.edu/today/2014/former-...lenges-future/
At BU, Raila Odinga lectures, studies, targets misconceptions
BU Today
Susan Seligson
5/22/2014
Excerpt:
The Republic of Kenya is facing numerous daunting challenges, including terrorist attacks, a tidal wave of refugees from embattled neighbors, pervasive corruption, and a capital increasingly engulfed by restive shantytowns and slums. The latest attack, twin explosions on Friday, May 16, that killed at least 10 in a downtown Nairobi market, resulted in the arrests of thousands of immigrants and refugees, most from Kenya’s ravaged neighbor Somalia. But Raila Odinga, who has been in residence this spring at BU’s African Presidential Center, believes that with the right leadership, his nation, rich in natural resources and tourism, could be poised for stability and prosperity.
The son of Kenya’s first vice president, Odinga has been a prominent opposition figure in East African politics for decades. He has held various cabinet posts and elected positions and served as prime minister from 2008 to 2013. Last year, after his second run for the presidency, he conceded victory to Uhuru Kenyatta (son of Kenya’s first president and founding father Jomo Kenyatta) when Kenya’s high court denied his appeal of the close election results. Longtime leader of a string of opposition parties, he was first elected a member of Parliament in 1992 and served as Minister of Energy from 2001 to 2002 and as Minister of Roads, Public Works, and Housing from 2003 to 2005.
Odinga’s rising and falling fortunes in public life include six years of imprisonment, without a trial, for alleged treason in connection with his suspected role in a failed 1982 coup attempt against former president Daniel arap Moi. While he remains a high-profile politician—he heads Kenya’s main opposition group, the Orange Democratic Party—Odinga has been taking a breather in the United States, where he has devoted his time to teaching and studying at BU and lecturing at campuses around the country.
BU Today spoke with the former prime minister at his Bay State Road office about the challenges faced by his nation and the region.
BU Today: What are the biggest challenges your nation is currently facing?
Odinga: Kenya is facing serious challenges, especially today—one: high rates of unemployment; two: the cost of living, which is very high indeed. The government has introduced taxation that increases the prices of basic commodities. There is also the cost of transport, and the high cost of rent for housing, the costs of energy, electricity, and so on. So all this is translated to a very high cost of living. Another very big issue is security. There are a lot of terrorist attacks in Kenya—grenades and bombs, robberies, and ethnic clashes. And finally, there is the problem of corruption. That is a very major challenge.
Why is corruption so endemic?
What we know is that systemic corruption is very difficult to fight. You have to strengthen the institutions able to fight systemic corruption. We’ve tried, in our time, but in a grand coalition government it is not one of the easiest things. People take refuge in coalition defenses, in passing the blame.
Is the newly established Supreme Court above corruption in Kenya?
I think the judiciary is facing major challenges. We started with the process of judicial reform, which is as yet incomplete. We had a task force set up to vet the judges and also the staff of the judiciary. Some judges and magistrates have been vetted, but not all. We’d never had a Supreme Court. The highest court was a court of appeals. The new constitution, approved in 2010, established a Supreme Court of seven judges, headed by the chief justice, who is also the head of the judiciary generally. There is an independent commission which deals with hiring and promotion and firing of the staff on the judiciary. In the past, judges were appointed by the president, but that is no longer the case. Now this commission does the vetting.
The biggest danger threatening the judiciary is the encroachment on its independence. We see wars being fought, like Parliament refusing to honor certain rulings of the judiciaries.
What is Kenya’s strategic role in the war on terrorism? Why is a Kenyan military presence in Sudan and Somalia necessary?
Kenya borders Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda, and Tanzania. The entire Horn of Africa is a very strategic area because it is the route to the Middle East. This region has been very volatile, as you know. So we have Somalia, which has not had a democratic government for the last 24 years. And then Ethiopia, which is also having internal strife among various ethnic groups. Then Sudan—though South Sudan attained independence about four years ago, there is still political instability and ethnic strife. Because we border Somalia, we bear the major brunt of hosting its refugees. In fact, before the Syrian crisis started, we were housing the biggest refugee group in the world, about half a million people.
..........................................
View the complete article, including photos, at:
http://www.bu.edu/today/2014/former-...lenges-future/