RE:HATRED by Mercy Gichuki

I read with a lot of interest the article posted by Mercy Gichuki. It was very apparent that she is very upset about this forum.

I wonder why she thinks that investments are more important than other ideals in society for example solidarity, cohesion, fairness etc. To shed some light I will paraphrase a quote I once heard that said that we are all biased by virtue of our outlook to life which is greatly influenced by our upbringing and experiences. The moment we accept our bias then we edge closer towards being objective and open minded.

I agree with her that people on this forum talk very little about investments but disagree with her when she puts it across that everyone should look at the priorities of a nation from the point of view of investments and "development" at the expense of other ideals that make a great nation. In my opinion countries need different areas of focus at different times. Even the US has focussed on different priorities at different times.

Kibaki believes in the trickle down approach and has supported this since his days as Minister in Kenyatta's government. I urge Mercy to google the sessional paper on African Socialism that Tom Mboya and Kibaki thought would solve Kenya's problems. Kibaki thinks market forces can solve most of the problems and so focuses more on enterprise. He forgets that market forces are a winner take all system and can't distribute the increase in disposable income equitably. I will spare you the economic details but in a nutshell this has resulted in a skewed increased investments, government expenditure and money supply in certain regions. As a result poor have been hit most by the resulting inflationary effects.

Raila is a social democrat and believes in market forces but with a safety net for the poor. He is more leftist while Kibaki is more rightist. Leftist governments are in power and are doing very well eg Brazil and UK. He wants to try something new (forget the propaganda on communism and socialism) where the government still gives a free hand to market forces but not at the expense of investing on the welfare of the people.

I will conclude by saying most people on this forum by virtue of their upbringing in the Luo value system do not put disproportionate emphasis on investments and making money. It is for this same reason that people from this value system are never pushed to extreme hopelessness that characterises the lives of losers in the capitalism battle. A good example is Mungiki. It is unlikely that you will have Munguki in less capitalistic communities like the Luo or Luhya because their value system gives a safety net to the poor. I don't expect Mercy to understand what I am talking about because she comes from a community that emphasizes capitalism as the solution to all problems. I am not saying that the Luo way of doing things is the solution but we need a balance.

It is this balance that Raila and his supporters call change. We are very grateful to Kibaki teaching us how market forces should work. It is time to deal with the other problems like corruption and equitable distribution of government resources that were to difficult for Kibaki to deal with.

When someone disagrees with your system he does not hate you.

J. Odhiambo.