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Friday, March 23, 2007

How to End Tribal Appointments

The so-called tribalism in government appointments, especially in parastatals, can be eliminated by either privatizing them or making them self dependent. That would make these institutions determine their higher management, instead of the current system where management is (supposedly) determined by the tribe whose son resides at the big house on the hill.

But why should the government run these institutions in the first place? Why should it control sugar companies, supermarkets, banks, airlines, wine agencies, produce marketing boards and other business entities? KIE’s business textbooks taught me that the state (read bureaucrats and politicians) should run businesses too dangerous to be overseen by the private sector. Kenya Railways, Kenya Airways and the Eldoret Bullet Factory were given as examples. I now know that is not true, thanks to economic liberalism and further studies.

Our politicians are worse than high school textbooks when it comes to pushing for less government involvement in public institutions. They would like us believe that state institutions are tools of "ensuring equitable distribution of national resources." According to them, the “equity” includes equal participation of each tribe in the management, an utter nonsense that has historically led to institutional inefficiencies and unnecessary political bickering.

Bottomline, the state has to cease control of business entities and other vital institutions. That's the only way that tribally-influenced-appointments can be brought under control. The best manager runs the show in the private sector, whereas the best tribal-cum-political player is most likely to run the show in public institutions.

This post was inspired by African Affairs’ post on Tribalism: Kenya’s Undoing in the 21st Century.

6 comments:

MainaT said...

Not only do yo get the worst of both worlds i.e. corruption and political patronage, you also get non-perfomance, losses, wierd loans that have to be paid of by us via govt bailouts.
I actually think our political system encourages keeping parastals i.e. you can you them to reward your pals e.g. Wachira at Consolidated Bank, Muhoho at KAA and many others

Kenyanomics said...

MainaT---Good point on our politicians' love affair with parastatals. We're currently witnessing the government "revive" collapsed parastatals in the name of jump-starting economic growth. But these firms will revert to their old ways unless they are passed to private entrepreneurs. Other collapsing firms, like in the sugar and pyrethrum sectors, are better sold to willing buyers.

odegle said...

i have been hearing a lot lately about tribalism and associated ills. what you don't realize is that competition for the presidency is normally hot because of tribalism. imagine if meritocracy thrived, it would not have bothered us who becomes president. but as it is, currently tribesmen support anyone from their tribe since they stand to benefit, not only from these sorts of appointments but also good roads, schools, hospitals, etc. it runs deeper than meets the eye.

further who said that tribalism did not exist in the private sector, like the place i work, one department is filled with pple from one tribe only since the head of that business unit is from that tribe. from the tea girl to the top most manager!

Kenyans are even tribal when it comes to sports, have you noticed that when our national volleyball team jets back in, only dancers and ministers from western province go to meet them, even when athletes jet back same story. it seems like if our son/daughter is not in it, we are not in it!

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