May 2011
The following short quiz consists of 4 questions and tells whether you are qualified to be a “manager.” The questions are not that difficult.
- How do you put a giraffe into a refrigerator?
The correct answer is: Open the refrigerator, put in the giraffe and close the door.
This question tests…
By Madeleine Bunting
“The biggest problem in Kenya – and across sub-Saharan Africa – is not poverty but inequality. Many African countries are growing at rates of 7%-8% a year, but this is destabilising if it is not accompanied by equity. In highly heterogeneous societies, structural inequality is easier to politicise, and you do that by ethnicising it – as happened in Kenya in 2008. And then you militarise these conflicts using party youth militias.
“That combination fundamentally undermines democracy because it leads to mobilisation along ethnic lines, and that becomes toxic. You can blame an entire group for your woes.”
Githongo argues that the single biggest challenge in development is ensuring security for the poor. Without security, investment in health and education is wasted. The social enterprise he set up in 2008, the Inuka Kenya Trust, works across the country with local partners to initiate schemes to build security. But what constantly threatens security is the destabilising impact of inequality.
“We have a model of economic management across the world in which entire sections of the population are being left behind. The proportion living in poverty in Kenya is increasing despite a growing economy,” says Githongo.
But the country’s ability to tackle inequality is crippled by corruption. Githongo quotes estimates that a third of the Kenyan government revenue is siphoned away into private bank accounts. It is only a mass grassroots campaign that can challenge such an entrenched system, believes Githongo as he reflects on his efforts when he was appointed to a high-level cabinet post by Kibaki to root out corruption.