An end to a way of life?

In our bad old days there used to be the joke of the Nigerian and Kenyan ministers. The Kenyan visits Abuja, is impressed by the wealth of his counterpart and so asks how he does it. ‘Look out that window,’ says the Nigerian. The Kenyan sees a skyscraper rising out of the jungle. ‘Ten per cent,’ says the Nigerian. ‘Aha,’ smiles the Kenyan. The next month the Nigerian visits Nairobi and asks how his Kenyan friend is doing. ‘Look out that window,’ answers the Kenyan. The Nigerian sees nothing but an empty space full of rubbish. He looks quizzically at his African brother. ‘A hundred per cent,’ grins the Kenyan.

But that’s all in the past now, we’re told. Kenya recently concluded the most significant elections in Africa’s history. Until now, the continent’s polls have marked the end of colonial rule, apartheid, one-party or military dictatorships or wars. They involved no true competition, but handed power over to unopposed knobocracies. Kenya, after years as a one-party dictatorship, returned to pluralism ten years ago. Elsewhere in Africa, America and the West rushed states that were ill-prepared – Rwanda and Burundi for example – into ‘democratic’ processes that simply brought ethnic hatreds to the surface, which then erupted into genocidal wars. By contrast, Kenya’s President Daniel arap Moi, for all his faults, told the West to bugger off. During the last decade, he prepared the nation for the truly democratic, amazingly peaceful, mature competition of December’s polls. To be sure, his cabinet rigged, stole and misruled in the interim. He said he was going to retire, but nobody quite believed him. The gracious way he did it – and saw his party defeated – makes him a great African.