By John Mbuthia
Rigathi Gachagua has shown his true colours-He is not the buffoon some thought he was but a shockingly smart, cunningly calculative, and admirably courageous fellow. He knows too well that in as much as one does not have to fight to be a man, one must also fight when he is a man.
An example in point is how he quickly downed the tools of war, assumed the role of peacemaker, and reached out to the Kenyattas in a bid to galvanize Mt. Kenya. I am not shocked that he has suddenly embraced and picked up the role of backer number one for the one man-one vote-one shilling economic mantra. And a good portion of the country is with him.
The best way to smother the beast of corruption perpetuated by regional leaders is to make them understand that if they make their regions unattractive thus sending away residents and investors, they will not get good money from the sharable income.
The current scenario is unsustainable because some counties are making zero investment in development to a point where their kids are being sent 800 kilometres away to attend school because they cannot find good schools within their counties.
This is the case in Wajir, Mandera, Garissa, Isiolo, Turkana, among several other counties where even devolution has not opened up these places for business. The roads are still impassable, kids study under trees, wild animals and bandits roam freely, and arranged marriages involving teenagers are the norm.
Some leaders from these areas are busy stealing monies from their counties and putting up all sorts of businesses in Nairobi, thus keeping their home counties deep in the stinky byre of poverty. Residents of these counties are fleeing in large numbers whenever they get an opportunity. This is why Northeastern communities are now found in Nairobi, Machakos, Narok, and Kisii Counties.
Implementation of the one man-one vote-one shilling idea will compel the leaders of these areas to slow down on the theft and dedicate some cash into development. This is actually what will help the country develop at the same pace.
The second reason why Riggy G is right on the money is that cold capitalism that rewards effort is what motivates citizens to work hard.
I want to state from the outset that the national government should and will always have funds to cater for other necessary undertakings, but sharable revenue can only spur growth if the hardest working is accorded the most recognition. Going by the taxation system that is in place in most parts of the world, populous locations in most cases end up contributing more revenue. In the case of Kenya, the populous Mt. Kenya region has four counties among the top ten highest contributors to the countrys gross domestic product (GDP).
They are Kiambu, Nyandarua, Nyeri, and Embu. There is also Nakuru with a sizeable portion of Mt. Kenya communities.
An earned reward system which is one man-one vote-one shilling will definitely give the counties lagging behind a reason to start investing in their counties. The logic is simple: If they build roads, schools, hospitals, airstrips, and drill boreholes, more people will comfortably settle there, do business there, and pay taxes, and this will increase the revenue these counties get from the sharable portion.
Continuing to pour money into these bottomless pits of corruption will not give these thieves any incentive to transform their counties. Think of a classroom full of students where the teacher dishes out the same grade to both the hard-working kids and the lazybones.
With time, the hard-working kids will see no reason to keep pushing harder since the entire class will get the same grade anyway. On their part, the lazybones will hang their feet on their desks as they share juicy gossip knowing that their socialist teacher will give them a grade that will be the same as that of the hard-working kids. And within no time, the teacher will be producing potato heads who will add zero value to the society.
The attacks against this economic approach are both hollow and baseless. This is not a tribal model as some are working so hard to paint it. It is not just Mt. Kenya that has populous hardworking tax-paying citizens. Kisumu, Kisii and Nyamira Counties can claim this honour. The same goes for Machakos, Kakamega, Bungoma, and Elgeyo Marakwet. Narok and Mombasa are also part of these.
So, anyone smearing this as a tribal argument is politically dishonest and economically deceptive. The approach does not divide Kenyans. In fact, it unites the country since our people do not just love hard work but live it in real terms. If there is one trait of character that has kept Kenyans afloat besides the grace of God is their hard-working nature.
Even when they are betrayed by and predated upon by their leaders, Kenyans still muster the strength to go out there and showcase their industry and the pride of earning a living. They have survived tough times, not because of their leaders, but in spite of them.
It is also disingenuous to argue that this approach under-develops the country because the reality is that the reverse is true. If the current system continues, some parts of the country that are lagging behind in terms of development will fall even farther behind because the current trend of steal from home and invest in Nairobi or Mombasa will continue.
Shifting the focus to anti-corruption agencies is a no-brainer because we all know that they are as effective as a fishnet condom.
While no known poll has been conducted over this economic model, my guess is that a good number of Kenyans are for it. The Kenya Kwanza government has a real opportunity to transform the economic fortunes of this country by adopting and implementing this model diligently and strictly. There are numerous policy propositions to argue over, but this should not be one of them.