This evening I received a call from a friend who had arrived Kenya two days ago to visit his 12 year old son studying in one of Kenyas boarding schools. My friend called not to report his whereabouts, but to share his experience in Kenya so far and to engage me again in a debate over Nigerias socioeconomic malaise. My friend Henry summed up his impression of Kenya in a simple word - orderly. He wandered why our own country could not be orderly. He asked where and how did we go wrong as he acknowledged that law and development are mutually inexclusive . I allowed Henry to ponder and vent his frustration with our socieconomic development malaise ; he needed to pour it all out. What made it even more painful for Henry was the fact that it was Kenya , not even Hong Kong where I am presently, that made us look so bad. I believe that orderliness is not necessarily a requirement for development; I believe it is an outcome of development and a necessary ingredient for sustainable development. There are two basic forms of orderliness. That which is imposed by the State as it was in the former Soviet Union, China and the communist regimes of Eastern Europe. The second form of orderliness is self imposed, a learned behavioral pattern. History has shown that forced orderliness, introduced in an enironment of deprived or restricted civil and economic liberties cannot be sustained, otherwise the communist regimes of the world would not have embraced socioeconomic and political reforms that have today transformed their countries and societies . self imposed or learned orderliness on the other hand, can only be attained where the citizens believe that tomorrow will be better than today and yesterday. Where a government and its policies have as its central objective the upliftment of its citizens. To help the ordinary citizen to achieve that which ordinarily he or she is incapable of achieving. It is only in such an environment that the citizens are willing to be patient and wait for tomorrow. Where such hope does not exist, the citizens must and will scramble, fight, cheat, still and even kill to survive, especially if the government lacks the moral authority to enforce the law. Orderliness will evolve when government at all tiers is responsive to the people; not to some people but to all the people.
Posted on: Fri, 15 Nov 2013 17:10:04 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015