Kenya: dictatorship in prosperity or a democracy in poverty?: Kenya

Abstract

Nearly half a century after Africa's political "independence" from Western colonial powers, the continent is still grappling with issues of basic survival like food, shelter, literacy and disease Manifestly, Africa paints a bleak picture to people both within and outside the continent. The prevailing state of affairs results from a medley of complex parameters including colonial history, neocolonialism and, some would say postmodern colonialism. But key among these factors is poor leadership by African political elites who have relied rather inordinately on Western prescriptions. The latter have come under various packages such as "friendship with the West" during the Cold War, "democratization", "structural adjustment programmes" and "political pluralism". None of these originated from Africans.