Two of the most consequential events that
shaped 2016 have been in the making for decades. For example the neglect and
honestly sheer hubris of America’s coastal elite gave us the TIME 2016 Person of
the Year. Similarly, the underclass in the United Kingdom galvanized by
uncertainty delivered Brexit.
The triumph of Donald Trump and Brexit shook
the devotees of liberal democracy to the core. The unprecedented revolt of the
underclass in both the US and the United Kingdom – considered the citadel of
liberal democracy – persuaded many to doubt that the working class who often
lack four year college education could not be trusted with the delicate and
complex choice that defines the essence of western democracy.
Populist nationalists marshaled arguments
against free trade, globalization, automation, and immigrants to instill and
harness mortal fear and despondency to galvanize a veritable revolt of the
underclass. In both the US and the United Kingdom, voters pushed to the fringes
of society, living on minimum wage or unemployed, without college education and
lacking skills to thrive in the globalized knowledge economy chose Donald Trump
and “Leave”.
Both Brexit and the triumph of Donald Trump
offer invaluable lessons for Kenya since we are a nascent democracy. The
lessons are especially critical because ours is a democracy conceived in the
image of a liberal democracy. The
lessons from Brexit and the rise of Donald Trump are instructive because we are
hard at work laying the foundation of the conditions that will produce and
sustain an angry and virulent underclass.
A huge chasm of inequality has opened in our
society. The fruits of economic growth, even though modest, have not been
shared. As Macharia Gaitho recently put it, we have become a country of 40
billionaires and 40 million beggars. For a majority of Kenyans, life is
uncertain, unforgiving.
Prosperity is stuck at the top, with who
have a monopoly on capital. The last 15 years of sustained economic growth,
albeit modest, has not modified the deep structures of capital and inequality.
Our zero-sum ethnic politics has only rewarded ethnic elites.
How we educate has not kept pace with the
demands of the new economy. About 90 per cent of youth entering the job market
cannot find well-paying jobs. Urbanization has spawned a multitude of working
poor. Hence, a majority of Kenyans are
disconnected and denied a chance to get a toehold on the first rung of the
ladder of opportunity. Neglect of so many of our fellow citizens is both morally
unconscionable and politically reckless
The end of ethnic politics is nigh. The
emerging underclass will obliterate the primitive ethnic cleavages that now
undergird our politics. The underclass will provide a fertile seed bed for
virulent discontent and hasten the emergence of demagoguery.
The biggest threat to Kenya’s nascent
democracy is not foreigners. The biggest threat to our existence as a people
grappling with nationhood is not terrorism or tribalism. The growing legions of
the underclass are our most grave existential threat to Kenya.
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