Restoring Kenya will be an enormous task

By THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE

last updated: April 23, 2008 09:24:12 AM

Kenya's new Cabinet, sworn in Thursday, will have to rebuild a country riven by tribal clashes in the violence that followed December's elections. It will have to restore trust between neighbors turned blood enemies. It will have to resettle the hundreds of thousands of Kenyans who were uprooted by the riots and who remain refugees in their own country. And it will have to contain the Mungiki gang — a violent outfit that in the last week has brought renewed bloodshed and terror to an already traumatized nation.

The Cabinet's biggest challenge, though, may be corralling itself. Under a February power-sharing agreement, incumbent Mwai Kibaki — accused of stealing the election by both opponents and international observers — retained the presidency. Challenger Raila Odinga filled the role of prime minister.

And the Cabinet, to accommodate operatives in both parties, swelled to more than 90 members. (Reporters are having trouble getting an exact number. It's 92, by CNN's count — 40 ministers and 52 assistant ministers.) Kibaki's first Cabinet in 2002 had just 22 ministers.

The government has to ensure that all of those Cabinet members earn their keep. And if they don't, pare them down.

Kenya is a poor country with massive problems. The post-election violence decimated the tourist trade, one of Kenya's largest industries. The falling value of the Kenyan shilling has made imports more expensive. The violence also laid waste to some infrastructure. Many farmers were displaced. And that, combined with what the country's forecasters say will be inadequate long-term rains, could contribute to food shortages in the near future.

Meanwhile, Kenya's Cabinet — long seen as a locus of cronyism, corruption and graft — grows. The Mars Group, a Kenyan anti-corruption watchdog group, says that only 19 percent of the government's annual budget will go toward development. The rest will go toward servicing Kenya's outstanding loans, meeting pension obligations for retired government officials and running its ever-expanding Cabinet. Instead of funding ministries according to need, the government maintains an equal, and equally bloated, budget for each, according to the Mars Group. So while hundreds of thousands of Kenyans remain in refugee camps, the government will spend on cars, furniture and entertainment expenses for itself.

Kenyans — and international allies — may be relieved that the country's leaders finally have formed a government. But relying on a compromise that included 40 ministries to get there, said Mars Group Director Mwalimu Mati, is like "putting out the fire with gasoline." Other local leaders — including clergy, lawyers and businesspeople, including the National Council of the Churches of Kenya—have expressed similar sentiments.

Rebuilding Kenya won't be easy. With 92 Cabinet members, the government has plenty of hands on deck. It's up to Odinga and Kibaki to see that they don't just sap the country's wealth.

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