Alexander Chagema
Hon. Kabando wa Kabando, Kenya’s assistant minister for youth and sports, is a man in denial if one considers his recent misinformed remarks that politics is not about wealth, families, private clubs and the old guard of politics. For a man who owes his parliamentary seat to his sizeable wealth, his utterances mirror the frustration of the younger generation of politicians who aspire to ascend to the presidency on account of their youthfulness alone.
The challenges they have so far mounted to undermine the authority of their seniors boomerang with their own impetuosity. History proves that politics and wealth are complementary. In Africa where poverty abounds, the two are intertwined. The American presidency is almost an exclusive club rotating around established names; Kennedys’, Nixons’, Rothschilds’, Morgans’, Adams’, Harrisons’, Roosevelts’ and the Bushes’ all who are wealthy. In Britain, the monarchy is a family affair, most premiers old and wealthy. In Israel,the baton alternates between old men Rabin, Begin, Shamir and Peres. In Italy,media and business moguls call the shots. India has the Gandhis’.
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April 10, 2010, 05:31:47 AM