It’s Our Turn to Eat, by Michela Wrong, tells the story of John Githongo — the famous whistle-blower of corruption under the Kibaki Administration in Kenya. Before picking up the book, I was concerned that I would be reading a lot of what I already knew — considering A. I wrote a paper on him several months ago, and B. I had explored a lot of the inner-workings of Kenyan politics during many-a-nights after Kiswahili class at a nearby bar with my professor going hours-on-end. As I began reading, however, I was enthralled by the insider and historical perspective that Wrong presents. I suppose to be expected, given Michela Wrong is a longtime friend of John Githongo and the first person he reached out to in his self-imposed exile in London.

The book contains a pleasant balance of story-line and history, culminating in one of the best overviews of Kenyan governance I have ever read. It’s Our Turn to Eat is a damning account of not only the Kenyan government, but of the international aid community that has completely failed to hold the Kenyan government to account — and in some cases is seemingly complicit in the massive-scale corruption taking place. The scale of the Anglo-Leasing scandal (the government contracting scheme uncovered by Githongo) amounted to 5% of GDP, over 16% of government gross expenditure in 2003-4, outstripping the country’s total incoming foreign assistance for the year (which was $521 million), and represented 3/4 the amount of incoming remittances from Kenyans abroad. In fact, the amount stolen would have been enough to supply every HIV-positive Kenyan with anti-retroviral for the next ten years.

However, concerned Ambassadors were pressured by their respective governments and aid agencies to take a sideline because they were under pressure to INCREASE aid in order to meet the Millennium Development Goals. The coziness between the government and the aid community is illustrated by the fact that two consecutive World Bank country chiefs lived in a guest house on the Kibaki compound! The latter even after the Githongo Report was released and Anglo-Leasing was out in the open!

Wrong points out that China’s African policy inhibits the West’s ability to take a hardline on corruption:

“The media in Kenya were increasingly complicity, the political class supine, and what did the donors’ reaction – if there was any – matter when China stood ready to lend to African governments, no questions asked?”

A quote from John Githongo resonated with me:

“There’s a condescending, implicitly racist argument with regard to Africa, which says that “excesive enthusiasm” in the fight against corruption somehow undermines the task of fighting poverty. But corruption, systemic corruption, is the most efficient poverty factor on the continent.”

As many economists and advocates call for a full-on cutting off of foreign assistance — to hold African governments to account to their people — Michela Wrong writes:

“This book does not seek to argue that donors should cut all aid to Africa, on the ground that ‘It’ll only be stolen,’ as the cynics claim. It does, however, hope to alert Western readers to the damage well-meaning thoughtlessness routinely causes.”

This is another quote that resonates with me, given my work with Transparency Solutions — donors MUST do their due diligence and have the oversight mechanisms in place to hold their programs accountable and ensure they are achieving the appropriate outcomes and not only emboldening corruption! I’ve read and have witnessed so many cases where money was sent to an NGO in Kenya that either didn’t exist (was a front) or that diverted those donations!

A Kenyan journalist, Kwamchetsi Makokha, says:

“Fundamentally the West doesn’t care enough about Africa to pay too much attention to how its money is spent. It wants to be seen to do the right thing, and that’s as far as the interest goes.”

I really hope that we can grow awareness of these problems among the donor and aid communities, and encourage THEM to be more accountable to the programs they fund. By not doing so, they are running the risk of doing more harm than good. I set up Transparency Solutions to help provide investors and donors with the tools they need to do this, it’s just a matter of generating the will-power on their part to invest in them!