I had to sit there and calculate that 500,000 acres is a parcel of land about 45km by 45km on each side (if my math is correct). That is some serious land. These guys don’t steal small do they?

Good one

By the definition given, Nyerere wasn’t a statesman. He made terrible economic mistakes, mistakes which have had lasting consequences. If he didn’t know enough not to make those mistakes, then he wasn’t a statesman; if he knew enough not to, and still made them, then he cannot have had the best interests of his countrymen at heart. (I say this as someone who has a copy of the Arusha declaration at home, and who supports the cause of his canonization; he was a great and good man, not a statesman.)

The case for Kenyatta as a statesman is, in fact, better. He failed to unite the country, and left gigantic problems for his successors. But, having inherited a much more complex and violent situation than Nyerere, he (and Mboya) made the right decisions on (i) land reform and (ii) economic policy (the costs of failure are neatly illustrated by Zim). Land reform, in particular, must have been terrible for him: this, after all, is a man who carried on his ankles, to his dying day, the marks of the shackles that had been fastened in jail. The bashing he’s getting now is a sign that Kenya is growing up: like any adolescent, we’re compelled to rebel against our parents, the better to show our independence.

As for the bloated cabinet: the entire political class, or as much of it as can be squeezed in, needs to be involved for the coming constitutional settlement to stick. The RVP political class has demonstrated that it is willing to use mass murder and ethnic cleansing to get a place at the table – not that the demonstration was required after the events of 1992. It is prudent, therefore, to ensure its inclusion.