Paul Kipchumba
June 2019
In a sense I should
apologize for using myself as an example for an experiment on African progress.
I grew up with a dilemma of pursuing either internal (personal) or external
(societal and peer) goals. In nearly all instances I elected to take my course.
From the first day I
took this case, I began to be both vigilant and sensitive about happenings
around me. A lady friend said that I was as sensitive as a teenage girl. A male
friend said that I was too overcautious to succeed in anything.
The worry of the
average person in Africa has been not to be ignored, trampled upon and
forgotten. The worry of the smart person has been the balance between personal
security and personal empowerment.
In the short period I
have had an intense social interactions in Kenya, my worry has been a
possibility of succumbing to societal humiliation. There has been registered
tendency towards tampering with one’s self-esteem, leading to either
alcoholism, temperamental arrogance, or miscalculations.
The crises in my
coming to terms with what sets young people back was in 2007 when I decided to
work with the late B E Kipkorir whom his Marakwet elite termed mean. When I
persisted in my interest in his company I was termed confused. The second
encounter was in 2009 when I founded Infomercial Researchers where my peers
were cynical about my capability to run a business. The third case was in 2011
when somebody used my phone number to call me, my yahoo e-mail address was
hacked, and a detractor presented a printed statement of my bank account.
In 2012 when I founded
a joint Pokot-Marakwet settlement in the Kerio Valley I was termed mad and
insane for opting to live in the jungle. I was excommunicated from the village
by a clique. They initiated and funded a series of village meetings with an intention
to tarnish my name and reputation. Classic cases are orchestrated against
brilliant individuals to frustrate them. In 2016 I witnessed a local
unravelling of elite gang-up against me when a friend said that if I did not
toe the line I would end up like a friend that financial blockade was extended
against because he presented a real threat to the status quo.
While I have made very
many mistakes that I am proud of because they have given me an opportunity for
learning, my experiences serve to highlight some of the challenges that
independent minded people face in Africa. If they are not entrapped and
entangled in local social processes such that they face career precariousness;
they are frustrated at the job level through unnecessary transfers, demotions
or even unlawful or morally wrong suspensions. Some are frustrated to death.
Smart guys are sensitive to humiliation because they rarely live it simple.
Nearly every young
person who grows up realizes the need to make some contribution towards the
advancement of their societies. But this quest easily degenerates into
hopelessness and a raw deal. It does not take long before they feel cheated and
shortchanged. I was told that I spent a lot of my time helping other people,
not helping myself, or that “Paul, all those guys you have assisted, when they
see you they pity you”. I realized that the language that our people understand
best is the language of competition and inequality. But this is equally
troubling because a dumb person, even if supported, cannot compete with a
determined smart person.
At the end of 2011 I
decided to put aside some societal pretensions and play a long ball. I put a
sketch of my infamous break from fundraisings for local relevance into action
by making a case for founding a trust. I mooted Kipchumba Foundation. At the
beginning such programs like running seminars from 2012 seemed very silly and
naive because some other guys laughed at me by asking “how much do you earn by
organizing a seminar?” I replied, in fact, I spent more money to realize them.
The idea of exiting
Kenya through a scholarship did not make sense to me at that time, nor was it
important because every country in my kind of quests matters and that Kenya is
my country. Usually, local detractors use exit of dissidents to shut them out
completely. There has never been a systematic attempt at maintaining both local
and international influences to safeguard local gains. Smart individuals once
they leave their countries rarely maintain credible tributaries to safeguard their
work or build a framework for an effective local comeback. The lack of the
latter is what has made smarter individuals easy to manage in Africa, if they
manage to survive all considered cases of assassination. There has not been an
equal attempt by smart people to act evil. The fact that it is a smart person
who has to fear for their lives in Africa seems absurd. In my view, it should
be the other way round.
I realized that my
problems were caused by those around me. I decided to expand my network tremendously
to counterbalance them. Every time I took note of the attitude, behaviour and
actions of those around me and developed a counter mechanism without betraying
my disposition.
Because the life of a
graduate is put at the disposal of an illiterate boss who is neither the parent
nor the guardian; because community debt of gratitude and control value
supersedes personal aspirations; because those who have ideas have no
instruments of power or the freewill to execute their ideas; I realized that
there was need for social transitioning by young people.
In the run up to the
postponed June 2019 conference that I was organizing for the Association of
Elgeyo Marakwet Professionals, one of the participants confided in me that an
informal memo was passed round to the employees of the County Government of
Elgeyo Marakwet asking them not to attend the forum or to give the organizers
the rates for conducting the conference at the chosen venue because the status
quo forces felt that “the professionals were coming up too fast!” As much as
the local economies need talent and investments to progress, in reality they do
not need them nor are they ready for them. This scenario is very challenging
for effecting the balance between patriotism and personal selfishness.
I witnessed the same
trend in my interactions among the young people, especially in the social
media, where they come up with an idea but it does not take long before they
abandon it altogether without trying. But one very serious trend in my
observations is that most of the young people face both career and progress
precariousness because life is not lived within a plan but as a framework for
chancing economic opportunity which, in most cases, has no guarantee of success
because the external environment has a lot of bearing on individual will to
prevail.
If human life, despite
its normal challenges, is lived accumulatively then a human work-life of 30
years should make a lot of difference in bestowing lessons to the succeeding
generations. In most part, I have not seen this happening because the most
important space for progress is controlled by the less progressive. Therefore,
I realized that both action and inaction carry the same risks at the individual
level in Africa.
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