- Over the past years, Kenya has received billions of foreign debts and has long relied on foreign aid.
- Foreign aid to developing countries is a subject of heated debate among politicians, economists and development specialists.
Israel Ambassador Michael Lotem has said corruption and laxity is a big obstacle to development in the country.
Speaking to the Star on Thursday, Lotem said he wishes to see a more prosperous country with more trade and investment, projects that can be accounted for even though the money is on foreign aid.
Over the past years, Kenya has received billions of foreign debts and has long relied on foreign aid.
Foreign aid to developing countries is a subject of heated debate among politicians, economists and development specialists.
Israel assists developing countries to alleviate and solve economic and social problems through its international cooperation program of technical assistance.
Some of the aid Kenya has received has gone into productive projects.
They are HIV/AIDS treatment, food to prevent starvation, fires, floods, locust invasions and support of immunisation programmes but we cannot give a blind eye to the fact that most of it has been misappropriated and gone to ‘dead’ projects and landed in politicians pockets.
Image: DPPS
So, what can Kenya borrow from Israel, which is a wealthy nation with a booming hi-tech sector that does not rely on foreign aid?
“Foreign aid contributes to economic growth only under a good institutional environment. It could also turn out to be more harmful than beneficial to the economy if there is laxity and corruption which erodes the balance of payment,” Lotem said.
Kenyans are used to seeing procurement scandals in the news, stories about many billions in public funds paid to ghost companies for goods and services that never materialize.
But they rarely know who is behind the schemes, or those in charge, have their cases pending in courts for years.
All they are told is that Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission is following up on the cases yet in some scandals, bail is paid, everything goes silent and no arrests are made by the police.
“Foreign aid is not a problem by itself, but misallocation of resources, corruption, and bad governance limit Africa's ability to use aid. Aid is ineffective in places where there is bad governance, and unnecessary where there is good governance,” Lotem said.
Lotem said even though corruption is rampant, Kenyans must stop getting used to theft and bring those responsible to be accountable.
“I think any steps forward in the fight against corruption are more valuable,” he said.
“Why should we sweat when we have people who can do that for us? They want to give, so let’s give them a chance to give us something. This laxity brings in slow developments in a country.”
Apart from corruption, Lotem said that it is the government’s laxity and dependency on foreign aid that kills an economy.
For example, if Kenya has doctors trained in other countries, they should try to invest in the technology the doctors used, back in the country, otherwise it is just a waste of resources.
If they buy the machines, the doctors who have been specially trained will make good use of the technology.
“If you have people trained, you should provide them with resources as well for them to put the training into practice,” he said.
“This overdependence on foreign aid stretches on one side, whereas there has to be a balance, you get help, and act your part.”
He said the criteria for the success of any government is spending money and pain.
“For projects to work, money has to be spent wisely for proper returns. Some leaders do not feel pain when they lose money, and this brings about careless spending or even theft,” he said.
What to do
Israel has been known for its modern innovative technologies that can solve some of the challenges Kenya faces such as perennial droughts, loss of non-revenue water to cartels, perennial health equipment challenges, and the threat of cyber security amongst many others.
Lotem said that if Kenya adopts modern Israeli technologies and solutions, it will help tackle some of Kenya’s problems and fast-track the country’s path to attaining vision 2030 and SDG goals.
“Good governance, encouraging conservation and making use of available technology, smart pricing, and sustainable agricultural practices are some key lessons that we can learn from Israel, a country that is 60 per cent desert,” he said.