Tackling Social Inequality And Inclusivity Analysis
Tackling Social Inequality and Inclusivity must be Kenya’s Dialogue Priority
Elections come and go and that is how the wheel of democracy is spun. However, in Kenya they never seem to go anyway as evidenced by the continuous politicking and campaigns since multi-party democracy began in the 90’s. But why is it not possible for Kenyans to participate in an election, accept the outcome and go back to nation building? Many think the problem is electoral fraud. Well, it’s not. The Kenyan problem lies in pervasive social inequality and lack of inclusivity. These words are commonly being used by leaders who are currently calling for a National Dialogue.
Social inequality is the existence of unequal opportunities and rewards for different social …show more content…
Kenya having 44 ethnic groups is constantly told to celebrate its diversity and slogans such as ‘Unity in Diversity’ are common. However, this is futile as Professor of Management at the Kentucky University, Christine M. Riordan observes in her Harvard Business Review article ‘Diversity Is Useless without Inclusivity’. All of us are guilty of subtle biases which in her research has proven that people gravitate toward people like them. We’ve long known that similarity makes people like and identify with each other. She further opines that in organizations, leaders often hire and promote those who share their own attitudes, behaviors, and traits. Isn’t it common for Kenyans to celebrate ethnic stereotypes in popular comedy shows such as the Churchill Show? How comes the same stereotypes used politically cause animosity and …show more content…
The neoliberals will lie to young people that you can make it if you just work hard enough. Well the bad news is they will probably not as there are other factors in play. Katharine Bradbury, a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, agrees in a research paper. "Most of the long-term poor are stuck at the bottom; most of the long-term rich have a strong grip on the top; and each of these two groups is somewhat more entrenched than the corresponding groups 20 years earlier,"
The situation is not different in Kenya. The entrenched ethno-regional inequality left by the British colonial government due to its uneven penetration of capitalism and Western influence in the country is still here. Subsequent regimes exacerbated it through political patronage that ensured if an ethnic group did not have a cabinet or parastatal position then investment in social services such as education, infrastructure and health were almost nil in that ethnic region while those who controlled the state enjoyed better
Elections come and go and that is how the wheel of democracy is spun. However, in Kenya they never seem to go anyway as evidenced by the continuous politicking and campaigns since multi-party democracy began in the 90’s. But why is it not possible for Kenyans to participate in an election, accept the outcome and go back to nation building? Many think the problem is electoral fraud. Well, it’s not. The Kenyan problem lies in pervasive social inequality and lack of inclusivity. These words are commonly being used by leaders who are currently calling for a National Dialogue.
Social inequality is the existence of unequal opportunities and rewards for different social …show more content…
Kenya having 44 ethnic groups is constantly told to celebrate its diversity and slogans such as ‘Unity in Diversity’ are common. However, this is futile as Professor of Management at the Kentucky University, Christine M. Riordan observes in her Harvard Business Review article ‘Diversity Is Useless without Inclusivity’. All of us are guilty of subtle biases which in her research has proven that people gravitate toward people like them. We’ve long known that similarity makes people like and identify with each other. She further opines that in organizations, leaders often hire and promote those who share their own attitudes, behaviors, and traits. Isn’t it common for Kenyans to celebrate ethnic stereotypes in popular comedy shows such as the Churchill Show? How comes the same stereotypes used politically cause animosity and …show more content…
The neoliberals will lie to young people that you can make it if you just work hard enough. Well the bad news is they will probably not as there are other factors in play. Katharine Bradbury, a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, agrees in a research paper. "Most of the long-term poor are stuck at the bottom; most of the long-term rich have a strong grip on the top; and each of these two groups is somewhat more entrenched than the corresponding groups 20 years earlier,"
The situation is not different in Kenya. The entrenched ethno-regional inequality left by the British colonial government due to its uneven penetration of capitalism and Western influence in the country is still here. Subsequent regimes exacerbated it through political patronage that ensured if an ethnic group did not have a cabinet or parastatal position then investment in social services such as education, infrastructure and health were almost nil in that ethnic region while those who controlled the state enjoyed better