When middleman minorities go into politics, the results are often negative

Jews have historically been the classic middleman minority, to whom others have often been analogised: the overseas Chinese as “the Jews of Southeast Asia”, the Lebanese as “the Jews of West Africa”, the Ibos as “the Jews of Nigeria”, and in my last article, implied that the Kikuyu are “the Jews of Kenya”.

We presented a theory by Dr Thomas Sowell, gleaned from a worldwide perspective, that explains how the economic role that these groups play, essentially as middlemen in their respective countries, is at the core of the hatred and resentment they have aroused.

Those who have responded to my article have made some important observations.

One of them pointed out that the Kenyan Asian group fits the “middleman minority” model much better than the Kikuyu. That is entirely true.

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But the Kikuyu are nonetheless an ethnic minority, albeit one that has taken a robust economic role characteristic of middleman minorities around the world.

However, the suggestion that the Asian community is immune to hatred and resentment is far-fetched. There is latent suspicion against them which a political demagogue can easily exploit, with devastating results.

Kenneth Matiba hinted at it once and his popularity soared. In Uganda, Idi Amin exploited it. He expelled all the Asians to great acclaim and support from locals. But, the Uganda economy subsequently collapsed and years later, the Asians were invited back.

SLAP IN THE FACE

Meantime, some of them, starting from scratch in England, working long hours in retail corner-shops and other middleman activities, became millionaires, to the consternation of British locals!

While some observers might regard such determination and resourcefulness as admirable and inspiring, to the vast majority of human beings, the rise of middleman minorities from poverty to prosperity has been like a slap on the face.

If accepted as an achievement, it raises the painful questions about those who have achieved nothing comparable, despite being initially more fortunate.

The second important theme in response to my last article was a generalised drift into politics, raising debate on political activity by middleman minorities, and inviting me to comment on the prominent place of the Kikuyu vote in the ethnic arithmetic of our politics.

Some intellectually naive respondents, however, chose to simply reject my “weird perspective”. For them, analogies between Kikuyu and Jews were utterly unacceptable!

MILITARY COUP

For much of the history of Europe and the Islamic world, there was no place in positions of political authority for Jews. But in Australia, where Jews have never been as much as one per cent of the population, Jewish politicians have been mayors of Melbourne, Adelaide as well as other communities, obviously not as a result of the Jewish vote, much less as standard-bearers of ethnic group politics.

There has also been a Lebanese Prime Minister in Jamaica and a Peruvian president of Japanese ancestry. These posts were not achieved as a result of being ethnic political leaders.

Where middleman minorities are a major portion of the population such as in Fiji, Guiana, and Kenya, they have played a major political role.

Even then, their economic rise and sustainability cannot be premised on their political prominence without serious risks. History proves it.

In Guiana, Indian and black politicians formed a coalition to seek independence from Britain. The coalition later split into polarised ethnic group parties leading to internal disorder.

In Fiji, the election of Indian Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry sparked a military coup led by indigenous Fijians.

THRIFT AND WORK ETHIC

The history of middleman minorities offers little support for those who see political power and ethnic identity politics as requirements for group economic advancement.

In fact the reverse is true; middleman minorities have advanced more rapidly than other groups that have pursued political routes, even when those other groups have been successful in such political pursuits.

Kenyan Asians have done much, much better economically than the Kikuyu without pursuing group politics whatsoever. Thus it should be obvious Kikuyus’ economic advancement and sustainability depends more on their thrift and work ethic than on ethnic group politics.

Equally true, where minorities become heavily involved in ethnic group politics, too often it does not lead to better economic outcomes for them.

Mr Ngugi is a consultant in public affairs and policy ([email protected]).