It’s poll time, so be wary of what you hear

Sunday Nation columnist Peter Kagwanja’s latest article explaining how President Kenyatta’s “economic diplomacy” is transforming Kenya into a “soft power” had some inaccuracies that are worth straightening out.

First, there is no question that President Kenyatta’s blitz of foreign trips has attracted foreign dignitaries to Nairobi and possibly foreign investment as well.

However, the question most people have been asking is: at what cost? In other words, how much did the President spend to make 56 trips to some 40 countries in three years (almost two trips every month) vis-à-vis the real return on investment that could not have been had without these trips?

The Business Daily, in an online report dated October 12, 2015, quotes the Auditor-General’s report saying that the President’s foreign trips for the financial year ending June, 2015, cost the taxpayer Sh1.2 billion.

Assuming that the Office of the President has a flat year-to-year travel budget, then the cost of these 56 trips would amount to about Sh3.6 billion.

To break even, President Kenyatta needed to sign at least Sh64 million worth of foreign investment at every one of these trips.

Of course this is a simplistic way of looking at it, but in the absence of hard data, it is difficult to tell if these trips have generated any real return on investment.

Second, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promise to set up a cancer hospital in Kenya is highly commendable and should be aggressively pursued.

However, the provision of “tele-cobalt machines” for cancer treatment, while it sounds sophisticated and potentially ground-breaking, is not by any stretch a technological revolution.

In fact, telecobalt therapy is a 70-year-old technology that is now obsolete in most countries except the developing world.

Additionally, this therapy is based on the instability (radioactivity) of the chemical element cobalt, which breaks down (decays) to more stable species and in the process emits highly energetic ionising radiation called gamma rays that are then used to kill tumour cells (hence the term “radiotherapy”).

INCORRECT INFORMATION

Among the dangers associated with this type of therapy is that the use of radioactive cobalt presents special challenges when disposing of the resulting nuclear (radioactive) waste.

Exposure to cobalt waste could, ironically, cause cancer, among other complications.

Third, perhaps the most egregious claim in this article is that Kenya deepened its diplomacy and “investment” in regional and global multi-lateral institutions.

Citing a 2015 Forbes article, Kagwanja claims that the US “gave” $1.277 million to the United Nations, making it the biggest contributor, while Kenya “contributed” $445 million, putting it among the top 10 countries contributing the most to the United Nations.

Did we literally give the UN Sh445 million to finance its operations? This is not only alarmingly incorrect, it is also deceptive.

One, we cannot afford to give away that amount of money to a single entity even if we wanted to.

Two, the numbers quoted in the Forbes article, while factual, are actually procurement data, meaning that Kenya was paid by the United Nations to provide goods and services worth $445 million.

This report can be found in much more detail on the website of the United Nations Office for Project Services.

This is either an honest misinterpretation or outright manipulation (repackaging) of data by Kagwanja to achieve his agenda.

Inconsistencies such as these will cast a shadow on the veracity of other data that he used for which he did not provide references.  

With the General Election just around the corner, we have to be on the lookout for this kind of thing for it appears some people have no qualms about bandying about inaccurate data and catchy phraseology to peddle propaganda.

Dr Ondari is a senior research chemist in Midland, Michigan, USA. [email protected]