Why 2016 won’t be missed and 2017 offers hope for better times

I am sure that most people, not just in Kenya but around the world, are happy to see the back of 2016.

Only those who live in a self-contained bubble can say that they were not personally or emotionally affected by the political tsunamis and conflicts that marked last year.

The civil war in Syria showed no signs of ending and led to the mass displacement of millions of people and the destruction of invaluable historical cities, such as Aleppo.

Yemen and Iraq burnt while South Sudan, Africa’s newest nation, descended into another round of senseless killings.

Simmering tensions between North and South Korea and India and Pakistan also resurfaced as the world contemplated the possibility of a nuclear war.

The Syrian refugee crisis and a wave of terror attacks in Brussels, Nice, and Berlin created a backlash against Muslims and migrants in Europe.

Yet Muslims remained the biggest casualties of terror attacks in places such as Istanbul, Baghdad, and Mogadishu.

Meanwhile, nearly 4,000 refugees and migrants fleeing conflict or poverty in their countries drowned while crossing the Mediterranean Sea en route to Europe.

The world became scarier and more paranoid in 2016.

Fear and loathing of foreigners was the hallmark of the Brexit vote in Britain, which saw the European Union’s most influential member leave the bloc.

UNPLEASANT MOMENTS
Paranoia also drove a sexist, racist, xenophobic, and anti-Muslim tycoon to occupy the most powerful political office in the world.

Donald Trump rode on a wave of fear and ignorance that made hate speech more acceptable in the United States and the country a more forbidding place for immigrants and anyone deemed to be “undesirable”.

Hate crimes against Muslims and blacks intensified in the United States even as African-Americans took to the streets in protest.

Trump’s vilification of Mexicans, Muslims, and immigrants created an atmosphere of fear among non-white people in the United States.

His attitude towards women also pushed back the women’s movement by several decades.

Fascism across the world seemed to be on the rise as more right-wing groups gained popularity in Europe, the United States, and elsewhere.

For the first time since the Second World War, it appeared that George Orwell’s nightmarish dystopia could become a reality.

Hate speech and intolerance also became more pronounced in Kenya, with politicians using the crudest language to hit at one another.

Ethnic polarisation deepened as revelations of mega-scandals in the government emerged.

Corruption of gargantuan proportions became the distinguishing characteristic of the Jubilee administration.

OMINOUS YEAR
Even those Kenyans who had survived the kleptomaniacal Moi administration were shocked by the scale of the theft, and the apparent helplessness of the head of state to do anything about it.

Millions, if not billions, of taxpayers’ money were lost in the National Youth Service and the Health Ministry.

Amid revelations of the looting, a health crisis precipitated by striking doctors threatened to paralyse hospitals across the country.

Despite government claims to the contrary, the Kenyan economy seemed to be in a free fall as more businesses closed or scaled down their operations.

Even the country’s flagship carrier, Kenya Airways, appeared to be on its deathbed.

The good news was that Kenya did not experience major terrorist attacks, as in previous years.

With an election looming this year, it is likely that serious problems afflicting this country, such as the doctor’s strike and an ailing economy, will be shoved under the carpet as politics takes center stage.

As in all election years, the country is likely to witness a decline in economic growth.

In its bid to retain power, the ruling coalition will leave no stone unturned to win the election.

A fragmented opposition will put up a good fight, but amid much acrimony.

Election-related violence thus remains a distinct possibility this year.

LIKELY POSSIBILITIES
Meanwhile, Trump’s America is likely to halt or reverse the push towards globalisation by withdrawing from international treaties and trade agreements.

Intergovernmental and regional bodies such as the United Nations and the European Union are also likely to get weaker as nationalism overrides international and regional cooperation.

The good news is that the world’s only superpower may become less interventionist in foreign conflicts and less prone to funding factions that have prolonged wars in places such as Syria.

And, who knows, the backlash against neoliberalism may just give birth to a more ethical global economic order.

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