Kenya is a third world country that punches way above its weight on the global arena. When it comes to global recognition, it competes with developed nations. No African country comes close.

There is just one problem- Kenya has been unable to deploy this winning capacity to decisively address its myriad challenges that have left it mired in poverty! Where is the disconnect. More on that later.

Kenyans have continued a long tradition of winning global wards. Claire Gakii, a 13-year old Grade Seven pupil from Lions Junior Secondary School, beat 1.7 million contestants from 35 countries to win the 52nd International Postal Service  letter writing competition. Peter Tabichi, a Fransciscan friar who teaches at Keriko Day Mixed Secondary School, was crowned the world’s best teacher in 2019, beating 10,000 competitors from 179 countries. 

Kenyan nurse, Anna Qabale Duba, beat 24,000 applicants from seven countries to win the first ever Aster Guardians Global Nursing Award in 2022.  Among the top finalists in that year was another Kenyan nurse, Christine Sammy. Sammy was again among the top 10 finalists during the awards in 2023, emerging among the top 10 picked from 52,065 contestants from 202 countries. Peter Njeri, the CEO of Mega Gas Alternative Energy, was the overall winner of the 2023 Waislitz Global Citizen Awards. The award recognises individuals whose work is inclined towards ending extreme poverty and its systemic causes in 2023.

Of the 10 black African Nobel lauretes to date, one is Kenyan. Prof Wangari Maathai, an environmentalist and founder of the Green Belt Movement, became the first ever African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004.

The Group Managing Director and CEO of Co-operative Bank, Dr Gideon Muriuki, was named the Best Bank CEO in Africa in 2021 at the African Banking Awards organised by EMEA Finance.

In 1978, Kenyan athlete, Henry Rono, shattered four world records records – 10,000m, 5,000m, 3,000m steeplechase, and 3,000m- in 81 days. This feat remains unmatched to date!

Faith Kipyegon, in a repeat of similar heroics, broke three world records in seven weeks in 2023- 1,500m, 5,000m, and one-mile.

Eliud Kipchoge was the first man ever to run the marathon in under two hours, when he clocked 1:59:40 in Vienna in 2019. The man has won 16 out of the 18 marathons he has run- an unprecedented feat of almost shocking audacity.  In 2023, Kenyan men and women have won most elite marathons run so far including the Boston, Nairobi, London, Chicago, Berlin etc. The same dominance is evident in all middle and long distance races, especially the 800m and the 3,000m steeplechase which Kenya has a stranglehold on. This is but a small sampling of the breadth of accolades Kenyans have won globally over the years. Regionally, Kenyan professionals are pervasive in all sectors in Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania. Even countries like South Africa, Botswana and Namibia rely heavily on Kenyan professionals even in universities and hospitals.

People, this is the country that provided the gene pool from which the US got its first black president, Barack Obama, whose father, Barack Obama Snr, was a civil servant who had gone to study in America in the 60s.

Kenya is the country of Mpesa, an increasingly globalised money transfer service and financial inclusion platform so simple and pervasive that experts in the highly sophisticated financial systems in the West are still shaking their heads in utter disbelief.

Despite all this astounding capacity, Kenya’s potential that befits its status as a nation of world beaters will forever remain stalled because citizens have allowed corrupt politicians to run the affairs of the country.

For leaders, Kenyans elect all manner of ne’er-do-wells. Kenya’s politicians are masters of political jingoism, ethnic baiting, corruption and land grabbing, doublespeak, rabblerousing and violence.

Yet Kenyans elect them year in year out, disdaining those with clean records. And it does not look like Kenyans are ready to break with this horrible trend any time soon! Cry, the beloved country.

—The writer can be reached at [email protected]