KENYA: Arap Moi Again

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Arap Moi has also set about to diminish the power of Kenyatta's Kikuyu tribe, which, though it accounts for only 20% of the 15.5 million population, exercises near total control over Kenya's 40 other tribes. In last week's election many members of the tribe's political arm, the GEMA Party, were defeated; in Nairobi only three of the eight M.P.s affiliated with the tribal party were reelected.

Among the defeated was Kenyatta's righthand man and brother-in-law, Mbi-yu Koinange, who got through the 1974 election by locking up his opponent before voting day and releasing him afterward. The President has also begun to chip away at the large business and land holdings of the Kenyatta family by quietly authorizing repossessions of property by unpaid creditors and pressing for payment of back taxes. The total wealth is staggering; Jomo Kenyatta's estate alone is estimated to be worth more than $200 million.

As Kenya's chief executive, Arap Moi faces many unsolved problems. Housing is poor: in some cities, families crowd into a single room with no toilet or kitchen and pay $60 a month for the privilege. Jobs are scarce, inflation is running at 11%, and Kenya's export earnings are down as a result of a drastic drop in world prices for coffee and tea over the past two years. At the same time, Kenya's population is expected to double by the end of the century, which may make it impossible to raise living standards.

Today Kenya's economy is heavily dependent on foreign aid, which now totals $300 million a year, or about 10% of the country's gross national product. Explains an Agency for International Development economist stationed there: "People like to give money to Kenya. It's a sexy country."

Despite the country's economic problems, most Kenyans seem to feel that it is particularly blessed, not least in the area of race relations. Kenya's white population, now more than 60,000, has actually grown since independence. "I do not know anybody who is not very happy with our lot right now," says Philip Leakey, 30, a member of the famous family of Kenya-based anthropologists, who last week became one of the few whites ever to be elected to parliament. And as for those slipping living standards, Kenyans believe they are not alone among their neighbors. As one proverb has it: "In Kenya, dogs eat dogs, but in Tanzania, dogs eat nothing."