'My Cousin In Kenya Can't Get a Job Without Paying a Bribe': Obama

[BlueJessamine]

Source: ABC News

'My Cousin In Kenya Can't Get a Job Without Paying a Bribe': Obama Tells African Leaders to Get Their Houses in Order


L'AQUILA, ITALY -- In a meeting this morning with the leaders of Egypt, Algeria, Senegal, Nigeria, Libya and Ethiopia, President Obama spoke about his personal connections to both Africa and poverty, and according to a top White House aide, "you could have heard a pin drop."

After describing a food security initiative that the president and other G-8 leaders have been working on, the president talked about development and the importance of governance.

"He shared a personal story," said deputy National Security Adviser Michael Froman. "Everyone knows that his father was from Kenya, that he still has relatives living in poverty, and that while he’s President of the United States he feels poverty in a very personal way because of this of his family situation."

Froman recounted that the president shared that when his father, Barack Obama Sr., came to the United States from Kenya, Kenya's GDP was higher than Korea's.


Read more: http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/07/my-cousin-in-kenya-cant-get-a-job-without-paying-a-bribe-obama-tells-african-leaders-to-get-their-ho.html

[peace13]

1. Dear President Obama....

Where can I pay a bribe in the US so that I can get a job? What planet are you on? So many here are jobless with no hope.

[Robb]

3. Dear peace13....

Thank you for your salient, insightful and wholly unexpected comment. What a zinger. Oh, snap.

[Christa]

6. You took the words right out of my mouth ... nt

[Deja Q]

10. Until we're one world government with fair and ethical treatment of all, I have to be pro-US.

Most of us are out there trying to be responsible and productive citizens. All we are getting are layoffs and then treated as any number of bad things... the ramifications to the morale in this country are staggering...

I especially feel for those ripped off by that jackal shit Denny Hecker. His fraud and other activities; people have had their credit destroyed by that vermin. (I know they can be ignorant on KQRS, but when they're not they're genuinely on the ball. It's an interesting radio show, theirs... and if it wasn't for them I wouldn't have known about Hecker's actions and the lives of his customers, which he ruined for his own greed. Hecker is a sick puppy and I'm glad he's still alive because he deserves to rot in agony for the next 200 years.)

[shadowknows69]

17. My wife just had to train a guy so they could take 10 hours a week away from her at one job.

[WriteDown]

2. This is a bizarre anecdote to tell...

Just flat out bizarre.

[izquierdista]

9. Welcome to the 3rd World

Finally, someone who understands that paying off the officials doesn't help the common man. Of course if the government only pays its clerks, inspectors, and police starvation wages, how can it blame them for asking for "salary enhancements"? It's not limited to Africa either, any country with a largely subsistence economy is easy to bribe your way through. The government jobs where you can meet a lot of the public and shake them down for bribes are the first step up out of subsistence farming.

They need jobs that pay living wages, producing locally needed items from locally available materials. Getting food aid dumped on them from U.S. agricultural surpluses hurts local farmers, getting freight containers of second hand clothing undercut local garment makers, and the arms trade raises the level of violence.

Obama understands well what is needed in these poor countries. His visits to Kenya when he was younger have had a long time to incubate real solutions. I'm looking forward to see how he can start making progress, moving away from the bribe economy to one where people can earn real money for doing real work that betters their lifestyle.

[Deja Q]

11. I also agree with your assessment.

Of course, we too need jobs that pay living wages.

If there is a one world order that benefits all and is ethical and moral, sign me up.

[Fumesucker]

23. Payoffs happen in the US too..

If you think official corruption isn't rampant in the US then you are terminally naive.

[izquierdista]

24. It's different in the US

You can't get your traffic ticket fixed for $10 on the spot, or your building permit issued the same day for $40. No, in the US, these amounts are nothing compared to the salary of the government official, so they won't chance it. In the US, you have to have a big company and deal with the politician directly, not the civil servant who works for him. You have to "donate" thousands of dollars to the politician's favorite cause (himself, usually) and the fee is just a cost of doing business like advertising and marketing.

[Fumesucker]

25. "Different" does not mean "better"...

Corruption is corruption is corruption..

[izquierdista]

26. Better for the little guy

The average American doesn't have to pay bribes to get everyday things done. The average third world resident can't save up any money to get ahead because it all goes to bribes to make sure that poorly paid government employees can make a living wage. If their police and government clerks and teachers and hospital workers all had a living wage, the amount of everyday corruption would be as little as it is in the U.S.

The average American doesn't get away entirely though, he pays his bribes as "fees", which have been institutionalized by the private sector to collect money from the middle classes and help the rich live their lifestyle -- like bounced check charges, late fees, and reconnection fees.

[Fumesucker]

27. The average American may not pay *directly*..

But rest assured that those brib.. err.. donations are eventually paid for by someone low on the totem pole.

Just because someone makes a "living wage" does not make them immune from corruption, nothing actually does that. The only thing that really seriously reduces corruption is vigorously investigating, prosecuting and punishing corruption.

I'm related to several people that work in our local county government, the amount of casual corruption they speak of without so much as blinking astounded me at one time.. It doesn't any more though, I guess I'm inured to it now.

[dflprincess]

32. It's our system of bribes, oops I mean campaign finance,

that's keeping the "little guy" from getting access to health care and that sent well paying jobs out of the country.

[CJCRANE]

20. It's just an example of endemic corruption

a major problem which has held back development in many African countries.

[bobshin]

4. At least he has the money to bribe someone for a job. While back here in the

country where he's President...

[Algorem]

5. sposed to get the job then take bribes

[TomClash]

7. The DU commentary here leaves a lot to be desired

The President is right on this score.

[Deja Q]

12. Then unrecommend the thread.

Isn't that why the new function was put into place? Wait, that was the 'hide' thread, sorry...

[Mrs. Overall]

16. Agree.

Very telling responses, in some cases.

[Karenina]

21. Obama is talking about "best practices" of "good governance."

The conditions in Africa are something the ordinary American cannot even begin to fathom. He did an excellent job of calling out the obvious.

[TomClash]

30. That's something rarely done in diplomacy

It may be obvious to you, but it's not obvious to many African leaders.

[fujiyama]

22. The commentary on this site is mostly worthless nowadays

Most of it has degenerated to "fuck this", "fuck that", or "bullshit" and fewer posters read full articles beyond headlines and thread titles.

[No Elephants]

28. Fuck THAT bullshit!

(Couldn't resist.)

[La Lioness Priyanka]

8. he makes a lot of sense

[Deja Q]

15. I agree to that.

Having now read the article, even the subject line was shown in full form.

I do like his objectivity and a greater good, yet he sides with people who are claimed to have engineered the economic mess in the US. (Somebody somewhere therefore cannot be making a lot of sense. Not necessarily the President as this is a more generic comment, but your perception of it is your own choice too.)

[Odin2005]

13. Oh, SNAP!

[alcibiades_mystery]

14. Sounds like Illinois!

;-)

I kid. I kid!

[Douglas Carpenter]

18. it is an unfortunately reality in countries where there are vast gaps between the social classes and

even police officers and government bureaucrats do not make a salary anywhere near enough to support their families in anything even remotely close to a middle class living - blatant and obvious corruption becomes a way of life.

This was the case in the western world when most of the western world lived at what we would now call "third world" conditions.

I live in the Philippines part of the year. Regardless who is in power or what supposedly new anti-corruptions policies have been in theory enacted - paying bribes for such routine matters as getting a job, passing through police check points at the wrong time of day, processing a building permit, renewing a visa or even getting the police and courts to investigate and prosecute a murder case - paying varying levels of gratuities is an assumption of life - how things actually work. There is frequently a correct and legal procedure that takes a lot more time and carries with it a lot less certainty. It is simply a lot easier and bypasses endless Kafka-esq hassles - simply to slip a little money under the table and solve the problem.

One could certainly argue that even in wealthier western society - a kind of candy-coated and legalized corruption also takes place - but is systematized through bureaucratic procedures and legal practices. But, in the third world it is simply a lot, lot more blatant and obvious.

[timtom]

19. I guess the President is eager to keep up with the Joneses.

[No Elephants]

29. "As the president put it, Froman went on,

"his cousin in Kenya cant find a job without paying a bribe, and that’s not the fault of the G-8. And when companies can’t operate without paying, in some parts of Africa, without paying the 25 percent fee off the top in bribes, that’s not colonialism."

Sounds like Saudi Arabia.

[Douglas Carpenter]

31. it sounds like Latin America, the Philippines, Thailand,. It sounds like about 3/4th of the world

It sounds like America and Europe prior to the a combination of the industrial revolution and the labor movement democratizing wealth.

Whenever and wherever there are vast gaps between social classes and the Middle Class is a small minority living at a standard unobtainable through normal means - a culture of corruptions takes over the whole of the society.

Unfortunately there is no simple answer. Neither capitalist or socialist solutions have in recent years been able to break the cycle of corruptions feeding poverty and poverty feeding corruption.

Frankly, I just pay the "gratuities" or baksheesh or whatever it is called wherever I happen to be. It is a hopeless hassle to do otherwise.