I thought that this exchange between John Githongo and Alex Cobham on twitter last night was interesting:
John Gothingo is a former Kenyan journalist who investigated bribery and fraud in his home country and later, under the presidency of Mwai Kibaki, took on an official governmental position to fight corruption. In 2005 he left that position, later accusing top ministers of large-scale fraud. The story of his fight against corruption is told in Michela Wrong's book It's Our Turn to Eat: The Story of a Kenyan Whistle-Blower. Alex is a long term friend and colleague of mine, now with the Center for Global Development.
What John and Alex are referring to is the plan first reported in February this year to turn Nairobi into an international financial services centre - or full blow tax haven if you like - as a branch of the City of London. It was referred to in the Kenya Standard in February:
Nairobi's vision of following the footsteps of London, and becoming a global financial centre, has started taking shape with a financial firm appointed to deliver the work – TheCityUK – seeking partners to participate in the development of the project.
This month will mark another chapter where top UK City businesses and officials are expected to receive a high-level Kenyan delegation to London to discuss plans to transform Nairobi into a world-class financial centre or destination.
The bodies appointed to deliver the work, under the sponsorship of the Lord Mayor of the City of London and the Ministry of Finance in Kenya, are TheCityUK and the Kenyan Capital Markets Authority (CMA).
TheCityUK – an independent membership body for promoting the UK-based financial and professional services industry – said in a statement that the focus of the Nairobi international financial centre (IFC) work is to be embodied in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Kenya.
This plan has, so far, become little known. It deserves more attention. What it shows is that the colonial thinking of the City has not stopped. It's territories in the Crown Dependencies and elsewhere are reforming under pressure, so what it is doing is opening up new space in which its activities can be undertaken. And I am sure John Githongo is right: this could engineer the world's most bespoke crime servicing multinational enterprise ever devised.
What does the City think this says about it?
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And do they care anyway.
As far as I can see, the city of london is the spider at the heart of the worldwide web of crime.
While I note that the PPI fraud is hovering around 12 billion, and people are happily chatting about their returned money, while not quite getting that the banks are busy hoovering it back via their bank accounts charges…..biz as usual in the largest crime cartel the world has known. Until……..
” Quite how the Chinese will respond after they have been repeatedly fleeced by the City’s army of currency spivs and wideboys is not reported”
http://rowans-blog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/i-have-just-discovered-yet-another.html
Rowan’s blog has it right: Osborne’s ghastly patronising guff is designed to blame the populace while it is he himself who lacks ambition by creating more housing Ponzi schemes and wanting this country to descend to the Victorian era where seamstresses had to become prostitutes to earn enough. For people like osborne, politics is a game, nothing more.
John, thanks for that link to Rowan’s blog. This sneering at their own country, and sycophantic praising of ‘Asian values’ proves yet again that the Tories are the anti-patriotic party. As you say Simon, their idea of economic success is financial sector chicanery to benefit a few sanctioned and backed by the State (so much for the Thatcherite mantra of standing on your own two feet) coupled with brutal exploitation of everybody else.
This will be a disaster for the people of Kenya. The Westgate mall is a symbol of gross wealth divisions and political Graft.
For people like osbourne, politics is a way of returning us to Victorian values where the common man knew his/her place.
Unfortunately, labour is now cast from that same mold.
The lowering of benefits proceeded at a faster pace during the previous labour admin than under this one.