The Make Money Fast Hall of Humiliation

Since early March of last year, this site has noted ongoing issues with Kenya concerning pyramid schemes. At the heart of this were organizations known as savings and credit societies (Saccos), many of which offered rates of return much higher than the norm, which attracted a lot of investor capital. When these schemes collapsed, as invariably happens, people started reacting angrily. Back in July, we stated that Kenya was heading down the same road as Albania did a decade earlier.

Alas, it appears that our predictions are indeed coming true. This op-ed piece from AllAfrica puts it bluntly:

Kenya: We're On the Brink of Becoming One of Africa's Failed States

Please go and read the entire op-ed piece. The author lays out very clearly what the problem is, and what the choices are. As I read it, I got a sense of what our own Founding Fathers must have been struggling with as they sought to build a new nation.

On the other hand, here in the USofA we appear to take a more narrow focus. An op-ed in the Houston Chronicle discusses the unrest that has followed the recent election, where major fraud has tainted the results. Again, nothing we haven't seen in this country, yet somehow we managed to avoid the bloodshed, the rioting, the unrest that is wracking Kenya.

While some of this can be attributed to differences in the two societies, and the presence of tribal tensions which are the result of how many of the modern African nations were formed without respect to natural tribal boundaries, one can not ignore the effect of the economic problems in Kenya. The Chronicle refers to the Kenyan economy as "surging" and its status as one of the "most prosperous" nations in Africa, yet fails to notice that much of the wealth was lost as the population sought to Make $$$$MONEY$$$$$ FA$T! In their exuberance and zeal, they squandered their opportunity. Now the pyramids are collapsing, and it is time to pay the piper. What happens next is up to them.

So, with more than a trace of sadness, and in the hope that the people of this country will come to their senses and step back from the precipice they are poised to jump from, the Hall declares Kenya to be the "MMFool of the Week."