Kenyans rule S. Sudan’s markets

Gutsy? Professional? Smart? Kenyan traders in Southern Sudan invoke adjectives that place many in awe, like people on the cusp of success as Badru Mulumba writes.

Since the Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed here, Kenyans have swarmed the region and swelled to quite a presence. Many residents talk highly of the Kenyans; Kenyans think big, Kenyans are professional. Kenyans have the business acumen, with many of them getting into partnerships.

“They are actually very good people,” says Mr Gwado Ador, a journalist-turned civil servant who spent some pre-war time in Kenya. “The economy in Kenya is tough; people have to strive hard to survive.”

Yet, too, of late, the Kenyans have spewed some adjectives not so flattering: Crooked. Greedy. Stingy. “They have one religion,” says an official in one political party, “It’s called money.”

And the Kenyans, he says, would do some uncharitable things to get that money.
In fact, often one around here hears the saying that it’s a waste of time for one to bid in a company where a Kenyan would make the final decision.

Smart Kenyans!
For, the Kenyan, the story goes, would never approve a firm or contractor where one would not get some behind-scenes-benefits. These perceived traits play a part both in whom and how the Kenyans mate as much as they are in the local attitudes when it comes to doing business with Kenyans.

Businesses here are more likely to have a Kenyan as business partner. And they are more likely to recruit Kenyans into professional jobs, and it’s all about the image the Kenyans put forward: Every hair must be in place, every crease in the suit must be pressed. And every step must be a swagger. The attitude is “Go, get it”.

“If you look at the market, they are the ones dominating it,” says Ms Mary Nyaulang, a Member of the Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly. “We need teaming up with them. They do less [to promote] their country’s image but they are serious when it comes to business.”
Such traits have also influenced relationships. Four years ago, the Sudanese prized the apparent sophistication in the Kenyan woman.

The love story
Partly, mostly the Sudanese men, some think of Kenya as a developed hub; and a Kenyan woman would lead them to a second Nairobi home where they could recuperate once in a while. As a consequence, many a Kenyan woman ended up with a home in Nairobi, a car in Juba and another in Nairobi.

Partly, also, this is because Kenyan women have given off the aura of taking charge. The impression here is that Kenyan women, when in a relationship, want to learn how to fish; they hate to be fed.

They want to stay free, it’s believed, so they can keep dating the next rich guy. But in the process, Kenyan women have apparently sought to pass these traits over to the men they have dated, passing off for investor advisers.

Also, Sudanese women apparently favour Kenyan men, although to a lesser extent. Sudanese culture does not look down kindly to a woman marrying out of the tribe. Only the recent returnees break these roles – and hideously. Kenyan men are liked for the company. They, apparently, prefer to date up: women who buy their own lunch, women who drive their own cars, and women who will not come knocking for money.

Sudanese women are finally comfortable dating Sudanese men, especially as many return from the Diaspora. Over time, things have changed a bit, though. Kenyans may be good mates, but some increasingly look at them as mean, too.

Now the local men complain that Kenyan women are too expensive to maintain and they have no qualms about breaking up soon as the man’s bank balance hits red. “The preferences are changing,” says Mr Bramatali Wani, a former candidate in the last parliamentary elections. “The Kenyan woman – the Kikuyu - is a very good businesswoman, but what many didn’t know is that she is more likely to run off with everything.”

And it is quite a lot of men whose bank balance has hit the floor. First, the region went through a financial crisis last year from which it is yet to fully recover. Secondly, a lot of accounting loopholes have closed; there is a financial system, not fully perfect, but it’s there all the same. Very little money exists to spruce around.

Romantic relations may be getting cold, but partnerships with Kenyan business partners do not seem like receding anytime soon, despite what many think of Kenyans as individuals.
“Their businessmen are co-operating well here in Southern Sudan,” Mr James Loro, a trader says, adding as an afterthought: “But they don’t co-operate back in Kenya.”

If anything, the urge for Sudanese to partner with Kenyans is just getting hot, rather than cold. Some of this, of course, is because of the feeling that Kenyans are good at success lingers. Perhaps, the sophistication is real: Kenyans have had a long phase with capitalism than many countries in the region; the competition is cutthroat.

The perceptions are...
But one wonders whether the perception of sophistication comes with the territory: Nairobi as a highly modern city and Kenya is perceived to have surpassed the Banana Republic status.
“It looks like they are a very polite nation,” said Ms Mary Nyaulang, the Woman MP for Ayod County that was made famous by that 1994 photograph of a vulture baying its time for a crawling famished child.

For Ms Nyaulang, Kenya is also a very self-healing country. “They know how to deal with anger when it arises,” she says. “It was a shock when violence broke out; [but] after election they managed to restore their image.”

Still, there are unresolved issues between many people here and Kenya as a country. Much of it dates back to the time they were in refugee camps. “From the beginning our people were very bitter especially on how they suffered in Kenya,” the MP adds. “Although very few people faced brutal settlement, southerners are co-operating with them.”

Ask a southern Sudanese who stayed in Kenya and one is likely to come up with similar answers. “I was a refugee in Kenya,” Mr Simon Longole says. “The Turkana and police were not good.”

Favouring development
Apparently, for many here, the bottom-line, often, justifies the means. “Kenyan companies are coming to Southern Sudan to contribute to the development,” Mr Mayen Benson Nirew says. Mr Nirew works with an army publication. “We have banks such as KCB and Equity, and they are contributing to the development of the private sector.”

How can his perception of Kenyans and Kenya change only in four years, I ask him? Mr Nirew spent time in Kakuma Refugee Camp. In a conversation four years ago, he was bitter. Such feelings were most prevalent in the early years of the interim period.

In fact, they were not just feelings. At one time, President Salva Kiir warned foreigners to treat Sudanese with respect, reminding them that when Sudanese were in ‘their countries’ they were mistreated.

Southern Sudanese were mistreated. They were dumped into the desert for a refugee camp. Many were imprisoned. Often, the security forces brutalised them. “There was a feeling - people were angry - that these Kenyans were taking up all the jobs and business opportunities,” Mr Nirew replies. “There was anger but it has significantly reduced.”