Harambee Is Dead. Here Is What Should Replace It.
Harambee. Pulling together. It is one of the most powerful ideas in Kenya's history.
In the 1960s and 1970s, harambee built schools, health centres, cattle dips, and community halls across the country. Ordinary Kenyans pooled their resources — however small — to build what the government could not or would not provide. It was genuine, it was collective, and it worked.
That harambee is dead.
What we have today is something else entirely. And we need to be honest about it before we can build something better.
What Harambee Has Become
The Political Fundraiser
The modern harambee is a political event disguised as a community gathering. A politician stands up, announces a large contribution, and expects loyalty in return. The amount matters more than the outcome. Whether the school actually gets built is secondary to who was seen giving the most.
These events have become transactional. The politician buys visibility and political capital. The community gets a fraction of what was promised. The cycle repeats every weekend.
And where does the politician's money come from? Often from the very public funds that should have been used to build that school in the first place. We are essentially celebrating leaders for returning stolen goods.
The Handout Culture
Harambee was never about handouts. It was about collective effort. Everyone contributed according to their ability. The rich farmer gave a cow. The poor widow gave a chicken. The teacher gave labour. Nobody sat and waited for a politician to arrive with a cheque.
Today, many communities have been conditioned to wait. Wait for the MCA to bring development. Wait for the governor to fund the project. Wait for a well-connected son of the soil to make a donation. Community agency has been replaced by political dependency.
This is the opposite of harambee. This is helplessness disguised as patience.
The Corruption Vehicle
Some harambees have become outright money laundering operations. Unexplained wealth is cleaned through public contributions. Leaders who have no legitimate source of income for their lavish donations are cheered rather than questioned.
When a politician who earns a known salary donates ten times that amount at a single fundraiser, nobody asks where the money came from. Instead, the community praises their generosity. We have normalised the proceeds of corruption as community development.
Why the Original Harambee Worked
The harambees of the 1960s worked because they had three things that modern versions lack:
1. Community Ownership
When a community built a school through harambee, they owned it. Not just legally, but emotionally. They maintained it. They protected it. They took pride in it because it represented their collective sacrifice.
When a politician builds a school for a community, the community consumes it. There is no ownership, no attachment, and no maintenance. When the roof leaks, they wait for the next politician to fix it.
2. Accountability to Each Other
In the original harambee, the community held itself accountable. If someone committed funds and did not deliver, the social consequences were real. Everyone knew everyone. Transparency was automatic because the community was both the funder and the beneficiary.
Modern fundraisers have no such accountability. Pledges go unfulfilled. Funds disappear. Nobody publishes a final account of how the money was spent. And by the time anyone asks questions, the politician has moved on to the next event.
3. Every Contribution Mattered
The beauty of the original harambee was that it valued every contribution. The widow's chicken mattered as much as the chief's bull. This created genuine social cohesion. Rich and poor were united by a common purpose.
Today, only big money talks. If you cannot contribute millions, you are invisible. The small farmer who shows up with 500 shillings is irrelevant in a room where politicians are competing to announce the largest figure. The very people harambee was designed to empower have been excluded from it.
What Should Replace It
We cannot go back to 1963. The country is different. The economy is different. The challenges are different. But the principle — pulling together — is as relevant as ever.
Here is what a modern harambee could look like:
Community Development Trusts
Instead of ad-hoc fundraisers, every ward should have a registered community development trust. A transparent entity with elected trustees, published accounts, and a clear development agenda. Contributions go into the trust. Disbursements are approved by the community. Audits are annual and public.
This removes the politician from the centre of the equation. Development becomes community-driven, not politician-driven.
Structured Chama Networks
Kenya already has one of the most vibrant savings group cultures in the world. Chamas collectively hold billions of shillings. But most operate informally, without legal protection or institutional support.
Imagine if county governments invested in formalising and connecting these chama networks. Providing them with financial literacy training. Linking them to credit facilities. Helping them scale from savings groups to community investment vehicles.
This is harambee in its truest form — ordinary people pooling resources for collective benefit. It just needs structure and support.
Ward-Level Project Committees
Every development project in a ward should have a citizen oversight committee. Not appointed by the MCA. Elected by the community. With access to project budgets, timelines, and contractor details. With the authority to raise red flags when things go wrong.
This brings accountability back to the community level where it belongs.
Skills-Based Volunteering
Not every contribution has to be financial. A retired teacher can tutor students. An accountant can audit community funds. A nurse can run health education sessions. An engineer can inspect a construction project.
We have enormous untapped human capital in our communities. A modern harambee should harness skills as much as shillings.
The Role of Leaders
If harambee is reclaimed by the community, what is left for politicians?
The right things: policy, legislation, budget allocation, and oversight. An MCA's job is not to fundraise for schools — it is to ensure that county education budgets are adequate, transparent, and properly spent. A governor's job is not to build hospitals through fundraisers — it is to ensure the county health system works.
When leaders do their actual jobs, communities do not need harambees to provide basic services. Harambee should be for extras — the community hall, the sports field, the cultural centre. Not for classrooms that should have been built with public funds.
A Challenge for Kapsoit Ward
I believe Kapsoit Ward can lead by example. We can establish a community development trust. We can formalise our chama networks. We can create citizen oversight committees for every funded project. We can show Kericho County — and Kenya — what modern harambee looks like.
Not the politician's harambee. The people's harambee.
Because the original spirit was never wrong. Pulling together is still the most powerful force for development that any community has. We just need to take it back from those who corrupted it.
Harambee should mean what it was always meant to mean: all of us, together, building something greater than any one person could build alone. Share this vision. Let us start the conversation.