All very good reasoning BUT what about the external forces that finance M23 and other rebel groups in DRC. The same forces that have kept DRC either under a dictator or destablized since Patrice Lumumba ?
Will they be happy and welcoming?
They don’t have to be because they will be overwhelmed. This time they won’t be fighting against an ill-equipped DRC army. KDF runs like a well-oiled machine. I know that we think lowly of our shiethole country, but don’t underestimate Kenya’s deep pockets. Halafu nimenotice Kenya has sent a very small contingent to DRC but the budget is big. I think they will recruit locals with that money instead of more Kenyan soldiers but that’s just my unprofessional and probably wrong opinion.
That’s how I would do it. Send 1000 Kenyan soldiers and recruit 10,000 local men with full support of the DRC government. Set up a military base in North Kivu and get down to business. In the end, its just pacifying DRC and making sure that its their lives at risk. The Kenyan soldiers there are just for leadership and control while the well-equipped locals do all the heavy fighting. They will continue fighting as long as the checks clear.
I don’t think tulishindwa na zoomalia if you keenly follow events their.Everything was handled as it should,doing it in any other way could have failed.
When people talk maybe they expected kdf to win the war in aa few month and get out leaving a peaceful somalia…The US and Ethiopia tried that.What kdf did,what is happening now,is the right process.
i doubt KDF will ever pull out of somalia, they just need to endure perennial attrition from the skinny extremists… Infact it seems alshabab has full controls of some pockets of territory
So you go arm civilians, are you sure about such a strategy
Those are no longer civilians but members of the DRC army. Its a recruitment exercise buana.
The idea here is to empower the DRC army through resources and guidance to defeat M23. That’s how I would do it. After all, I think its cheaper to hire DRC soldiers than Kenyans so for every Kenyan soldier in DRC, there should be 10 from DRC on the payroll. The Kenyans provide the resources, tactical support, etc, while the DRC soldiers do the fighting to earn their keep.
M23 were kinda members of DRC army
They defected because the DRC army could no longer afford to beat and hang them. That’s why whoever wants to defeat M23 must have deep pockets and that’s where the Kenyan government comes in. It will “invest” billions in this war, but it knows that the war pays for itself through the back door (Taxes collected by KRA from Equity, KCB, and other Kenyan companies with operations in DRC).
How are taxes done, does the DRC also demand taxes from them
I will use Equity as an example. Equity has a majority stake in Equity BCDC. Equity BCDC is registered in DRC so it pays corporate taxes on its profits there. But Equity Group (the parent company) is registered in Kenya. Equity BCDC, after making profits and paying its taxes to the DRC government, has to pay its shareholders a dividend. Those dividends end up in Kenya because the parent company is Kenyan. The dividends are recorded as profits by Equity Group Holdings (the Kenyan parent company). KRA then taxes the profits of Equity Group Holdings and that’s one way it gets the money. The other way that it gets the money is when Equity Group Holdings disburses the dividends to shareholders where it gets between 5% for residents, and 10% for non-residents in withholding tax. If you buy Equity Group shares today, you will receive a dividend at the end of the financial year minus the 5% withholding tax. So, lets break it down:
Equity Group Holdings pays 30% corporate tax to KRA. That’s about Ksh 12 billion which is enough to fund two or three counties.
Equity Group Holdings pays out 11 billion in dividends to investors. KRA takes between 5% (from locals) and 10% (from foreigners). So, on average lets say 50/50 at 7.5%. KRA receives Ksh 825 million from withholding tax.
Equity Bank (Kenya) has about 9000 employees. Let’s assume the average pay is Ksh 70,000 gross. KRA will receive Ksh 21,000 from every employee per month. That’s Ksh 2.268 billion in PAYE.
Others. Don’t forget that money received by local investors and employees will be spent in Kenya on VAT taxed items.
So you can already see how KRA got over 15 billion from Equity Group alone last year without factoring the indirect benefits (others).
Safaricom:
Last year it paid Ksh 34 billion in corporate taxes.
Safcom paid shareholders 55 billion. KRA took about 4 billion in withholding tax.
PAYE sijui.
As you can see, Equity and Safaricom alone netted KRA more than 53 billion last year alone. That’s why the government is not shy to use diplomacy and the military to protect the business interests of homegrown companies. They must protect and support their cash cows.
For reference, KRA collected about 2 trillion in taxes last year. That means Safaricom and Equity directly contributed 2.5% of the national tax revenue last year.
I like your line of reasoning. But what if insurgency occurs which is too way difficult to control. Murder? Finances? How will that affect domestic politics?
How? Domestically, there won’t be too many Kenyan soldiers in DRC and the few ones will have administrative positions as enablers and tacticians. Most soldiers in the frontline will be Congolese locals. KDF should arrive there with deep pockets and a lean team before doing a recruitment drive of locals into the DRC army. The only risk is if the war proves to be too expensive for Kenya but I’m sure it is sharing costs with DRC and other EA states anyway.
Kenya should not risk human capital in DRC more than it has to. DRC’s problem is not human capital but resources and organization to fight rebels. And because we can’t trust the DRC army with money, KDF has to send a small group to make sure that the money is used for the right things to achieve the objectives. I personally think KDF can do the job if they recruit 5,000 locals, pay them well, feed them, arm them, and above all, provide leadership and tactics. A well organized, trained, and funded army of locals should deal a decisive blow to those rebels. In the end, the real war will be between rebels and DRC locals, not Kenyans.
Kumbuka there are more than 130 rebel groups operating in Eastern DRC. How much human resource can Kenya pay to fight such an extensive security threat. I don’t want this to an huge ‘argument’. I wish the boys best of luck
Kenya will just spearhead the operation but it is not the only player. Even Tanzania and Uganda have business interests in DRC. They will all share the costs of that war albeit not equally and rightfully so. The war will come at a huge financial cost for DRC and Kenya because they stand to gain the most from peace. First, the cost depends on how large the rebel groups are, their level of organization, and the size of their pockets. A rebel group with less than 1000 soldiers should not be a big problem to deal with.
Wars are business. It’s nothing personal or tribal. Just business.
Let @Azor Ahai educate wanakijiji.
Kenya by penetrating DRC through banking is the most strategic and profitable investment it has made since chepkube Coffee smuggling which marehemu jomo kenyatta approved of from under the bed.
Jews have remained wealthiest people because of banking.
And countries like China will not just open banks in DRC because it is a dead giveaway of their illicit activities.
Let the others mine but they will need banks as much as subterranean cranes, hoes and torches and all those implements needed to mine. Kudos Mwangi and our other adorable greedy bankers.
If they’re really peacekeepers si watume a couple of our bishops and nurses not soldiers
Yea minimising the kdf loses . The locals will be at forefront like the way Russian army is fronting the reservists .they should have hired kenyan petty thieves like @poyoloko to minimize losses
John fombe.
Comments illustrates a very common point
A.K.A KENYAN INTRODUCTING BOOTS ON THE GROUND POLITICS.
Towa iyo cap bana, Is your l.Q boiling??¿?
DRC cannot do biz kule nje due to limitations engrossed in conflict money. Thats where kenya and other ‘peace keepers’ come in as middlemen.