Name: Githua Leonard Thuo
Email:
[email protected]
Phone:+ 254701743140
Address: 30197 Nairobi
College: University of Nairobi, school of Law
Class: 2nd year
FREEDOM AND PROSPERITY
Freedom creates prosperity, unleashes human talent, invention and innovation, creating wealth where none existed before. Freedom is a piston of nation's political, social and economic engine. A country without free people that work, create wealth, invent, buy and sell has a sword in its heart. This explains the reason why Nelson Mandela, an African hero, thought that if a man is denied the right to live the way he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw (Mandela, 1995). Pan Africanists knew that freedom is the mother of new ideas, innovation and solution to governmental failures.
Freedom of information is very important for every human being. The right to acquire and access information held by private or state agencies enable individual to sharpen their skills and talents. Skills and innovation are like plants that only grow when watered with information. Great writers, artist and scientist continue influence the world because there is freedom of information and expression. The more information we acquire, the more we become innovative and intelligent.
Freedom to access information is political and social necessity in advancement of security and human liberty. Innovation and development are children of human expression. Unfortunately, freedom of expression cannot have life without right to know and right to get information. People cannot express what they do not know, can they? Therefore, with availability of scientific research and information, people create wealth, advance socially and improve their living standards.
Freedom of information protects citizens' rights. It guard against corruption and mismanagement of public resources. It is through right to information that citizen of a given country can consign dictatorial governments to dustbins of history .It is also fundamental necessity that people should have right to information in order to enforce their rights such as intellectual property rights. Mismanagement and corruption kills people morale to invest, improve and create wealth. Transparency and openness create an atmosphere in which people improves economic outcome People only need information about free-market capitalism, trade and rights in order for them to realize their potential (Palmer, 2011).
Freedom to acquire and own property provides a foundation on which trade and production are built on in any country's economy. Right to own property plays an important role in safeguarding expectations, lowering transactions cost and forming incentives for productive management of assents and resource. According to Aristotle, property right encourages people to tend to their affairs (Flanagan, 1979). Property rights naturally inspire people to be creative. Such rights make people industrious, successful and intelligent. According to Hegel, property rights provides means by which human achieve self-actualization.
Ownership comprises the right to possess, the right to use, the right to manage, the right to security and the right to the income of a thing. Due to the lack of property rights, Many African economies are mismanaged. This result to: low productivity, poverty, famine and low morale in creating wealth. However, if property rights are upheld in African States, people will be motivated to invest, preserve and improve land. Consequently, new wealth will be created which had not existed before.
Every person should have right to access education. Education is the essential engine of a country's advancement. Behind any developed country, there are academic freedom and freedom of scientific research. It only through education that a daughter of peasant can be a manager and a child of a farm worker can be an engineer (Mandela, 1995). However, it is very unfortunate that in many African countries, right to acquire and access education is curtailed. Such countries include Republic of Congo where children are subjected to hard labor due to civil wars in that country. Freedom to access education is the only curative medicine that can be administered to such children for the sake of their country's prosperity in future. Through education, people gain experience and skills to advance commerce, agriculture and politics.
In Kenya, during the reign of President Moi, the right to acquire and utilize ideas was very limited. Lectures could not teach what they wanted to teach and students could not read what they desired to read (Kenya National Council For Law Reporting, 2012). Thinking and reading was very risky enterprise. The result was that universities became like prisoners behind great walls of dictatorship. What is university without freedom to read, think, speak and seek ideas? Colleges and university could no longer contribute to development of Kenya. Consequently, Kenya recorded low economic growth rates in Moi's era. Citizens were limited to seek knowledge, invent and create wealth in such environment.
African states are still bound by the chains of tradition. Customary law limits women's self-development as property right is concerned. For example, some laws curtail women access to land. Such laws are discriminatory in nature. It is important to note that women's access to land determines not only women's standard of living but also food security ( Tara Fitzgerald, 2011). Therefore, women lack of access to land and property lower innovation and creation of wealth. In developed countries, property rights are assigned without discrimination on sexual basis. Perception of women as weaker sex should be deleted from collective memory if Africa chooses the road of prosperity.
Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Right stipulates:
"Every person has the right to freedom of movement and within the boarder of each state. Everyone has a right to leave one country including their own and to return to his country"
Freedom of movement enhances trade. Movements of people facilitate sharing of ideas. Trade block facilitate movement of people and goods from one country to another. For example, ECOWAS, a trading block in West Africa, have enhanced trade between member states. This has resulted in creation of wealth and improvement in economic status. Therefore, freedom of movement is essential for prosperity of any country.
In conclusion, Freedom of information; freedom of expression; right to property; freedom of education and freedom of movement are essential in economic prosperity. Freedom and prosperity were born together and will die together. Let everybody be a watchdog to ensure human rights are respected and uphold for the sake prosperity.
Reference
Tara Fitzgerald. (2011). Access to Rights Programme Empowering the communities of Kenya. Nairobi: UNON.
Flanagan, A. P. (1979). Theories of Property: Aristotle to the Present. Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press.
Kenya National Council For Law Reporting. (2012). The Bench Bulletin. Nairobi: National Council for Law Reporting.
Mandela, N. (1995). Long Walk To Freedom. Cape Town: macdonaldo purnell.
Palmer, T. G. (2011). The Morality of Capitalism. Students for Liberty and Atlas Network.
