MPS Kenya Report

By Linda Whetstone

About 130 people attended the Special Mont Pelerin Meeting held in Nairobi in February. 70 came from 14 different African countries including Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, Sudan, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Senegal, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Uganda, Rwanda and Malawi and the remainder from Australia, Germany, Guatemala, Japan, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, the USA and the UK.

 

We met on the outskirts of Nairobi at the Safari Park Hotel with its wonderful grounds, varied restaurants and numerous conference venues.  Ours was the circular Bourganville with a spectacular tree outside it where we had our tea and coffee breaks looking across the magnificent gardens while we continued the discussions generated by the papers and commentaries, and they did generate the most lively and well informed debates for every second of the 45 minutes allowed for that purpose in each session.

 

The purpose of the MPS is to “facilitate an exchange of ideas between like-minded scholars in the hope of strengthening the principles and practice of a free society and to study the workings, virtues, and defects of market-oriented economic systems.” And the meeting was true to this purpose.

 

There were 8 sessions each with one speaker and two commentators and then everyone else was allowed two minutes to make a point or ask a question. All of the papers were original, demanding and generally agreed to be of the highest quality but they were carefully presented so as to remain accessible to the least experienced there. Every question was relevant and many excellent short comments were made on the particular problems pertaining to Africa with regard to markets, the rule of law, property rights etc.  The experienced chairmen managed to bring each one in virtually on time despite the number of eager participants in each debate.

 

Many delegates commented on the rigorous explanation of ideas relating to free societies, and the excitement of meeting other Africans who shared their views too.  There is no doubt that many new friendships and connections were formed that are furthering the development of free societies in Africa.

 

David Coltart, Shadow Zimbabwe Justice Minister, and the man with one of the most difficult jobs in the world opposing Mugabe in Parliament and the courts, said that he could not have imagined a more useful two days because the papers on the rule of law and property rights had provided him with the clearest possible explanations prior to important debates scheduled shortly in the Zimbabwe Parliament.

 

Although the conference itself was up to all our expectations the excursions did not always go entirely to plan as can be seen from the photographs, but spontaneous order took hold and managed to get things back on track. Literally. While Leon Louw took charge, bus number two enjoyed the spectacle extensively.

 

In addition to the excursion several members visited a network of private schools serving Nairobi's poorest citizens. The schools welcomed the Mont Pelerin participants with open arms and were proud to show off their success in outperforming the government-run public schools.