Why fast-rising Poland has set its sights on Kenya and Africa at large

Poland is turning to Kenya and Africa for new investment opportunities and greater global influence. [Courtesy]

These are peculiar times in which big countries watch themselves lose geopolitical power while small ones thrust themselves upwards at the expense of stagnant or declining countries. This phenomenon of states stagnating or declining while a few rise socio-economically and gain geopolitical leverage is clearest in Europe, where new powers overtake entrenched ones. While the stagnation or decline is self-inflicted and externally stimulated, the rise is meticulously orchestrated to take into account new realities and to avoid blunders. One European country thrusting itself upwards at high speed and seemingly jumping over others is Poland. It also shows growing interest in Africa, especially Kenya.

The Polish, tracing their origins and identity as a people to between 966-1025 CE, have had a rough 1000-year history in an area whose geographical size kept changing with geopolitical times. Divided among the Germans, Russians, and Austrians, they were solidified in the 20th Century’s two big wars, first as beneficiaries of US President Woodrow Wilson’s dream of safeguarding future peace by promoting the doctrine of ‘self-determination’ and second as victims of big power dealings. Wilson, probably the first Cold Warrior, successfully countered Vladimir Lenin’s threat to spread anti-capitalist Bolshevism to Eastern Europe. His 1918 Fourteen Points address had two primary objectives: to undercut Lenin and persuade the Germans to stop fighting. He had used idealistic language to thwart realistic threats arising from Lenin’s communist idealism. Restored Poland was one of the consequences of what Arthur Link considered to be Wilson’s ‘higher realism’.

Lenin’s Bolshevik success, despite Wilson’s counter-move, had a long-term influence on different peoples who dreamt of overthrowing imperialism. They included the Chinese and Vietnamese who adjusted Marxism-Leninism to suit their revolutionary realities.

In addition, Kenyan political adventurer Jomo Kenyatta reportedly used to hang portraits of Lenin, Mahatma Gandhi, and Paul Robeson in his office at the Githunguri Teacher’s College, Kenya’s pre-Mau Mau anti-colonial hotbed. Kenyatta and Robeson, roommates in England, were co-actors in the movie ’Sanders of the River’. Roughly 18,000 Poles, after Adolf Hitler attacked Poland to launch World War II, found refuge through Mombasa, Kenya, to other places.

Post World War II, Poland, through big power deals, was forced into the Soviet Communist orbit. It remained communist until the collapse of the Soviet Union, after which it joined such Western institutions as NATO and the EU. In less than 40 years, thereafter, Poland moved from a poverty-stricken communist appendage to the Soviets into the fastest-growing economy in Europe. It, in 2026, ranks the 20th largest economy in the world and the sixth in Europe. It dreams of possibly overtaking Germany, the top in Europe and third in the world, by expanding while others contract. How it achieved such success was a subject of discussion between visiting Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Wojciech Zajqczkowski and USIU academics led by Vice-Chancellor Mwenda Ntaragwi.

Poland’s post-Cold War socio-economic success was due to five factors. First, it created a proper governance and political atmosphere for innovation and skills borrowing, especially from neighbouring Germany. Second, with many economies in the West suffering downturns, ‘Polish’ workers transferred skills to the new Poland. Third, it received a lot of capital infusion from the EU to uplift its economy once it became a member. Fourth, young Poles attended Western institutions to acquire appropriate pro-capitalist attitudes and skills that were necessary for transforming society. Fifth, being relatively ethnically homogeneous, Poland did not worry about the PITO (Penetration, Integration and Take-over) principle and thereby escaped the New Right Movement’s xenophobic excesses.

With its growing strength as Europe’s new capitalist haven, Poland wants to branch out to other regions for investment and geopolitical leverage. Its expansion into Africa, through Kenya’s multiple strategic environments, indicates changing times.