As i write this blog, i'm living in Maputo, Mozambique. According to the UN Human development report of 2007/08, Mozambique is ranked the fifth poorest country globally while kenya stands at 148 out of 177 countries. My friend who recently travelled on holiday to Kenya just sent me a message this morning with the following, " Amigo Kenya is not good, no water, no electricity in the daytime, no food, no drugs even HIV testing kits". He is Kenyan by the way.
Back to Mozambique a little; In my two plus years here, there has never been a single day gone by without running water nor a blink of darkness in the name of rationing. Now, you tell me about the wealth of nations. If you need reminding, like my friend did to me, Kenya is the largest economy between Johanesburg and Cairo. This is by no chance or windfall but due to the hard working, resilient nature of kenyans. We sieze opportunities which have a direct corelation to improving our lives. Other more long term relational opportunities seem valueless. This has to change if we want to leap into the future.
Access to water and energy are critical for our very comfort. For early risers, the switch is your first touch and water your attachment to nature. You take a bath and perhaps hum to your favorite tunes or listen out for the drama that is kenyan news. Generations have done this. It's therefore imperative that we must protect the resources that provide us with our basic needs. I recently read about a scientist who has discovered how to generate electricity from a home made fan. This i would consider a natural response to preserving our quality of life and ensuring its perpetuity. On the contrary, to destroy your very source of life and comfort and throw it to the wind boarders on suicide. Yes, i'm talking about the Mau and its destruction which is causing untold suffering.
Fortunately, i'm residing in a poorer country than kenya so i can enjoy a bath and take a self indused depression by watching kenyan news but one thing is for sure, this cant go on forever. I want to blame the following and offer solutions. The order is right.
1. President - For not providing leadership when needed most in the form of an executive decision to evict the trespassers of Mau with immediate effect. Shame on you!
2. PM - for giving audience to people (MPs) he thinks he owes his 2007 votes to. The real electorate is going without electricity and water for an unforseen duration. I dont expect it from you!
3. Kenyans - For standing on the side a watching helplessly because you cannot translate this directly into a shillings. Sieze the opportunity to make tough decisions about the kind of leadership you voted for. Will you repeat this in 3 years? Woo unto you!
I have purposely left out the Mau residents for nature will prevail. As for the Rift valley politicians, their own children will judge them harshly.
A few solutions i propose:
1. Let's use this hard times to reflect on the kind of leadership we want for Kenya. Poverty like i mentioned above, is not merely about money but the presence or absence sustainable systems that ensure a good quality of life. In this respect, Mozambique is richer than kenya.
2. We must seriously re-afforest our country not only to recover Mau but to create new ecosystems that will ensure our present and future survival. Let it be an added advantage for employment and social standing to have planted trees or own/sponsor a forest.
3. Realise that reality and politics are not interchangeable. Real scenarios (like the absence of water and electricity) require real solutions. Politics, in this case, is spiteful, detractory, misplaced and disconnected.
So for all the Kenyans suffering, let's wake up and salvage our pride. Be selfish and demand your own. We deserve good leadership from good leaders. Now is always the time.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Friday, June 19, 2009
Is it just me or the budget?
I'd blindly refrain from commenting on economic matters simply because that's like using the top part of my hand to hold a cup. However, when i pored through our long awaited 2009-10 national budget, i as convinced that our national economic unit has artists for planners, and historians for macro-economists. This is the case, then i have right to comment.
I once attended a budget sector hearing meeting for ICT at the refurbished KICC (thank Raphael Tuju for that) and various interest groups and lobbyists poured their hearts out to the chair on the need to have their plight addressed through policy and budgetary measures that would see them able to compete against other big players in kenya and within the region. The process seemed very appropriate and accommodating. I would be glad to know if this happens for other sectors and especially education and agriculture for very dashboard reasons.
Believe it or not but our government gulps 600 plus billions to deliver 200 plus billions of development. To equate this to your ordinary Kenyans lives, its like spending 6 shillings a day on transport for a job that pays you 2 shillings a day. Garbage right? I think so too. Now, this garbage has gone on even long after the advent of rightsizing and e-government. My quick point is, we have limited resources and must therefore use them effectively. Apart from a bloated government and civil service full of otherwise unemployable self seeking tards, we continue to lack leadership that's daring enough to offload the excess weight (somewhat like that excess body weight we all want to loose) and have a lean fucntioning government that's low in resource consumption and high on productivity/service delivery. This is no easy pill and rightly so because this is Kenya. As years go by and we stand aside living in shame, our pill for transformation is getting bitter.
My point is a no brainer and two fold. By merely reducing the security budget from a whooping 87 billion which cant even kick the Mungiki headache away, let's allocate a third of it to agriculture to mechanise our so called corner-stone of the economy. Without taking a survey, any youth whose recently taken the Mungiki oath would easily be lured to the opportunity of farming made easy and for a profit. Not to mention that a Mungiki recruit is your potential farmer gone frustrated and idle. Secondly, take another third of it to improve our academic institutions through a soaking program from our teachers to wake-up to the new world of peer learning and student mentorship, refurbishing of schools and the introduction of a nationwide distance/continuous learning program to make learning not a place to go but a thing to do. I have purposely left out other sectors to establish a smoker-like habit for this blog which will address them continuously.
Africa and Africans, by virtue of having limited resources (debateable) must instictively strive to do more with less. The difference between developed and developing countries is their knack for proper planning and execution of projects at rational cost and with elaborate benefits. Waste is unacceptable. In Kenya, we callously spend billions to stack on shelves (inquires, startegic plans, scoping etc) and proceed without care. This must simply stop.
Share you thoughts!
I once attended a budget sector hearing meeting for ICT at the refurbished KICC (thank Raphael Tuju for that) and various interest groups and lobbyists poured their hearts out to the chair on the need to have their plight addressed through policy and budgetary measures that would see them able to compete against other big players in kenya and within the region. The process seemed very appropriate and accommodating. I would be glad to know if this happens for other sectors and especially education and agriculture for very dashboard reasons.
Believe it or not but our government gulps 600 plus billions to deliver 200 plus billions of development. To equate this to your ordinary Kenyans lives, its like spending 6 shillings a day on transport for a job that pays you 2 shillings a day. Garbage right? I think so too. Now, this garbage has gone on even long after the advent of rightsizing and e-government. My quick point is, we have limited resources and must therefore use them effectively. Apart from a bloated government and civil service full of otherwise unemployable self seeking tards, we continue to lack leadership that's daring enough to offload the excess weight (somewhat like that excess body weight we all want to loose) and have a lean fucntioning government that's low in resource consumption and high on productivity/service delivery. This is no easy pill and rightly so because this is Kenya. As years go by and we stand aside living in shame, our pill for transformation is getting bitter.
My point is a no brainer and two fold. By merely reducing the security budget from a whooping 87 billion which cant even kick the Mungiki headache away, let's allocate a third of it to agriculture to mechanise our so called corner-stone of the economy. Without taking a survey, any youth whose recently taken the Mungiki oath would easily be lured to the opportunity of farming made easy and for a profit. Not to mention that a Mungiki recruit is your potential farmer gone frustrated and idle. Secondly, take another third of it to improve our academic institutions through a soaking program from our teachers to wake-up to the new world of peer learning and student mentorship, refurbishing of schools and the introduction of a nationwide distance/continuous learning program to make learning not a place to go but a thing to do. I have purposely left out other sectors to establish a smoker-like habit for this blog which will address them continuously.
Africa and Africans, by virtue of having limited resources (debateable) must instictively strive to do more with less. The difference between developed and developing countries is their knack for proper planning and execution of projects at rational cost and with elaborate benefits. Waste is unacceptable. In Kenya, we callously spend billions to stack on shelves (inquires, startegic plans, scoping etc) and proceed without care. This must simply stop.
Share you thoughts!
Monday, July 14, 2008
Why Kenya needs you
If you're Kenyan, you know how tough that can be. The further you look back at our history, there seems to lie more pride back there in being Kenyan. With the world producing more means of creating and seizing opportunities, Kenya's options seem to be getting slimmer. I'm seeking inspiration as i write this preamble in a blog that i hope can not only derive solutions for making Kenya a proud nation and a niche player in the global economy, but an avenue where individual ideals and collective decision making can be the bedrock of Kenya's transformation. The internet is a liberating technology. I believe if well applied, along with vision, commitment and sound policies, technology provides us with the most appropriate option of liberating Kenya. What do i mean by liberation? If you have access to information, can use it to improve your well-being by enhancing your ability to make decisions, create and enjoy choices, you may consider yourself liberated. Now, many Kenyans out there have dreams of what Kenya should be and how this can be achieved. This blog is intended to culminate to realizing that Kenya is for its citizens and that their dreams can be lived in Kenya.Where there's a need, there's a right, where there's a right there's a responsibility. The responsibility we bear is to converge our ideas and establish channels that appreciate and share the passion that our country has earned the right to be served better by its citizens. Your thoughts will be the cornerstone by which we can spin of a gradual and transformational change process that may set the pace for our deserving children to take pride in. This is the first of my many thoughts and i welcome the valuable ideas of my fellow authors, i wish to welcome you all to the hall of precedence-the internet. Herein, we are all equal, no tribes, no nepotism, no class, no corruption and no favouritism. Just a network of creativity where people with ideas take the day. Kenya can learn alot from the philosophy of the internet.
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