[kictanet] Bitange for President? DrivingKnowledgeEconomy?OnlineInterviewwith PS Ndemo

Sun Aug 7 20:43:18 EAT 2011

Listers,
Allow me to say a few things about unemployment:

>From basic economics, we know how to reduce unemployment – spend money on
public investments – that is roads, rail, energy, telecommunications,
urban development etc and other non government investments such as the new
Aga Khan Hospital expansion, Delta Property investments in Kenya, National
Oil Refinery expansion, Kenya Breweries expansion, investment in value
added services etc.  Creating jobs in a developing country should be what
Americans call a no brainer.  In developing countries lies many
opportunities but the scale of greed far exceeds national interests.

Some three months ago, I met with top officials of Fedex, a worldwide
logistics company.  They expressed interest in creating Kenya a regional
hub that would serve both Middle East, parts of Asia and Africa.  They
needed several acres of land within an Airport.  I also got wind that
Boeng were considering Kenya as a regional hub for Repair and Maintenance.
 I liaised with IFC top officials and one VP came to see me over this
lucrative investment.  He concurred with me that we needed a Greenfield
airport.  I contacted my counterpart in Transport we started a search for
an ideal location with the help of the Directorate of Civil Aviation.  The
result was land adjacent to Konza.  Quickly I called the leaders from the
area including the Ranch cooperative leaders.  They control more than
100,000 hectares of empty land.  We needed only 20,000 acres for an
Aerotropolis which will have encompassed Konza.

IFC did not want an outright purchase of Land considering the kind of
publicity we went through in acquiring Konza.  They offered equity in the
project and promised to source for the initial $1 billion to start the
project.  They needed to start the legal process while at the same time
doing the feasibility study.  When the feasibility study team came from
Washington, there was nobody to meet on the ground.  We were told the
Chairman was consulting with the Ministry of Cooperative.  I followed up
the matter with the Ministry and I got to know that they had no problem. 
The team was played around and they never got to start the feasibility.  I
went back to the area leadership and was told all was well.  Later I got
to learn that some rich people wanted to buy out the poor farmers then
negotiate with IFC.  The farmers hit the roof and called an AGM.  I sent
my senior officers to the AGM to explain this directly.  Unfortunately,
when they got there they were threatened and asked to sit silent.  The
resolution on the ground was to sub divide the land into two acre pieces
and if anyone wanted the 20,000 acres they are to deal with individual
owners.

In the meantime we have shelved a project that would have 1) created
thousands of sustainable jobs, 2) increased the value of the remaining
land and 3) brought good infrastructure.  Leave alone the pull effect on
agriculture it would have created to the poor people around the airport. 
Now a Member of Parliament has asked a question to be answered in due
course “what the Ministry has done in securing land adjacent to Konza
Technology for any further Development”.  We cannot compulsorily acquire
this land since these leaders would use the same poor people to create
trouble.  I have been warned by various leaders that such a move will
fail.  You cannot blame the Government when the local leadership cannot
see opportunity or tapper their greed to allow greater good for the
greater number of people.

The causes of unemployment are not what you see in text books.  It is not
poverty as many academicians would tell you.  It is greed, it is lack of
trust among those who represent people’s interest, it is lack of vision,
it is the minimalist mentality that we have come to embrace.  We must move
from this hopeless state to greater and collective thinking.  If the poor
people became shareholders of such a mega project, you change their lives
forever, you improve your own security as each one of your neighbor would
have the basic needs and more.  Allow me to deal with other causes of
unemployment then propose some solutions.

The rate of our population growth is worrisome.  It will both impact not
only on food security but our future employability.  The recent study on
education published in the East African showed while you can get good
education in Kenya, it is not everybody who can access that good
education.  Good education comes with better chances of being employed
anywhere on the planet and you need to pay.  Even if Free Education were
to be improved significantly, you need fewer numbers of children that you
can afford to give sufficient love.  You cannot pay attention to 12 kids
let alone understanding the psychological problems they are going through.
 Parenting is a greater component in the success of any child and the way
you are brought up increases your chances of employability.  This where
issues such as values come in.

In recent years, we have messed our Education system.  Like in Germany we
must retain tertiary institutions.  This is where you get the technicians
to do Kazi ya Mkono.  Earlier I talked of investments like Aga Khan.  I
was deliberate because a number of jobs created by the expansion will not
be taken up by Kenyans.  When an X-ray machine breaks down, we call for
technicians to come from Germany yet we have thousands of trainable youth
who can be able to undertake the job at cheaper costs.  The cost of
bringing in a foreign technician is passed on to the consumer.  This is
how India has become a cheaper destination for mundane medical issues such
as diagnostics.

Further we say we need Nuclear plants but we have not even started to
build capacity.  If we did start the project today, virtually all the
experts will be foreign.  We lack a comprehensive skills inventory.  This
will become a guide on what training we need and when we need it in order
to increase the number of employable youth.  The Government can for
example provide incentives to students who study in areas that are
strategic to our economic development.  This skills inventory thing has
been going on for the past four years.  Although I am a member of the task
I am not able to impact its fast tracking and my proposal of doing it via
ICT did not work.  Per diem requirements seems to dictate the pace.  We
must have the skills inventory in order to address the labour
demand-supply mismatch that ails our economy.

You cannot talk about unemployment in this country without talking about
Trade Unions.  It is a sad picture out there.  The Union leadership have
adopted a psychological warfare that has nothing to do with employment. 
They are harsh and can destroy your reputation in a split second.  Media
loves this and to some extent fear disclosing the rot in the movement. 
Our labour leaders are some of the richest in this country.  If Lumumba
were to mount a street protest on account of their life style audit, I
will join him.    This closed club protects firms and non performing
employees in equal measure.  We need to be more productive to increase
opportunities for more jobs.  The unions have not understood this simple
theory of labour economics.  Had they allowed modern equipment to pick tea
in Kericho, Tea estates will be more productive and most of those jobs
would have shifted into value added services and manufacturing.  Just like
the introduction of IT has increased jobs better than we thought in early
80’s when computers were banned.

We therefore need to quickly deal with our educational system, begin to
plan for future employment opportunities now, remove information
asymmetries that deny the poor employment opportunities, deal with labour
regulation and regulatory efficiencies including trade unions, as for
greed we need to pray to God since sometimes you are not able to
understand how it attacks.  In the day you have the support of all the
leadership while at night they undermine every move you make.  Overall we
can deal with this menace.  Get a better “Candidate” come next year.  One
Kenya.

Regards

Ndemo.

> Bwana Ps,
>
> First and foremost our condolences, for the loss....
>
> Secondly, I'd really wish to commend the moderator who set this thread
> off.
> For once we have a lively healthy debate,
> modelled alongside the live presidential hopeful debates often times held
> elsewhere in more mature democracies.This
> is the way to go and it heralds exciting times ahead. I suppose this forum
> is so well poised to play a leading role in the
> National discourse aimed at building a better Kenya. So let's keep this
> up,
> and perhaps rope in the other "contenders".
>
> But 3rdly, this "Sumptuous" debate is also turning out to be highly
> educative and hugely informational for most of our silent
> listeners on the list, who are furiously "taking notes". Dr.Ndemo,many of
> us
> are just realizing to our utter amazement how
> much level of knowledge you possess and are willing to share, and your
> amount of energy is so infectious, that somehow I
> in my opinion feel we need not limit you to this forum,but find ways in
> which we can have you engage an even wider and
> more larger audience out here especially those from the generation Y
> segment. Listers any ideas...?  Would Townhall style
> lectures suffice...? Just thinking..
>
> I couldn't help noticing an earlier debate touching on infrastructure and
> feeding our nation, and in the same vein I have also
> taken a hard look at the events taking place across our country right
> now,and the greater horn of Africa,and it would be an
> understatement when I say it's really infuriating to say the least. It
> defeats any imagination why after independence, 51 yrs
> down the line we are not self sufficient in food production, with several
> corners of the nation marginalized such that even
> humanitarian aid donated by other well meaning Kenyans can not reach those
> who need it most because there is no
> infrastructure such as roads and communication to even talk about in the
> first place... It's maddening..
>
> How do you plan to balance infrastructural development across the land, to
> avoid over-concentration in specific zones at
> the expense of the rest...?
>
> At the same time, what kind/quality of advisers would you be looking for
> to
> help you shape policy/decision making.
> A presidency or leadership is just as good or bad as the quality of the
> courtiers that gather around.
>
> Harry
>
>   _____
>
> From: kictanet-bounces+harry=comtelsys.co.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke
> [mailto:kictanet-bounces+harry=comtelsys.co.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke] On
> Behalf Of bitange at jambo.co.ke
> Sent: Saturday, August 06, 2011 9:01 PM
> To: harry at comtelsys.co.ke
> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Bitange for President?
> DrivingKnowledgeEconomy?OnlineInterviewwith PS Ndemo
>
>
> Aki,
> We are meeting Konza Technology City possible underwriters (local Banks)
> on
> Monday morning 7am at Serena. Please come. Many of the quesions you ask
> will
> be answered then you can make a summary for the listers.
>
> Regards
>
>
> Ndemo.
>
>
>
> Sent from my BlackBerryR
>
>   _____
>
> From: aki <aki275 at gmail.com>
> Date: Sat, 6 Aug 2011 19:45:44 +0300
> To: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
> Cc: <bitange at jambo.co.ke>
> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Bitange for President? Driving
> KnowledgeEconomy?OnlineInterview with PS Ndemo
>
>
> Dr Ndemo,
>
> While we look forward to a comprehensive response on the High Tech Sector/
> Malili as soon as you have some time, I believe that you mentioned that
> completion is about 3 years away. That seems is not a lot of time to get
> e.g
> at least 50 companies who have significant turnovers coming close to about
> Kshs 500 million with a % on exports. I think there may be a need for a
> review. I already read that IBM super-team is in the country and done some
> indepth research and assessment into e-Govt, it maybe a good time to ask
> them to re-access the current trends. Mobile, Web and Social technologiy
> development platforms trends may only produce slim domestic interest with
> extremely small turnovers and virtually impossible that either can later
> contribute to significant economic growth.
>
> There could an alternative which would be to look at Comesa/Igad or other
> markets within our region, create Govt/Private ICT or other sector
> development action groups to be based at Malili which would also provide
> Venture Capitalists/Investors an avenue for serious interests. I've had a
> look at very basic Comesa data, seems Agricultural engineering would do
> well
> here. I think JUKAT has the foundations of producing such engineers.
> However, there is not enough data to full research what Agricultural
> Engineering and ICT development can do.
>
> Also the topic of electricity generation has raised a manufacturing
> interest. Is any Kenyan company manufacturing the High Voltage Lines
> insulators ( ceramic/glass based in many cases ) or are we importing
> these?
> Each High/Low Power line on every mounted pole needs these isolators.
> http://knol.google.com/k/overhead-line-insulators
>
>
> Thank you.
>
> Rgds.
>
>
>
> On Fri, Aug 5, 2011 at 10:54 AM, aki <aki275 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> Thank you Dr Ndemo, and will await to read the comprehensive response. :-)
>
>
>
> On Fri, Aug 5, 2011 at 9:45 AM, <bitange at jambo.co.ke> wrote:
>
>
> Aki,
> Whereas by chance one of the aaplications developed here may become a
> global
> brand, we do not want to leave to chance. That is why we are developing
> centers of excellency, standards and incubators to make sure we part of
> global standards. There is much learning that we must go through. The
> reason
> we should seek to collaborate while guarding our inventions.
>
> As I write, we are working on a digital economy policy. We shall come up
> with a specific legislation in this emerging sector. Create special
> incentives that would propel it to greater levels.
>
> We also must deal with Universities inorder to create the triple helix
> that
> has worked in many parts of the world. Strathmore is leading in the right
> direction. We want to fully their patnership with Sumsang and Safaricom.
> Through such arrangement we create capacities that lead to new other
> enterprises.
>
> This is an area I have the greatest interest and would want to explore. I
> am
> using the annoying Blackberry so please allow me to respond more
> comprehensively when I get to a real keyboard.
>
>
>
> Ndemo.
>
>
>
>
>
> Sent from my BlackBerryR
>
>   _____
>
> From: aki <aki275 at gmail.com>
> Date: Fri, 5 Aug 2011 09:13:11 +0300
> To: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
> Cc: <bitange at jambo.co.ke>
> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Bitange for President? Driving Knowledge
> Economy?OnlineInterview with PS Ndemo
>
> Dr Ndemo,
>
> I have a final question on regarding the creation of the High Tech Sector
> in
> preparation for Malili. While cheaper rent or infrastructure facilities
> maybe an additional advantage, I think we are still to find a way to push
> private sector and govt incentives/policies on creating the High Tech
> Sector. I believe we are no where at the moment, neither the mobile or web
> development sectors even come close to becoming the next billion shilling
> industry sectors. These two sectors are in a transition mode where the
> demand is for more localised settings.
>
> What will the govt do to ensure that kenyan companies start looking at
> holding patents and developing the needs of external markets based on
> technology trends. I think the last thing we would want to see is a
> scenario
> where kenyans in ICT become more of daily wage labourers on contract
> basis.
> While this may seem an ideal employment creation scenario, the results
> will
> be negative in the long term.
>
> What steps and incentives will create the High Tech Sector companies and
> will opening up the development of critical govt sectors offer an
> incentive
> to create broad based technologies?
>
> Thank you.
>
> Rgds.
>
>
>
>
>
>
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