[kictanet] Korea

Tue Nov 8 17:34:53 EAT 2011

PS

That is enlightening stuff. Please also check out the last mile solutions.
As I have always told you, I think government should build the fiber to the
home with an allocation from the national budget the same way we allocate
money for roads. Private sector can't do it and where they do, they will
charge an arm and a leg to "recoup investments."

They key lesson to be learnt also from those observations is productivity
per capita.

Kenyans are hard workers but we have inefficient production systems.

The amount a Chinese or Korean worker produces in an hour is probably what
a Kenyan worker will take a day or two to produce.

We must think of ways of improving productivity.

Manual labourers must not be allowed to hold this economy hostage with
their abysmal production levels and loud, unreasonable politics.

If you haven't guessed by now which manual labourers I speak of, think
Atwoli and his tea pickers who won't allow mechanization at the farms and
the dock workers who won't allow efforts to make the Port of Mombasa more
efficient.

Economic development theories dictate that mechanization takes place to
free up manual labourers to move into other economic sectors. We must look
seriously at our level of productivity if we are to develop to Korea's
level.

James Mbugua

On Tue, Nov 8, 2011 at 5:19 PM, <bitange at jambo.co.ke> wrote:

> I arrived in Korea yesterday for a Global e-Government conference.  ITU
> ranks Korea as number one in ICT diffusion.  From the airport you see
> people walk through with an e-passport using biometrics.  The New Incheon
> airport is 70 Kms west of Seoul, the capital and largest city of South
> Korea with some 11 million inhabitants. It is one of the largest and
> busiest airports in the world actually the world's fourth busiest airport
> by cargo traffic, and the world's eighth busiest airport in terms of
> international passengers in 2010.
>
> Korea is about 99,000 sq Kms or one half of the Rift Valley Province of
> Kenya with a population of 50 million and a GDP of $1 trillion (Kenya's
> GDP is about $35 billion).  In the 60's it was largely a donor recipient
> country with a GDP less than that of Kenya and more than 60% of its
> population below poverty.  They have turned tables to be a member of the
> OECD and a donor country over a short period.
>
> For many years it mostly depended on the USA as its largest trade partner
> but over a time they focused their energies on the Asian Markets.  Its
> trade with China, USA and Japan in 2010 figures stands at %190, $98 and
> $90 billion respectively.  They import a great deal of food and the reason
> why we should not lease our land but use it to improve on our economic
> growth.  A Kg of meat here is $100 imported from Canada and Brazil.
>
> I asked our Ambassador why we cannot sell our meat here.  He says we do
> not meat their standards.  This should not be a problem since we have
> broadband in most parts of the country that we can keep pace with the rest
> of the world in keeping the records especially those required by various
> standrds organization.
>
> Back to Korea.  ICTs are also deployed along the highways making it easier
> to go through the toll stations and collecting all the revenues.  You can
> get data from government at every hour.  You can for example know the
> number of children born in a day throughtout the country.  There is CCTV
> practically everywhere.  Crime is approaching zero.
>
> There is an over supply of affordable public transport via the rail and
> bus system all clean and on time.  If you choose to drive on your own, you
> are taxed at every new turn you make.  The tax from the polluters who
> cannot use public transport is used to subsidize the energy efficient
> public tranportation.
>
> Every child after high school has to go through the Military thus
> instilling the discipline required in this competitive world.  Because of
> such discipline, they do everything very fast.  We were literaly running
> behind our hosts to catch up with them.  In the Newspapers there is a Bank
> executive who has committed suicide because he gave questionable loans to
> friends.  He killed himself for shaming his family and that he may not
> have any friends.
>
> My experience here confirms much of what we have been saying in this
> forum.  The problem is how to inculcate such high levels of ethical
> standards as well as feeling of shame.
>
>
> Regards
>
>
> Ndemo.
>
>
>
>
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