[kictanet] Weird Things ...Konza City?

Bitange Ndemo bitange at jambo.co.ke
Fri Feb 10 19:02:53 EAT 2012 

Robert,
Thank you for the clarification.  When I built my house, the priority was to cover myself against rain and sun shine.  Walls and the grills to protect me from any lateral attack.  Just like my neighbour I knew nothing about building codes.  Today I realize if there is a small fire in my house, I will not save myself.

Such naivety should not be replicated in public buildings in this day and age.  We must begin to develop global standards buildings.  That is why Konza is not just a new city but an exemplar. 

Regards


Ndemo.
Sent from my BlackBerry®

-----Original Message-----
From: robert yawe <robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2012 06:36:31 
To: bitange at jambo.co.ke<bitange at jambo.co.ke>
Reply-To: robert yawe <robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk>
Cc: 'KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions'<kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Weird Things ...Konza City?

Hi Daktri,

Your silence was becoming a concern especially with the headline yesterday of an impending reshuffle and or reduction of PSs.  

Welcome back, I see you thought this post through as it was not done on your portable gadget.

I will respond beginning with the last point, I am a great father and that is not my inflated ego speaking but the opinion of my neighbours.  My children are the opinion leaders in their peer groups, they dictate the groups direction, they are giving the space to speak their minds, they are allowed to defend their positions and have been their own thinkers from an early age.

So Dr. Ndemo your daughter will be fortunate to have me as a father in law and your grand children will have in me a great, insightful and broad minded grand father which are essential to the development of mighty leaders.

The cost of rent is going up faster in Kenya than it is in China and you can take that as fact not opinion because I am an active player in the real estate realm.  Commercial rent in Upper Hill has rising from 40/- per square foot 5 years ago to 120/- today.  

The cost of land in Nanyuki 3 years ago was 120,000/- per acre, an area that is less than 5 kilometres from the CBD, today the price is over 600,000/-, I will not even try bringing up the issue of Kisumu as it is literally obscene. We are not competitive at all in as far as infrastructure is concerned so please lets stop deceiving ourselves on that front, Tanzania is much cheaper and Southern Sudan is more of a blank canvas.

As we look at the issue of land and building note that we still build using methods and standards that where used when Buckingham Palace was being built, where the Chinese can build a 500 room hotel in 45 days it would take us 3 years to do the same.  

The speed with which they can put up new developments complete with the related infrastructure means that before you finish responding to this post they will have moved 500 kilometres from Shanghai and begun building a new city, complete with an international airport and a high speed rail to Beijing, that will offer rents that are equivalent to one third or less of what we shall be able to offer in Konza in 2015 (you see I can be positive).  The entire City will be ready for occupation before we finish fencing Konza in 2013.

On the man power front, we are busy churning out lawyers and administrators clearly we are barking up the wrong tree.  How many lawyers and business administrators where there in the team that launched Apple, Microsoft (1), Google, Facebook, Oracle, Amazon, MPesa, PesaPal, Virtual City . . .  I am sure someone is already writing a response to this but note that the microsofts and googles of this world only brought in the team of lawyers when they where big enough to get sued.

Dr. Ndemo it is shocking that you can actual say on an open forum that Kenya is unsafe and that investors should not come until the fenced City of Konza is ready as it will offer a safe working environment.  This is an indication that you have moved to that exclusive 1% sector of society.  

From your statement you are actually supporting and confirming what I said in a previous post on this same issue that Konza shall be surrounded by slums as the land around it is being subdivided into 50 ft x 100 ft plots.  

As an investor I will invest elsewhere for now until Konza becomes a reality at which point I will apply the wise man's principle "only a fool never changes his mind"  or the political one "in politics there are no permanent friends or foes".  

Even Bill Gates, who initially dismissed the Internet as a passing cloud, did not hesitate to turn around and take full advantage of the new opportunity when it became apparent, but he also realised that dealing with IBM however lucrative it seemed on the onset was a marriage best forgotten. 

My question to you and the team pushing Konza is , if today it became clear that the project will have no viable economic impact will you be man enough to pull the plug?

As I indicated above we build castles which require as few entry/exit points as possible, those in the real estate industry have been fighting for the revision of the the building code since 1987 so as to get rid of requirements such as the 45 degree pitched roof requirement which is essential in countries where it snows.

The plans for Konza will not be vetted by any new team of experts it will be the same ones who are approving the plans for what we are building today and what will be built tomorrow.  City Hall Annexe, Nation Centre, TelePosta, Nyayo House and many of the high rise buildings in the CBD are fire traps yet they have had their occupation certificates renewed for this year.  Daktari I ask you, 

-  does the kitchen in your house have a fire blanket and extinguisher?  
-  do you have approval for the 7 foot wall around your house?
-  when was the last time you where involved in a fire drill?

If not you are in contravention of the council by-laws and are subject to a fine and instead of us raising issues that have a direct impact on our survival we are keeping the Council in court over issues of parking metres and mobile toilet effluent discharge charges. 

I had the opportunity to see the winning design for the campus tower to be developed at the University of Nairobi and it was most wanting.  The intellectual elite at the University still got swayed by pomp and colour like in the case of Konza than function and application of global standards.

Strathmore University on the other hand went for the LEED certification right from design stage, please send me the section in the Konza master plan where LEED certification is mentioned as a requirement?  We both listened to the presentation about Hydrabad and the issues that arose relating to its development how they where handled, why is it that you refuse to carry out a SWOT analysis on the Konza project?  We need to move beyond dreaming towards the reality that is the Kenya we have. 

Listers please do not get confused with the presentation you are seeing in the media, Konza City is still only a piece of empty land, many of you react to my posts as if I am suggesting that we demolish an existing structure.  The images on TV are a simulation and are not real.

We have massive cultural issues, baggage that we shall carry from birth to death unless we face our demons and conquer them we shall not make any progress.  Confucius was Chinese and the Chinese child has grown on the tenets of Confucius we have grown up on the tenets of Wangu wa Makere, Oloibon Lenana, Lwanda Magere and Chief Nikango how can we leverage our cultural heritage to improve our modern lives without trying to ape other cultures?  

For example, it has been proven that no African dialect as a word that means "maintenance" as we did not need it, we buried you inside your hut and let it waste away while the Maasai . . . .

In closing I will respond to my pet issue of my appointment as post master general, I will start with a quote from the bible "what good can come out of Nazareth, they said".  

PCK is lying flat on its back like an envelop (thanks Ntimama), so I agree that if I was already PMG it would be on its knees today on the way to standing up on its own two feet.  

Thank you for your confidence, I hope you will act on this as you push at the next board meeting of PCK for my appointment.

With that wise crack I clear my cache and exit the loop.

Regards
 

Robert Yawe
KAY System Technologies Ltd
Phoenix House, 6th Floor
P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200
Kenya


Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696


________________________________
 From: "bitange at jambo.co.ke" <bitange at jambo.co.ke>
To: robert yawe <robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk> 
Cc: bitange at jambo.co.ke; 'KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions' <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> 
Sent: Thursday, 9 February 2012, 20:39
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Weird Things ...Konza City?
 
Robert,
Had we hired you as PCK Chief with this kind of pessimism, the
organization will be on its knees.  I see no reason for celebrating
contradictions of our policy makers.  We have traveled this road before
and came through.  You recall the registration of Teams that almost
derailed the entire process.

Our culture lets us down in every aspect.  We treasure negativity and pray
that one falls in every positive step that is made.  When Confucious said,
" a journey of 1,000 miles starts with one step", he meant that that you
should not look at the challenges of covering the 1,000 miles but the
opportunities of moving at least one step.  Yes we have seen white
elephants but that does not mean we don't try.

Two of the world's outsourcing companies have been around searching for
real estate to rent.  Two months there is not one building in Nairobi that
meets international standards.  Large buildings have only one fire escape
that if there was fire, people will die not from fire but because there is
no exit.  Just look at any ceiling to check if there are water sprinklers.
Some fancy buildings have only one toilet in a floor that accomodates
more than 300 people.  I could say more..

Konza is not in any threat.  This is our future where we shall create not
only employment but a safe work environment.  I would bet that Robert will
be among the first to seek opportunities at Konza.

In the same paper that Robert extracted the Konza story from there was
another story about the rise of rental cost in China.  A clear opportunity
for us to start offering affordable destination and making it competitive
through partnership in capacity development (Read Carnigue Mellon
University Partnership).

Honestly as liberal I have said to myself that I will never intervere with
my daughter's choice of boyfriend but if I find her with Robert's son, I
will talk her out of it.  Robert if you continue like this, you will make
a bad father in law.



Ndemo.





> Hi,
>
> Konza = public land = freeze by Orengo = national lands commissioner =
> spanner in the works
>
> http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/-/539552/1323050/-/56yje2z/-/index.html 
>
>
> Regards
>  
> Robert Yawe
> KAY System Technologies Ltd
> Phoenix House, 6th Floor
> P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200
> Kenya
>
>
> Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696
>
>
> ________________________________
>  From: Ali Hussein <ali at hussein.me.ke>
> To: 'robert yawe' <robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk>
> Cc: 'KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions' <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
> Sent: Wednesday, 8 February 2012, 11:06
> Subject: RE: [kictanet] Weird Things ...Konza City?
>
>
> Robert
>  
> I can’t argue with your points…
>  
> We need realists. However having said that the suggestion would be to not
> shy aware from such developments but to ensure that mechanisms are put in
> place that we don’t have another Buruburu, Dandora on our hands.
>  
> Guys, it’s good to be skeptical but its better still to offer solutions
> to avoid such eventualities. That’s why Risk Management will be a
> critical aspect of such potentially paradigm shifting endeavors.
>  
> Robert, we need your contrarian view points. Please do not lose that..
>  
> PS. I am old enough to know what happened in Eastlands…J
>  
>  
>  
> Ali Hussein|Managing Partner
>
> Telemedia Africa
> Azania Technology Group
> Chaka Court, Argwings Kodhek Road
> P O Box  14556-00100
> +254 773/713 601113
> Nairobi, Kenya
>  
>  
> Twitter: @AliHKassim
> Skype: abu-jomo
>  
>  
> From:robert yawe [mailto:robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk]
> Sent: Wednesday, February 08, 2012 10:40 AM
> To: Ali Hussein
> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Weird Things ...Konza City?
>  
> Hussein,
>  
> Interesting that you bring up Buru Buru where I lived from the age of 5
> years, when there where picket fences, kids swings, slides and nanny
> parks, until I left at the age of 18 when there were 7 foot stone fences
> with broken glass toppings, churches and bars in the places where I once
> swung, metal sheet granny houses and even entire houses demolished and
> replaced with beacon to beacon multi story structures.
>  
> Living in Buru Buru & going to school in Eastleigh I commuted from 1st
> Avenue, through Juja Road and then down Outer Ring Road watching the
> landscape change.  I watched as Huruma went from a lovely middle class
> development to what it is today, Dandora transformed from a well thought
> out cluster development to the multi story structures you see today and
> then Umoja which well there is nothing to explain it.
>  
> All this happened right under the nose of a President, UNEP, Habitat, City
> Council of Nairobi, AAK, ISK, IEK, UON, Ministry of Housing, Ministry of
> Public Health, Ministry of Public Works, Parliament, Kenya Airforce and
> many others who could have stopped the carnage.  
>  
> Go to the areas around Konza, or just read the classifieds in the dailies,
> and watch the subdivision of plots from the initial seven acre parcels to
> plots of as small as an eight of an acre (50 x 100).  We are already
> replicating Nairobi only that now it is being done in reverse, beginning
> with the surrounding slums and hopefully end with the glassy skyscrapers.
>  
>  
> The road to Konza shall be literally lined with slums and shanties, then
> we shall have proposals to allow helipads, overpasses, windowless high
> speed trains and overhead cable cars to get the investors in and out of
> the technopolis without exposing them to the unsightly developments.
>  
> Also lets not forget that we have been unable to handle national projects
> to date yet we had a central government, come sometime in August 2013 we
> shall have 47 little governments all with their specific interests and
> agendas, what is the likelihood that Konza will get the support required
> to make it work?
>  
> Imagine Buru Buru happened to an estate that was fully developed, I saw it
> and you and many might be too young to have lived through
> the destruction of a brilliant project but I was, so maybe you can now
> better understand my skepticism when it comes to our ability as a nation
> to control the development of a 5,000 acre piece of empty piece land.
>  
> I am not a pessimist I am a realist, let the dreamers prove me wrong when
> I have history backing my position.
>  
> Regards
>  
> Robert Yawe
> KAY System Technologies Ltd
> Phoenix House, 6th Floor
> P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200
> Kenya
> Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696
>
> ________________________________
>
> From:Ali Hussein <ali at hussein.me.ke>
> To: robert yawe <robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk>
> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
> Sent: Tuesday, 7 February 2012, 19:02
> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Weird Things ...Konza City?
>  
> Robert
>  
> I would like to be more optimistic about Konza. 
>
> What you are describing is a Buruburu type land grab and I'm sure that
> isn't what was intended for Konza.
>  
> Have some faith my brother... In fact I think Robert there is room for
> speculation... Though I suspect not in the way we are used to... Think
> Speculation 3.0 with a dash of new tech... :)
>  
>  
> Ali Hussein
> Managing Partner
> Telemedia Africa
> Azania Technology Group 
> +254 773/713 601113
>  
> "You generally hear that what a man doesn't know doesn't hurt him, but in
> business what a man doesn't know does hurt.". - E. St. Elmo Lewis,
> member, Advertising Hall of Fame
>
> On Feb 7, 2012, at 3:14 PM, robert yawe <robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> @Walu,
>> 
>>In short what the AG said was that government land cannot be assigned to
>> an individual or entity but must be offered to the general public.  The
>> statement was initially targeted at the Airtel/Postal/IBM deal of the
>> plot opposite Yaya Centre but it spoke volumes as it gave a precedent for
>> the way forward as relates to government land.
>> 
>>Konza is government land and is and will be governed by the law of the
>> land as relates to such resource, therefore if Microsoft wanted to put up
>> a campus in Konza on a 20 acre plot the government would have to tender
>> for its sell.
>> 
>>At which point Yawe and Co-speculators Inc. will tender and likely win as
>> we shall play the nationalist, county and tribe card.  We will then
>> offer the same land to Microsoft at an inflated price who will reject the
>> offer and opt to locate to the Lakeview Techno City next to RIAT with
>> views from the largest fresh water lake offering water sports.  
>> 
>>My group and I will then subdivide the 20 acres into broty of 50 x 100
>> and sell them to the public to recover our investment.  Visit the area
>> around Bamburi and London Distillers in Athi River/Mavoko area for a
>> living and breathing example of what Konza will look like by the year
>> 2020, it is even more pronounced from GoogleEarth.  
>> 
>>That was the initial location of the EPZ before it was felt necessary to
>> relocate the same 2 kilometres down the road into Rift Valley Province.
>>  The architect of that relocation is an aspiring presidential candidate,
>> what stops him from relocating Konza if he wins the election?
>> 
>>Let us not blind ourselves to the reality and return to the Kenya we
>> know, the EPZ continues to struggle many years later, JKIA remains with
>> hundreds of empty plots still being held onto by prospective investors
>> who where allocated the land over 30 years ago, Baba Dogo is turning into
>> a large residential area and the KIE sheds in Industrial Area have become
>> stores.
>> 
>>Runda Closeburn will definitely fly, Tatu will limp along for a while but
>> Konza will be a still birth.
>> 
>> 
>>What is the strategy for Konza and can someone answer these questions for
>> us?
>>            will the land be sold to prospective investors
>> better known as speculators or leased to investors?
>>            will the government allocate the land to
>> prospective investors a.k.a Karurarists?
>>            how long will it take to develop the
>> infrastructure noting that Nairobi still cannot provide sufficient water,
>> sewerage services and electricity to its residents 200 years down the
>> road?
>>            when the infrastructure is complete and the land
>> allocated how long will it be before the first tenant moves in?
>>            if the first tenant moves in sometime around 2030
>> will the concept still be viable?
>>            is the rest of Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and
>> the Maldives sleeping?
>>            once Raila becomes President, after beating a
>> joint force of Kalonzo, Uhuru & Ruto, what is the likelihood that he will
>> allow that level of national resources to be spent in that region instead
>> of relocate the same to for example Nyanza where there is already an
>> International Airport, is closer to Southern Sudan, the residents speak
>> fluent english plus has english like names to boot, it is
>> a marginalized county (highest child mortality rate) and it gave him
>> their vote as a block?
>> 
>>Until we get a comprehensive report from the various players
>> i.e. treasury, ministry of information, ministry of lands, AG's
>> Chambers, local government, county representatives and the President the
>> project shall remain as dead as a dodo irrespective of how many flashy
>> advertisements are run by a sub-entity of a sub-entity of a
>> substantial participant in the project.
>> 
>>Walu, in your case which ever way it goes nothing affects your setting up
>> a lab, but if I was the University I would look at putting up an entire
>> self sufficient campus.
>> 
>>Regards
>> 
>>PS.  China government is to build 1000 houses in Kisumu plus any other
>> projects that they deem necessary to giving Kisumu the status becoming of
>> a City.
>> 
>>Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box
>> 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696
>>
>>________________________________
>>
>>From:Walubengo J <jwalu at yahoo.com>
>>To: robert yawe <robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk>
>>Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
>>Sent: Tuesday, 7 February 2012, 11:04
>>Subject: Re: [kictanet] Weird Things ...Konza City?
>> 
>>@Yawe,
>>
>>u seem to b on the inside loop on this one.  Konza City, scuttled?  I
>> had advised my boss to book a university lab there and now I might need
>> guidance on what next?
>>
>>And thats me as a local stakeholder, what of the international
>> stakeholders - what would they make of your statement?
>>
>>walu.
>>
>>--- On Mon, 2/6/12, robert yawe <robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>>
>>From: robert yawe <robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk>
>>Subject: Re: [kictanet] Weird Things ...
>>To: jwalu at yahoo.com
>>Cc: "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions" <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
>>Date: Monday, February 6, 2012, 5:25 PM
>>Listers,
>> 
>>Are we seriously having this discussion, please leave certification to
>> institutes of education such as Universities who already issue degrees in
>> computer science and the like.
>> 
>>This is just another tax guzzling scheme like the Konza adverts being run
>> on TV yet the AG has already scuttled the project, 
>> 
>>We are aware that all the great software applications developed over the
>> past 3 decades have been done by enthusiasts or as Philip Ochieng
>> recently clarified amateurs, a situation that is not about to change any
>> time soon.
>> 
>>KICT eat in peace.
>> 
>>Regards
>> 
>>PS.  Liko lets go look for something more productive to do with our
>> time, wachana na mambo ya certification na business plans.  
>> 
>>Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box
>> 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696
>>
>>________________________________
>>
>>From:Agosta Liko <agostal at gmail.com>
>>To: robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk
>>Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
>>Sent: Sunday, 5 February 2012, 14:00
>>Subject: [kictanet] Weird Things ...
>> 
>>Samsung launched its 2nd Engineering Academy with a local Educational
>> Institution
>>
>>The ICT Board on the other hand is working with a Foreign Institution to
>> launch a Kenyan software development certification
>>
>>:)
>>
>>
>>
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>> regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
>> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and
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>>
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>> regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
>> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and
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>>
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> for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
> regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and
> development.
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