[kictanet] #TurkanaOil-Kenya Discovers

Thu Mar 29 12:30:24 EAT 2012

Listers,
There have been more than 8 billion mentions of Turkana in the web since
the discovery of Oil in the Northern Kenya County.  I also happen to have
mentioned it several times as I tried to convince my wife that marrying a
Turkana woman as my second now will be a great investment for the future. 
Unfortunately, I have not succeeded but what has struck me is the fact
that we have all taken a wrong tangent on this Oil issue.  Personally the
first thing that came into my mind is immediate abolishing of our
Geography syllabus.

If you recall the Geography that we did and still is valid classifies
Kenya as non natural resource country.  Even as Patni was testifying that
Kenya had Commercial quantity Gold, none of us “educated” believed what he
was saying.  It took us another 10 years to realize that indeed there was
Gold in Kenya.  The first Commercial Gold mining was issued last year.  
This was as a result of the Late Michuki’s efficiency, that we came to
known of a commercially viable mine Gold reserves in this country.

The Monday announcement that Kenya had struck oil was distressful to me as
I began to ask myself what other mineral resources do we have that we do
not know.  Indeed a simple research revealed that in Taita we have Iron
Ore, Uranium, Tanzanite etc; from Kitui to Makueni we have Coal; in
Homabay’s Homa Hills we have probably the best yield Iron Ore that can be
found anywhere; in Migori, Kisii, Transmara and Pokot we have Gold; in
Pokot lies many other minerals including Copper, limestone and Zinc plus
other rare earth minerals; in the Coastal regions we have Titanium and
other rare earth minerals and of course the Northern Kenya is a sea bed of
Oil.

As a curious student in the US, I one time discovered a map that had
classified East Africa as a possible oil reserve.  I was excited and
immediately prepared a strategic concept paper which I wanted to deliver
to the then President, Daniel Moi.  It turned out to be my greatest
nightmare.  I was pumped from office to office with curious Civil Servants
asking me why I will want to waste time with such a document.  Eventually,
I was sent to Foreign Affairs to see the Director of Political Affairs. 
He took my document and simply told me “young man, go back to your
schooling.  You can very easily go to jail here for underestimating our
intelligence”.

Should we wait until the British come to tell us what to exploit and what
we should not?  Some of the Coal field in Ukambani can be easily mined
using open-cast method that does not require complex drilling yet we have
destroyed the tree cover by burning charcoal in many parts of this
country.  We can package the coal nicely and have it sold in super
markets.  There is not much capital expenditure requirement to have as
many as 1,000 youth working in this new project.  We can even spend Kazi
Kwa Vijana resources in order to save a few more trees.

When we revert to arguments such as “is oil a curse or a blessing” we are
borrowing from the Western media without engaging our brains.  Can we see
headlines such as “Kenya MUST abolish colonial geography”, “Kenyan
Universities intensify geological research”, “Curious Kenyans root for
more research”, “Oil discovery what next”?  We must begin to think big and
more positively otherwise we shall be dependants for ages to come.

Ndemo.

> Mugo,
>  
> Ok you got me on the 2016/17, lakini I hope this means you are seriously
> addressing the MDG:-) mine was just to point you to a success story and
> perhaps you can follow their lead without reinventing the wheel...
>  
> Lucy
>
> --- On Wed, 3/28/12, Mugo Kibati <mugo at vision2030.go.ke> wrote:
>
>
> From: Mugo Kibati <mugo at vision2030.go.ke>
> Subject: RE: [kictanet] #TurkanaOil-Kenya Discovers
> To: "'Lucy Kimani'" <lkimani at yahoo.com>
> Cc: "'KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions'" <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
> Date: Wednesday, March 28, 2012, 5:27 AM
>
>
> Hi Lucy - by the time we have oil revenues coming in, MDGs will be long
> gone! Unless you want us to start seriously addressing infant mortality
> after 2016/17:-)
>
> Regards,
> Mugo
>
> Mugo Kibati
> Director General
> Kenya Vision 2030 Delivery Secretariat
> KUSCCO Centre, 2nd Floor - Upper Hill
> PO Box 52301 - 00200, Nairobi
> Email: mugo at vision2030.go.ke
> www.vision2030.go.ke
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Lucy Kimani [mailto:lkimani at yahoo.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2012 6:36 AM
> To: mugo at vision2030.go.ke
> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
> Subject: Re: [kictanet] #TurkanaOil-Kenya Discovers
>
> Mugo, eh didnt think I should let you go unchallenged vis-vis I thought
> you were already reworking Vision 2030 to change that "unattainable" MDG
> on infant mortality:-) Today I heard that Cuba has a lower infant
> mortality than the U.S so question is what are they doing differently to
> achieve this on a shoe string budget and also somehow they have managed to
> attain a life expectancy of 80 years for their women?  I know, I know not
> ICT related but you could start planning how to "USF" some of that oil
> revenue going towards making the MDG attainable:-)
> In the meantime perhaps bw. PS will let you use some of his USF to
> research and look at Cuba's best practices/lessons learned.....
>
> Lucy
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> On Mar 27, 2012, at 11:51 AM, mugo at vision2030.go.ke wrote:
>
>> Just for the record. We should not be reworking Vision 2030 just yet. We
>> still need to ascertain commercial viability over the next few months
>> and even then it will take years to attain that commercialization. Some
>> thinking can start of course but for now that's about it.
>> Sent from my BlackBerry®
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: "S.M. Muraya" <murigi.muraya at gmail.com>
>> Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2012 17:31:22
>> To: Mugo Kibati<mugo at vision2030.go.ke>
>> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
>> Subject: Re: [kictanet] #TurkanaOil-Kenya Discovers
>>
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>> for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
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>> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and
>> development.
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>> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
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> The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform
> 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.
>
> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
> online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,
> share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do
> not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.