[kictanet] University of Nairobi Set Top Boxes

[Kivuva]

No more Palaver Dr. Ndemo.

I also put forward my 100,000.

On 17/02/2013, bitange at jambo.co.ke <bitange at jambo.co.ke> wrote:
> Listers,
> A total of 81 million manufacturing jobs are to move out of China in the
> next few years.  Some jobs are moving back to the US and some are finding
> their way into emerging economies.   In the past few weeks since the
> ground breaking ceremony at Konza, I have met with six manufacturing
> outfits that are considering Africa as their new manufacturing
> destination.  Two are well known chipset manufacturers.  They not only
> want to manufacture their chipsets here but would want to build a supply
> chain by partnering with locals to manufacture hand-sets using their
> platform.
>
> The four other visitors are emerging American and European companies that
> want to leverage on new opportunities arising in Africa’s burgeoning
> mobile market.  Some of the questions they ask include whether we are
> doing any light electronic assembly work.  Of course the answer is no but
> I try to say good things about Dr. Gachigi’s work at the University of
> Nairobi Fab Lab.  In my view we have collectively failed.  We cannot get a
> donation from the MIT and seek for someone to take the risk by giving
> further aid.  We cannot develop if we cannot take the risk ourselves.
> The KictaNet platform has been great and we say good things yet in three
> days we forget about them.  At times we revive the issues but we never do
> anything that our children and grand children will remember us about.  The
> forum we have is great.  We need to use it much more by for example
> mobilizing resources to seize these emerging opportunities.  Our risk is
> minimized if for example 1,000 people give 100,000 for production of
> locally manufactured set top boxes or mobile handsets.  We shall never get
> to do this unless we consider the opportunities our collective
> responsibility to exploit them.
>
> If you watched Johannes, the World Bank Country head’s press conference on
> Friday, you should be worried.  The Bank is worried that the declining
> food productivity especially maize will lead to severe food insecurity in
> the country.  There are signs that we may not get sufficient rainfalls
> next year.  This is no longer a surprise since the drought cycle in Kenya
> is four years.  Subsistence farming is the cause of all our problems.  The
> solution is that we must reduce those we call farmers from 80% to less
> than 5% and increase manufacturing from its current contribution to GDP of
> 11% to more than 40%.  We must move to large scale and mechanized farming
> in order to significantly improve on our productivity.
>
> To achieve this, we must address land use in this country but we have
> decided to burry our heads in the sand on the issue of land.  The problem
> is not in the distribution of it or the size one owns but in land use.  It
> is far much easier to tax the Delameres for not utilizing the land than
> resettling 10,000 people on the land on the basis of ensuring equitable
> distribution of land.  There is no country that has developed with
> majority of its people spread throughout the country in what they call
> Home Square.  There are more than 70 million people living in England
> which is the size of Nyanza.  In Kenya, 20% of land is arable and can be
> used without reliance on irrigation.  This is far bigger space than
> England but due to our primitive sub-division of the land, we are not able
> to use the land productively.  In Kisii which is the most fertile land in
> Kenya, average land size has dropped to less than two acres.  Some
> “farmers” grow less than 100 stalks of maize.  Clearly we are creating
> problems as we see crime soaring.
>
> As Johannes concluded, we must scale up our manufacturing.  This will
> enable us to rapidly urbanize and hopefully leave land for farming.
> Manufacturing opportunities in Kenya are enormous with insatiable market
> around us.  Can we for once wake up and try exploiting these
> opportunities?  I shall be the first one to contribute Ksh. 100,000 as
> capital for those willing to mobilize resources and take the risk of
> venturing into manufacturing either in light electronics or in value added
> services to our agricultural products.  There is a body of knowledge that
> will help us minimize the risk.  I know for example if we met the
> standards of potatoes we consume at KFC, we can begin to compete with
> Egypt and Brazil.  This also provides us with the opportunity to develop
> standards apps and further expand job opportunities.
>
> It is my prayer that this time round we go past palaver and do something
> not just for us but the country.  Kictanet will become part of history if
> we pull this.  No donor or anybody can do this for us.  Let us just do it.
>
>
> Ndemo.
>
>
>
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