[kictanet] A good piece by Dr. Bitange Ndemo

Tue Nov 19 10:01:17 EAT 2013

We have Kenyan companies building Highways in Botswana. They are led by
Njoroges and Kamaus and Ochiengs. It is not a matter of local capacity but
complacency and impunity. A contractor is paid according to milestones
right? No delivered product no payment. Why would a contractor waste  years
if he is not getting paid? Best incentive in my opinion.

On Tue, Nov 19, 2013 at 9:38 AM, Emmanuel Khisa
<oloo.khisa at googlemail.com>wrote:

> @ Mark, I do think that we would *ever* have heard roads done if ever
>
> we used Kenyan Contractors...sorry to say this but look how far we got
> during the pre Kibaki era with contractors that did a 10km of a road
> for 5 years and still never completed them...I think one credit I
> would give the China Bridge and Co and H Young and Straberg is that
> they actually did up the game...
>
> I otherwise agree with you on the rest of the points raised above.
>
>
> On Tue, Nov 19, 2013 at 9:35 AM, Emmanuel Khisa <oloo.khisa at googlemail.com
> > wrote:
>
>> @ Mark, I do think that we would never have heard roads done if ever
>> we used Kenyan Contractors...sorry to say this but look how far we got
>> during the pre Kibaki era with contractors that did a 10km of a road
>> for 5 years and still never completed them...I think one credit I
>> would give the China Bridge and Co and H Young and Straberg is that
>> they actually did up the game...
>>
>> I otherwise agree with you on the rest of the points raised above.
>>
>> On Tue, Nov 19, 2013 at 9:12 AM, Mark Mwangi <mwangy at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > I agree with Adam albeit partly. Running to make everything under the
>> sun is
>> > no a smart move. However building horizontal industries where products
>> from
>> > one industry feed another and by products are the base of another
>> shoulfd be
>> > encouraged. Building spare parts for local cars is an example.
>> >
>> > A knowledge economy is a good foundation but we still need to build and
>> make
>> > stuff. e.g Swiss chocolate, german cars, American Missiles, Chinese
>> iPhones
>> > etc. Am yet to see a stable economy that doesn't manufacture and export
>> > physical goods.
>> >
>> >
>> > On Mon, Nov 18, 2013 at 10:03 PM, Adam Nelson <adam at varud.com> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> The first sentence does not lead to the second and third:
>> >>
>> >> "We cannot have high unemployment, and at the same time import clothes
>> >> from Sri Lanka or mitumba, when we can grow cotton and make our
>> clothes.  We
>> >> must defy economic explanations on what works and what does not work.
>>  If we
>> >> deployed thousands of youth digitizing land records, we would reduce
>> >> caseloads in courts, become more efficient, and create more wealth to
>> grow
>> >> our economy."
>> >>
>> >> Kenya should go towards counter-cyclical employment of youth doing
>> >> productive infrastructure work: being teachers, building railroads,
>> >> digitizing land records, etc...
>> >>
>> >> However, you can't forget Adam Smith who talked extensively of
>> Comparative
>> >> Advantage (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_advantage).  Sri
>> Lanka
>> >> (or really Bangladesh) has a far more economical solution for producing
>> >> cotton clothing than Kenya has.  This mostly has to do with the port of
>> >> Mombassa being a stranglehold and the fact that a 40M person economy
>> (Kenya)
>> >> doesn't have the same economy of scale as a billion person economy (a
>> guess
>> >> at the number of people a Bangladeshi factory can export to easily).
>> >>
>> >> Kenya is a small country and a small economy and if it wants to bring
>> in
>> >> more money and reduce unemployment, the solution is around creating an
>> >> amazingly well-educated population and doing more knowledge work - not
>> >> producing more clothing.
>> >>
>> >> --
>> >> Kili.io - OpenStack for Africa: kili.io
>> >> Musings: twitter.com/varud
>> >> About Adam: www.linkedin.com/in/adamcnelson
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> On Mon, Nov 18, 2013 at 9:21 PM, Kivuva <Kivuva at transworldafrica.com>
>> >> wrote:
>> >>>
>> >>> Dr. Ndemo has struck a cord that has been played in this list
>> >>> countless times before. I  remember him saying in another thread "you
>> >>> cannot have unemployed youth yet we have countless garbage lining our
>> >>> streets and estates!"
>> >>>
>> >>> His argument on us importing cloths yet we can do it here is basic
>> >>> economic that any country can master. India went that way through the
>> >>> leadership of Mahatma.
>> >>>
>> >>> But Dr. Ndemo, in the previous administration that you served so
>> >>> ardently, the government shipped billions worth of capital on works
>> >>> that could be done by Kenyans. I'm talking about the massive
>> >>> infrastructure development that took place in the last 10years. That
>> >>> capital could have done our unemployed generation justice if it was
>> >>> utilized here home. I believe Kenyans can build decent roads, brides,
>> >>> buildings and ports. What happened to national pride? It's the same
>> >>> argument of importing cloths or planting cotton and producing our own
>> >>> garments.
>> >>>
>> >>> We're still not out of the woods yet, remember the Korean firm
>> >>> implementing the PKI?
>> >>>
>> >>> My cent-less
>> >>>
>> >>> On 18/11/2013, Dorcas Muthoni <dmuthoni at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >>> > A good piece by Dr. Bitange Ndemo
>> >>> >
>> >>> >
>> >>> > *We must be more pragmatic to resolve Kenya's high unemployment*
>> >>> >
>> >>> >
>> http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/blogs/dot9/-/1959700/2077756/-/oodsogz/-/index.html
>> >>> >
>> >>> > --
>> >>> > Muthoni
>> >>> >
>> >>> > My Blog: http://rugongo.blogspot.com/
>> >>> > --------------------------------------------
>> >>> > Mahatma Gandhi once said:-
>> >>> >
>> >>> > First they ignore you,
>> >>> > Then they laugh at you,
>> >>> > Then they fight you,
>> >>> > AND THEN YOU WIN!!!
>> >>> >
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> --
>> >>> ______________________
>> >>> Mwendwa Kivuva
>> >>> twitter.com/lordmwesh
>> >>> kenya.or.ke | The Kenya we know
>> >>>
>> >>> _______________________________________________
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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
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>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > Regards,
>> >
>> > Mark Mwangi
>> >
>> > markmwangi.me.ke
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
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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.
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> "Service to Mankind is the greatest form of service"...
>>
>>
>>
>> Oloo Khisa
>> P.O. Box 24324-00100
>> Nairobi
>> 0721321086/0731849128
>> http://ke.linkedin.com/in/olookhisa
>>
>
>
>
> --
> "Service to Mankind is the greatest form of service"...
>
>
>
>
>
> *Oloo KhisaP.O. Box 24324-00100Nairobi0721321086 <0721321086>/0731849128
> <0731849128>http://ke.linkedin.com/in/olookhisa
> <http://ke.linkedin.com/in/olookhisa>*
>

-- 
Regards,

Mark Mwangi

markmwangi.me.ke
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