[kictanet] A good piece by Dr. Bitange Ndemo

Wed Nov 20 01:36:05 EAT 2013

+1 daktari, we need to develop a high afinity for data driven
interventions. We cant ignore research in this day and age.
On Nov 19, 2013 9:41 PM, "Bitange Ndemo" <bitange at jambo.co.ke> wrote:

> Mark,
> At independence literacy in Kenya was below 20 percent.  This is why Jomo
> Kenyatta made it a priority to deal with ignorance, poverty and disease.
> Today literacy in Kenya is approaching 90 percent but we still import
> bicycles.  We import Kitenge and other African prints from the
> Netherlands.  Why is cheaper to import from Netherlands where wage levels
> are higher than Kenya?
>
> This is because we theoretically dismiss everything without the benefit of
> science (data). Let us do it and if we fail, we shall have learnt some
> lesson.  Whilst you can sue a structural engineer for professional
> negligence, you cannot sue an economist for the same.  That is why I said
> that we defy economists since their guess is as good as yours.  Do not
> look at a 40 million market.  Look to the 1 billion market in Africa.
> Economists have been failing us since time immemorial.  They failed
> Hoover.  They failed Africa with the structural adjustment programmes.
>
> If this thing called comparative advantage worked, then steel producers
> would be the best car makers.  But we know this is not true since Japan a
> non steel producer makes cheaper cars than UK yet UK has had plenty of
> steel.  We must be good at producing something then figure out how we
> sustainability be competitive.  If we do not try, we shall be like that
> person hoping to win lottery without buying the ticket.
>
>
> Ndemo.
>
>
>
>
>
> > 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 <https://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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> >>
> >>
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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,
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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.
>
>
> University of Nairobi
> Business School, Lower Kabete Campus
>
>
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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.
>
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