<div dir="ltr">Adam...I guess the two points were not to be taken literally but meant to provoke thinking.</div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Nov 18, 2013 at 10:03 PM, Adam Nelson <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:adam@varud.com" target="_blank">adam@varud.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">The first sentence does not lead to the second and third:<div><br></div><div>"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."</div>
<div><br></div><div>Kenya should go towards counter-cyclical employment of youth doing productive infrastructure work: being teachers, building railroads, digitizing land records, etc...</div><div><br></div><div>However, you can't forget Adam Smith who talked extensively of Comparative Advantage (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_advantage" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_advantage</a>). �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).</div>
<div><br></div><div>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.</div>
</div><div class="gmail_extra"><br clear="all"><div><div dir="ltr"><div>--</div><div>Kili.io - OpenStack for Africa: <a href="http://kili.io" target="_blank">kili.io</a></div><div><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:small">Musings:<a href="https://twitter.com/varud" target="_blank">�twitter.com/varud</a></span></div>
<div><span style="font-family:arial;font-size:small">About Adam:�<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamcnelson" target="_blank">www.linkedin.com/in/adamcnelson</a></span><br></div></div></div>
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div><div class="h5">On Mon, Nov 18, 2013 at 9:21 PM, Kivuva <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:Kivuva@transworldafrica.com" target="_blank">Kivuva@transworldafrica.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
</div></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div><div class="h5">
Dr. Ndemo has struck a cord that has been played in this list<br>
countless times before. I �remember him saying in another thread "you<br>
cannot have unemployed youth yet we have countless garbage lining our<br>
streets and estates!"<br>
<br>
His argument on us importing cloths yet we can do it here is basic<br>
economic that any country can master. India went that way through the<br>
leadership of Mahatma.<br>
<br>
But Dr. Ndemo, in the previous administration that you served so<br>
ardently, the government shipped billions worth of capital on works<br>
that could be done by Kenyans. I'm talking about the massive<br>
infrastructure development that took place in the last 10years. That<br>
capital could have done our unemployed generation justice if it was<br>
utilized here home. I believe Kenyans can build decent roads, brides,<br>
buildings and ports. What happened to national pride? It's the same<br>
argument of importing cloths or planting cotton and producing our own<br>
garments.<br>
<br>
We're still not out of the woods yet, remember the Korean firm<br>
implementing the PKI?<br>
<br>
My cent-less<br>
<div><br>
On 18/11/2013, Dorcas Muthoni <<a href="mailto:dmuthoni@gmail.com" target="_blank">dmuthoni@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
> A good piece by Dr. Bitange Ndemo<br>
><br>
><br>
</div>> *We must be more pragmatic to resolve Kenya's high unemployment*<br>
<div>> <a href="http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/blogs/dot9/-/1959700/2077756/-/oodsogz/-/index.html" target="_blank">http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/blogs/dot9/-/1959700/2077756/-/oodsogz/-/index.html</a><br>
><br>
> --<br>
> Muthoni<br>
><br>
> My Blog: <a href="http://rugongo.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://rugongo.blogspot.com/</a><br>
> --------------------------------------------<br>
> Mahatma Gandhi once said:-<br>
><br>
> First they ignore you,<br>
> Then they laugh at you,<br>
> Then they fight you,<br>
> AND THEN YOU WIN!!!<br>
><br>
<br>
<br>
</div>--<br>
______________________<br>
Mwendwa Kivuva<br>
<a href="http://twitter.com/lordmwesh" target="_blank">twitter.com/lordmwesh</a><br>
<a href="http://kenya.or.ke" target="_blank">kenya.or.ke</a> | The Kenya we know<br>
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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.<br>
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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.<br>
</blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br>Muthoni<br><br>My Blog: <a href="http://rugongo.blogspot.com/">http://rugongo.blogspot.com/</a><br>--------------------------------------------<br>Mahatma Gandhi once said:-<br>
<br>First they ignore you,<br>Then they laugh at you,<br>Then they fight you,<br>AND THEN YOU WIN!!!
</div>