[Kabunja wa Gathuita]

Going back to the start of the thread
......
A reliable and cost-effective energy-for domestic and industrial use.

I would add reliable water supply/water management. And besides, proper planning and all inclusive approach for teh benefit of communities within project areas of electricity generation and water sources.

Looking at the water source for Nairobi City Council - we have Ndakaini dam (3rd phase), another dam at the slopes of Aberdares (phase I & II). The supply from the source to Nairobi passes through several districts and many villages. Yet people in these villages, even those at the source (dam neighbourhood) suffer from water problems. Take other example of huge pipeline running from the slopes of Mt Kilimanjaro through Loitoktok district, Machakos and the all the way to somewhere in Kitengela. This part of the project was hijacked/grabbed and water diverted to the flower farms (of course owned by Prof Saitoti, Mois, et al). Point is, there are cultivatable lands around Emali, Kimana, Loiktoktok where peasant families do not make full utilization for lack of water - yet the huge pipes pass through these areas.

Electircity from the seven fork dams is transmitted on high grids all the way to Nairobi -and the communities along the grid lines can't make use of teh electricity as they are not connected. These are just but some oft he examples.

If in the planning process all or some of these were considered, it would be a boost to many Kenyans.

[goigoi]

Has anyone seen the Rural electrification programme master plan since independence? What has the government done? The only time or only place where there is electricity is where there is an installation/project such as factory etc -so it is there because somebody has paid for it. Where is electricity which has been put in place proactively because the government wants it there?

Yet that is what we pay for and all taxes, profits and levies such as rural electrification programme are supposed to do just that. You mean not even the opposition has ever noticed this?


One other curious corruption gravy train is education institution levies.

We have Headmasters and principals who charge over 2,000 per student in a school of over 500 students for more than 4 years plus harambee to buy a canter cum bus. It is primitive and funny.

At the Unis things are no different. Take Moi university as an example. They have "a sophisticated" Information science course and a very modern library.
When it comes to computerization of the institution, I expected them to lead.
But I dont think they are. Dont get me wrong, I know some of their graduates are who is who in the information tec sector. The question is why not use their own graduates and interns and proliferate the institutions with top notch facilities? They say that there is no money.Really?

Most Unis charge a computerisation fee. Okay, so if a university of 5,000 students charges 2,000 for computers that is 10 million in my simple calculations. If they ordered modern computers tax free they can buy over 500 computers at just about 20,000 each.( if they say they cant get them at this rate-let them give me the contract, i know I can get them at higher specification and even for less).

So with 500 computers, they will not need to charge every new student or every year. At least the computers can last 5 years.They can then start departmental cybers and as for personnel, they should use students as volunteers or make it a venue for industrial attachment-The medical students work in hospitals any way. They then can take government jobs such as web design, networking, computerised election tallying, census etc and the money received can pay the interns some retainer. How difficult is this to implement? Every time I go to a Kenyan uni for research i feel terrible because I cant access simple documents which should be online internally and externally.

[Kabunja wa Gathuita]

Originally Posted by goigoi

Has anyone seen the Rural electrification programme master plan since independence? What has the government done? The only time or only place where there is electricity is where there is an installation/project such as factory etc -so it is there because somebody has paid for it. Where is electricity which has been put in place proactively because the government wants it there?

Yet that is what we pay for and all taxes, profits and levies such as rural electrification programme are supposed to do just that. You mean not even the opposition has ever noticed this?


One other curious corruption gravy train is education institution levies.

We have Headmasters and principals who charge over 2,000 per student in a school of over 500 students for more than 4 years plus harambee to buy a canter cum bus. It is primitive and funny.

At the Unis things are no different. Take Moi university as an example. They have "a sophisticated" Information science course and a very modern library.
When it comes to computerization of the institution, I expected them to lead.
But I dont think they are. Dont get me wrong, I know some of their graduates are who is who in the information tec sector. The question is why not use their own graduates and interns and proliferate the institutions with top notch facilities? They say that there is no money.Really?

Most Unis charge a computerisation fee. Okay, so if a university of 5,000 students charges 2,000 for computers that is 10 million in my simple calculations. If they ordered modern computers tax free they can buy over 500 computers at just about 20,000 each.( if they say they cant get them at this rate-let them give me the contract, i know I can get them at higher specification and even for less).

So with 500 computers, they will not need to charge every new student or every year. At least the computers can last 5 years.They can then start departmental cybers and as for personnel, they should use students as volunteers or make it a venue for industrial attachment-The medical students work in hospitals any way. They then can take government jobs such as web design, networking, computerised election tallying, census etc and the money received can pay the interns some retainer. How difficult is this to implement? Every time I go to a Kenyan uni for research i feel terrible because I cant access simple documents which should be online internally and externally.

I wish we could analyse the sectors of our economy this way. Heko kwako.

[Sankara]

its amazing that both parties are only fighting for 2 dockets - internal security and finance. thing is, with 24 years of misrule under moi, everything is literally in tatters!! even if sum1 is given a 'small' docket like environment, there is so much he/she can do.

an instance is the supply of electricity. currently, of all the comesa countries kenya has the highest energy costs. that's why there's so much dumping. sugar imported in egypt (even after taking into account shipping costs and clearance charges) is still cheaper than kenyan grown sugar. why u may ask? ENERGY!! cost of electricity is so high in kenya and thats why u have companies like reckitt benckiser closing their operations in kenya and moving headquarters

i remember years ago, NCC had those blue and orang isuzu trucks that would come and pick garbage. if that scheme was brought back up again, the waste we produce could either undergo anaeorobic digestion (methane recovered and flared) or incineration (heats water, steam turns turbines) to produce electricity. if there was a scheme like that in every city and major town, we could produce more electricity, provide more jobs and as the supply would be greater the energy costs could come down

kenya to me is like a blank canvas. she has SO much potential and there is so much that can be done and needs to be done

big up to kabunja and goigoi. u guys have some great ideas

[Kabunja wa Gathuita]

Originally Posted by Sankara

its amazing that both parties are only fighting for 2 dockets - internal security and finance. thing is, with 24 years of misrule under moi, everything is literally in tatters!! even if sum1 is given a 'small' docket like environment, there is so much he/she can do.

an instance is the supply of electricity. currently, of all the comesa countries kenya has the highest energy costs. that's why there's so much dumping. sugar imported in egypt (even after taking into account shipping costs and clearance charges) is still cheaper than kenyan grown sugar. why u may ask? ENERGY!! cost of electricity is so high in kenya and thats why u have companies like reckitt benckiser closing their operations in kenya and moving headquarters

i remember years ago, NCC had those blue and orang isuzu trucks that would come and pick garbage. if that scheme was brought back up again, the waste we produce could either undergo anaeorobic digestion (methane recovered and flared) or incineration (heats water, steam turns turbines) to produce electricity. if there was a scheme like that in every city and major town, we could produce more electricity, provide more jobs and as the supply would be greater the energy costs could come down

kenya to me is like a blank canvas. she has SO much potential and there is so much that can be done and needs to be done

big up to kabunja and goigoi. u guys have some great ideas

Thanks Sankara.

And I agree with you, there is much each ministry can do - though politicians will argue it is the purse that is important!

We have too much potential in the energy sector, we are not anywhere near in capitalising on our resources - especially the renewable resources. How much of wind can we tap to generate energy. Just for example, on Ngong Hills there are windmils used to generate power but on small scale and we have so many of such hills in Kenya.

People, we can share the ideas, you never know.

[goigoi]

People, can we come up with a list of simply technologies that can be employed at the least cost but with potential to change the lives of Kenyans. We can then switch private and write a paper which we can present to these adamant- and-almost-useless-leaders that we have.

By the way what does this KIPPRA ( I might be wrong on this) -I think It used to be something like a research think tank, do? The ministry of Planning and these white elephant institutions should be churning out policy papers and the opposition should have a think tank wing which should take the Government to task for not meeting those goals.

It is interesting that we see manifestos before election but we never ask how much was achieved before the next elections. who can we blame for that. Even our newspapers never write headlines saying " these guys promised this but achieved zero" we have a problem.

[Kabunja wa Gathuita]

B]goigoi[/b] you are spot on the issue of the manifestos and lack of any monitoring on them. At the re-introduction of the multi-party politics, Ford-Kenya and KANU had good manifestos. In 1997, SDP (with Ngilu and the likes of late Apollo Njonjo, Nyong'o and Shem Ochuodho) had a very good manifesto. 2002 was NARC again giving us a "designers"one. Most of these parties are either struggling to be relevant or not in existence. I have no comments for the PNU or ODM as they can't even agree on the cabinet leave alone the manifestos! The manifestos have been used as mere publicity - either no action or just a token of it.

What makes it worse is that the think tanks rarely make use of suchPolitical party policy instruments to come up with a national policy. KIPPRA for example has been going weak by the day, I guess few know it still exists and I am not sure if they have ever tried to combine work on a combined policy derived from all political parties at any given time.

I go with your idea of listing out simple technologies that can make change to Kenya.

Like for energy, there is the very simple bio-gas system which our jua kali artisan can be supported to build and sell at affordable rates. Many Kenyan homes in the rural areas have limited access to power though majority own at a least a cow.

[Sankara]

Originally Posted by Kabunja wa Gathuita

B]goigoi[/b] you are spot on the issue of the manifestos and lack of any monitoring on them. At the re-introduction of the multi-party politics, Ford-Kenya and KANU had good manifestos. In 1997, SDP (with Ngilu and the likes of late Apollo Njonjo, Nyong'o and Shem Ochuodho) had a very good manifesto. 2002 was NARC again giving us a "designers"one. Most of these parties are either struggling to be relevant or not in existence. I have no comments for the PNU or ODM as they can't even agree on the cabinet leave alone the manifestos! The manifestos have been used as mere publicity - either no action or just a token of it.

What makes it worse is that the think tanks rarely make use of suchPolitical party policy instruments to come up with a national policy. KIPPRA for example has been going weak by the day, I guess few know it still exists and I am not sure if they have ever tried to combine work on a combined policy derived from all political parties at any given time.

I go with your idea of listing out simple technologies that can make change to Kenya.

Like for energy, there is the very simple bio-gas system which our jua kali artisan can be supported to build and sell at affordable rates. Many Kenyan homes in the rural areas have limited access to power though majority own at a least a cow.

Do you know in kenya we don't have any political parties?? The idea behind a political party is an idealogy. And it start usually with the position of the party in the left wing-right wing continuum. We have people who shout "ODM ODM" but yet they don't know what their stance is on education, health, the economy etc

No political party is yet to make its stance on the darfur crisis yet kenya is a prominent member of the IGAD. We have left it to the US, UN and AU yet sudan is our next door neighbour. No party is yet to make its stance on the failure of the transitional govt in somalia. No party is yet to make its stance on the fact that tanzania is seemingly withdrawing from the EAC concept yet kenya is incurring millions of dollars in tariffs subjected to its goods that are imported to TZ yet their goods are imported tariff free......yet we say we have political parties!!

the reason this behaviour will continue is because we have millions of ignorant folk. if u don't believe me, look at the 'kenya 2008' forum and u see people talking about 'us guys (ODM) have wezad that fala kibaki. mazee we now have the dope ministries'......now its OK if the village drunkard makes comments like that. but its another thing if a 25 year old university student makes them!

[goigoi]

I agree. We have parties that really dont function. There is something random about how we think and operate. It is more like a comedy or a group of drunk people who know (purpose) they should be dancing, thereafter go home (goal) but has no idea (strategy) what time it is or how s/he will get home (measure of achievement). Whether it will be on foot, by lift , in a coffin -it is a lottery. That is HOW WE LIVE-SHAURI YA MUNGU-ACT OF GOD kind of fatalistic attitude. We end up with results by default rather than by design.

You know people, kenya is a majimbo country. That was the intention from the beginning. That is why we have district development plans-btw are those documents still produced? we should support this system. Before you start throwing stones at me let me explain. We have the central government and the local government.

They all have representatives at local levels either as municipalities or district/provincial adminstration. That system in itself is majimbo. Wacha this porojo politicians tell you that with majimbo you will be chased away to your native. The kind of majimbo kenyans with e ducation should be telling us where every district or province can identify and implement local projects just as the district development plans and cdf is working under the supervision of central government.

Documents such as birth certificate, pensions, ids and other can be issued at the local level. Instead of travelling to nairobi as we do. That is my kind of majimbo. Spare me the shame of explaining it the way the clergy and politicians have been telling us-ati it is a tribal thing. Yet we practice it in totality. My annoyance is that if the opposition was to read the district plans, the ministry of finance annual expenditure estimates and the budget, they would easily know where the government is short changing us. Every day we see a foreign government has given so much money, we clap as the minister for finance smiles. But who follows to see where the money went?\

\ i have been asking in every forum on the net. What happened to the forensic lab money if indeed it was brought back? one area i think kenyans behave like a truly primitive society is information management. Politicians are ready to pay bodyguards and drivers but they never employ personal researchers who can extract information and update them. Every minister and mp can afford services of a research assistant.

Any way, this is cry in the desert. For instance opposition should be a government in waiting. They ought to have a think tank wing which within hours can challenge/support/ or add value to a government position on practically everything.

Every shadow minister should be informed and ready. When they award themselves money, they dont think of such costs. Partly we are to blame. We never challenge our mps. If you walk now to your mps office, can s/he give u information such as how much bursaries have been awarded to his constituency, how many students joined the uni, how many have completed, how much is allocated for road development etc etc?

i dont worship jungus but i have worked in a similar office and i can tell you that they have a functional office and they know. We have no reason why we cant.ati hakuna pesa? that is a foolish answer. An mp earns 1,000,000 a month? we can afford to pay a research assitant 45,000 a month.

[Realistik Dreamer]

Thanks Goigoi for starting out this threat. I agree with you. I would also like to say a thing about why we have ended up in poverty in Kenya and Africa at large.

When we recieved so-called independence, our political elite came up with policies of Africanization of the economy. Essentially setting up barriers to competition to protect local industries, agriculture and commerce. You will recall that the government itself was heavily involved in business and industry and was the main (formal) employer by far through parastatals etc.

This was a natural process as in the 60s & 70s, human resource and capital capacity had to be build in the economy and only the government through such protectionist & "keynesian" and "welfare" policies like "free" medical care could-development take off.

Optimism flowed in the 60s & 70s as our political leaders were keen to prove themselves as able as their european trainers. This was a fundamental mistake.

Apart from '' harambee" which was basically backdoor "African socialism"- poorly developed in Kenya because we feared being branded 'red' ,our nation builders failed to develop a really coherent ideology on this theme of coming together.

We were thus left to sloganeering things like ''love, peace & unity and most recently 'a working nation''. These are not philosophies or ideologies but rudimentary aspirations.

Rember Kenya has always had the most beautiful and technocratic development plans! So the problem is a lack of serious political ideology/philophy. That is why as many in Goigoi's thread point out, our politics lack issues!

In other countries you will know who is in the right, left, centre, green etc and understand immediately what he stand for. In Kenya, sweet Kenya, we are made to believe we are still developing these thinkings. What!

Without a seriously thought out homegrown ideologies, the inevitable happened: increased corruption and power grabs shrouded in tribal jingoism.Corruption thrives in moral (philosophical) vacuums at personal and national levels.

Tribalism became the closest thing to political ideology. "Our turn to eat" etc.

To make matters worse the oil crisis in the 70s began to derail development plans in the developing world: Kenya included. Due ro the Arab-Israeli conflicts, the Arabs decided to teach the Americans lessons for supporting Israel. As the rise in the cost of petrol created its usual negative spirals on economies, petrodollars began to expand in financial centres like London & the Big Apple. These needed returns.

Enter the third world countries' governments & corporations in need of loans.Due to the over supply of cash, lots of government guaranteed loans were disbursed to unviable projects-white elephants and to notoriously corrupt and oppresive regimes. By the early 80s, there were debt crises in Africa & Latin America!

These events coincided with the final supremacy of the ideology of the neo liberals (known more as neo conservative in the USA) free market philosophies as promulgated by the likes of Milton Friedman.

They finally beat the keynesian-inspired (i.e big government offering services and applying fiscal measures to ensure maximum employment) economists in the game.

These neo cons, starting off from the University of Chicago slowly and insidiously captured the minds of opinion leaders in finance and politics. Including the Bretton Woods bodies. Huge corporation had of course already bought and funded into their philosophy which basically states that governments should stay out of business. The market is efficient with its "invisible hand".

All stuff from water, to health to roads to education can be provided more efficiently by the private sector. This is the power of philosophy ladies and gentlemen! In addition by free markets these neo cons mean the dropping down of barriers to business world wide. Hence globalization today.

Now due to the inability of a chunk of the third world to repay their huge debts, Structural Adjustment Programmes were forced down their throats-Kenya included starting in the 80s.

We were told we must cost share for government services (like we were not paying taxes), told no more agric extension workers, insemination services by the gov etc as these could be provided by the "more efficent" private service, polytechnics collapsed, funding for unis reduced (boom scrapped!) and so forth. By the early 90s governments had been left only with the tool of interest rate manipulation to try and control the economy!Oh and of course the security apparatus in case bewildered angry, hungry citizens got ideas.....

Free markets!

I do not say all of free market is bad. No. But if governments can not ensure the provision of social goods like hospitals, schools, water what are they there for? So the "Chicago boys" rule but of course now there is lots of roll back of some of their dastardly deeds in the third world.

Anyways, what makes the above scenario worse for Kenya is that as these "foreign ideologies" were foistered on us, most of our leaders were too lazy to fight back strategically and mentally on our behalf. They instead increased tribal animosities and corruption: A lack of philosophy and ideology.

This is where we are today. Let us talk and build Kenya, Africa!

Asante