The Need for a Strong State

The other day, it was reported that the Prime minister wanted the ambassadors to market Kenya abroad. One wonders what there is to market Kenya about to anyone. It’s a pitiful position the ambassadors are in, but the piper has called the shot so they have to deliver. Otherwise they will face the sack right? Well not quite, no one will be sacked and none should as I do not see how one can be blamed for not doing enough to sell a mire meaningless sea shell that cannot be used for anything better than decoration.

Now you wonder why I call Kenya a useless shell good for nothing. Here I attempt to explain.
The initials idea that resulted in people moving from the bush and deciding to form governments within states was for the purpose of “personal protection”. A governments mandate therefore becomes that of ensuring that the interests of the people always come first. The people in this case therefore willingly surrender their rights to the state (government) with every hope that they shall be better off in the bigger entity.
Some people think mere rhetoric will solve the problems of this country. Yet others think throwing Raila out of the presidency will mean something for them. They are spending insurmountable figures in purchase of state of the art vehicles for their campaigns. They may be right but I bet you my butt on this one, these idiots have no clue what they need to do to make Kenya get where it should be. None of them understands the need for a stronger state. A state can and will stand for the rights of its people, come what may.  This means being able to deal with errant neighbors like Uganda who want a piece of our land decisively. I know no man who will negotiate with another man if he happens to catch him with his wife in his own house. When that happen, if it ever happens I want to be the first to tell the whole world about it. It will be hot news! Well before I get drolly about how much profit I will make selling the story let me remind myself.  Never! Never!.. Never! Ever! Ask Maina Kageni, I am sure he will volunteer the answer for free. So that is settled. Museveni’s Expansionist interest like those of Hitler should be tamed outrightly, lest we call in the “allied forces”.

China must be tamed. I am not campaigning against the country, the effects of its nature of engagement with Africa is questionable. I see no reason why Kenya 40 plus years on still needs to get Chinese contractors to make its roads. I see no reason whatsoever! Countries that have industrialized after the era of colonialism did it themselves.  That is why it is paramount for the planning team to ensure training of the right personnel is done even if it means by force. We must nurture our own, for our own sake.

Of let I have become a reader of political literature and my sojourn in the political lands has proved one thing. There comes a time when a country needs a real dictator, but not one who subjugates democracy as such but one who fights for it with his life. Now that is a concoction I have no clue how to mix but trust me it tastes nice after 10 to 20 years. Please don’t ask me how a dictator won’t squash democracy but who needs democracy if it is not delivering. It never does, not in principle at least.

The Current Kenyan government does not care about its people, the high food prices,the floods,the fluctuating fuel prices, the errant Mps and a rather sloppy President are not fit to uphold  the social contract any longer.

The Red Cross verses the Government, who is the prettiest?

When will the old national creed of "naomba serikali" really mean something? Many have laughed at those asking this but the truth is when people find themselves in a situation where they have nowhere else to run to, the government is their insurance.

Teachers don’t have to strike for the government to know that it needs more teachers. The ministry of planning has the mandate of ensuring that monies are allocated to the right projects. People don’t need to die for the government to know that we need a disaster mitigation strategy.  The Red Cross is good but their effort should only come second at best to that of the government. I commend them for their disaster response efforts.

And did someone notice the Red Cross asserting themselves with the advert requiring us to respect its emblem. I don’t know if it’s me but Red Cross is turning out to be a parallel government. In a situation where the government should be first to respond the Red Cross is usually there fifty years in advance. Am not saying the red cross is doing anything wrong am saying the government will eventually lose credibility, and the cry we  are soon going to here will run like “Naomba Red cross watusaudie…..” in the place of the same old “Naomba serikali……”

In fact with the current trend I guess we need such a ministry more than that of national security for Kenya has no security threat more severe than drought and flood.

MPs must pay tax without compromise deals

Paying tax is not an option for anyone in Kenya, that far we seem to have agreed with some people but the idea of cutting deals on tax paying should not be happening in the new Kenya.

Like my frind DAn ightlly puts it:  ’d rather spend eternity in hell with the ordinary Kenyan who respects the rule of law and pays tax than 10 minutes in heaven with these traitors (MPs) who don’t respect the rule of law.

Well with sentiments  like these, you wonder why we still have a government

Is ICT The Big Thing We Think It Is?

There has been too much hype about the potential of technology to transform the economy of our country to greater heights. Those advocating for technology as the vehicle to development should know that consumption of the same requires disposable income. Without sufficient disposable income, we risk having the investment into the fiber optic cables being a white elephant not able to meets its intended objective. The move to negotiate with the players in the industry to try to lower tariff rates is commendable but we all know they can only take to a particle point.
The internet as it were has no power to drive economic change to a multitude, it can only do it for a specific number of people and the rest must remain as consumers for there to be any economic sense. We cannot all set up internet shops, who will buy from us.  Even if we were to sell, do we have the competitive advantage to beat China or the United states at it? What is that we will be selling to the international market as the ICT board what us to do? You will realise there are other sectors we need to put our money in first before we go global on empty stomachs

The need for a true vision

Vision 2030 is a good one but I think we need a leader with equal dreaming power to actualize the vision. Value addition will be our number one driver toward the vision. We may have not much to sing about in terms of resources but if we put our mind to it Kenyans will never die of hunger ever. The sort of value addition I talk of is not the same as that advanced by the academics. Read below to get a grip of it.

There is also need to stop the growing trend where the little arable land is being taken up by estates. if this continues it will be hard to tame the high food prices we are currently experiencing as there will be no farm land left. Nairobi if you ask me would never have been a city if I were the leader of this nation in those days. The land around Nairobi is so fertile to be wasted in high-rise stone structure when we have an expanse of a dessert in Mandera, Moyale and Isiolo. If there is deliberate development of these areas by the government in terms of setting up of infrastructure then people will find reason to come inhabit these lands. This will ease pressure on other areas where people keep on fighting for the dwindling land resource. That is what I call value addition. This does not only apply to North Eastern region but also a good chunk of the Coastal region.

All this requires a person with vision. If you ask any of the many hungry leaches that want to be presidents what they think is the best way to deal with the problems affecting Kenya a good number will rumble the same old, same old sweet nothings. Change is inevitable Kenyans. Change must happen, change we can see, change that will benefit us not a chosen few.

The Angloleasing Saga

When I sit down to read the paper and the first thing that heat my eyes is angloleasing I want to cry. Cry because our beloved government is sucking blood form us like a leach and they don’t seem to be bothered by it. How hard is to stop these payments?

If we really need to move this country to the places we dream of, such scandals should have no place whatsoever in our society. I may sound a little harsh but the truth is we know the people behind angloleasing and we have all the evidence we shall ever need to put them behind bars or shoot them down with a firing squad. Instead of the kwekwe squad a clever president would have formed a firing squad specifically to execute people involved with corruption. This will deter a good number of the hungry leaches out there who see nowhere further than their fat bellies.

There is need to tilt the balance of trade

At the moment Kenya imports almost three quarters of the goods used in the country. The dream of playing the same field as the Asian tigers will not be realized if such move is not stopped. The reason being the little money we make from exports will be consumed to import and still not meet the demand this leaves us having to utilize donor funding and other credit measures to balance out the deficit.

It’s time we started seeing Kenyan made TV sets and radio sets. If for forty something years since independence nobody has thought of it then it’s time to take the leap of faith. It doesn’t have to be electronics only; we can start with things that are not as complex like making a bicycle or a gas cooker then rise up to more complex ones.  There are many people out here with money but have no idea how to invest their money. If a mechanism can be established where these people act as angle investors for people with the know-how of making Kenyan goods and not necessarily fresh ideas then we will be on our way of waking up from the dream.

The Need for Efficiency

There is an urgent need to ensure efficient management of  resources to make meaningful head ways towards the vision

 

More often than not it is the knowledge of how best to use your resources than how much you have that makes the difference. Kenya has very minimal resources if at all any; this doesn’t mean that we can’t make it. If we learn to use what we have to the maximum benefit we will do just as well as countries that have abundant resources at their disposal. We are not reaping enough benefit from agriculture which is the backbone of our economy yet we want ICT to work for us.

If you ask me Agriculture is the place we should be wasting our many because a hungry economy is as good as dead. Instead of spending millions of dollars to lay fiber optic cables across oceans we should be looking at how we can make the entire north eastern province arable by irrigation. What value will communication give a country that has a food deficit each year?

I heard the other day the Prime Minister say that the Kenyan Government was taking action to avert the hunger crisis by inviting donors to help. That to me is barbaric and silly. The same way we invested in laying an oil pipe network is what we should have done 40 years ago for water. We cannot seat back and expect donors to come to our rescue each year when it rather obvious that rain fed agriculture never seems to work for us. Maximum utility of the land must be achieved and that can only be done if irrigation is taken seriously.

To industrialize or not is the question

We have a very good document in the Vision but visions only happen at night.  I mean a good number of them are in the form of dreams. You don’t dream when you are a wake, if you do, that becomes a day dream meaning the chances of it happening are very minimal. We do not want to end up with a pipe dream, do we?

The best way for Kenya to industrialize at this time is to force us there and not wait for the market to do it. There must be deliberate concerted effort by the government to lead the market. I mean we have to go the German way. The story of how Hitler put engineers in one room and demanded to get the world cheapest car is our best bet to make meaningful change in the way we get industrialized.

If we let the market lead us, we will only end up with our resources making things that will benefit a small percentage of the population based on the ability to pay and not on the need to satisfy the real needs of the people.

The Kenyan Education Scandal

The scandal nation never has enough. Kenya should acquire an aka if the happening in the scandal sphere is anything to go by.Am told the not very honorable Ongeri said the money they are claiming he stole helped the people of Kisii so those guys should back him now that he is being followed. This leaves me wondering does the KACC and the police need any investigations really?

so we are fighting corruption

The government is a dog, otherwise why would it let people mentioned adversely for drug trafficking go scottfree. The Mwaus and Kabogos should have been handled longtime ago. If we are serious in dealing with the problems that bedevil this country a stern leader is required.Someone who will not think twice when it comes to handling the elite crooks