Kivuva Valid points. Policy wonks need to study the Japanese and Chinese model (its apt considering our gaze is now facing east as opposed to West) After the 2nd world war Japan was in tatters and basically a consumer/vassal state of the US. They literally pulled themselves by their shoestrings and protected their industries while at the same time partaking of US Capital. MITI (Ministry of international Trade and Industry) made a policy of building industry champions from Motor Vehicles to IT to Agriculture (Kobe beef from Japan is one of the Most expensive beefs per kilo in the world). When Government and industry pull together in tandem a world of opportunity opens up. Ali Hussein +254 0770 906375 / 0713 601113 "Kujikwaa si kuanguka, bali ni kwenda mbele" (To stumble is not to fall but a sign of going forward) - Swahili Proverb Sent from my iPad On Sep 19, 2013, at 4:38 PM, Kivuva <Kivuva@transworldafrica.com> wrote:
There are two very similar threads to this current thread, one of theme "How we are killing our Kenyan ICT Industry, what we could do to revive it!"
I have noticed members contradict themselves on that thread, and this current one.
Is there any economist in the list who can give us theory of best practice?
I don't believe liberalization means we should open our bellies and let every big economy out there eat from it.
I like giving the example of Germany. Their products although of relatively superior quality, are usually multiple times more expensive than imports. Same with their services. I wonder if the A 100 highway in Berlin was build by Chinese, even if Chinese firms quoted a fraction of the cost.
Ali talked of the great Tumbuktu. When did we stop being innovators and builders and start being mass consumers? Is neocolonialism ensuring that we never move forward on our own? That we cannot do anything on our own? That Kenyans shall forever remain spanner boys in mega construction projects!
NSSF and Times Tower were build by local companies, albeit probably at inflated prices. But with a willing and able government, can't we have local contractors do just as good a job?
I am dead sure that the UTILITARIAN value of having local companies do works even at double the cost far outweighs the savings of auctioning our Capital. If we buy machinery from the west, should we still buy services from them?
Where did we loose our national pride?
Regards
______________________ Mwendwa Kivuva twitter.com/lordmwesh google ID | Skype ID: lordmwesh
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