On Sat Aug 13th, 2011 2:05 PM PDT bitange@jambo.co.ke wrote:
Walubengo, Watching news this evening you begin to see that even our media has never quite understood the role of government.
I see Media castigating government for not having capacity to distribute relief food. This I call preposterous because government has never been good in distributing anything. The role of government has been and should always be facilitating through provision of infrastructure, security, legal and regulatory framework. The rest is the people or better the entrepreneurs.
These are real opportunities that we must take every advantage to educate people how to exploit these opportunities. You recall in my earlier post I said that we need Uchumi or Nakumatt up North. Then provide the citizens with smart cards. The intervention of government should have been simply to top up these smart cards. They will then walk to the retail store and pick what they want to eat and not forcing them to eat maize. This is more efficient and cheaper. Further, the majority in Northern Kenya would most likely prefer milk and at the same time Uchumi will buy their Camel milk for re-distribution to other affected areas.
In my view we are all failures and instead of correcting our mistakes, we load the blame on government. We must remember that communist countries tried to control distribution of food in their respective countries and they all failed. It is time the government let the food supply chain to private enterprise and only manage it through fiscal policy (give tax incentives when production is threatened as well as incentives for storage facilities) intervention. This change will reduce the perception of corruption in government by some 30%.
With or without “Candidate” Ndemo. Issues such as this one that goes a long way in managing our food supply chain must be raised with the real candidates. I am willing to shed more light on food security so that we are all ready for the candidates. In my view we must begin to define what we need in our country’s chief executive. In view of the new constitution we must start working on the job description. We need the lawyers to interpret how Chapter 7 (Leadership and Integrity) relates to the election of our future leaders.
If that will be the case, we must interrogate their decisions with respect to CDF. If someone was not able to manage a CDF kitty of Ksh. 100 million, that person will not certainly manage trillion shilling national budget.
Ndemo.
Bw PS,
nice insights you have below. Mine is simply to ask what your thoughts are, in terms of making consumer internet prices affordable. Yes, cost of bandwidth at international gateway level used to be 5,000USD per MB (over satellite) but now it has dropped below 500USD per MB. Basically it has dropped by 10 times - HOWEVER- in our cyber cafes, the cost of accessing internet is still 1/- to 2/- per minute, pretty much what it was during the satellite days.
Mobile data internet which is the more common form of access is not any cheaper either. There's has been NO drop per-se, just marketing gimmicks of increasing the amount of bandwidth for the same (HIGH) price. It is like saying lunch costs 2,500/= at some 5star hotel, but since there has been good rains/harvest, for the same 2,500/= you are free to eat ALL you want...sounds good, but ONLY for those who could afford the 2,500/= lunch bracket in the first place - who unfortunately are not many....particularly in an economy whose average monthly income is around 8,000sh.
So how do you intend to tackle the internet price problem when you get to be President?
walu.
--- On Fri, 8/12/11, bitange@jambo.co.ke <bitange@jambo.co.ke> wrote:
From: bitange@jambo.co.ke <bitange@jambo.co.ke> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Bitange for President? Extended due to Public Demand To: jwalu@yahoo.com Cc: kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke Date: Friday, August 12, 2011, 9:01 PM
Harry, Yes there is a crisis virtually in every country at the moment. The difference is how you handle the situation. In Britain the Prime Minister thought he can take a vacation in Italy and forget what is going on at home but he was forced to dash home. Before I respond to how we take care of our crisis, I felt there is a patriotism lesson that we need to learn from Britain.
The first reports we got in our News papers here and even in electronic media, there was no cause of the crisis in Britain. It was simply reported that London is burning. Some of our best media houses with so many journalists forgot to ask questions like what, where, when, why, etc. This would have helped us understand. This is because the British Media (from where our Media got the story) first looks at their country’s interests first and everything else is secondary. Does our Media have what they call Kenyan or African interests? If they did, they would have raised issues relating to racism and African Diaspora. We shall be more respected if we had the interest of those in the Diaspora at heart be they from Bahamas or Nigeria.
How do we respond to our crisis? This should not be a government project. The entire society needs a lesson on respecting other human beings because this where our problems start and will open up greater opportunity and sustained harmony for all humanity. In other countries they make an effort to socially integrate all citizens of different economic classes. Let me elaborate. In Kenya a good mechanic will never be found drinking with a corporate CEO but in other countries it happens and sometimes you find they are neighbours. It is not common you find a woman with an undergraduate degree married to a plumber for example. We have defined classes that we try everything to belong to. We do not have good plumbers, mechanics, carpenters etc in this country yet we have thousand s looking for white collar jobs.
I am sure most of you have watched Cheers. The artists in the bar are a postman, a doctor, other professional, bar maids and men having a common goal. Where no one thinks or feels they know more than the other. This is the begging of building a harmonious society that no one feels left out. The rift we have created just needs a small thing like shooting a drug dealer (as in the UK) then hell will break loose. We must not forget that this happened in China in 1949 when the Maoists took over. They literary killed anybody who seemed to be from upper class. Land reform was the major focus of policy as a result of China's vast rural population, around 90% of the population were farmers. Lands of former landlords were confiscated by the government and subsequently redistributed to the lower-class peasants. Do not forget the French revolution.
Discrimination in any form should be shunned. This is because it is the basis of all problems be it class or tribalism.  Three of my close friends have experience that summarizes what I have tried to explain. Mr. X got six and eighteen points at O and A levels respectively. At university he came out with 1st class in Electrical Engineering and joined the then EAPL and later obtained an MBA. Mr. Y had division II and could not afford high school but went to Kenya Science Teachers to become a teacher. Mr. Z also passed his O levels with Division III and joined Barclays Bank as a Clerical officer. They have struggled in their own ways and of the four of us Z is the wealthiest. Any time I am with X, he complains why I should even have time for Y and Z. Y by the way has struggled for many years and he will soon get his PhD. According to X these are not our class of people. He loathes Z as one who failed and now possibly has earned his wealth through corrupt means. In spite of the fact that I have tried to ask X to forget the past, he feels he belongs to a different class and hangs around some of the “successful� people. Although I have never disclosed this to Y and Z their sixth sense leads them to discriminate X from some events. At some point we were four young lads who enjoyed life together but now pulling a part because of differences in the way we led our lives after high school. I hear and see this kind of stories often and make me feel bad about class division in our country.
I have had the privilege of deciding who my assistants should be but not once have I ever picked someone because we spoke the same vernacular language. My current office is a living example and after leading by example, all of my senior officers followed suit. This is how we should begin to tackle the problem of tribalism. We also must ensure equitable distribution of resources and start connecting all the counties with roads, energy, water, schools and hospitals. We have already connected fibre optics to all the counties and are in the process of covering the pockets that exist. Even with difficult times we have managed to balance infrastructure development to all parts of the country. We shall continue with similar strategies.
To achieve my objectives, I take you back to building sustained regional influence and develop the HUB concept in everything here in Kenya. Transportation, ICT, Industrialization, and practically everything Hub. Of course some of our neighbours will feel jealous.   This is what we need in a sustained way because it will help galvanize Kenyans against some external “aggressor�. President Museveni used this effectively to get Ugandans behind him when he claimed Migingo as a strategy to get re-elected. Let us do good to the entire East Africa by building the rail up to Goma, Adis, Juba, Dar and Arusha all terminating in Nairobi. We must build major transit and logistics airport and make it cheap to access it to all rail destinations. Develop capacity to serve the entire world back offices.   >From this we shall create a pull effect on our agriculture. Let me not disclose the entire strategy.
Regards
Ndemo.
Bw Ps,
Thanks for your articulative responses... Indeed looking at events cutting across the globe now, one wakes up to a realization that we face similar socio-economic challenges. Bottom line, is how do we respond. And respond we must. But consequently this is what makes the huge difference between moving forward purposefully to achieve progress and backpeddling on the other hand.
We'd also wish to understand what strategies would be put in place to ensure a balanced infrastractural development across the regions. I suppose much of the concentration right now is around the Capital and it's environs at the expense of the rest of the country. How about dealing with the great tribalism "monster".
3rdly, what strategies/plans do you have in place to achieve this dream you have.
Harry
-----Original Message----- From: kictanet-bounces+harry=comtelsys.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+harry=comtelsys.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of bitange@jambo.co.ke Sent: Thursday, August 11, 2011 3:32 PM To: harry@comtelsys.co.ke Cc: kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke Subject: Re: [kictanet] Bitange for President? Extended due to Public Demand
Grace, Thank you for extending the debate to Monday. I hope I get time to articulate some of the issues that will impact our lives in the next few years. Earlier I said that we are not alone in how we are dealing with our social development. I went ahead and gave examples from the US and UK. Although it is an unfortunate for the British people, it has come to pass. Even the Central Bank we got some good debate out of my post.
Leadership requires selfless commitment to the people they lead. It is a sacrifice one makes. In this respect, I will seek for advisors who have demonstrated ability to serve their country with dedication. We have these people but they have never been given a chance to lead. The constitution has accorded us the opportunity to search for such people. If you read today's front page Standard, it has the requirement for those who want to join the electoral commission. If we follow the requirement to the letter, we shall get credible people. It is this process that lacked before and political operatives took charge in many posts within government.
Indeed there will be a policy guideline on all organizations registered under Societies Act. It is in the interest of the public that these organizations file annual returns to the registrar because they are tax exempt. Tax exemption means that we the public partly fund their activities. Further the state has a responsibility to protect its citizens from being taken advantage of. We cannot burry our heads in the sand on this issue no matter how sensitive it is. We shall also be implementing our constitution with respect to Bill of Rights.
Regards
Ndemo.
Listers
We have received requests (offline) that we allow "Candidate" Ndemo more time for him to respond to more concerns being raised.
This is to let you know that the 'official campaign period" has been extended up to Monday August 15, 2011.
And now Dr. Ndemo, Harry Delano did ask you to say what kind of advisors you would be looking for to help shape policy. Can we hear you on this one too? You also make a valid point about churches and the fact that they are not audited. I know for example in Washington DC, Parish priests have to present audited accounts to Parishoners once a year, while the Bishop fundraises through a system that is open to public scrutiny. Would you then make a policy decision on this? On a light note, may I remind you that your responses will go into the 'manifesto' and translate into more or less "votes" :)
Listers, let the debate continue.
Rgds GG
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