Well said Bwana Ndemo, If others can learn from us and advance their cause then we can too, Africa CAN. I believe alot in the champion approach which is that if one country gets it right, the others would follow and i may be wrong but am strongly convinced that Kenya has the mantle in our time to shoot off and stand tall for all other African countries to follow. I pray Kenya does not disappoint destiny. Eric here On 10 Oct 2008, at 21:10, bitange@jambo.co.ke wrote:
Dear Eric, Thanks for your comments. The current Malaysian Prime Minister was among the delegation in 1972 that came to Kenya and other African countries to learn the magic of growing an economy at rate of 7%. They were shocked to visit cities in Africa that had no shanties. They grabbled with the issue of poverty, disease and ignorance. The poverty level here is at 3% and every Malaysian has a house. Their ICT corridor is 70Km long and 30 Km wide. They are now working on a biotechnology corridor which shall be even bigger than the ICT one.
In meetings to chart the way forward on these projects, the attendance is greater than 95%. Contrast this with our Africa. We call meetings to discuss policy and you hadly see anybody but when it comes to criticism everybody has something to say. More often in the negative. A good example is the policy proposals that I have made here. Peterson is already criticizing and saying the Government should ... strike a balance. Should we be asking where our problems are? We are simply too argumentative and have fallen flat on our bellies when it comes to responsibility.
We do not need to reinvent the wheel, we simply have to learn what the Newly Industrialized Countries (NICs) did. They allowed the MNCs but ensured that components were manufactured locally. The backward and forward linkages enabled them to develop sufficient confidence to go it alone. The assembly of Motor Vehicle industry in Kenya had attained 60% local content before it slid. In 1985 we attempted to make a local car, Nyayo. Incidentally, that is the same year the Malaysians started their Proton. The initial production both in Malaysia and Kenya were so expensive that we ridiculed our Nyayo car to oblivion. Malaysians on the other hand knew they had a learning curve to go through in order cut the cost. Today we import the Protons to Kenya. Our technicians from General Motors helped India with the Tata and Mahindra but we still have not quite gotten it correct. I have always wondered whether God made us perpetual pessimists?
Had we trusted ourselves even by a tinge, we could very easily be competing with Japanese or better. The situation is not getting any better since it is common to see 40 year old men living with their parents. Are we really creating independent minded Kenyans who can change this country or Africa for that matter? These are the people who make comments on subjects they have no idea in.
Eric I worry a lot for our continent. Per harps I shouldn't.
Regards
Ndemo.
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Eric M.K Osiakwan ICT Integrator Internet Research www.internetresearch.com.gh emko@internetresearch.com.gh 42 Ring Road Central, Accra-North Tel: +233.21.258800 ext 2031 Fax: +233.21.258811 Cell: +233.24.4386792