Collins, 1. We are in the same boat with strong winds. I am simply saying what many people have said and we did not listen. In 1989 I made a proposal to the Kenya Government on how we could independent. The highlights of the proposal was to focus on modernizing agriculture through mechanization and setting aside large tracks of land where we could take advantage of economies of scale. I said our future food security would be in threat due to climatic changes. I said that land sub division should be halted and start rural urbanization to create land for agriculture. My thesis then and now was that subsistence farming was undermining economic growth. In my report I likened our situation with Switzerland. Switzerland has a population of 8 million in an area of 15,940 square miles (size of Central Province of Kenya). From here they it feeds her population and sends the surplus to Africa. Further I said we were wasting a lot of money in Tourism to entertain just a few people. You can prove me right today but then I spent my entire holiday moving from one office to another trying to explain what would be a problem in my country. Eventually I sat down with the then Director of Political Affairs in the Ministry of Foreugn Affairs. He simply told me "young man you can go back to your USA here you are going to waste your time". 2. We are all creative in a way and really thank you for supporting my "candidacy". 3. 50% on agriculture then 40% manufacturing. ICT does not need a lot of money to implement. On average most countries spend 6% of their annual budget on ICTs. 4. This energy thing is critical. The technology on Coal has greatly improved that you can have clean coal. We must at least do 5,000 MW from this source for us to catch up. We also must step up geothermal to fully exploit the green energy available. In Northern Kenya we can use wind energy since it is naturally available. Regards Ndemo.
1: Ill jump into this albeit late and begin with a reference to a scriptural parable of the talents in Matthew 25. The moral being that to whom much is given, much is expected and the converse being true. as a rhetorical question (you can answer if you like), have you made maximum use of the two talents you were given to deserve three in round two.
2: It is indeed a positive thing that you would even consider a Ndemo Tosha because in the bigger picture of things, it would be a definate improvement from the status quo. I like that you have Ideas and visions about what can be needed to solve what, ICT indeed might be the holy grail in improving process and equalizing a lot of the bumps that are exploited by uncreative Kenyans for profit.
3: Onto my questions: Between Agriculture, ICT, Infrastructure and Manufacturing, how would you allocate say theoretically a 1trillion budget (just for these) and what would be the justification for leaning to which. The devil would be in the details but a rough estimate would show direction.
4: Mention something about a) somalia, b) Southern sudan, c) EPAs and d) Kyoto viz a viz cheap energy.
cheers...
On Thu, Aug 4, 2011 at 11:31 AM, aki <aki275@gmail.com> wrote:
Thank you Dr Ndemo for the comments.
I'd also like to add that govt policies and programs are the initial catalyst drive because the private sector is what it is i.e. does not fund research or development ( not in Kenya ). And for many decades economic policies have placed favour over import versus local development, we are at a stage today that it would probably takes us another 40-50 years to even design/produce the simplest semi-conductor available on the market today. The same design can be done at University levels in other countries. We are really at a tough place because if we don't fast track with imports, we will get left behind. And if we don't implement long term ways towards core development, we are bound to become literally a "sales,marketing and consultants" country which only has very short term benefits. Today, we give the chance to external partners to help with technology needs and systems, yet we are capable of creating or building upon these given the correct environment. It will be our biggest loss in future if we do not change course and take on the internal development segment with force and commitment. Just as the US identified itself as a major defense exporter economy thereby creating most of the advance systems-engineers-mulit-million dollar industries--highly educated employment, I think we also need to define what we want to do and how to get there.
Starting at Sciences is really good, but would you kindly add what esle would be the catalysts towards creating and sustaining internal development?
Thank you.
On Thu, Aug 4, 2011 at 10:43 AM, <bitange@jambo.co.ke> wrote:
Aki, You now can understand why we need to stop business and general degree programmes. This is why we are more of traders than industrialists. I went to US for studies in the 1980's. In 1987 I was President of International Students at the University of Minnesota. We were 5,000 foreign students in a student population of 120,000. The majority of students were from Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore and Korea. Of the Asian students, 98% were in engineering courses the remaider were in creative art degree program.
These countries became what we call Newly Industrialized Countries (NICs). In economic comparative terms, they were behind Kenya. Today we buy everything from them. They manufactured nothing then. Infact we used to love at the Hyundai Ponny that was first manufactured by Koreans.
We now must remove all fees for any student enrolled in science and creative degree programs. The rest can pay. When we started producing more computer graduates, we started seeing application development in Kenya to the extent that the world has started to recognize. Similarly, if we indeed want to industrialize, we must move to science. There are no options.
India has just realized this and they are taking jobs from overheating China. Our comparative advatange in this region is the human resource. Let us develop it, support it and guide it to the right direction. Regional influence is what will matter in the days to come. As such we must endeavor to see that Vision 2030 is realized in 2020. This is possible.
Regards
Ndemo.
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