tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10153131723860244692024-03-14T08:46:51.638+03:00The Policy Centre“If you owe your bank a hundred pounds, you have a problem. But if you owe a million, it has.”
― John Maynard Keynes
ngubia m.ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698151563854585640noreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1015313172386024469.post-23146900678471215002021-07-17T22:28:00.001+03:002021-07-17T22:28:16.292+03:00The road to recovery in Sub-Saharan Africa: Capitalizing on transformative opportunities from shifting FDI patterns<p></p><p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"></p><p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="color: #333333;">The flow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to
Africa has shifted over the past decade, as new sources of investment have
emerged and new sectors have expanded. While the COVID-19 crisis
has clouded the outlook for future investment, capitalizing on
the longer-term trends presents a compelling opportunity for African policy
makers looking towards economic recovery.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><span style="color: #333333;">Low foreign investment has held back Africa’s
participation in global value chains (GVCs). </span></b><span style="color: #333333;">FDI is beneficial to the host countries because it helps to
enhance firm productivity and integrate domestic firms into global markets, as
illustrated by the rapid development of newly industrialized Asian economies in
the last few decades. Unfortunately, both FDI inflows and GVC participation are
low in the Africa region (<b>Figure 1.1 and Figure 1.2)</b>.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="color: #333333;">In 2000, Africa only attracted 1% of global
FDI inflows, and raised it to 3% by 2018. Yet its share of global GVC
participation remained constant during this time at 2%. In contrast, developing
countries in the Asia-Pacific region increased their global FDI share from 10
to 31% , and raised their GVC participation share from 11 to 17% during this
time. Hence, compared to other regions, Africa’s FDI and GVC integration are
still underdeveloped.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="color: #333333;"> <b>Figure 1. FDI inflows and GVC participation</b></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">1.1. Total share of global FDI inflows<span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b></b></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-N3AIuAB8kVQ/YPMsK0wcYgI/AAAAAAAAFSk/mckf9Jtu2cEYcmQxFhdfW9o4p2WjwrqZQCLcBGAsYHQ/image.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><img alt="" data-original-height="247" data-original-width="385" height="196" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-N3AIuAB8kVQ/YPMsK0wcYgI/AAAAAAAAFSk/mckf9Jtu2cEYcmQxFhdfW9o4p2WjwrqZQCLcBGAsYHQ/w307-h196/image.png" width="307" /></span></a></div><b><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><br /></span></b><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="background: white; border-collapse: collapse; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184; width: 100%px;">
<tbody><tr>
<td style="padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 50.0%;" width="50%">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">1.2.
Total share of global GVC participation<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="color: #333333;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ktKVHylc3jY/YPMteUWsDHI/AAAAAAAAFS8/0ohhrPg8xLQrOslRM1kerkJohAxBLF8TgCLcBGAsYHQ/image.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><img alt="" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="349" height="206" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ktKVHylc3jY/YPMteUWsDHI/AAAAAAAAFS8/0ohhrPg8xLQrOslRM1kerkJohAxBLF8TgCLcBGAsYHQ/image.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><br /></span><p></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><h5 style="background: white; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 7.5pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><em><b><span style="color: #333333;">Source: Authors’ calculations using UNCTAD FDI and EORA
Statistics.</span></b></em><span style="color: #333333;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h5>
<h5 style="background: white; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 7.5pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><em><b><span style="color: #333333;">Note: For Africa, Latin America and Asia-Pacific, only GVC
participation and FDI inflows for developing countries are reported. </span></b></em><b><span style="color: #333333;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></h5><div><em><b><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></b></em></div><div><p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><strong><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;">There has been a steady increase in FDI from Asia and Africa.</span></strong><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;"> Historically,
Europe has been the dominant source of Africa’s FDI, making up two-thirds of
its FDI stock until 2005. While its absolute value grew, its share has fallen
since then to below 50% in 2018 (<strong>Figure
2.1 and Figure 2.2</strong>). In its place, FDI from Asia has increased,
whose share grew from 5% in 2002 to 23% in 2018. A primary driver is China,
whose FDI accounts for almost half of Asian FDI in the region. Recent evidence
highlights the impact such </span><a href="https://www.fdiintelligence.com/article/79531"><span style="color: #337ab7; font-size: 11pt;">Chinese
FDI has had on Africa’s economic growth</span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;">.
Intra-African FDI also rose from 9% in 2002 to 13% in 2017.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> <strong>Figure
2: FDI in-stock by source region</strong><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">2.2: Value of FDI stock (US$b)</span></span></p></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><div><p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-6JneBIySLV4/YPMt-oKqtdI/AAAAAAAAFTE/CzllbGxeWhYm19qBgqutWDsTS6qmmoT_QCLcBGAsYHQ/image.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><img alt="" data-original-height="279" data-original-width="389" height="230" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-6JneBIySLV4/YPMt-oKqtdI/AAAAAAAAFTE/CzllbGxeWhYm19qBgqutWDsTS6qmmoT_QCLcBGAsYHQ/image.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><p></p></div></div></blockquote><p><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">2.1: Share of total FDI stock in SSA</span></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-jPqD8rO7z20/YPMuF7fzqVI/AAAAAAAAFTI/s3aDXPWXkywV4lZVymDIgnJcrUmVJGGOwCLcBGAsYHQ/image.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><img alt="" data-original-height="275" data-original-width="383" height="230" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-jPqD8rO7z20/YPMuF7fzqVI/AAAAAAAAFTI/s3aDXPWXkywV4lZVymDIgnJcrUmVJGGOwCLcBGAsYHQ/image.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /> <em><b><span style="color: #333333;">Source: Authors calculations using World Bank Group harmonized
bilateral FDI database.</span></b></em></span><p></p>
<h5 style="background: white; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 7.5pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><em><b><span style="color: #333333;">Note: Eastern Africa data excludes FDI to and from Mauritius as
it operates as a major offshore financial center. Most of its FDI flows through
the country but does not reside in the country. Separating out such FDI flows
is extremely difficult and therefore the convention is to present FDI data
without flows to and from offshore financial centers.</span></b></em><b><span style="color: #333333;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></h5><div style="text-align: justify;"><p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><strong><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;">There have also been major changes in the destinations for
FDI. </span></strong><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;">Southern Africa (especially South Africa) has historically been
the main destination for FDI, hosting more than 70% of all FDI in the region in
2004 (<strong>Figure 3.1</strong>).
Yet, by 2018, it represented only 30% of FDI stocks by 2018. This is because
FDI in other parts of the continent grew, most notably in Western Africa (led
by Nigeria), where FDI stock increased from 15% in 2002 to 36% in 2018. Eastern
Africa also saw an increase in FDI (<strong>Figure
3.2</strong>).<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><strong><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Figure 3: FDI in-stock in SSA by destination
sub-region</span></span></strong></p><p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">3.1: Share of total FDI stock in SSA</span></span></p><p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Mmj1A1FLiyE/YPMuToI19UI/AAAAAAAAFTQ/QYFJ6MViTscSRJbcK7fINOGiifQ022nlQCLcBGAsYHQ/image.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><img alt="" data-original-height="303" data-original-width="349" height="240" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Mmj1A1FLiyE/YPMuToI19UI/AAAAAAAAFTQ/QYFJ6MViTscSRJbcK7fINOGiifQ022nlQCLcBGAsYHQ/image.png" width="276" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">3.2: Value of FDI stock (US$b)</span></span><p></p><p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-rSkzOQc0MrE/YPMuZSCJicI/AAAAAAAAFTY/DFShq5EWAVIFC_GuHpjazMAWlTSLm6HPACLcBGAsYHQ/image.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><img alt="" data-original-height="263" data-original-width="303" height="240" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-rSkzOQc0MrE/YPMuZSCJicI/AAAAAAAAFTY/DFShq5EWAVIFC_GuHpjazMAWlTSLm6HPACLcBGAsYHQ/image.png" width="277" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><br /></span><p></p><h5 style="background: white; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 7.5pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><em><b><span style="color: #333333;">Source: Authors calculations using World Bank Group harmonized
bilateral FDI database.</span></b></em><span style="color: #333333;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></h5><h5 style="background: white; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 7.5pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><em><b><span style="color: #333333;">Note: Eastern Africa data excludes FDI to and from Mauritius as
a major offshore financial center (see note figure 2).</span></b></em><b><span style="color: #333333;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></h5><p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">
</span></span></p><p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><strong><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;">New investments have been increasingly diversifying from raw
materials into manufacturing and services. </span></strong><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;">Between
2006 and 2010, resource extraction, petroleum and coal processing projects made
up more than half of the estimated $236 billion greenfield FDI projects
announced in Africa (<strong>Figure
4.1</strong>). Yet, between 2016 and 2020, new projects in these sectors
accounted less than a quarter of the total (<strong>Figure 4.2</strong>). Sectors that have attracted
significant new investment in the recent period include logistics,
communications and IT services, chemicals, and renewable energy (which makes up
more than half of utilities investment, up from around 20% in the earlier
period).<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> <strong>Figure
4: Announced greenfield FDI projects in Sub-Saharan Africa, by sector (US$
billion)</strong><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">4.1: 2006-2010</span></span></p><p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-osSS-vDh2vg/YPMuk3BQliI/AAAAAAAAFTg/DoEkqBupFCIwK1risYRoYLeTT_12btEpgCLcBGAsYHQ/image.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><img alt="" data-original-height="385" data-original-width="397" height="240" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-osSS-vDh2vg/YPMuk3BQliI/AAAAAAAAFTg/DoEkqBupFCIwK1risYRoYLeTT_12btEpgCLcBGAsYHQ/image.png" width="247" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;">4.2: 2016-2020</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ohpw_PsYNKM/YPMuw6W8avI/AAAAAAAAFTo/yOBeeJLl2S8H3ViSc9tydhWNUFGyX8eJACLcBGAsYHQ/image.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="345" data-original-width="356" height="240" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ohpw_PsYNKM/YPMuw6W8avI/AAAAAAAAFTo/yOBeeJLl2S8H3ViSc9tydhWNUFGyX8eJACLcBGAsYHQ/image.png" width="248" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><h5 style="background: white; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 7.5pt;"><em>Source: Authors calculations using fDi Markets.</em><o:p></o:p></h5>
<h5 style="background: white; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 7.5pt;"><em>Note: dark-blue includes coal, oil & gas and metals, red
captures manufacturing sectors, and grey reflects service sectors.</em><b><o:p></o:p></b></h5>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><strong><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Unfortunately, COVID-19 significantly disrupted FDI to
Africa. </span></strong><span style="color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext;"><a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/competitiveness/publication/global-investment-competitiveness-report-2019-2020"><span style="color: #337ab7; font-size: 11pt;">FDI flows
globally were already in decline</span></a></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> when the pandemic struck.
Greenfield FDI announcements declined rapidly in the second and third quarter,
before rebounding slightly in the fourth quarter of 2020 (<strong>Figure 5</strong>). Overall, new
announcements in 2020 were down 56% from 2019. Such declines occurred across
nearly every major sector.<o:p></o:p></span></p><h4 style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><strong>Figure 5: Impact of COVID-19 on Greenfield FDI Announcements in
Sub-Saharan Africa</strong><o:p></o:p></h4><div><strong><br /></strong></div><div><strong><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-OebSuGH2Y6w/YPMvBxZVTFI/AAAAAAAAFTw/NkEIAgmUUXEYXLE-RHLOi9PLaAH9UPEFACLcBGAsYHQ/image.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="187" data-original-width="651" height="162" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-OebSuGH2Y6w/YPMvBxZVTFI/AAAAAAAAFTw/NkEIAgmUUXEYXLE-RHLOi9PLaAH9UPEFACLcBGAsYHQ/w563-h162/image.png" width="563" /></a></div><br /><br /></strong></div></div></span></span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Source: Authors
calculations fDi Markets.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;">FDI has a key role to play to help Africa achieve a rapid
economic recovery from COVID-19. For this to happen, Africa needs to attract
more foreign investment, and ensure that it occurs in more
employment-intensive, export-oriented or green sectors. The continent saw
promising new developments on both fronts before the pandemic, and should
continue to </span><a href="http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/en/683441596248620234/COVID-19-Investment-Climate-Policy-Measures-Phased-Approach-071520.pdf"><span style="color: #337ab7; font-size: 11pt;">improve
their domestic investment climates</span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;">, adapt to possible </span><a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/psd/foreign-direct-investment-and-global-value-chains-wake-covid-19-preparing-new-normal"><span style="color: #337ab7; font-size: 11pt;">new
priorities in investment policy and promotion</span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;">, and
strengthen regional collaboration (as through the </span><a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/trade/publication/the-african-continental-free-trade-area"><span style="color: #337ab7; font-size: 11pt;">African
Free Continental Trade Agreement</span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;">). <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><span style="color: #333333; font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></span><p></p><p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></p></div><br />ngubia m.ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698151563854585640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1015313172386024469.post-45595191179454526662017-05-24T09:28:00.000+03:002017-05-24T09:28:21.558+03:00You Lazy (Intellectual) African Scum!<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 1; vertical-align: baseline;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">They call the Third World the
lazy man’s purview; the sluggishly slothful and languorous prefecture. In this
realm people are sleepy, dreamy, torpid, lethargic, and therefore
indigent—totally penniless, needy, destitute, poverty-stricken, disfavored, and
impoverished. In this demesne, as they call it, there are hardly any
discoveries, inventions, and innovations. Africa is the trailblazer. Some still
call it “the dark continent” for the light that flickers under the tunnel is
not that of hope, but an approaching train. And because countless keep waiting
in the way of the train, millions die and many more remain decapitated by the
day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">“It’s amazing how you all sit
there and watch yourselves die,” the man next to me said. “Get up and do
something about it.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Brawny, fully bald-headed, with
intense, steely eyes, he was as cold as they come. When I first discovered I
was going to spend my New Year’s Eve next to him on a non-stop JetBlue flight
from Los Angeles to Boston I was angst-ridden. I associate marble-shaven
Caucasians with iconoclastic skin-heads, most of who are racist.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">“My name is Walter,” he extended
his hand as soon as I settled in my seat.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I told him mine with a
precautious smile.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">“Where are you from?” he asked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">“Kenya.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">“Kenya!” he exclaimed, “Kenyatta’s
country.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">“Yes,” I said, “Now the Son.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">“But of course,” he responded.
“You just elected prince Cobra as your president.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">My face lit up at the mention of UK
moniker. Walter smiled, and in those cold eyes I saw an amenable fellow, one of
those American highbrows who shuttle between Africa and the U.S.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">“I spent three years in Kenya in
the 1980s,” he continued. “I wined and dined and many other highly intelligent Kenyan.”
He lowered his voice. “I was part of the IMF group that came to rip you guys
off.” He smirked. “Your government put me in a million dollar mansion
overlooking a shanty called Kibera. From my patio I saw it all—the rich and the
poor, the ailing, the dead, and the healthy.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">“Are you still with the IMF?” I
asked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">“I have since moved to yet
another group with similar intentions. In the next few months my colleagues and
I will be in Nairobi to hypnotize the prince. I work for the broker that has
acquired a chunk of your debt. Your government owes not the World Bank, but us
millions of dollars. We’ll be in Nairobi to offer your president a couple of
millions and fly back with a check twenty times greater.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">“No, you won’t,” I said. “Prince
Cobra is incorruptible. He is …”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">He was laughing. “Says who? Give
me an African president, just one, who has not fallen for the carrot and
stick.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Quett Masire’s name popped up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">“Oh, him, well, we never got to
him because he turned down the IMF and the World Bank. It was perhaps the
smartest thing for him to do.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">At midnight we were airborne. The
captain wished us a happy 2014 and urged us to watch the fireworks across Los
Angeles.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">“Isn’t that beautiful,” Walter
said looking down.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">From my middle seat, I took a
glance and nodded admirably.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">“That’s white man’s country,” he
said. “We came here on Mayflower and turned Indian land into a paradise and now
the most powerful nation on earth. We discovered the bulb, and built this
aircraft to fly us to pleasure resorts like Lake Kenya.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I grinned. “There is no Lake
Kenya.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">He curled his lips into a smug
smile. “That’s what we call your country. You guys are as stagnant as the water
in the lake. We come in with our large boats and fish your minerals and your
wildlife and leave morsels—crumbs. That’s your staple food, crumbs. That
corn-meal you eat, that’s crumbs, the small Tilapia fish you call Omena is
crumbs. We the Bwanas (whites) take the cat fish. I am the Bwana and you are
the Muntu. I get what I want and you get what you deserve, crumbs. That’s what
lazy people get— Africans, the entire Third World.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The smile vanished from my face.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">“I see you are getting pissed
off,” Walter said and lowered his voice. “You are thinking this Bwana is a
racist. That’s how most Kenyans respond when I tell them the truth. They go
ballistic. Okay. Let’s for a moment put our skin pigmentations, this black and
white crap, aside. Tell me, my friend, what is the difference between you and
me?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">“There’s no difference.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">“Absolutely none,” he exclaimed.
“Scientists in the Human Genome Project have proved that. It took them thirteen
years to determine the complete sequence of the three billion DNA subunits.
After they<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">were all done it was clear that
99.9% nucleotide bases were exactly the same in you and me. We are the same
people. All white, Asian, Latino, and black people on this aircraft are the
same.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I gladly nodded.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">“And yet I feel superior,” he
smiled fatalistically. “Every white person on this plane feels superior to a
black person. The white guy who picks up garbage, the homeless white trash on
drugs, feels superior to you no matter his status or education. I can pick up a
nincompoop from the New York streets, clean him up, and take him to Nairobi and
you all be crowding around him chanting muzungu, muzungu and yet he’s a
riffraff. Tell me why my angry friend.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">For a moment I was wordless.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">“Please don’t blame it on slavery
like the African Americans do, or colonialism, or some psychological impact or
some kind of stigmatization. And don’t give me the brainwash poppycock. Give me
a better answer.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I was thinking.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">He continued. “Excuse what I am
about to say. Please do not take offense.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I felt a slap of blood rush to my
head and prepared for the worst.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">“You my friend flying with me and
all your kind are lazy,” he said. “When you rest your head on the pillow you
don’t dream big. You and other so-called African intellectuals are damn lazy,
each one of you. It is you, and not those poor starving people, who is the
reason Africa is in such a deplorable state.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">“That’s not a nice thing to say,”
I protested.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">He was implacable. “Oh yes it is
and I will say it again, you are lazy. Poor and uneducated Africans are the
most hardworking people on earth. I saw them in the Nairobi markets and on the
street selling merchandise. I saw them in villages toiling away. I saw women on
Namanga Road crushing stones for sell and I wept. I said to myself where are
the Kenyan intellectuals? Are the Kenyan engineers so imperceptive they cannot
invent a simple stone crusher, or a simple water filter to purify well water
for those poor villagers? Are you telling me that after fifty years of
independence your university school of engineering has not produced a scientist
or an engineer who can make simple small machines for mass use? What is the
school there for?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I held my breath.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">“Do you know where I found your
intellectuals? They were in bars quaffing. They were at the Muthaiga Golf Club,
Bacchus Lounge,</span><span style="font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> </span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">XS Millionaires, Galileos Lounge and Nairobi Club.
I saw with my own eyes a bunch of alcoholic graduates. These intellectuals work
from eight to five and spend the evening drinking.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">We don’t. We reserve the evening
for brainstorming.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">He looked me in the eye.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">“And you flying to Boston and all
of you in the Diaspora are just as lazy and apathetic to your country. You
don’t care about your country and yet your very own parents, brothers and
sisters are in Kiambu, Kisii, and in villages, all of them living in squalor.
Many have died or are dying of neglect by you. They are dying of AIDS because
you cannot come up with your own cure. You are here calling yourselves
graduates, researchers and scientists and are fast at articulating your
credentials once asked—oh, I have a PhD in this and that—PhD my foot!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I was deflated.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif;">“Wake up you all!” he exclaimed,
attracting the attention of nearby passengers. “You should be busy lifting
ideas, formula, recipes, and diagrams from American manufacturing factories
and sending them to your own factories. All those research findings and
dissertation papers you compile should be your country’s treasure. Why do you
think the Asians are a force to reckon with? They stole our ideas and turned
them into their own. Look at Japan, China, India, just look at them.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">He paused. “The <i>Bwana</i> has
spoken,” he said and grinned. “As long as you are dependent on my plane, I
shall feel superior and you my friend shall remain inferior, how about that?
The Chinese, Japanese, Indians, even Latinos are a notch better. You Africans
are at the bottom of the totem pole.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">He tempered his voice. “Get over
this white skin syndrome and begin to feel confident. Become innovative and
make your own stuff for god’s sake.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">At 8 a.m. the plane touched down
at JKIA International Airport. Walter reached for my hand.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">“I know I was too strong, but I
don’t give it a damn. I have been to Kenya and have seen too much poverty.” He
pulled out a piece of paper and scribbled something. “Here, read this. It was
written by a friend.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">He had written only the title:
“Lords of Poverty.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Thunderstruck, I had a sinking
feeling. I watched Walter walk through the airport doors to a waiting car. He
had left a huge dust devil twirling in my mind, stirring up sad memories of
home. I could see Kenya’s literati—the cognoscente, intelligentsia, academics,
highbrows, and scholars in the places he had mentioned guzzling and talking
irrelevancies. I remembered some who have since passed—how they got the highest
grades in mathematics and the sciences and attained the highest education on
the planet. They had been to Harvard, Oxford, Yale, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT), only to leave us with not a single invention or discovery. I
knew some by name and drunk with them at the Playhouse and lounges.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Walter is right. It is true that
since independence we have failed to nurture creativity and collective
orientations. We as a nation lack a workhorse mentality and behave like 40
million civil servants dependent on a government pay cheque. We believe that
development is generated 8-to-5 behind a desk wearing a tie with our degrees
hanging on the wall. Such a working environment does not offer the opportunity
for fellowship, the excitement of competition, and the spectacle of innovative
rituals.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">But the intelligentsia is not
solely, or even mainly, to blame. The larger failure is due to political
circumstances over which they have had little control. The past governments
failed to create an environment of possibility that fosters camaraderie,
rewards innovative ideas and encourages resilience. KANU, FORD,DP NARC, PNU,
ODM, JP et al embraced orthodox ideas and therefore failed
to offer many opportunities for drawing outside the line.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Knowing well that the current
leadership will not embody innovation at Walter’s level let’s begin to look for
a technologically active-positive leader who can succeed him after a term or
two. That way we can make our own stone crushers, water filters, water pumps,
razor blades, and harvesters. Let’s dream big and make tractors, cars, and
planes, or, like Walter said, forever remain inferior.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">A fundamental transformation of
our country from what is essentially non-innovative to a strategic superior
African country requires a bold risk-taking educated leader with a triumphalist
attitude and we have one in YOU. Don’t be highly strung and feel insulted by
Walter. Take a moment and think about our country. Our journey from 1963 has
been marked by tears. It has been an emotionally overwhelming experience. Each
one of us has lost a loved one to poverty, hunger, and disease. The number of
graves is catching up with the population. It’s time to change our political
culture. It’s time for our intellectuals to cultivate an active-positive
progressive movement that will change our lives forever.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Don’t be afraid or
dispirited, rise to the challenge and salvage the remaining few of your beloved
ones.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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ngubia m.ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698151563854585640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1015313172386024469.post-59922735322956686742017-01-01T01:05:00.001+03:002017-01-02T18:03:49.581+03:00Disruptive innovation: The most viable strategy for economic development in Africa<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px;">Without question, Africa is the poorest region in the world. The chart below shows the growth of gross domestic product (GDP) per person – an imperfect but widely used measure – for Africa and the rest of the world. Not only is the rest of the world six times richer than Africa, GDP per person has grown at a faster rate. These numbers are significant because they do not simply represent the macro-economic realities that governments in African countries must manage; they also translate to the circumstances in which millions of people live their lives. The numbers translate to the additional 50 million people in Africa living in extreme poverty today than did in 1990. They translate to the millions of babies, children, and mothers that die annually because they cannot afford life-saving medication. They translate to skyrocketing unemployment which reduces the barriers to youth involvement in terroristic activities. The numbers are very significant.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<figure class="image" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 546px;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img alt="" class="flipboard-image" height="358" src="https://blogs.worldbank.org/africacan/files/africacan/images/africacan-disruptive-innovation-the-most-viable-strategy-for-economic-development-in-africa-672.gif" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto !important; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px !important; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 2px; vertical-align: bottom;" title="" width="672" /></span><figcaption style="border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-style: solid; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-right-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-right-style: solid; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 1px 1px; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 5px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><strong style="border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Source:</strong> Human Progress retrieves data from the World Bank, OECD, Harvard University, etc. See <a href="http://humanprogress.org/about" rel="nofollow" style="border: 0px; color: #990000; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">http://humanprogress.org/abou</a></span></figcaption></figure><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px;">But perhaps of even more significance is the demographic transformation that Africa is experiencing, and will continue to experience over the next several decades. Now home to 1.1 billion people, by 2050 the United Nations estimates that Africa’s population will reach 2.48 billion; by 2100, 4.39 billion people, a majority of whom will be youth.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px;" /><img alt="" class="flipboard-image" height="358" src="https://blogs.worldbank.org/africacan/files/africacan/images/africacan-disruptive-innovation-the-most-viable-strategy-for-economic-development-in-africa-672.jpg" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-size: 12px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; height: auto !important; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 8px 0px 0px !important; max-width: none; outline: 0px; padding: 2px; vertical-align: bottom;" title="" width="672" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px;">When the slow pace at which Africa is developing is combined with the demographic transformation, contrary to the sentiments of many optimists, the future does not look bright. But it can.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px;" /><strong style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Disruptive Innovations Targeted at Non-Consumption</strong><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px;">No country has developed in sustainably without investments in disruptive innovations. There are two types of disruptive innovations, low-end disruptive innovation and new-market disruptive innovation. I write about the new-market disruptive innovations, which are targeted at non-consumption, a circumstance where a majority of people in a society are unable to afford a particular product due to cost, time, or skill constraints. These innovations transform the existing complicated and expensive products to simple to use, more affordable products, thereby making them more accessible to a larger set of people in society, such as M-PESA, the mobile money platform in Kenya. They serve as the </span><a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/africa/2014-12-15/power-market-creation" rel="nofollow" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #990000; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">engine of economic development</a><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px;"> in a society.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px;" /><strong style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Can Africa Spur Disruptive Innovations</strong><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px;">It is tempting to discount the possibility of executing disruptive innovations in Africa because of the many obstacles to innovation on the continent, including poor infrastructure, the difficulty of doing business, and the very low incomes on the continent. But when these obstacles are framed as opportunities, innovators can build truly disruptive companies.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px;">In fact, it is precisely because these obstacles exist that disruptive innovations can thrive in Africa.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px;" /><strong style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Nollywood and Noodles</strong><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px;">Nollywood, Nigeria’s film industry, has taken many in the world by storm. While Hollywood’s revenues dwarf Nollywood, it is difficult to overlook Nollywood’s impact in Nigeria. The industry, according to a UN report, is now worth approximately $5 billion, employs more than one million people, and generates around $800 million annually. Nollywood has been able to thrive precisely because it is a disruptive innovation targeted at the average Nigerian citizen unable to purchase, watch, and perhaps relate to Hollywood movies. The innovators in Nollywood have keyed into the vast non-consumption of movies in Nigeria, and Africa, and have created relevant and relatable movies that have given birth to a booming industry.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px;">When Haresh Aswani decided to start importing Indomie Noodles into Nigeria in 1988, the decks were stacked against his company, Tolaram. Nigeria was ruled by a military government, GDP per capita was only $256, and 78% of people lived on less than $2 per day. But Aswani began importing noodles into Nigeria and since then, has built 11 factories that manufacture many of the inputs for the noodles. The company directly employs approximately 10,000 people and hundreds of thousands indirectly. A packet of Indomie Noodles costs roughly 18 cents, a product affordable by the majority of Nigerians. Tolaram has begun expansion plans into other African countries. Where many see obstacles, the company sees opportunity.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px;" /><strong style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Rebirth of an Old Idea</strong><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px;">Investing in disruptive innovations is not a new strategy for creating prosperity. The United States, many European countries, the Four Asian Tigers, and many other rich countries followed this strategy with great success. The returns from their investments were then invested in infrastructure, education, healthcare, and in building institutions. It is tempting to spend billions of dollars on infrastructure, institution building, education, healthcare, and other development indicators that are correlated with prosperity. But a closer look at rich countries today shows that investments in disruptive innovations came first. Africa should thus follow suit.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px;">Governments should support entrepreneurs whose business models are targeted at non-consumption. By doing this, they will inevitably create jobs for many people, as was the case with Nollywood and Indomie Noodles. This, will ultimately lead to unfettered prosperity in Africa.</span></span>ngubia m.ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698151563854585640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1015313172386024469.post-28769962703662478962017-01-01T00:53:00.000+03:002017-01-02T18:12:51.472+03:00Agribusiness can help to unlock the true potential of Africa<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">The challenges faced by small farmers are similar across the developing world – pests, diseases and climate change. Yet in Africa the challenges are even greater. If farmers are to survive at current rates (let alone grow), they need to have access to high-yielding seeds, effective fertilizers and irrigation technologies. These issues threaten the region’s ability to feed itself and make business-growth and export markets especially difficult to reach. Other factors include the rise in global food prices and export subsidies for exporters in the developed economies, which leave African farmers struggling to price competitively.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Organizations such as The International Finance Corporation (IFC) provide and mobilize capital, knowledge and long-term partnerships in agribusiness. It has provided over $25 billion in financing, mobilized investments from partners and provided advisory services across the continent. Connecting the private sector with global and regional NGO’s and the public sector is one of the most important steps. Of the $3.7 billion invested in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2015 by the IFC, $1.8 billion came from other investors.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Modernization of technologies, innovative technologies and widening access to markets is central to turning such huge sums of money into results. In Kenya, a mobile app called M-Farm allows farmers to directly send messages requesting guidance and data on crop prices. It also helps farmers to connect directly with food suppliers; thus reducing reliance on middlemen and market buyers. Cutting costs in this way can go some way to mitigating the impact of subsidized exports from the developed economies.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">In Ethiopia, access to simple market knowledge has also helped small food manufacturers grow. AfricaJUICE is the first Fairtrade certified fruit juice in sub-Saharan Africa and it has been able to expand through the provision of technical expertise and understanding global markets and industry practices. This assistance came from the World Bank, alongside equity financing of $6 million.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Agribusiness is growing fast, yet the true potential is stymied by limited mechanization, fragmented markets, price controls and poor infrastructure. For a sector that contributes 25% to Africa’s overall gross domestic product (GDP) and accounts for 70% of all employment, it is an industry that presents enormous opportunities to investors.</span></div>
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<br />
<figure class="image" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 546px;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><img alt="" class="flipboard-image" height="448" src="https://blogs.worldbank.org/africacan/files/africacan/images/africacan-agribusiness-can-help-to-unlock-the-true-potential-of-africa-middle-672.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto !important; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px !important; max-width: 100%; outline: 0px; padding: 2px; vertical-align: bottom;" title="" width="672" /></span><figcaption style="border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-style: solid; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-left-style: solid; border-right-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-right-style: solid; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 1px 1px; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 5px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">A woman farmer who works in the maize fields on the Canhumbuca Farm in Huambo, Angola. © Anita Baumann</span></figcaption></figure><br />
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><br />For policymakers and investors, one of the hurdles is knowing how to find and identify those small-scale farmers or food manufacturers that have really strong commercial potential. In Angola, this challenge has been met by the creation of a state-backed organization called Fundo Activo de Capital de Risco Angolana (FACRA). It is a public venture capital fund that supports Angolan SME’s in agribusiness and other sectors in building, innovating and expanding their existing business. It opens doors for businesses that have the potential for growth and makes it significantly easier for investors to enter the Angolan market.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Aside from providing growth opportunities and support for market-entry, organizations such as FACRA also have a role to play in helping Africa to become self-sufficient in food and become a regional exporter. With 70% of the workforce already working in the sector, Africa already benefits from having a mobilized workforce. Honing in on communities that have such strong potential is one way of helping to support economic growth.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Like so much in Africa, things have to happen from the ground up, through investing in small projects and local communities. The financial and administrative burden for such initiatives very often fall on the government but the private sector has the ability to get involved at a local level too, if it can take a long-term view and work in partnership. The introduction of world-class machinery and support for the type of infrastructure needed for rural communities to succeed are two areas where foreign investors can take a stake through public-private partnerships (PPP’s) or direct investment.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Direct investment brings with it a range of financial incentives for foreign investors. Infrastructure linking rural communities to markets is much-needed. Mechanization is also particularly important in achieving greater production and capacity and so too are storage facilities and modern irrigation and water conservation technologies. These are all areas where investors can bring capital and technical expertise to an industry sector that has enormous economic potential.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">As African economies continue to work against the tide of low oil and commodity prices, there is determination regionally and on the national level to achieve diversification and economic growth within the SME sector, not only in agriculture but all burgeoning sectors.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Agribusiness is especially important because of the scale of opportunity and the important role that it plays in supporting a wider value chain, job growth and economic diversification. Now is the right time for all African stakeholders, global bodies and private investors to come together and create an environment that helps Africa to feed itself and deliver economic growth for ordinary people, national economies and investors.</span></div>
ngubia m.ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698151563854585640noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1015313172386024469.post-41111051356986109802017-01-01T00:45:00.003+03:002017-01-01T00:47:20.927+03:00How can we help smallholder farmers seize opportunities in Africa?<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px;">Agriculture is at the heart of addressing poverty in Africa.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px;">The recent End Poverty Day activities in Africa, which focused largely on agriculture, was also a reminder of how central the sector is to ending poverty and boosting prosperity. Indeed, the different stakeholders I work with on a daily basis—which includes African governments, development partners, civil societies, the private sector and farmers—all agree: Agriculture is important to the future of Africa.</span></span><br />
<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Much more than in any other region, agriculture is a major driver of African economies, typically representing 30-40% of GDP and 65-70% of labor force. Despite the fact that Africa is the most rapidly urbanizing region, agriculture will remain the dominant sector for many years in most African countries. The poverty impact from agricultural growth is higher relative to other sectors. Agriculture is important for growth, poverty and food.<br /><br />It’s true that Africa’s agricultural transformation will be a complex, multi-sectoral agenda that requires different enabling factors, from sufficient financing and the right policies to the implementation of climate-smart agriculture. It’s also true that success depends <strong style="border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">on one</strong> crucial factor: the engagement of smallholder farmers. In short, Africa’s agricultural transformation will need smallholders to succeed.<br /><br />Smallholder farmers continue to dominate African agriculture although some countries--for example, Ghana, Tanzania and Zambia--are experiencing a rise of medium-scale farms of between five and 100 hectares as part of the region’s broader economic transformation. Smallholder farmers still control the largest areas for production. They employ 70% of the work force, farm most of the land, and are home to most of the poor – so the most obvious way to make agricultural growth pro-poor is to engage with huge numbers of small farms.<br /><br />However, smallholder farmers face two major challenges today. One is that they are at a major disadvantage in linking to modern value chains because of their low volumes of sales, poor market information and contacts, and limited ability to meet the high standard requirements of many high value markets. Because of their small size and reach, they are perceived to be high cost and high risk farmers by private agrodealers and financial institutions.<br /><br />So how can people working in the agriculture sector support smallholder farmers?<br /><br />First, there is need to provide <strong style="border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">supportive incentives and policy reforms for </strong>farmers and agribusinesses. For example, modern inputs and credit remain out of reach for many smallholders. Farmers could benefit from a package of inputs and credit. The issue of land tenure policy reform is critical. Between 10-45% of businesses describe access to land as major constraint. There is need to build institutions that help farmers--including youth and women-- access land and engage in profitable commercial agriculture.<br /><br />Work also needs to be done on scaling up investments in infrastructure and technology, particular technology that helps farmers produce more food. Neglecting to invest in agricultural research and the creation of many small, underfunded research institutions has caused setbacks that will need to be addressed. Africa also needs investments to develop agricultural education at all levels. Finally, Africa’s aging infrastructure cannot launch or sustain internationally competitive commercial agriculture without investment, especially in irrigation, roads, energy, and logistics, especially port infrastructure.<br /><br />We also need to strengthen institutions to make markets work better for smallholder farmers. Some of these institutions would provide critical services such as access to finance, market intelligence, marketing and business development services—all things that the private sector currently has few incentives to provide. Finally, we need to focus on improving coordination and leveraging partnerships among the different key players including but not limited to multilateral and bilateral development finance partners, the private sector, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research and African national and regional institutions.<br /><br />The challenges facing agriculture are great but we have reasons to be optimistic. Agriculture’s value added increased by 5.1% between 2000 and 2013. There’s no limit to what agriculture can achieve—in terms of feeding Africa, creating jobs, and helping to end poverty and boost prosperity. We have to work hard to make sure that smallholder farmers will be part of the work to meet Africa’s growing food and beverage markets –which are expected to top $1 trillion in value by 2030.</span></div>
ngubia m.ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698151563854585640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1015313172386024469.post-66587632575772100642016-05-19T08:25:00.001+03:002016-05-19T08:26:49.334+03:00Continuous geometric growth in a finite biosphere is impossible<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: #f6f6f6; font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Continuous geometric growth in a finite biosphere is
impossible<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(246, 246, 246); margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">There is nothing quite as seductive as extrapolation. I
remember when I was in junior high study hall, we budding gearheads would sit
around making "calculations" such as "if you can get a car to go
80 Kph with 150 horsepower, you should be able to go 320 Kph with 600 horsepower."
And while this childish foolishness was wrong for dozens of sound reason, it
was certainly no worse than the typical budget, growth, or profit calculations
one finds in daily newspapers or teevee newscasts. <br />
<br />
<b>Geometric extrapolation</b> is even worse. It is probably the
most commonly practiced form of utter insanity. For how long have we known
this is crazy? The Sumerians taught us about the S-curve at least 4000
years ago. The S-curve is based on the historical experience of producing
things--whether corn or iPhones.<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AEWcXSjPAhM/Vz1Nrl6B7RI/AAAAAAAAAWs/XU5kvUroqV8DHXL22aKfsu50x9_YmHuRgCKgB/s1600/S%2BCURVE.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="306" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AEWcXSjPAhM/Vz1Nrl6B7RI/AAAAAAAAAWs/XU5kvUroqV8DHXL22aKfsu50x9_YmHuRgCKgB/s320/S%2BCURVE.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
<b>Michael Hudson on the humans who knew better</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(246, 246, 246); margin-bottom: 5pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Hudson says that – in every country and throughout history – debt
always grows exponentially, while the economy always grows as an S-curve.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(246, 246, 246); margin-bottom: 5pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Moreover, Hudson says that the ancient Sumerians and Babylonians
knew that debts had to be periodically forgiven, <b>because the amount of
debts will always surpass the size of the real economy</b>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(246, 246, 246); margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">For example, Hudson noted in 2004:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(246, 246, 246); margin-bottom: 5pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Mesopotamian economic thought c. 2000 BC rested on a more
realistic mathematical foundation than does today’s orthodoxy. At least the
Babylonians appear to have recognized that over time the debt overhead became
more and more intrusive as it tended to exceed the ability to pay, culminating
in a concentration of property ownership in the hands of creditors.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(246, 246, 246); margin-bottom: 5pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Babylonians recognized that while debts grew exponentially, the
rest of the economy (<b>what today is called the “real” economy</b>) grows less
rapidly. Today’s economists have not come to terms with this problem with such
clarity. Instead of a conceptual view that calls for a strong ruler or state to
maintain equity and to restore economic balance when it is disturbed, today’s
general equilibrium models reflect the play of supply and demand in debt-free
economies that do not tend to polarize or to generate other structural
problems.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(246, 246, 246); margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">And Hudson wrote last year:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(246, 246, 246); margin-bottom: 5pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Every economist who has looked at the mathematics of compound
interest has pointed out that in the end, debts cannot be paid. Every rate of
interest can be viewed in terms of the time that it takes for a debt to double.
At 5%, a debt doubles in 14½ years; at 7 percent, in 10 years; at 10 percent,
in 7 years. As early as 2000 BC in Babylonia, scribal accountants were trained
to calculate how loans principal doubled in five years at the then-current
equivalent of 20% annually (1/60th per month for 60 months). “How long does it
take a debt to multiply 64 times?” a student exercise asked. The answer is, 30
years – 6 doubling times.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(246, 246, 246); margin-bottom: 5pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">No economy ever has been able to keep on doubling on a steady
basis. <b>Debts grow by purely mathematical principles, but “real”
economies taper off in S-curves.</b> This too was known in Babylonia, whose
economic models calculated the growth of herds, which normally taper off. A
major reason why national economic growth slows in today’s economies is that
more and more income must be paid to carry the debt burden that mounts up. By
leaving less revenue available for direct investment in capital formation and
to fuel rising living standards, interest payments end up plunging economies
into recession. For the past century or so, it usually has taken 18 years for
the typical real estate cycle to run its course.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(246, 246, 246); margin-bottom: 5pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">As I have previously pointed out, our modern fractional reserve
banking system is really a debt-creation system, which is guaranteed to create
more and more debts. The modern banking system is therefore exacerbating the
debt growth problem which countries have suffered for thousands of years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(246, 246, 246); margin-bottom: 5pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Hudson calls for a debt jubilee, and points out that periodic debt
jubilees were a normal part of the Sumerian, Babylonian and ancient Jewish
cultures. Economist Steve Keen and economic writer Ambrose Evans-Pritchard also
call for a debt jubilee.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(246, 246, 246); margin-bottom: 5pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">If a debt jubilee is not voluntarily granted, people may very well
repudiate their debts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(246, 246, 246); margin-bottom: 5pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(246, 246, 246); margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">It is important to understand the reasons why <b>geometric
extrapolation</b> is ultimately impossible because those assumptions are
built into almost every newscast, financial arrangement, political planning,
etc. It would be a rare days anymore when the subject is implicitly
brought up at least ten times.<br />
<br />
At this link, you can find <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/human-progress-charts-2011-3?op=1"><span style="color: #de7008;">23 different charts showing historic geometric growth</span></a> of
human activity--which is why all of them are destined to crash in the very near
future.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(246, 246, 246); margin-bottom: 5pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The human economic growth story is incredible. Population
increased exponentially, as did global wealth, factory output and other
measures of development.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(246, 246, 246); margin-bottom: 5pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">But the flip side is the steady exhaustion of resources and
destruction of the environment. As growth continues, planetary tensions will
increase too. <b>This is why we're running into peak everything.</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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ngubia m.ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698151563854585640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1015313172386024469.post-48930265920483220152016-05-19T08:05:00.001+03:002016-05-19T08:27:28.271+03:00Real Economics are best Described by Evolutionary Theory<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="background: rgb(246 , 246 , 246); font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif;">In
1859, Charles Darwin would publish his seminal work entitled "On the
Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of
Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life." This work would set off
controversies that resound to this day.</span><span style="font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif;"><br />
<br />
<span style="background: #F6F6F6;">Before Darwin, the generally accepted idea was
that the world was the way it was because that is how the Creator wanted it.
The majority of intellectual speculation, whether of a scientific,
philosophical, or religious nature, assumed that the goal in life was to
discover those divine rules that ordered a fixed universe. After Darwin,
while folks still sought to discover the natural laws with universal
applications, the focus shifted to describing the mechanisms of change.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: #F6F6F6;">No wonder Darwin is often considered the most
disruptive thinker in history.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: #F6F6F6;">Taking Darwin out of the biology context is a
hazardous occupation. The ugliest of the non-biological manifestation of
Darwin's theories is often called "</span></span><span style="font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Darwinism"><span style="background: #f6f6f6; color: #de7008;">Social Darwinism</span></a><span style="background: rgb(246, 246, 246);">." Perhaps the most famous social Darwinist in
USA was the 19th century chairman of Political Economy at Yale by the name of </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Graham_Sumner"><span style="background: #f6f6f6; color: #de7008;">William Graham Sumner</span></a><span style="background: rgb(246, 246, 246);">. His most famous student was a
kid from Minnesota named </span><a href="http://elegant-technology.com/EThistoryBASE.html"><span style="background: #f6f6f6; color: #de7008;">Thorstein Veblen</span></a><span style="background: rgb(246, 246, 246);">.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: #F6F6F6;">Veblen was influenced by Sumner--though not in
ways usually expected. Veblen thought Social Darwinism was a monstrous
error and devoted much of his life's work to debunking Sumner's teachings.
This did not mean Veblen rejected the theories of evolution. Far
from it. In 1898, even before his first book was published, Veblen wrote
an incredibly important paper entitled</span><a href="http://elegant-technology.com/resource/ECO_SCI.PDF"><span style="background: #f6f6f6; color: #de7008;"> “Why is Economics Not an
Evolutionary Science”</span></a><span style="background: rgb(246, 246, 246);">.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: #F6F6F6;">Suddenly, the extant economics looked as
static and ridged as any holy book. Veblen would go on to write a body of
work that would described "economic man" as a dynamic actor with
complex motives who was constantly evolving. Veblen is usually considered
one of the fathers of a discipline called evolutionary economics.
Wikipedia </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_economics"><span style="background: #f6f6f6; color: #de7008;">defines</span></a><span style="background: rgb(246, 246, 246);"> this speciality thus:</span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(246, 246, 246); margin-bottom: 5pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif;">Evolutionary
economics is part of mainstream economics as well as heterodox school of
economic thought that is inspired by evolutionary biology. It stresses complex
interdependencies, competition, growth, structural change, and resource constraints
but differs in the approaches which are used to analyze these phenomena.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(246, 246, 246); margin-bottom: 5pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif;">Evolutionary
economics deals with the study of processes that transform economy for firms,
institutions, industries, employment, production, trade and growth within,
through the actions of diverse agents from experience and interactions, using
evolutionary methodology.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="background: rgb(246 , 246 , 246); font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif;">Evolutionary
economics is validated by the existence of something that can only be called <i>evolutionary
industry. </i>Toyota imported evolutionary concepts into their system of
quality control and called it </span><span style="font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaizen"><span style="background: #f6f6f6; color: #de7008;">Kaizen</span></a><span style="background: rgb(246, 246, 246);"> (continuous
improvement). The results were stunning--Toyota so revolutionized quality
control they were able to leverage this reputation into their present status as
world's largest automaker.</span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="background: #F6F6F6;">Why this is important</span></b><br />
<br />
<span style="background: #F6F6F6;">Evolutionary economics, especially in its
heterodox manifestations, is hands down the best ways to understand and
describe the complexity of the real world. Typical non-evolutionary
economic statements like</span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(246, 246, 246); margin-bottom: 5pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif;">The market is
always rational<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(246, 246, 246); margin-bottom: 5pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif;">A corporation
exists only to maximize the return to the shareholders<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: rgb(246, 246, 246); margin-bottom: 5pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif;">Free Trade will
bring generalized prosperity<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: rgb(246 , 246 , 246); font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif;">are wrong because they are as static and ridged
as any theological statement they so resemble. This blog rejects static
economics--mostly because dynamic descriptions of economic behavior are far
more accurate.</span><span style="font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif;"><br />
<br />
<span style="background: #F6F6F6;">Evolutionary industry is important because if
we ever produce one, the green sustainable society will happen one tiny little
improvement at a time. And the folks MOST likely to create those new
green bits and pieces are those most industrially evolved already.</span></span><span style="font-family: "calibri light" , sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
ngubia m.ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698151563854585640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1015313172386024469.post-9604680759406535692016-04-26T13:13:00.001+03:002016-04-26T13:13:07.588+03:00Corruption; the Necessary evil.<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I learnt of the term necessary evil way
back in high school in a biology exam; in fact my biology teacher had to crack
its meaning; I could not decipher its meaning even after series of drilling by the biology teacher and numerous
group discussions ; till weeks later I
understood what necessary evil is. To those who subscribe to the Christian
mythology, I likened it to Judas Iscariot who sold Jesus to the Pontius army
for a mere 30 bob; which such one evil act he ushered in the necessary Christian
covenant with God. In one of our many sister schools, there was a sewage
treatment plant that processes raw sewage to fertilizer. This essential product
was given to the locals who made booming harvests from their corn and tuber fields.
Instead of sugar factories in western Kenya of complaining of low quality cane
from farmers, they can produce more ethanol.
I also learnt chicken droppings are a good supplement for dairy herd and
fish.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">To the Kenyan citizenry, I believe
corruption is a necessary evil; I laud the national government on being keen to
devolve this resource though not provided for in the 2010 constitution. It functions
seamlessly in the context of a closed economy, where the only leakage from the
circular flow of income is through inflated Government purchases and money
laundering. Among the additional factors of production is an amorphous factor
called corruption; its nebular nature allows it to disrupt the normal market
demand-supply rules and inject the essential entrepreneurial impetus in a
nascent economy. To realize the full
benefits there should be no capital flight inform of overseas bank account ;
such proceeds of bleeding the government coffers should be invested <i>loco</i> and sustainably. The cost of
capital is nil and as such to ensure the macroeconomic indicators such as inflation
remain stable, the cost of capital will be some flashy lifestyles and hangers
on; this has a larger multiplier effect than interest paid to the banks since
in reaches a wider population.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</v:imagedata></v:shape></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
only check needed here is to ensure corruption doesn’t gnaw into capital
inflows, FDI and Chinese neocolonialism. The proceeds of corruption needs to be
reinvested back into the economy, in productive tested sectors like real
estate, security/bonds markets. This will create employment of labor and
capital.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Assuming the national government budget of
KeS 1 trillion; 40% goes to administration. The balance 600billion is spent on
supplies and development; 40% of this is sucked into corrupt pockets of dealers
and tenderprenuers. If the kes240b is put into economically feasible and
sustainable investments, the impact would be bravura. I have watched satellite
towns grow out of this money; the purchasing power of the local grow multifold
improving their lifestyles and life expectancy thus inching closer to
Sustainable development goals. In <i>laissez
fairre</i> economy, the government has no role in business; it’s the role is to
provide enabling factors. In a highly taxed society, the violation of taxation
principle of <i>“no direct quid pro quo’</i>
can only be achieved through bleeding the overbearing Caesar. It’s through
corruption that the public funds with no accountability land into the hands of
entrepreneurs eager to impact their lives and those of their communities. The
impact is more direct and wide than the much hyped Kenyan Economics stimulus program
during the 2008 global economic downturn. I have always believed, any sound mind
being given an opportunity, the potential in them comes to fore. At the county
level ordinary latrine masons and Mr. Fixit have matured to contractors doing
office blocks and refurbishments; cyber café attendants have turned into IT
consultants opening Facebook accounts for county bosses.; the <i>Juakali</i> artisans hatched by former
President Moi can fabricate mkokotenis (hand drawn carts) and gates worth
millions. This is must be the eighth wonder of the world. What do we need to
see to believe we are global trendsetters?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The antidote we offer for corruption
appreciates that the vice is here to stay; the so called independent
institutions like EACC, Judiciary, Asset Recovery Agency, Prisons,
parliamentary oversight committees et al ,
only serve the already corrupt but none seeks to address the mindset,
the moral grounding and aspirations of the corrupt or aspiring. It’s inherent
in the human nature to circumvent the rules, thus as in the Garden of Eden, we
are evil. Then how can we turn this evil into a force to reckon with? The
transpiration in kingdom<i> plantae </i>if
prolonged it can kill the same plant it meant to serve. The stomata apertures
serves as the control mechanism. With the assumption of a rational imp, is
corruption bleeding the Caesar unsustainably?
I believe not.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Deciduous trees shed their leaves in
periods of prolonged sunshine thus no loss of life sustaining sap substrate.
What triggers this shedding of leaves and ultimately loss of the stomata? Are
the stomata, the antidote ineffective? Does this lost water condition the
environment? Well, if human beings, thus Kenyans, are intrinsically evil, then
we only need to rope in the essential component of necessity and this
corruption will serve us all well. Drawing further from the analogy of the
plant, the trunk and the branches can shake off the leaves and the public
coffers suffer no more hemorrhage; or the leaves, the Kenyan citizens must fall
off the branches. But is this feasible in a free market economy? Is this
pragmatic enough in face of inefficient government agencies? Can we trust the
government to create wealth for all? We must embrace the necessary evil or perish.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">ngubia
emoji.<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">ngubbia@gmail.com<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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ngubia m.ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698151563854585640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1015313172386024469.post-91627492649956072272015-09-21T10:47:00.000+03:002016-05-19T08:40:56.942+03:00Quit sugar for small holder banana economy... <div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "lucida sans" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Uganda
is the ultimate banana republic (no pun intended). Ugandans consume more
bananas per person than anyone else on earth. I have remarked in the past on
the Jubilee administration’s penchant for skidding on banana skins. You might
expect that while in Uganda, they would watch out for banana skins. No such
thing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "lucida sans" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">It is
difficult to fathom how the administration would have put out a message that
could be construed to mean they had traded milk for sugar. Commercial dairying
being a predominantly Kikuyu-Kalenjin affair, and sugar cane a Luo-Luhya one,
even ignoring for the moment the President’s conflict of interest issues, the
political dimension of it would still have made it the most slippery banana
skin that the administration has stepped on to date. But such is the nature of
mediocrity. Just when you think it could not get worse, it does.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "lucida sans" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Why is
Kenya’s smallholder tea successful and cane sugar a dismal failure? There are
three factors. The first is market orientation, the second is the nature of the
products and the third is the business model.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "lucida sans" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Market
orientation. <o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "lucida sans" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Tea is
an export crop, while cane sugar production was established as an import
substitution industry. Because Kenyan tea farmers have to sell their produce in
the world market, they have to be globally competitive. That is, they have to
produce profitably a product the tea consumers out there want, at a price that
they are willing to pay.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<strong><span style="font-family: "lucida sans" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">MORE
COMPETITIVE</span></strong><span style="font-family: "lucida sans" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "lucida sans" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">If they
were not able to, there is not much that the government could do to protect
them from competitors. It could be argued that the government could subsidize
them. Perhaps, but not for long. It would quickly fall foul of competitors, who
would report to the WTO. If that did not work, the competitors would do the
same and being more competitive to begin with, the subsidy war would bleed us
more.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "lucida sans" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The
sugar industry on the other hand is a classic case of the pitfalls of import
substitution. There are two of them. The first is that import substitution
industries were seldom based on viability. Rather the argument was, we are
importing so much of this product, why can’t we produce it ourselves?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "lucida sans" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The
question that was seldom asked when import substitution industries were started
was: can we produce our own competitively?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "lucida sans" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">More
often than not, the size of the market was hardly big enough for a viable
industry. In the case of sugar, there was also immense political pressure —
central Kenya had cash crops, coffee and tea, while western Kenya had none.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "lucida sans" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The
second pitfall is that of infant industries refusing to grow up. Once an
industry was given protection, there was no incentive for it to become
efficient. In fact, the reverse happens.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<strong><span style="font-family: "lucida sans" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">VESTED
INTERESTS</span></strong><span style="font-family: "lucida sans" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "lucida sans" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The
industry acquires political clout that ensures it is never exposed to
competition. One way of doing this is ensnare the policy makers so that they
acquire vested interests in keeping the industry protected no matter how
inefficient. In the 70s, foreign investors did this by making policy makers
sleeping partners, suppliers and distributors.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "lucida sans" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The
infant industry problem is compounded if the industry is State -owned as is the
case with our sugar industry. The industry becomes a gravy train for the elites
since they know the State will always bail it out. This is precisely the case
with our sugar industry. For well over a decade, we have sought protection from
COMESA imports and have done nothing to make the industry competitive. We are
not about to.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "lucida sans" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Product
characteristics. <o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "lucida sans" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The
reason why Kenya’s smallholder tea is successful, in fact the most successful
in the world, is because smallholder farmers are able to produce much higher
quality tea than plantations. The reason is deceptively simple. The smallholder
farmers pick ‘two leaves and a bud’ – the shoots that give the best tea.
Plantation workers are paid by weight so they pick three or four leaves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "lucida sans" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Even if
the plantation wanted them to pick two leaves, the supervision costs of
enforcing would be too high. It would need an army of supervisors to inspect
every basket. And of course the supervisors could always collude with the
pickers for a share of the additional earnings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "lucida sans" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The only
foolproof solution is for the plantation owners to inspect every basket. In
economics, we call this a principal - agent, or incentive compatibility
problem.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "lucida sans" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Sugarcane
is the complete opposite. Smallholder sugar does not command any quality
premium over plantation sugar. If anything, the labour value-added is very
little. Labour is required during planting and harvesting. In the intervening
period - close to two years—farmers do very little. The earnings from sugarcane
production are in essence returns to capital and land rent.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "lucida sans" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">To
illustrate, let us suppose sugarcane is grown by an absentee landlord. The cane
is sold in a competitive market. The alternative is to rent out the land at Sh5,000
per year. It costs Sh50,000 per acre to grow a crop which takes two years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "lucida sans" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Even
assuming a very generous return on capital at 20 per cent per year, in a
competitive market, and equally generous “entrepreneurial rent’ at 10 per cent
of capital employed. In a competitive market, the returns to the absentee
landlord would be Sh35,000. An average smallholder farmer in Meru who picks her
own tea will have made at least Sh300,000 on an acre of tea.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "lucida sans" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Of
course the two are not directly comparable. The tea earnings include returns to
labour (about 50 per cent), which for the telephone farmer is a cost. Half of
the balance is the quality premium. Once direct costs such as fertilizers are
taken care of, the returns per acre become comparable to the sugarcane growing
absentee landlord. And that is precisely the point. The purpose of smallholder
cash crop farming is to provide them with profitable self-employment—to make
them small capitalists, not slaves of capital.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "lucida sans" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Business
model. <o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "lucida sans" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The
architects of Kenya’s smallholder tea industry were remarkably clever and
foresighted. In the 60s, state ownership of enterprises was in vogue. They went
against the grain and chose outgrower owned, private sector managed
enterprises.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "lucida sans" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The
State, through the Kenya Tea Development Authority (KTDA), guaranteed loans to
the factories which were repaid by deductions from farmers earnings. The
factories were managed by the multinational tea plantation companies on
contract and progressively replaced by the KTDA as local capacity was developed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "lucida sans" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">This is
why the privatization of the industry did not entail sale of assets. The
farmers had financed the assets. The State had simply been a facilitator and
custodian.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "lucida sans" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The
sugar industry took the State- ownership route. The one exception to some extent
was Mumias which was a joint venture between the government and Booker Tate, a
multinational sugar company, which managed the company until it was privatized
and management localized. The rest is history.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<strong><span style="font-family: "lucida sans" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">PRIVATE
MILLERS</span></strong><span style="font-family: "lucida sans" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "lucida sans" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Privatization
is not a solution. As noted, the contribution of sugarcane to the value of
sugar is comparatively little. Most of the value is created at milling, which
is capital intensive. Sugarcane today is politically priced at well above its
economic value.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "lucida sans" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The cost
is paid by consumers twice, directly through high prices, and indirectly as
taxpayers through bailouts. Private millers will have no business paying for
cane more than its economic value.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "lucida sans" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">There is
no business model I can think of where, in a regionally integrated competitive
market, sugarcane would emerge as the best alternative for western Kenya’s
smallholder farmers. The only one with a fighting chance is if the government
gives the farmers the mills, debt free, but this entails a huge assumption—that
the farmers would run the mills efficiently. Doubtful.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "lucida sans" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">One of
the arguments forwarded against the Uganda deal by among others, my good
friends Prof Anyang Nyong’o and Dr Mukhisa Kituyi, is Uganda does not have a
sugar surplus and the deal will be a conduit for barons to bring in sugar from
farther afield. I don’t disagree that mischief could be afoot, but the
surpluses argument should not arise.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "lucida sans" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The EAC
Common Market Protocol was signed in November 2009. It became effective on July
1 2010, with a five-year transition period which ended on June 30 this year.
The EAC is now legally a single market. In a single market, you produce where
it is cheapest and sell where it is most profitable. The Ugandan millers are
not obliged to satisfy the Ugandan market first before selling in Kenya or any
of the other EAC countries for that matter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "lucida sans" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">They are
not demanding market access because they have a surplus, but because the Kenyan
market is more profitable. They are entitled to our market. Moreover, you don’t
produce a surplus and then look for a market. You find a market and then
produce for it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "lucida sans" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">We may
be able to stave off external competition for a while, but the bell has tolled
for western Kenya’s sugar industry. The Kerio Valley Development Authority
(KVDA) estimates that it can grow sugarcane on large scale at a quarter of the
western Kenya cost in the Turkwell basin. Tana River County can put more land
under large scale irrigated sugarcane than the entire western Kenya sugar belt
with plenty to spare. The Ugandan millers or other investors could, and
probably will, invest in large scale production here. Are we going to stop
them?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<strong><span style="font-family: "lucida sans" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">LABOUR
INTENSIVE</span></strong><span style="font-family: "lucida sans" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "lucida sans" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">What are
the alternatives for western Kenya? There is no shortage of them, and at any
rate, the lesson the region should learn from sugarcane is that mono-cropping
is a bad idea. As I hope I have demonstrated, the alternatives should be
evaluated on two criteria. The first is that it is labour intensive, meaning,
it enables the farmers to employ themselves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "lucida sans" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The
second is that the farmer accounts for a high percentage of the end value of
the product. A good example is, lo and behold, milk! Dairying is labour
intensive, cows (or goats) must be fed and milked every day. Second, milk comes
from the cow ready to drink.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "lucida sans" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">That is
as high a percentage of end value as you are likely to get. Processing i.e.
pasteurizing and packaging fresh milk does not add value to milk per se, it
simply improves the logistics of getting it to a mass market.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "lucida sans" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Most
Kenyans in fact prefer their milk straight from the cow. As it happens, there
is a technology, the “milk ATMS”, which is making it possible for farmers and
consumers to cut out the processors from the value chain.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "lucida sans" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The milk
ATMS have taken the market by storm, in the US and Europe as
well. It is a good example of a highly disruptive technology. In the US, the
milk processor lobby has secured bans in several states.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "lucida sans" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">The informal market controls 80% of the Kenyan milk market; may the guys who sell chopped sugar cane may soon have a dominant share....</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
ngubia m.ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698151563854585640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1015313172386024469.post-37056576733805121062014-12-19T07:59:00.003+03:002015-09-21T10:48:36.990+03:00IN POVERTY SOME VIRTUES ARE IMPRACTICABLE.<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
With poverty of the mind, values and matter we are bound to be trapped
in the vicious cycle.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Various disciplines, among them economics have sought to address this
scarcity of resources and how human behaviour is shaped by the scrabble of
resources; perfected by Keynes , mercantilist et al<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Politics , laws, family and marriage and all associations seek to share these resources
by each individual player seeking to have a cutting advantage over the other;
to effectively control and eventually annihilate the other; <i>thus Charles Darwin survival for the fittest.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
How have modern societies escaped or perfected Darwinism??<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Life is a rat race and to join the fast lane there has to be collateral
damage inform of bad laws, death and collapsed buildings and other human made calamities.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
To escape the rate race we have to seek an equitable way of fighting scarcity;
to nourish the mind the soul and the body and that’s what Marxism is all about<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Corruption, nepotism, is all ways of seeking competitive advantage over
the other.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Laws, taboos are made by owners of resources as a means of seeking to control the masses,
the lumpen proletariat; they are meant to serve the ruling elite unless the masses
(if they got the critical mass) rise and redefine the societal values.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
The security bill, some say curtails some of the fundamental rights
enshrined on the bill of rights.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
But we forget that every right granted comes with a huge
responsibility.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
I hold the view that the media is irresponsible; they need to sell news.
Are these the excesses of the untamed capitalism? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Unchecked social media is on the rampage where all abuses are traded?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Political utterances that fuel hatred and hatred; all later denounced?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Forgive me, but in a society where the social fabric is broken down, we need laws what those not in power call draconian;<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
And focused dictators ; and that’s
why Kagame is my living model- I am a Kagame
wannabe..<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
************************************************************************<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
On a different note we need to change the word BRIBE to <b>TIPS</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
In most western countries, one is obliged to tip almost everyone from
bank tellers, hotel attendants, and cab drivers et al…. remember chickens.. IT’S
THE ART OF THE DEAL<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
This would allow institutionalizing corruption (sorry giving tips) and
stopping wasting resources fighting what seems a vibrant self-regulating
enterprise.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Dowry is a way of appeasing the bride’s parents– is it a bribe or a tip??<o:p></o:p></div>
ngubia m.ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698151563854585640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1015313172386024469.post-30123699293730119752014-11-22T23:31:00.000+03:002014-11-22T23:32:05.153+03:00New railway is not value for money<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 9.75pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">So far, the raging debate on the proposed standard
gauge railway is focusing on dodgy procurement. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 9.75pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">There are also questions about the cost although, on
the whole, it is not evident that it is grossly overpriced. Many people
seem to be under the impression that it is otherwise a good investment. It is
not.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 9.75pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Three hundred billion shillings is not loose
change. If it proceeds, it will be the biggest loan that we have borrowed
to date. It will increase our external debt by close to one third, our
debt to GDP ratio by nine percentage points and our interest payments on
external debt by 50 per cent. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 9.75pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The annual repayment of the principal amount
translates to over Sh600 million per county - you may want to think what your
county could do with an extra Sh600 million every year for the next 10 years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 9.75pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">If we are going to put ourselves in debt to this
extent, we need to be sure we are getting value for money. Are we?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 9.75pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">I have a simple back-of-the-envelope method I use to
check whether a project makes commercial sense.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 9.75pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">At the very minimum, a commercial project should pay
the cost of capital. Let us put the cost of capital at 7.5 per cent per year,
about the rate that we can expect to pay on the sovereign bond we are about to
float. This means that the project needs to generate a surplus of Sh22.5 to pay
for capital.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 9.75pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">To generate this kind of surplus, the railway would
have to have a turnover of at least Sh120 billion. Assuming that it charges the
prevailing tariff of US$1,000 per container, it would need to carry 1.4 million
20-foot containers a year, 4,000 a day. That would take about 48 very long
trains every 24 hours. The busiest single line railways in the US, for
instance, run 20 trains a day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 9.75pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">What about cargo? The Mombasa port is now handling
containers about one million TeUs (twenty feet unit equivalent). That means the
new rail would have to enjoy a monopoly of Mombasa port cargo to pay its way.
This is probably why the Chinese financiers are asking for guaranteed cargo.
But what they do not seem to appreciate is that the Kenya State does not have
the same command and control power that the Chinese State has.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 9.75pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">One can argue that the cargo volume will grow. That is
true. But we are not demolishing the old line. And the new one comes only to
Nairobi at first.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 9.75pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">It does not make sense to load cargo going beyond
Nairobi on the new line only to transship it to the old line that could have
carried it from Mombasa in the first place.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 9.75pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">TANZANIA'S
CENTRAL LINE</span></strong><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 9.75pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">More importantly, the region is building competing
transit corridors not least our very own LAPSSET. But the most immediate
competition is Tanzania’s central line. This line goes from Dar-es-Salaam to
Isaka, about 100 km south of Mwanza. It is being extended to Kigali, with
a branch line to Musongati in Burundi. At 1,400 km, the distance from Dar to
Kigali is 25 per cent shorter than Mombasa to Kigali.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 9.75pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">If our Chinese friends make good their pledge to build
the mother of all ports at Bagamoyo, Mombasa will have a hard time competing
for transit cargo to and from Rwanda and beyond. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 9.75pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The Lamu port, if completed, will also take a chunk of
domestic and northbound cargo. And Djibouti is also angling for South
Sudan and Ethiopian business as well. No massaging of data, or growling at
critics, will make this railway make commercial sense. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 9.75pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The long and short of it is that the railway will be
paid for by taxpayers’ money. Our constitution has set out five principles
that public finance must fulfill. Two of these are pertinent.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 9.75pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Article 201(c) requires inter-generational equity that
is fairness between current and future generations. Article 201(d)
requires that public money be used in a prudent and responsible manner. Let us
take 201 (d) first.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 9.75pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The fact that the railway cannot pay its way does not
mean it is imprudent. It may be that it has huge indirect public benefits
which are not captured by the revenues -- what we call in economics positive
externalities, are very high.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 9.75pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">A good example of this was JF Kennedy’s mission to put
man on the moon. Its direct economic returns were zero, but the technological
advances it engendered are said to far exceed its cost.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 9.75pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">But it is hard to see what the public benefits beyond
those that accrue to the owners of the cargo that is carried are. And the fact
that alternative modes of carrying cargo on the same route, including
modernising the existing one, means that even the additional economic benefits
to those are not that significant. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 9.75pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">A good example of this was JF Kennedy’s mission to put
man on the moon. Its direct economic returns were zero, but the technological
advances it engendered are said to far exceed its cost.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 9.75pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">But it is hard to see what the public benefits beyond
those that accrue to the owners of the cargo that is carried are. And the fact
that alternative modes of carrying cargo on the same route, including
modernising the existing one, means that even the additional economic benefits
to those are not that significant. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 9.75pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<strong style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">LAMU
TO THIKA</span></strong><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 9.75pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">If we must build a railway, it is doubtful that this
particular one is the best value we can get for our money. It seems to me
that a new line from Lamu to Thika represents better value for money. Three
reasons.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 9.75pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">First, it is a cheaper and faster alternative to the
proposed LAPSSET route, as there is already a line from Thika to Nanyuki that
only needs rehabilitation. All it would require to make LAPSSET a reality is a
container terminal in Nanyuki and a good road from Nanyuki to Juba, as the road
to Ethiopia is already under construction. The economic rationale for
replicating the Mombasa-Nairobi line when we are struggling to secure funding
for the LAPSSET infrastructure has totally escaped me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 9.75pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Second, it would connect both the Northern Corridor
and the proposed LAPSSET corridor to both Mombasa and the new Lamu
port. Choice for the customer, and competition between the two ports, can
only be a good thing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 9.75pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Third, it will stimulate development of the
historically marginalised regions along its route. It will carry livestock and
livestock products to the ports for export, coal and cement from Kitui, and
food from the million acres of the lower Tana that we are about to
irrigate. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 9.75pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 9.75pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Let us now consider 201(c), the inter-generational
equity provision. This provision requires that we do not burden future
generations unnecessarily, and vice-versa. It would be unjust to borrow
money to consume today, for example, to throw the Golden Jubilee party, which
would be repaid in 20 years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 9.75pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">That is obvious enough. What is less obvious is that
it is equally unjust to tax poor people today for an investment that will
benefit future generations who, in all likelihood, will be wealthier than we
are today. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 9.75pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">It should be readily apparent that taxing people who
don’t have enough to eat to finance a project whose benefits will be realised
in 50 years is as unconscionable as burdening our children and future
generations with debt whose benefits they will not enjoy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 9.75pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<strong><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">BORROW LONG-TERM</span></strong><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 9.75pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">So, how else then can we finance such a long-term investment
as a good railway project? There are various ways, but the most obvious is to
borrow as long term as possible. As it happens, we do have access to long term
cheap loans from the World Bank -- 40-year maturity, 10-year grace period at
0.5 per cent interest. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 9.75pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">If it were World Bank IDA or the African Development
Bank’s (ADF) money, the repayment works out to a third of the Chinese loan, and
we will not start paying until 2024, by which time the economy will be much
bigger, there will be a lot more cargo to carry, and in effect, the public
financial burden less onerous.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 9.75pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">But this funding will not be available for long, as it
is only available to the poorest countries, a status that we will soon graduate
from. What a smart government would do is take advantage of this to finance as
many long term capital projects as the World Bank and AfDB are willing to
finance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 9.75pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">There is no shortage of commercially viable
infrastructure projects, energy ones notably, for the Chinese to finance. At
any rate, the Chinese are likely to win most of the construction work even when
it is competitively tendered.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 9.75pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">It’s hard to see what is smart about getting into the
kind of murk they now find themselves in on this project. All it does is to
reinforce the negative perceptions that many people have about the way they are
doing business with African governments.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 9.75pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">It is a lose, lose, lose project. We lose, the
President loses, the Chinese lose. It is not worth it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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ngubia m.ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698151563854585640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1015313172386024469.post-61549208329110630532014-05-23T10:36:00.003+03:002014-05-23T10:36:42.363+03:00Corruption is a social evil ; Six strategies to fight corruption <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Thanks a lot for this insightful piece on
combating the malignant social and economic malfunction called corruption<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Broadly, there are three policy proposals
on curbing corruption: lawyers approach, the businessman’s approach and the
economists approach. These consist respectively in producing tougher new laws,
tougher enforcement of existing laws and increasing the level of competition in
the economy, both among firms and bureaucrats.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Singapore and Hong Kong are some of the least
corrupt countries on the world are successful applications of lawyers approach –
they have draconian laws on corruption; they also pay their bureaucrats
exceptionally well but the level of political competition on this e countries
is extremely low; this has allowed exception level of pay in the bureaucracy
without too much political completion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I will borrow example from one country
in East Africa-Kenya; this is my country of birth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">The Kenya Civil service is among the
highly paid; this was strategic to attract and retain and high performing from the
private sector’s ; it started with an elite Dream Team crafted by the former
president in late 90s to turn around the Kenyan economy; vision 2030 secretariat
and et al. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Yes, the work by Rijckeghem and Weder
(2001) that there is an inverse relationship between the level of public sector
wages and the incidence of corruption may be partially correct; it ignores the
rent seeking nature of the economic man and the politics of the country which
are central to award of civil service jobs.; what about the level of civil
liberties?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">The Kenyan MP is paid over $10,000per
month excluding various unwarranted allowances like sitting allowance (being
paid to be in parliament), yet they still misuse constituency development funds,
solicit bribes to support either private or public members bill , refuse to pay
for child support?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Thus
the questions is how much of the clean record if any in Kenya/LDC can be
attributed to the policy of high wages</span></b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">?
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">The
red tape</span></b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"> of bureaucracy is not a
choice of large institutions but product of the desire to systemize processes which
should/must outlive the officeholders/owners; and that’s why it’s easy for a small outlet in downtown
street to complete an order for emergency backup generator that for GE( Kenya)
to fix a rundown backup generator<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Government are the highest rent seeking
entity in the economy; they extract income through these bureaucracies; they
also create employment otherwise every government unit/ department should be
run as a business unit able to finance its operations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I agree these needless regulations need
to be removed but are the leaders ready to pay the political price? And as such instead of dismantling these bureaucracies
they create more efficient ‘political outfits
ie centers of excellence like <i>Huduma Centre </i>in Kenya; constitutionalize
various commission and authorities , merge moribund parastatals rather that privatize
them et al <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Thus there’s a a correlation between the
nature Governance of a country and level of red tape.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Corruption is a social evil with
immediate economic effects but long-term damage on moral fabric of the humanity;
it eats into the family values where ones worth is measured by the size of the
wallet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">It emanates from the Id- the instinctive
nature of the being, the self, the selfish, the animal desire to fulfill
immediate aggressions which matures into fully grow untamed ego.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">It’s also fueled by the capitalism which
advocates completion, privatization and wealth accumulation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">To address corruptions we need a bottom
up approach<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">1.<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Disband Anti-corruption
agency- this agency serves the master.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">2.<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Set up a Whistle
blowing agency whose sole mandate is educate the citizenry on corruption<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">3.<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Make corruption a
subject/ topic in basic education.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">4.<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Personalize
corruption; carry out national wide HIV like campaign and sensationalize and
sensitive citizens on evils/benefits of corruption.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">5.<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Set an
alternative form of Social justice dedicated to corruption like the Rwanda’s
Gecaca system.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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ngubia m.ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698151563854585640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1015313172386024469.post-77228332889127342912013-05-14T17:25:00.000+03:002013-05-14T17:25:19.333+03:00Time for a Rethink: Why Development Aid for Africa Has Failed<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Development aid to Africa has been
flowing for decades, but the results have been paltry. Instead, recipients have
merely become dependent and initiative has been snuffed out. It is time to
reform the system.</span></b><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 14.65pt;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Development aid to Africa is a blessing for all those directly
involved -- both on the giving end and on the receiving end. Functionaries on
the donor side, at least those abroad, earn good money. Many of those on the
receiving end, for their part, know how to organize things in such a way that
their own personal interests don't get short shrift.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 10.5pt;">There is no reason for these two groups to be interested in
changing the status quo. Yet even so, some within their ranks are starting to
suggest the situation as it stands cannot continue. The development aid of the
past 50 years, they say, is hardly justifiable given the disappointing results.
Even individual donors, who know little about how development aid works in
practice, increasingly sense that something might be amiss.</span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 14.65pt;">
<b><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">They're right. The aid has
failed to a large extent.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 14.65pt;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Donors have taken on too much responsibility for solving African
problems. They have essentially educated them to, when problems arise, call for
foreign aid first rather than trying to find solutions themselves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 14.65pt;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">This attitude has become deeply rooted in Africa. This
self-incapacitation is one of the most regrettable results of development
cooperation thus far. Poorly designed development aid has made people dependent
and accustomed them to a situation of perpetual assistance, preventing them
from taking the initiative themselves. It is this situation which represents
the greatest damage done, far worse than the enormous material losses
engendered by failed aid projects. And there are many. Africa is strewn with
idle tractors, ruined equipment and run-down buildings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 14.65pt;">
<b><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Deeply Rooted Misconceptions</span></b><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 14.65pt;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Tthe view has taken hold that donors are primarily responsible for developing
Africa. At the 2nd Bonn Conference on International Development Policy in
August 2009, then-German President Horst Köhler, an experienced and dedicated
African development activist, spoke about an energy partnership established
between Germany and Nigeria two years previously. His conclusion:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 14.65pt;">
<b><i><span style="color: red; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"I cannot discern that
the amount of electricity in Nigeria has increased since then. And I find it
shameful for the industrialized countries, as well as for those responsible in
Nigeria, that this large country, rich as it is in resources essentially, can't
advance its socio-economic development because it hasn't yet managed to bring
electricity to its rural areas. I find this shameful for the entire development
cooperation that has existed for decades."</span></i></b><b><span style="color: red; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 14.65pt;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Here, the fact that Köhler mentions the industrialized countries
before Nigeria when discussing responsibility for the failure is notable. More
notable, however, is that he mentions the industrialized countries at all. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 14.65pt;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Are industrialized countries to be ashamed that one of the world's
largest oil exporters isn't capable of providing its rural areas with
electricity? Simply asking the question is enough to show how absurd the thought
is -- and how deeply rooted the misconception.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 14.65pt;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">This mothering mindset, widespread in industrialized countries for
decades, is in direct violation of the subsidiarity principle. This principle
states that providers of aid, whether private or governmental, should not
assume any duties that could be carried out by the receiver country itself.
Furthermore, it mandates that aid be given such that those providing it can
cease giving as soon as possible.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 14.65pt;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Or are they all EHI-Economic Hit Men?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
ngubia m.ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698151563854585640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1015313172386024469.post-27747570735571497282013-02-26T10:43:00.002+03:002013-02-26T10:43:33.302+03:00Confessions of an Economic Hit Man<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">excerpt from<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Confessions of an Economic Hit Man<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">by John Perkins<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">P R O LO G U E<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Quito, Ecuador’s capital, stretches
across a volcanic valley high in the Andes, at an altitude of nine thousand
feet. Residents of this city, which was founded long before Columbus arrived in
the Americas, are accustomed to seeing snow on the surrounding peaks, despite
the fact that they live just a few miles south of the equator. The city of
Shell, a frontier outpost and military base hacked out of Ecuador’s Amazon
jungle to service the oil company whose name it bears, is nearly eight thousand
feet lower than Quito. A steaming city, it is inhabited mostly by soldiers, oil
workers, and the indigenous people from the Shuar and Kichwa tribes who work
for them as prostitutes and laborers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">To journey from one city to the other,
you must travel a road that is both tortuous and breathtaking. Local people
will tell you that during the trip you experience all four seasons in a single
day. Although<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">I have driven this road many times, I
never tire of the spectacular scenery. Sheer cliffs, punctuated by cascading
waterfalls and brilliant bromeliads, rise up one side. On the other side, the
earth drops abruptly into a deep abyss where the Pastaza River, a headwater of the
Amazon, snakes its way down the Andes. The Pastaza carries water from the
glaciers of Cotopaxi, one of the world’s highest active volcanoes and a deity
in the time of the Incas, to the Atlantic Ocean over three thousand miles away.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">In 2003, I departed Quito in a Subaru
Outback and headed for Shell on a mission that was like no other I had ever
accepted. I was hoping to end a war I had helped create. As is the case with so
many things we EHMs must take responsibility for, it is a war that is virtually
unknown anywhere outside the country where it is fought. I was on my way to
meet with the Shuars, the Kichwas, and their neighbors the Achuars, the
Zaparos, and the Shiwiars—tribes determined to prevent our oil companies from
destroying their homes, families, and lands, even if it means they must die in
the process. For them, this is a war about the survival of their children and
cultures, while for us it is about power, money, and natural resources. It is
one part of the struggle for world domination and the dream of a few greedy
men, global empire. That is what we EHMs do best: we build a global empire. We
are an elite group of men and women who utilize international financial
organizations to foment conditions that make other nations subservient to the
corporatocracy running our biggest corporations, our government, and our banks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Like our counterparts in the Mafia,
EHMs provide favors. These take the form of loans to develop infrastructure
—electric generating plants, highways, ports, airports, or industrial parks. A
condition of such loans is that engineering and construction companies from our
own country must build allthese projects. In essence, most of the money never
leaves the United States; it is simply transferred from banking offices in
Washington to engineering offices in New York, Houston, or San Francisco.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Despite the fact that the money is
returned almost immediately to corporations that are members of the corporatocracy
(the creditor), the recipient country is required to pay it all back, principal
plus interest.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">If an EHM is completely successful,
the loans are so large that the debtor is forced to default on its payments
after a few years. When this happens, then like the Mafia we demand our pound
of flesh. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">This often includes one or more of the
following: control over United Nations votes, the installation of military
bases, or access to precious resources such as oil or the Panama Canal. Of
course, the debtor still owes us the money—and another country is added to our
global empire.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Driving from Quito toward Shell on
this sunny day in 2003, I thought back thirty-five years to the first time I
arrived in this part of the world. I had read that although Ecuador is only
about the size of Nevada, it has more than thirty active volcanoes, over 15
percent of the world’s bird species, and thousands of as-yet-unclassified
plants, and that it is a land of diverse cultures where nearly as many people
speak ancient indigenous languages as speak Spanish. I found it fascinating and
certainly exotic; yet, the words that kept coming to mind back then were pure,
untouched, and innocent.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Much has changed in thirty-five years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">At the time of my first visit in 1968,
Texaco had only just discovered petroleum in Ecuador’s Amazon region. Today,
oil accounts for nearly half the country’s exports. A trans-Andean pipeline
built shortly after my first visit has since leaked over a half million barrels
of oil into the fragile rain forest—more than twice the amount spilled by the
Exxon Valdez.2 Today, a new $1.3 billion, three hundred–mile pipeline
constructed by an EHM–organized consortium promises to make Ecuador one of the
world’s top ten suppliers of oil to the United States.3 Vast areas of rain
forest have fallen, macaws and jaguars have all but vanished, three Ecuadorian
indigenous cultures have been driven to the verge of collapse, and pristine
rivers have been transformed into flaming cesspools.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">During this same period, the
indigenous cultures began fighting back. For instance, on May 7, 2003, a group
of American lawyers representing more than thirty thousand indigenous
Ecuadorian people filed a $1 billion lawsuit against ChevronTexaco Corp. The
suit asserts that between 1971 and 1992 the oil giant dumped into open holes
and rivers over four million gallons per day of toxic wastewater contaminated
with oil, heavy metals, and carcinogens, and that the company left behind
nearly 350 uncovered waste pits that continue to kill both people and animals. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Outside the window of my Outback,
great clouds of mist rolled in from the forests and up the Pastaza’s canyons.
Sweat soaked my shirt, and my stomach began to churn, but not just from the intense
tropical heat and the serpentine twists in the road. Knowing the part I had
played in destroying this beautiful country was once again taking its toll.
Because of my fellow EHMs and me, Ecuador is in far worse shape today than she
was before we introduced her to the miracles of modern economics, banking, and
engineering. Since 1970, during this period known euphemistically as the Oil
Boom, the official poverty level grew from 50 to 70 percent, under- or unemployment
increased from 15 to 70 percent, and public debt increased from $240 million to
$16 billion. Meanwhile, the share of national resources allocated to the
poorest segments of the population declined from 20 to 6 percent.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Unfortunately, Ecuador is not the
exception. Nearly every country we EHMs have brought under the global empire’s
umbrella has suffered a similar fate.6 Third world debt has grown to more than
$2.5 trillion, and the cost of servicing it—over $375 billion per year as of
2004—is more than all third world spending on health and education, and twenty
times what developing countries receive annually in foreign aid. Over half the
people in the world survive on less than two dollars per day, which is roughly
the same amount they received in the early 1970s. Meanwhile, the top 1 percent
of third world households accounts for 70 to 90 percent of all private
financial wealth and real estate ownership in their country; the actual
percentage depends on the specific country.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The Subaru slowed as it meandered
through the streets of the beautiful resort town of Baños, famous for the hot
baths created by underground volcanic rivers that flow from the highly active
Mount Tungurahgua. Children ran along beside us, waving and trying to sell us
gum and cookies. Then we left Baños behind. The spectacular scenery ended
abruptly as the Subaru sped out of paradise and into a modern vision of Dante’s
Inferno A gigantic monster reared up from the river, a mammoth gray wall. Its
dripping concrete was totally out of place, completely unnatural and
incompatible with the landscape. Of course, seeing it there should not have
surprised me. I knew all along that it would bewaiting in ambush. I had
encountered it many times before and in the past had praised it as a symbol of
EHM accomplishments. Even so, it made my skin crawl.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">That hideous, incongruous wall is a
dam that blocks the rushing Pastaza River, diverts its waters through huge
tunnels bored into the mountain, and converts the energy to electricity. This
is the 156- megawatt Agoyan hydroelectric project. It fuels the industries that
make a handful of Ecuadorian families wealthy, and it has been the source of
untold suffering for the farmers and indigenous people who live along the
river. This hydroelectric plant is just one of many projects developed through
my efforts and those of other EHMs. Such projects are the reason Ecuador is now
a member of the global empire, and the reason why the Shuars and Kichwas and
their neighbors threaten war against our oil companies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Because of EHM projects, Ecuador is
awash in foreign debt and must devote an inordinate share of its national
budget to paying this off, instead of using its capital to help the millions of
its citizens officially classified as dangerously impoverished. The only way Ecuador
can buy down its foreign obligations is by selling its rain forests to the oil
companies. Indeed, one of the reasons the EHMs set their sights on Ecuador in
the first place was because the sea of oil beneath its Amazon region is believed
to rival the oil fields of the Middle East.8 The global empire demands its
pound of flesh in the form of oil concessions. These demands became especially
urgent after September 11, 2001, when Washington feared that Middle Eastern
supplies might cease. On top of that, Venezuela, our third-largest oil
supplier, hadrecently elected a populist president, Hugo Chávez, who took a
strong stand against what he referred to as U.S. imperialism; he threatened to
cut off oil sales to the United States. The EHMs had failed in<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Iraq and Venezuela, but we had
succeeded in Ecuador; now we would milk it for all it is worth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Ecuador is typical of countries around
the world that EHMs have brought into the economic-political fold. For every
$100 of crude taken out of the Ecuadorian rain forests, the oil companies
receive $75. Of the remaining $25, three-quarters must go to paying off the
foreign debt. Most of the remainder covers military and other government
expenses—which leaves about $2.50 for health, education, and programs aimed at
helping the poor.9 Thus, out of every $100 worth of oil torn from the Amazon,
less than $3 goes to the people who need the money most, those whose lives have
been so adversely impacted by the dams, the drilling, and the pipelines, and
who are dying from lack of edible food and potable water.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">All of those people—millions in
Ecuador, billions around the planet—are potential terrorists. Not because they
believe in communism or anarchism or are intrinsically evil, but simply because
they are desperate. Looking at this dam, I wondered—as I have so often in so
many places around the world—when these people would take action, like the
Americans against England in the 1770s or<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Latin Americans against Spain in the
early 1800s. The subtlety of this modern empire building puts the Roman
centurions, the Spanish conquistadors, and the eighteenth- and
nineteenth-century European colonial powers to shame. We EHMs are crafty; we
learned from history. Today we do not carry swords. We do not wear armor or
clothes that set us apart. In countries like Ecuador, Nigeria, and Indonesia,
we dress like local schoolteachers and shopowners. In Washington and Paris, we
look like government bureaucrats and bankers. We appear humble, normal. We
visit project sites and stroll through impoverished villages. We profess
altruism, talk with local papers about the wonderful humanitarian things we are
doing. We cover the conference tables of government committees with our
spreadsheets and financial projections, and we lecture at the Harvard Business
School about the miracles of macroeconomics. We are on the record, in the open.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Or so we portray ourselves and so are
we accepted. It is how the system works. We seldom resort to anything illegal
because the system itself is built on subterfuge, and the system is by
definition legitimate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">However—and this is a very large
caveat—if we fail, an even more sinister breed steps in, ones we<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">EHMs refer to as the jackals, men who
trace their heritage directly to those earlier empires. The jackals are always
there, lurking in the shadows. When they emerge, heads of state are overthrown
or die in violent “accidents.”10 And if by chance the jackals fail, as they failed
in Afghanistan and Iraq,then the old models resurface. When the jackals fail,
young Americans are sent in to kill and to die.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">As I passed the monster, that hulking
mammoth wall of gray concrete rising from the river, I was very conscious of
the sweat that soaked my clothes and of the tightening in my intestines. I
headed on down into the jungle to meet with the indigenous people who are
determined to fight to the last man in order to stop this empire I helped
create, and I was overwhelmed with feelings of guilt. How, I asked myself, did
a nice kid from rural New Hampshire ever get into such a dirty business?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
ngubia m.ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698151563854585640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1015313172386024469.post-19974919836484346482013-02-25T11:39:00.002+03:002013-02-25T11:40:22.429+03:00How ‘economic hit men’ conspire to impoverish the Third World with aid<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-size: 27.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">How
‘economic hit men’ conspire to impoverish the Third World with aid<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="background: white; color: #999999; font-size: 7.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">By JOHN
MBARIA<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">As Kenyans enter
into a national dialogue on whether we can do without the West should Uhuru
Kenyatta win the presidency, everyone ought to read a book that reveals how the
West, the Bretton Woods institutions and giant multinationals take everyone for
a ride so that they can rake in billions of dollars generated in the developing
world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">It is a book you can never find in Kenya. But the
shocking, best-selling gem ought to be read by everyone, particularly those who
have been harping loudest on the great mercies of donors.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The moment you are through the Confessions of an
Economic Hit Man by John Perkins, you will look at the “donor world’ through a
different prism.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">For Perkins tells a convincing story of his own
inner struggles as he graduated from a willing servant of big capital to a
crusading advocate for the rights of oppressed people in developing countries.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Though the man was recruited by the US National
Security Agency, he was also on the payroll of an international consulting firm
which enabled him to tour of Iran, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Panama, Colombia,
Ecuador, Colombia and other countries.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">His job was to
implement policies that promoted the interests of what he terms
“corporatocracy” – an unholy alliance of the US Government, banks, and other
corporations. As he did this, he was expected to make high-sounding but
deceptive noises about tackling poverty in the relevant countries.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Published in 2004, the book gives an unforgettable
insight into the sneaky world of the “unseen” men who gang up with political,
business and religious elites in developing countries to snatch away the very
basis upon which poor people depend for survival.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">In a startling
confession, Perkins reveals that his work was to convince the political and
financial leaders in the relevant countries to accept huge loans from the World
Bank, USAid and other organisations. And most of the elite would go along as
long as their cut was assured.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Such leaders would grow immensely rich from
kickbacks and amass political power particularly because unsuspecting masses
ended up crediting them with initiating industries, highways, power plants,
airports and dams. But their countries would end up with debts they could never
hope to pay.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Together with other “economic hit men”, Perkins
helped to bankrupt such countries by making them remain greatly indebted.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Consequently, the countries would become so
vulnerable that they would readily accept such demands as dishing out military
bases, voting along with the West in the UN, and giving the West unfettered
access to natural resources.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">However, as the countries struggled to repay the
debts, they would greatly impoverish their people since they cannot finance
basic health services, education and other public amenities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">On its part, the international media would be
deployed to portray the same enslaving projects as acts of generosity on the
part of the West.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Perkins describes “economic hit men” as extremely
bright, highly-paid professionals who transfer the cash loaned to poor
countries by the World Bank and other “aid” agencies into the accounts of
big-time corporations and the pockets of a few wealthy families who control
much of the world’s natural resources.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">To do this, the corporations employ fraudulent and
highly optimistic financial reports and projections, rigged elections, payoffs,
extortion, sex, and murder. “They play a game as old as empire, but one that
has taken on new and terrifying dimensions during this time of globalization”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">After playing his part in the grand manipulative
schemes for years, Perkins could not handle his conscience. He went into inner
struggles especially after realising that he was a vital cog in it. When he
came face-to-face with its victims, guilt overwhelmed him; he got depressed and
quit his job in 1980.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Unfortunately for us in developing countries, this
grand deception did not end after Perkins published his book. It is a scheme
that is so well-crafted that the victim becomes dependent on it and often begs
those behind it to continue stealing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">It is no wonder then that most Kenyans would not
hear of breaking the shackles of “donor” dependency even when it is crystal
clear that there is very little to show for it in the way of tangible,
long-term development.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">enyans ought to know that when “donors” give a
shilling, they take away a billion!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<em><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Mr Mbaria writes on development and environmental
issues (<a href="mailto:gatumbaria@gmail.com"><span style="font-style: normal;">gatumbaria@gmail.com</span></a>)<o:p></o:p></span></em></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><a href="http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Opinion/How-economic-hit-men-plan-to-impoverish-the-Third-World/-/440808/1703186/-/item/1/-/gditjdz/-/index.html">http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Opinion/How-economic-hit-men-plan-to-impoverish-the-Third-World/-/440808/1703186/-/item/1/-/gditjdz/-/index.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
ngubia m.ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698151563854585640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1015313172386024469.post-50258462330654026382012-04-27T14:01:00.001+03:002012-10-09T13:06:24.467+03:00ngubia m.ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698151563854585640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1015313172386024469.post-15151733624675022062012-04-27T11:28:00.000+03:002012-04-27T11:28:54.022+03:00Destroying local markets; increasing hunger in the name of aidHighly mechanized farms on large acreages can produce units of food cheaper than even the poorest paid farmers of the Third World. When this cheap food is sold, or given, to the Third World, the local farm economy is destroyed.<br />
If the poor and unemployed of the Third World were given access to land, access to industrial tools, and protection from cheap imports, they could plant high-protein/high calorie crops and become self-sufficient in food. <br />
Reclaiming their land and utilizing the unemployed would cost these societies almost nothing, feed them well, and save far more money than they now pay for the so-called “cheap” imported foods.<br />
<br />
World hunger exists because:<br />
(1) colonialism, and later subtle monopoly capitalism, dispossessed hundreds of millions of people from their land; the current owners are the new plantation managers producing for the mother countries; <br />
<br />
(2) the low-paid undeveloped countries sell to the highly paid developed countries because there is no local market [because the low-paid people do not have enough to pay] … and<br />
(3) the current Third World land owners, producing for the First World, are appendages to the industrialized world, stripping all natural wealth from the land to produce food, lumber, and other products for wealthy nations.<br />
This system is largely kept in place by underpaying the defeated colonial societies for the real value of their labor and resources, leaving them no choice but to continue to sell their natural wealth to the over-paid industrial societies that overwhelmed them. <br />
<br />
To eliminate hunger: <br />
(1) the dispossessed, weak, individualized people must be protected from the organized and legally protected multinational corporations;<br />
(2) there must be managed trade to protect both the Third World and the developed world, so the dispossessed can reclaim use of their land;<br />
(3) the currently defeated people can then produce the more labor-intensive, high-protein/high-calorie crops that contain all essential nutrients; and <br />
(4) those societies must adapt dietary patterns.ngubia m.ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698151563854585640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1015313172386024469.post-74806233508482398782012-04-27T11:19:00.000+03:002012-04-27T11:19:05.908+03:00Invading Libya to Temporarily Save Imperialism and Theft-Capitalism<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Libya broke free in 1969.
Imperialists have repeatedly tried to regain control ever since. Though under
imperialist embargoes and attacks much of the time, Myammar al-Gaddafi, the
leader of that revolution, modernized Libya beyond the living standards of
England.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Besides free education
(including advanced education anywhere in the world), free health care, most
adults owning a car, and providing each marrying couple a $50,000 interest free
loan, large sums of Libyan money was spent to keep alive Africa’s post WWII
dream of forming into “The United States of Africa.” Substantial funds were
spent developing some of the smaller nations in central Africa. And Libya’s
leader did all this without amassing personal wealth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">His latest proposal was
to nationalize the oil companies and turn the massive profits currently flowing
out of the country towards Libyan workers and the poor. These proposals were
sitting in front of Libya’s citizen councils (their system of grass roots
democracy) when imperialism attacked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If put in force, she
would have the highest standard of living in the world, and there would be no
such thing as a “poor” person in Libya.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ghadaffi was so revered
for having gained Libya’s freedom, no ethnic group or political coalition could
be found to fund, arm, train, and overthrow him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">However, under the
umbrella of populist revolutions overthrowing puppets throughout the Arab
world, and with the urgency of preventing such an example to the periphery of
empire currently breaking free, such a group was covertly organized.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Only the most naive would
believe a ragtag, poorly armed, untrained, motley mass would drive cars,
pickups, and trucks several hundred miles West on a coastal highway openly
declaring they were going to overthrow a government with a well-equipped and
trained army.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Imperialism obviously
informed this hotbed of Al-Qaeda recruits they would back a revolution to put
them in power.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A plastic gun shown to
NBC reporter Richard Engle by an insurgent supposedly in battle, exposed this
as a photo op by those covert organizers to gain the loyalty of the world for
this assault on Libya by imperialism.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One hundred British
covert operation forces inserted into the Benghazi area three weeks before
their rag tag assault, quickly expanding to 350, and the man in charge of the
uprising, Khalifa Hifter, having lived in Virginia, next door to the CIA for 20
years, is further confirmation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Those insurgents were
promised backing by the world’s most powerful nations for them to rule Libya.
Meanwhile mainstream news, which surely has access to far more information than
we do, told the world this was a spontaneous, homegrown, insurrection.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Even with NATO
headquartered there, Germany recognized the moral hazard of the unjust
collective assault on Libya and quickly withdrew from the coalition.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">On April 1, 2011, Asia
Times exposed the assault on Libya was part of an agreement between America and
Saudi Arabia. In trade for the Saudis protecting America’s puppets in Bahrain
and having their fully controlled Arab League vote yes on UN Security Council
Resolution 1973, approving a no fly zone over Libya, America and NATO agreed to
take out Ghadaffi.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The destruction of
Ghadaffi’s Libya was to protect Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Yemen, and other puppet
governments, from the populist Arab revolutions breaking out throughout the
Middle East.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But these were only minor
aspects of a much bigger problem for imperialism. Libya’s ongoing study on
nationalizing all oil operations within their borders, their organization of
several African countries for central banks independent of current world
currencies, switching to the gold dinar as Africa’s common currency, and the
selling of oil for those gold dinars.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">All that, plus Ghadaffi’s
outspoken efforts for true democracy within the United Nations, would lead to
the overthrow of puppet governments worldwide, the potential success of the
60-year plan for a United States of Africa, and the end of theft-capitalism.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Communication
superhighways are spreading truth so fast that most the leading thinkers of all
nations realize this is imperialism’s attempt to keep the current populist
revolutionists trapped within the imperial system.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Much of the world
breaking free, in concert with the worldwide financial collapse, would mean the
end of theft capitalism that we have been predicting. China, India, Russia,
Brazil, Venezuela, and most other nations currently breaking free, are fully
aware R2P is just as much to control them as it is to control those populist
revolutions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The absolute rule, to
never share technology with anyone, was broken when imperial industries moved
to China wholesale <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As a result of that
breach in the monopolization of technology, within one more generation, much of
the world will be developed. Their development automatically leads to a demand for
equality in world trade and they retaining their share of the world’s
production of wealth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">R2P is imperialism’s
effort to head off this oncoming disaster. Imperialism is getting steadily
weaker while the periphery of empire is getting stronger and stronger.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">All people are good and
populations of the imperial centers would never accept their governments
creating such havoc across the world if they knew the truth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">An honest look at history
200 years ago is very instructive. We all know that Napoleon was a megalomaniac
dictator, right? Reading the cover story of the April 22, 1991 US News and
World Report, <i>History’s Hidden Turning Points </i>by Daniel J. Boorstin,
will quickly push aside the pure propaganda, pushed in all imperialist history
books, on the subject of Napoleon.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">He spread many of the
rights declared for all men by the French Revolution throughout Europe. Known
as the Napoleonic Codes, “they are the legal basis for over thirty nations of
Europe today.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Those codes were a direct
threat to both Aristocracy and the church, the power structure of the time.
Thus, even as those powers were severely proscribed, and because those they had
control of the universities and would eventually regain control of the media,
their dictatorial powers were not eliminated.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Thus Napoleon, who can
only have been worshiped for many decades throughout those 30 plus nations he
liberated, are recorded by imperialist historians as a megalomaniac and
dictator, the very attributes of the current power-structure promoting
themselves as peaceful, free, democracies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The demonizing of Libya
today, and every other nation threatening to throw off the yoke of imperialism,
as we have demonstrated above, is the exact same process under which Napoleon’s
reputation was destroyed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Just as Napoleon freed
most of Europe, communications superhighways and the rapid development of the
peripheries of collapsing empires is freeing the world. That is, assuming those
megalomaniacs do not destroy it first.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Imperialism will probably
win this round also. However, most the emerging world realizes how close they
came to being free—they have China, India, Russia, Brazil to collaborate with
to further develop their strength—and sooner or later imperialism/theft-capitalism
will lose this struggle.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span>ngubia m.ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698151563854585640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1015313172386024469.post-9195860756172546312012-03-19T16:14:00.001+03:002012-03-19T16:18:40.059+03:00Decentralizing Kenya: Four Paradoxes<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">These lessons are important for Kenya as
it embarks on a massive decentralization program—<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div style="line-height: 16.8pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Devolution will reshape the country’s
institutional architecture, not just because of the transfer of functions and
finance, but also because it involves the creation of a forty-seven brand-new
counties which will bring together deconcentrated offices of many national
ministries, local authorities, and district administrations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div style="line-height: 16.8pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Kenyans have sky-high expectations of
what devolution will bring, but decentralization is not in-and-of itself a
panacea for development. Almost everywhere, at different times in history,
decentralization has been driven by <u>political imperatives, not by economic
arguments.</u><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div style="line-height: 16.8pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div style="line-height: 16.8pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">The challenge for Kenya’s policy makers
in the next year and beyond will be to manage expectations carefully because
the risk of disappointment will be huge. To do this they will need to be
mindful of four paradoxes that will characterize the decentralization process
in this early phase of transition:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<strong><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Paradox 1.</span></strong><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;"> <strong><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">What is politically
desirable is economically impossible.<o:p></o:p></span></strong></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ideally, wealth and incomes should be distributed
evenly across Kenya’s 47 counties. This is economically impossible because
firms and individuals tend to locate where there are already clusters of
economic activity—which is mostly in the cities—so they can benefit from
“economies of scale.” </span><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.unido.org/fileadmin/user_media/Publications/IDR/2009/IDR_2009_print.PDF"><span lang="EN" style="color: windowtext; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Investments by companies
also tend to be lumpy</span></a></span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">—think of establishing a
factory—and thus geographically concentrated. This is why </span><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.worldbank.org/kenya/keu"><span lang="EN" style="color: windowtext; mso-ansi-language: EN;">in Kenya most economic activity is concentrated along the
Northern corridor</span></a></span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">—from Mombasa to Nairobi and
onward to Kisumu and Kakamega—</span><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://blogs.worldbank.org/africacan/can-rapid-population-growth-be-good-for-economic-development"><span lang="EN" style="color: windowtext; mso-ansi-language: EN;">where the majority of
Kenyans live </span></a></span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Paradox 2.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <b>To make
decentralization work, you need strong central systems.</b> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Some Kenyans want the central government to stay out of
devolution and leave it to the counties to manage their own affairs. In fact,
devolution requires sustained central coordination to be effective. Central
systems serve two main purposes: to make sure weaker counties’ needs are being
addressed through capacity building and that the spending and performance of
county governments can be compared on a common basis thanks to accountability
systems.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Paradox 3.</span></b><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <b>If not managed
well, decentralization may lead to greater inequality.</b> Some counties will
start at a relative disadvantage and it will take time to build up their
capacity. They will be the least equipped in practice to make efficient and
transparent use of their resources and retain the skilled staff that is
essential to making services work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Paradox 4.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.worldbank.org/kenya/keu"><span lang="EN" style="color: windowtext; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Despite
decentralization, county governments won’t have a lot of additional resources
to spend</span></a></span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">. Counties will receive transfers from
the center but also inherit responsibility for delivering a wide array of
existing services. The size of the transfers for each county will also be
small. If the government would devolve 15 percent to sub-national governments,
each of the 47 counties will only receive 0.3% of national revenues. Counties
will have the latitude to shift funding to new uses but they will need to make
cuts in other services that are currently provided.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In many countries, decentralization is associated with
great hopes and disappointments. The disappointments resulted from a
misunderstanding of what decentralization can realistically achieve in the
short run.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One thing is
clear. To address spatial imbalances in lagging regions while maintaining
services where Kenya’s growth is generated, Kenya has to grow the cake while
splitting it. This would make sure that each slice of the cake is bigger.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span>ngubia m.ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698151563854585640noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1015313172386024469.post-5241613652499083422012-03-09T11:21:00.000+03:002012-03-09T11:21:34.262+03:00How to kick-start Kenya’s second growth engine<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Last year, </span><a href="http://blogs.worldbank.org/africacan/running-on-one-engine-0"><span lang="EN" style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Kenya’s economy
was behaving like a plane flying through a storm on one engine</span></a><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">. After a lot of turbulence, especially when the shilling reached a record
low against the dollar, the Central Bank intervened forcefully, and brought the
plane back to stability.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But Kenya’s exchange rate woes are just the tip of the
iceberg. Kenya’s big challenge is to reduce the gap between the
import bill and exports revenues, what economists call the “</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Current_account"><span lang="EN" style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">current account
deficit</span></a><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">” (which remains large, even when services—such as
tourism—are included). Last year, the deficit reached more than ten percent of
GDP, approximately Ksh 400 billion (US$ 4.5 billion). This is larger than
Greece’s.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In order to balance its current account, Kenya would have
to more than double the volume of its three top exports—tea, tourism and
horticulture. In addition, Kenya is vulnerable to shocks, like increasing oil
prices. Oil is one of Kenya’s top imports, and the </span><a href="http://siteresources.worldbank.org/KENYAEXTN/Resources/KEU-Dec_2011_Full_Report.pdf"><span lang="EN" style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">oil import bill
alone rose from $2.7 billion in 2010 to $4.1 billion in 2011, further weakening
Kenya’s fragile current account</span></a><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">. A large current
account deficit does not automatically translate into a falling currency, so
long as capital inflows fill the gap. But in Kenya, capital inflows have
increasingly been short-term (by contrast to Foreign Direct Investment which
finances factories and offices). Short-term capital can leave a country as fast
as it comes, and this uncertainty is an additional source of fragility for the
national currency.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When the Central Bank increased interest rates sharply at
the end of last year, it brought the airplane into safety, cooling the engine
that was overheating. The price was some economic slowdown, as loans (which
businesses rely on to invest), became more expensive. Now that the plane has
emerged from turbulence, every attempt should be made to make it fly faster and
higher. Kenya’s first engine—domestic consumption—which is fuelling vibrant
service and construction sectors, has always been strong. But the second
engine—exports—needs to perform better. If not, Kenya will continue to operate
below potential, for years to come.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span><br />
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</span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But how do you do that? What products could Kenya
realistically export? Picking winners is typically not a good idea. The
government needs to provide the conditions—such as infrastructure, the rule of
law, and basic social services—for businesses to thrive, but not run them. At
the same time, it is clear that Kenya needs to move into new products, because
it cannot grow rich on tea and flowers alone. The natural starting point is
manufacturing. Kenya has a good location and a skilled labor force, which is
rapidly urbanizing. The global manufacturing market is also changing. Today,
Asia is the world’s workshop, producing almost everything from clothes, shoes,
toys and increasingly cars. But Asia’s economic success translates into higher
wages, and many manufacturing jobs will soon leave its emerging economies. The
World Bank projects that 85 million manufacturing jobs will leave China over
the next decade. Where will these jobs go? Can Kenya get a share?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A new way to understand a country’s competitiveness is to
look at the existing composition of exports or “product space”. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span><br />
<a href="http://www.hks.harvard.edu/var/ezp_site/storage/fckeditor/file/pdfs/centers-programs/centers/cid/publications/faculty/wp/146.pdf"><span lang="EN" style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Ricardo Hausmann</span></a><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> from Harvard University has been spearheading the global analysis of
countries’ product spaces, and the World Bank recently hosted him in Kenya. According
to him, some countries are richer than others because they have more productive
knowledge, which they can use to make more and more complex products. In short,
rich countries make a lot of products, including several which only few
countries produce. Poor countries only make a few products, and the margins
they earn are low because many other nations are also producing them.
Realistically, a country will only be able to diversify gradually, moving first
to products where a country can apply existing capabilities. Kenya is strong in
tea and flowers, but it will have a hard time producing airplanes overnight.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What types of products are within Kenya’s reach, and
which activities are most likely to create the conditions for industry to
invest and expand? There is some light at the end of the tunnel. Kenya has
started to diversify its export products and markets. Three sub-sectors stand
out: textiles (exported mainly to the US), chemicals and machines (to Africa
and Asia). In the 1990s, these exports accounted, on average, for about US$ 120
million in earnings. In the following decade, the figure was four times larger
at US$ 480 million. On an international scale, these are still extremely small
numbers, but they are starting to add up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Still, Kenya is
currently punching below its weight. According to simulations by the Harvard
team, Kenya should grow at 7 percent a year. If it did, it would reach Middle
Income status by 2018, and remain East Africa’s uncontested economic
heavyweight. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We know that Kenya
can grow at such levels. It happened in 2007, but the big question is how to
sustain the momentum? Can Kenya really grow at 7 percent year after year,
including through election turbulence? Can the second engine start pulling its
weight? Once it does, sit back, enjoy the flight, and definitely buckle up!<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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</span>ngubia m.ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698151563854585640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1015313172386024469.post-48226064688050534822012-02-14T14:24:00.003+03:002012-02-14T14:24:18.212+03:00Let’s face the realityWe keep on deluding ourselves that’s Kenya has a mature democracy,economy and very optimistic citizens ( optimism / religion is the opium of the lumpen proletariat)<br />
<br />
In Moi era all ills were attributed to Moism- even when a cow can’t produce enough milk. <br />
We promulgated the constitution (copied from USA wishing to be likethem) and attribute all to it and expect heavens from it but we ain t ready tobreak a sweat; even under the old constitution DCJ Baraza could have been investigated by the JSC- whats eats Kenya is impunity at all levels- we dont have respect for the law!!<br />
<br />
We must wake to the reality the Kenya Electorate is ignorant, misinformed,and illiterate and highly disintegrated to tribal/cultural cocoons.<br />
This is why we keep on voting back/in leaders who can’t deliver much;but remember the kind of political leaders a country has is a reflection of theelectorate; the kind of MPs is representative of the Kenyan population mindset,attitude, aspirations etal…..why do we have so many grouping in FB-Bunge laMwananchi, WMK, Kenya youth decide, tribe less Kenyan all with a seeking toreap from the ideological vacuum.<br />
Only a few in such forums as WRK, tweeter, bar talk, other FB groupingswho tend to wear a face of reformist patriots but quickly ebb to their comfortzones in times of distress.<br />
<br />
<strong>The question should be; how do we get out of this quagmire???</strong><br />
<br />
If look at the Arab revolution i.e. Libya, Egypt et al the general populace is highly enlightened and well catered for basic needs and wants. This is the reverse in Kenya-only 10% can afford three meals a day… <br />
Back to pre-colonial times; the insurgences were successful since tribes were not that disintegrated and had a common foe; still they were tribal outfits fighting for tribal/clan interests.<br />
<br />
The Kenyan populace is split into tribes , clans , and classes.<br />
We need to raise the level of enlightment; campaign for increased uptake to FPE & SSE to reduce illiteracy,Voter education , start forums ( not on twitter or FB )but what can reach the common man like what PLO started in ‘’Moving the masses’’<br />
<br />
<strong>Do we have true patriots in Kenya?</strong> <br />
<strong>Is anyone ready to die or atleast loose his daily comforts for the sake of Kenya???</strong><br />
<strong>We must plant a tree that’s weshall never enjoy its shade</strong>ngubia m.ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698151563854585640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1015313172386024469.post-10094926671642569932012-01-24T10:39:00.003+03:002012-01-24T10:39:55.786+03:00The 6 Core Economic Principles<br />
1. People Choose: We always want more than we can get and productive resources<br />
(human, natural, capital) are always limited. Therefore, because of this major<br />
economic problem of scarcity, we usually choose the alternative that provides the<br />
most benefits with the least cost.<br />
<br />
2. All Choices Involve Costs: The opportunity cost is the next best alternative you<br />
give up when you make a choice. When we choose one thing, we refuse something<br />
else at the same time.<br />
<br />
3. People Respond to Incentives in Predictable Ways: Incentives are actions,<br />
awards, or rewards that determine the choices people make. Incentives can be<br />
positive or negative. When incentives change, people change their behaviors in<br />
predictable ways.<br />
<br />
4. Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices and Incentives: People<br />
cooperate and govern their actions through both written and unwritten rules that<br />
determine methods of allocating scarce resources. These rules determine what is<br />
produced, how it is produced, and for whom it is produced. As the rules change, so<br />
do individual choices, incentives, and behavior.<br />
<br />
5. Voluntary Trade Creates Wealth: People specialize in the production of certain<br />
goods and services because they expect to gain from it. People trade what they<br />
produce with other people when they think they can gain something from the<br />
exchange. Some benefits of voluntary trade include higher standards of living and<br />
broader choices of goods and services.<br />
<br />
6. The Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future: Economists believe that the<br />
cost and benefits of decision making appear in the future, since it is only the future<br />
that we can influence. Sometimes our choices can lead to unintended<br />
consequences.<br />ngubia m.ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698151563854585640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1015313172386024469.post-86482710514932861832011-12-19T10:59:00.000+03:002011-12-19T10:59:18.309+03:00Kwani???<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The article by Omar gives a grim picture of the Kenya citizenry, not the leadership only; it exemplifies the problem graphically but only leaves distaste in the minds / mouths of many.<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Why do i say so?<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">One, we don’t like the bare truth and two we don’t offer solutions, we only blame the leadership<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">PS: The leadership is a reflection of the citizenry, <o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span class="messagebody"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;">We must move away from entitlement mentality and ask ourselves <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">what we can give, contribute and share.</b></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma;"><br />
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The media (blogs TV, FM, fb tweeter etal) patronized by the Kenyan all seek to impress poignant <br />
(not rational) side characterized by blame game but not proposing a trace to the answers.<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">As this articles whips up our emotions do we ask ourselves how we got there? What could we have we contributed? How did this Kenya train derail? How do I promote ‘’a tribe less Kenya’’ in my family, workplace, hood?<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The answers lies within the voter, we elebad tribal kingpins, we trade our constitutional for cheap liquor, lesos, <o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The solution in Kenya lies in creating one nation thro a change of values; we need a leader who can inspire (Obama like attitude); talk to the family unit<br />
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Corruption is an offshoot of wrong values/morals and that’s why is must be fought from the individuals level/ family unit; it’s not caused by unemployment;-let no one cheat you– why are the super-rich still corrupt?, why the maize and oil scandal? We all want to cut corners, get rich quickly ( why are the pyramids doing good)<br />
Anyone born in 80s was born and bred in corruption, it’s a culture</span><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Start a campaign in your neighborhood and talk about corruption and tribalism<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How can we alleviate the problem; by tribal bashing???<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">WE NEED A REVOLUTION ; not the Gaddafi or Mubarak way; but of the mind ,of the values of the culture; lets stop blame game; <o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span>ngubia m.ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698151563854585640noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1015313172386024469.post-37568559876365595122011-12-16T17:27:00.002+03:002012-03-09T11:29:29.792+03:00Facebook Is Making Us Miserable<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">When Facebook was founded in 2004, it began with a seemingly innocuous mission: to connect friends. Some seven years and <a href="http://mashable.com/2011/09/22/facebook-800-million-users/"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">800 million users</span></a> later, the social network has taken over most aspects of our personal and professional lives, and is fast becoming the dominant communication platform of the future.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">But this new world of ubiquitous connections has a dark side. <a href="http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/11/three_ways_to_overcome_career.html"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">In my last post</span></a>, I noted that Facebook and social media are major contributors to career anxiety. After seeing some of the comments and reactions to the post, it's clear that Facebook in particular takes it a step further: It's actually <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2011/01/the_antisocial_network.html"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">making us miserable</span></a>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Facebook's <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/22/facebook-six-degrees-separation_n_1107577.html"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">explosive rate of growth</span></a> and <a href="http://mashable.com/2011/09/21/facebook-changes/"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">recent product releases</span></a>, such as the prominent Newsticker, Top Stories on the newsfeed, and larger photos have all been focused on one goal: encouraging more sharing. As it turns out, it's precisely this hyper-sharing that is threatening our sense of happiness. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">In writing <a href="http://hbr.org/product/passion-and-purpose-stories-from-the-best-and-brig/an/10343-HBK-ENG"><em><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Passion & Purpose</span></em></a>, I monitored and observed how Facebook was impacting the lives of hundreds of young businesspeople. As I went about my research, it became clear that behind all the liking, commenting, sharing, and posting, there were strong hints of jealousy, anxiety, and, in one case, depression. Said one interviewee about a Facebook friend, "Although he's my best friend, I kind-of despise his updates." Said another "Now, Facebook IS my work day." As I dug deeper, I discovered disturbing by-products of Facebook's rapid ascension — three new, distressing ways in which the social media giant is fundamentally altering our daily sense of well-being in both our personal and work lives.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<strong><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">First, it's creating a den of comparison.</span></strong><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"> Since our Facebook profiles are self-curated, users have a strong bias toward sharing positive milestones and avoid mentioning the more humdrum, negative parts of their lives. Accomplishments like, "Hey, I just got promoted!" or "Take a look at my new sports car," trump sharing the intricacies of our daily commute or a life-shattering divorce. This creates an online culture of competition and comparison. One interviewee even remarked, "I'm pretty competitive by nature, so when my close friends post good news, I always try and one-up them." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10182993"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Comparing ourselves to others is a key driver of unhappiness.</span></a> Tom DeLong, author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Flying-Without-Net-Change-Success/dp/142216229X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1308772826&sr=8-1"><em><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Flying Without a Net</span></em></a>, even describes a "Comparing Trap." <a href="http://blogs.hbr.org/hbsfaculty/2011/06/the-comparing-trap.html"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">He writes</span></a>, "No matter how successful we are and how many goals we achieve, this trap causes us to recalibrate our accomplishments and reset the bar for how we define success."And as we judge the entirety of our own lives against the top 1% of our friends' lives, we're setting impossible standards for ourselves, making us more miserable than ever.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<strong><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Second, it's fragmenting our time.</span></strong><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"> Not surprisingly, Facebook's <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2010/09/22/zuckerberg-interview-facebook-phone/"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">"horizontal" strategy</span></a> encourages users to log in more frequently from different devices. My interviewees regularly accessed Facebook from the office, at home through their iPads, and while out shopping on their smartphones. This means that hundreds of millions of people are less "present" where they are. Sketching out a mind-numbing presentation for the board meeting? Perhaps it's time to reply to your messages. Stuck in traffic? It's time to browse your newsfeed. Recounted one interviewee, "I almost got hit by a car while using Facebook crossing the street." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Leaving the risk of real physical harm aside, the issue with this constant "tabbing" between real-life tasks and Facebook is what economists and psychologists call <a href="http://www.apa.org/research/action/multitask.aspx"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">"switching costs,"</span></a> the loss in productivity associated with changing from one task to another. Famed author <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Happiness-Work-Resilient-Motivated-Successful/dp/0071664327"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Dr. Srikumar Rao</span></a> attributes mindfulness over multitasking as one of his <a href="http://www.forbes.com/pictures/efkk45efii/swap-multitasking-for-mindfulness"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">ten steps to happiness at work</span></a>. He argues that constant distractions lead to late and poor-quality output, negatively impacting our sense of self-worth. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<strong><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Last, there's a decline of close relationships.</span></strong><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"> Gone are the days where Facebook merely complemented our real-life relationships. Now, Facebook is actually winning share of our core, off-line interactions. One participant summed it up simply: "We Facebook chat instead of meeting up. It's easier." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">As Facebook adds new features such as video chat, it is fast becoming a viable substitute for meetings, relationship building, and even family get-togethers. But each time a Facebook interaction replaces a richer form of communication — such as an in-person meeting, a long phone call, or even a date at a restaurant — people miss opportunities to interact more deeply than Facebook could ever accommodate. As Facebook continues to add new features to help us connect more efficiently online, the battle to maintain off-line relationships will become even more difficult, which will impact their overall quality, especially in the long-run. Facebook is negatively affecting what psychology Professor Jeffrey Parker refers to as <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/fashion/02BEST.html?pagewanted=all"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">"the closeness properties of friendship."</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">So, what should we do to avoid these three traps? Recognizing that "quitting" Facebook altogether is unrealistic, we can still take measures to alter our usage patterns and strengthen our real-world relationships. Some useful tactics I've seen include blocking out designated time for Facebook, rather than visiting intermittently throughout the day; selectively trimming Facebook friends lists to avoid undesirable ex-partners and gossipy coworkers; and investing more time in building off-line relationships. The particularly courageous choose to delete Facebook from their smartphones and iPads, and log off the platform entirely for long stretches of time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Is Facebook making you miserable? What other tips can you share?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span>ngubia m.ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698151563854585640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1015313172386024469.post-31719863933374655922011-12-16T16:56:00.002+03:002011-12-16T16:56:30.542+03:00First, Let's Fire All the Managers<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt; mso-line-height-alt: 16.5pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 20pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">First, Let's Fire All the Managers</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 20pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Management is the least efficient activity in your organization. <o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Think of the countless hours that team leaders, department heads, and vice presidents devote to supervising the work of others. Most managers are hardworking; the problem doesn’t lie with them. The inefficiency stems from a top-heavy management model that is both cumbersome and costly. <o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A hierarchy of managers exacts a hefty tax on any organization. This levy comes in several forms. First, managers add overhead, and as an organization grows, the costs of management rise in both absolute and relative terms. A small organization may have one manager and 10 employees; one with 100,000 employees and the same 1:10 span of control will have 11,111 managers. That’s because an additional 1,111 managers will be needed to manage the managers. In addition, there will be hundreds of employees in management-related functions, such as finance, human resources, and planning. Their job is to keep the organization from collapsing under the weight of its own complexity. Assuming that each manager earns three times the average salary of a first-level employee, direct management costs would account for 33% of the payroll. Any way you cut it, management is expensive. <o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Second, the typical management hierarchy increases the risk of large, calamitous decisions. As decisions get bigger, the ranks of those able to challenge the decision maker get smaller. Hubris, myopia, and naïveté can lead to bad judgment at any level, but the danger is greatest when the decision maker’s power is, for all purposes, uncontestable. Give someone monarchlike authority, and sooner or later there will be a royal screwup. A related problem is that the most powerful managers are the ones furthest from frontline realities. All too often, decisions made on an Olympian peak prove to be unworkable on the ground. <o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Third, a multitiered management structure means more approval layers and slower responses. In their eagerness to exercise authority, managers often impede, rather than expedite, decision making. Bias is another sort of tax. In a hierarchy the power to kill or modify a new idea is often vested in a single person, whose parochial interests may skew decisions. <o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Finally, there’s the cost of tyranny. The problem isn’t the occasional control freak; it’s the hierarchical structure that systematically disempowers lower-level employees. For example, as a consumer you have the freedom to spend $20,000 or more on a new car, but as an employee you probably don’t have the authority to requisition a $500 office chair. Narrow an individual’s scope of authority, and you shrink the incentive to dream, imagine, and contribute. <o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Hierarchies versus Markets </span></b><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">No wonder economists have long celebrated the ability of markets to coordinate human activity with little or no top-down control. Markets have limits, though. As economists like Ronald Coase and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_E._Williamson"><span style="color: #b20022; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Oliver Williamson</span></a> have noted, markets work well when the needs of each party are simple, stable, and easy to specify, but they’re less effective when interactions are complex. It’s hard to imagine, for instance, how a market could precisely coordinate the kaleidoscopic array of activities at the heart of a large, process-intensive manufacturing operation. <o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That’s why we need corporations and managers. Managers do what markets cannot; they amalgamate thousands of disparate contributions into a single product or service. They constitute what business historian <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Visible-Hand-Managerial-Revolution-American/dp/0674940520/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1317671554&sr=8-1"><span style="color: #b20022; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Alfred D. Chandler Jr. called the visible hand.</span></a> The downside, though, is that the visible hand is inefficient and often ham-fisted. <o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 16.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 11.25pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Wouldn’t it be great if we could achieve high levels of coordination without a supervisory superstructure? Wouldn’t it be terrific if we could get the freedom and flexibility of an open market with the control and coordination of a tightly knit hierarchy? If only we could manage without managers. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span><br />
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</div><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span>ngubia m.ghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12698151563854585640noreply@blogger.com0