Nipate
Forum => Kenya Discussion => Topic started by: Gumzo on March 06, 2017, 12:07:00 PM
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https://classic105.com/all-we-have-on-offer-are-monkeys-maina-kageni-blasts-the-political-class-badly/
Classic 105 breakfast host is tired. He is so fed up he has decided to speak his truth.Maina Kageni took to Facebook to address his frustration over the political class saying, “the system has ensured all we have on offer are monkeys!!”“These families are what have created the phrase “political class”… they don’t know AS MUCH AS YOU DO about living in Kenya!!!!!!! I won’t follow someone blindly just because they come from where I’m alleged to come from…. I’ll vote Dida if I have to…… my vote this year will be a protest vote…..,” Maina wrote.“Our politics is going to be the end of us…… until we take control of this animal the way we take control of how we eat, live, breathe and try to prosper, we’ll remain like a car on stones with the engine on – revving and revving with zero movement….. if a monkey defecates on us day in, day out, then brings it’s ilk for the Monkey-Of-The-Year pageant, and we cheer on the contenders, we’re the problem…. we’ll keep wiping that shait off our heads forever…. maybe it’s time for a different animal to stand…. after all, who said only monkeys can rule the trees?” he added.His anger was echoed by others who posted the following reactions.Sir-Wayne Cedrieck I love the “protest vote” part.Geoffrey Adora I know somebody who died over the weekend through a road accident who could have easily been saved had the doctors not been on strike. Yet the political elite are doing nothing about it.Tim Njiru Muriithi Boycott TV news. It’s been 3 and a half years…. and enjoying it without watching the local news.Eric Sande What we need in Kenya is even higher than divine intervention!!! Maybe God Himself to come down and rule Kenya!!Estaban W. Mburu Gff, as true as this might be I can’t help but ask where our sanity goes on the day for voting.We end up having the same people year after and the chattering goes on.Photo Credits:
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It's claimed that at the age of 44 our cynicism starts to grow. Maina just turned 43 and therefore his rants is understandable. We should never give in to cynicism and self-defeatist talk like this. The system is still functioning. Our politics is not totally messed.
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It's claimed that at the age of 44 our cynicism starts to grow. Maina just turned 43 and therefore his rants is understandable. We should never give in to cynicism and self-defeatist talk like this. The system is still functioning. Our politics is not totally messed.
So the millions at risk of starvation agree that our systems are working?
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Where does personal responsibility start or stops? You surely cannot expect gov that taxes 18-20% of GDP to do 100% of the job. We've to do the 80% ourselves.Or we can hand over all our money, cattle, goats and camels to GOK and then wait for them to feed us. Gov main job is to provide education, health, roads, security and such services. It also should help those in distress like those starving - but obviously it ability - not least by best intentions only.
So the millions at risk of starvation agree that our systems are working?
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Where does personal responsibility start or stops? You surely cannot expect gov that taxes 18-20% of GDP to do 100% of the job. We've to do the 80% ourselves.Or we can hand over all our money, cattle, goats and camels to GOK and then wait for them to feed us. Gov main job is to provide education, health, roads, security and such services. It also should help those in distress like those starving - but obviously it ability - not least by best intentions only.
So the millions at risk of starvation agree that our systems are working?
And these are the ones who went to school. No wonder Kenyans keep starving and begging for food after year.
Please take a look the the Asian countries that have most turned their food fortunes in the 20th century ... "green revolution". Take a look at the role governments played. You know how American yellow maize has sustained us for years? Take a look at the government's role in agriculture there. Europe? Take a look. And so on.
Since you have a computer and are connected to the internet, approach Google with "role of governments in agriculture" and upgrade your understanding.
In any case, if the views in GoK's leadership are anything like yours then GoK should at the very least: (a) stop the eating of public money under the pretense of irrigating some 1 million acres to feed Kenyans and (b) at least provide security to the starving in Baringo, Pokot, etc.
Come to think of it, the entire Ministry for Agriculture, the entire Ministry for Water and Irrigation, etc. should all be disbanded and the money now being spent there returned to the citizens, so that they can get on with the "personal responsibility".
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We don't have shortage of food - we've surplus food - GOK has to do far more than just growing food - it has to build roads and rails to transport that food to those people. This kind of simplistic thinking just show your shocking ignorance. What should gok do when drought hit Baringo? Make the rain fall or give them relief food like it's been doing!
And these are the ones who went to school. No wonder Kenyans keep starving and begging for food after year.
Please take a look the the Asian countries that have most turned their food fortunes in the 20th century ... "green revolution". Take a look at the role governments played. You know how American yellow maize has sustained us for years? Take a look at the government's role in agriculture there. Europe? Take a look. And so on.
Since you have a computer and are connected to the internet, approach Google with "role of governments in agriculture" and upgrade your understanding.
In any case, if the views in GoK's leadership are anything like yours then GoK should at the very least: (a) stop the eating of public money under the pretense of irrigating some 1 million acres to feed Kenyans and (b) at least provide security to the starving in Baringo, Pokot, etc.
Come to think of it, the entire Ministry for Agriculture, the entire Ministry for Water and Irrigation, etc. should all be disbanded and the money now being spent there returned to the citizens, so that they can get on with the "personal responsibility".
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We don't have shortage of food - we've surplus food - GOK has to do far more than just growing food - it has to build roads and rails to transport that food to those people. This kind of simplistic thinking just show your shocking ignorance. What should gok do when drought hit Baringo? Make the rain fall or give them relief food like it's been doing!
And these are the ones who went to school. No wonder Kenyans keep starving and begging for food after year.
Please take a look the the Asian countries that have most turned their food fortunes in the 20th century ... "green revolution". Take a look at the role governments played. You know how American yellow maize has sustained us for years? Take a look at the government's role in agriculture there. Europe? Take a look. And so on.
Since you have a computer and are connected to the internet, approach Google with "role of governments in agriculture" and upgrade your understanding.
In any case, if the views in GoK's leadership are anything like yours then GoK should at the very least: (a) stop the eating of public money under the pretense of irrigating some 1 million acres to feed Kenyans and (b) at least provide security to the starving in Baringo, Pokot, etc.
Come to think of it, the entire Ministry for Agriculture, the entire Ministry for Water and Irrigation, etc. should all be disbanded and the money now being spent there returned to the citizens, so that they can get on with the "personal responsibility".
We don't have a food shortage?
Then why was our president happily dancing in front of relief food donated by a desert country? Something you found embarrassing?
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We don't have shortage of food - we've surplus food - GOK has to do far more than just growing food - it has to build roads and rails to transport that food to those people. This kind of simplistic thinking just show your shocking ignorance. What should gok do when drought hit Baringo? Make the rain fall or give them relief food like it's been doing!
Pundit,
This is the fuacking 21 century
drought is expected sooner or later and it should be planned for
Food security experts have repeatedly told us drought is not an excuse
for people to die of hunger in the 21 century.
E.g the situation would be much better if the billions spent on 1 million acres irrigation scheam
had not been plundered by GOK officials. We would not be undergoing the humiliation of receiving
food aid from middle east desert countries.
Asking "What should GOK do when drought hit baringo" is more or less like the makubangi
PORK asking "Mnataka nifanye nini ?" about corruption
respectfully;
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We don't have shortage of food - we've surplus food - GOK has to do far more than just growing food - it has to build roads and rails to transport that food to those people. This kind of simplistic thinking just show your shocking ignorance. What should gok do when drought hit Baringo? Make the rain fall or give them relief food like it's been doing!
Ndugu, it is not me who needs to hear that. May I suggest alternatives for that message: (a) the starving people all over the place, some right there in your RV home; (b) the President who recently (and while dancing) sent an "urgent" plea to the "international community" and who was so grateful for donated food that he had it driven right past the starving so that it could be "launched" at State House.
See, right there is the kind of mentality that is finishing Africans. Stop believing that you are at the mercy of nature or whatever and the only thing you can do pray and beg from others when nature "fails"!!!! This might come as a surprise to you, but people and governments in the countries that Kenya regularly begs from are not sitting on their hands, praying hard, and waiting for miracles or (like every Kenya government since 1963) handouts.
What can the government do about droughts? There is a whole bunch on money being spent on a Ministry for Irrigation. Irrigation! All those Kenyans going on trips to Israel and Israeli experts being brought to Kenya .... you think it's because the Israelis have figured a way to make it rain? Policies! Planning! Uncle Sam's USAID has been warning of the present situation since about May last year, as it always does, and the Kenyans do what? Besides, what exactly does GoK claim to be doing in regard to the money getting eaten in the name of irrigation? Ministries for Agriculture, Water & Irrigation ... what exactly are they there for?
And putting aside things like irrigation, what does GoK do every time there is advance warning that things are going badly? Why does it always have to end in tears and desperation? It's not as though there are never any warnings. Elections? No end of activity. Eating nyama? No end of activity. Laptops for children of whom 25% will be permanently affected, physically and mentally, because of poor nutrition? An "achievement" to be announced from the rooftops. Silicon Savanah, Konza City ... Powerhouse of Eastern Africa leading Digital Africa. But always begging for food!!!
Yes, why not keep doing that. Beg from those who have the good sense to properly run their affair, and hand out like it's been doing. Should work, right? After all, it's been "working" for the 50+ years since independence.
One more time, and please try to pay careful attention this time:
Please take a look the the Asian countries that have most turned their food fortunes in the 20th century ... "green revolution". Take a look at the role governments played. You know how American yellow maize has sustained us for years? Take a look at the government's role in agriculture there. Europe? Take a look. And so on.
Since you have a computer and are connected to the internet, approach Google with "role of governments in agriculture" and upgrade your understanding.
Once you are through with that, perhaps you will begin to appreciate of the government is not the growing of food, as you seem to think. Hint: the ministries mentioned above.
Now stop playing with it, and go do something useful and educational.
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This is the fuacking 21 century
drought is expected sooner or later and it should be planned for
Pundit's Mwafrika believes that nothing can be done about "nature" ... just pray. And beg from the "blessed fortunate" to help those "in distress".
The first chapter of Homo Deus comes to mind: comments about how "ancient" people believed hunger/starvation/famine were inevitable because rains had not come on time etc. and so on, and so forth, with with all the other woes of humanity. Nothing to do except pray harder for the next year. Or keep begging.
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We don't have a food shortage?
Then why was our president happily dancing in front of relief food donated by a desert country? Something you found embarrassing?
If Kenyans have a surplus of food but have heaps of starving people, are desperately begging all over the place, and are getting giddy over small donations, then they are even more f**ked up than at first appears to be the case. Peddlers of the "surplus" line might want to do a little thinking before hitting the streets.
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We don't have a food shortage?
Then why was our president happily dancing in front of relief food donated by a desert country? Something you found embarrassing?
If Kenyans have a surplus of food but have heaps of starving people, are desperately begging all over the place, and are getting giddy over small donations, then they are even more f**ked up than at first appears to be the case. Peddlers of the "surplus" line might want to do a little thinking before hitting the streets.
"Our man" justification syndrome at work. It's curiously fascinating to observe, yet depressing.
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Sometime you sound like a USA Republican. They are Ignorant and proud of it... Think before you open your mouth.
Kenya has serious food shorage, otherwise people in Baringo souldnt be in such dire straits.
We don't have shortage of food - we've surplus food - GOK has to do far more than just growing food - it has to build roads and rails to transport that food to those people. This kind of simplistic thinking just show your shocking ignorance. What should gok do when drought hit Baringo? Make the rain fall or give them relief food like it's been doing!
And these are the ones who went to school. No wonder Kenyans keep starving and begging for food after year.
Please take a look the the Asian countries that have most turned their food fortunes in the 20th century ... "green revolution". Take a look at the role governments played. You know how American yellow maize has sustained us for years? Take a look at the government's role in agriculture there. Europe? Take a look. And so on.
Since you have a computer and are connected to the internet, approach Google with "role of governments in agriculture" and upgrade your understanding.
In any case, if the views in GoK's leadership are anything like yours then GoK should at the very least: (a) stop the eating of public money under the pretense of irrigating some 1 million acres to feed Kenyans and (b) at least provide security to the starving in Baringo, Pokot, etc.
Come to think of it, the entire Ministry for Agriculture, the entire Ministry for Water and Irrigation, etc. should all be disbanded and the money now being spent there returned to the citizens, so that they can get on with the "personal responsibility".
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Kenya has serious food shorage, otherwise people in Baringo souldnt be in such dire straits.
it has to build roads and rails to transport that food to those people. This kind of simplistic thinking just show your shocking ignorance.
According to your friend, the people in Baringo are starving because the roads and rails aren't in place to get to them the surplus food that's readily available in Kenya. So, the solution is to beg for food from far outside Kenya, transport it to State House for a "launch", and then off to Baringo ... by radio-waves or something?
Perhaps it was inevitable that Kenyans/Africans would eventually come up with their own version of Alice In Wonderland. But to actually live it?!?
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Back in October 2016, after seeing months of increasingly-alarming warnings from Uncle Sam, on this thread http://www.nipate.org/index.php?topic=3556.0 I wrote
But not to worry. "Donors" will soon step in; a few grim pictures on their after-dinner television screens, and there will be action.
I did so on the basis that
Year after year. No change. A learning-proof system. With or without warning---and people like Uncle Sam have been warning about this one since around May---it's always the same story of last-minute tears and desperation.
RV Pundit responded:
I don't see kenya calling for donors to feed those disaster stricken folks..which to me is an improvement.
even though past history, from which we are apparently immune, is right there:
"Donors" will soon step in; a few grim pictures on their after-dinner television screens
And now, here we are.
Kenya's His Excellency just gave a stirring speech in which he further called on "our international friends" to help in these desperate times. The occasion was the "launch" of this little bundle:
(http://www.the-star.co.ke/sites/default/files/styles/new_full_content/public/articles/2017/03/04/1518077.jpg?itok=xRGuXKie)
In the land of surplus.
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I don't have the latest which has quite a bit of red in places where we had amber.
(http://omollosview.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Food-insecurity-Kenya.jpg)
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I will drop jargon and be down to earth on this because I notice we have a problem :D.
The amount of food available in the country minus the consumption determines levels of food security. The Jubilee government after ignoring early warnings delivered in "kizungu mingi" finally accepted that the food available will not meet the needs of the population and therefore sent out an appeal - belatedly.
This famine is all encompassing. Many parts of the country that previously suffered moderate / mild food shortages are this time affected. There are also areas in Kenya with "hidden" famine. Such areas are found in Nyanza, Western and Central. This time they are hard hit.
Kenya has serious food shorage, otherwise people in Baringo souldnt be in such dire straits.
it has to build roads and rails to transport that food to those people. This kind of simplistic thinking just show your shocking ignorance.
According to your friend, the people in Baringo are starving because the roads and rails aren't in place to get to them the surplus food that's readily available in Kenya. So, the solution is to beg for food from far outside Kenya, transport it to State House for a "launch", and then off to Baringo ... by radio-waves or something?
Perhaps it was inevitable that Kenyans/Africans would eventually come up with their own version of Alice In Wonderland. But to actually live it?!?
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I don't have the latest which has quite a bit of red in places where we had amber.
The latest: It appears that Uncle Sam is working hard to get things like maize into Kenya. Plan A is to get Ethiopians---yes, Ethiopia!!!!---to sell cheaply to Kenyans ... subsidy from wherever. Plan B is to get the Mexicans to do it. If it then comes to the worst, there's Plan C: take some from "more-deserving" American cows and feed Uhuru's citizens. But that's a last-resort kind of thing. Anyways ... in the meantime, let's do the "dab".
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Political class???
https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001231704/governors-show-of-might-and-opulence-at-gachagua-burial
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Leave maina fake outrage alone..This group of Kikuyus is all talk. The oligarchs do not fear this non voting class
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Political class???
https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001231704/governors-show-of-might-and-opulence-at-gachagua-burial
The way it works is that the poor who suffer most from GOK waste and opulent spending, are the onec most impressed and excited about the obscean display of opulance.
They can be heard complaining that their Gov arrived in a probox while other Gov's came in choppers.
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There's this brave attempt going around Kenyan social media, trying to change the status quo, of always voting for "our man", irrespective of their thieving history:
(http://i.imgur.com/7Fge7CI.jpg)
Great idea.
Wonder how successful it's gonna be.
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Only in Africa do you see such. Political class flies in helicopters while the poor have no schools, healthcare is a myth, roads are deplorable, and the poor keep applauding these goons.
There's this brave attempt going around Kenyan social media, trying to change the status quo, of always voting for "our man", irrespective of their thieving history:
(http://i.imgur.com/7Fge7CI.jpg)
Great idea.
Wonder how successful it's gonna be.
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Only in Africa do you see such. Political class flies in helicopters while the poor have no schools, healthcare is a myth, roads are deplorable, and the poor keep applauding these goons.
True.
But we can mpesa 100bob to each other, using the latest "cutting edge" technology.
This, More than Sh380 million that was stashed abroad would be returned to Kenya in a deal signed by the government and the UK. (http://www.nation.co.ke/news/Okemo-Gichuru-Jersey-millions-to-be-returned-to-Kenya/1056-3840598-97dwdb/index.html). Now if these bucks had been invested years ago in the agriculture sector, we likely wouldn't be enjoying watching our president getting jiggy with it over donated food, for his starving subjects.
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Kenya has serious food shorage, otherwise people in Baringo souldnt be in such dire straits.
it has to build roads and rails to transport that food to those people. This kind of simplistic thinking just show your shocking ignorance.
According to your friend, the people in Baringo are starving because the roads and rails aren't in place to get to them the surplus food that's readily available in Kenya. So, the solution is to beg for food from far outside Kenya, transport it to State House for a "launch", and then off to Baringo ... by radio-waves or something?
Perhaps it was inevitable that Kenyans/Africans would eventually come up with their own version of Alice In Wonderland. But to actually live it?!?
Pundit belongs to a school that believes totally in the power of the market to solve everything. You have a mafia government screwing up left, right, center, just unleash market forces and things will sort themselves out.
In the US you see a lot of that kind of thinking among Republicans. Millions can't afford expensive health insurance and their solution? Give tax cuts to the super wealthy and insurance corporations and they will pass the benefits to the consumer. It never registers that this has never happened even once when they had exactly that in place for decades.
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There's plenty of food in Kenya, people starve because they don't have money to buy food. We have subsistence farmers who hardly grow anything to sell. So when the rains fail they starve because they dont have a source of income to buy food. Red cross is using Mpesa direct cash transfer to drought victims to purchase food in their area. Meaning there's food available for sale.
The hardest hit are mainly pastoral communities. Generally the pastoral communities havent changed their farming methods of 100yrs ago. Simple thing like growing fodder for their animals isn't done. So when the rain fails or in the dry season their livestock die or get so emaciated that they can't be sold for a decent price.
Solution is to increase productivity of farmers in all sectors of agriculture so that agri processing can increase hopefully employ subsistence farmers. Government already offers subsidized fertilizers https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001231051/farmers-scramble-for-subsidised-fertiliser-ahead-of-rainy-season . The galana irrigation project which the government is suppose to put up infrastructure then lease land to private investors when completed Kenya will be a net food exporter. But even if it were operational today people who're starving would still be starving since they'd not have money to buy food. Our problem then its not lack of food but lack of income.
We need more of this type of companies http://www.africa-ontherise.com/2017/03/kenyan-tea-a-reliable-export-brews-a-market-at-home/
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Yes Pundit is a true Republican :).
Republicans are true pharisees of our times.They blame the poor for being poor while at the same time stealing from the very people they blame. They then give what has been stolen to the rich so that they can "provide jobs". Unfortunately they also give the power to the poor in the form os guns so that they can kill each other, and then turn around and spend massive amounts on building prisons to house these "criminals" who commit crimes like smoking marijuana.
Kenya has serious food shorage, otherwise people in Baringo souldnt be in such dire straits.
it has to build roads and rails to transport that food to those people. This kind of simplistic thinking just show your shocking ignorance.
According to your friend, the people in Baringo are starving because the roads and rails aren't in place to get to them the surplus food that's readily available in Kenya. So, the solution is to beg for food from far outside Kenya, transport it to State House for a "launch", and then off to Baringo ... by radio-waves or something?
Perhaps it was inevitable that Kenyans/Africans would eventually come up with their own version of Alice In Wonderland. But to actually live it?!?
Pundit belongs to a school that believes totally in the power of the market to solve everything. You have a mafia government screwing up left, right, center, just unleash market forces and things will sort themselves out.
In the US you see a lot of that kind of thinking among Republicans. Millions can't afford expensive health insurance and their solution? Give tax cuts to the super wealthy and insurance corporations and they will pass the benefits to the consumer. It never registers that this has never happened even once when they had exactly that in place for decades.
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There's plenty of food in Kenya, people starve because they don't have money to buy food. We have subsistence farmers who hardly grow anything to sell. So when the rains fail they starve because they dont have a source of income to buy food. Red cross is using Mpesa direct cash transfer to drought victims to purchase food in their area. Meaning there's food available for sale.
The hardest hit are mainly pastoral communities. Generally the pastoral communities havent changed their farming methods of 100yrs ago. Simple thing like growing fodder for their animals isn't done. So when the rain fails or in the dry season their livestock die or get so emaciated that they can't be sold for a decent price.
Solution is to increase productivity of farmers in all sectors of agriculture so that agri processing can increase hopefully employ subsistence farmers. Government already offers subsidized fertilizers https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001231051/farmers-scramble-for-subsidised-fertiliser-ahead-of-rainy-season . The galana irrigation project which the government is suppose to put up infrastructure then lease land to private investors when completed Kenya will be a net food exporter. But even if it were operational today people who're starving would still be starving since they'd not have money to buy food. Our problem then its not lack of food but lack of income.
We need more of this type of companies http://www.africa-ontherise.com/2017/03/kenyan-tea-a-reliable-export-brews-a-market-at-home/
i have that tea in my stash at home and it is good quality tea.. I tried my hand in importing tea from Kenya but the packaging left a lot to be desired. I actually thought of packaging it myself put the cost was just too prohibitive to do it.. I want to open a small coffee roasting and tea processing firm to deal with small volume that will be sold in Kenya .. I am doing my research this will be my retirement project.. Also, I want to do a small micro brewery in Nairobi. Brew in kiambu and sell in Nairobi upper market..
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There's plenty of food in Kenya, people starve because they don't have money to buy food. We have subsistence farmers who hardly grow anything to sell. So when the rains fail they starve because they dont have a source of income to buy food. Red cross is using Mpesa direct cash transfer to drought victims to purchase food in their area. Meaning there's food available for sale.
The hardest hit are mainly pastoral communities. Generally the pastoral communities havent changed their farming methods of 100yrs ago. Simple thing like growing fodder for their animals isn't done. So when the rain fails or in the dry season their livestock die or get so emaciated that they can't be sold for a decent price.
Solution is to increase productivity of farmers in all sectors of agriculture so that agri processing can increase hopefully employ subsistence farmers. Government already offers subsidized fertilizers https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001231051/farmers-scramble-for-subsidised-fertiliser-ahead-of-rainy-season . The galana irrigation project which the government is suppose to put up infrastructure then lease land to private investors when completed Kenya will be a net food exporter. But even if it were operational today people who're starving would still be starving since they'd not have money to buy food. Our problem then its not lack of food but lack of income.
We need more of this type of companies http://www.africa-ontherise.com/2017/03/kenyan-tea-a-reliable-export-brews-a-market-at-home/
i have that tea in my stash at home and it is good quality tea.. I tried my hand in importing tea from Kenya but the packaging left a lot to be desired. I actually thought of packaging it myself put the cost was just too prohibitive to do it.. I want to open a small coffee roasting and tea processing firm to deal with small volume that will be sold in Kenya .. I am doing my research this will be my retirement project.. Also, I want to do a small micro brewery in Nairobi. Brew in kiambu and sell in Nairobi upper market..
There's a number of companies that are roasting coffee and packing tea e.g http://www.vavacoffee.com/home/history and we have several micro breweries http://www.thebigfivebreweries.com/the-brew-master . Creating local market for our products its the way to go then getting capacity to export having established our brands. In coffee for example we need to setup coffee tours and tasting in coffee farms especially in the Mount kenya tour circuit. Lots of tourists would be willing to see how coffee is grown and processed, taste and buy. This is something I am working on.
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There's plenty of food in Kenya, people starve because they don't have money to buy food. ... Red cross is using Mpesa direct cash transfer to drought victims to purchase food in their area. Meaning there's food available for sale.
There is plenty of food, but the government is begging all over the place, grateful for small tokens and sending out even more urgent pleas to "our international friends". Right? What kinds of morons are running said government?
I think you fail to understand some very basic things. The unavailability of food does not literally mean that there is no food to be found anywhere. When you state that people "don't have the money to buy food", you seem to forget that prices and affordability are determined by supply and demand. So, instead of thinking of "let's just use MPESA to send them a bit of money so that they can but food", there's an alternative: produce food in such quantities that even a person with little money will be able to eat. Until that is done, handouts and begging from overseas ensure that a year or so from now, we will be in exactly the same position as now and every past year: the MPESA money will have been spent and donated food will have been eaten and pooped out. Countries that have solved their food problems have not done so just by handing out money to the needy; they have largely succeeded by addressing the cost/poverty problem from the supply side.
Here, let me give you a solid example: Consider right now the price of a "rotisserie chicken", nicely spiced and cooked, in a USA supermarket with a similar (or any other whole chicken) in Nairobi. Forget about the fact that Americans have more disposable income, and just compare on raw $ figures. Then, if you are so minded, you may scale for incomes.
Another example, since I spend quite a bit of time in Beijing: I can eat well in Beijing and lower raw/absolute cost than I can in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, etc ... compare the average prices of, say, a whole chicken. Why is that?
Hint here: the scale on which food is being produced and its availability! Your arguments are very similar to Pundits. I can't understand why it's so difficult for you guys to see the "supply" aspect. Maybe this will help: Take a look at the stuff you have around you---from plastic drinking cup to that fancy electronic gadget. Here's a thought for you: Perhaps the reason you can so easily afford that stuff is not just because you have worked hard and earned them--which indeed you, being you and a real manly hard worker, have done---maybe it has something to do with all those factories in Guangdong, with their cheaply well-fed workers, endlessly knocking off all that cheap junk.
Here's one I remember from the maths class in Std. 5: A ratio has two parts; so if you want to change it, you look at both the numerator and denominator, not just one of the two. They taught good stuff in those days, and we absorbed some of it.
Solution is to increase productivity of farmers in all sectors of agriculture so that agri processing can increase hopefully employ subsistence farmers. Government already offers subsidized fertilizers https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001231051/farmers-scramble-for-subsidised-fertiliser-ahead-of-rainy-season .
GoK can actually do much more. As we "speak" USAID is working to get Ethiopian maize to feed Kenyans. Yes, Ethiopia. The place has done one heck of a job in maize production, and perhaps this will give you some idea of how:
Ethiopia has doubled its maize productivity and production in less than two decades. The yield, currently estimated at >3 metric tons/ha, is the second highest in Sub-Saharan Africa, after South Africa
...
Ethiopia’s extension worker to farmer ratio is 1:476, compared to 1:1000 for Kenya
...
The lesson from Ethiopia’s experience with maize is that sustained investment in agricultural research and development and policy support by the national government are crucial for continued growth of agriculture.
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12571-015-0488-z
Never mind, back to Kenya ...
The galana irrigation project which the government is suppose to put up infrastructure then lease land to private investors when completed Kenya will be a net food exporter. But even if it were operational today people who're starving would still be starving since they'd not have money to buy food.
This is the type of hard-core African mentality which explains why we are always starving and begging: the idea of planning for the future just doesn't exist; it's all here-and-now. GoK's budget for next year spends more than twice on tablets for kids than on irrigation for the whole country. What can one tell from that? 18 or so months from now, it wil be another round of "Wah, wah! The rains have failed! What can we do about nature? International community, please help in these desperate times!". But putting money into irrigation won't help those who are starving right now, so why bother? Right? We'll take it as it comes; the way we have always taken it. We've managed to wing it for 50+ year; why change, especially when change would require planning, discipline, and hard work. No, best leave it to the "international friends/community". Over here, kazi iendelee.
As for Galana, it's all about noise and eating. Take a look at the project since it was conceived, how much money has been spent, how much has been achieved, complaints by even the MPig eaters ....
At the started of this thread http://www.nipate.org/index.php?board=1;action=post2 I put up some numbers (for a couple of years, but one can go back 50+ years and see the same pattern):
the Government of Kenya declared an impending drought with an estimated 1.6 million people affected.
Aug 2014:
The acutely food insecure population increased from 1.3 million in February to 1.5 million by August.
Sep 2015:
Findings of the 2015 Long Rains Assessment (LRA) indicate that about 1.1 million people are acutely food insecure and cannot meet their basic dietary requirements, hence requiring immediate food assistance for the next six months
July 2016:
Food insecurity conditions are likely to persist throughout the outlook period, especially in the northeast, northwest, and southeast pastoral areas, and coastal and southeast marginal agricultural areas.
It's always the same story. Year after year after year. And it doesn't even matter if there are numerous advance warnings of what is to come. The response is always the same: wait until the last minute and go on a desperate begging trip. International community! International friends! Shit.
Finally: We can argue indefinitely about whether what is needed is just more money for the poor, whether there's plenty of food around or not, whether Galana is on track to save Kenyans, etc. etc. etc. blah blah blah, but the hard facts are these:
* Kenyans are again starving and begging all over the place, led by none other than their president, whose excitement over some little handout is incredible. (Donated food first going to State House to be launched ?!?)
* What on earth do people get from pretending and claiming that all is well when it's the same desperate crap year after year? This is how it has been for a long time, and it looks like it will be that way for a long time.
So, to anyone who is minded to come up with all sorts of stories and "explanations", I say this: Pay attention to the red, and wake me up when there is a real change. Instead of the absurd
- "we are desperately begging, as we always do, but actually we have plenty of food",
how about
- "we have plenty of food, so we aren't begging anymore!"
I know which of the two I would find more convincing.
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Vintage MoonKi has really gone to town on the Pundit and hk pro-deal with demand first and supply will follow.. What is this that HK and Pundit is advocating Trickle up or trickle down economics.. The country is have a serious food shortage and one does not need to look at numbers to realize this. The shortage is everywhere even in the bread baskets there is no enough to feed livestock and people.
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True.
But we can mpesa 100bob to each other, using the latest "cutting edge" technology.
Exactly. We have "given" the world our "world-class" MPESA, and if we have 2 million starving people, as we almost always do, we can just have the Red Cross mpesa them a little something for food! We will leapfrog from food-for-the-stomach direclty to virtual food!
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There's this brave attempt going around Kenyan social media, trying to change the status quo, of always voting for "our man", irrespective of their thieving history:
Nice idea. But still! In my home-home area that's the sort of stuff that will earn you a good beating from the paid-for manambas.
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There's plenty of food in Kenya, people starve because they don't have money to buy food. ... Red cross is using Mpesa direct cash transfer to drought victims to purchase food in their area. Meaning there's food available for sale.
There is plenty of food, but the government is begging all over the place, grateful for small tokens and sending out even more urgent pleas to "our international friends". Right? What kinds of morons are running said government?
I think you fail to understand some very basic things. The unavailability of food does not literally mean that there is no food to be found anywhere. When you state that people "don't have the money to buy food", you seem to forget that prices and affordability are determined by supply and demand. So, instead of thinking of "let's just use MPESA to send them a bit of money so that they can but food", there's an alternative: produce food in such quantities that even a person with little money will be able to eat. Until that is done, handouts and begging from overseas ensure that a year or so from now, we will be in exactly the same position as now and every past year: the MPESA money will have been spent and donated food will have been eaten and pooped out. Countries that have solved their food problems have not done so just by handing out money to the needy; they have largely succeeded by addressing the cost/poverty problem from the supply side.
Here, let me give you a solid example: Consider right now the price of a "rotisserie chicken", nicely spiced and cooked, in a USA supermarket with a similar (or any other whole chicken) in Nairobi. Forget about the fact that Americans have more disposable income, and just compare on raw $ figures. Then, if you are so minded, you may scale for incomes.
Another example, since I spend quite a bit of time in Beijing: I can eat well in Beijing and lower raw/absolute cost than I can in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, etc ... compare the average prices of, say, a whole chicken. Why is that?
Hint here: the scale on which food is being produced and its availability! Your arguments are very similar to Pundits. I can't understand why it's so difficult for you guys to see the "supply" aspect. Maybe this will help: Take a look at the stuff you have around you---from plastic drinking cup to that fancy electronic gadget. Here's a thought for you: Perhaps the reason you can so easily afford that stuff is not just because you have worked hard and earned them--which indeed you, being you and a real manly hard worker, have done---maybe it has something to do with all those factories in Guangdong, with their cheaply well-fed workers, endlessly knocking off all that cheap junk.
Here's one I remember from the maths class in Std. 5: A ratio has two parts; so if you want to change it, you look at both the numerator and denominator, not just one of the two. They taught good stuff in those days, and we absorbed some of it.
Solution is to increase productivity of farmers in all sectors of agriculture so that agri processing can increase hopefully employ subsistence farmers. Government already offers subsidized fertilizers https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001231051/farmers-scramble-for-subsidised-fertiliser-ahead-of-rainy-season .
GoK can actually do much more. As we "speak" USAID is working to get Ethiopian maize to feed Kenyans. Yes, Ethiopia. The place has done one heck of a job in maize production, and perhaps this will give you some idea of how:
Ethiopia has doubled its maize productivity and production in less than two decades. The yield, currently estimated at >3 metric tons/ha, is the second highest in Sub-Saharan Africa, after South Africa
...
Ethiopia’s extension worker to farmer ratio is 1:476, compared to 1:1000 for Kenya
...
The lesson from Ethiopia’s experience with maize is that sustained investment in agricultural research and development and policy support by the national government are crucial for continued growth of agriculture.
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12571-015-0488-z
Never mind, back to Kenya ...
The galana irrigation project which the government is suppose to put up infrastructure then lease land to private investors when completed Kenya will be a net food exporter. But even if it were operational today people who're starving would still be starving since they'd not have money to buy food.
This is the type of hard-core African mentality which explains why we are always starving and begging: the idea of planning for the future just doesn't exist; it's all here-and-now. GoK's budget for next year spends more than twice on tablets for kids than on irrigation for the whole country. What can one tell from that? 18 or so months from now, it wil be another round of "Wah, wah! The rains have failed! What can we do about nature? International community, please help in these desperate times!". But putting money into irrigation won't help those who are starving right now, so why bother? Right? We'll take it as it comes; the way we have always taken it. We've managed to wing it for 50+ year; why change, especially when change would require planning, discipline, and hard work. No, best leave it to the "international friends/community". Over here, kazi iendelee.
As for Galana, it's all about noise and eating. Take a look at the project since it was conceived, how much money has been spent, how much has been achieved, complaints by even the MPig eaters ....
At the started of this thread http://www.nipate.org/index.php?board=1;action=post2 I put up some numbers (for a couple of years, but one can go back 50+ years and see the same pattern):
the Government of Kenya declared an impending drought with an estimated 1.6 million people affected.
Aug 2014:
The acutely food insecure population increased from 1.3 million in February to 1.5 million by August.
Sep 2015:
Findings of the 2015 Long Rains Assessment (LRA) indicate that about 1.1 million people are acutely food insecure and cannot meet their basic dietary requirements, hence requiring immediate food assistance for the next six months
July 2016:
Food insecurity conditions are likely to persist throughout the outlook period, especially in the northeast, northwest, and southeast pastoral areas, and coastal and southeast marginal agricultural areas.
It's always the same story. Year after year after year. And it doesn't even matter if there are numerous advance warnings of what is to come. The response is always the same: wait until the last minute and go on a desperate begging trip. International community! International friends! Shit.
Finally: We can argue indefinitely about whether what is needed is just more money for the poor, whether there's plenty of food around or not, whether Galana is on track to save Kenyans, etc. etc. etc. blah blah blah, but the hard facts are these:
* Kenyans are again starving and begging all over the place, led by none other than their president, whose excitement over some little handout is incredible. (Donated food first going to State House to be launched ?!?)
* What on earth do people get from pretending and claiming that all is well when it's the same desperate crap year after year? This is how it has been for a long time, and it looks like it will be that way for a long time.
So, to anyone who is minded to come up with all sorts of stories and "explanations", I say this: Pay attention to the red, and wake me up when there is a real change. Instead of the absurd
- "we are desperately begging, as we always do, but actually we have plenty of food",
how about
- "we have plenty of food, so we aren't begging anymore!"
I know which of the two I would find more convincing.
Government donation are either in cash or in foodstuff , yes its embarrassing for people to starve in this day and age. The truck with food that was flagged off by uhuru(embarrassing) was a donation from UAE . The UAE didn't produce those foodstuff but bought in the world market cause they've money to do so. Again a clear illustration that people die out of starvation cause of poverty not lack of food. This isn't to say we shouldn't invest in agriculture to the contrary, I have argued that we need to increase productivity of all facets of agriculture. The pastoral community is disproportionately affect, in another thread I argued that modernizing livestock farming would alleviate this problem.
The "african mentality" ridicule is simply pointing out that without pastoral community embracing modern livestock farming, Galana irrigation scheme wouldn't help much. Cause the food grown there though cheaper cause of scale without money they'd not be able to buy. Galana if done right it will be a game charger, cheaper sugar, maize, beef/lamb etc.
The chicken example I pointed to you on another thread its cause of chicken feeds which is produced from maize that the National cereals board artificially has kept high to cushion maize farmers. Hopefully NCB can be disbanded and or Galana maize pushes the price down by sheer volume (supply). Btw we no longer import plastic bottles/cup from china there are plenty of plastic manufacturers in kenya.
The
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HK is the nearest we've got to someone who actually engages his brains and understand what he is talking about here. The rest am afraid are more concerned about political scape-goating and buck-passing. That is not helpful.
I have a lot of inside knowledge of the FOOD AID industry in kenya having worked for some years in that area.
Market intervention (supply-demand) doesn't work for region facing natural disaster (DROUGHT] and where people do not have income to talk about apart from producing their own food for their own consumption.
It works for Urban Poor (i.e slums) working as jua-kali artisan or rural poor not ravaged by a disaster - where price of food will determine whether they'll have one meall or 3 meals a day - for the middle & upper class it doesn't matter what price of Unga is - they're going to have 3 square meal regardless (elasticity of demand & supply).
For the people who annually have to beg for food - I am talking about pastoralist living in areas that are drought ravaged every year - say in Baringo- or farmers like in Ukambani facing the same problem - producing gazillion of bags of maize in Galana or anywhere else won't help them. Drought is natural disaster like any - tsunami, earthquake or US's katrina storm. For the majority of kenyans who are farmers - and have zero savings- once ravaged by drought - that mean they cannot afford to buy food for long (maybe they sell their chicken and sustain it for 1 month or 2) but without their own produced food - they are in big trouble - even if we produce enough to sell maize at half the price now.
And therefore the solution for those people is to give them money to buy food. Or to give them food which is a big hassle & not timely. It takes 3 months to bring the food from Illnois to Turkana. Therefore M-PESA cash transfer is god sent. You can quickly intervene and save folks facing a natural disaster drought.If you take food to turkana and sell it for 10 bob during drought season - many will still not be able - the few with other incomes or relatives who can m-pesa them from urban center - may be able - but the majority who've seen their cows or goats ravaged by drought will never afford to buy anything.
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what changed in Ukambani that now they are not on food rations every year? What changed? Was it Ngilu Dams and county government success?
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HK is the nearest we've got to someone who actually engages his brains and understand what he is talking about here. The rest am afraid are more concerned about political scape-goating and buck-passing. That is not helpful.
I have a lot of inside knowledge of the FOOD AID industry in kenya having worked for some years in that area.
Market intervention (supply-demand) doesn't work for region facing natural disaster (DROUGHT] and where people do not have income to talk about apart from producing their own food for their own consumption.
It works for Urban Poor (i.e slums) working as jua-kali artisan or rural poor not ravaged by a disaster - where price of food will determine whether they'll have one meall or 3 meals a day - for the middle & upper class it doesn't matter what price of Unga is - they're going to have 3 square meal regardless (elasticity of demand & supply).
For the people who annually have to beg for food - I am talking about pastoralist living in areas that are drought ravaged every year - say in Baringo- or farmers like in Ukambani facing the same problem - producing gazillion of bags of maize in Galana or anywhere else won't help them. Drought is natural disaster like any - tsunami, earthquake or US's katrina storm. For the majority of kenyans who are farmers - and have zero savings- once ravaged by drought - that mean they cannot afford to buy food for long (maybe they sell their chicken and sustain it for 1 month or 2) but without their own produced food - they are in big trouble - even if we produce enough to sell maize at half the price now.
And therefore the solution for those people is to give them money to buy food. Or to give them food which is a big hassle & not timely. It takes 3 months to bring the food from Illnois to Turkana. Therefore M-PESA cash transfer is god sent. You can quickly intervene and save folks facing a natural disaster drought.If you take food to turkana and sell it for 10 bob during drought season - many will still not be able - the few with other incomes or relatives who can m-pesa them from urban center - may be able - but the majority who've seen their cows or goats ravaged by drought will never afford to buy anything.
Agreed that you need to deliver the food and means to acquire it quickly? By the way why is Aid food getting sold? I thought the idea of cash transfers were to enable "free market to solve the supply problem".. Since demand is there cash infusion allows traders in this area to go out there and source food from Sudan and Uganda and sell it at market price.. So Mpesa just takes away "welfare free and replaces it with a Market solution..
Moonki is addressing lack of long term solutions to this problem and failure for GOK to plan adequately. why would GOK wait till the last minute to start procuring and begging for more food while warnings went out in April last year.. There should have been strategic reserves in Turkana, baringo and all areas that have been badly affected by drought.. we shouldn't be rushing to Illinois a year later
MoonKi is saying that GOK is not serious in tackling food shortages in kenya. I have advocated serious Subsidies and Commercial Farming by corporate farms to deal with problem.. Most of land in RV can leased to Multinationals to farm here.. Galana should be sold to a private muitlinational company and not run by corrupt GOK
Is addressing the lack
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I think you're getting twisted. Let me do bullet points.
1) The people receiving food aid are too poor to buy anything. Market intervention won't work. Flooding turkana with cheap maize in the midst of drought won't work.
2) These people therefore need assistance. They can be given food - which takes long to truck it all the way to their villages - or we can calculate how much money they need to buy food and send them the money. M-PESA is absolutely great not only for GOK but for NGos and family members to easily help their people suffering from drought. I think Ukambani is probably being saved by M-pesa remittance from relatives.
3) There is no shortage of food anywhere - there is shortage of money. Business people will truck food to South Sudan leave alone Turkana if they know the will be bought. Nobody in Moiben bothers to truck food to Baringo (100kms) coz those guys cannot afford it.
4) Producing gazillion of bags in Galana will help beef up strategic reserves and bring down price of food - which is good - but won't solve the problem.
5) HK proposal that small holder farmers and pastoralist need help so they can improve their productivity for their own consumption first and secondly for them to have surplus is the way to go.
6) GOK is never and has never been serious. Tell us something we don't know.
7) Kenya produce a lot of food - export lot of food (including beef & fish) and it world leader in tea, vegetables & etc - there is small deficit in most cereals (maize,wheat,rice) that can easily be bridged with cheaper imports.
8) Should Kenya continue subsidizing farmers or bring in tonnes of cheaper food in the international market?
Agreed that you need to deliver the food and means to acquire it quickly? By the way why is Aid food getting sold? I thought the idea of cash transfers were to enable "free market to solve the supply problem".. Since demand is there cash infusion allows traders in this area to go out there and source food from Sudan and Uganda and sell it at market price.. So Mpesa just takes away "welfare free and replaces it with a Market solution..
Moonki is addressing lack of long term solutions to this problem and failure for GOK to plan adequately. why would GOK wait till the last minute to start procuring and begging for more food while warnings went out in April last year.. There should have been strategic reserves in Turkana, baringo and all areas that have been badly affected by drought.. we shouldn't be rushing to Illinois a year later
MoonKi is saying that GOK is not serious in tackling food shortages in kenya. I have advocated serious Subsidies and Commercial Farming by corporate farms to deal with problem.. Most of land in RV can leased to Multinationals to farm here.. Galana should be sold to a private muitlinational company and not run by corrupt GOK
Is addressing the lack
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Thanks Pundit,
I agree with all your points
On GOK not being serious. I think our Generation should kick Jubilee out, wait for Raila to mess on himself for 2 years and cobble a coalition together led by a progressive governor and match to statehouse and transform the country.. I am supporting Raila strategically knowing he will be a one term blunder like Uhuru and making sure Ruto and Kiunjuri do not get a chance..