Invest in Africa's Infrastructure and Pay better for African goods and services like the Chinese are doing...and you have win-win situation.
And what exactly is the "better pay"? When the USA and Saudi Arabia drive down oil prices, do you believe that the Chinese will pay anything better than the going market-rate?
Have you seen how a place like Uganda is ready to bend over and get it in the ****? A nice little con of them borrowing Chinese money against future oil sales. It reminds me of some Kenyans who gave the colonial British thousands of acres of productive land in return for ... [See Form II History]. But folks all over are lapping up this sort of thing!
What is important is the IMPACT of any projects. China's Kasarani is still visible and standing today compared to little USAID project that cannot be sustained when funding is cut off.
As I have tried to point out, Africans need to focus first on people rather than things ... stop dying like flies from starvation and numerous diseases. Human capital is a huge step to development, and you should look at the Asian countries that first worked on feeding themselves.
What is the point of having a stadium or a long railway line and then going off to beg others for food or keep dying from simple things like the lack of clean drinking water? Have you looked at the health statistics of Kenya recently?
Of course, USAID is not about great pieces of steel and concrete. But I'd rather have Kenyans standing up and alive rather than dead with infrastructure standing up.
China funded SGR..to tune of 12 billion dollars..when it reaches Malaba..will stand for 100 yrs impacting many generations.
First, I am awaiting your answer on the "1 trillion shillings" you are so happy that China has lent Kenya "in the last few years". I can't find the figures you rely on for that.
Second, where does this "12 billion dollars" from now?
(Er, em, ... perhaps you should stay away from numbers or anything conrete; stick to generic handwaving----
the west has failed, China has saved sort of thing.)
Third, when is it supposed to reached Malaba? I am not aware of any concrete plans past Nairobi, but perhaps you will share those with us.
Fourth, your "100 years" projection is very amusing, considering that nobody seems to be able to maintain anything. You can look at Kenya itself, move to Tanzania where China has been building "great railways" since who-knows-when ... but when it comes to maintenance, history is not on your "100 years" prediction.
Human development: Before I hear about what the SGR will do for 100 years, I'd rather hear about how Kenya will feed itself for 100 years. And other basics for a decent human life ... Anybody there working on those?
Oh, I should also point out that all this excitement is over a railway line that still does not exist.
What exactly can US shows you in kenya beyond the dubious claims of 500-700M that they fund? Ohoo Malarai has reduced thanks to mosquito nets that they've dispensed.
Good question. I will give you a day to do your homework. If you still need answers after that, ask again. Your hint is to start looking at things like food, health, and so on.
You can read the lady from Zambia who famously called it DEAD AID..and advocated for what China is doing..Investing in Africa...
A "lady from Zambia" said that. Well, then, we must take it to the bank right away!
Not seeing Africa has basket case...to be given money for buying condoms, mosquito nets, drugs, food and of course thousands of capacity building projects.
Sadly, the hard fact is that most of Africa is indeed a basket case; it's not a particularly happy fact, or one that is easily admitted, but there it is. The endless begging supports that. I gave you an example of Kenya desperately begging for food and Japan handing over $7.7 billion dollars (grant) just like that.
Condoms, mosquito nets, ... even simple clean drinking water ... the basket-case continues because people get very excited over railway lines and small "superhighways" and do not focus on basics like food and health. Attitudes need to change over that.
US and EU have treated Africa like a street beggar..throwing coins..and shouting about how they help feed the beggar.
That could be because Africa continually behaves like a street beggar. Always begging! How much lower can it get to beg for food? And not once or twice; it's never-ending! Even from Kenya, where you assure us that the Chinese are performing Great & Glorious deeds! (Must be hard to eat a future railway
)
As a general rule, people who keep begging for this and that, especially basic things like food, do get treated as beggars! If African countries do not want to get treated like beggars, then there is an obvious path: (a) take care of your own shit; (b) actually stop begging.
Look, if you want to believe that China is going to save Kenya and Africa---and you seem very determined to do so---then go for it. But, as I noted above, when actually looks at the "great things"---e.g. your list of Chinese Great Things in Kenya---it doesn't quite add up. And that's the case for quite a few African countries.
Me, myself, ... I can't think of a more basic human need than food. So I would want Kenya (and others) to first get such things right and avoid relying on endless begging.
Next, I'd focus on other not-very-glamorous things: (a) do you know the real cost, in a place like Kenya, of not having just clean drinking water for most of the population?; (b) do you know the actual cost, in a place like Kenya, of not having proper places for people to shit?; (c) ... And by cost I actually mean quantifiable money.
I prefer to see an Africa that is focused, first, on the basics: food, health, housing, and on. Learn something from the people who are at the receiving end of perpetual "please help"!
Africa has to start taking human development much more seriously. Until that happens, the place will remain a perpetual basket case of beggars---shiny new railway and stadium, from borrowed money, but can't even feed themselves.