More hair splitting.
Feel free to call it that. But, please, indulge me and "split hairs" by answering questions like:
"China will, China will, China. When will they?
Kenyans still routinely beg for food. Where in Kenya are the Chinese-built irrigation systems?
Where are all those factories in Kenya? Last I heard, your were bragging about the trade volume because Kenyans keep importing cheap junk from there.
Kenyan children are dying like flies from illnesses caused by nothing more than the lack of clean drinking water. Where in Kenya are those Chinese "massive water supply systems"?
Perhaps we can flip this. Tell us one AID project by any western partners you're really proud of. I can barely count five in my one hand despite 50yrs of assistance to Africa.
You really need to give up on this West-vs-East nonsense. Try to imagine Africans doing for Africans. But I will indulge you ....
First: I am
not proud of any kind of aid, from the West or elsewhere. I find it a painful and shameful embarrassment that we endlessly keep begging for something as basic as food, that our children keep dying like flies from the lack of something as simple as clean drinking water ... ... and all the time people keep yelling about sovereign and independent. 50 years, and it's still going on.
I think we should do for ourselves. As I said, before you tell me how we will have a railway for 100 years, tell me how we will feed ourselves for 100 years.
Second: I have already tried to point this out ... it is not for the West or East to take responsibility for Africa. So it is infantile to demand explanations for why their assistance has not worked; instead, one should carefully look at those getting assistance.
Saidia, saidia, saidia, ... and if we continue to mess up, it is your fault and we'll turn East! Sigh. Some rethinking is necessary here.
Third: Having said that, there are some things I am grateful for, given that African "leaders" are devoted to everything except the welfare of their citizens, and some of those citizens are unable to free themselves from the
saidia-saidia mentality.
Since this is a Kenyan forum, I will give you 4 examples, on different scales:
(1) Food aid: I hate to think of the numbers that would be dead by now if it had not been for a positive response to the perpetual
saidia-saidia-saidia, always accompanied by gut-wrenching photos of filthy, skeletal people surrounded with flies.
That this food aid is never---and will never be---a permanent solution is not a reflection on those who provide it. It says more about those who chose to focus on other things. And, for sure nobody ever lived by eating steel from a railway line or a brick from a stadium wall.
(2) HIV/AIDS: Kenya's future development will depend on its ability to, at the very least keep alive a substantial chunk of its most productive populace, and a fair bit of that is infected.
Kenyans should be very grateful that the USA is doing so much, by way of paying for ARVs (and other interventions) for so many. True, it's not a stadium or a railway; but to my mind it is far better to be alive without those than to be six feet under the Chinese SGR.
(3) Education: Kenyans have been very excited about free primary-school education. That's actually largely funded by the Nasty West. Still, this being Kenya, some things seem inevitable:
(4) Malaria: I took note of your derision of USAID mosquito-nets. I grew up in a malaria-endemic part of Kenya, and I know what it can do to people even if it does not kill them. So I am grateful that while the GoK has been doing bugger-all, USAID has done a great deal in that area. That's more Kenyans who will still be alive to ride on the Chinese SGR.
Now you have this wierd notion of what development really is. For you development is what handing a beggar food..not taking the beggar out of the street. I am not sure what development philosophy this belongs to..it look to me like emergency band aid...that US and EU have been conducting in Africa for 50yrs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I do not have any such notion. My notion is that Africans need to start by focusing on such basic things as being able to feed themsleves. The beggar should stop waiting to be taken "out of the street" and instead walk out on his own two feet.
I will not repeat what is above---that the "emergency band aid" has saved countless lives. If the USA and the EU have been involved in non-working "emergency band aid" for 50 years, the most pressing questions have to be these:
(a) Why is Africa perpetually in need of "emergency band aid", after 50 years of its "leaders" shouting about sovereign-and-independent.
(b) What exactly are Africans doing for themselves to ensure that they will not need "emergency band aid" in the future.
Please stop telling me how the USA and the EU have failed, especially when they keep getting told to fuck off with neo-colonial imperialism, because Africa is now sovereign-and-independent. I would rather hear about
(a) what Africans have been doing to succeed; and
(b) what Africans plan to do for the future, beyond the never-ending "
the situtaion is desperate now; the international community needs to do something".
Development. Sustainable Development. Human development. Just look at what Chinese are doing. That railway line will reduce travel cost and time.. and multiplier effect on everything including
I was tempted to ask for details about this "multiplier effect", but you have a funny way with numbers, and i don't think we'll get far on cooked-up figures.
Sustainable development? Human development? Very funny. Even your Great China itself first focused on being able to feed its people, as did other Asians nations that have done so much better than us.
The SGR will reduce time and cost, eh? Kenya, 50 years ago, had a perfectly decent railway. Narrow-gauge. After failing to maintain and properly use it, the "bright" solution is a costly new line. Standard-gauge.
Kenya's Great SGR will allow speeds of 80-120 kph. Fantastic. A Japanese railway expert that the EAC countries asked for advice had this to say: (a) the focus on gauge is misplaced and unnecessary; (b) Japan has for years had had higher speeds on narrow-gauge, 130-160 kph; and (c) unless maintenance is taken seriously, this is a futile exercise. [He emphasized the last point, on which African history speaks for itself.]
Elsewhere you have claimed that the West have for years been building roads and railways that them went to the dogs. And the Chinese ones? Will they be made of hyper-special steel and tarmac that is not only self-maintaining but also edible during famines and drinkable at times of thirst?
My fundamental view is not about West vs. East. It is about how we can uplift ourselves? You say the West has failed in 50 years? As I see it, if true, it should confirm the dangers of relying on others.
I want us to work feeding ourselves, our children not dying from easily-preventable diseases, and so on and so forth. And, as far as I can tell, much of the basics do not require stadiums or railway lines. But they do require that we change some thinking and priorities.
I'd like imagine an Africa beyond
saidia-saidia-saidia. The next 50 years to be radicaly different from the last 50 years of sovereign-and-independent. And looking at the historical facts, I will not share your enthusiasm for Kung Fu.
You say that
Africa is basket case beggar who is incredibly corrupt and irresponsible..this is supported by overwhelming evidence..am not prepared to argue about.
Indeed.
Only Africans will change that, and they better start working on it. Serious, hard work. Neither Chinese loans nor Western aid come with a cure-all for incredible corruption and irresponsibility.
Kung Fu as the Great Saviour? I visit that country often, and they have nothing but contempt for us and our apparent inability to improve our lot.
Instead of a dubious "discussion" on whether to bend over for pink sausage or to bend over for spring-roll, how about one on standing upright, as human beings?
