Look like SGR to Kisumu & malaba - aint happenning soon.

[MOON Ki]

Galana-Kulalu is not a failure. It a victim of short termism propaganda. The Isrealis did 10,000 acres model farm. Kenya gov learnt a lot of lesson including that river Galana could never provide enough water for 1m acres - hence the huge dam being built upstream now.

They spent all that money to learn something they had already been told years ago by their costly consultants?  That's GoK for you.

April 2014

The available water from River Galana at the Galana-Kulalu irrigation project can only irrigate 400,000 acres out of the targeted one million acres.
...
As a result, Agriculture secretary Felix Koskei said the consultant has recommended that two dams be built upstream in order to tap runoff water to supplement the available resource.

The minister said one of the dams will have a capacity of 495,000 cubic metres while the other one will hold a billion cubic metres of water.

https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/economy/Ministry-lines-up-two-dams-for-Galana-irrigation-project/3946234-2274568-417u84/index.html


The "huge dam being built upstream now"?  Would that be the one whose construction "started" in 2015 but of which there is still precisely zero to be seen?

August 2015

Construction of the 20km dam that can hold two billion cubic litres of water along River Sabaki in Malindi will start soon.
...
Officials said once complete, it will provide water to irrigate more than a million acres in the Galana Kulalu Food Security Project (GKFSP) in Kilifi and Tana River counties.

https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2000173478/dam-for-galana-project-to-be-built

And so on; plenty of stories out the on this one. So, five years ago, it was "we need a really huge dam for this thing".   After spending a lot of money, it's again "We have learned that we need a really huge dam for this thing"?

As with many other Kenyan Amazing Projects, after years of "about to begin construction!", "will be delivering results real soon!", there is almost nothing to be seen from Galana.

Let's see what we have so far:

The government produced a paltry 22,000 bags of maize currently worth Sh35.2 million from Galana-Kulalu irrigation scheme despite spending Sh7.3 billion in the Israeli-backed food security project, Parliament heard on Wednesday.
...
As at March this year, only 5,000 acres, out of the targeted one million acres, had been put under crop.

https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/economy/Multi-billion-Galana-churns-out-Sh35m-maize-in-a-year/3946234-4756804-wry5yvz/index.html

That's about 4 bags per acre.   Looks like Kenyans will be begging for food for quite some time.

[RV Pundit]

Model farm - had lot more objective than just water - suitable crops, and other key data were gathered. There is a lot of infrastructure work that is required. I hope Kenya gov doesn't throw the baby with the bath water. You cannot spend 70M dollars for such a project. We need to invest billion of dollars to make the 1 M acre irrigation a reality.

[RV Pundit]

The economy definitely grew - more formalized economy is growing economy - yes the KNBS are going to become more accurate with more data - but if people don't feel the economy - then they must have numbed their feelings. The growth is broad based and from nearly all sectors.

No one  would be against formalizing informal sector or measuring the true size of kenya economy. However capturing economy data more accurately doesn't mean the economy has grown exponentially. Its one of the reasons why ordinary kenya is dismayed with heady gdp growth numbers that aren't reflective in "real economy". Kenya economy isn't necessarily formalizing but consolidating in few sectors. taxi, uber and little, matatu various saccos etc. The finance sector, due to agency banking and mobile money is shedding workforce.

[MOON Ki]

Model farm - had lot more objective than just water - suitable crops, and other key data were gathered. There is a lot of infrastructure work that is required. I hope Kenya gov doesn't throw the baby with the bath water.

Model farm - had lot more objective than just water - suitable crops, and other key data were gathered. There is a lot of infrastructure work that is required. I hope Kenya gov doesn't throw the baby with the bath water.

Of course.  Key data like this one, right?   

Kenya gov learnt a lot of lesson including that river Galana could never provide enough water for 1m acres - hence the huge dam being built upstream now.

The Galana thing was all about eating---the money not the maize.  The noises and exchanges and accusations flying around right now probably have more to do with whether the loot was "fairly" shared.   Other than that, the whole thing is pretty much dead.

[RV Pundit]

Of course.The gov got the best people in this business - Isrealis - complete with Isreali funded loan - and we learnt a lot of valuable lessons.Nobody said it was going to be easy - . What is lacking here is the political will to really spend on making this a reality. Hopefully after dams are completed - we can go back - and get this done.

Model farm - had lot more objective than just water - suitable crops, and other key data were gathered. There is a lot of infrastructure work that is required. I hope Kenya gov doesn't throw the baby with the bath water.

Model farm - had lot more objective than just water - suitable crops, and other key data were gathered. There is a lot of infrastructure work that is required. I hope Kenya gov doesn't throw the baby with the bath water.

Of course.  Key data like this one, right?   

Kenya gov learnt a lot of lesson including that river Galana could never provide enough water for 1m acres - hence the huge dam being built upstream now.

[MOON Ki]

Of course.The gov got the people in this business - Isrealis - complete with Isreali funded loan - and we learnt a lot of valuable lessons.

What valuable lessons?  That a dam was required?   See the above.  That you can get 4 bags of maize per acre?   My grandmother did better with just her jembe. 

Getting an Israeli loan was an achievement?   Considering that Kenyans will have to play for that loan, plus interest, what did they get for it?   (And don't forget Kenyan's own money went in as well.)

[RV Pundit]

Model farm - is a model farm. It suppose to try so many things. This was a lab. They tried several seeds varieties, and different ways to plant or irrigate - all the technical mumbo jumbo. They managed to get as high as 30 bags per acre in 2016 season.

Isrealis failed because we wanted them to fail;  all the fake news, propaganda and political nonsense - make what is great start to a big dream - a nightmare - few are willing to touch.

This is why Chinese are god sent. They don't listen to nonsense - they get down to business.

https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/big-read/2019-04-02-drought-exposes-collapse-of-galana-kulalu-project/

hat valuable lessons?  That a dam was required?   See the above.  That you can get 4 bags of maize per acre?   My grandmother did better with just her jembe. 

Getting an Israeli loan was an achievement?   Considering that Kenyans will have to play for that loan, plus interest, what did they get for it?   (And don't forget Kenyan's own money went in as well.)

[MOON Ki]

Isrealis failed because we wanted them to fail;  all the fake news, propaganda and political nonsense - make what is great start to a big dream - a nightmare - few are willing to touch.

Interesting.  What  fake news, propaganda and political nonsense?  If one excludes the "eating" aspect, then the whole thing was a poorly thought-out joke from Day One!

This was Jubilee's great Feed-The-People project, with your man Ruto endlessly running his mouth about it.   Now, about 6 years have passed, money has been borrowed, money has come from Kenyans, ... , but there is no maize in sight, the Israelis have run away, and the  prospects for the future look like some more of the usual  "mzungu, come here quick and saidia!   drought!   people are dying!".  (Phantom "valuable lessons" don't do much for an empty belly.)  That's not the start of a nightmare; it's a continuation. 

This one is over friend.  Of Jubilee's initial Eating Plan, the only  projects that still have some real "eating" potential are the likes of Lego-land Konza City.   Focus on that one, as it is one of the very few left.   

[RV Pundit]

With political will(Ruto) and Chinese - this project will be revived and will become a great success story.

Interesting.  What  fake news, propaganda and political nonsense?  The whole thing was poorly thought-out joke from Day One!

This was Jubilee's great Feed-The-People project, with your man Ruto endlessly running his mouth about it.   Now, about 6 years have passed, money has been borrowed, money has come from Kenyans, ... , but there is no maize in sight, the Israelis have run away, and the  prospects for the future look like some more of the usual  "mzungu, come here quick and saidia!   drought!   people are dying!".  (Phantom "valuable lessons" don't do much for an empty belly.)  That's not the start of a nightmare; it's a continuation.   

[vooke]

With political will(Ruto) and Chinese - this project will be revived and will become a great success story.

Interesting.  What  fake news, propaganda and political nonsense?  The whole thing was poorly thought-out joke from Day One!

This was Jubilee's great Feed-The-People project, with your man Ruto endlessly running his mouth about it.   Now, about 6 years have passed, money has been borrowed, money has come from Kenyans, ... , but there is no maize in sight, the Israelis have run away, and the  prospects for the future look like some more of the usual  "mzungu, come here quick and saidia!   drought!   people are dying!".  (Phantom "valuable lessons" don't do much for an empty belly.)  That's not the start of a nightmare; it's a continuation.   

Galana would never succeed because it is equivalent to opening our borders to cheaper maize. Thousands of RVs would go broke overnight if there was cheaper Maize produced elsewhere in Kenya

[Nefertiti]

Jubilee collected a few hanging fruits they learned from Kibaki FPE. These free maternity, TIVET, FSE, etc. The borrow & build binge is a failed attempt to replicate Kibadinga without any foresight, creativity or analysis. Talk of incompetence - a project like Galana so basic and straight - dams wapi - yet the pigs already pocketed the kickbacks. Of the significant programs only the loss-mining SGR is visible. LAPSETT, Turkana oil - nothing.

We can be generous and award the inept duo a strong D+

[RV Pundit]

Rv and Western farmers will transition out of maize and sugar cane.Ruto already told north rift to move to horticulture and dairy.Galana will produce all those cheap cereals.

[RV Pundit]

Implementation matters. All these ideas have been sitting on books for years. Nobody really has patent for these well known programs.What Jubilee did manage to achieve in their first term - was to get the job done. Look at road annuity program - Raila talked big about it 2004-2005 before he was fired - and they laid there - until Ruto took over it.

Jubilee collected a few hanging fruits they learned from Kibaki FPE. These free maternity, TIVET, FSE, etc. The borrow & build binge is a failed attempt to replicate Kibadinga without any foresight, creativity or analysis. Talk of incompetence - a project like Galana so basic and straight - dams wapi - yet the pigs already pocketed the kickbacks. Of the significant programs only the loss-mining SGR is visible. LAPSETT, Turkana oil - nothing.

We can be generous and award the inept duo a strong D+

[RV Pundit]

Laptop for kids not dead
https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2019-05-06-second-phase-of-laptop-project-to-be-rolled-out-in-august/

[Kadudu]

Yes, it is alive and kicking.
Now let us just wait for 15 years and our Kenyan born Bill Gates will arise.

Laptop for kids not dead
https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2019-05-06-second-phase-of-laptop-project-to-be-rolled-out-in-august/

[RV Pundit]

Want to bet on that.

Yes, it is alive and kicking.
Now let us just wait for 15 years and our Kenyan born Bill Gates will arise.

[Kadudu]

If it were that easy just supply kids with laptops and 20 years later an IT industry is created, many other countries with much more resources than Kenya would have done the same ages ago. I do not need to bet on that as I know I am right.
Btw, India has built a relative strong IT industry without distributing computers to schools. There is more to it than just having the gadgets.

Want to bet on that.

[MOON Ki]

Laptop for kids not dead
https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2019-05-06-second-phase-of-laptop-project-to-be-rolled-out-in-august/

You need to read the stuff at your link ... past the headlines.  Jubilee's "great idea" and claim was one laptop (later turned into a tablet) per kid.   They were advised to go with labs instead, but they insisted on  the boneheaded approach.   That is now dead, and they are back to the lab idea.   Here is what one finds at your link:

Under the second phase for the upper primary, (grades 4-6), which is set to run for five years, 24,000 schools will be targeted across the country, with each receiving 50 tablets and an extra one for the headteacher. The distribution will be staggered.

How does Jubilee see (that part of) an entire school---all students  in those grades and all their  teachers---working with just 50 tablets?   Perhaps sharing them in a lab?

As for the notion of some Gates emerging from all this, let us start with what they are actually doing.  Here is what the relevant ministry says:

Is DigiSchool introducing ICT as a learning subject in primary schools?

No, in this programme ICT will be used as a teaching and learning tool.

http://icta.go.ke/digischool/faqs/

Just another teaching and learning  tool.   That is, forget about things like learning how to build hardware, learning how to program, etc.

The ICTA (Digischool) organization that is spearheading this Great Technological Leap into the future is itself quite amusing: critical links on their webpages are broken; where links work the information seems hopelessly out of date; etc.   

And there's the Kenyan Institute of Curriculum Development, which is supposedly responsible for the "content"  on these tablets.   Good luck finding out what exactly they do in that regard.   

[RV Pundit]

You aim for the sun to reach the moon. The moon is pretty ambitious target. Schools got the tablets - acting like a lab - the tablets are stored in schools - and used by all classes. Each school also got a laptop for the teachers - and audio-visual devices.

What exactly is your complain now.

Jubilee managed to equip our dilapidated schools with the infrastructure, the training and the tablets.

Laptop for kids not dead
https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2019-05-06-second-phase-of-laptop-project-to-be-rolled-out-in-august/

You need to read the stuff at your link ... past the headlines.  Jubilee's "great idea" and claim was one laptop (later turned into a tablet) per kid.   They were advised to go with labs instead, but they insisted on  the boneheaded approach.   That is now dead, and they are back to the lab idea.   Here is what one finds at your link:

Under the second phase for the upper primary, (grades 4-6), which is set to run for five years, 24,000 schools will be targeted across the country, with each receiving 50 tablets and an extra one for the headteacher. The distribution will be staggered.

How does Jubilee see (that part of) an entire school---all students  in those grades and all their  teachers---working with just 50 tablets?   Perhaps sharing them in a lab?

As for the notion of some Gates emerging from all this, let us start with what they are actually doing.  Here is what the relevant ministry says:

Is DigiSchool introducing ICT as a learning subject in primary schools?

No, in this programme ICT will be used as a teaching and learning tool.

http://icta.go.ke/digischool/faqs/

Just another teaching and learning  tool.   That is, forget about things like learning how to build hardware, learning how to program, etc.

[MOON Ki]

You aim for the sun to reach the moon. The moon is pretty ambitious target. Schools got the tablets - acting like a lab - the tablets are stored in schools - and used by all classes.

Used for what exactly?   To read .pdf files and look at .jpg images?  I don't see how that is going to lead to a technological revolution, produce a Kenyan Gates, etc.