What would you do to make Kenya a first world country in 50 years??
My take:
I believe that education is the fastest route. However, the trick is how to implement it. I would make it compulsory for all primary school children to learn computer packages. All secondary school students should learn at least one technical and highly marketable niche that where one can work remotely/online e.g SPSS, AUTOCAD, programming, using accounting software, etc. Basically, l would fund a research into the most marketable, technical, timeless niches that can be implemented remotely.
Imagine an education system where every high school graduate can code or use one technical software with ease. Also, yenye anafanya akiwa highschool ikuwe bundled into whichever course they choose in uni.
The end product utapata jamaa alisomea course ya upuzi kama mass communication, but has also studied coding, QuickBooks, AutoCAD, SPSS etc for 8 years (4 in secondary school and 4 in uni). Hutawahi sikia serikali saidia.
Barriers to entry are few once you have the skills. Unlike training engineers, doctors etc who leave the country for more money elsewhere, Kenya would be producing professionals at an industrial scale. They would have no reason to leave because they can work online. Basically, they would have access to employment anywhere in the world without having to leave Kenya.
Good to see you thinking about development but your understanding of economics and how nations develop is very limited.
You start with rule of law and establish inclusive institutions as all ingredients of taking off are there.
I recommend u some hii kitabu and maybe then you can attempt this discussion at a later date. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_Nations_Fail
For me my focus would be Agro Industry. I think this is the most unexploited and underestimated industry in Kenya which has the potential to generate billion of dollars to our economy. I will put policies in place to ensure all the agricultural products produced here are processed before being exported. In addition, I will work tirelessly to look for markets for this goods. As we negotiate with Chinese and other western countries to sell their goods here,they must also accept to purchase our products …in spirit of win win. That will be my focus. My other focus will be on reforming education. I will reduce the total number of public universities in Kenya to around 15 and ensure it is equally distributed. The universities will be assigned specific roles of research. Some will be designated as universities of engineering, Technology, medicine, agricultural research and universities will be ranked and funded based on the innovations and inventions coming out of there. I will also put a greater emphasis on technical institutes more so towards developing key skills such as road construction, railway development, electrical and electronics development, and others necessary for a nation development. More than that, I will instill law and order. If all the people can learn to follow the law to the latter, that is the only surest way of having a civilized nation
And you are bang on the cash Langat. Let me tell you one thing… Walalo is on the case…taimagini. They own the afro shops hia where we buy all our food. Ngwashe, Nduma, Njahe, all beans, danias, french beans, tusker, Ugali stuff, fanta…sukuma wiki, spinach all from Kenya.
I don’t miss anything other than Zesta jam. In short agriculture is the way forward coz let me tell you something else…what I cannot get from our Afro shops I get it from farmers’ markets. V organic food.
It is just my opinion. Nitasoma hiyo kitabu. Every day is a learning experience for me. Now that wewe umeisoma, what single activity do you think would have the highest positive impact ya kumaliza umasikini Kenya??
Rule of law. Entrench it and we’d be growing at the speed of light.
We don’t even need 50 years. Growing at 10% per year we’d be doubling our GDP every 7 years meaning per capita income would be over $20,000 by 2050 which is just 30 years away.
Naonanga pale freelancer jobs zingine kama data analysis na good pay but nobody wants them juu very few people can use SPSS. Same case for matlab, autocad, java, c++ etc. Yani jobs from all over the world but our education system bado inataka kukufunza some chieth about “cha mkufuu mwanafuu haa” etc.
I have two friends who work at Andela. These guys didn’t study computer science in campus. Mmoja alifanya Finance, the other did Psychology. Walijifunza ku-code wakiwa Uni. Kama hawangejifunza hiyo maybe wangekuwa league ya serikali saidia. The idea is, mtu akimaliza university akuwe extremely competent in a highly marketable skill anaweza uza remotely to a global clientele. Ukimaliza sport science na a minor in data analysis using SPSS, hapo kila mtu ako na solid backup. You have a skill that you can sell to a person in Australia without having to be there in person. Minimum capital and extremely large client base. Freelancing/gig-economy is the future.
Langat…you know the Unis in the Western world work on the basis of what they offer best if that makes sense so when a student is choosing their subjects ujue which one unaenda…is it Manchester, is it Liverpool, is it Newcastle, is it Reading…is it medical schools like Guys and St Thomases…an institution is known for what it is best known for.
Kenya could benefit a lot from technical institutions too as we are quite creative.
I agree. But you under-estimate the difficulty in that. Leaders have been trying that for eternity with minimal success. Even the president cannot single handedly do that. Otherwise hangeuliza “sasa mnataka nifanye nini?”…your solution is too broad.
The main problem with that is brain drain. G.O.K establishes technical schools, trains people, but those people go to work in first world countries and live there. That’s why I would propose focusing on technical skills which can be used remotely. That way, people will not have to move from Kenya to access those opportunities. Even if some do, enough of them will remain to push the country to the next level because they will work online and spend their Euros and USD here.
I agree with you @Azor Ahai . It is unfortunate you will find an IT graduate with no skills in coding, networking, or even maintenance. An engineering graduate who does not know how to use AUTOCAD, a journalism graduate with no video or sound editing skill. or even an accounting graduate with no skills in using automated software like sage, quickbooks, and pastel. Theory tu ndio imejaa kichwa.
Maseno University tried to have all courses paired with IT. But I guess walikua wanafunza MS office wanaita IT.
I recommend the digital skills be studied from primary school. By the time a person gets to higher education, he is a guru. We can compete with the rest of the world if we have the skills. Indians and Philippines are earning good because of the outsourcing business. Africa kazi tunafanya ni writing na transcription tu.
I know a guy who finished high school, never went to college, but self-taught Android app development and he is now earning very well serving overseas clients.
And you Kenyans are the ones supporting BBI with mwizi Ann Waiguru in the steering wheel? Even if she says she did not steal NYS money herself, it was stolen under her care. Tufukuze ujinga.
Agribusiness in Kenya is greatly underexploited …
-We complain of too many eggs and low prices, yet we can make liquid eggs and powder,
-We want to sell avocados without adding any value, yet doing so would bring in foreign exchange mulla,
-Growing and value addition of herbs and spices can greatly uplift the fortunes of our farmers,
-We like throwing barbs at luhyas for their tea drinking habits but think of what would happen if we came up with new tea products and Kenyans embraced tea drinking. Why should our tea be used to add value to other countries poor quality tea?,
-Ditto coffee,
-Dehydrating our horticultural produce would help us break into markets previous inaccessible to us.
-Farmers choice is doing well but we should have about 5 entities of farmers choice size dealing in pork, beef and poultry products,
-We should be producing lots of fruit pulp during harvest and do lots of value addition for export purposes,
-Put some seriousness in the textile industry (Stop selling our export quotas to Pakistan et al)
-AND FUNNY ENOUGH, THE ABOVE ARE COVERED IN THE AGOA ACT AND CAN PROPEL KENYA TO GREAT HEIGHTS.
-Reinvesting proceeds deligently in vertically and horizotally oriented industries will ENSURE WE MOVE EVEN HIGHER IN PROSPERITY.
[SIZE=2]-And there’s that small issue of corruption … YOU CAN’T ELIMINATE IT.
MAKE IT PAINFULL TO ENGAGE IN[/SIZE][SIZE=1].[/SIZE]
true education is key, once values are instilled at a young age,the rest like rule of law will follow,meritocracy will take route ,guys will be self reliant , sahi these form four leavers have no clue what to do at the university, they depend on the parents to tell them what to do which is not bad but at least they should have an idea of what they want to study.,I like the Japanese curriculum , values are instilled from kindergarten.
I will consider the current situation in Kenya i.e. BBI ongoing, corruption the order of the day, lax judiciary, over representation (tooo many leaders), poor quality infrastructure projects, madeni za china, poor quality education(from basic to university),etc.
With the above in mind this is what i would do (in the order where number 1 is the first thing to do)
Stop any new projects from being started. For the ongoing projects only projects which have >30% completion would proceed. The rest to be halted.
Every ministry, parastatal, regulation body (as long as its a publicly owned institution that receives money from public coffers) to immediately prepare a 30 years road map. Such a road map should be practical and scientific. The plan will be guided by a technical as well as economic experts. Plans must again be practical and workable.
In parallel I will ensure that all accounting/governance software across all public institutions is owned by govt. We would apply machine learning in all govt activities. This is to ensure that the human aspect is greatly reduced in governance. Procurement, land matters, etc would all be done mainly by computers. Such software would apply machine learning throughout
The above would run for atleast 3 years during which the expected results would be as below.
A proper, scientific and practical roadmap
Synergy with all public institutions roadmaps (to ensure efficiency and no overlapping roles)