Combating Terrorism in Kenya

 

Ever since the 1998 bombing of the US Embassy in Kenya which claimed over 225 ordinary lives and left thousands with permanent scars and disabilities  to the surviving victims in country where recourse for Medicare and health insurance is a preserve for those in formal employment , the fight against terrorism  in the country still faces major hurdles  both regionally and internationally mainly driven by the fact the Kenya hosts many international organizations in the Horn Of Africa of strategic interests to the West and also harbors many western related multinational firms hence an easy target for these extremist groupings. The spillover effects saw Kenyan forces wade and fly into neighboring Somalia in October 2011 to stymie their quest for destabilizing the ‘tourism industry’ following the abduction of a French nationality on the northern coast of Kenya as well the murder of the British couple (husband)  and  kidnapping of the wife  acted as a precursor to the  numerous sporadic shooting , placement of IED in northern Kenya and  hurling of grenades in various parts of the country claiming the lives of innocent people in revenge to Kenya’s entry into southern Somalia.

The absurdity in the fight against these terrorist groups is that they continue to attack the same areas repeatedly which raises a concern on our security apparatus either as lacking the will to protect its citizenry or reluctance in continuous monitoring of these criminal gangs, the country’s borders have become porous to attacks and entry of illegal and dangerous immigrants who take advantage of our welcoming hearts. From the bus attacks in Eastleigh, Grenade and club shootings in Mombasa , the arresting  of Iranian nationals with bomb explosives in Mombasa to the heinous church shootings in Garissa it is now high time the government put its feet down to clamp these criminal minds and activities. One may ponder and ask why landlords and real estate developers are not willing to pay taxes on rental income but are better of harboring tenants whom they even have no clue what kinds of jobs they do in as long as they pay and get their rental incomes.

To fight terrorism and criminal gangs the current government should make mandatory for landlords to declare rental income as this will in one way or the other reduce money laundering cases and at same the same time pass a legislation that will see all landlords and real estate developers before entering into tenancy agreements , file information regarding the tenants employment contract, PIN Number and National identity and or their sources of income/means of subsistence  with a designated government security organ  and introduce heavy penalty for defaulters only such approaches could have easily profiled and tracked the Githurai terror suspect who was gunned down last week after months of trailing the suspect. In this country today especially in urban areas, neighborhood awareness and interactivity is extremely artificial - a source of ingredients for any evil minded person. Information sharing and digitizing of the above contents within the various agencies of the state for instance the KNBS, KRA and NSIS can aptly supplement The Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2012 enacted by the last parliament and assented to by the then president Mr. Kibaki in October 2012. My Nairobi governor’s approach of arming private security guard to fend of criminal activities is a good idea but may be in 20 years to come, with the current appalling security guard wages, gun leasing even if they are serialized will be on the rampage just have a look at how Americans with better established security systems are divided on the gun control subject whether to pass it or not. Combating crime in modern day world requires more than community policing but also calls for  investing heavily in information technology and having better trained police officers, the police force should not be seen as reserve for those who earned low grades in their O – Levels but should attract personnel skilled to understand human minds and criminality.

 

The Fight against poverty and wealth inequality in Kenya.

Famous Italian economist Ferdinando Galliani once quipped that from manufacturing you may expect the two greatest ills of humanity and slavery, to be healed (Galliani 1770/1959), since the Narc Government took over the realms of power from the second president of Kenya Mr.Moi way back in 2003 there has been tremendous growth in infrastructure and real estate development  is on the rise ,in the country despite the political bickering  embedded in any political system which normally pits the capitalists against what ails the common mans needs for those who believe in Abraham Maslow motivational theory. Today we are living in country where land that is meant for food cultivation and animal husbandry faces fierce competition from those willing to set up property, Industries and infrastructure without conducting  proper due diligence plans for posterity though Vision 2030 purports to address it. Humanity is playing second fiddle to artificial demands created by economic blocks that are driven by profits a system set up by the proponents of free trade theory who are driven by self interests. In Kenya the expansive Rift valley region often referred to as the food basket of the country you encounter dairy and cereals farmers crying foul of low prices for their farm produce which can be attributed to the global chain trade system of rich countries subsidizing their farmers against the perfect market conditions prevalent in developing countries, the same applies to central, western and parts of Nyanza province where hunger is not priority but finding market for their farm produce is a puzzle , the Economic Stimulus package launched by then Minister for Finance now head of state  Uhuru Kenyatta in 2009 saw many farmers diversify from crop to Fish Farming in order to boast their incomes following the aftermath of 2007 post election Violence effects to cushion them against losses economic but not against the Franz stangel effects.

Come July 2011 the Kenya Red Cross society had raised a red flag that at least 3.75 Million Kenyans in arid and semi-arid lands especially in northern Kenya were threatened with death due to the threat of starvation because of drought to the contrary nature has conspired to bequeath this region with the black Gold. Malnutrition rates in Northern Kenya were at emergency levels with more than 385,000 children below the age of 5 years in 13 districts suffering from acute malnutrition. Furthermore, many schools without school-feeding programmes had been closed. Other visible indicators included increased livestock deaths and erosion of livelihood and survival options available to the affected pastoralists. The worst affected districts included Wajir, Mandera, Marsabit, Turkana, Moyale, Eastern Samburu, and Northern Isiolo although certain districts in rain dependent Lower Eastern Region such as the northern parts of Mwingi and Kitui districts and the Coastal Region, which had also sank into the emergency phase classification of food insecurity. Further, at least 20 people were reported to have lost their lives as a result of drought-related effects. It was at this point that the Government declared drought a National Disaster. This led to birth of local idea by the name Kenyans for Kenya Initiative which saw Kenyans through the mobile payment solutions MPESA and some of the leading corporate firms in the country led by telecoms leader Safaricom  raise charity funds close to over $10 million dollars in a span of one month this goes to affirm that synergies between public private sector partnerships can offer a lasting solution to the health, Nutrition and other related problems that bedevil our economies, it also demonstrates that Africa no longer needs aid but trade ,the initiative is a living demonstration of how PPPS can transform a society, the mid- to long-term plan for the initiative was to focus on integrated food security, water and sanitation, and health with a specific objective of ensuring resilience to the effects of drought for populations in Northern Kenya and its already bearing fruits as result of constructing  various dams, boreholes and the introduction of irrigation in the so called ASAL areas is but a noble cue  to be embraced .The new constitutional dispensation heralds new era in Kenya’s quest for equality and equity in terms of income distribution to the various devolved governments units who can take advantage of the Kenya open data government portal https://opendata.go.ke/ to enhance social justice prosperity inter alia , however the fight against poverty will need more action in terms of having more educated women, statistics have indicated that the more a woman is educated, the less number of children she would bear – which the economy can support , Vision 2030’s main aim is to transform Kenya into a newly industrializing, middle-income country providing a high quality of life to all its citizens by the year 2030, all in a clean and secure environment however as a  society adopting a model similar to the  Chinese model  or rather some western child policy needs take into account the plight of the minority groups and future industrial and economic needs this explains why cheap odd immigrant labour  is rampant in the west against an ageing populace. The level of unwanted pregnancies can be tamed by way of having more women in classes and better equal employment opportunities; with a population that injects over a million newborn babies annually against a GDP per capita of $800 per annum it spells doom on the nation’s ability to achieve the aforesaid vision as my grandmother once told me to share is to care but not necessarily to bear the consequences of our neighbours actions.

The Horn of Africa: The New Hydrocarbons Frontier

Geologists and continental drift theory  led by  Alfred Wegener  believe that the countries in Horn of Africa i.e. Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia do not form part of the African tectonic plate they are  just part a small chunk of the continent that broke off from the Arabian plate and trampled into Africa and further believe that the same oil that was found under Saudi Arabia and Yemen is also to be found under East Africa, Madagascar  our Indian offshore  Africa brothers country is also believed to have been attached to the Kenyan  archipelago called Lamu  that was joined to East Africa before splitting apart about 145 million years ago and during the rifting it pulled apart where as those with a religious touch affirm that the fossil fuels beneath our earth are as a result of the decomposition of  aquatic living matter after the settling of the Noah’s Ark  believed to be somewhere in Mount Ararat - following the heavy floods after God  decided to wipe the wicked  mankind from the face of the earth. The diagram below depicts the earth drifts

  

History apart ,Eastern Africa has become one of the world’s most active exploration areas since Anadarko Petroleum made the decade’s biggest gas discovery off Mozambique, followed by  Tullow Oil Uganda’s discovery of oil way back in 2006 in the  Albertine Basin which analyst predict could be holding  3.5 billion barrels of oil. In Kenya Tullow Oil, which holds the most exploration licenses in Africa of any U.K.-based explorers, discovered   the black Gold in the Turkana Basin area  of Ngamia with the energy players Tullow predicting a total combined flow rate of 2850 barrels oil per day for the oil well, our neighbors Somalia are estimated to hold 80 -billion barrels of oil perhaps this explains why two summits have been held twice  in London not in an African city  in a span of less than two years  in the name of  ending the war and militancy that bedeviled Somalia after the fall of Siad Barre's regime way back in the 1990s and the wavering  of the UK stance on the famous  essential  contacts should ICC indictee now President Uhuru Kenyatta win the election  but are now humbled   to co - operate  with Kenya ‘s  electoral choice .These diplomatic and self positioning  challenges explains why any oil, coal and gas discovery by the foreign firms  boasts their share prices  and eventually their economies as they try to fend off Asian and local  Interests .Investors  as well  consumers are turning their attention to East Africa — especially since this region has the potential to be  a major oil and  gas  exporter to hyper-growth countries like China and India.

  

Countries like Kenya, the rest of the IGAD  and the Great lakes region on the other hand want to enhance intra Africa and regional trade as they move away from colonially set up markets, LAPPSET is one major project meant to achieve such goals however, its only imperative to have peace in Somalia to enable such projects take off in a smooth way hence the short term justification of the  presence of the Amisom forces  in Mogadishu and Kismayo , this relative calm augurs well not only for world economic players to take advantage of the beneath resources by offering painkiller panaceas  in the name of humanitarian aid and grants for development but also provides opportunities for the African economies to advance their economies. One may postulate why after 20 years of turmoil brought about by feuding clans and militant groups in Somalia and the intervention of AMISOM in quelling that civil strife - all the major energy players want to have a cake of the region by buying and leasing blocks and blocks of land to prospect for minerals that they do not wish to have the final products processed in the country of origin. Leaders in the horn of Africa must embrace peace and stability, harness and empower their human resources and develop eco friendly and energy laws that will ensure that resources do not become an impediment to economic growth but act as a platform to unique technological advances and value added agro based economy rather than reliance on being commodity based economies.

Towards an Eco-Friendly Environment with Greener Levies

Climate Change or global warming is something that has been caused by humans and it is in our power to put it right. As a result, over a decade ago a large number of countries across the world joined a treaty - the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Climate change in developing countries is yet to be fully embraced yet they are the very countries yearning for industrialization status without having  a proper framework for dealing with such an environmental issue regardless of holding vast forestation cover which is now being affected by pollution as a result of utilizing locomotives that are  shipped from the developed countries whose life span has expired hence cheaper but emits a lot of  carbon which is a threat to the human and environment at large hence the need for these least developed countries to develop eco friendly laws that will protect the planet earth  and its citizenry.

According to E D S van Vliet and P L Kinney, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, 60 Haven Avenue, B-1, New York, NY 10032, USA, in their article Impacts of roadway emissions on urban particulate matter concentrations in sub-Saharan Africa: new evidence from Nairobi, Kenya, Published on 21 December 2007 they observe that the lack of ambient monitoring data for particulate matter in SSA cities severely hinders our ability to describe temporal and spatial patterns of concentrations, to characterize exposure–response relationships for key health outcomes, to estimate disease burdens, and to promote policy initiatives to address air quality .For example, we are aware of no routine PM10 or PM 2.5 monitoring anywhere in SSA other than South Africa prior to 2005. Starting in 2005, collaboration between the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) has led to the development of air monitoring networks in two SSA cities: Accra, Ghana and Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. Emerging data from the new monitoring network in Accra suggest that annual average PM10 concentrations may typically be considerably higher than WHO targets and guidelines, and that exposure and disease burdens may be especially great for persons driving, working, or living near congested roadways (Nerquaye -Tetteh 2006).

In his book Plan B, Lester Brown (2003) of the Earth Policy Institute offers a comprehensive systematic summary of the range of policy areas that need to be addressed in order to achieve sustainable strategies for economic development.  He surveys crises in the areas of water and cropland shortages, global warming, and the negative environmental consequences of the growth of grinding poverty and he offers a menu of feasible policy initiatives that have implications for action at the local, national, and global levels.  Public policy and public funds need to support and coordinate investment in environmental assets that do not lend themselves to profitable market investments.  Voluntary initiatives such as the land trust movement have demonstrated that private philanthropy can also play a major role.  Progress in the areas of sustainable energy, agriculture, and forestry is demonstrating that coordinated public, private, and philanthropic investment can create profitable market-based productivity. “Externalities” the name economists give to those costs to the environment, the community, and individuals that are inadvertently generated by market activities and are not included in pricing.  These include pollution and its consequences, such as global warming and acid rain, and the depletion of natural resources including water and soil as well as oil.   A comprehensive program of taxes and fees to recover the full costs of externalities would be fair and conducive to sustainable business practices and personal behavior.  Henry George’s 19th century proposal for land value taxation (the “single tax”) would promote sustainable development and land use by taxing the value added to the land by the collective productivity of society.  (Under George’s proposal, improvements would not be taxed as these represent productive investments by individual landowners.).Therefore there is need for the government to embrace green taxes/levies in order to deal with the costs associated with such externalities arising out of motor vehicle emissions. Besides capping the minimum age of eight years on vehicles being imported and the zero rating of VAT on bicycles as way reducing pollution in the name of un-roadworthy vehicles thus  having an eco friendly mode of transport, the subject of having a fraud cum an eco friendly free mode of transport has never been fully addressed -  though considerable efforts are being made in having more commuter trains - the recent commissioning of syokimau train though using older technologies is a case in point. The world today is facing the emergence of a geopolitics of scarcity, which is already highly visible in the efforts by BRIC developing economies  to ensure their access to oil supplies this already evident in war prone countries like Sudan and other oil producing and emerging oil mining countries, The Brics (an acronym for Brazil Russia India and China) are in constant competition with the so called G 8 Countries and  not forgetting the Asian Tigers as they try to have a fair share of last frontier on the global economy i.e. Africa whose environmental policies are compromised by these established economies.“What brings them together is that they are at the frontier of capitalism,” once reckoned Christian Lohbauer, an international relations expert at the University of Sao Paulo in an interview with BBC.

In the future, the issue will be who gets access to not only Middle Eastern oil but also Brazilian ethanol and North American grain. Pressures on land and water resources, already excessive in most of the world, will intensify further as the demand for bio fuels climbs. Locally sugar firms like Mumias have shown the intent to diversify their risks from domestic production of sugar for basic and industrial use to production of ethanol, Kisumu Molasses plant is also a keen avenue to follow this coupled with growing presence and interest from the Brazilian economy to invest in Kenya a fact that was marked by the recent visit to Kenya by their head of state Luiz Da Silva’s on the 6th July 2010, By deepening its ties with Brazil, Kenya is likely to benefit from bio-diesel technology that is now becoming an option for energy-deficit economies around the world. Kenya was expected to enter the ethanol fuel market in September 2010 following the release of a formula that was to see petroleum blended with ethanol at the ratio of 85:15. Mumias sugar, Kenya’s largest sugar miller is already lining up for the bio-fuel business with the establishment of a plant to produce 25 million litres of ethanol per annum from 100,000 tonnes of molasses that will earn it Sh1 billion in additional revenue annually.“Kenya has a lot of land to support bio-fuels,” the Brazilian President reckoned  during his tour of Kenya - Nairobi, Brazil is a world leader in this field and Kenya stands to gain as we seek ways of becoming more efficient in our management of the energy sector,” President Kibaki said .Source: Business Daily Magazine July 8 2010. Development projects recommended under Vision 2030 will increase demand on Kenya’s energy supply. Currently, Kenya’s energy costs are higher than those of her competitors. Kenya must, therefore, generate more energy at a lower cost and increase efficiency in energy consumption. The Government should stay committed to continued institutional reforms in the energy sector, including a strong regulatory framework, encouraging more private generators of power, and separating generation from distribution. New sources of energy will be found through exploitation of geo thermal power, coal, renewable energy sources, and connecting Kenya to energy-surplus countries in the region while at the same time trigger the relevant stakeholders to devise policies that will combat the effects of global warming as well as charging and introduction of green levies to mitigate against any potential losses that may arise.

Cyber related frauds in our financial sector driving up the cost of doing business in Kenya.

The last 15 years has seen Kenya and the African continent as whole make gradual strides in having its populace achieve tremendous progress in computer literacy, this is attributable to the governments’ initiative of   removing import duty on ICT software’s plus the presence of over four undersea cables players thus making the same cheaper to Kenyans as well as attracting foreign investors. The dividends are already being felt  – the emergence of  ICT incubators such as the  IHUB in Bishop Magua Centre a centre for budding techprenuers, Tech giant IBM is already investing in the countries budding tech savvy innovators amongst other tech players in the market , the increased uptake in ICT related courses across the nation  and the hard efforts of the  information Permanent secretary  Bitange Ndemo of  driving the government effort of ensuring that all the 47 counties have fibre optic connections hence lowering the internet’s costs  and lastly the promise by the current President Uhuru Kenyatta   to provide free laptops to those joining primary schools in  January 2014 – all these is meant to spur economic growth in the country  as Kenya tries to move away from trading in perfect markets to the imperfect markets.

However it must be illustrious that the surge in the uptake of technology related courses due to the conducive atmosphere the government is offering is becoming a breeding ground for externalities that will require both human and technological mitigations premised on John Elkingtons’ Tripple Bottom Line Approach a term coined in his 1997 book Cannibals with Forks: the Triple Bottom Line of 21st Century Business where the model advocates for treating employees right, but furthermore also the community where your business operates. In this part of the Triple Bottom Line model, business not only ensures a fair day's work for a fair day's pay; but also reinvesting back some of its gains into the surrounding community through sponsorships, donation or projects that go towards the common good such as afforestation, supporting clean energy initiatives and recycling of waste products . This reinvestment can usually be written off come tax time as part of business operating expenses. The human spillover effects of cyber related frauds across the banking, insurance and all the other related stakeholders that eventually dents their respective reputational risk, insurance costs and generally the cost of doing business hence affects investor confidence.

With over than 9 years experience in the insurance industry i reckon that most Kenyan blue chip financial organizations in the country are investing a lot in new markets regionally, fending off foreign competition,  product innovations and at the same time falling prey to the ingenuity of the young tech savvy graduate employees  who have knack of understanding their organizational processes and IT systems and using their technical knowledge to engage in malpractices, a major part of these perpetrators  are young graduates with gross  income levels  lesser than  $500  per month  in country with an estimated GDP - per capita (PPP) $1,800 (2012 est.)according to the CIA fact book - where the housing sector players charge exorbitant rental  prices and the mortgage lending institutions charge higher interest rates on credit facilities, which is  detrimental to their income savings -   yet exposed to dealing with huge sums of money   hence the temptations that eventually crop in their minds , this  has forced major banking and micro finance   institutions pay higher premium rates for  bankers blanket, shares  and Fidelity Guarantee Policies to insurance firms who in turn because of the high claims costs opt to reinsurer these policies given their liability effects on their balance sheet.

Way forward for dealing with these cyber crimes will involve top management enroll for refresher courses in ICT related courses tied to cyber risks and their mitigation there off as well as the new emerging forms of white collar crimes ,  better crafted  Escrow agreement with the software vendors to safeguard firms against pronounced hacking malpractices, stricter rules on deregistration of the fraudsters from their respective professional bodies as well  the generational gap issues have to be addressed that is to say top level management  have to nurture these young talents by co-opting  them in their organizational strategies however , this can only be achieved through  better rewards such as better remuneration that can guarantee them better housing and other benefits such employee share option schemes -  financial firms and the economy at large ought to come up with policies that will ensure fair employment practices that are geared towards depolarizing income levels , it must be known income disparities and the cost of one living greatly affects their professional ethics in service delivery.

Is Africa becoming a captive of the Flying Geese Model ?

The last one decade has seen Africa  experience quite a number of foreign firms across the globe ranging from manufacturing firms, ICT firms and financial services discipline either relocate or  shift their global offices or set up what I may term as technologically  dead end  activities  that are  labour intensive thence achieving their economies of scale given that having those functions administered in their home countries is more expensive but cheaper in developing countries due to cheap labour coupled with the tax incentives offered to these foreign firms in the name of “free trade” and subsequently the comparative advantage of countries like Kenya, Ethiopia, Ghana and Nigeria in using  labour intensive technologies that  are industrious  in the global chain of production  one may postulate why speak about this model, my home country Kenya has  seen the entry of Chinese motor vehicle maker, Foton, which is investing Sh1.6 billion in an assembling plant in Nairobi. The budge is set to intensify competition in the new vehicle market among local dealers and has further signed an agreement with Thika-based Kenya Vehicle Manufacturers to assemble for them, according Foton East Africa general manager Calvin Guo said the company sold 1.2 million units worldwide last year. This means the Monopolies and Price Commission will have to cave in to Michael E. Porter‘s five market forces to adapt to these emerging demands, their Asian counterparts Japan through its Brand Toyota Kenya has invested KShs 500 million in a truck and bus assembly plant in Mombasa Kenya’s coastal tourist  city  complete with a new showroom to improve marketing according to their Hino Motors general manager Kazuhiko Wanabe said it expects to produce 40 trucks and buses each month but will increase production to 200 units within a few months of operation. Toyota hopes to sell 1,200 Hino units by 2015 all these Asian Companies are taking advantage of the tax incentives on import of completely knocked down units (CKD) — the parts needed to assemble a vehicle — which are zero-rated in Kenya as opposed to a 25 per cent import duty on vehicle imports - all done and dusted as envisaged in the governments' master economic blueprint dubbed  Vision 2030.

Further in the electronic Industry Korean electronics supremo Samsung is set to unwrap a television, laptop and printers’ assembly plant in Kenya by end of year  - as its gateway to the horn of Africa and the great lakes region according to the firm’s top management the venture is likely to absorb more than 900 locals in terms of employment - the firms overall target is to realize more than $2 billion revenues by 2015 in the great lakes region and  by large the horn of Africa considering the gradual return to normalcy by our neighbors’  Somalia , the firm is also setting an assembly plant in Abyssinia present day Ethiopia to tap into the growing  bourgeoisie  class , bearing in mind its other assembly plants in South Africa , Sudan and Senegal. The recent Jubilee Coalition manifesto on providing free laptops to those pupils joining class one in primary school from January 2014 though ambitious could end unlocking the dormant potential in our youths who get exposed to the digital age in their late twenties - despite its inherent challenges.The textile industry is not worth writing about given the predicaments it has faced from importation of second hand clothes, to the Export Processing Zones  facing industrial strikes, high energy costs inter- alia despite having a 25% tax holiday for 10 years in short you do not expect to compete with countries that are technologically advanced in the textile industries vis a vis the labour intensive ones even in the face of the famous AGOA agreement unless you emulate them.

In a nutshell as we become captives of the flying geese model as a nation we can only diversify our labour markets by offering incentives to those university graduates on internship or in college by subsidizing their study costs especially the ones pursuing the STEM degrees  and urge the government to pursue  Equity banks’  model  of the “Wings to fly “, offer more incentives for those coming up with new inventions and innovations  through their firms or on individual basis  and or further  pursue bilateral engagement for instance the  Kenyan Korean approach on nuclear studies where the country  now has 11 students undertaking master’s courses in nuclear engineering in preparation for 2022 generation of electricity , when Kenya will start using nuclear energy anchored with the likely revenues from the oil in Turkana and  titanium in kwale can be channeled  towards this end  -  in the end transfer  new forms flying geese models to the rest of the world.

Tapping into the Kenyan Diaspora remittances

Fellow Kenyans it must be noted that the brain drain experiences from the late 80’s through the 90’s has seen the unprecedented growth in diaspora remittances with the real effects beginning to be felt in February 2012 when inflows amounting to USD 103.97 million were recorded and the trend has remained slightly over USD 100 million with variations, full data as obtained from the central bank clearly depicts the trends as below.

Source:  www.centralbank.go.ke,2013.

 

Further, it must be noted that in as much we applaud diaspora remittances as source of income to the country, as country we must deeply address the following issues; Is our education policy operating fully in tandem with our industrial growth policy, on this front i would say that the recent initiative by the ministry of Labour transforming the Directorate of Industrial Training (DIT) into National Industrial Training Authority (NITA) is step in the right direction where as an employer one of the membership benefits is that she can claim for training sponsored to employees within the reimbursement guidelines of NITA. This mainly covers professional and short courses related for performance improvement in the area of operation, are our employers practicing one of the basic tenets of Triple Bottom Line Approach in management of their human capital, do the various employers have a minimum starting salary for fresh graduates to enable them fulfill basic but decent Maslow needs   in lieu of the various incentives that the government is setting up to cushion for their training costs. 1n 1914 , Henry Ford saw the need to increase his factory staff salaries by 5 dollars each per day in order to boast his car revenues and the rest was  history for one of the U.S largest car manufacturer.

Though this does not exhaustively tackle what needs to be done and how it needs to be done it’s imperative to discern that brain drain denies the country the best human capital, it only benefits developed countries who take advantage of the inability by the poor countries that can’t afford to remunerate their best brains commensurately, this explains why a major part of our sons and daughters are holed in the U.S, U.K and the North America etc due to the income polarization strategy adopted by the rich countries.

However, the paradigm shift brought by huge sums of money being sent back to their ancestral is a grey area that key policy makers and investors need to tap into , the question that lingers on mind is can our financial  markets  think of floating a diaspora bond for specific activities such as investing in a housing Bond ,an Energy bond and or  REITS ( Real Estate Investment Trusts) some of the key pillars in our Vision 2030 industrialization dream -  it must be noted an average income of between kshs 6-8 billion per month from Diaspora remittances dazzles an investors mind, this explains why the USA congress is pushing for the legislation of the  Dream Act to capitalize on the immigrant skills and labor  by offering them citizenship this decision  is basically informed  from the point of view of  funds being sent by these folks back to their ancestral lands across the shores of the Atlantic ocean ,  On January 11, 2011 the state of California reintroduced  the granting of  undocumented students access to an estimated $88 million in private financial aid in the form of scholarships and grants which  allows undocumented students who meet criteria for in-state tuition to apply for financial aid under the California Dream Act, we have also seen billionaire Bill Gates successfully mobilize a consortium of tech giants such as Microsoft and Google to have visa work restrictions relaxed for international students with STEM degrees (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) instituting a 29 month extensions on work visas after graduation and a path to permanent residence and eventual citizenship. The same organizations are also knocking our doors here locally where they are setting up their research labs and or shifting their global offices right here in Kenya a case in mind is tech giants such as IBM which has signed contracts with several banks in Kenya: Credit Bank, Co-operative Bank, Family Bank, National Bank of Kenya and National Industrial Credit (NIC) Bank. The agreements are amongst more than 20 similar deals that IBM has signed with banks across Africa in 2011 in line with the rapid growth of the financial services sector and as technology enables a wave of innovation in African banking premised on Kenya being a leader in mobile money payment solutions and innovations on the continent.

 

This explains the concept of the best way to attack is to defend, in essence we have seen many learning institutions being granted charters to run as universities and public universities running parallel programs popularly referred to as module II students this has reduced the need to fly out for further studies inter alia and forced the foreign institutions to set up their offices locally and enter into affiliations with our learning institutions in order to leverage on their incomes.In conclusion the proposed diaspora policy by the immigration and foreign affairs ministry should look into possibilities of teaming up with the capital markets authority and the relevant stakeholders  to float a diaspora bond in order to mitigate against losses arising from brain drain, exploitation of the diaspora Kenyans from their relatives and friends by offering them an avenue that will ensure that returns from their investments are safeguarded through a structured investment vehicle - its only through such diverse strategies the balance of payments can be addressed.

Vital Lessons for President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Administration.

The Supreme Court’s ruling validating the late Mzee Jomo Kenyatta’s son as the fourth elected president of the republic of Kenya - ushers in a complex of issues that will require both short and long term panaceas as he begins his new term under the new constitution which  has to be jealously protected -  already we are seeing the legislators groan about their pay perks even before they start serving Kenyans and even talking about amending the law to phase off the salaries and remuneration commission  , we are also foreseeing a tussle  between the appointed  provincial administration and the elected county governors clash over roles and  mandate  i guess the courts will  have a field day in interpreting the constitution and ensuring its implemented to the letter, these and the numerous election manifesto promises  form part of the seen and unforeseen  challenges that lie ahead of him.

At 51 years of age Uhuru becomes one of Africa’s youngest leaders which is a departure from the past and some current African regimes,  he has approximately ten years   to show Kenyans that he is not a ‘George Bush Junior’ advancing the seniors policies in the middle East during the Gulf war he can actually challenge us and prove his political  nemesis  wrong by fighting the elephant in Kenyan politics christened Tribalism that  has over time, been perpetuated by  the Kenyan plutocrats at the expense of their humble and hardworking  bourgeoisie  and proletariat tribesmen  for their own imperialist interest. To quote our fallen father of  economics one (Adam Smith, 1776), we get our daily bread not for the kindness of the baker but for the bakers desire to make money we are just but unintended by product of the bakers greed in simple terms if there was a means to which the ruling class could expand their imperialist cum capitalist thoughts without having to go to polls and trooping their ethnic communities around them they could as well do away with their votes, the message here is for the president to move with speed and heal the disgruntled voices in the regions that did not vote for him and pursue willfully  both social welfare and development economics which the new constitution has clearly outlined and walk the nation to the  path of prosperity this not only creates harmony and stability in the republic but averts an  alawitism state of affairs where minority groups are funded by foreign interest to destabilize  the country , it must be noted that rich nations are only interested in having the poor countries remain poor by taking advantages of their divisions , take a look at the Syrian quagmire and quandary between the Alawites and the Sunni Muslims and the role of the West in that everlasting christened religious war. Back home we still have to deal with threats from Al shabab , the Mombasa republican Council Separist group and the Mungiki Sect  just to name but a few if not fully addressed could degenerate into fanatic and harmful groups.

In the wake of globalization where understanding geopolitics is a virtue worth emulating in this step i wish to salute the president elect for having made contacts with the BRICS when the IEBC announced that he had won the presidency however my earlier article on this blog titled “Demystifying Obamas  in Presidency Africa” generally explains the pros and cons  of dealing with the worlds two  emerging economic blocs the Bretton Woods Policies and the Brics Policies , for a number of years the bretton woods institutions having been preaching palliative economics and advancing David Ricardo’s comparative advantage Textbook economics which do not favor  poor countries rich in mineral resources  and raw materials .we  have seen how harsh textbook economic  donor conditions messed our economy in the early 90s  and what benefit  emulative economics can do to an economy in terms of embracing technology ,diversity  in innovations  a case in point is how MPESA has transformed our economy by creating jobs , this is what the new president should focus on  inter alia.

Demistfying Obamas Presidency In Africa

The just concluded U.S elections late last  year saw the incumbent president Obama get re-elected on the democratic ticket has in many ways exposed the divisions prevalent in the American society as seen in the popular votes which were closely contested between the two aspirants. The Americans were torn between passing a vote of no confidence in the Obamas’ administration on grounds of slow economic growth, spiraling budget deficits, unemployment inter alia but optimistic and placing a timeline on his economic recoveries strategies, this meant getting nod for  a second term but for the unlucky capitalist republicans led by Mitt Romney who were voting against a liberal and a president hell-bent on heavily taxing their plutocratic businesses in order to run the economy. 

One may wonder how this affects African regimes as well their economies in this era of globalization where geopolitics has become a vital tool in making socio –economic decisions, it must be understood that a divided America augurs well for the so called Brics Countries, an acronym for Brazil, China, Russia, India and South Africa, these group of countries have emerged as economic powerhouses and trade partners and not aid partners the former factor resonates with changing policies of major African countries like Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana  who prefer cheaper lines of credit to finance their major infrastructural activities.

It must be noted that Americans have been hit by series of hurricanes, the financial meltdown effect that ushered the new president in the oval office on his first term, are still carrying the burden of the Iraqi war that badly dented their image beyond the Atlantic Ocean shores hence realized the need for rebuilding their nation by creating jobs, rebranding their foreign policy in order to cultivate goodwill around the globe e.g. withdrawal of it troops in Iraq, all this provides the Brics an opportunity  to partner with Africa in a new form of barter trade that involves building schools, infrastructure ,health facilities, energy  and setting up manufacturing firms in return for Africa’s ever virgin but  precious minerals  as the US engages in rebuilding and restoring hope in its citizens.

 In a nutshell the battle for control of African resources has been leveraged by the emergence of new economic powers which pose a threat to the west which has for long used aid to micro manage African countries through the bretton woods institutions which in the early 90s would give aid on conditions such as privatization of national firms, this is no longer the case, African countries can choose to borrow from ADB if World bank  loans  proves to be costly a case in mind is the Turkana Lake Wind power project. However African regimes need to offer mature sovereign leadership in order to exploit the vacuum created by the Euro debt crisis, America’s effort to rebuild their country and the cheaper BRICS alternative.