Rank: Elder Joined: 5/24/2007 Posts: 1,805
|
accelriskconsult wrote:bwenyenye wrote:Good People,
It will never make sense for the government to waste money buying dying cows. The probelm we are having in North eastern Kenya is that of trying to sustain an impractical lifestyle and culture among the Turkana et al. Their lefstyle breeds laziness and they need to change as their land reduces. Unless we change their outlook of life, we can always count on a next round of help next year. The regions problem is not lcak of food, but lack of a means to acquire it.
I can assure you that if they had the means to buy the maize,or grow it, there would be a food shortage elsewhere. Perhaps the real question is how to make the region have purchasing power. Believe you me, they have ALOT of resources there including rivers, Gums and resins. But the folk believe in the easier life of walking around with animals while the 'wazee' idle away time playing ajua... Even the young Maasai are now changing!from herding to transport, farming, kiosks etc. Questions for you, Selah and Gordon Gekko 1. Is walking around with cattle really an easier life than say cultivating maize or even onions? 2. How many Kenyans know that resin and gum have economic value? These guys live with the trees and always harvest the gums and resins. None has, however, thought of this as a constant money maker. Only the brokers do this.
3. Where will this purchasing power come without interventions by the government to create infrastucture that supports economic activity. You can say this as many times as you wish. But it will add no value to build a road to a place that has no organised production. The road can oly bring value if it is a means to an end. A road does not Create, it enhances..
For those who argue that the government has no blame in this, flash back to the pictures of helpless in the US post Katrina and think abou how much money has had to be sunk into constructing dikes. I suppose the citizens of Katrina with their relatively higher purchasing power would have done better. The welfare economics suggested by Adam Smith has a place in this country and its leadership. Kenya will not develop by sinking most of its resources in areas that have been economically exploited since time immemorial. Infact the marginalised areas should offer investors an higher rate of return and this can only be achieved through deliberate interventions. My take is this. These guys have had useless leaders all the while. Surely, even with the CDF, huge budgets on water... how many boreholes could one count in the vast area? did anyone site a kichinjio? or a refrigerated van to ferry the meat to where there is a market? Someone said that a fellow lost 250 herd of cattle. Surely,what was so difficult in the areas leaders organising a market for the animals given that the animals did not die of lightning. They took time, and you could see where it was all headed. That is why I get mad when I see old men ( owners of those livestock) whiling away time playing ajua then wake up to tell the world that they have lost 250 cattle and the government has neglected us' The reason they allow this is because they 'know'that the govt. will but be coerced to buy the dying cows. If you have been to those areas, you would have witnessed that these guys sometimes get the relief food then sell to buy tobacco to smoke!! Sorry but,no thanks. I am not buying this theory of it is the government's fault. Then even I should sleep and await the government to feed me! I feel pain when MY money ( govt got no money ) is being used to play cheap politics! I Think Therefore I Am
|