My take is we should just focus on Kenya and not the whole continent. Find out why Ethiopia passed Kenya. To me tribalism and corruption are the main reasons.

We had 10 wasted years under Kibaki. It is during his reign that Ethiopia passed Kenya. He did nothing to address corruption, crime, tribalism or unemployment.

Note that when Kibaki took over, the unemployment rate was 40%. When he left it was still 40%. Corruption stayed the same under his reign or may have risen. Crime spiralled out of control. Tribalism spiked to the point of being toxic. I never once saw Kibaki take appropriate action to address these issues. Thats why I say it was 10 wasted years.

If Kenyans want to understand why Ethiopia passed Kenya, start by looking at our leaders. They are the main reason for stagnation. And Kenyans penchant for tribal voting just emboldens the leaders. So if you feel besieged by crime, you can thank tribal voting for that. If Kenyans voted on issues, things would be different.

We can never have an Egypt style revolution to remove incompetent leaders because people will support the leader if he happens to be from their ethnic group. Our tribalism is so toxic that we cant even come together to challenge MPs for raising their salaries. If a tribal chief calls a political rally, thousands show up. If an NGO calls a rally protest high MP salaries, only a few dozen show up. Ghitu ghani hii ?

No wonder the govt now says the wage bill is hindering development.

My take is we should just focus on Kenya and not the whole continent. Find out why Ethiopia passed Kenya. To me tribalism and corruption are the main reasons.

We had 10 wasted years under Kibaki. It is during his reign that Ethiopia passed Kenya. He did nothing to address corruption, crime, tribalism or unemployment.

Note that when Kibaki took over, the unemployment rate was 40%. When he left it was still 40%. Corruption stayed the same under his reign or may have risen. Crime spiralled out of control. Tribalism spiked to the point of being toxic. I never once saw Kibaki take appropriate action to address these issues. Thats why I say it was 10 wasted years.

If Kenyans want to understand why Ethiopia passed Kenya, start by looking at our leaders. They are the main reason for stagnation. And Kenyans penchant for tribal voting just emboldens the leaders. So if you feel besieged by crime, you can thank tribal voting for that. If Kenyans voted on issues, things would be different.

We can never have an Egypt style revolution to remove incompetent leaders because people will support the leader if he happens to be from their ethnic group. Our tribalism is so toxic that we cant even come together to challenge MPs for raising their salaries. If a tribal chief calls a political rally, thousands show up. If an NGO calls a rally protest high MP salaries, only a few dozen show up. Ghitu ghani hii ?

No wonder the govt now says the wage bill is hindering development.

I could also add that the Ethiopian coffee industry larger and growing by far than in Kenya. This is because Ethiopians consume mostly black coffee at the individual household. But lets get some things clear. Ethiopian Airline has been around since 1948 when Kenya was been plugged into the most toxic phase of colonialism. They have had an aircraft simulator for decades mostly for their airforce and Kenyan pilots have also been trained there. Well KQ got theirs a couple of years ago and so that is history. By the way the jet fighter that UK is being shown above is a soviet era MiG. I have no comment on its capability but I can say that the technology is decades old. Finally, let me comment on the leather industry. I agree, this is larger better organized and more lucrative than our pathetic Kenyan case. However, I will never forget the mountain of bones outside the main Addis Ababa slaughter house - must be a couple of a thousand tonnes - which is an eloquent testament that the animal feeds industry is non-existent. What this short analysis suggests is that Ethiopia has flashes of brilliance in some sectors that we can learn from but they are scattered and far in between and need to be integrated into the whole to make a difference. By the way, I highly appreciate this thawing of relations with our 87m strong population Northern neighbour because in the long run, this is a huge untapped market for almost anything that the Kenya industry can produce. For instance, did you know that there is only one insurance company - with government as the major shareholder in Ethiopia just like the banking sector? We therefore should encourage openness because it will be mutually beneficial.