He he he...mumenichekesha

IOUN

UK is the man!

JKMwatha as is expected in such talks, I want to thank the gov't of Kenya for offering this platform.

That's it.

If you say that the content was great provided by the gov't but the participants were weak its like saying security inaanza na wewe.

Conferences are not made for political appointees with their crazy policy statements. They are made for the participants.

If the participants were bored, don't blame them. It shows that there's a disconnect with what the gov't wants and what the diasporans want.

First, the so called diasporans had no clue this was going on. Advertising in the Daily Nation does not reach the diasporan. You say "pre-selected" representatives. Who selected them? Blame the pre-selectors.

I met with many Diasporans now living in Kenya and some that were on holiday. Very many. We know what lacked in this. In fact, there's a move to create one such conference in which the gov't is invited but not allowed to draw the agenda.

Sponsors for this event were in two categories. Category 1 were the financial institutions hawking 14% mortgages. Some don't even have internet banking. Now imagine trying to sell a 14% mortgage to someone who's paying 3% max? Do you see a disconnect here?

Category 2, the property fellows selling overpriced properties. Why ati coz diasporans are stupid to buy 50x100 in Kiambu at 20 million? We engaged with one asking a simple question, how sure are you that the title deed you have is not in shape of Langata road property. The answer, you can trust us?

Listen, this trust issue has to be dealt with before you get people to start clapping every time some gov't official yaps about plot buying opportunities in Kenya.

One high networth individual we had Faxe with could not stop complaining about how he was conned of property worth millions of dollars. Then he got no help, as in nada, nada from the same people making those godammed high content conferences.

High content is relative and obviously something was lacking in this "content rich" event.

Having said that, I have to say the ambassadors I met in this event were fantastic to engage with. Ambassador Wamoto and Ambassador Ogego gave a few of us a better understanding on what the gov't was trying to do with this event. It was the best 15 minutes for me personally in the whole conference. By the way it was an impromptu chat, not in the conference agenda. But it got us thinking.

Great event but don't go around blaming diasporans for not engaging at the level you wanted. Don't forget that the joke about travel advisories was negated the very next day. How do the diasporans trust the gov't should have been the first agenda. Not property selling companies with their quarter acre tu plots.

Classic example of the dangers of a 'single story'.

The Kenyan Diaspora is just as (if not more) diverse as the Kenyan population. And this diversity cuts across the financial, educational, experience and other divides. There are very well off diasporans and others who essentially live hand to mouth. Some are highly educated and others not. Some running successful businesses or in 'big money' jobs while others have to make do with low paying work. Some send tons of cash to Kenya while others can barely afford to. They cut across the entire spectrum. It is only with this understanding that one can temper expectations on any generic congregation of the Kenyan Diaspora.

If it is general diaspora issues like the ability to vote, that is all well and good. If the goal is more specific such as investment, the onus is on the organizers of such an event to narrow their audience through targeted advertising, respectable entrance fees, appropriate event location, pre-screening etc.

If you haven't been successful in Diaspora, it's really hard to see you moving to Kenya and being successful. You either have it or you don't.