FRM2011 wrote:
If you drive by the sunset boulevard all the way up, there are over 30 serious housing developments. My estimate is atleast 2,000 unsold units in this area alone.
Safaricom pension fund has added it's own 600 units and a mall. Pure madness. I am sure the pension AGMs will be very chaotic in future but with very wealthy trustees.
This is a big macroeconomic problem. The biggest problem with Kenya is that all the wealth that has created so many billionaires is static land appreciation wealth. A majority of the richest people are Jomo Kenyatta's and Daniel Moi's cabinet and senior civil servants and their families and lawyers who had land holdings around Nairobi and other big cities.
Many people think the economy is growing because they know many rich people. The problem is they know the same rich people who are becoming richer. A properly growing economy CREATES new RICH people and not necessarily fabulously rich but people who are moving up; 5 years ago alikuwa na baiskeli, 3 years ago akanunua nduthi, He was renting in Muthurwa, then moved to an SQ in South B and now has a plot in mlolongo, he has just finished laying the foundation of a 2 roomed house, akamaliza sitting room last year wakahama wamalize wakiwa ndani etc.
This mobility was there during Kibaki government. This Jubilee government has produced astronomical growth for Safaricom and KCB and SGR but there is no mobility for ordinary Kenyans. 1000 people who become 20% richer create more demand for goods and services than 100 people who become 200% richer. Jubilee is creating the second category.