I think to stimulate local manufacturing we should start with the basics such as shoes, handkerchiefs, socks, shirts, underwear etc. Surely manufacturing these items isn't rocket science. Why export skins and hides to India and china and then import 'fake leather' shoes from them? I was shocked to find that that nearly all the shoes at Bata shops are made in India and China.

Does it mean that in year 2016, no single Kenyan can manage to manufacture a handkerchief and we have to import from china?

Even the masai shukas are all from china.

Most manufacturers world over shifted base to China over last 20 yrs, due to cheap labor and ready markets. In the new world order, only countries who specialise to exploit local advantages will thrive. Hence America is powered by weaponry and aerospace manufacturing while letting China take care of consumer goods. Even kenya should do soul searching to see where our advantages lie and concentrate efforts there rather than being Jack of all and master of none. If it doesn't make sense to manufacture toothpicks so be it

Given our current state of political dysfunction, this protectionism likely will not work in Kenya. Our corrupt leaders will force foreign companies to partner with companies that are well connected to political bigwigs. The resulting inefficiency will cause the cost of manufactured goods to skyrocket.

Plus Kenya lacks India's capacity and customer base. I.E. Unlike India which has a billion people, Kenya's customer base is not large enough to sustain a large investment. Therefore large investments must be export oriented.

If Kenyans want to fix manufacturing issues in Kenya we just need to go back to the basics mentioned in form three geography:

1. Build better infrastructure roads, railways, pipelines etc. The poor road network in western Kenya is one of the reasons the sugar industry is moribund.
1b. Get a reliable and cheap electricity supply. (reduce blackouts)
2. Address security: Investors want to feel safe.
3. Reduce corruption: Large corporations are wary of dealing with corrupt officials.
4. Offer tax breaks to corporations that set up in remote areas with lower labour costs. Nairobi is too crowded and labor costs high. Encourage corporations to set up elsewhere.

Our political discourse should be focused on issues such as the ones above. Do people want jobs and security or do they want a member of their tribe to be in power? I always wonder about Kenyans and their priorities.

Cheaper than Kenya??? I doubt. I think the issue is the other production overheads.. infrastructure, electricity, Taxes, “Kitu Kidogo” etc..

You see it in Japan. That commitment of the government of Japan to development. Even now, they are a developed country but there is tremendous commitment by the state -- don't listen to this nonsense that the state should give up the direction of the economy.

It's nonsensical. And we have so many stupid leaders who think that somehow you can hand over the development of your country to something called 'private enterprise' unregulated. That you just abandon it to them like that.

That is idiocy. Which country has ever done that? The Japanese have not done it; the British have not done it; the Germans have not done it. They meet in Halifax in June (The Industrialized countries). What for? To drink tea?

What for? The Big 7 are going to meet in Halifax. To do what? To discuss how to control the economy. It's not a meeting of bankers. It's a meeting of presidents and prime ministers on the economy.

And these ignorant people in Africa are being deceived. Don't do this -- leave it to the private sector. Where is the private sector? Where is this private sector in Tanzania to which you are going to leave the development of the country. Where is it?

It needs nursing; it needs nursing before you can have it. So you nurse it. And this is what the Asian countries have done. And you go on nursing it. The Japanese did it. Korea -- tough; tough. It's only now that they are beginning to open up their market.

How do you open up your market to big competitors when you have no power to compete with big competitors? It's ridiculous. It's like -- in the world of boxing there are heavy weights; middle weights; fly weights; feather weights. And although the rules are the same you put them separately, in separate rings.

The heavy weight in their own ring; the middle weights in their own ring. You don't put in the same ring a heavyweight and a feather weights.Never. Never. How do you do that? That is murder.

But that's what The Big 7 are telling us to do. That Germany and Burkina Faso should get in the same ring. And that is called Globalization; liberalization; freedom. This is nonsense.

This is absolute nonsense. You protect the weak until they become strong before they can compete. Always. This is the rule. This is the rule everywhere. But our leaders even when we tell them they do not argue. They don't argue. They are afraid. You can't say 'no'?

One is the weakness. Our own weaknesses -- internal weaknesses. Until we remove those weaknesses. The internal weaknesses are not the only problem. The problem is the pressure from the rich that we should open up our markets for competition.

I'm told we have opened now here banking for instance. Tanzanian banking to compete with European and North American banking? This is nonsensical.

NBC (Tanzanian bank). Is NBC free to open a branch in New York? Can NBC really open a branch in New York? So when you are saying let's be treated equally are you really saying this equality will give NBC an opportunity to open a branch in New York? This is rubbish.

Absolute rubbish. So these big banks they come to Tanzania. I'm told they are beginning to come and then they find NBC and they are now complaining. NBC is too big. We can't compete. NBC! What kind of bank is NBC. They want to buy its assets. Will our people accept this?

If you look at handkerchiefs, socks and to a good extent male underwear you notice that they are very basic and so what matters most is the cost of fabric and the automation to produce in large quantities, we don't produce much fabric locally so it will always be cheaper to import such.

But if you look at shirts, dresses and other types of wear that can take in more variation then it can be cheaper or at least the same cost to do them locally, since labor takes up the lion share of the cost and for such there are several people doing the same locally.

Maasai shukas are also produced locally at ruiru, and actually I find the local brand of the same much better than the imported ones.

There exists a decent and vibrant local manufacturing sector (at least from my end when it comes to the clothing sector), but I have to admit, capital and marketing is always a challenge.

Why we don't plant cotton isn't the only question to be asked. Why did we kill research programs that would have come up with new high yielding varieties of cotton resistant to diseases and adaptable to semi arid climate. You have to do something differently to thrive. You need some fire in the belly