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North is not up!
Rank: Elder Joined: 5/21/2013 Posts: 2,841 Location: Here
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Mukiri wrote:limanika wrote:masukuma wrote:limanika wrote:In the West, Africa is referred to or thought to be the World’s cesspool.
Much more seriously though, it is reported that more than half of the 10 most rapidly growing economies are in Africa. The engine of growth in these economies is export of raw materials to the East. This is fake growth and is not sustainable in the long run. Sample this:
.The East buys raw materials from Africa, builds finished goods and sell the same to Africa at much higher cost.
.The East gives cheap loan to Africa so it can develop infrastructure, but the contractors, consultants and key materials are sourced from the same East. Then Africa is left paying back the loan for generations
.The East borrows ideas from the West, develops new / cheaper technologies to make more competitive products compared to those in West. This way, the East has been able to compete with the West.
.50 years after independence, we do not have any local contractor with capacity to build Thika Superhighway
.100 years ago after the British built the lunatic express, and 200 years after America built it’s railways, we still have to borrow funds and import labour to upgrade / build our own railway
.Who has ever heard of an African contractor winning a contract in the West or in the East?
In other words, we point accusing fingers to our fore fathers of 100-500 years ago that they were outsmarted and exploited by both the West and the East, yet in our time and age, under our very own eyes, the West and the East are indeed exploiting us in the very same way if not worse. Why can’t Africa build it’s own smart technologies (like M-PESA), exploit solar energy, make and export cheap finished goods etc. and compete with both West and East?
the ink of history has not dried yet! Kwani history has kwishad? Human beings have been on this planet for thousands of years. secondly, I am against using solar (it requires importing technology) our saviour in as far as cheap energy is simply using COAL! We can build those solar panels right here and export them as well. If need be we can still import some of the raw materials used in their manufacture and export finished goods just line the East is doing. Those rare earth minerals in Kwale - Illumenite,Rutile and Zircon – Rather than exporting the raw materials and earn peanuts, then import finished goods, we can use them to make finished goods right here such as paints, ceramics & tiles. These we can use when building our houses and export the remainder. I have never understood why we have to import tiles, sanitary fixtures, light fittings etc made in the East when building our houses. Those rare earth minerals in Congo – Why can’t Kenya import them (at an advantage due to the short distance), make finished goods and export finished goods to the West and East? Why must the raw materials be exported to China, then we pay for finished goods including cost of transporting raw materials and then finished goods? What a waste? I ditto everything here. And cars/machinery, why in heavens name can't we manufacture our own machinery? We have the machines here.. Let's 'copy' what we have (improve on it if need be), rename the same and use it! Unethical someone might say, but we've been dealt with unethically for hundreds of years.. We would call it 'sharing'. We should STOP export of any raw materials! If someone has found a use for what we have, let them come here and build a factory and we can discuss how to share the profits!!! We are the regional godfather, we don't take care of ourselves and thereafter our neighbors, who will? Now we are talking. Nothing pains me as much as our failure (or is it unwillingness) to adopt solar energy for even the most basic of tasks such as traffic lighting as well as lighting our streets and estates. As it is, anytime there's a blackout traffic literally comes to a standstill while muggers celebrate. I've recently watched a documentary on Nepal and how their government has encouraged large scale adoption of solar power (and biogas) to especially light up remote villages, yet this is a country whose per capita income is way lower than Kenya. Additionally, due to their location high up in the Himalayas, they get much less hours of sunshine as well as diminished intensity of the sun rays. And yet, despite all this, they still soldier on while we slumber. And yes, I second you on that issue of reverse engineering. Even the famed Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese & now Chinese have taken the same route, albeit not publicly acknowledged. Simply open up the machines we buy, find out how they work and figure out a way of making them work better (improving their efficiency). On raw materials, why and how in God's green earth does a country with no significant iron (not yet anyway) and aluminum deposits export the same (ati in the name of scrap metal)? In so doing, aren't we starving our industries (both existing ones as well as prospective ones) of raw materials? On a serious note, how difficult is it really to recycle metal right here in our own country? Life is like playing a violin solo in public and learning the instrument as one goes on.
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Rank: Veteran Joined: 10/9/2006 Posts: 1,502
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Well thought out strategies but unfortunately not possible in your grandchildren lifetime. Start from the basics. Development and advancement of society is not gotten from the text books or wish thinking , but sacrifice and perseverance for many years by MAJORITY of the citizens. Instead of dreaming about cars and aero planes made in Africa by Africans , start mobilizing your people in your neighborhood to clean and dispose trash or garbage appropriatel work to prosper
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Rank: Elder Joined: 10/4/2006 Posts: 13,823 Location: Nairobi
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 All Mushrooms are edible! Some Mushroom are only edible ONCE!
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Rank: Elder Joined: 7/11/2012 Posts: 5,222
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masukuma wrote:a quotation from the African holocaust. African Holocaust wrote:
It is estimated that 40 -100 million people were directly affected by slavery via the Atlantic, Arabian and Trans-Saharan routes.
Some historians conclude that the total loss in persons removed, those who died on the arduous march to coastal slave marts and those killed in slave raids, exceeded the 65–75 million inhabitants remaining Africa at the trade's end. Over 10 million died as direct consequences of the Atlantic slave trade alone. But no one knows the exact number: Many died in transport, others died from diseases or indirectly from the social trauma left behind in Africa. Not only was Transatlantic Slavery of demographic significance, in the aggregate population losses but also in the profound changes to settlement patterns, epidemiological exposure and reproductive and social development potential. And prehaps one profound difference between Arab and European systems was that Africa's development potential was being experienced outside of Africa, as opposed to inside Africa.
its actually a miracle that 'WE ARE STILL HERE!' Visit Shimoni @South coast. If the long underground cave doesn't affect you...
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Rank: Elder Joined: 10/4/2006 Posts: 13,823 Location: Nairobi
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Mukiri wrote:masukuma wrote:a quotation from the African holocaust. African Holocaust wrote:
It is estimated that 40 -100 million people were directly affected by slavery via the Atlantic, Arabian and Trans-Saharan routes.
Some historians conclude that the total loss in persons removed, those who died on the arduous march to coastal slave marts and those killed in slave raids, exceeded the 65–75 million inhabitants remaining Africa at the trade's end. Over 10 million died as direct consequences of the Atlantic slave trade alone. But no one knows the exact number: Many died in transport, others died from diseases or indirectly from the social trauma left behind in Africa. Not only was Transatlantic Slavery of demographic significance, in the aggregate population losses but also in the profound changes to settlement patterns, epidemiological exposure and reproductive and social development potential. And prehaps one profound difference between Arab and European systems was that Africa's development potential was being experienced outside of Africa, as opposed to inside Africa.
its actually a miracle that 'WE ARE STILL HERE!' Visit Shimoni @South coast. If the long underground cave doesn't affect you... been there! its sad! on a funny note however the guide took us through a rehearsed introduction speech dropping statements such as "forced upwards by the movement of tectonic plates" while talking about the formation. there appeared to be a bit of a disconnect between the 'authority' and the knowledge he possessed! All Mushrooms are edible! Some Mushroom are only edible ONCE!
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Rank: Elder Joined: 6/27/2008 Posts: 4,114
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Surealligator wrote:Lolest! wrote:...and north is not necessarily higher. Thus the reference of the northern part of former Eastern province as 'upper eastern' with the southern as lower eastern is erroneous. This guys also say Australia is down-under. Now we know UK is the one which is down under. Who decided which side is up and which is down. I believe the tropics should have been taken as the vertical plane for positioning the globe. It's not a question of "WHO" but "HOW" was it decided to draw north up. The answer is in my earlier post. Nothing is real unless it can be named; nothing has value unless it can be sold; money is worthless unless you spend it.
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Rank: Elder Joined: 6/27/2008 Posts: 4,114
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And to those whole consumed by the geopolitics of an upward north rather than the geometry, don't live with your eye permanently on the rear-view mirror; figure out instead how you can turn your / our circumstances around regardless of how the map is drawn. How come South Africa, even though it is drawn at the bottom of Africa, turns out to be the most developed country on the continent? Nothing is real unless it can be named; nothing has value unless it can be sold; money is worthless unless you spend it.
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Rank: Elder Joined: 10/4/2006 Posts: 13,823 Location: Nairobi
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mukiha wrote:And to those whole consumed by the geopolitics of an upward north rather than the geometry, don't live with your eye permanently on the rear-view mirror; figure out instead how you can turn your / our circumstances around regardless of how the map is drawn.
How come South Africa, even though it is drawn at the bottom of Africa, turns out to be the most developed country on the continent? you are missing the point! All Mushrooms are edible! Some Mushroom are only edible ONCE!
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Rank: Veteran Joined: 3/26/2012 Posts: 1,182
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masukuma wrote:mukiha wrote:And to those whole consumed by the geopolitics of an upward north rather than the geometry, don't live with your eye permanently on the rear-view mirror; figure out instead how you can turn your / our circumstances around regardless of how the map is drawn.
How come South Africa, even though it is drawn at the bottom of Africa, turns out to be the most developed country on the continent? you are missing the point! And the point IS?
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Rank: Elder Joined: 6/17/2008 Posts: 23,365 Location: Nairobi
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mkeiyd wrote:masukuma wrote:mukiha wrote:And to those whole consumed by the geopolitics of an upward north rather than the geometry, don't live with your eye permanently on the rear-view mirror; figure out instead how you can turn your / our circumstances around regardless of how the map is drawn.
How come South Africa, even though it is drawn at the bottom of Africa, turns out to be the most developed country on the continent? you are missing the point! And the point IS? Ei bwana unauliza nini???......somebody must be responsible for our problems!!! ..."Wewe ni mtu mdogo sana....na mwenye amekuandika pia ni mtu mdogo sana!".
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