am currently representing my company and the country (grin!) in this years global conference on emerging technologies ( yes thats the league where i play (wider grin))
to say the least its amazing. fast quick lesson: kenya is doing well so far, but we need to fix just two things for further quick gains
1. infrastructure (namely roads first)
2. security . Its bliss being in a rich country and not having to worry that any of your possesions will be lost and knowing that you wont be mugged, or robbed, or even conned!
shock on me! i meet very many kenyans working as expatriates here mostly in hospitality industry. ( i know bad press would call them life gaurds, cooks, waiters or even sex workers. stupid press!) am reliably told they are making loads of money and most drive at least BMWs or are chauffeur driven.
quick embarassment: these guys have made an artificial island in the shape of a palm tree, in the violent waters of the ocean. the island has about 500,000 extremely high networth individuals as its tenants who include David Beckam. back at home we cant even tame a seasonal ndhoya (river Nzoia)
economy shock! i go to this mall touted as the second largest in the world. first shop, i see a beautiful blazer, price tag? 9135 in their country or about 180,000 kenya shillings. ils sont fous ces gens!
You're a busy guy! You need to bring a few pointers back to the Ministry of roads and to our City planners. Bon voyage.
ReplyDeleteI think we need to hire planners from outside who will do everything and leave us with the expertise. We've been talking about this for too long and dragging our feet while time goes by.
ReplyDeleteNow, we even have an excuse, WE HAVE A SHORTAGE OF PLANNERS!
OD - Have fun in Dubs, I've been to a few cities around the world, but Dubs stood out as a perfect example of exceptional infrastructural planning.
OD: The difference is what you notice we should have here. When you refer to the island you think of River Nzoia.
ReplyDeleteWhen most Kenyan idiots (aka politicians) see the island, they want to buy a piece of it & start thinking of increasing their salaries!
@no-spin, i definitely will.
ReplyDelete@swaka, these guys surely have embarassed me. building masterpieces out of nothing. the country is a desert!
@coldi, i agree we have poverty of leadership. like the good book says where there is no vision people perish!