|Two political rallies were held in the coastal town of Mombasa by two political heavyweights namely Mudavadi and Raila. It is a script that we have seen over and over and over again in our political scene every time we get near the elections. Two bed fellows all over sudden become distant and cold and eventually nemesis to each other.
Sticky point though dealt with by the two sons of Kenya on the coastal town was the quickly spreading nightmare of the MRC secession calls for the coastal region. We did see both politicians extending an olive branch to the MRC (an outlawed group by the government by the way) to sit down and chat a way forward.
While it is important to address the issues affecting the coastal region as a whole, the last time i checked, threatening to secede from a country is a crime known as treason!
The area know today as KENYA was not agreed upon by any of the communities currently living there. This was all done during the scramble for Africa by the European powers and like when in my childhood we would have our mum cut the white african cake (ugali) into pieces enough for each of her 7 kids for the day, us as Kenyans, didn't have a say at all regarding the boundaries that were laid down some 100 or so years now.
If now we start encouraging one region to balkanise themselves from the rest of the country, what are we telling the other regions? I use the word encourage because if politicians can stand on a podium and make promises to a group, which has clearly stated its intentions of secession, then that goes to cement the groups intentions.
There is no doubt in my mind that all these is being done for the simple reason of garnering votes to the said politicians and not necessarily to solve the regions problems. It is therefore very misleading for politicians to continue fooling Kenyans with their greed for power which makes them not to be brave enough to say even the unpopular truths!
Every region in this country is faced by numerous challenges, and especially regarding the youth. My major concern about the MRC is the posibility of being infiltrated by radial extremists, and the Kenya as we know it would be long buried in history books. We have all seen what has been going on in the Josh region of Nigeria in the last couple of years. With our politicians being so negligent on how the handle some to these very thorny issues, it is scary to think what kind of a bomb we are toss around each other. Tullow Oil have recently discovered even more oil deposits in Turkana. If there are regions that have been relegated to the back seat in the colonial, independence and modern Kenya, it is the North Eastern Kenya. We surely do not want to trigger negative emotions about this country 50 years on, as much as greater part of those 50 years have been barely getting by while carrying aloft the Wenye Nchi. Let us not let clowns who have ascended into positions of power take our dear country to the dogs as we watch!
Tuesday 22 May 2012
Wednesday 11 May 2011
Planning Land Usage
As Kenya and most of sub-Saharan Africa grapples with the perennial problem of food shortage, one of the factors to be carefully considered is the how land is put into use. It is important to find out how best to put into use the available land, so that we can reap the best fruits from it. Subsaharan Africa and Africa in general has varying weather and climatical patterns which greatly influences how the land in each area is i.e. whether its is desert, semi-desert, equatorial forests, savanna etc.
Take Kenya for example; The country has arable land, savanna grasslands (popular with wildlife and tourism), semi arid (from which we hope some oil will be hit soon), desert conditions and equatorial forests like the Mt. Elgon, the Aberdares and Mt. Kenya forests just to name a few. In the last 7 years or so has seen a steady rise in the construction industry. While tourism and Agriculture has had their cyclical moments, in general the construction industry has been growing steadily, thanks to a rising middle class in Kenya, who have in-turn given rise to an increasing demand on housing especially in major urban centers. Even in towns that 10 years ago were not so much considered for residential or even commercial developments, now we have seen prices of properties in these areas rise tremendously. Ofcourse this is an important development in our economy. However, without proper planning, we will end up with scenario like Nairobi, which was initially planned for only 250,000 people but is now residence to about 3 million people if not more; and we all know the problems that have come with this kind of situation.
To get to the point, there are major housing projects underway at the moment, e.g Migaa and Tatu City in Kiambu. This has essentially been motivated by the death of the coffee industry in the area which was a great income earner for residents of the area since independence. At the moment, these areas are being cleared of the coffee bushes to make way for the classy residential houses. This has even been made better by the continued effort by the government to pave roads going into these areas. However, this area has very good arable land unlike much of the so called Kapiti plains that stretches from Thika along the eastern by-pass all the way to Athi River and Kajiado. It therefore seems to me as bad planning to be allowing development of housing projects on a large scale on arable land, while we still have non-arable land near the city on which such projects should be undertaken. Most will argue that the Uasin Gishu district in the Rift Valley has got enough arable land to feed the entire country, but if that is so, why do we still experience hunger every two years? Furthermore, at the rate of population growth that we are experiencing, it is not very hard to see the population hit 60 million in the next 20 - 30 years. Will the available arable land still be enough food basket for the country?
Take Kenya for example; The country has arable land, savanna grasslands (popular with wildlife and tourism), semi arid (from which we hope some oil will be hit soon), desert conditions and equatorial forests like the Mt. Elgon, the Aberdares and Mt. Kenya forests just to name a few. In the last 7 years or so has seen a steady rise in the construction industry. While tourism and Agriculture has had their cyclical moments, in general the construction industry has been growing steadily, thanks to a rising middle class in Kenya, who have in-turn given rise to an increasing demand on housing especially in major urban centers. Even in towns that 10 years ago were not so much considered for residential or even commercial developments, now we have seen prices of properties in these areas rise tremendously. Ofcourse this is an important development in our economy. However, without proper planning, we will end up with scenario like Nairobi, which was initially planned for only 250,000 people but is now residence to about 3 million people if not more; and we all know the problems that have come with this kind of situation.
To get to the point, there are major housing projects underway at the moment, e.g Migaa and Tatu City in Kiambu. This has essentially been motivated by the death of the coffee industry in the area which was a great income earner for residents of the area since independence. At the moment, these areas are being cleared of the coffee bushes to make way for the classy residential houses. This has even been made better by the continued effort by the government to pave roads going into these areas. However, this area has very good arable land unlike much of the so called Kapiti plains that stretches from Thika along the eastern by-pass all the way to Athi River and Kajiado. It therefore seems to me as bad planning to be allowing development of housing projects on a large scale on arable land, while we still have non-arable land near the city on which such projects should be undertaken. Most will argue that the Uasin Gishu district in the Rift Valley has got enough arable land to feed the entire country, but if that is so, why do we still experience hunger every two years? Furthermore, at the rate of population growth that we are experiencing, it is not very hard to see the population hit 60 million in the next 20 - 30 years. Will the available arable land still be enough food basket for the country?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)