Recently Kenya was trending as a result of terrorist attack the hit the city of Nairobi. Fear gripped the people and the tourist community. Kenya is a tourist destination in Africa and yearly millions of people visits the place..
I recently toured some parts of Kenya and I must confess that it is a working society in Africa.
Kenya is very much like SA. Unlike SA, Kenya’s crime rate is lower. Many areas are safe while some areas might not be that safe.
Kenya is peaceful and well developed and organized and still developing. Like many Subsaharan African countries, it faces external aggression from neighboring Somalia where its soldiers have been fighting to protect its borders. It has in recent times been attacked, one at the Former American embassy site in City centre of Nairobi and the other at the popular Westgate mall. All these attacks have made her beef up security presence everywhere with uniform men and plain cloth operatives.
When you see a city growing and erecting skyscrappers it is an indication that economic activity is growing…It’s currency exchanges btw 95 Shillings to $1 where 1 Shilling is about N3
The road network is good. Although some inner roads especially around construction or developing areas have some pot holes, in-terms of road maintenance I will give them better than Nigeria.The connecting roads are excellent. From Nairobi to Kiambu is fantastic.
The malls are ok with interesting game areas for kids. Smoking is not allowed in the public space. There are specified smoking huts.
Night live is ok. I was at a casino to change money. I trekked down to the place.
I visited the second largest slum in Africa after Soweto in SA. Although the road was blocked for maintenance but I was able to have a feel of it.
I drove to most of the embassies including Nigerian embassy
Electricity is 100% constant. And I learnt even in the rural areas or other regions electricity is 99% constant
Public water is not an issue.
Their fuel is about doubled of ours in price but readily available and no scarcity.
VAT goes for 16% and most of the taxes are taken by National Government. County are clamoring now for some resource control.
With about 47 senators and about 290 parliamentarians and 47 governors and 47 women leaders the cost of governance is huge for them. However salaries of workers are regular, even if National government has to subsidize. Public workers are paid.
Like every other African nation, corruption is enshrined in the system. A lot of business people rip the government off and many politicians have become rich on the back of government contracts and bureaucracies
The second president allowed the culture to perpetrate and other successful government. could not stop it.
However the current president, in his second term has started taking affirmative action on it, jailing his own friends, associates and party members. So everyone is taking some dressing.
Notwithstanding their culture of corruption, they are efficient. That buttresses the view which I adopted years back after reading the book titled False Economy that the problem is not really corruption but efficiency. Where efficiency is high corruption is less obvious. But where it is low, corruption is amplified and reinforced.
The policemen are also corrupt in Kenya but they do their job. They are not seen collecting money in the public but somehow they also extort rule breakers.
The first president Kenyatta is deified here. His body was embalmed and still available for viewing by family members and select public officials. His death is celebrated in October of every year.
In order to reduce the cost of governance, the public is gearing up for a referendum that will amend the constitution. Some counties/states could be merged and numbers of senators and parliamentarian could be reduced. Kenya inherited British style of government but gradually evolving into an expensive American system.
Also of interest is the fact that a particular tribe here has very aggressive and domineering women that beat up their husband at slightest provocation. So husbands are very timid. Now the governmrnt is creating “boy’s right” awareness and that men should stand up for their right (kind of contra distinctive from the popular women’s right)
There is another tribe that is very short tempered. When you argue with them they cut you with machete. I think every nation has some of these temperaments.
Recently oil was discovered, and as usual, tension is already brewing over revenue allocation. But for the most part their income comes from agricultural produces and tourism.
I think it is a great country with lots of potential. They stand shoulder high in the eastern Africa after the Ethiopia. They champion technology and innovation in ICT and banking in Africa.
With a population of about 51M similar to South Africa, they are a power and business hub and Nairobi with a population of about 5M holds a lot of potentials.
The people are welcoming and friendly. The system is not perfect, but working.
[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]On the second day of my visit, I made a trip to another county called Nakuru in Kenya which is about 160km from Nairobi. I visited the Hell’s Gate Park. I wondered why the place was called Hell’s Gate and I inquired if there is a place called Heaven’s gate to which I did not get an affirmative answer.
And of course entering this area feels like a view of hell set in a serene environment.
The journey to Nakuru county was interesting and stress free. Kenya as a fast developing country has excellent inter-county roads. No pot holes and the roads are 2 and 3 lanes highways. Evidence of development can be seen everywhere with new flyovers and road constructions linking every county and municipal. Currently a fly over is being constructed to connect Kiambu county to Kenyatta airport.
I was very impressed at the road network and quality of job being done by local companies.
All the settlements are well organized and there was no bush seen anywhere along the highways. Police were professionally doing their jobs without any harassment.
Nairobi has a very big university with over 80,000 population and campuses spread all over the country. It is one of their oldest universities. What amazed me was how the different campuses in the county of Nairobi are connected via an underground tunnel. So within the city the university crisscrossed large areas of the city, and still operates as a single unit.
We had a stopover on the way to Hell’s Gate park to have an area view of the Great Rift Valley.
Great Rift Valley according the locals, was said to have started from Egypt, Jordan river and cut through some African countries and enter into Kenya and cut the country into two and moved to Tanzania then it stopped at Malawi.
Great Rift Valley has a part where people live in a well organized settlement and the other part that is full of volcanic activities. The volcanic part is where the Hell’s Gate Park is situated.
The valley occurred as part of natural phenomenon with an altitude of about 8000ft and yet the government constructed road networks to link the settlement to the main highways.
In the Great Rift valley there are hills and 3 major volcanic Mountains one of which is called mount LONGONOT.
On top of this mountain there is an opening with a depth of about 8m. Inside the mountain, there are forests on one side with animals living inside the mountain forest and on the opposing side inside the mountain is volcanic activities which is very hot with no life.
At the base, outside of the mountain are two sides; Leeward side where nobody lives and Windward side where nomads live with their livestocks.
We proceeded to the volcanic region where the Hell’s Gate Park is situated. The government created a Natural park with animals like zebra, wild pig, buffalos etc. There was no lion in the Hell’s Gate park.
The shape of the hills and techtonic activities that have happened in that area give a feel of hell and mysterious happenings. In fact the volcanic activities sculpted the hills in a way that could be mistaken for inscriptions and arts similar to what is seen in Egypt and Italian designs. There is a sense in which those shapes resemble Egyptian mummies.
There is a cave where hot water springs up and cold water springs out and a location inside one of the caves called *The Devil’s Bedroom.* It is said that no matter how heavy the rainfall is, water does not enter into this side of the cave, hence it was named the Devil’s Bedroom.
With all manner of volcanic activities going on underground with visible heat and steam coming out of the ground, the Government of Kenya saw an opportunity in establishing GEOTHERMAL Power station there amongst other geothermal farms in the country.
The Government is using the volcanic heat from the ground to drive its turbine which generates electricity for distribution to consumers.
It is interesting to note that everything in Kenya is mostly centralized. Every citizen of Kenya has a national ID card. Once you clocked 18yrs of age, you must get a National ID which contains your Bio data and family trace, even to your village. The ID is the basis upon which other transactions are established.
You cannot open an account or go to school without an ID. Market women, drivers are formed into associations and have IDs too.
Everyone pays tax. Once you register a business you must file returns every year even if it is NIL. If you don’t file a return you will be fined N60,000 equivalent. Shop owners pay weekly tax while farmers pay daily tax when they bring their produce to market. Farmers pay like N900 equivalent for the day he brings produce to market.
It is interesting to know that Government does not accept cash transaction when dealing with any of its entities. You have to use card or mobile money. NO CASH in government business.
All major roads are very good. Infact it is interesting to know, according to locals that if a pot hole shows up on a road and it is not fixed with 2 days the locals in that area will close the road down, and start to plant something inside that hole…They claim that since government can’t maintain it then they will turn it into a farming spot. And with a responsive government the holes are fixed immediately.
Students have access to loans to finance their education and the country produces about 800,000 graduates every year. With about 125,000 job availability, most graduates are without jobs. However, they have entrepreneurial spirits and government supports them to start anything so long it is not illegal. Any parastaltal that delay or frustrate any business venture can be sued to court and the court always rule in favor of the entrepreneur.
Government opened a one stop shop for all administrative purposes. So you can do everything from company registration to filing for taxes from one location. There is no incentive to patronize brokers, agents or touts. Government is very efficient.
Mobile money and agency banking is well rooted here. Almost all utilities are paid for via mobile money.
The biggest telecommunication network, Safaricom has the most extensive and efficient network service in the country. It is allegedly said to be owned by a SouthAfrican company and the Government of Kenya. Airtel is said to have cheaper services though.
Similar to Nigeria, the pattern of election rigging (management) is the same. Politicans do ballot stuffing, rig numbers, arrest people, kidnap electoral officers, switch electricity off so as to delay result announcement, use police force to intimidate people, and every other chicanery and shenenigans associated with electioneering.
So in effect, every African countries has the same trappings of corruption. *The only difference is that Kenya works.*
The government and the opposition always find a way to work together for the betterment of the people. The people’s voice is heard and most especially the current President, Uhuru is loved and very reasonable. He works with opposition to effect a government of change and development.
He does not engage in Political victimization and the opposition too are reasonable to consider the good of the country first.
Recently, in his anticorruption stance, the President instituted *Lifestyle Audit* where a public worker’s lifestyle is measured against his earnings. In one of the cases, the President recently suspended all government procurement officers from coming to work for a *Lifestyle Audit* and culpable ones are discharged and prosecuted.
Their democratic institutions are independent and court and judges are respected. There is a respect for the rule of law..
They moved from UK parliamentary system to American bicameral legislature and counties/states. But upon realizing the associated cost, they are willing and prepared for a restructuring that will fit the country.
A country where at a time the Winner of an election was the President and the 1st runner up of opposition party was a Prime Minister and the 2nd runner up was made Vice President and the opposition was allowed one Deputy Prime Minister and the government appointed the second deputy Prime Minister.
A country that is pragmatic about its democratic formation and is ready to make all voices count and everyone has a sense of belonging. A country that abhors any dictatorship tendencies.
She is a beacon of hope for democratic experimentation in Africa.
My day ended on a positive note.