Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2009 09:03:11 -0800 [11:03:11 AM CST]
From: PAUL ODERA
Subject: Re: De-congesting Nairobi

Moses,

Thanks for pointing that out. My own observation and from the comments I have come across, planning is a generational problem in Kenya as it stands. Talk to any expatriate who is worth what they profess career-wise and if they are honest, they will confide in you that planning is not the strongest point of Kenyans.

25 years of Moi’s mismanagement did not spare any sector. Education system which is the nerve centre for human resource was tampered with by implementing politically motivated policies which had not been tested with complete disregard to long term implications.

This was compounded by sedentary work culture in the civil service, where some people just turned up in the offices without having to work to be paid. There were even ghost employees on the G.K Payrolls. If you can run a system with some of these system deficiencies for a quarter of a century; you only need a miracle to deliver any kind of efficiency. Look round you where you work look at paperwork produced by your colleagues and you will realize that planning is a problem running deep across the society. Some lucky people were able to pay for quality education…….but woe unto those who were confined to run-down institutions with poor staffing who were also poorly paid.

Kenyans are intelligent people but their quality has been tainted by the system failures over the years. That is why some parents who can afford send their kids abroad for better education. People who went to school in the seventies and the eighties can confess the horror they would be faced with if they visited their old schools. Some of those schools were respected institutions which produced some excellent professionals who are not only respected in Kenya, but their contributions have been recognised worldwide.

I know we will still have a few gifted and talented who would excel under all circumstances but that is a minority class and the system needs to take good care of the majority________which it hasn’t for a few decades.

Failing to plan is planning to fail……so they say; and does it surprise you that Kenya is a system tending towards stalling? It appears that the current situation is preferred by some decision makers in our system who thrive in chaos so planning is not an animal they want to keep in their pen.

Trick stars posing as expatriates will usually spot such weaknesses in a system and trust me they will exploit them. That is why we are just fire fighting corruption.

Just an observation

— On Thu, 1/15/09, Moses Majiwa wrote:

From: Moses Majiwa
Subject: Re: De-congesting Nairobi
Date: Thursday, January 15, 2009, 3:25 PM

Well said GASERU, let the constituencies first show how well they can manage the funds sent to them (CDF, AIDS fund, LATF, Constituency Bursary etc) before they can be given major responsibilities that come with devolution. If there is nothing to show for the few devolved funds then why not concentrate them in one place (as it is in Nairobi) where you can manage them well and pocket a little ( well sometimes not so little).

On a serious note, the issues being discussed here will go nowehere if they do not land in the hands of the national planners. I once had an encounter with the Planning Secretary (Ministry of Planning) and we asked him whether there are engineers in the ministry and you can guess his answer. Well, there are no ENGINEERS, employed as planners in the ministry of planning. To me I see this as the most grave error we have in our nation. I have nothing against economists as planners, but there is a perspective that engineering planners can contribute that can help alleviate the current crisis that we are in.

So in my view, the first step is to overhaul the ministry of planning then have the proposed plans in the correct hands to have them implemented.

To add to the decentralisation proposed, each ministry should be moved away from the city centre, e.g, transport to Kiambu, Education to Thika, Land to Ngong, Finance to Ongata Rongai etc.

Good luck to Kenya and a decetralised Nairobi.

2009/1/15 CMON GASERU WA

Okay, this sound a noble cause if the said is done to make good such development plans. But how do we attain all these,
as sometimes we wananchi are our own worst enemies, we are too used to the way things.

Good infrastructure is mandatory for good development- take for instance with the current situation we have LATF and road maintaince levy we don’t see them being used to the letter. That’s where accountability is required as is in others

Zonal segration is another option to go by and give each zone that much deserved upgrading of the mashinani, as you have put it, by let the large percentage of the revenue be utilised from where it is collected.

Now regarding the education levels is the ones to turn these plans to development, should not be necessary be of higher levels. We have seen guys performing with average education even more than the most educated and learned.
We have alot of elite robbers all across this country, pausing in disguise as experts and consultants, just there to make a kill for their own pockets , hence derailing development.

– – – – – – – – – – –

http://blog.jaluo.com/?p=1836
Date: Wed, 14 Jan 2009 15:14:16 -0500 [02:14:16 PM CST]
From: “Tocho, David”
Subject: RE: De-congesting Nairobi