KENYAN PRODUCTIVITY KEY TO DEVELOPMENT

Kenya has melded Vision 2030 anchored on political, social and economic pillars as a blue print to steer her out of the stagnation its has been since independence as the Asian Tigers, Hong kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan, which were at par with us economically when we secured independence, 1960s - are advanced economies.

Half of Kenyan citizens are living below poverty line; curable diseases like malaria which kills one child in every 30 seconds and more than a million people each year according to United Nations estimates is rampant and ignorance – where literacy stands at 70-80 percent in Kenya, according to United nations Human Development Report (UNHDR).

Over the years we have been registering false starts in trying to ape developed countries in one way or the other thus having a blend of elements that can not hold together, bounded by rampant corruption and ethnically lubricated politics and governance.

The Asian Tigers capitalized on a highly educated and skilled workforce and fortified their stamina in areas where they had comparative advantage to be where they are today. Hong kong and Singapore matched out to be leading international financial centres while South Korea and Taiwan seized leadership in information technology.

Going by the international building material exhibition that took place recently here at Nairobi, one can agree that Turkey, India and Dubai are too matching forward to find there place in the world market from their various products in this sub-sector alone.

From transportation to our homes to our schools and everywhere – there is a common threads that is running through: We are consumers of developed nations products. Japanese dominate our roads transport through Toyota model; America has permitted to our hamlets by its ICT related products and services; Asian Tigers electronic components in the making of telecommunication devices and gadgets; China's presence in the construction industry – is a tell that we are consumers, a huge market for developed countries.

So long as we remain to be consumers of other nations goods and services without having nothing to trade in exchange – our take off might remain a sweet dream that will take infinity to realize.

So where should we start from? We need to ensure that each one of us, Kenyan is productive – to produce what we can with the available resources. It is regrettable that as we fight over land, hardly hearing of Kenyans aspiring to be a farmers, Dr. X. N. Iraki, a school of business don argues – and after 47 years of independence rain patterns still determine our food production.

If we can not be able to sustainably provide for our basic needs, such as food sufficiency, with the available fertile soils and workforce then we should be assured that everything else is being build on sandy foundations.

Have we identified our area(s) comparative advantage to the rest of the world? In the recent past I was seated in one of the halls at KICC as various universities from across the country were participating in the Mazingira Quiz challenge. One of the questions was for particular participants to state the three pillars of Vision 2030. I was left wondering to what extent the ambitious Vision 2030 has found a place in the Kenyan thinking as the students struggled to state them. Did they get them right? If university students are not sure of the components of Vision 2030, who else should be?

Every Kenyan need to be clear of where we are – enslaved by poverty and diseases, ignorance and corruption, yes emerging challenges of underemployment and climate change, societal break down and living not to our creeds – for us all to hold our hands and minds in unity of purpose as we match towards a hopeful and prosperous future by a decided attitude and determination, devotion and hard-work in the context of the new dispensation and tapping the tapestry of ethnic diversity.

In his book The Flat Is World by Thomas Friedman, states that infrastructure, right education, enabling environment and good governance are some of the a – must - available ingredients for developing countries to break forth into the global village.

From what is going on there seem to be light at the end of the tunnel. The issue is to sustain and increase the momentum, as we do a way unnecessary baggage that has been tearing any gainful progress we could have achieved.

Thus for us to realize our dreams, our education should be an answer to the prevailing challenges. Our relation with developing countries should forester the transfer of technology and best practices. Our traditional goods and services should experience addition of value. Our young people should be daring to walk the unbeaten paths of self – reliance, entrepreneurship. Our deep rooted culture of self aggrandizement should melt to give room for service to others and productivity. Creativity and innovation, ideas and knowledge, ethics and information technology should be the our perpetual spirit in our daily pursuits.