Michael Mundia Kamau

                                      P.O. Box 17510

                                      00500 Enterprise Road

                                      Nairobi

                                      Kenya

                                      18th November 2001

                    $ 102,000,000

The economic downturn in Kenya continues to leave a trial of 

devastation 

with the latest victim being confectionary giant House of Manji, put 

under 

receivership last week. Over the last three weeks, the Kenya Power and 

Lighting Company reported a loss of five billion shillings in it's 

recently 

concluded financial year, and another age old giant, Kenya Bus Services 

Limited, laid off 1,400 workers. Certainly, the latter two corporations 

have 

little reason for being in their kind of predicament given the 

strategic 

positions they hold in their respective markets.

In spite of the the general economic malaise no solution appears 

forthcoming 

from the government or the people. This country has a serious attitude 

problem so that even as we stare doom in the face, our focus is on less 

pressing issues. Ask the average Kenyan what he or she thinks is the 

problem 

and a finger will very likely be pointed at the government. Much as 

this may 

be the case, we must also challenge ourselves to account for the gains 

we 

have managed to make left on our own. A case in point is the remarkable 

speed with which cell phones have been purchased over the past one year 

despite persistent cries of strained finances. It is estimated that 

480,000 

units have been subscribed. In the last year the cost of a hand set has 

come 

down significantly from about 12,000 Kenya shillings per unit 

(depending on 

the model ), to 5,000 Kenya shillings per unit. Assuming the 480,000 

subscribers have each paid 5,000 Kenya shillings for their cell phones 

over 

the past one year, then this works out to revenue of 2.4 billion Kenya 

shillings ( approximately US $ 30,000,000). If we further assume that 

every 

cell phone user spends 1,000 Kenya shillings per month on calls, then 

this 

works out to 5.76 billion shillings ( approximately US $ 72,000,000 ), 

spent 

over the last one year. US $ 102,000,000 is alot of money by any 

standard, 

comparing monumentally with the US $ 20,000,000 sought by Kenya from 

the 

International Monetary Fund (IMF), and we cannot claim that there is no 

money in Kenya. No wonder the two cell phone providers in Kenya can 

afford 

to sponsor  golf tournaments and produce expensive one year 

commemorative 

brochures.

The value of cell phones and the role they play in modern communication 

cannot be downplayed. Were it not for cell phones,  we would probably 

have 

never known what transpired aboard the airlines that crashed into the 

world 

trade center twin towers and the pentagon. Were it not for cell phones, 

it 

would have been harder to rescue survivors from the site of the 

collapsed 

twin towers. In spite of this and much more, a small impoverished 

Nation 

like ours seriously needs to question the efficacy of committing US $ 

102,000,000 to mobile phones while numerous other undertakings of a 

much 

more pressing nature, remain unattended to. The very determining of 

where to 

start in the re-birth of our Nation is a daunting task given the vast 

problems we are faced with. Do we start with unemployment, with income 

generation, or with sensitisation ?

This notwithstanding, had we saved up that US $ 102,000,000 over the 

last 

one year and divided it equally among the eight provinces ( US $ 

12,750,000), it would have impacted significantly, put to proper use. 

We 

would in many ways be, set for life.

It is crucial that we start being guided by such indicators and not by 

wishful thinking. This country has quite easily raised US $ 102,000,000 

over 

the last one year, but we don't have much to show for it. Desperation 

is 

taking root like never before. I recently encountered a compatriot in 

his 

late 50s in the process of desparately disposing some of his assets to 

pay 

off his electricity bill and avoid disconnection. According to him, he 

had 

been abruptly retrenched and left in a difficult position. The striking 

thing was his polished english and mannerisms that were no doubt 

acquired 

from an institution like Alliance High School, Mangu High School, or 

Maseno 

High School, pedigree institutions then and now. Not too long ago also, 

a 

young polished lady, about 24 or 25, entered the early morning bus that 

I 

was in and started preaching to us, something not uncommon in Kenya 

today. 

Her english and mannerisms were also very polished suggesting that she 

had 

either attended an institution like the Kenya High School or Limuru 

Girls 

High School. Nothing seemed to make sense until she asked that we pray, 

prayers that were partly for those "recently retrenched".

The prosperity of a few in the face of the wider despair of the Nation 

is 

not however restricted to the two cell phone providers above. Depleting 

incomes have amongst other things, resulted in the emergence of budget 

meals 

that go under varying local pseudonyms such as "chafua" , "poesha" , 

and 

"special" , that retail for between 10 to 25 Kenya shillings . The 

retailers 

of these products have ingeniously devised ways of meeting a need at 

minimal 

cost and reaping from it, and are indeed living the Kenyan dream. A 

number 

of years back, I watched a television series of Charles Dutton's "Roc" 

that 

focused on the dealings of a drug peddler whose operations were 

devastating 

the local neighbourhood. When confronted, the drug dealer said he was 

living 

the American dream "the only way he knew how". In the same way, those 

behind 

"chafua", "poesha" and "special" are living the Kenyan dream "the only 

way 

they know how" , with networks that spread far and wide. They do not 

speak 

or write fancy english, or engage in inspirational albiet ineffective 

bourgeois discussions on ways of reviving the economy. Indeed, it is 

they if 

anyone, that need cell phones to effectively co-ordinate their 

operations.

The perceived enemy as mentioned above, is usually seen as the 

government. 

The government indeed apparently lost a crucial vote in parliament in 

August 

of this year, that would have seen to the re-establishment of an 

anti-corruption and the resumption of donor funding, a defeat that was 

welcomed as a sign of the waning influence of the government on it's 

hold on 

this country. Nothing could be further further from the truth, and the 

stage 

is being set for something very dramatic in Kenya.

President Daniel arap Moi has just returned from an eight day trip 

abroad, a 

loud statement of the confidence on his grip on power. He recently 

appointed 

the son of a bitter political opponent as chairman of the Kenya Tourist 

Board (KTB), breaking new frontiers in expediency. The Matiba family 

whose 

son Raymond is the said new chairman of KTB, badly needed something 

like 

this to help revive the family owned Alliance Group of Hotels, 

currently 

under receivership. In this regard, President Moi has surpassed even 

his 

former boss, President Kenyatta. After a bitter confrontation with his 

former vice president Oginga Odinga in Odinga's Luo Nyanza in 1969, 

Kenyatta 

never set foot in Luo Nyanza again until his death in 1978. It is hard 

to 

imagine that Kenyatta would have appointed any of Odinga's sons to any 

government position, let alone that of chairman of the Kenya Tourist 

Board.

The ruling elite in Kenya are also closely linked with the two mobile 

phone 

providers and technically therefore, partly have US $ 102,000,000 in 

their 

cash reserves, in a pre-election year. How do you beat this ? Further, 

President Moi's government is perenially being attacked for it's 

inability 

to effectively deal with donor agencies, yet the chief executives of 

the 

International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank  made a cordial 

stopover in Kenya in February this year, hosted by none less than 

President 

Moi himself. The scheming at hand is very sophisticated and beyond the 

comprehension of many of us, myself included. As this goes on, we are 

busy 

deceiving ourselves with hastily hatched commercial ventures. The 

capital 

city Nairobi has for instance been transformed into a myriad of small 

busines outlets called "Exhibitions". Many  are being set up on whims, 

and 

are owned and manned by largely ill equiped, ill advised, ill trained 

and 

inexperienced individuals. We somehow hope to achieve in one day what 

it has 

taken the Coca Cola Company 115 years and 34 promotional re-launches , 

to 

achieve.

If we are so hot at addressing issues, why were we so silent last year 

at 

the height of water rationing, when trucks were rushing all over Kenyan 

towns selling us our very own "clean soft water " ? ( another thing is 

that 

the English language is undergoing remarkable transformation in Kenya ! 

). 

If we are so hot at addressing issues, why are we letting the plight of 

Kenya's 43rd tribe, Street families, get out of hand ? It is because we 

are 

not starting from and with basics. It is because we are jumping the 

gun. It 

is because we need to re-invest US $ 102,000,000.

Michael Mundia Kamau