Back to the Basics

Shirley Odongo
It is Monday 12th Sept 2011 and Mike wakes up to head to Nairobi’s Industrial Area to continue with his bid to eke out a living for his young family of a wife who is 2 months pregnant. Mike recently graduated from The Kisumu Polytechnic University College; one of the many in the country that provide a stepping stone to higher learning for out-of-school youth who are keen on furthering their education. These polytechnics provide alternative sources of training and practical knowledge to the students who for one reason or another are not able to join middle level colleges and universities.
After trying out a few odd jobs in Kisumu, life did not seem to be getting any better so Mike decided to move to Nairobi to try his hand at whatever he could lay his hands on. It is while in Nairobi that he met Adah and within eight months they were married and now are expecting their first child.
On this cold and dreary morning, Mike realizes that he could make a fortune from a broken pipe oozing with oil from the Kenya Pipeline tankers. After fetching 3 20 liter gallons, he takes the first supply to a safe hide out in the nearby Quarry estate on a borrowed bicycle. This trip turns out to be Mike’s salvation because as soon as he leaves the scene, the pipe goes up in flames killing at least 99 people in what came to be known as the Sinai fire tragedy.
Today, my gripe has nothing to do with the government’s failure as far as disaster preparedness in our country goes or the ambivalence it shows whenever such calamities strike. I am sure the Kenyans for Kenya initiative is still fresh in our minds; the unity and love that we, as a people and a country demonstrated to lend a helping hand to our brothers in need when it seemed that their plight did not feature that high on the government’s list. My gripe is with the youth; why do they constantly engage in activities that endanger their lives? Right after the Sinai tragedy, the media reported a case of people who were burnt to ashes when a petrol tanker they were hanging onto burst into flames in Busia. This trend is not unique to Kenya; the world over, the people most affected by riots and other such disasters are the youth. Could the fact that youth account for the largest in number be a reason for this? Although this does not, by any means, explain their susceptibility to danger.
The usual culprits that I can raise off the top of my head are poverty, joblessness, lack of education etc. Which then makes me wonder, is Africa really poor? Is Kenya really poor? Don’t we export coffee and tea? Kenya is highly regarded as far as tourism and flower exportation go. Doesn’t Kenya boast of one of the strongest academic curriculum in the continent? And doesn’t this equal some form of superiority? If this is so, why is the rain beating us so hard? If you ask me, the missing link is determination and perseverance; modern-day youth are lazy. Yes, Kenyan youth want ready-made jobs; after school, they make a beeline for white color jobs. Even with practical course like Art and Design, Engineering and Agriculture the youth would rather wait to be employed than put their skills to use. Former Vice Chancellor of Maseno University Professor Fredrick Onyango encapsulates this phenomenon well when he urges youth to strive to be job creators and not job seekers.
The naysayers among us will wonder; does agriculture really pay? My answer? Show me any seasoned tycoon in Kenya who has not invested in agriculture. Tell me how much the Brookside Dairies yield in a day and who owns the farm. Then cross over to Naivasha and learn about the Delamare farm and what it does in generating juices and you will find its turnover close to that of oil in this country. I will then walk you to the Rift valley and expose you to the likes of former president Moi who owns chunks of land catering to wheat and maize farming. Some will be quick to point out the unreliable weather patterns that are hostile to farmers and I will point them into the drier Narok and leave them to the amazement of what renown media personality Fred Obach Machoka has achieved in horticultural farming, with a specific interest in vegetable farming.
And how about using your brain as an investment? The story of Evans Wadongo should inspire the youth to get out of their comfort zones and do something about their situations. Wadongo grew up with the kerosene lamps, better known as “Koroboi” and knew first hand, the negative health implications of this tin lamp. As soon as he was able to, he decided to counter this situation and thus the solar lantern was invented. It has become a hit in rural areas where there is no electricity. Out of this invention, Wadongo has not only created a source of livelihood for himself and his employees but he has also solved one of society’s problems. And this is as it ought to be.
I once attended a workshop where Mr James Shikwati, the Country Director of students in Free Enterprises (SIFE-KENYA) gave a key-note address about youth empowerment and was amazed at the level of awareness of youth wanting to exit poverty. Mr. Shikwati observed that despite the USD 568 billion pumped into Africa by Western countries every year, little has been achieved in putting the continent on the competitive path of economic progress. He proposed what may be a breakthrough for African countries; we do not need donor aid.

And I concur; even at the lowest levels, it has been established that the micro-credit and micro-saving products are the working tools to get the rural poor and urban slum dwellers out of poverty. Why can’t our youth just adopt and follow this trends that have been tested and found to be working? A few people have succeeded by starting small in the business industry. A good example is Jamii Bora, a local Non-governmental Organization that has quickly transformed the financial capacity of small-scale traders, something that a few years back was just a pipe dream for them.

It is a fact that to eradicate poverty, a business class of innovators is urgently needed to turn Kenya’s problems into business opportunities. These groups of people are already available; all that needs to be done is to ignite their thinking in the right direction. Grants and donor aid make it difficult for local innovators to respond to the needs in their immediate
environment. They instead concentrate on perceiving poverty from an outsider’s perspective and apply approaches that are superficial since the end goal is to please the donors.

A dynamic business minded population will be more productive because, driven by the profit motive; it will provide solutions to famine, disease, and poverty in general. There can never be real progress and advancement if a country cannot feed itself yet the opportunities for such abound! To achieve this, we should stop begging and improve our lot economically and the only way to do this-go back to the basics- business and agriculture, we will never go wrong.