I could not agree more with the author, Africa is as a matter of fact a passive consumer of the World's knowledge. Rarely do you hear of research breakthroughs in the continent being published and if they do it is by foreigners who then claim ownership, talk of patenting gone wrong remember the kiondoo which was patented in Japan. Hand in hand with all this it is high time we cultvated a reading culture in this continent and tone down on all the politicking. We need to start projecting our own culture, views, ideas and stories onto the global stage rather than just becoming passive consumers of western ideologies blared onto the world arena. We could learn a thing or two from the Asian continent which has learnt to tell its story in its own language to the rest of the world.
Geofrey Gobanga
RE: Nairobi Stock Exchange Bear Run: Are we there Yet?
It has also been widely speculated that the NSE is culpable to manipulation by greedy wealthy investors. This lot has the ability to engineer artificial price rallies and then dump the same equities on unsuspecting retail investors and this has contributed to diminished confidence in the NSe. In a nutshell: weak regulation, rogue brokers, limited counters and a market that doesn't follow fundamental investment principles blame it on information poverty.
Geofrey Gobanga
RE: SIFE Moi University Semi-Finalists in World Cup
It is my hope and prayer that these students get the necessary support from both their Institution and the relevant Ministry to do much more and bring about the much needed positive change in our country and its communities and the idea or project can be replicated across the nation amongst the different communities.
Geofrey Gobanga
RE: Africa’s Unity: Arabs Have a Hidden Agenda
Mihangwa has a ground for saying all this. Congrats brother for educating us -- the African masses. GOD BLESS YOU!
Francis E. Semwaza
China Toxic Milk Apology Lessons for Africans
Maintaining global standards is indeed a best practice that can help African entrepreneurs become Wave Riders and generate substantial wealth. In particular, certain U.S. Government environmental and food safety standards can be incorporated for products that are then exported back to the U.S. Plus, there are opportunities for technology transfers that accelerate can accelerate ECOWAS country-specific and regional growth.
Charles Floyd
Tanzanian Teachers Crisis should be Resolved
Last week was Mwalimu Nyerere's death anniversary and Tanzanian media covered quite a bit on it. Had he been around, do you think he would have allowed the Tanzanian Teachers crisis to boil to such a level that they want to strike and court orders them otherwise?The politicians are behaving as if they can play around with the rights of these teachers. What they are demanding is what they toiled for. They should be promptly paid and respected. Politicians should remember that these teachers have a very long reach in convincing the masses to vote them out of the offices come 2010 elections.An in-depth coverage on this story will be very interesting.
Narendra Gajjar
Global Financial Crisis: Free Market Advocates have NOT taken Cover!
Mr. Shikwati! Your argument against Tajudeen’s well presented position is a far cry from reason. Wealth is never created by corporations but by workers who are being exploited by corporations. The market never punishes individual workers and corporations alike. The thieves who manipulated the market to cause the financial crisis have their monies kept safely out of reach by the respective government. The truth is that the neo-liberal stage of capitalist development has reached its zenith. If it escapes this one, another disaster is around the corner. Let us not wait for another 1929.
Edward Oyugi
Poverty Statistics versus CDF: Which Way for Kenya?
It is interesting to note the vitality of targeting in poverty reduction efforts, while this defeats the politics of allocation; it fails to produce the desired envisaged changes in the lives of the poor - the ultimate goal. If it were so, the huge funds that have been targeted at poor areas could have produced enormous results. But why is it not always the case? It is now clear that our targeting claims are suspect to poverty itself. While targeting focuses at the product -poverty, the causes are left unattended to. As such, a huge sum of funds simply sinks down the hole.
It would then be prudent to stagger geographical targeting. First, the poverty level based targeting can be used to identify the critical areas of need as is suggested in this article. But second and crucial is that within those areas, the funds to be awarded should be targeted at the leading causes of poverty. By fighting the causes of poverty rather than the effects of poverty, the efficacy of funds are increased. This gives the right dose to the right cause of sickness and not the other way around - a right dose to the symptoms of the disease. In sum, targeting must be poverty cause focused and not poverty effects driven.
Alfred Lakwo
Kreigler Report: Why Civil Society is Quiet
I could not have put it any better myself. I look forward to the day that Kenyans will begin to realise that they are the ones with whom the power sits. They have the say. The civil society has slowly evolved a politics of its own that scarily mirrors that of the system they say to us they are fighting. How else can we interpret their silence and inaction? Speak Kenyans!!
Minayo
