GOK [or Jubilee] has made it clear they’d like fewer NGOs in Kenya and forced closure of >1000 of them.
http://qz.com/716518/kenya-is-pressuring-thousands-of-expat-ngo-workers-and-volunteers-to-go-home/
So why is Oxfam, the biggest of them all, setting shop in Nai ?
Why don’t they go to Harare or Johannesburg ?
The 1000’s of ngo’s closed were briefcase companies not helping anyone except owners accounts. On oxfam the expatriates and staff will now earn more wages if they are based here while that cash is worth 30% more here due to the cost cheaper cost of living in Kenya compared to UK. For example at best the management is living in london flats but here they will get 8 bedrooms ambassadorial houses at high end estates with all staff, amenities and benefits.
I’d really like to believe you because nothing else makes sense. With or without pay parity between locals and expatriates it is a lot of forex coming into our economy. Plenty of transfer of skills too. It’d be dumb to kick the legitimate ones out.
My fear is the ‘imperialism’ paranoia from ICC stuff is making Jubilee gov miss the forest for the trees.
What transfer of skills?? Buda, Kenya kuna very skilled people.
They are imperialist period, they may have given us political independence but they rigged the economy to there favour denying us economic freedom. We keep on exporting our raw materials to them to process and sell back worldwide. Unfortunately that is also our fault. Let us continue modernizing our economy, infrastructure and industry then forget about ngo’s and begging bowls.
Believe what you want. Kenya benefits from having foreign professionals here and same is true even for the OECD countries. There is a reason the US have a special visa targeting Chinese and Indian engineers. Unless you want to argue tumefika kileleni in terms of knowhow.
What special skills are required in NGO environment that Kenyans don’t have? It’s not believing what I want. I have 10 years experience working with NGO’s. I know their operations inside out. @4makind I know you are also in the NGO world. Are there skills that the expats bring to Kenya?
I’m sure most them are the “Jesus loves you” “have bible” kind but I want to believe there are some doing actual work. Personally I’ve never paid NGOs any special attention before today.
Ngo’s is overrated, i would prefer FDI that starts a business or industry that employ people and produces a product/service. This begging industry helps first the managers more than the beneficiary and its not self sustaining. Did you see recently the ngo that madonna sponsors has been earning 25 million a year for its 2 directors who are a couple.
What makes you be sure?
I’m very aware of that. And I remember reading how charities in the US raised half the GDP of Haiti in 2011 following the earthquake yet none of the money made it to Haiti. Most of the money was spent in the US as 'administrative costs".
Accountability skills. Leave an NGO receiving foreign funds with a local come after 6 monthsi wonder how much we can account for. Several horror stories locals taking over foreign charities floating.
you’re DAMN RIGHT!!
http://time.com/3908457/red-cross-six-homes-haiti/
The American Red Cross raised more than half a billion dollars to bring relief to Haiti after the devastating 2010 earthquake there, but it grossly overstated what the money bought.
Although the organization claimed to have provided housing to more than 130,000 people, it actually only built six permanent homes, according to a report by ProPublica and NPR.
That year, the Red Cross kicked off a big project to revitalize the neighborhood of Campeche in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. However, it has yet to build any homes in the neighborhood, and its residents still live in shacks without access to clean water, electricity, and basic sanitation.
Much of the Red Cross’s failure stems from passing on the money to other groups with more expertise in building projects, which resulted in less of the funds reaching those in need, ProPublica found.
Lots of unregulated charities sound the world.
At the end of the day all NGOs ni biashara
Will that recent law about not appointing a foreigner over an equally skilled Kenyan apply to Oxfam?
Most international NGOs are just an extension of the western foreign policy. That’s why you’ll find that they always keep a quota of top positions that can easily be filled by locals for expatriate staff who also double up as foreign agents.
I like your line of thinking ! If only most of us Efrikens would have a morsel of curiousity and question everything they’ve been brainwashed to believe. As individuals, nations and continent at large , things would be way way better!
These wazungus need to go back to their own country. We have many extremely educated, talented Kenyans (more than those whites by FAR) who can do a better job than their silly NGOs, minus the superiority complex. These people humiliate us when we go to embassies looking for a visa, so the same treatment should be meted upon them. If they fail to comply with our rules, then they should be deported after serving time in our jails. White people are not anymore special than blacks despite how they portray themselves. I believe Europeans are trying to get a foothold in Kenya coz their countries have been taken over by people who come from ISIS land. :D:D
Kenya tunaendelea kusonga mbele, this country and its hardworking people amaze me for real. When I was a college student in the US, I volunteered to come here for a mission trip. We were about 20 people in total, all whites, I was the only Kenyan in the group. In the evening, we would stay at Norfolk Hotel. Come dinner time people would be chatting about their day. With time, I started getting annoyed at how they were talking about the disgusting toilets, the flies everywhere, the rotten smells. Was the suffering and poverty all fun and games to these folks?? They had this aura of power, prancing around the locals like gods, it was horrible. I didn’t complete the “mission work” because as the days went on, one thing was very clear. They could do more for the people they were claiming to help, but it’s like they were there only to spectate. One of the ladies in charge of the group had the nerve to send me hate email bemoaning the fact that I had abandoned them, but I didn’t care. The whole thing was a sham, a total waste of time. The govt should kick these Western NGOs out with their overpaid, underworked “expats.” After all, there are millions of refugees from the Middle East that they could be helping back in their home countries.
For once I totally concur with you. Once in Kenya , one is bound by Kenyan law and if one breaks any one of the laws of the land, then that person should be punished accordingly !