there is a lot going on in agricultural research but how many youth are leaving/have left fertile land lying idle in their rural areas to come and make the Bunge la Mwananchi a daily occupation in towns and lament about unemployment whole day?
Do you know this country has a serious shortage of welders, plumbers, painters etc yet our youth and national polytechnics have idle capacity?
@Steelo wametumia ngapi zako tukurudishie? Meffi.
Cheki sub @Chifu . this isn’t actually about me, it’s about this country getting its priorities right. We can’t be making populist decisions at the expense of our future. Here’s a video of the same guy now saying education will be 100% free from class one to form 4. A noble idea but like I said before, there’s a price for free. All these ideas should be implemented but in the right way and at the right time. Simply using them to gain political mileage will affect the govt.'s ability to layout any long term strategy for this country. We don’t need to know whether old people will be paid a stipend or whether parents won’t have to pay a dime to schools. We need to know how these programs will be initiated, how they’ll be supported, what changes/sacrifices will be made to achieve these promises and their long-term sustainability. We’ve gone to school, can we start using our education for something other than our CV. We need plans and structures not roadside declarations.
You don’t seem to get what they are saying ngabu. They are saying the old people should be left to rot and die BECAUSE THE FUTURE BELONGS TO THE YOUTH.
So we can have NYS, AGPO, Online skills training, free/subsidised unis, etc etc etc costing billions FOR THE YOUTH WHO PRODUCE NOTHING but we can’t give a measly 2,000 bob monthly support to a retired farmer…he needs to die.
i was hoping to save the world from these people who seem to know everything that is wrong with the world but have absolutely no idea how to fix it…
…and, yes, i hear them loud and clear…
Yeah, the government and all its bullshit program for the youth. Show me one such initiative that has worked or wasn’t taken advantage of by some old guy somewhere. The online skills training is a sham that has made things worse for those who were already doing that work, NYS raped by the guys at the top. AGPO talk to those who have participated and ask how many of them got it 100% through the right channel and how many were paid in time. Everything done in the name of the youth in this country has been a cover for some sleazy old guys to get rich. You think the expression, kazi kwa vijana pesa kwa wazee started as a joke? I’m not saying old people should die, I’m saying we need a long term sustainable solution not short-term socialist bullcrap
how should we go about this has been my question all along and you are yet to give me an answer.
I didn’t actually see the question but I’ll be glad to answer it.
I believe that our main problems right now are food security, employment and corruption. Obviously the government can’t magically create jobs but we have a lot of underutilized resources in this country. I believe that by dealing with food security first, we’ll also be able to help bring down unemployment because food is one of the few things a person can sell and consume and it also creates other opportunities for other people down the pipeline.
I think the government should go back to taking farming seriously. We need a national food production plan that includes everything from what should be planted in various regions depending on climate, mass water harvesting, irrigation schemes etc. This may even make it easier for us to plan for an export market. Why should produce rot in one corner of the country simply because the farmers can’t reach the right market. There should be people put in charge to ensure that the work is done properly and resources correctly utilized. Galana Kulalu alone will not solve our food security problems. This will also help to reduce unemployment and even help those old people because food will at least be affordable and that’s something. I know there are similar measures in place but they are treated more like suggestions and it’s like nobody really takes them seriously because there’s just no oversight, no tangible plan. We treat farmers as if farming benefits them more than it does us as a country.
Secondly, how about the president actually tries to deal with the issue of corruption because it’s not that this country lacks good programs, it’s the corruption bringing them down and in an African country if the president decides to deal with an issue like corruption he/she can do it because they’d always have most people’s support. Always. If we can ensure that the resources we have are properly used and that people don’t have to trade their souls for food, we will have enough money for the old people and many other initiatives. However, judging by the fact that the government can allow something like the ‘maize shortage’ to occur, I’m not optimistic.
This here would only be a start because there is much more that needs to be done but how will we proceed when we can’t even account for what we have right now. Are we all supposed to grow old and dependent on the government. We have politicized food, tribalized and nepotized jobs and procurement and the worst part is that many of us can’t even admit that a problem exist or when it does it has to be someone else’s fault so let them start/stop doing whatever it is that will be the problem/solution. We need this government to start leading from the top. If the president and his VP were beyond reproach do you think a corrupt governor would walk freely?
Sorry for the long essay (if i had time it would be longer). My point is a nationwide food production plan and dealing with corruption (bribery, nepotism, tribalism etc). That would at least give us somewhere to start but then again I’ve been called naive in the past so let the rat race continue.
Galana Kulalu is not the only scheme. The government is already implementing six megadams to capture the waters off mt kenya and aberdares to provide irrigation water to semiarid areas north of Nyeri and southern laikipia. similar dams are ongoing elsewhere…
it is not quite true that agriculture has been left on its own. besides normal extension services done by county governments, the Agriculture Sector Development Support Program (ASDSP) is working with farmer support groups to impart new technologies, identify suitable high value crops suitable for their areas and organising the farmers into more efficient marketing groups…the weak link in agriculture is the youth who do not want to take up farming. one crop facing a generational challenge is coffee.
In short, what i would like to say is that some of us who like sparring here need to visit the rural areas more often to see what is happening. of course when we miss rains for more than two consecutive years it cannot be business as usual and shit like maize shortages are bound to happen…
That doesn’t mean that the money isn’t there. Those programs would be very effective if it was running as intended. That can be said for almost everything in Kenya.
I also think you blaming the government and the president is misplaced. Everyone is to blame. Corruption, food security are complex issues that cannot be looked at from one dimension. Policy makers do what is best but the implementation which has many cogs to the wheel is the problem.
Blaming everybody is the surest way to ensuring nobody shoulders the blame. When the organization isn’t running correctly changing the leadership is a common solution because it’s one that works in most cases… unless it’s south Sudan or Somalia. The guys at the top must assume responsibility when things go south because either they’re not leading the country in the right direction or lack the skills to convince people to follow them on the right path. either way, they are ineffective.
Was the generational problem the reason why farmers couldn’t make a living from coffee? There was a time when they did and then it all went south. What about people who have produce but can’t access market? Whether or not these measure are present, for some reason they are not working as they should and let’s not get into the maize issue because as much as poor weather may have had an effect, poor planning and strategic hoarding played the most part. Everything we try to do in this country is scuttled for one reason or another and nearly every time it involves people close to those in power.