Kenya Vision 2030: “A national long-term development blue-print to create a globally competitive and prosperous nation with a high quality of life by 2030, that aims to transform Kenya into a newly industrializing, middle-income country providing a high quality of life to all its citizens by 2030 in a clean and secure environment.”

Sounds good, social, and sustainable. Let’s move on to the ‘Thika Superhighway’ – a formerly four-lane road between Nairobi, Kenya’s capital city, and the industrial satellite town of Thika to the North, which was expanded to eight to twelve lanes for approximately 360 Mio. USD from 2009 to 2012:

Thika Highway Improvement Project:

Journalist: “It’s the best ever project for the country that will improve our transport system.”

Investor: “(…) it redefines the urban landscape of Nairobi.”

Researcher: “Thika Highway foremostly benefits Kenya as a nation. It is outward directed as a message that such a project can be realized.”

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Since 2008, the Kenyan government has been pursuing the implementation of its Vision 2030 through more than “120 transformational and cross-sector flagship projects” based on the vision’s economic, social, and political governance pillars. Thika Highway is one of the big flagships amongst all these projects, although the actual idea for the highway upgrade was already born decades before the government came up with its vision.

One could dig deeper into the development of Kenya Vision 2030 or the design of the Thika Highway Improvement Project, but I would like to look at the interrelation between these two and discuss the role of the ‘local poor’ vis-à-vis them.

From my in-depth interviews with key stakeholders in the Nairobi Metropolitan Region, I can say that Kenya Vision 2030 works (or better: performs) as a strong thought framework from which Kenya’s elite (politicians, investors, intellectuals, bureaucrats, etc.) views the development path and possible policies and projects for the country. Thika Highway is seen as the logical necessity for boosting all at once: the local socio-economic development, the hub function of the Nairobi Metropolitan Region, the nation’s economic growth, and the East African region’s trade interconnectivity.

Does this not sound perfect?! But practitioners as well as researchers know well from other cases that there is hardly ever a piece of the cake for every stakeholder. As supranational banking institutions like to admit: There are winners and losers.

But in contrast to the assumptions of narrow-minded traditional economic theories, conscious decisions must be taken by those in power to make the way for some groups winning and other groups losing. Without any doubt, the Thika Highway Improvement Project has brought undeniable positive impacts to the peri-urban corridor area between Nairobi and Thika! But as one interviewee who studied this area for many years correctly pointed out: “None of that was depending on the highway. That was dependent more on land use and physical development planning. So you know, I think this idea that people have that you build a highway and all these things emerge from it is nonsense.”

Turning directly to losers that can be found along the Thika Highway corridor, I would like to just exemplify the impacts on the ‘local poor’ (and I apologize for this fuzzy category that will receive much more space for definition and discussion in the final master thesis for which I conducted this research):

Investor: “Losers. (…) No. I think it benefits everybody.”

Researcher: “In lower rent places, the rents are going up, so now it’s becoming harder for poorer folks to go there.”

Government consultant: “Like, right now, one of the things that you can be sure of is that the major part of the poor people are going to be thrown out very fast. (…) Usually when a road is done like that, it’s not supposed to go through built-up areas. But you find that we have done the road without the planning.”

Government official: “(…) Why they don’t take care for themselves? (…) I don’t know how (…) it’s the business of the Government to (…) compensate those people who have been hit otherwise by market forces?! (…) Government has better things to do, much more urgent things to do (…).”

Civil society representative: “We’ll find there very high-quality property or estates along the Superhighway, but of course the informal settlements along that corridor will not go away. They will still be there. So, I think they’re working hand in hand, because that is the practice in several parts, particularly in Nairobi.”

So is Kenya Vision 2030 a good undertaking? Is the Thika Highway Improvement Project catering both to the global and local needs of Kenya’s society and economy? …Those are complex questions. For now, I can conclude that decision makers in Kenya would be able to assess more precisely the impacts of large-scale investments, if they looked into the ‘dirty complexities’ of projects like this one.

There are vast real-estate investment opportunities for both local and international investors, who wish to capitalize on the growing Kenyan property market. Although the rate of returns on foreign real-estate investments in Kenya are high and to some degree guaranteed, they are only so when foreign investments are made in the right type of property and in the right location.

The summit of Kilimanjaro. View on the Uhuru peak and the glacier around old crater, Africa’s highest point

Foreign investment Hot Spots in Kenya

City investment

Majority of foreign real-estate investments in Kenya are predominantly made within cities. These includes areas such as:

• The central business districts (CBDs) of Nairobi, Kisumu and Mombasa.  These attract mostly foreign investors interested in commercial and residential properties, which generate high rental yields.

• Most rental commercial property foreign investors investing in CBDs target corporate organizations and institutions with the capital and resources to invest in long-term rental properties. Some have ten year lease periods.

• The city outskirts, such as Kitengela, Athi River, Thika and Ruiru
  • Provide additional space to accommodate the crowded city residential areas, especially for parking and traffic jams.
  • Cost effective for foreign investors because they reduce development costs.
  • Becoming a lucrative area for high-end and middle-class residential and commercial properties for both organizations and individuals.

• Along city’s highways and roads that are opening previously closed off areas. The most notable highways that are increasingly attracting foreign investment includes Mombasa Road, Thika Super highway, Jogoo Rd, Ngong Rd etc.,

Most wealthy Asian and Middle Eastern investors prefer to invest in major towns and cities in Kenya in a bid to reduce their investment risks and to cut their capital costs.

Tourist areas

Majority of European expatriates and other investors from the Western world prefer to make their foreign investments in tourist areas in a bid to capitalize on the flourishing tourism sector in Kenya. The main areas of interests are:

• Coastal areas of Malindi, Mombasa and Lamu

These resort towns have registered a 20% growth rise for high-end residential real estate beating international coastal towns such as Miami and Cape Town.

• Major foreign investments are made in development of 5-star hotels, home resorts, luxury housing apartments, tourist lodges and restaurants.
• Most notable are the mushrooming foreign-owned villas and mansions in these areas. The villas are used by foreign owners/investors to reside permanently, or to rent out to wealthy foreign/local tourists or alternatively using them as recreation areas when they come to Kenya for holidays

• National Parks and Wildlife Conservancy Areas

Areas within and outside national parks and wildlife conservancy areas in Kenya are building their status as a hub for high-end residential properties for wealthy foreigners and locals who retire in these places, or those who see Kenya as an ideal recreation destination.

• Foreign property investments made in these areas are mostly tourist lodges, plush country houses, ranches, wildlife conservancies and tourist hotels.

Places that have registered increased property investments in regards to their proximity to national parks and wildlife conservancy areas in Kenya include:

• Laikipia: home to Lewa Wildlife conservancy
• Mount Kenya Region: harbors major tourist lodges and wildlife conservancy projects
• Tsavo East and Tsavo West: suitable for tourist lodges owing to its rich flora and fauna
• Nakuru: low-cost foreign investment area
• Naivasha: a new and a rapidly growing tourist town that is not only ideal for tourist-related foreign investments such as lodges and hotels but also lucrative for agricultural investments due to its fertile horticultural farms.

Football Kenya Federation

Offiice Address:                                Nyayo Sports Complex Kasarani P.O. Box 12705-00400 NRB NAIROBI, Kenya

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Please contact us to list your football club, charity, school or academy in Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru, Eldoret, Kisumu, Ruiru, Thika, Kitale, Malindi, Garissa, Kakamega, Bungoma, Nyeri, Meru, Kilifi.

Here is a post with my reject pictures from the trip to The Wholistic Caring And Counselling Center and the Jewels Of Jesus School. Hit the Facebook link for quality pictures a la friend Grace and to get to know what The Domino Effect is all about.

S.

I was alarmed by the high cases of road accidents on the yet to be completed Super highway to Thika. Maybe I should have called it The Kibaki highway as some media houses prefer. One thing that has come into sharp focus is how everyone is quick to pass the blame to pedestrians, motorist and mostly the matatu drivers. Why would a sane Kenyan drive a vehicle he has poured so much sweat to buy across boulders erected by the Chinese contractors? Why would anyone want to rush across a multi-lane (to be precise 12 including the service lanes) road when oncoming traffic at 80kph or more speeding towards you? If this is not the behaviour of sick people someone else is sick. And that person is the implementor.  The main reason for the many road accidents (around 70 casualties between Jan and April) on that road is due to our poor workmanship. I heard a friend retort that the Chinese do a good job but rank very low on courtesy. They rarely tell you what is going to happen and work as if their target is to surprise you.

Accident scene. Taken from behind the vehicle to show the boulders. Click on photo view a larger image

A few months ago the police were arresting motorist for not having the lifesavers. From the driving guide, I reckon the lifesavers should be positioned  50 meters behind and infront of a stalled/broken down car. Notice the signboard  above alerting motorists of a road closure along Thika road. The signpost is barely 5 meters from where the blockage is. What happened to early warnings? They could save a life if they had warned the motorist at least 200 meters before. Why 200 meters? Because unlike a stalled car, the clossure affects  affects the whole road and being so many lanes, one would need time to change lanes from the inner to the outer. Same goes for a motorist, on such a road, a good distance would be 100 meters of warning. ie. Considering this is an express road, you do not expect everyone to be driving at 80kph. What happened to braking distance.

What about notices? The law requires that the contractors put a notice in the media before closing any sections of the road. Just like happened on Waiyaki way where motorists were informed of a closure a month before the said closure occured, it would be wise to have notices at least about a week before the closure. Its not hard, they know they will be closing a certain section of the road a week before they actually finish what they are doing and move to close the road, a notice is out. What happens currently is that motorists drive on a smooth road in the morning and by the time they are going home  a section is closed and the first thing one experiences is an adrenaline rush on noticing the closure. Woe unto you if you go home late when there is very little traffic to perform stunts that will warn you on that dark stretch of a super highway. Before I complete this paragraph, who in the right mind authorised contractors to put block the road using materials that will definitely kill you should you misstep? By this I mean, Construction Lorries and earth movers, Culverts and boulders. The best would have been plastic followed by piles of soil. This way, the contractors workers are safe and the drivers are also safe. I think the government and contractors owe Kenyans an apology on that one.

Finally, and most important footbridges should have first been operational before the road is opened to traffic. In any other way, you have a death trap. Just have a look at Mombasa road and experience the chaos for crossing pedestrians.

The most organised of the 3 contractors happens to be Sinohydro, no wonder they rate so high on the top 225 global contractors list. The others have some catching up to do although all of them have done a brilliant finishing. Have a safe driving day and take extra caution in this rain.

/The Gatundu Prince

Follow @gatunduprince

I then remembered a chat I had with my friend Denis(@deniskarema) who runs a feeding program for a primary school in Ruiru, near Nairobi. He says that you do not need to do everything for the poor. Just do one thing. It will have a big impact. He and other young guys run an initiative called #foodForEducation. They take some kids from Ruiru primary School and give them lunch. Just lunch. It costs Ksh 200 to feed a child for a week. The project impacts on the education of the children involved. It is currently feeding 30 children who would have otherwise gone hungry all day. It is amazing if you think about it. A child cannot concentrate in class on an empty stomach. Feed the child and he or she is able to learn and participate more in class.

There are many more young Kenyans who are taking on the challenges of society themselves. You only need to see a problem around you and do something little. If all of us did something small, the impact would be amazing.

Do something today. Whether it is donating 200 to feed a child for a week or volunteering to tutor your poor neighbour’s kid, the little you do will change someone’s life as well as yours.

Education remains the key to a better tomorrow; better leadership, peace, development and growth of any particular nation.

Provision of education guarantees a nation that a vicious cycle of poverty, ignorance and intolerance is broken.

We at St. Augustine Center value education and that why we dedicate our scarce resources to ensure children get quality and holistic education that will shield them from many challenges in the world. We strive to ensure kids become more responsible and determined.

To mark a journey that started in 2003, we held a graduation ceremony for the pioneers; the kids who did their final national examination in the year 2011. we celebrated together with the parents, our teachers, German School Nairobi fraternity and catholic Bishop.

We have compiled photos of the event here.

This is one of the sample essays by Lillian N. Wangari

st.Augustine kids

If I was a president of Kenya, I would make sure that the environment is clean and very smart so that my citizens would stay in an environment that is admirable. The first thing that I would do is to make sure that all towns and rural area have dust bins where they can throw the dirt and garbage and every home to be provided with bags and every morning the lorries will be coming to collect the dirt, these dirt will be taken to a place where it will be separated and recycled to make new materials that can help us. After the dust bins are put in place, anyone seen throwing dirt anywhere other than in the dust bins will face the full force of the law that include fine of 5000 Kenya shillings. The second thing I would do is to make sure that there is no factory that is releasing chemicals in to our rivers, ocean and lakes or any other place that there is water. These chemicals are very harmful to human beings, plants and other animals and that’s why we should not let this chemical be released into rivers. The factories will be shown where to be releasing their waste chemicals to avoid polluting our environment. The rivers will be cleaned and they will be fresh again. The third thing I will do is that I would talk to owners of the industries so that they may stop releasing the dangerous gases into the atmosphere, this is threatening to the health of people. I am very sure there is another way they can release the gas instead into the atmosphere. I know that this gas is not only harmful to people but also to plants and to our building because the gas (sulphur dioxide and carbon dioxide) combines with rain water it form acid rain which leads to crops drying, rusting roofs and may cause death o some animals like fish in the rivers and lakes. The fourth thing at I would do is to first evict the people who have built in the forest and give them another place to build their houses since if they continue living in the forests they will cut all the trees and soon we will not have trees, trees will be planted in all parts of the counter to attract rain. As we all know, when there is rain the land will be ever green and flowers can grow well. This would make our country Kenya beautiful and so smart and we will be proud of it. I believe that if we do this our future generations will live in a much better country.

Essay by By Lillian N. Wangari Oct. 2011

And you know what I told Lillie? …………..That’s very good, remember Lillian that; each and every person has a role to play when it comes to protecting our environment. Even the small efforts you do at home play a big role in ensuring a clean surrounding. The government has it role and as citizens we have our role too. Kudos Lillian.