The name of the new company is AKSENT Ltd. We will continue to do the great work you are used to so have no fear .

There are many things that one can take from that lesson: 1. give people useless repetetive tasks to do to kickstart the economy. 2. develop a new and innovative strategy to encourage an economy to recover. 3. Nothing.

I must give our Kenyan decision makers the props for not taking option number three away from this lesson – as they sooooo often do, at least someone in that thieving bunch (9 billion shillings budget typing error? Yeah right! That is about 125 million dollars)  went to University and read their photocopied notes from some bofin – I am certain they never attended any classes, that would require discipline, something the current occupants of our August House are desperately lacking in.

Anyway, I am sure at this point you are wondering what the point of all this is. Well if you have been keeping your eyes open as you drive from A to B,  you will have noticed masses of people desguised as Mungiki activists (dislexically dressed mobs of people weilding pangas, slashers, etc) standing by the roads huddled in a menacing manner. They almost look like they are waiting for the right moment to pounce on you and instantly strip you of all the earthly possesions you may have on you.

Well, if you think like me you will be happy to find out that you are wrong. These guys are actually the fruit of some Kenyan vote-seeking luminary’s strategy. The strategy is this: instead of cutting grass with machines (and similar tasks that can be quickly done by machine) use human energy. The net result is a massive mob of poeple just attacking anything green coming out of the ground in a desparate attempt to earn their wage at the end of the day – or look busy.

I wondered for a moment if this was bad or good. I decided it was good. At least smeone is trying to reduce the masses that gather at our numerous jobless corners by giving them something to do… but cut grass and trim hedges? Seriously? Is it just me or is Kenya just from begging the global community for money due toa drought of some sort (or was it just an excuse to ask for more money that can be ghosted upon arrival?), so why would we be cutting grass right now, the little buggers are just recovering!

In the spirit of not just critisizing the Kenyan Governemtn and moving on – like so many of us do, I have a proposal… Why don’t they pay these same guys to build houses/schools/hospitals and any infrusture we might need… I guarantee you that 100% of the guys doing this work or at least that should be doing it, don’t have a proper house to live in. So why not find some place and start them off building houses en masse that can later be given ‘em. Then pay them for that.

Even if the government decides the finished product is too nice to give away, at least a genune contribution will have been made to the Kenyan economy , but cutting grass. Seriously?

Anyway, maybe it is just me… let me know what you think…

That is actually how it works… I know the grand hustle got yu thinking you can’t step of your steed but seriously homy, if you don’t rest the old fashioned way you are probably going to be come a zombie…

so, for your own good, please ignore ads liek this:

So I have left it in a bit of context so that you can see i am notmaking any of this up!

I have always ignored a lot of it because i have felt like if were in the same shoes I would act the same or at least very similar: not pay taxes and constantly seek better pay. – i often said who wouldn’t.

But recently the GM foods issue came up in the media, regarding a bill in which our agricultural minister sought to have GM foods introduced into our food systems.

At first I had no idea what it was all about, being a young busy designer with aspirations of retiring by 40, my head was down and I was concentrating on making money.

This head-down-money-making concentration was broken by a friend who was so passionate about the issue that i raised my head up for a while to listen, hear what a friend had to say about the issue.

What I heard was alarming! I was hearing “patented”, I was hearing “design to work with only certain agro-chemicals” and I was hearing “only a few companies control these patents.”

Basically, what I was hearing is that our food would be controlled by just a few people who aren’t even Kenyan, or African for that matter.

So, not only do I barely contribute my money to real Kenyans except through tax (a contribution i am not so sure is really benefiting Kenya as much as it is a few individuals) and buying as much local produce as i can, what I was hearing is that even the food i eat would no longer benefit small farmers struggling to get by, who are by far the majority.

So I put my head down to continue my work but decided that at some point i would read up about GM foods and the implications it would have for Kenyans and perhaps Africans as a whole.

Less than a month later, the January 2009 isssue of the NewAfrican came out titled, GM Food – Is it good for Africa? Were they listening to me when I said I needed more information?

I have to say what I read was shocking! What was even scarier to me is that someone who claimed to have the interest of Kenyans at heart, and took a mandate from his own people to represent these interests was trying to push GM Food down our throats!

The history of GM foods reads like The Godfather – the original mafia story. We all know what the mafia is about – itself. Yet somehow, with all the evidence that would be readily available to someone as high up as a member of Cabinet, GM Foods are still being aggressively pushed onto us.

After reading that article I decided I had my answer… I now know that I am different. Who am I to speak out about anything I see?

I am different!

I would not shackle my own people with the irons of slavery (as introducing GM Foods to Kenya would do) I would not enroll my WHOLE country into a global experiment (such as the GM Foods industry really is) to determine if the FOOD they eat s even safe.

For goodness sake! This is food we are talking about here! Even the Cabinet Minister himself would eventually come into contact with these foods and what if the experiment is determined to be a failure? What then?

The few studies on the effects of GM Foods that have seen the light of day urge us to steer clear of these foods, much as the authors of these studies themselves have lost the privilege themselves of being seeing in a positive light (did i say mafia?), because GM Food has sought to ruin their careers in a big way, through smear campaigns and other similarly mafia-like tactics.

Again I say, I am different – not better, just different. I wouldn’t go near GM Food, much as it is touted to be the cure for Africa’s near incessant hunger. Other solutions are available, one of which was also addressed in the same issue of the New African, Jan 2009.

I haven’t gone into the detail of the articles i read because that isn’t what this post is about. I urge you, however, to find information on the independent studies done on GM Food, and also on what happened to the author’s of it.

Then ask yourself – Do I want to be part of this, or am I different?

Here are some links for you to read up on personally and form your own opinion (but get a copy of the NewAfrican Jan 2009):

Wikipedia – brief history of GM Foods, Wikipedia – controversies you should know about, BBC’s take on GM Foods from various angles, Read about how GM-Food manufacterers also produce the herbicides that go with their produce and the effects these have had and a bit more mafia-like stuff in this Wikipedia article based on one pesticide.

Big town mentality means that you need to have a car and you need to live in a nice part of Nairobi. Not too long ago, the only badly planned residential areas were to be found in Eastlands, today, take a stroll down Rhapta Road or Riara Road and you will see some of the worst put looking residential areas.

True the houses are in the nice parts of Nairobi, true they are spacious but when you take a step back and look at the neighborhood it might as well be in Eastlands where there was literally no planning and too many buildings in spaces too small to support them.

Now, Corporates in Kenya have started putting up their own buildings everywhere. This in itself isn’t a bad thing especially because what this means is that people like us (small businesses that need low rent offices) but they are going about it completely wrong!

I have just been to a corporate building where there were no more than 50 parking spaces, and how tall is the building? It has 8 floors! Somehow I feel like just the people renting the spaces won’t have enough parking for themselves let alone those visiting them – bring them business that will pay the rent. It is absolutely crazy!

What on earth were the architects thinking? The City Council – since they approved the plans? The corporate that owns the place? Do they suppose that we are earning enough money to cab it everywhere like they do in other major cities around the world? Or that we are ready to give up our newly acquired cars to jump into taxis? Are they kidding?

Someone needs to give this some thought, either cabs reduce their fares or we get paid more or they create parking, but they cannot deny us everything!