Yes, this is another thing about Kenya power and general infrastructure in the country. According to my tonnes of research (multiple refreshing of my twitter stream) most people in our country have been in the dark for the larger part of the week. Furthermore, a discussion I had helped me reach the realisation that the Kenya Power monopoly does not only just exist; it is entrenched in the law. This means that in order for a competitor to come into the market laws must be changed.
And that’s not all.
The country has been awash with political euphoria over the last couple of weeks. Most focussed on is our dear President, Freedom’s, laptops.
Everyone is talking about how he will give all the class ones laptops. Dissenters are talking about the larger need for educational reform. Blog posts are coming up saying that we don’t need laptops there are more immediate problems. To which the government responds “we know, that’s why we’re giving milk too.”
A new report has shown that there are 1 million children in Kenya that are still locked out of school.Given, in 1999 the number was twice that, but that’s still one million children. However, I think they are not going to school because they don’t see the value. The estimates place Kenya’s unemployment at 40%, although some analysts say it may be as high as 58%. You can imagine this kid asking himself “Why should I go to school? My brother went to school and it did nothing for him.” You can see the child’s parents thinking about why they need to waste resources on a potentially valueless education.
This is not to say that school is mainly to get you a job. But, let’s be honest, that’s the rhetoric isn’t it? Work hard, go to a good college, get a good degree then get a job. Without faith in that rhetoric, we will always have kids out of school.
Our fuel price formula has been criticised left right and centre. In fact, many people talk about the 7 shillings in the formula for inefficiency How will the fuel companies ever get efficient if they don’t have incentive to be efficient? Especially since the price of fuel affects the price of everything. Even Kenya Power translates the fuel cost to the consumer.
Clearly we have a myriad of issues in our country.
I have, however, decided that the real solution is in those laptops. His Excellency President Freedom, has made it clear that the laptops will be solar powered. The thing is, he never said what type of solar battery would come with these laptops. And here’s where the solution lies. I’m putting it to the government that they use any of these solar devices to power the laptops. With that amount of power the laptops could power the laptops, the villages and solar cars. If that happens Kenya Power will lose customers, if Kenya power loses customers they will have to clean up their act.
But what about the educational reform?
What about it? I already solved that one here.