Monday 6 May 2013

[wanabidii] Re: [uchunguzionline] Re: We eat Nyama Choma,should we make toothpics!

Mr. Okello,
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Toothpicks are no longer made from real trees, they are made from a grass called "bamboo", which nobody in Kenya would be willing to grow because Kenyans are a thieving nation in which nobody has the patience to wait for a bamboo forest to be established, from which forest toothpicks would then be manufactured.
 
From: Jagem K'Onyiego <jairuschurch@yahoo.com>
To: "wanakenya@googlegroups.com" <wanakenya@googlegroups.com>; "uchunguzionline@yahoogroups.com" <uchunguzionline@yahoogroups.com>; AFRICA OPED <africa-oped@yahoogroups.com>; Vugu Vugu <vuguvugumashinani@yahoogroups.com>; BUNGE MWANACHI <bungelamwanainchi@yahoo.com>; MWANYAGETINGE NETWORK <mwanyagetinge@yahoogroups.com>; "Kiswahili@yahoogroups.com" <Kiswahili@yahoogroups.com>; "wanabidii@googlegroups.com" <wanabidii@googlegroups.com>; "wananchi@googlegroups.com" <wananchi@googlegroups.com>; YOUNG PROFESSIONALS <youngprofessionals_ke@googlegroups.com>; progressive minds <progressiveminds@yahoogroups.com>
Cc: CHANGE MOMBASA 2012 <changemombasa2012@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, 7 May 2013, 2:27
Subject: [uchunguzionline] Re: We eat Nyama Choma,should we make toothpics!
 
Evans,

I don't agree with it Toothpicks have depleted forests in Malaysia. They will certainly reduce Mau to a barren land.

Jagem
 
Living among the Mighty requires Wisdom.
 
From: Evans MACHERA <evansmachera@yahoo.com>
To: uchunguzionline@yahoogroups.com; AFRICA OPED <africa-oped@yahoogroups.com>; Vugu Vugu <vuguvugumashinani@yahoogroups.com>; BUNGE MWANACHI <bungelamwanainchi@yahoo.com>; MWANYAGETINGE NETWORK <mwanyagetinge@yahoogroups.com>; Kiswahili@yahoogroups.com; WANAKENYA KENYA <wanakenya@googlegroups.com>; wanabidii@googlegroups.com; wananchi@googlegroups.com; YOUNG PROFESSIONALS <youngprofessionals_ke@googlegroups.com>; progressive minds <progressiveminds@yahoogroups.com>
Cc: CHANGE MOMBASA 2012 <changemombasa2012@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, May 6, 2013 8:24 AM
Subject: We eat Nyama Choma,should we make toothpics!
Bindra Sunny's articles makes my good reading in every sunday - Daily Nation.Charles
 
If we trained on handwork right from our primary schools,by secondary level,we can have skilled personel that tertially institutions sharpens to manufature a number of items hence create jobs.
 
Perhaps its high time our MPs created suitable environment for not only enriching themselves through hefty salaries,but fund training and afforestation programmes among others so that we can manufature toothpics that goes alongside our social ways of life (Nyama choma) that in return have tree planting,manufature toothpics,export and save on foreign expediture!
 
Should Kenya Make Toothpics! - Bindra Sunny.
 
My friend and fellow columnist Charles Onyango-Obbo asked an interesting question on Twitter recently: why don't Kenya and other African countries make toothpicks? I promised to answer, so here is a response.
 
Perhaps the question is better framed in the way that many of Charles's followers seemed to put it: why can't we even make toothpicks? The toothpick, you see, is viewed by many as something very simple: it is small, cheap, made of one thing, and has only one use. Every country should be able to make toothpicks, surely?
 
Not so fast. Making a good toothpick is no simple matter. You need the right type of wood to start with: ideally white birch. You need machinery that strips bark off the wood; that chops the wood into uniform pieces; that cuts the pieces into even-sized picks; that filters out the broken or uneven ones; that dries the remaining pieces and polishes them; and finally that packs the uniform picks into handy package sizes.
 
You get the point: the end-product may look simple; the process of producing it is not. You require a substantial supply chain and investment in heavy-duty automated plant to do this at all well.
 
A second point: we aren't the only ones struggling with making toothpicks. America used to make 75 billion toothpicks annually; now, it makes hardly any. Even its own brands carry those ubiquitous words, "Made in China."
 
But is America really sad about not making toothpicks any more? Not very. Perhaps it is better off leaving China, with its many cost advantages and state support, to make low-value items like those, as it concentrates its own efforts on design, high technology and research?
Thirdly, are toothpicks even the right thing to be making? They are a carryover from the days of using twigs to clean our mouths. Dental hygiene has moved on. If we want to make something, should we not be focusing on dental floss – or its successor, whatever that might be? I realize that many Kenyan men still keep a toothpick in the mouth or behind the ear as a fashion accessory, but this surely will die out soon…
 
Despite all of that, some hardy souls do make toothpicks in Kenya. Here are some of the things they will very likely encounter: a dysfunctional port which will make importations very difficult; a railway that is yet to function as it ought to; a corrupt and expensive system of regulating the movement of materials by road; a power distribution system that seems to see no crisis in businesses losing electricity for an increasing number of days every month; importers who seem immune to customs duties and who can undercut any local producer; and municipal bodies that regard it their sworn duty to harass and extort money from anyone silly enough to start a business of any sort.
 
With that in mind, it is a wonder we make anything at all, let alone toothpicks.
And so, Charles's question triggers many answers, all of which provide an insight into the true challenges of business in Africa. It is not enough to have a consuming class; we must also create a producing class. It is not enough to produce the simple stuff; Africa will have to leapfrog into the complicated stuff soon. If we wish to produce anything of any quality, it is not enough to leave all of this to private endeavour; governments have to provide the essential infrastructure, clean up regulation and get the hell out of the way.
 
Any African economy has to learn the art of adding value. That is about moving on from primary production, and deepening the skills of supply-chain management, brand building and customer care. It is not about making everything we need, it is about making the right things – those we can excel at.
                                       =======================================
 
The Economy,stupid - Bill Clinton !
 
--- On Mon, 5/6/13, Kuria-Mwangi <kjmwangi@gmail.com> wrote:

From: Kuria-Mwangi <kjmwangi@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [uchunguzionline] MPs want salary increased to 2 million
To: "uchunguzi online" <uchunguzionline@yahoogroups.com>
Cc: "CHANGE MOMBASA 2012" <changemombasa2012@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Monday, May 6, 2013, 4:42 AM

 
Wanjiru
So they want it tripled? These knuckleheads do not even read the mood in the nation.
The header is misleading. While the meeting was attended by one or two knuckleheads from Nyanza, I think the header makes it look as if it was a Nyanza and RV leaders meeting where they took a position. I only differences on the issue and only 1 or 2 directly supported the increase.

Rift Valley, Nyanza MPs join push for pay increase

On Mon, May 6, 2013 at 7:11 AM, Maryann Wanjiru <http://us.mc1219.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=cirumariga2007@gmail.com> wrote:
 
Daily Nation @dailynation 1m
A section of #MPs from #RiftValley and #Nyanza want their basic salaries increased to Sh2 million per month http://bit.ly/12aPK7x
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