A culture of wanton waste

There is nothing as bad as having something that does not become useful to someone else just because you prefer to waste it.

Africa's biggest challenge is not a lack of resources; rather it is a problem of mismanagement of what we have. It has been said before that our Continent is rich beyond our imaginations.

Be it food, electricity, water, or even our energy, we expend these with absolute disregard to efficiency.

Look at what happens in our offices during the weekends for instance: it is not uncommon to leave the lights on in the entire building over the whole weekend even though no one is making use of them. The automatic flushing water closets especially in urinals also keep pumping water though there's not a single soul making use of them. Even worse is the fact that we leave lights on during the day in our offices whilst the sun lights the rooms.

This is characteristic of the way we also handle food. In my village, Kathiranga in Meru County, for instance, farmers usually usually plant the same food crop at the same time. When it's cabbage harvesting time, therefore, there's more crop than the market needs at very low prices. More than half the crop rots in the farms as farmers realize no gains for their hard work. What is even more shocking is the fact that the cycle is repeated every year.

Workers at a Kenyan dairy plant spill part of 10,000 litres of milk this month, saying the factory’s capacity had been overstretched. - Photo courtesy of Business Daily Africa

These harmless looking small wastes contribute to the big challenge of resource loss. This coupled with human brain drain, capital flight and other forms of corruption, leaves our continent impoverished.

What can we do? Small deliberate acts of thrifty resource usage should be a daily act. Turn off the taps and lights when not in use, cook and consume only enough food. Engage in useful activities that ensure maximum output. Farmers should look for better ways of management of harvested food.

As a nation, we must first seal the proverbial leaking cup, before we attempt to become richer. I strongly believe that this is the way to go whether as an individual, as a country or as a continent.

Comments

How well-meaning parents ruined us

Growing up, it was common for our parents to encourage us and tell us how we could be anything we wanted in life. "You can do anything you set your mind to do!" They would cheer us on. "Even the president?" We'd ask unconvinced. "Yes, you could even become the richest man in the world!" All this fascinated us. We vowed to ourselves that we'd in fact become people of substance who would be recognized in the entire world for our achievements. We'd ride in super-yachts like Abramovich and the rest of the mega-rich. We would produce life changing inventions, innovating our way to stardom. We'd become the next prodigy in music and sports. All this is well and good, meant to lift our spirits. Assessing our lives however, no matter how much effort we have put in to realize our dreams and visions, they have eluded us. We have become adept at doing other things though: commenting on FB posts, retweets, identifying the hottest political issue...

What Africa may learn from Trump presidency

President-Elect Trump successfully ran under the banner of making America first, reducing foreign 'interference' and trying new ways to work with partners on the international scene to solve some intractable challenges. The first tenet, in my opinion, is something that should interest African nations, because of the collective acknowledged viewpoint of making Africa work for Africans. Looking back at the powers that scrambled for Africa more than 125 years ago to present day, we see challenges that have been brought about by the fact that Africa still remains a playground for western powers. The Democratic Republic of Congo fails to move forward due to the strong interests that keep fueling violence in order to continue the parasitic extraction of the vast resources with little benefit to the people of Congo. The CFA countries of Central and West Africa still depend on precolonial arrangements with France to manage their monetary policies, stealing the initiative fro...

Analyzing a carry trade proposal: Short USD, go long on bitcoin

I recently completed an assignment for an International Economics Policy class which entailed designing a carry trade. A carry trade is a financial transaction that involves borrowing (short) in a low interest currency, and lending (go long) in a high interest (yield) currency. For instance from Bloomberg 's rates for bonds, this would involve borrowing in Swiss francs (rate is -0.15 percent) and lend in New Zealand dollars (rate is 2.83 percent). All else remaining equal, the carry trade would yield a rate differential of 2.83+0.15 = 2.98 percent. Note: this is an unusual case where the interest rate we are borrowing from is negative; usually, this would involve subtracting the first interest rate from the second. For instance, borrowing in Japanese yen (0.04 percent) and lending in Kiwi dollars (at 2.83 percent) would yield 2.79 percent as profit. My carry trade in this case involves borrowing in USD at a rate of 2.33 percent, and buying bitcoins. But, what, you may ask, is the...

Munene, the journey...

Search This Blog