Learned colleagues.
Educated friends.
Fellow Kenyan Brethren.
Allow me to start by
quoting that individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean[1]. That is why we are each other's harvest; we are each other's
business; we are each other's magnitude and bond[2] so please allow me (in the
public interest of-course)to quote on a practice
that our nation’s Capable and resilient leadership is adopting which alike its
vicious brothers slavery & colonialism leads to eternal debt .
I was shocked the other day
when I read an article online where President Uhuru Kenyatta said the Government is working on the
country’s tax system to make it more friendlier to foreign investors. President
Kenyatta said double taxation and other barriers that inhibit foreign
investment will be removed for the country to retain its rightful position as
the regional business hub[3]. This was followed by the
various trips to Kuwait, China and the Global world as a whole to encourage
foreign investment in Kenya.
This is a misguided move,
that is not well researched and thought of and that lacks expert opinion and if
it has the it is fraudulent, and if you would grant me more of your precious
attention (seeing you’ve made it this far) then I would show you how it is a de-service
to our nation if such practices are adopted.
You see under colonialism
the ownership was complete and backed by military domination. Today, in many African
countries the foreign ownership is still present, although the armies and flags
of foreign powers have been removed. So long as foreigners own land, mines,
factories, banks, insurance companies, means of transportation, newspapers, power
stations, etc. then for so long will the wealth of Africa flow outwards into the
hands of those elements. In other words, in the absence of direct political
control; foreign investment ensures that
the natural resources and the labour of Africa produce economic value which is
lost to the continent [4]
It often takes the form of
loans to the government , these loans have to be repaid, in the 1960s the rate
of repayment (amortization) on official loans in underdeveloped countries rose
from $400 million per year to about $700 million per year, and it’s been on the
increase ever since, it’s painful to
imagine the current rate.[5] Furthermore, there is
interest to be paid on this loans and profits to be made from this direct
investments, the profits all flow outwards from the African continent, this
brings about something known as capital flight, this is when a country’s wealth
including profits made flow outwards of that country because it is not
nationals of that country that own the bases of production.
"The magnitude of
African capital flight is staggering both in absolute monetary values and
relative to GDP. For the thirty-three sub-Saharan African countries for which
we have data, we find that more than $700 billion fled the continent between
1970 and 2008. If this capital was invested abroad and earned interest at the
going market rates, the accumulated
capital loss for these countries over the thirty-nine-year period was $944
billion."[6]
Ills
of Foreign Direct Investment
Ø Ecological
Debt: when foreign investors come to Arica they exploit our natural resources
without boundaries and without consideration of the people living round that
area and how that extraction process affects them.
In
Nigeria Ogoniland shell company has been extracting crude oil for decades now
however they have done it negligently and as a result they have had numerous
oil spills that have never been cleaned up and they practice gas flaring, the
oil spills have practically killed the flora and fauna of life here and no crop
can grow, in some places people walk ankle deep in oil, mothers have miscarried
babies, lost newly born children due to their breast milk being cancerous,
shell have successfully exercised the mass extermination of a village, for more
on this you can watch the documentary called Poison Fire on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bq2TBOHWFRc
Ø Privatization
of public institutions: Let’s start with capitalism shall we, you see private
property is a principle tenet of capitalism and capitalism entails the endless accumulation
of wealth, through profit of course and this accumulation is accumulation by
dispossession, hence private institutions are out here for profit not provision
of public service, hence even when planning the provision of services they are not
putting the general welfare in mind but their own private welfare.
Examples
Kenya’s transport industry used to be government owned the services may have
been moderate or poor to some( but you have not been bestowed the capacity nor
authority to make broad policy considerations of that magnitude hence hush
citizen, your only one in 44 million) but the prices were constant come rain
come sunshine hell come winter. But nowadays even when the smell of rain covers
the area fares triple because this is a private organization,
Kenya’s
telecommunication industry was government owned but due to this vermin of worshipping
foreign investments it had not gotten to good standards but the country was
working towards t because they had installed underground copper wires all over
the country then before this plan came into fruition Bam! Telkom Kenya was privatized
and sold to orange who are not concerned with providing public services but profit!
Is foreign
direct investment really the key?
Any
alternative ideas?
Remember
your country Kenya is very rich and if the right policies are employed we can
Invent our future!
[1] Quote
by Ryunosuke Satoro
[2]
Quote by Gwendolyn Brooks
[3] http://www.nation.co.ke/business/Double-taxation-to-be-abolished-Uhuru-kenyatta/-/996/2221110/-/10rblcd/-/index.html
[4] http://www.marxists.org/subject/africa/rodney-walter/how-europe/ch01.htm
(33 of 45) [8/22/05 11:03:07 AM]
How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. Walter Rodney 1973
page 39
[5]
Ibid Page 40
[6] -
L. Ndikumana and J. Boyce, in Africa's Odious Debts.
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