Kenyan businesses should form alliances

The harsh winter winds that brought snow and chaos to America are starting to turn to warmer breezes. While not yet spring, the chill has given way to promising shoots of new life.

I’ve been travelling a lot recently, and the view of America from the air is one of endless circles and squares of farmland between occasional masses of lights that represent the largest cities.

In between, there are roads that neatly connect the two civilisations here — the rural and the metropolitan.

On those farms, the brown earth is rising with spring wheat, maize and soybeans. Large herds of cattle, horses, lambs and goats graze on what seems like endless pasture. The forecast is for bumper crops of all types. In fact, the government reports that net income will be up by nearly 12 per cent from last year.

And despite a cold snap in Florida, there will be plenty of fruit. This is a culture of abundance. When you go to grocery stores in America, the choices are boundless and often confusing.

At any petrol station, you’ll find more choices of mints, candies and gum than one could swallow in a lifetime.

I’ve flown over Kenya and half of Africa. I’ve marvelled at what seems to be a perfect, year-round growing climate in the Rift Valley, and wondered why the government did not set up a programme to encourage farmers to grow a variety of staples that would feed the masses in the nation’s urban cores.

With the current food shortages in the country due to government incompetence, I must ask myself why Kenyans continue to put up with such corruption in every facet of their lives.

Under different management, a good life would be more common in Kenya. Today, roads are not built because politicians steal the money.

And when roads are built, they’re quickly in rough condition because construction crews are not well trained, the equipment is ill-maintained and materials are sub-standard.

IN THE LATEST ROUND OF INCOMPETENCE, the government encouraged farmers to plant crops after the recent rains and then failed to deliver on the back end at harvest.

Crops are rotting as people are starving, and farmers do not have enough money to pay their bills.

To make matters worse, the roads are in such desperate shape that it would be difficult to get food to the market.

Not knowing whether the government will steal from school children next or fleece the public at the time of their deaths, my suggestion is that Kenyan businesses should start looking out for themselves. They must do one simple thing: Join together for the common good.

What do I mean by this? Let’s take two industries — coffee and tea. Farmers should form alliances, hopefully across all geographical and tribal boundaries.

They should bargain with entrepreneurs and multinationals to get the best prices for their products. They should totally push aside the corrupt governmental process and deal independently.

Already, I know companies that are taking this direct approach in Kenya. It has a two-way impact. First, the money goes directly to those who grow the tea and coffee. Second, the multinationals don’t have to pay government bribes.

So it makes products cheaper and more accessible, as well as increases demand. There are many ways to start a revolution. One of the most powerful is creating economic coalitions that freeze out the corruption.

Over time, they can be powerful enough to make changes throughout the country. In other countries, these methods are nicknamed “solidarity.” There’s no reason Kenya can’t feed a larger portion of its population.

When I was last there, I was amazed at the variety of foods in the rural areas. From 30,000 feet, Kenya does not look that different from America.

Shut off the economic pipeline to corrupt politicians. You’ll find that you have more similarities to your Western cousins than you think.

Rsmith4825@gmail.com