{"id":465989,"date":"2011-07-22T07:25:53","date_gmt":"2011-07-22T07:25:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/07\/22\/kenya-contracting-the-services-of-a-chinese-signals-firm-is-capitalism-gone-amok\/"},"modified":"2011-07-22T07:25:53","modified_gmt":"2011-07-22T07:25:53","slug":"kenya-contracting-the-services-of-a-chinese-signals-firm-is-capitalism-gone-amok","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/22\/kenya-contracting-the-services-of-a-chinese-signals-firm-is-capitalism-gone-amok\/","title":{"rendered":"Kenya: Contracting the Services of a Chinese Signals Firm is Capitalism Gone Amok"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

Timothy Kaberia<\/p>\n

21 July 2011<\/p>\n

\n

opinion<\/p>\n

Nairobi \u2014 If you needed evidence that we have lost our sovereignty, the news that we granted the licence to distribute digital broadcast signals to a Chinese company should put the matter to rest.<\/p>\n

Kenya’s own NTV and Citizen TV had fought hard for the licence, but they were knocked out on a technicality. We seem to have become a country with a very short-sighted vision.<\/p>\n

We have carelessly disregarded the needs of posterity as we embrace an inexplicable “love affair” with China.<\/p>\n

Some people may attempt to school me on the principles of a free market economy. But this is a situation where free trade is supposed to be two-way. Our trade imbalance with China has reached staggering proportions.<\/p>\n

Any discerning observer will acknowledge that there is something wrong with the government issuing the contract to Pan African Media, a subsidiary of Star Times of China, when NTV and Citizen have shown they are up to the task.<\/p>\n

According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, Chinese companies shipped into Kenya goods worth Sh82 billion in 2010.<\/p>\n

In return, Kenya exported unknown quantities of leather, tea, coffee, sisal, flowers and scrap metal to China. How much we got from China is a mystery.<\/p>\n

Last year, a senior Kenyan official in China lamented that Kenya did not enjoy any preferential market access arrangements with China. But China does seem to enjoy unlimited preferential market access in Kenya.<\/p>\n

Chinese companies in Nairobi have quadrupled while Kenya has little to show off in Beijing. This is not because Kenyans are not ambitious.<\/p>\n

Last year, then Trade minister Chirau Ali Mwakwere complained that Chinese companies processed agricultural products from Kenya, leaving us with weak control over just one product: horticulture.<\/p>\n

But how many flowers can we sell to China to even the score? Is that the best we can do?<\/p>\n

Whereas we extend business opportunities to Chinese companies, the same cannot be said of Kenyans and other Africans in China.<\/p>\n

A posting on the website of the Kenyan Embassy in China shows the idiocy of our relationship: “Although many other people from other regions of the world travel to Guangzhou for business, the African activities in Guangzhou are especially spectacular because of the big numbers and their informality and the way they conduct their businesses.<\/p>\n

“For example, there are many Russians and people from Turkey shopping in Guangzhou, the same things like the Africans; but, they are served by bigger businesses and there are no many small business intermediaries. The African lacks supporting business systems and therefore has more difficult operations unlike the Russian or the Turk but he\/she is still pushing on.”<\/p>\n

If this does not bother you, I do not know what will. We have been thumping our chests about “weaning” ourselves from dependence on the West. Unfortunately, as soon as we dug the car out of the ditch, we handed the keys to the Chinese and begged them to drive us to an even bigger cliff.<\/p>\n

Back to the digital media distribution licence. Earlier this year, websites in China were shut down in reaction to the revolutions that swept across North Africa and the Middle East. Is this the country we want to look up to in matters of freedom of speech and expression?<\/p>\n

Our experience with Chinese companies in other industries is such that benefits do not trickle down to our economy. Unlike Western companies, the Chinese bring cleaners, cooks and even gardeners to work on their projects.<\/p>\n

Assume the CCK gave this contract to Citizen or NTV, we can all rest assured that Onyango will be the watchman, Kamau the driver, while Cherono will be making tea.<\/p>\n

If the Chinese company takes the contract, not only will the top management be Chinese, Ming will be watchman, Chan the cleaner while Xhao will be the gardener. We do not seem to have learnt anything from the ongoing road projects.<\/p>\n

To promote Kenya’s industry, the government must exercise selective contracting of foreign entities. This is not “protectionism”; It is about creating and maintaining a competitive edge for Kenyan enterprise.<\/p>\n

Mr Kaberia is a former human rights activist currently based in the US.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Timothy Kaberia 21 July 2011 opinion Nairobi \u2014 If you needed evidence that we have lost our sovereignty, the news that we granted the licence to distribute digital broadcast signals to a Chinese company should put the matter to rest. 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