The recent brouhaha around KFC proves that the wrong people work for the government. Delayed shipment of potatoes from overseas suppliers to feed its customers got KOT (Kenyans-on-Twitter) in a tizz.
True to form, KOT turned to Twitter and lambasted the US fastfood giant for importing potatoes. KFC has since promised to buy local produce, throwing a lifeline to struggling Kenyan potato farmers perennially suffering low prices as a result of glut or transportation challenges.
This is an opportunity discerning government officials should have seized when KFC was first licensed to operate in the country. It would have helped local businesses and farmers rather than let multinationals solely benefit from Kenyans.
For decades, Kenya has decried lack of employment opportunities, especially for the youth. The situation looks bleaker as more people lose their jobs due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the economy. But there are areas that, if allowed to thrive and diversify, can create opportunities. Tourists’ luxury trains and legalisation of local brews may hold a key to getting people into employment.
One of the most memorable train journeys I took was on the [now decommissioned] ‘Lunatic’. I got tickets through a friend who heard that it was still being used as a tourist line between Nairobi and Mombasa. This was at the tail end of 2011.
To my mind, and, perhaps, in many other Kenyans’, the old Victorian trains and the tracks were long dead.
However, here it was that December, packed with tourists and a handful of Kenyans. Everybody travelled the same class. You got a warm clean bed with crisp white bedsheets and a blanket. The beds were comfortable and cushioned you very well from the juddering train as it made its way along the old and tired tracks. Breakfast and dinner were served in the dining coach.
Most of the young and enthusiastic workers on the line were Kenyans.
The journey had a carnival feel to it as people mingled freely while viewing wildlife through the glass corridor connections on both sides of the coach. Seasoned travellers came prepared with watermelons to quench their thirst as the train cut through the hot savannah. The journey took very long but that was the beauty of it; the slow train made for better views.
The high speed of SGR trains takes away this joy from those who travel through—I believe—one of the most idyllic wildlife havens. The old historical trains and tracks should have been preserved as tourist lines to create job opportunities and add another package onto Kenya’s tourism market. South Africa’s Blue Train and the Orient Express offer luxury train travel and it’s a market Kenya is losing out on.
Colonial-era laws
Another Kenyan feature that tourists love is the Tusker lager. But is it the only beer that Kenya can offer? Until Keroche Breweries was established, Kenya Breweries Limited had the monopoly to produce alcoholic beverages in Kenya. Despite the competition, KBL is still dominant.
It is a monopoly that was created by colonial-era laws that led to the ban of local brews and left the environment purely for one manufacturer: East African Breweries Limited, which was established in 1922 when Kenya was under British rule.
When Kenya calls all local brews illegal, it says so while relying on obsolete laws that should have been repealed immediately upon independence to give local brewers a chance to make quality products and create competition in the industry. There is no point in decrying unemployment and poverty while shutting out an industry.
Banning local brews drives their consumption underground, which leads to proliferation of unsafe alcohol. It has also led to human rights abuses of sellers of ‘illegal’ alcohol and users by the police who harass and terrorise them for bribes.
Competition in business is what creates opportunities and enhances productivity. Producers of local brews should not be shunned because they are Africans but encouraged, funded and trained on how to make their liquor safe for consumption.
Above all, African brews must be helped to lose the tag of illegality. There is nothing illegal about it; they are stunted deliberately to deny them opportunities in the lucrative market. Many countries, including Britain, which set up EABL, has cottage industries all over the country producing all manner of alcoholic drinks as long as the set efficacy standards are met.
Closer home, Tanzania’s Konyagi and Ugandan Waragi—which are the equivalent of our chang’aa (aka Nubian gin), which we demonise—are brands that are widely and heavily consumed in Kenya!
We shouldn’t be rigid with our thinking and laws. It is, ultimately, the economy that suffers. Taxable businesses remain minimal and, with it, lost livelihoods for those waiting for their skills to be made legal to compete with businesses similar to theirs.
We have embarked on exporting labour but we may need the workers more at home. All we need to do is look for and unlock opportunities at home. BY DAILY NATION