IMO, our land tenure system as well as financing models need a serious jolt. Firstly, let's not kid ourselves, agriculture (depending on what exactly you wanna do) can be quite capital intensive. For a young man/woman who's just starting out, I can imagine it certainly isn't very easy to secure financing (hata kama ni the 100k with which to get the first greenhouse) bearing in mind that most of them do not yet own the assets which most of our financiers insist on as security.

Secondly, agriculture is a really a long-term kind of gig. I have read of people who, when they began, experienced total crop failure in the first two seasons and even have friends who have experienced the same, what they kept going (I'm reminded of a famous quote here: If you're going through hell, keep going!). Thing is, bearing in mind the long-term nature of such an engagement, how many of our local financiers have products structured for the long-term? Financing such a venture on short-term capital is a sure recipe for disaster. Imagine for that farmer who experiences crop failure yet the financiers expect their loan repayments, what to do?

I really wish this youth fund idea was well structured and enforced, it has the potential to change lots of lives in a majorly positive way. As it is, some banks are quite reluctant to disburse the funds due to the minimal charges on the loans which, they argue, are not lucrative enough for them. I wonder, for how long we shall remain captive to such warped thinking.

Government waste is a primary factor in creating poverty

For example, they are wasting KES 500,000,000 retirement home for the Kibaki built at Taxpayer expense. I do not know if the house has been gifted to him or it will be 'returned' to the Taxpayers in the future.

Kibaki awarded himself a Sh25 million send-off package as well as other retirement benefits. The Presidential Retirement Benefits Amendment Bill grants President Kibaki and his predecessor Daniel arap Moi a monthly pension, house allowance and a monthly entertainment allowance.
The president will also be paid pension at the rate of 80 percent of his final salary of Sh700,000 meaning he would earn Sh560,000 a month. In addition he will be paid 40 percent of the current salary as entertainment allowance which translates to some Sh280,000.

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Instead of lavishing such gifts on two people who mismanaged the country, what if the govt instead invested heavily in infrastructure ?

Not only does that create direct jobs via construction, improved infrastructure makes it easier to do business which in turn creates jobs.

Also, some of that money can be used to inject capital into dying industries like textiles. Every government out there subsidizes its industries.

now world bank grants Kenya ksh13.2 billion loan for water projects in nyanza and central regions among others.
I wonder why north Eastern and ukambani have not been mentioned yet as you can see in the discussions in this thread they deserve water more.

..or use that money to put up a hospital, university or even stadium and call it Kibz, in his honor.

I just had an epiphany! With dual citizenship, can we rally and have Obama become president here?

I reckon he can.. Landslide!

The clothing industry had a chance in the 80's, nothing happened. I remember the primary school I attended, most kids dint have shoes or jackets during the cold weather, our neighborhood had countable cars and in cases of emergency people had to walk long distances.
the cheaper second hand stuff has enable most peoples lives to improve, plus the second hand industry employs more people than an assembly plant would.

More handouts.....is it cheaper to keep giving? How is this sustainable?

I know govt is not a for-profit enterprise, but wouldn't it be worthwhile to at least see the fruits that come out of these programs? You know just like the NYS program, what became of the other schemes?
http://www.capitalfm.co....s-facing-severe-famine/

Yes, the private developers.

Saa zingine ukipata time na unakaa chini, kafombe kameanza kuingia kichwa,story zimeisha, unajipata ukijiuliza enyewe what is wrong with us, not just Kenyans but Africans in general. All over Africa, the same game is taking place, has been taking place for centuries. In the times of our forefathers, our leaders gave away their land,ivory, gold and jewels, their brothers and sisters for glass beads, whisky and bad guns. They did not work for unity amongst Africans to fight the colonialists, they preferred to be chiefs/kings of a small group of people than a raia in a larger united group. When we took over after colonialism we did not learn from our history but continued along the same lines, replacing the white exploiter with the black exploiter, maintaining divisions among people instead of building nations, not investing adequately in ourselves, and now here we are, wondering why poverty, hunger and disease are still hunting us down.
I do not know if its innate or its structural, but we have largely maintained the same land tenure, political, economic structures we were left with by the colonialists, without asking ourselves if they are fit for us. Agriculture, for example, has been the foundation on which wealth and industries are built for many countries in the world. Without fair land distribution, investment in rural infrastructure linking farms to markets, extension services and farm inputs, poverty and hunger will continue to stalk us. Very few countries have developed without fixing their agricultural sectors, so why do African countries think they will be the exception?