Dead Capital: by Bitange Ndemo - Economy - Wazua

washiku

#1 Posted : Wednesday, January 22, 2014 2:23:06 PM

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Africa’s investment decisions and mixed priorities-Dr Bitange's opinion piece

Of what sense is it when someone puts up a KSh20million home in a rural area only for the relatives to raise money to pay school fees for children after his death?

People are taking loans to build double storied homes in places out of this world. Reason. The society demands it. It is a home where you will be buried. It is said that you will embarrass the clan were you to die and you have no home. Africa is preoccupied with death when the living cannot feed themselves.

@Masukuman et al, what is your take?

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| | Edit by moderator: Wednesday, January 22, 2014 4:19 PM | Reason: title shortened

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maka

#2 Posted : Wednesday, January 22, 2014 2:34:59 PM

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washiku wrote:

Of what sense is it when someone puts up a KSh20million home in a rural area only for the relatives to raise money to pay school fees for children after his death?

People are taking loans to build double storied homes in places out of this world. Reason. The society demands it. It is a home where you will be buried. It is said that you will embarrass the clan were you to die and you have no home. Africa is preoccupied with death when the living cannot feed themselves.

@Masukuman et al, what is your take?

We live for society...

possunt quia posse videntur

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masukuma

#3 Posted : Wednesday, January 22, 2014 3:03:21 PM

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washiku wrote:

this is great! these are some of the social/cultural issues that we need to fix. life is for the living bwana! think about it... why do people fly in corpses from the abroad? the corpse will not help anyone! let's focus on the living - the ones that died are no good to anyone.

All Mushrooms are edible! Some Mushroom are only edible ONCE!

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washiku

#4 Posted : Wednesday, January 22, 2014 4:49:47 PM

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I like his hard hit on our mentality. We prefer "clean jobs" paying less to "dirty jobs" paying more. smile

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2012

#5 Posted : Thursday, January 23, 2014 3:26:19 PM

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Great article!

In 1993, I quit my $60,000-a-year job in the United States of America as a Senior Financial Systems Analyst to come home. The 1992 elections had just ended and the country was grappling with hyperinflation as a result of too much money chasing too few goods.

It was rumoured that cash had been printed to bribe voters. Central Bank, in an effort to mop up excess liquidity, raised interest rates to 70 per cent. This meant that banks had no motivation to lend to consumers since Treasury Bills paid more than they could earn anywhere. My more than five years savings of $160,000 (about 20 million in today’s exchange rate) went up in smoke. My saving grace was a ten-acre piece of land I bought in Kajiado. The rest was converted into dead capital in form of a small rural home.

Broke, jobless and just married, I found myself hustling as a real estate agent until a relative asked me to join her in exporting horticultural products to Europe. I drove her three-ton canter into Murang’a and Kirinyaga in search of French beans, passion fruits and snow peas….

BBI will solve it :)

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murchr

#6 Posted : Thursday, January 23, 2014 3:53:03 PM

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Awesome read

"There are only two emotions in the market, hope & fear. The problem is you hope when you should fear & fear when you should hope: - Jesse Livermore
.

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EndowGaze

#7 Posted : Thursday, January 23, 2014 4:01:53 PM

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2012 wrote:

http://motherboard.vice....test-train-in-the-world

Kisii is 308km from Nairobi and if we would stop all this corruption and wastage in government, with the right investment we would be in Kisii from Nairobi in 30 mins!!!!

Money is like manure. You have to spread it around or it smells. ~ J. Paul Getty

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jaggernaut

#8 Posted : Thursday, January 23, 2014 4:35:08 PM

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C&P

Of what sense is it when someone puts up a KSh20million home in a rural area only for the relatives to raise money to pay school fees for children after his death? These are houses that no one will buy, sell or rent because graves dot the home. What is the value of culture?

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Edyj

#9 Posted : Thursday, January 23, 2014 5:34:49 PM

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Very good article. I didn't know that he lectures. Good use of his experience and brains

"The trouble with not having a goal is that you can spend your life running up and down the field and never score". - Bill Copeland

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MKWASI

#10 Posted : Thursday, January 23, 2014 5:43:24 PM

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jaggernaut wrote:

Good point. Dead Capital. True. The only challenge is that those that hold culture so dearly cannot be educated. Sad

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