Page 24 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 9

RE- DEFINITION

Nairobi? The answer is 1800Kshil- 9 piece costing 1800Kshillings, ap- she is one of the largest producers
lings.(About 18USD). Have you proximately two and a half bags of of crude oil in the world. Why are
considered how much a 50kg bag cement is lost. her four refineries, which were built
of cement in the same Nairobi is So you see what I mean by blocking with billions of dollars, not work-
and how many bags of cement will the broken pipes? ing? Why does she have to extract
be required to build a 2, 3 bedroom And mind you, I am not saying or her crude oil, export it at lower cost
bungalow and maybe a shop? using this KFC and cement analogy only to re-import the same product
so that everyone can go and start at higher costs and then later com-
See the below cost analysis I got building houses because the price of plain of poverty? It does not make
online. cement and chicken and chips are jack sense.
Cement cost takes an average of the same, but to point out to some-
35% of the total cost of construc- one who is reading that, almost all Why do we export cocoa beans at
tion of an average house basing on the time, the things that waste our embarrassingly cheap prices only to
a low cost finish overall estimate of resources and for which we remain import chocolate at prices meant
KES 20,000per m2. This is approxi- not very productive are the very only for luxury goods? It still does
mately KES 7,000 per m2. things we think are important for not make sense why we are not
The amount of cement used in total ourselves and our families but which making ways to increase the value of
for an average 3 bedroomed residen- are not. our export goods.
tial house of 100m2 in plinth area is
958 bags at a cost of KES 691,000 Seal the broken pipes Why should a couple borrow money
basing on a price of KES 720 per We all have things that seem nice or take a loan to do an unnecessar-
50kg bag. to our eyes and pleasurable to our ily expensive wedding that is just
minds, but which are often nothing for one day and then live under the
A square meter of building in Kenya but avenues through which we waste weight of debt into many years of
will use 9.6 bags. resources. And to say the truth, their marriage? It does not make
resources that are not regenerated sense to me.
2 BEDROOMED FLAT. by active investment will soon get
The average 2 bedroomed house depleted and poverty will naturally Why waste money on what will only
in a middle class area such as set in. For in my mind I am think- last for a day and then live in pain
Ruaka, Rongai, Kitengela, Ruai ing, why can't the middle class man for years. Redefinition of priority is
is approximately 60m2 in plinth that is earning 100,000Ksh live in key.
area. This translates to 60m2 x an apartment of 30,000Ksh instead And these are some of the broken
9.6bags=546bags costing KES of an apartment of 70,000Ksh and pipes that we allow to run our re-
414,000. then as he grows in his resources, he sources to depletion and then break
A block of 2 bedroomed flats in the also grow in his spending? Just my down and cry that Afrika is not
middle class neighborhoods stand- thoughts and opinion as always. growing.
ing on a 1/8th acre can contain 20 The question is this, who or what
units. This means the total cement What broken pipe do you is Afrika outside of the Afrikans
used will be 20 units x 546bags per need to seal? themselves?
unit=10,920 bags costing 7,800,000 There are lots of broken pipe sit- Meaning that for Afrika to grow,
KES. uations all around us and to which Afrikans must know that it is they
SHOPS AND SINGLE ROOMS many are not paying attention and themselves that must grow. And it
10ft by 10ft. by that they are overwhelmed with begins with taking charge to block
The average 10ft by 10ft room used life. our broken pipes and stop wasting
as a shop or single room residence resources.
is approximately 10m2 in plinth Take for instance, the governments
area. This translates to 10m2 x in Afrikan countries like to make Like Dr Jack Githae asked in one
9.6bags=96bags of cement costing economic policies that always under- of our interviews with him, do we
KES 69,100. really have any system in place that
mine their own economies and their
people. For example, what business helps us know if the resources we
From the above cost analyses, for does Nigeria have importing petro- say are vast are not actually deplet-
every bucket of KFC chips, nuggets leum products from overseas when ing?
and a piece of chicken with every

24 | Heal . restore . rebirth . Afrika