Focus On General Elections 2007
While the Kibaki administration has been boasting about a 5.8 per cent growth in GDP neither the government nor other leading opposition figures contesting the presidency has put some serious though into an issue which if resolved easily has the potential of tripling our annual economic growth and GDP, thus dramatically revolutionizing the lives of many Kenyans.
Admittedly Raila Odinga touched on this issue briefly at his launch but obviously not enough though was put into how the problem can best be solved.
This is the problem of water. Womenfolk in many parts of the country usually spend up to three quarters of the day fetching water. Even in major urban centers water is a serious issue and has caused untold suffering to millions of Kenyans who regularly contract serious diseases that can be traced to water-borne sources.
No administration since independence has attempted to tackle this problem seriously and yet the solution is fairly simple.
The truth of the matter is that the country receives much more than adequate rainfall every two years or so and this applies to virtually every corner of the republic. In fact there are some parts of the country that receive floods annually. And yet we still claim to have a water problem in Kenya. Actually the problem is that we are not organized and do not want to think outside the box the colonialists left in 1963. So when you mention water, all that people think of is sinking an expensive borehole. Incidentally scientists now warn that water table resources are being overexploited and are close to depletion in many parts of the world and if the trend continues the consequences could be catastrophic.
The simple solution to our water problem is rain harvesting. This is a more environment friendly option and can easily be practiced on a large scale countrywide. Interestingly it has already been done in other parts of the world with great success. The idea would be to harvest the rain and build large enough storage facilities to be able to store supplies that would easily last until the next rain season, even if it is delayed as it quite often happens.
The technology for this is fairly simple and mainly involves equipment for filtering and storage as well as simple chemicals to treat the water for drinking.
Women are an extremely active group in the Kenyan population and freeing them from hours of water fetching will allow them to engage in other commercial activities, which can only uplift the living standards in millions of remote homes countryside.
While it is not a bad idea to discuss complex issues like tax and fiscal policies of presidential candidates, it would be useful if they would first resolve how they are going to tackle very basic issues that affect virtually every Kenyan like water.
Incidentally there is no reason why rain harvesting cannot be done in major cities like Nairobi and Mombasa that also have serious water problems. Legislation can even be enacted to ensure that every commercial building is self sufficient in water through harvesting and enough water storage within the building.
No meaningful development and advancement can take place in Kenya without this water problem being seriously addressed.
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I agree with you Chris, water is one of the most important natural resources required for sustainable development. I have serious doubts, though, that rain harvesting alone, especially for domestic purposes, can triple economic growth. Do you have any figures?
ReplyDeleteApart from economic growth, why are we not smart enough to sport an obvious crisis before it happens? What the government of Kenya has failed to realise is that future wars between countries and even between ethnic communities will be as a result of competition for water resources.
When one imagines that water is directly connected to those issues that drive the economy; eg. governance, energy, agriculture, environment, tourism/wildlife, health, industry, human settlement and many more and still Kibaki's government continues to trash the Water Ministry merely as a backward government department, one wonders which policy makers are working for Kibaki's Government.
Just consider this Chris. Despite its importance, How much allocation does this water ministry get from Treasury for water development in comparison to say Justice and Constitutional Affairs minstry - that has failed to bring about a new consititution or the Public Works ministry that has failed in its primary duty of road maintenance and construction? But perhaps, the greatest of culprits is OP's Defence Ministry. We continue to use huge public funds to pay thoousands of soldiers to idle in barracks while drinking half price AFCO beer, when the water ministry is surviving on a shoe string budget!
It would have been more prudent for Kibaki's regime to start a water fund (as opposed to a youth fund) to encourage citizens to carefully utilize fresh water sources.
Raila Odinga has the foresight and wisdom to touch on water during his vision launch but How about other presidential candidates including the incumbent?
For those interested readers, please check http://www.world.water-forum3.com/ for reports on 3rd World Water Forum, held March 16-23 2003, in Kyoto, Osaka and Shiga (Japan)