This Idea Will Triple Economic Growth

archive

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.

Little known secrets about the Safaricom cash machine

Wife cuts off husband's penis flashes it down the toilet.

The surprising real reason why more and more Kenyans are having steamy extra-marital affairs

Woman Murders Her Best Friend To Steal Her Husband As Science Proves That It Is Deadly For Women To Have Casual Sex

How Kenyans can now easily start a lucrative Internet business from any remote part of Kenya for only Kshs 100/-