Kibaki Government Spending Highly Focused on Infrastructure - Tool Shows

Infrastructure has seen a huge boost in the last 8 budgets. This has seen
a game of chairs especially for the defence sector.
Will Production-services be the next focus? 

The Kenyan budget has placed lots of emphasis on infrastructure, an online analysis tool shows. The Kenya Budget Explorer, a tool developed by Uwazi at  Twaweza uses an Iconomical dashboard to analyse 9 of the country's 10 last budgets (excluding the recently released 2011/2012 budget).

Of 7 spending sectors, infrastructure was at 6th position in 2002/2003 at 6.7 per cent of government spending.  To date, Social Services consisting of health , human resources (government employees) and Education (free primary education) has taken the biggest government spending at between 40 per cent and 50 per cent.

In 2002/2003, governance/economic services (provincial administration, treasury, office of the president and prime minister) came in second at 17.39 per cent of government spending while defence and security came in 3rd at 12.96 per cent.

Government spending per sector remained unmoved in 2003/2004 from the previous year.

2004/2005 saw Infrastructure jump 2 positions to the 4th position and displace production services to the second last sector.

2005/2006 saw infrastructure spending remain at the 4th position while production and services was moved a position behind at the expense of "sovereignty".

2006/2007 saw infrastructure spending displace defence and security to the 4t position as other sectors remained constant .

2007/2008 saw the positioning of the sector spending remaining the same as the previous year, though infrastructure spending was up 3 per cent.

2008/2009 saw infrastructure up to the 2nd positioning while production services displaced defence and security to the 5th position.

2009/2010 saw infrastructure spending up 3 per cent again, while defence and security and governance-economic services were switched positions to 3rd place and 5th place respectively.

2010/2011 saw infrastructure still at 2nd place with 22 per cent spending while social services had now reduced to 38 per cent. In a game of chairs, defence and security and governance-economic services switched again to previously held 5th and 3rd positions.

Infrastructure has clearly received a huge boost in Kibaki's budget, from 6.7 per cent when he came into power to 22.52 per cent in last year's budget.

You can play around with the Kenya Budget Explorer at http://twaweza.org/uploads/flash/budget-visualization-kenya-000/Kenya.html#/home/viewType=Bubbles&spending=PerCapita&split=Function&year=2010-11 to see how the treasury has been playing around with the various sectors in Kibaki's tenure.

The MDA's (ministry, department or agency ) section breaks the spending down further per MDA here http://twaweza.org/uploads/flash/budget-visualization-kenya-000/Kenya.html#/all-mdas/viewType=Bubbles&spending=PerCapita&split=Function&year=2010-11

You can also view the data as time or bar charts, though the bubbles give the best visualisation.

Nokia takes Android head on by sourcing for local applications

Nokia 500, one of Nokia's new smartphones that will
get more local apps from 100 developers
this weekend. 

Nokia is looking to revamp its smartphone unit in Africa. This has seen them coming up with devices such as the Nokia 500, which is fully touch and features a vastly improved version of its Symbian OS (Symbian Belle), with cool features that allow it to match off with Android and OS.

With the new devices and improved Symbian software, Nokia is now looking for applications form the region to entice users. I am in the midst of reviewing the Nokia 500, and it has quite a number of applications that you would expect on other smart phones, including Angry Birds.
While Android and iPhone may have a few local apps here and there, Nokia is looking to up the ante by calling in 100 developers to come up with local Symbian applications. This will be at an event to be held this weekend in Nairobi. It will be interesting to see what will come off the event.

Maybe we will have a Nokia application to track your M-Pesa usag. What are your other ideas for local apps?

Below is a press release on the event.

Nokia is calling on all Qt developers for the biggest hack-fest this side of the Limpopo. 100 developers will be put in a room for 48 hrs. to come up with the best Qt apps this nation has ever seen. The best app will win Kshs 1 Million at the end of the Hackathon. 
This event is on invite only and registration closed on the 14th of June. Over 300 developers registered for the hackathon and only 100 will be invited to participate.
The Nokia Hack will be held at the 88MPH, Human IPO start up garage, Piedmont Plaza, 4th floor. It starts on the 23rd of June and ends on the 24th of June.
Certificates of participation will be issued and the winning apps will have trophies.
Prizes are as follows:

• Top Prize: Kshs 1 million

• Second Prize: Kshs 300,000

• Third Prize: Kshs 100,000

• Consolation prizes: 10 apps will get Kshs 10,000 each.

We shall feed you, entertain you and make you rich. See you then.
Program & Venue Details Saturday, 23 June, 2012 - Sunday, 24 June, 201208:00 - 17:00Human IPO, Ngong Road, 88MPH Start-up GaragePiedmont Plaza, 4th floorNairobi , KenyaFor more information, please visit http://www.cvent.com/events/nokia-developer-hackathon-kenya

Kenyans' spending habits fuelling inflation

Kenya' s dream to be a land of  flowing milk and honey is threatened
by steep milk prices. Those wealthy enough to afford milk
still have had to scramble for low supplies, despite
availability of powdered milk as an alternative.

Inflation in Kenya is quite high,  rarely falling below double digits. Many reasons have been fronted as the cause of the high inflation, including an expensive dollar and high bank rates.

With a fast growing economy, Kenyans have also been one of the factors driving inflation, with their spending habits.

Wonder not how Kenyans drive inflation. I once frequented Githurai town, a busy trading point along Thika Road, centred around what was once a roundabout, now a flyover. Githurai hosts what  they would call a bustling market. Barter exchange still thrives vibrantly here, mostly through involuntary exchange of phones, pocket items and other items you own, to people who will sell them to other people who would like to own them.

No, that's not how Kenyan's drive inflation. See, I used to travel from Kenyatta University to Githurai a lot, in a bid to beat inflation. See, the fare charged to town by those badly driven Githurai buses was almost a quarter of what you would pay if you took a 14 seater matatu direct to town. My cost calculations showed I was so broke that the loss of my pockets being emptied out, even with my hands in the pocket, was lower than savings I stood to gain.

The fare from KU to Githurai was mostly Ksh. 10, though quite a number of matatus attempted to make ends meet more than once by doubling the fare. The choice was left to the passengers, they could opt to wait for a Ksh. 10 matatu, or pay the Ksh. 20. Quite a number of passengers would board the Ksh. 20 matatus, making the patient broke amongst us wait for standard fare matatus. At some point, there would be only ksh. 10 passengers at the bus stop, and the matatu would have to drop the fares.

It therefore meant that we spend time waiting for a cheaper matatu, because there were those who were ready to pay double the standard fare. Strangely, it seems ladies were usually more willing to pay for higher fares.

A few years later, I have joined the bandwagon ready to fork out more when the estate matatus raise their fares. I argue the Ksh 10 or Ksh 20 I stand to save is less than the cost of time I will have to spend waiting for a cheaper matatu. Sometimes, I'm just too tired to wait for one.

The fact that there are many estate passengers ready to pay above the standard fares is detrimental, especially for low income earner in the neighbourhood. The matatus will cash in on the trend for a number of days.

Again, the matter can be avoided for estate matatus. There are about 2 other matatus that one can take to a point they can walk to the estate, all cheaper than estate matatus. However, few consider them, maybe due to the walking distance involved. However, the distance from the CBD to the bus station, where estate matatus are, is almost equal to the distance from Mombasa road to the estate. The other 2 options can be picked around the CBD.

High demand has driven Sunlight soap's price up by more than
Ksh. 10 in less than 6 months. Cheaper alternatives
like P-30 remain unpopular.

A few months ago, milk prices abandoned their Ksh 35 ceiling and went up by Ksh 10 to around Ksh 50, something which has not happened before in Kenya's history. It was at the end of the dry season, milk produces said milk demand was high and there was a huge shortage in supply.

In 2011's rainy season, milk supply was so high that the same packers of milk went 2 for Ksh 20 . National TV brought us footage of milk processors pouring excess milk to the ground.

In 2012 , the rainy season arrived, but it didn't rain, it poured, through for a couple of weeks only. The milk prices did not bulge, even a penny, until 2 months later. Recently, Ilara announced that they had reduced their milk prices to Ksh 35.

Ksh 20 for 2 packets of milk will remain a deal sweet enough to take its place in our history books, to those good old days that they  keep reminiscing.

Kenya's economy has grown to a point it sustains high milk prices, or maybe the milk processors did find a more lucrative milk export market.

Kenyans did not feel a pinch, forking out every penny for the precious products of cow teats. Powdered milk, despite being a way cheaper alternative, even for the expensive brands, stays in supermarket shelves, for the poor.

Sunlight soap makes a very good general purpose laundry soap. It's so good, its price went up from Ksh. 28 to Ksh. 40 in just a few months. It's so good, we keep buying the soap, despite there being much cheaper alternatives like P-30.  P-30 goes for Ksh 39 and is one and half times larger than Sunlight. Maybe a cheap soap with a name that sounds like a formula is just that.

Such is the spending pattern as more Kenyans have more to spend. While those selling goods and services will hike the prices due to the higher demand, Kenyans will be kind enough not to spend their easily earned cash on cheaper alternatives.

My Heart

I need a dose of reality,
It's hard to question the clarity of my brain's thoughts,
not much unlike a clear blue morning sky,
but my heart is always out to cloud my thoughts,
like mist clouding a clear blue morning sky.

I need a heart bypass surgery,
before my heart finally attacks,
the kicks of a dying heart.