All cities have slums but surprisingly the slums in Nairobi are child play compared to Jo'burg and Lagos. The city centre of Jo'burg is also one of the most unsafe and dirty. Even Lagos is better. You'll be lucky to walk through unmugged if you're misguided enough to go shopping in town. The suburbs in Jo'burg however are superb. You would think you're somewhere in North America. And the roads, are simply out of this world. Even Europe is no match.
The pictures below also show that Nairobi is almost catching up with Jo'Borg and may be leaving Lagos a bit far behind.Nairobi simply dazzles....
Nairobi is extremely beautiful with a superb weather. I hear they've commissioned the start of construction of several superhighways with eight lanes with the help of the Chinese. The airport also is being refurbished and expanded to become one of the biggest and most modern in the Southern horizon. If you've been to Nairobi lately, you will notice that litering, spitting and smoking in public is illegal. Throw a sweet wrapping on the ground and you'll end up facing a magistrate.
Without oil and literally no natural mineral resources, Kenya overtook the European Union to become the largest exporter of manufactured goods into the Comesa region. The country has not factored in donor aid in its budget the last three years making it one of the first in Africa to attempt sovereignty from donors and the Bretton Wood institutions. The economy is owned by Kenyans and multinationals like BP are leaving because they cannot compete with local petrol distributors. Nandos, Steers and all those international chains of restaurants have been literally routed out of Nairobi and other cities by indigenous restaurants that sell quality locally sourced cuisines at half the price. SAfrican Supreme Furnitures and Barnette could not compete with local artisans and left the country. Others like Shoprite, Game and Pick and Pay have been unable to penetrate the Kenyan dominated supermarket sector. SAB tried to enter the East African market in a big way with Castle Lager only to be outdone by Kenya-based and indigenous East African Breweries and had to bow out. Nairobi Stock Exchange is literally owned by ordinary Kenyans, who line up everyday to buy shares.
Kenya airways is among the 5 most profitable airlines in the world. When the airline was privatized a few years ago more than 70% shares went to Kenyans. Only 29% was sold to KLM - a strategic partnership that really paid off. What is happening to Nigeria ohh? Right, left, centre in Lagos is South African products and companies. Even our oil is not ours ! O lordie! God help us.
1 comment:
Awesome! So this is that Kenya?!
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