WHY ISIOLO COUNTY NEEDS TO IMPROVE TOURISM SECTOR

Tourism is an endowment that is a serious natural gift; an ornament that can raise our county’s profile and make it worthy player in the tourism industry if efficiently and successfully managed. However, it is paramount that we first realize ourselves before we start talking of making any stride and possibly awaken our sleeping gold mine.

The talk of what we can do with the kind of potential we have would be the beginning of our road to becoming a huge player in the industry. Tourism can form a strong pillar for the attainment of vision 2030 and raise our bar higher as we seek to stamp our authority in the region. The potential is there but we need to invest more if we are to reap from the sector.

Our lodges, the wildlife, the rich and diverse culture of our NFD people have by far amazed the tourists that have visited the region. The many other products yet to be developed makes us the envied destination in the world but lack of either understanding or goodwill is denying us the privilege to make something out of nature’s gift.

It’s incumbent on us to develop ways of tapping these monumental resources to benefit our economy. There are brilliant minds out there who can be brought on the table and asked to give suggestions and ideas and the Tourism sector can be able to pick up and make a huge impact to the lives of many. We can create both direct and indirect jobs and improve the economy in ways unimaginable. What do we need to get Right???

Marketing/Research
Outreach is essence because on our own we can realize so little, we first need to get the inventory of our capacity and understand the policy framework on which we can operate to interrogate its level of success and determine how it can be enhanced and enriched with new thinking, approach and model.

Partnership
Kenya Tourism Board is the country’s premier statutory institution mandated to show case Kenya’s tourism resources and seek market for it, it’s imperative we lobby KTB to feature Isiolo in it’s marketing campaign so as to raise awareness about its existence and it’s product line on offer. We could support such initiatives by providing them with videos and documentaries that highlight Isiolo’s area of historical significance which will be the campaign’s strongest show and emphasis, the same could be posted on KTB website so that any visitor could benefit Isiolo as well.

Kenya association of tour operators
Kenya association of tour operators is a significant player in the tourism industry and its importance cannot be overemphasised, Isiolo County needs to engage this outfit so as to benefit from it given million memberships base, KATO is the umbrella body that brings together all tour companies in Kenya and partnering with them will be critical, it serves as a bridge between tourist and the market and since KATO members are responsible for managing their client itinerary it will be prudent if they have all the information about isiolo county’s tourism products so as to correctly advise their client and convince them why this destination is superb in terms of offering.

The county authority should also make every effort to package Isiolo as a tourism destination differently as an alternative to the often overstretched and monopolized Maasai Mara while at the same time highlighting the great developmental stride in logistics that could very easily help in connecting Isiolo to the world and facilitate the travelers to Isiolo take advantage of the recently opened Isiolo international airport.

Building of an Interactive Website
In the technology era Isiolo has no excuse not to market its tourism potential using the internet because information empowers and absence from the cyber sphere is not only undoing but embarrassing as it depicts us as inherently analogue.

We can easily let the world know about us and all that we offer, the rates and every other related information from comfort of their home just by visiting the web portal.

Product diversification
Other than only offering a single line of service this lodges and game reserves could think outside the box by enriching its menu by bringing on board cultural tourism where locals could be allowed to organize cultural activities around the camps so that the travelers could share in the experience, this way a client feels he has been accorded value for their money.

Creation of a flagship project
Isiolo county can think of creating a flagship project like the Maralal camel Derby or even Cultural festivals, this project could be done annually with possibly a week long activities that culminate in a major cultural show case involving all communities in Isiolo. We could of course think of a great trek along Ewaso Nyiro river course to explain our people’s migratory lifestyle informed by their nomadic way of life. This would allow the travelers a peep into this unique cultural phenomena, a trek that would culminate in a well organized cultural festival showcasing every aspects of our life.

THE LESSONS FROM GREECE

There was once this country that harboured great ambitions. It dreamt of growing its economy and also gaining membership into the exclusive club of developed nations. Easy access to cheap loans made the dreamless far-fetched. As you would expect, the nation jumped at this rare opportunity and took off on a borrowing spree. With the money in its account, all ambitious development plans were soon abandoned for personal interests.

Borrowed funds were dished out to state employees in form of huge paychecks, sketchy deals were signed off, theft and bribery reigned, and figures were cooked to cover the country’s financial position. Does this sound like Kenya? No, I’m talking about Greece.

I am currently reading Michael Lewis’s book “Boomerang” on the European fiscal crisis. The resemblance of events in Greece in the early 2000’s to the current drama in Kenya is astonishing. The story on Greece is in the second chapter of the book going by the interesting title “And they Invented Math”.

Michael narrates how anarchy reigned in Greece’s economy at the start of the 21st century. Corruption was the standard way of life in the country. If anyone needed the service of a government officer, he or she had to pay a bribe. The country’s wage bill doubled in just twelve years and its debt rose to 1.2 trillion dollars. The madness was so pervasive he notes that “….the only Greeks who paid taxes were the ones who could not avoid doing so- salaried employees… who had their taxes withheld from their paychecks,” Every other worker in the informal sector evaded taxes.

Every single day Greeks devised new ways to steal from the state. A group of monks traded in a fairly valueless lake for prime government land. The write states that “The Greek state was not just corrupt but also corrupting.”

Ultimately, Greece’s day of reckoning arrived in 2010. The North European state had little choice but to change its ways. Some of the adjustments were; sale of national assets, reduction in government expenditure and tax hikes.

As you would expect, Greeks did not like the decision and quickly took to the streets in protest. The protests lasted a few months during which a lot of damage was done on the already struggling economy. Despite the cuts on expenditure, tax hikes, and several bailouts, Greece’s economy has still not recovered from the setback.

As for Kenya, our day of reckoning has come; the show is about to start. Government expenditure is at unprecedented levels. The debt is at the all-time high of Kenya shillings 5 trillion. Kenyan’s are feeling the pain of reckless spending. Swift action is needed from our leaders. I can only hope that our leaders will act responsibly and provide a permanent solution to the problems we are facing. In the meantime, we brace for tough times ahead.

MOBILE MONEY OVERTAKES CASH IN SOMALIA

The use of mobile money has overtaken use cash in Somalia with over $2.7 Billion being transacted monthly. A report by the World Bank has found that close to 155 million mobile transactions are carried out every month, making the country one of the most active mobile money users in the world.

Lead ICT policy specialist at the World Bank Tim Kelly says private sector actors have given Somalia a unique opportunity to leapfrog towards widespread financial inclusion saying that the World Bank will continue to support the partnership between the Central Bank of Somalia, the National Communications Authority and the key private sector actors as they deliberate on an appropriate regulatory framework for the sector.

“Reducing costs and promoting greater stability is a top priority for the overall development agenda for the financial sector, ensuring that regulation does not stifle innovation by levelling the playing field is a very close second,” said Thilasoni Musuku, Senior Financial Sector Specialist at the World Bank Finance,

Media reports by Capital news also indicate that Somalia has overtaken most African countries in mobile money use despite lack of infrastructures that other countries enjoy such as, robust consumer protection and know-your-customer requirements as well as key policies and regulation. Early 2017 reports by Quantum Global Research Lab had put Somalia at 34 per cent only 3 per cent behind Congo in mobile money usage.

THINGS THAT MAKE CO-WORKING GREAT

Affordability and convenience
This is one of the main reasons why co-working has grown in popularity. Most professionals especially the young, do not have the capital to rent and furnish a full stack office. Co-working gives them just what they want, the ability to walk in and out at their pleasure while having the ability to access the same privileges known to regular office holders at a small fee and then something more. This type of convenience is quite attractive to most people and even established professionals are beginning to take notice

Flexibility and job control
When you are a freelancer, an independent consultant, or another professional flexibility and job control may be a preference. Circumstances may require you to relocate to another city or you may travel to work with a client in another town for some time. Co-working arrangements give you the ability to tap in such flexible options without worrying about the consequences. Being able to control what, when and where you can work is a massive dose of freedom and control.

A sense of community
One of the key elements that make co-working what they are is the sense of community that grows out of the peer to peer interactions under such circumstances. There is a culture knit behind these divergent communities that creates a sense of synergy. Having a software developer, a lawyer, and engineer, and a marketer under the same roof and within arm’s reach is different from working at a traditional office staffed with only lawyers for example. The sense of belonging to a wider network of professionals offers no mean incentive.

Your network is your net worth
It’s all about people. That’s why the importance of networking ever more relevant with the ever increasing flow of information and connectivity between people, devices and things. Success in the modern working environment requires networks that spurn any one given profession and there is no better place to create networks than at the place where there are other people who also want to expand and share their networks.

Access to divergent talent pool
What you work on is important but more important is who you work with. Finding the right talent can be tasking and expensive, that is why most corporates actually outsource talent acquisition. For small businesses and start-ups for instance, a co-working environment gives access to a wide range of talent to choose from. Furthermore, you have the option to build relationships before hiring or just partnering on one off projects.

Convenience for meetings and events
As an independent consultant or a small business, getting space for meetings and conferences while operating from home can be an inconvenience on time and costs. The interesting thing about co-working is that it is accompanied by ample meeting and conference rooms so you can easily schedule meet ups, conferences and events. In addition, it gives you a flexible address for references. While co-working continues to grow, some savvy older professionals and businesses have begun taking notice and offer their team members opportunities for co-working to avoid being left out.

A REVIEWAL OF DATA TARIFF

The cut-throat competition in Kenya’s Mobile data space is forcing mobile service providers to reconsider their data offers in the market to remain competitive. Mobile service provider Safaricom is the latest to review its data tariff in an effort to fend off competition and remain dominant in the data space, only days after Telkom Kenya established 200 4G sites within the capital.

According to Safaricom’s Acting Consumer Director Mr Charles Wanjohi, ’’competition is real and competition brings the best out of us, also for our customers they have been saying when we look at what other are offering, we think there is better value there, but we know their network is not up to par. We don’t want to leave you but adjust the value proposition, which is what we have done.’’ Adding that they have to remain market competitive and assuring customers to expect average speeds of about 5MBS.

However, the state of the country could have also played a role in the decision. ‘’This decision has mainly been driven by listening to our consumer, at the end of the day what’s happening in the country now it comes in handy…things are not easy financially.’’ Said Carolyne Kendi, Safaricoms Head of Brand Marketing and communication.

The new tariffs will allow mobile users to continue using mobile WhatsApp even after their data runs out until the expiry of the data duration. For SH20 Safaricom customers will get 50 MBs and 50 SMS, while for Sh50 they will receive 150 MBS and 150 SMS daily. Weekly and Monthly charges have also been adjust to 350MB for Ksh99, 1GB for Ksh250 and 3GB for Ksh500 and 2GB for Ksh500, 5GB for Ksh1000 and 15GB for Ksh2000 respectively.

FIVE BANKS FINED FOR HANDLING NYS FRAUD MONEY

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has penalized five banks in relation to the recent National Youth Service scandal. The five banks, Standard Chartered Bank Kenya Limited, Equity Bank of Kenya, Kenya Commercial Bank, Co-operative Bank of Kenya Limited and Diamond trust Bank are said to have transacted the largest flows.

The CBK says the banks are being penalized for failure to report large cash transactions, failure to undertake adequate customer due diligence, lack of supporting documents and lack of reporting Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) as required.

Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) which transacted Sh639 Million will pay the heftiest fine of Sh149 Million, followed by Equity Bank which will pay Sh89 Million. Standard Chartered Bank, Diamond Trust Bank and Co-operative will pay Sh77 Million, Sh56 Million and Sh20 Million respectively.


‘’The main objective of the investigations was to examine the operations of the NYS-related bank accounts and transactions, and in each instance asses the bank’s compliance in the with the requirements of Kenya Anti-Money Laundering /Combating Financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) laws and regulations.’’ Said the CBK.

The second phase of the investigations into the NYS scandal is expected to involve findings by other investigators as well as the DCI and ODPP.

The CBK says the each bank is expected to provide an action plan to that seeks to address the loopholes and commitment to compliance to all aspects of the law. ‘’These action plans will be submitted within fourteen days (14) days and CBK will closely monitor their implementation.’’ CBK said.

Adding that they will continue to enforce strict adherence to the application of the laws and regulation to safeguard stakeholder interest and maintain a healthy financial sector. The CBK actions comes amid a heightened fight against corruption by the government.

THE PUBLIC DEBT PROBLEMS IN KENYA

Lately there has been a lot of talk about our public debt. It is therefore necessary for all to understand what the issues are with our public debt. This will help in informing public debate on the issue. Besides it is easier to develop solid solutions when you are clear on the issues.

Our current debt problems can be summarised as follows;
Collapsing of the budget making process – Since 2013 our budget making process has become chaotic and incoherent. It can be described as a calamitous circus. The budget is nowadays a moving target where changes are introduced throughout the year. This has caused a lot of confusion. For instance people talk of a KShs 3 Trillion budget for the current year yet the actual printed figure is KShs 2.6 Trillion.

The assumptions on which the budget is based such as revenue targets are usually not backed by any evidence. The current revenue targets are KShs 1.9 Trillion up from KShs 1.5 Trillion last financial year. That is a 31% jump in one year. This is an absurdity and fiscal impossibility. Last year revenues rose by 6% what would be the basis for projecting a 31% rise this year especially in a struggling economy.

The budget process begins with a long spending wish list which is followed by a panicked search for revenues. The actual expenditure last year was KShs 2.1 Trillion. The actual expenditure on 2016/2017 financial year was also KShs 2.1 Trillion. What is the point of raising the expenditure to KShs 2.6 Trillion in the current financial year? This has resulted in extracting up to the last drop of blood in terms of taxes to fund the bloated spending plan. Why can’t we begin with the revenues we have and then come up with spending plans on that basis instead of budgeting for expenses then look for funds to finance them. That is what we do with our household and business budgets.

Despite numerous tax rate rises the revenues have flattened with little hope for growth. There is a limit to which you can tax people. Also in the process of raising revenues we have turned the business environment toxic through a chaotic policy environment. An exaggerated spending plan creates room for and encourages looting of public funds.

We have borrowed too much, too fast to the extent that we have all but exhausted our borrowing capacity. Over the last five years annual average growth in revenues was 13% while annual average growth in debt was 22%. This has robbed us the opportunity to continue leveraging on debt to manage our fiscal deficits. We have to look for debt alternatives in financing future budgets. This means either we sell some of our national assets or drastically reduce our spending. Reducing spending will slow down the economy. We are in a situation where you can’t tax people more and can’t borrow more.

Our debt is largely unproductive. We have spent most of our debt on politically driven projects which do not make economic sense. Furthermore, we have spent borrowed money on recurrent expenditure which is an unforgivable economic sin. Our spending has also become sinfully tenderpreneur driven.

Poor parliamentary oversight. Parliament has failed in ensuring our borrowing is sustainable. MPs are only keen about their salaries and CDF allocations as far as budget making is concerned. This has left Treasury with a freehand in recklessly piling up debt. It is a shame we have left the issue of debt sustainability to IMF yet this should be the business of our parliament and indeed a domestic affair.

Lack of transparency in borrowing. The government has failed in keeping an up to date and accurate debt register. As of today nobody in this country actually knows what our total debt exposure is. Take for example the recently released Quarterly Economic and Budgetary Review Fourth Quarter, Financial Year 2017/2018 Period ending 30th June, 2018. On page Vi the document says our total debt is KShs 5.174 Trillion and on page 26 the same document says our total debt is KShs 5.039 Trillion. Which is which? To make things worse significant part of our borrowing has been hidden in books of parastatals such as Kenya Railways, Kengen, Kenya Power etc.

The Central Bank of Kenya has consistently failed to update its website on the public debt in a timely manner. For instance, we are now in September 2018 and the last time CBK updated the debt figures as per its website is March 2018. What is the explanation for such a delay if not mischief?

We have borrowed very expensive money. Before 2013, our external debt was largely cheap bilateral and multilateral loans. As of April 2013, our external debt was KShs 817 Billion and by June 2018 we were at KShs 2.56 Trillion a 213% growth. In April 2013, our expensive foreign commercial debt was KShs 57 Billion and as of June 2017 was at KShs 906 Billion a growth of 1,477%. This is neither acceptable nor sustainable. The risk of debt default are rising by the day.

Our debt servicing costs are no longer sustainable. Last year we spent KShs 324 Billion on interest payment while in the current fiscal year ending June 2019 we are to spend KShs 399 Billion on interest payment. The interest paid last year represents 22% of total revenues. The total spending on public debt in the current financial year is estimated at KShs 871 Billion (principal + interest) against targeted revenues of KShs 1.8 Trillion. The public debt spending is thus 49% of target revenues. These are shocking ratios.

Structural and constitutional issues. The 2010 Constitution came with a new government structure which is quite expensive to maintain. For instance, the hardcoding of County Governments’ issues at 15% of revenues does not make sense inasmuch as it may seem necessary to guarantee funds to county governments. What would happen if this is fiscally impossible? The government structure is just too wasteful. This will make it hard to cut spending. We need to ask questions as to whether the current 47 county governments are sustainable. Do we need two houses of parliament with a combined 416 MPs? Do we need all these constitutional commissions? Do we need Constitution Development Fund (CDF) in this era of County governments?

Bloated and expensive civil service. The current civil service needs to cut fat. A lot of rationalisation is necessary. We have a lot of duplication which should be done away with. Furthermore the government does not even seem to know how much it spends on salaries and wages. For instance it says it spent KShs 384 Billion on salaries and wages for the national government in the 2017/2018 financial year.

The recurrent spending of the Teachers Service Commission was KShs 218 Billion. Can the bill for teachers alone be 57% of the national government wage bill or 23% of its recurrent spending? Even assuming these figures are correct, how can it be that the salaries and wages of national government never reduced even after some functions were taken over by county governments? In the 2012/2013 financial year, the wage bill of national government was KShs 274 Billion. In the 2017/2018 financial years it was at the erroneous KShs 384 Billion a 40% rise.

Political interference with government finances. We have developed this culture of politicians such as the President and his Deputy making unjustifiable political declarations with serious economic implications. The politicians have been making promises on projects without any reference to the budget. This has resulted in fiscal indiscipline and chaos. These politics have exacerbated pressure on borrowing. It has also contributed to the earlier discussed issue of unproductive borrowing.

Notice there is nowhere I have talked about the much debated debt to GDP issues. I have argued so many times that you cannot use GDP to pay debts. You use cash represented by government revenues. As such, it is naïve and irresponsible to use GDP as an excuse or basis for borrowing. This will become clear in the near future.