Kenya’s industrialisation The east African country has failed to kick-start its manufacturing sector, but not for lack of trying Nairobi’s industrial district is well laid out—or at least looks that way on a map. The district’s main thoroughfare, Enterprise Road, starts just outside the city’s Central Business District and runs for almost 15km. Alphabetically named roads branch off at regular intervals. Each of these ends in a broad cul-de-sac designed to allow lorries to turn easily. The main railway has branch lines terminating at every warehouse to expedite the off-loading of goods. Off the map and on the ground, a…
Joel Macharia
East Africa’s railways New tracks and lines are steaming ahead by Joel Macharia Rail transport in East Africa is steaming ahead. As the region’s economies recover from slumps that afflicted them in the 1990s from a combination of mismanagement and a decline in commodity prices, their respective governments are fast-tracking new infrastructure to ease the movement of goods, services and people, a crucial requirement for growth. The Djibouti-Ethiopia Railway was opened in July 2013, running 656km from the city of Djibouti on the Red Sea to Addis Ababa, the capital of landlocked Ethiopia. In April, Tanzania began looking for investors…
Kenya: farmers reap the benefits of new technology by Joel Macharia John Mwangi stands in his wooden shed counting bags of maize neatly bundled in burlap. The 90 kg bags sit on slats raised two feet off the earthen floor, protecting the maize from damp and rodents. A few hens scratch the earth, pecking at the grains that have fallen out. The 44-year-old farmer finishes counting at 149 and takes out his cellphone. He enters the number into a message and hits the send button. A few seconds later, he receives a text message with the latest price of maize…
