Of Zombie ideas, Misinformation, and “White elephants”
Lamu Port: Kenya's Brand new Port Reading the persistent criticism of Kenya’s development path, one could be forgiven for thinking that Kenyans elected a government of corrupt fools. The country has developed some mega infrastructure projects in the last 20 years. A large number of them are complete and operational. A large number of others are still under construction. Yet “outcry” about the projects persists. The cacophony of noise is confusing: the cost is bloated, the implementation is slow; it is not the right standard; its build on expensive Chinese loans by expensive Chinese contractors. On completion, the issues turn to the viability of the projects. The protestors embrace conspiracy theories and propagate falsehoods clothed in inept comparisons – comparing Apples with Oranges-so to speak. They ignore the simple economics truth that, price is determined by factors that vary from product to product. They also ignore facts on the ground. Consequently, the protests can be