After living for a decade in a hyper-concrete jungle named Los Angeles, I wrote a book in 2013 called Dollar Altar in which I issued a warning to the so-called developing country. I warned that  development is not the erection of concrete and steel structures but more tied to quality of life. That quality of life is not simply judged by the buildings of our dwellings and the skyscrapers of our cities but more importantly the safety of the environment we live in, the  air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat. For if you lived in a nice building but with air laced with toxic fumes and particles, you may not be in a slum but the slum will be in your lungs. 

[….]

Studies that have been done by The World Bank regarding housing gaps in Kenya erroneously transpose the concept of house ownership in the West to Kenya. House or Home ownership as understood in the U.S. is very different in our cultural settings. In fact,  with the Housing Fund’s sales pitch, the government has had to translate mortgage language into rent terms to break through this cultural barrier. We are highly mobile and easily go where the hustle takes us but firmly anchored in our Ushagus. One who works for the government in Mombasa but hails from Kakamega desires to own his house at ‘home’ in Kakamega. That’s also true for those from Murang’a, Narok or Samburu etc. Attempting to convince the person to own it in Mombasa by simply telling him that he’s only turning his rent into mortgage for ownership  is futile no matter the guarantees. 

[…]

Mr. President, your heart I think is in the right place regarding creation of jobs for our unemployed adults you call youths  but to congest us in concrete jungles through a National Chama as your PS called it will not do. We will make it in Kenya when  we make it in Kenya. That is, we will make it in Kenya when we make the things we use and consume in Kenya. 

The rest of the article become a chapter in this book.

Written by Robert Mwangi, MBA the author of the books President’s Advisor, Money Circles, Five Fingers and Dollar Altar. He also composed and sung ZIBA UFA