{"id":25662,"date":"2016-05-29T00:38:52","date_gmt":"2016-05-29T00:38:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/left-behind-how-south-korea-overtook-kenya-in\/"},"modified":"2016-05-29T00:38:37","modified_gmt":"2016-05-29T00:38:37","slug":"left-behind-how-south-korea-overtook-kenya-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/left-behind-how-south-korea-overtook-kenya-in\/","title":{"rendered":"Left behind: How South Korea overtook Kenya in development"},"content":{"rendered":"

{Our country boasts of a 35km six-lane superhighway whereas in the southeast Asian nation, 10-lane roads are a norm, not an exception.}<\/p>\n

Visiting South Korea for a Kenyan can be inspiring and depressing.<\/p>\n

Inspiring because this nation is an example of what is possible with the right leadership, discipline and policies. Depressing because it is a reminder of our unattained potential.<\/p>\n

At independence in 1963, the economies of the two countries were at par.<\/p>\n

In fact, a story is told of how Jomo Kenyatta offered Sh10,000 to South Korea. And that is where the comparison ends.<\/p>\n

While Kenya is still described as a developing nation, South Korea is a powerhouse with brands like Daewoo, KIA, Samsung and LG.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter overcoming two wars and occupation, South Korea succeeded in industrialisation, democratisation and \u2018informatisation\u2019 with support of allies. It has become a leading country in development aid. It would not be an exaggeration to say south Korea is a proud asset to humanity,\u201d said Hong Duckryul, the Daegu University President .<\/p>\n

South Korea is the world\u2019s 15th largest economy with per capita income of $33,629 compared to Kenya\u2019s $1,300.<\/p>\n

And while Kenya boasts of a 35-kilometre six-lane Thika Superhighway, 10 lanes of roads with multi-storey interchanges covering thousands of kilometres are the norm in South Korea.<\/p>\n

Metropolises like Seoul, Buson, Daegu and Chungbuk are connected through a web of highways, airports and speed rail.<\/p>\n

In a country that is 70 per cent mountainous, continuous traffic flow is attained through tunnelling.<\/p>\n

More than 80 per cent of the 50 million citizens live in apartments, some as high as 90 storeys.<\/p>\n

These are properly planned and well-maintained blocks with shopping centres, schools, roads and other amenities.<\/p>\n

South Koreans will apologise for traffic jams causing delays of 15 minutes in peak time. <\/p>\n

Manufacturing in Kenya suffers as the country has become a supermarket for imports.<\/p>\n

In Korea, police and other public officials, including ministers, drive local models like Daewoo and KIA.<\/p>\n

Locally made TVs, home theatres and lifts are found in hotels and other buildings. That way, South Koreans ensure their factories thrive.<\/p>\n

While Kenya\u2019s envisioned tech city \u2014 Konza \u2014 remains a patchwork of contested savannah, South Korea has created 80 innovation centres.<\/p>\n

Dreamers are encouraged to innovate in order to drive tomorrow\u2019s industrial revolution.<\/p>\n

Anyone who proves he is working on something that will revolutionise, improve or generate products for the industry is given free office space and printers for six months.<\/p>\n

When an idea shows promise of making it to the production stage, the innovator is linked up with financiers and industrialists.<\/p>\n

Out of this, newer versions of the Samsung cell phone, TVs and other products are in the offing.<\/p>\n

Koreans are already thinking about the Green economy where solar, wind and other renewable resources will play the biggest role in industry.<\/p>\n

Everywhere one goes, there is no shortage of governors, mayors and national government officials eager to entertain and show visitors how great their country is.<\/p>\n

They have converted traditional Korean homes into multi-million businesses attracting tourists. Some of the most sought after real estate is in villages.<\/p>\n

And there is a condition. They must be maintained in their current form.<\/p>\n

In the rush to modernise and turn everything into retirement flats, Kenyans are losing their inheritance.<\/p>\n

Soon, it may not be possible to describe a Maasai manyatta, Luhya, Luo, Kikuyu or Kalenjin hut or even their cuisine.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

{Our country boasts of a 35km six-lane superhighway whereas in the southeast Asian nation, 10-lane roads are a norm, not an exception.} Visiting South Korea for a Kenyan can be inspiring and depressing. Inspiring because this nation is an example of what is possible with the right leadership, discipline and policies. Depressing because it is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[101],"byline":[228],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-25662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-internationl","byline-afp"],"bylines":[{"id":228,"name":"AFP","slug":"afp","description":"Agence France-Presse is an international news agency headquartered in Paris. It is the oldest news agency in the world and one of the largest. ","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":71}],"contributors":[{"id":228,"name":"AFP","slug":"afp","description":"Agence France-Presse is an international news agency headquartered in Paris. It is the oldest news agency in the world and one of the largest. ","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":71}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25662\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25662"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=25662"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=25662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}