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David Ndii

19 Dec, 10 tweets, 3 min read

Brought our daughter an ardent space science fan to the Luigi Broglio Space Centre (San Marco) in Malindi. Watched Naomi (in green) officer on duty track satellites AGILE and IXPE. Also in picture our gracious host Warrant Officer Tangus of Kenya Navy. Wonderful outing.

https://twitter.com/DavidNdii/status/1472502449697177605

Seems quite a few people are surprised that there is a space centre in Kenya. A thread. 1/9

https://twitter.com/DavidNdii/status/1472502449697177605

First, the backstory of how our visit came about. Was workshopping in Naivasha last month and as often happens, a gentleman who recognised me from media walked up for a selfie and introduced himself as Major Mururu from the Kenya Space Agency.

My colleagues were rather taken aback, more so after he explained that not only do we have a space agency we have a nano-satellite in orbit since 2018. technologyreview.com/2018/05/11/142…

Next morning I turn up for breakfast and as I pass the space agency table a familiar voice calls my name out loud and lo and behold its my Kangaru schoolmate one David Otuoma who I haven’t seen for almost 40 year (first time I see his hair combed!)

Next to him is Mucemi Gakuru, easily the most brilliant Kenyan scientist of my generation. Both board members of the space agency. Small world it is. So that’s how I got acquainted with the Kenya Space Agency

@SpaceAgencyKE

@SpaceAgencyKE was established in 2017 but it was a successor to the National Space Secretariat which had been around since 2009. Its headed by Col.Hilary Kipkosgey. It is located at Pittman House on Jakaya Kikwete Road (formerly Milimani Road). They are very friendly.

@SpaceAgencyKE

@SpaceAgencyKE Now on to the space centre. The space centre was established in 1964 as collaborative project between Kenyan and Italian governments. The Italian space program, then in its infancy, was in turn a collaboration with NASA.

@SpaceAgencyKE

@SpaceAgencyKE The centre comprises of a ground station for tracking satellites, and an offshore launching site, known as the San Marco platform, that is no longer in use. In its heydays (1967-88) 27 satellites were launched from there.

@SpaceAgencyKE

@SpaceAgencyKE In 1993 the Italian Space Agency (ASI) downgraded it from a launch site which its founder and champion Luigi Broglio for who its now named protested by resign from the board. But the launch platform is still there, and with our own space agency, who knows what future holds. 9/9

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David Ndii

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Has the economy grown 3.7 fold, from Sh4.4tr to Sh11tr under Uhuru Kenyatta? A fact check, and primer in national income accounting. 1/16

At the end of this lesson, non-economists will know difference between nominal and constant price GDP, and how cartel economics could explain Uhuru confusing nominal GDP increase for real growth.

Consumer price milk was Sh60/litre in 2012 (Sh30/1/2 litre packet). It is now Sh110 (Sh55 a packet). KNBS figures show farmers got Sh31/litre in 2012 and Sh33 in 2020. Also from KNBS, marketed production has increased from 330m litres to 460m litres, a growth of 39 percent.

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An economic policy analysis of Northern Kenya rangelands with reference to pastoralism and conservation tourism. A long thread.

In economics, we value resources using the opportunity cost principal. 1/18

Simply put, opportunity cost is what is forgone in a trade-off e.g when resources are appropriated for one use over another. When farm land is acquired for for a school, we do not compensate the farmer based on the education services but rather for the forgone agricultural income

Similarly, if a certain rangeland is to be set aside for conservation, we do not need to know the value of the wilderness—we’ve already agreed that nature is priceless. What we need to value and compensate is what the land owners, in this case pastoralists, stand to lose.

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My Chris Kirubi obituary.

I’ve known Chris Kirubi for close to 30 years. We interacted mostly as a client as I have consulted for companies he was involved in over the years, but we were also good friends. CK was a very easygoing person.

But my most memorable encounters with him are political. In the run-up to the first multiparty elections, I was a young economist at the World Bank’s Nairobi office, then known as the Regional Mission in East Africa.

Mission Chief Steve O’Brien pops his head in my office and asks me whether Kirubi and I were acquainted. I said sure. He then asked me accompany him to a meeting with Chris later in the day.

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David Ndii

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On the myth of Kenya’s bountiful past. A thread.

I was born in the mid sixties, in a cohort of 300k.. Child mortality was 170/1000 meaning 50k of my age mates died before 5th birthday. ((46/1000 today)

Transition to secondary school was 20% i.e of the 250k who survived childhood, only 50k made it to secondary school (its 80% today). University enrolment was 2k per year ie 4%.

Thus, I am one out of 125 children I started school with, who made university, thats one out of every 4 classes. By the time I graduated in the late 80s, guaranteed public employment had ended.

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David Ndii

@DavidNdii

13 May

This is an appreciation tweet for the people who have walked with us to this historic ruling on HC Petition E282 of 2020 and consolidated petitions.

@NelsonHavi

First to the lawyers and scholars who have volunteered their time and invaluable expertise starting of course with our lead counsel @NelsonHavi assisting counsel @AngawaEA and their team, thank you.

@NelsonHavi

@NelsonHavi @AngawaEA Our technical bench @waikwawanyoike @SingoeiAKorir and the research team for all the heavy lifting behind the scenes—you are the real heroes of this victory, thank you.

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