TALKING POINT
Death By Dieselization,
SGR And How Foxes Win
By Boniface Ngahu
T
echnology disruption has ways of
reorganizing things enough to cause
havoc to many stakeholders. Given
how some technologies last for decades
many people base their life on them.
Infrastructure also can make or break
some establishments. A few examples
come to mind, from the USA there are
states that have very well established coal
industries, they even have days set aside
to celebrate coal and brands that leverage
on the resulting culture to win the hearts
of consumers. However, these states find
themselves in a corner as climate change
debate targets fossil fuels and especially coal
for replacement with cleaner energy sources
mainly renewables.
Other sources of energy like solar are
becoming cheaper as new technologies
emerge to perfect the ways of capturing
energy from the sun.
Death by Dieselization,
Connecting the Dots as SGR
Left the Station
Recently Kenya completed the Standard
Gauge Railway (SGR) from Nairobi to
Mombasa. My prediction was that the
SGR will revolutionalise the way Kenyans
travel or goods will be transported between
upcountry and the port city as it did.
The only thing that was worrying is how
businesses and people who have designed
there main life around the formally
dominant road transport infrastructure
would be affected.
This year’s Marketing Society of Kenya
Gala Awards Dinner had the theme of
Connecting The Dots and we are reminded
that Steve Jobs said that one of the best
ways to do that is looking back in history.
When we looked back we found what was
From the Dieselization experience it is stat-
ed that while there are many victims of such
progressive developments there are also win-
ners. Some of the losers are those people who
are well established and heavily invested in
the traditional sectors affected, churches
also lose flocks and some would close. Fam-
ilies and community based people also lose.
But Nomads win as they can easily relocate
which also apply to younger people who are
heavily mobile.
22 MAL33/19 ISSUE
termed as death by dieselization which
happened after the diesel engine was
invented. Many towns that had thrived
as refilling stations along the railroad
died as a result of the disruption. The
new engine was more powerful, it needed
less staff and some skill sets became
obsolescent.
Recently, some Mombasa politicians have
been organizing regular street protests
against the directive by government to
transport most containers through SGR.
They argue that this is killing the local
blue economy that has thrived as a result
of road transport activities. Those who
conduct businesses in the tracks stop
overs have also been communicating
about the scarcity of customers.
A report by University of Nairobi
confirms that this has actually happened.
It also indicated some positive impact
from domestic tourism as more people
are travelling to the Coast City through
the SGR.
The only advice I can give is that instead
of politicizing the issue Mombasa
Leaders and citizens need to realign
themselves to the market realities
because as Margaret Thatcher said, “you
cannot bulk the market”.
One of the wise things to do is to
leverage on the new domestic tourism
wave. I was in Mombasa and I noticed
the lack of activity from evening to the
night as people retire home, the impact
is real.