Third World problems




Being a citizen of a country grouped in the so-called Third World category comes with its stereotypes, benefits and of course challenges like reliable internet connection. Well, for sure there are things that I am sure the so-called developed countries envy, like, tropical fruits and little probability of nuclear threat from enemies my state made. With the world politics dominated by nuclear threats from North Korea, I am much more concerned with internet provision in my country. Surely after being the top on the continent in tech and consumer friendly services like mobile money that some of the so called developed states do not have, reliable, fast and cheap internet connection is like citing a rare breed of bird.
The problem is dominance by mobile phone companies that charge in bundles. Why data should be limited by providers is beyond me considering that the whole nation is going digital soon, including our primary schools. For example in Azerbaijan, I paid 15AZN (equivalent of Ksh 1,500) per month for internet, it was ADSL. The data was unlimited, I can stream local news seated in my kitchen in the South Caucasus, it was reliable, fast and never did I experience technical hitches with it. With absence of simple services like mobile money transfer and transactions, I felt like I was in fourth world for a moment, if anything like it existed. But alas, something I couldn’t get here in Kenya was right here and I didn’t have to dig deeper into my pockets to do so. Zuku, one of the popular providers here in Nairobi requires 2,999Ksh for a package whose IMB e-mail attachment takes an estimated four minutes and downloading a 1GB movie takes you sixty hours! This is really what makes Kenya a third world country (not including child mortality, maternal death during child delivery and jigger problems, yes we have people dying from jigger infestations, quite sad).
The term third world country in my opinion is relative, it all depends on how one chooses to define it and the context matters as well. Contextually, thus, Kenya is a truly third world state when it comes to internet provision and reliability by companies based here. It holds medals and all honours coming with it. It stands in front of the line and claims its position as a state that has companies charging Ksh 10,000 (more than 100USD per month) for an internet bundle that promises media streaming and 3 hour movie downloads, hilarious indeed and sad. Don’t get me wrong, my bond to my country is strong unlike its data provision.
If we are leading in spheres like horticulture, tea and coffee production and corruption I think we ought to take a little stand and make sure that we get reliable and moderately cheap internet connection where unlimited information in the cloud is available to us citizens. With internet cost that varies, Kenya has shown that it is a country of haves and have nots. If you can afford $118 per month to pay for a fast internet that  promises 20sec for e-mail attachment, then surely, a family that earns less than $100 a month cannot afford it, let alone the one that earns less than $1 a day.
With zillions of information that is stored in our virtual public library called the internet, a limited group of people in this country can access it at a faster rate while the rest will be forced to wait for minutes if not hours for it to download or stream. Do not even mention Safaricom and it 3G internet! That deserves its own entry.
Location: Nairobi, Kenya

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