1. I don't know if there ever was any hinderance for businessmen to Invest being not a businessmen myself, but the terms provided might've been unattractive to profit minded businessmen. I think the bottom- up approach to devt Zemen alluded to, can have something to do with it too. Very few extremely rich, vs. the majority is not a business model the govt prefers. You can take the ports, for instance. The govt could easily have leased them out like Djibouti has done but no, they're the ppl's property. Few rich, with a bunch of y'kealos with no money is a recipe for disaster. Do you know Al amoudi contacted Eritrea first before going to the weyane, & got rebuffed?Asmara wrote: ↑29 Dec 2020, 14:28ZmelesoZmeselo wrote: ↑29 Dec 2020, 13:54Bravo, Zemen! You're totally right.ZEMEN wrote: ↑29 Dec 2020, 12:28AuroraAurorae Borealis wrote: ↑29 Dec 2020, 11:59Zemen,
You wrote,Building dams is very good, but that should be the work of local sub units of governments, and the famers themselves. I don't want to see the president digging on the dams, I want him hammering international trade deals with the help of Harvard or Yale graduate Eritreans instead of expelling them out of the country. I want him to keep local capital and allow savy merchants and enterpreuners do their magic. In 1935, Addis Ababa was a muddy little village. Asmara looked like a beautiful Italian City/Town. Now, Look at the two cites and wonder what happened. Blame Haile Sellasie and Mengistu. Don't be Naive. Isayas had Asmara for the last thirty years too.I see a bright future for Eritrea. even on the times of hostilities by the junta, the Eritreans were busy building their country. They have building small but effective dams and they have been protecting their soils from erosion as well as forestation. So, right now, Eritrea ready to launch her economy by integrating with Ethiopia, economically. People were laughing when the Eritreans talk about dams but no one is laughing now, they collected so much water, there is not a litter of water that wasted. once you get water, the rest is.......pufffffffffffffff]
My understanding is the approach of the nation building idea. From my understanding Eritrea is following the Singapore style of nation building, Bottom-up and you are suggesting the typical top-down nation building idea. So, you are not wrong but the two ways of nation building are different in approach. the top-down national building is practiced by all African countries while Eritrea is the first country to try this approach and let wait and see. From what i can see, once social justice is accomplished the, the rest is.......cake. Africa will never be democratic with out achieving social justice and social justice can only be bottom-up nation building style. from what i can see and understand. my 2 cents.
What these chatterboxes are missing (consciously avoiding) is the fact that the country has had only 5 years of peace, since its Independence. The remaining years have been years of war, no war-no peace, sanctions and all sorts of other foreign induced problems. But even with that (any other country would've collapsed), the country built the dams you mentioned (to a cost of nearly a billion nakfa), revived its mining sector, hit almost all MDG's, eradicated illiteracy etc etc etc
Is there a lot more left to be done? Definitely! But we'll reach there, if the warmongering demons completely disappear from our region.
Ppl like djiboutian Zack, should just stfu. His country is one family's personal property, yet has the gall to criticize Eritrea's leadership.
Believe you me, if President Isaias was hated even a reaction of that which these ppl here hate him, he would've been gone a long time ago.
I know you are an intelligent person for which I
have tremendous respect for you. But I would like to ask you few questions:
It is a common knowledge that Eritrea faced its biggest challenge in the last 22/23 years in terms of war, sanction, instability, no war no peace etc. But do you think some remedial measures could have eased the situation?
Example:
1. Allowing Eritreans to invest in their own country in construction, business, trade, services etc. When I say this I have all those Eritrean entrepreneurs in Juba, Rwanda, Angola, Uganda in mind. Don't you think we have missed a massive investment that could transform our economy, generate jobs for the youth, prevent migration etc?
2. Instead of keeping the youth in the army indefinitely, you keep on circulating them. When they complete their 18 month service you allow them to lead a civilian life. If a threat appears you call them up.
3. I believe that at least the above policies would have eased the problems we experiencing to a certain extent.
4. This doesn't mean that there were no developmental activities happening in the last 20 years but more could have been done.
Thanks.
When a middle class is formed in Eritrea, then foreign investment can be readily sought out & encouraged.
2. This is the most important part from your questions. You put it very simplistically but without them there wouldn't be any country to speak of, hence invest in. Besides, we focus on those who run away but how many of the youths who stayed put have gone to college & have become Doctors & Engineers? Quite many. Those who didn't make it to college were trained in carpentry, electricity, driving machinaries etc etc
I agree with you in points 3 & 4, & I'm realistic enough to believe the govt makes mistakes & has weaknesses (PIA is the 1st one to admit himself, as I heard him say in many interviews.) Better days are in the horizon, tho.


