Comments on: The World Social Forum in Kenya

By: HASH

HASH — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 19:24:48 +0000

Hey Mental. So, I understand the reasoning, but I don’t agree with it. I don’t think it’s right to charge exorbitant fees to expats just because they’re expats.

Again, this applies to official businesses, not your open markets – those should continue to run unmolested by state control on both goods and prices (as far as I’m concerned).

By: mentalacrobatics

mentalacrobatics — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 05:38:53 +0000

Thanks for highlighting my WSF posts. The original price suggested for Kenyan nationals was KSH 1000.00 which according the Prof Oyugi the WSF2007 organising committee managed to negotiate down to KSH 450.00. This suggests to me that the prices are decided by the WSF secretariat away from the Kenyan organising committee. Perhaps they should have included Kenyan residents in there with Kenyan nationals. There seemed to be a feeling amongst a large number of the participants from both inside and outside Africa that many of those travelling from the west are â€œtrustafariansâ€ who can, should and are willing to pay the extra prices. It would be interesting to check the prices in Kenya against those of previous social forums.

By: Annansi Chronicles » This week in African Style 1/20 - 1/26/07

Annansi Chronicles » This week in African Style 1/20 - 1/26/07 — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 16:18:51 +0000

[…] â€¢ The World Economic Forum is under way in Davos, Switzerlad and the World Social Forum gets under way in Nairobi Kenya. […]

By: HASH

HASH — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 18:16:11 +0000

Cssp. On one hand I agree, but on the other I get offended. If this type of pricing happened in the West, there would be all types of lawsuits. Can you imagine walking into a store, amusement park, or restaurant in the US or Europe and having a price 10x higher because you aren’t a national?

Of course, I’m talking about regulated markets. I have no problem with open-stall markets like the curio dukas and markets where there is no set price and bargaining is part of the game. Caveat Emptor there.

By: Cssp

Cssp — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 17:37:14 +0000

Hash, yes that’s kind of disturbing, but overpricing especially for “foreigners” is a part of Kenyan psyche. Its appalling that Windsor, which is ‘infamously’ world-renowned, is charging such exhorbitant prices for food just because this is a world event, which equates to foreigners which equals more profit.
But I can’t castigate a hawker at Maasai market for selling a curio to an unsuspecting tourist for Ksh 2000 and to savvy buyer for Ksh 200. The man/woman has got to eat.