Rwandan government paid Kenyan economist David Ndii a salary of $20,000/Ksh 2.1 million a month before he was ultimately fired.
Ndii was recruited as an economic advisor to President Paul Kagame in 2008 as he sought to jumpstart the Rwandan economy.
Kagame’s government reached out to Kenya for assistance to recruit top advisors to his administration and Ndii was among those recruited.
Ndii was however fired just three months into his job in Rwanda because of gross incompetence and a condescending attitude.
Blogger Pauline Njoroge took a swipe at Ndii’s bottom-up economic model which is being championed by William Ruto citing the economist’s past failures in Rwanda and Kenya.
Pauline says Ndii was fired by both Presidents Kagame and Mwai Kibaki for being incompetent, she now wonders what he has to offer in term of economic recovery plan.
“RUTO’S ECONOMIC ADVISOR WHO WAS FIRED BY TWO PRESIDENTS:
In 2003, David Ndii was tasked by former President Mwai Kibaki to develop an Economic Recovery Strategic Plan to bolster the economy under the NARC Government.
He was to work closely with governor Anyang’ Nyong’o, who was then the Minister for Planning and National Development. He found a way to avoid being guided through by Nyong’o, as he wanted to get all the credit for the plan.
“Upon completion of the paper, Ndii handed it over to the then Head of Civil Service Amb. Francis Muthaura, who was also a close confidant of President Mwai Kibaki. When Muthaura shared the paper with Kibaki, the president trashed it saying, “This reads like a first year economics essay.”
“President Kibaki then called Joseph Kinyua, who was then Permanent Secretary for Planning, and instructed him to rewrite the paper. Mr. Kinyua brought together a solid team to work on this and the end product of their assignment is what we know today as Vision 2030 Economic Blueprint.
“Ndii felt slighted. He resulted to spewing sour grapes against Kibaki’s handling of the economy by fighting his economic programs in his regular newspaper columns. He reserved his punches on the infrastructure projects which were being implemented on the strength of the Vision 2030. He often referred to the ambitious Thika Superhighway as a white elephant project. Mind you the superhighway has in the last 12 years unlocked in a huge way the economic potential of areas along the 50KM stretch that it cuts through.
“Fast forward to to 2008, when President Paul Kagame’s government reached out to Kenya for assistance to recruit top advisors to his administration. The then Rwandan Ambassador engaged Prof. Mutahi Ngunyi to help with the recruitment process, from among the country’s top intellectuals. Ndii was among the people who was recruited in this process, as an economic advisor.
“The salary negotiated with World Bank for Ndii’s services was $20,000, an equivalent of Ksh2 million per month based on current exchange rates. After three Months, allegedly the Rwandan ambassador called Prof. Ngunyi and lamented that he was going to fire one of the guys he had recruited. The guy to be fired happened to be Ndii, and the reasons for his firing included incompetence and a condescending attitude. He would abuse members of the mainly youthful team (some of them drawn from Tony Blair’s Delivery Unit). He demoralized the team and he himself could not deliver.
“The incompetent, problematic man rejected by 2 sitting presidents is now TG’s economic advisor; the one energetically pushing a phoney economic model which he has branded as wheelbarrow-nomics,” wrote Pauline Njoroge on Facebook.
Related: Zambia’s New President Hakainde Hichilema Dismisses Ruto’s Wheelbarrow Economics
