The Konza proposal as corporate storytelling in thesavannah? A decolonial reflection on the developmental ideology and governance of Africa’s silicon city

This article presents a critical analysis of the Konza proposal as a smart (silicon) city being built in Kenya. This covers its developmental ideologies including the concept of economic city, urban innovation, and corporate state control. It finds out that the ideology of smart city as economic city where the developers had promised to generate about 17,000 jobs in BPO-ITES and contribute 1% to the national GDP by 2018 did not materialize and remains a storytelling exercise. In terms of innovation district, its smart city governance proposals are yet to be applied on the ground since the city is not yet built over a decade after it was proposed. Its proposals as corporate tool for state control of urban development (Master-plan) are also found not to be socially inclusive. Nevertheless, the Konza proposal tells us lessons on the emergence of corporate urbanism that involves branding (marketing), corporate management infrastructure, corporate citizenship and corporate demonstration effect. The analysis concludes that the ideology is mere political rhetoric or branding exercise that may not lead to the achievement of its proposed development goals.