Before I discuss today’s topic, I must say I’m quite proud of us Kenyans. The MPs attempts at raising their send off fees were thwarted by citizens’ demonstrations, law suits from civil societies and strong opinions from critics in the country. President Kibaki refused to sign the bill, citing that it was unconstitutional and unaffordable.

Well done.

Speaking of unaffordable, does that explain the influx in second hand electronics we’re seeing flooding the country’s commodities markets? Are new computers really that expensive such that Kenyans purchase old machinery instead?

Facebook, the world’s most popular social networking website, is a buzz with commercial activity. A quick search for groups dealing in trade revealed that Kenya has quite a number of these pages that offer new and used electronic goods for sale, as well as dogs, clothes, shoes, food (yes, you read right) and oddly, shambalas. A whole myriad of commodities are offered for sale but what caught my attention were second hand desktops and laptops.

At a computer shop, the cheapest branded computer will set you back at least KES 38,000. This doesn’t include the monitor but it does come with a one year warranty, in some cases even two years. This might be an ideal price for well off SMEs and large companies, but to the individual it’s quite pricey. Similarly, a new laptop with basic specifications and build quality would set you back around KES 36,000. In most cases that comes with a one year warranty.

However in these facebook groups, one can source a 5 year old, branded desktop computer for as little as KES 8,000. Yes, that’s about 4 times less the price of a new one at a shop. With regard to performance, some are significantly slower whilst others are at par with the new ones on sale. The same thing applies to laptop computers as well, in fact, these laptops are usually more recent in terms of specification and performance. The cheapest dual core laptop I saw was KES 22,000 for a 2008 HP 6910 dual core processor laptop. These were ex American, but work just fine here in Kenya. They come with a 6 month warranty.

These second hand computers function identically to the new computers on sale, and for many individuals in the middle to lower end classes, is affordable and within reach to them. Unlike importation of cars, there’s no clear law that specifies the age limit of imports of electronics. Now this is where things get tricky.

Further research revealed that very old computers are being imported. I saw an old IBM T40 laptop being sold for KES 15,000 at a local mall. When I asked the seller, he told me that he purchased a container full of these old laptops. They are cheap to buy in bulk. A 40ft container full of old laptops, and he’s not the only one with such. These old, obsolete machinery are in the market. There’s the relatively unknown topic of dumping of electronics in the African continent from foreigners. They see Africa as a place to get rid of their old electronics because you know, we’re “emerging economies”.

In my view, it’s quite risky purchasing an old computer 2^nd hand. Their specifications aren’t that great, despite it functioning the same as a new computer. For instance, new laptops offer a massive 500GB hard drive for storage. That laptop that goes for KES 15,000 has a 40GB hard drive. You’ll exhaust that space in no time. And what of parts, where will you source parts for it if something goes wrong and the warranty has espired? In terms of value for money in the long run, these aren’t very good options. They’re not quite “future proof” or reliable.

In fact, if you want evidence on reliability, visit a local cyber cafe. The keen eye would notice that there are one or two dead computers. I've been to one that had a store room full of them.

So where does the dead machinery go? More importantly, why do people go and purchase yet another obsolete computer? One runs out of space to store these dead computers. Soon we’ll have poisonous pollution issues as a result of dumping “E-waste”. Toxic chemicals from discarded computers will impact the environment negatively. I’m yet to see a proper facility that takes in dead computers and recycles them into export products.

Whilst purchasing imported, second hand clothes is acceptable, it doesn’t necessarily apply to electronics such as computers. Computers are not easy to recycle or discard like clothes. So the next time you go computer shopping, it would be best if you purchased it new from a shop. It’ll end up giving you peace of mind.