Two things happen repeatedly in Kenya that could easily be fixed to give the government instant credibility. Buildings often collapse regularly, killing innocent workers and bystanders. Traffic accidents routinely kill a half dozen or more.

The cause of the building collapses are relatively simple. There are too few trained government inspectors to make sure structures are safe. When bad things happen, those responsible are let off the hook. And incredulously, they are allowed to build again -- immediately.

Let's take the Kiambu accident a few days ago. A six-storey building, being constructed under murky circumstances, collapses during a rainstorm. Several are trapped and at least three are killed.

The accident is the latest in a series, in which the same thing happens. Police and the military make a valiant attempt to rescue those trapped. But one wonders what would have happened if authorities had not been looking the other way when the building was put up.

Consider this: A professional group of architects has compiled a list of unsafe buildings in the city. But their work has been ignored. A very simple change could fix the problem: Triple the number of qualified inspectors to about 60, and start enforcing violations.

So where do you get the money? Delegations of Europeans and Chinese have recently been to Kenya, and have expressed the desire to spend money on projects that improve the quality of East Africans' life.

My suggestion is that you take the Italians up on their kind words. Ask them to help make sure there is never another building collapse in Nairobi.

Ask the Italians to take government officials from Nairobi to Rome, train them on proper inspection techniques and give them lessons to on how to ward off the temptations of dealing with lucrative developers.

With that solved, we can turn our attention to traffic fatalities. The problem is three-fold -- unsafe roads in the areas about 50km outside Nairobi, unsafe matatus run by under-qualified crews and a general lack of both rigid laws and their enforcement.

The has been one commision after another that made recommendations to solve the problem. When I was last in Nairobi, government officials wanted enough seat belts in vehicles, governors on matatus and limits on passengers. You'd have thought that the world had ended.

The reaction is always the same. The Government makes recommendations. The matatu drivers strike or stage a go-slow, or fight back in another way. The drivers win because they hold all of the transportation cards, and the mayhem continues.

How do you change this cycle? Very simply: the Government needs to deal with the transportation business more seriously. It needs to create a system of buses that seriously compete with the matatus.

Two things would be going for the Government business: Cheaper fares than matatus and safe buses. A major road construction project should begin throughout the country.

Give your safety officers the training and backing to start pulling matatus off of the street for safety violations. How do we get this going? Well, I've been reading about the recent visit of Chinese government officials. They're contributing significant funds towards a rail line that stretches from the coast all the way to Uganda.

Obviously, the Chinese are acting in self-interest as well as in the interest of Kenya. They need a route to the sea to ship materials to and from China. Kenya needs a working rail line to connect itself to the rest of the region.

With the Chinese interest in transportation, it would be wise to ask them to help solve the road problem.

I think Kenya has enough resources to deal with roads. The amount of aid that comes in from Western countries is more than enough. But the way that it's delivered means that most of it ends up in the pockets of politicians, and not where it's needed.