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12:12
Images from 100 years of East Africa
» Black Looks Thousands of images of East Africa dated between 1860 and 1960 have been published online. For more images see the Humphrey Winterton website
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8:18 Micheal Jackson Memorium :: King of Pop,Rock and Music in general.
» johnkaranja.com 
Micheal Jackson death on June 24th 2009 devastated many of his fans some of who had grown up listening to the Musical Genius. I for one was particularly schooled into music by MJ’s music infact it was the first music i ever recall hearing and what a way to start. Thriller used to scare the hell out of me and i remember my older sister used to wear a face mask and roll up her eyes and frighten the day lights of me, however i did successfully retaliate once when i give her a real fright after having mastered all the thriller moves and jumped on her in the dark. Simply put though MJ clearly missed his childhood he certainely gave me and my sister ours and certainely millions of Kids around the world of every race and creed.Micheal Jackson is probably one of the few people in the world who has been constantly hounded by press since childhood. Very few people can understand that pressure. Add that fame to fortune and a missed childhood with a ruthless father it is therefore very surprising that he remained humble and generous.
Many people have said many bad things about him but success breeds envy and envy breeds lies. I present to you my readers
perhaps the most fair and frank interview of him and Oprah Winfrey. Do remember his Music and imagine if possible yourself in his shoes.People forget that he was just a black man in a white America with the odds stacked heavily against him and in his death he is still selling the most number of records ever sold for a music artist (i bought 3).
Rest in peace Micheal we will surely follow you wherever you are.
You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video
This post will be updated in the days ahead so do come back.
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0:02
ATT To The Rescue
» For Love and Money ATT To The Rescue
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22:45
Obama’s New Media Strategies for Ghana
» White African A couple weeks ago I had a discussion with President Obama’s New Media team, where we talked about what they might do to reach out to ordinary Ghanaians on his trip next week – which will culminate in his speech in Accra on July 11th. There is a lot of excitement in Africa around Obama, and this trip is going to set the continent humming.
WhiteHouse.gov/Ghana isn’t live yet, but on July 11th, it will become available.
It’s a fairly interesting initiative to undertake, with a slew of problems, as you try to engage with as many individuals in an open travel campaign as possible. At the same time, you know that any channel you open up will get absolutely flooded with incoming comments, questions and spam of every sort. In the end, the team decided that Radio, SMS, then Facebook would be the primary new media access points – and in that order.
Radio, SMS and FacebookRadio is still the number one communications medium across Africa, and Ghana has a particularly vibrant and active one with a lot of local and national community interaction.
As everyone knows, mobile phone penetration has grown at an explosive rate in Africa, this means that SMS is a fairly democratic means for getting feedback from people of every demographic across the nation. (Funnily enough, not available to US-based residents – more below on that)
Lastly, there are no major homegrown web-based social networks in Ghana, and like many other countries across Africa Facebook has a decent amount of penetration. In Ghana, it’s at 100,000+, so it makes the most sense for the new media team to engage and interact without splitting their energy over too many services. Having Twitter on as a backup is natural, as there will be a great deal of chatter there as well.
The details (from the White House)SMS. We’re launching an SMS platform to allow citizens to submit questions, comments and words of welcome (in English and in French) . Using a local SMS short code in Ghana (1731) , Nigeria (32969) , South Africa (31958) and Kenya (5683), as well as a long code across the rest of the world*, Africans and citizens worldwide will be encouraged to text their messages to the President. SMS participants will also be able to subscribe to speech highlights in English and French. Long numbers for mobile registration pan-Africa: 61418601934 and 45609910343.
This SMS platform is not available to US participants due to the Smith Mundt Act (The act also prohibits domestic distribution of information intended for foreign audiences).
Radio. A live audio stream of the President’s speech will be pushed to national and local radio stations during the speech. After the speech, a taped audio recording of the President’s answers to the SMS messages received will be made available to radio stations and websites. The President hopes to answer a variety of questions and comments by topic and region. The audio recording will also be made available for download on White House website and iTunes.
Video. The speech will be livestreamed at www.whitehouse.gov/live. The embed code for this video is available so you may also host the livestream on any Website.
Online chat. We will host a live web chat around the speech on Facebook (it will be at http://apps.facebook.com/whitehouselive). The White House will also create a Facebook “event” around the speech wherein participants from around the world can engage with one another. A Twitter hashtag (i.e. #obamaghana) will also be created and promoted to consolidate input and reaction around the event.
Obama talks about his upcoming tripPart 1
Part 2
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20:17
The Art of Blisfull Happiness
» Kikuyumoja's realm 
What’s this?
A happy dog! :-)
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20:15
Gaddafi Expands Ego, Ropes in Fellow Rulers
» You Missed This 
Sovereignty must be a battle cry for scoundrels. So African rulers are consorting on continental impunity under the able tutelage of Leader Muammar Gaddafi? The next few days will see the African continental air suffocating from the hollow rallying call of independence and non-interference.
Our rulers are only fooling themselves. Their selfish acts and personalized RULERSHIP only succeeds in providing the much needed cannon fodder to imperialists who are the custodians of their wealth stashed abroad. With one hand they wax patriotic beating anti western drums oblivious of the fact that all their loot is banked out there. What is more, at the signs of flu, they catch the next flight to those same western capitals for specialized treatment.
Gaddafi must be laughing himself silly for congregating dinosaurs and dictators whose only common denominator is pure IMPUNITY. It couldn’t have come at a better time after Gaddafi has taken the shameful mantle from one dwarf Omar Bongo as the longest serving ruler in the world. Other octogenarians must be salivating with envy of him in Sirte. Gaddafi is simply buying loyalty with petro-dollars and greedy scoundrels are more than willing to play ball.
The Hague express
Gaddafi’s ego is expanded the more secure in the knowledge that he is offering many outlaws the holiday to spend their taxpayers’ money. From Bashir to Mugabe, their flights outside their borders are limited to like-minded dictators and murderous. No wonder they are all gleefully ready to sign Gaddafi’s anti ICC communique.
Well, they can run from Cairo to Cape Town but they cannot hide from the ghosts of Hague Express. The diligent Chief Prosecutor Moreno Ocampo will dutifully strike when time comes whether they are in office of dead.
It is only a matter of time and no amount of security in numbers gimmick packaged as African solidarity will wash. The Hague Express is one unstoppable juggernaut that once it departs from the station no pedigree in family name will stop it.Kumekucha
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19:44
New (proposed?) Nairobi City by-laws
» Kenyan Pundit I know people have been looking for the electronic version, so here you go. Haven’t had a chance to peruse, but according to the twitterverse there’s lots of things that make you go hhmmm (and worse).
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19:07
Married available men!!!$$$
» Farmgal Do I have “Married? Hit on me” written on my forehead???? aaarrgggghhhhh
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Flyng the rainbow flag in India: Section 377 repealed in Delhi
» Black Looks In a landmark decision the High Court of Delhi has ruled that Secion 337 of the Indian Penal Code is unconstitutional. Section 377 which criminalises same sex relationships dates back to the 19th centuary British colonial rule in India. Although the penalty of up to 10 years in prison has rarely been used, the police [...]
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11:47
Is the Mau Mau compensation lawsuit worth the trouble?
» Kenya Imagine Alex returns to our pages with a new piece about the Mau Mau -- one of his specialist subjects. Rather surprisingly, he thinks the lawsuit not a very good idea.
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10:35
Long before
» Mshairi The resolve in my heart was…..has been steadfast……. Forged in time ……..long before i laid eyes on you…… Long before our first walk together….long before the words escaped my lips….. If you wonder why i look at you with childish abandon…… Why i do not get upset…… My eyes had seen all the wrong that would come……. Still the resolve to see [...]
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Do Those Who Call The Shots In Nairobi Know Enough About Somalia?
» You Missed This 
I lived in Garissa for a while. I didn’t like it then. Boring town with hardly any entertainment to speak of and the heat and humidity is always crazy. But looking back now, it was a good experience. I learnt a lot. That experience comes in very handy today as I write about our Somali brothers. I seem to know them a lot more than most Kenyans do.
Indeed when the Clinton administration sent in troops to Somalia in the early 1990s, I laughed to myself, knowing full well what was going to happen next. What fascinates me greatly right now is how Kenyans are displaying the same ignorance on the Somalis that I saw in the Clinton administration.
It is true that Somalis don’t look too intelligent and in my view that is one of their greatest strengths. People always greatly underestimate and underrate them.
As you must know, if you are a regular reader here, I love to tell stories and I am going to tell you two today starting with what happened when I was in Garissa in the 1980s.
One day at about 8 pm loud sirens suddenly went off in the town. I panicked. What did they mean? I was quickly informed that there was a security emergency in the town. I later learnt that there had been a shooting incident in a bar in town where scores of people had been killed. This incident was never reported in the media. Later I learnt exactly what had happened.
A Somali man had earlier been arrested with Elephant tusks. The police were keen to get information from him, especially where he had stashed the cash for his illegal activities. When you want a man to talk, there is a particular area of his body that you press and they are bound to start singing like a bird. Well, this Somali man did not “sing” and the overenthusiastic cops are said to have completely disabled the man’s ability to ever sleep with a woman again. Later, the man managed to escape. He crossed the border into Somalia and came back with an automatic weapon and bullets wrapped across both his shoulders. Now the policemen responsible were having a quiet drink in this bar in Garissa town. The Somali man walked in and sprayed the table where they were seated with bullets, killing most of them instantly. He casually walked out of the bar and disappeared into the night.
I was told that no policeman would have dared follow the man into the darkness and the Kenya army, who have a presence in Garissa, were called in. Months later when the man was finally captured it was hard to believe that this one, small, wiry, thin man who did not look so clever had single-handedly caused so much damage.
One of the things about the dry arid North Eastern province is that it is extremely hot and humid. A Somali man has no problem crossing large tracts of the region on foot having taking only a single glass of water for the day. When you think about this simple fact you quickly realize that the odds would already be greatly stacked against Kenyan troops in the event of a war with Somalis to protect Kenyan terrain.
Story number two coming up. When I was a very young child (about 5 years old) we lived in Isiolo. This was in the late 60s. I still remember the house we lived in and the fact that sometimes in the evenings you would see the silhouette of an Elephant in the distance as the sun was setting. Very romantic I guess and one of the few benefits of being the son of a cop who regularly gets hauled all over the country and sometimes to the most arid and remote corners. One day we almost died. A fierce exchange of gun fire between some Somali Shifta warriors and the Kenya Army (the Shifta war was still very much on) ensued and spread into our compound at about 7pm. My dad had gone for his usual evening beer and he ended up not being able to make it back that night because his house had been transformed into a war zone. Loud gunfire echoed all around the compound. My mother took me and my kid brother and we all hid inside a cupboard where we spent the night. I remember my kid brother vomited inside the cupboard because of the fear he felt. But he did much better than some civilians at a nearby bar some of whom urinated on their trousers in fear (I kid you not). I think I was more excited than frightened. When I woke up in the morning it was all quiet.
Make no mistake about it, Somalis are the most shrewd entrepreneurs you will find anywhere and being an entrepreneur has got nothing to do with speaking good English. Typically you will observe a Somali man waking up very early in the morning and switching on their radio. They will then proceed to sip down their morning beverage while chewing Miraa (khat). You can be sure that the guy is not idling or trying to wake up properly like the rest of us would be doing. He is thinking and trying to roll the whole day ahead in his mind. In many instances he will come up with business ideas and deals that he may want to start implementing as soon as his active day starts. This is a habit I would love to emulate (without having to chew anything).
I can tell you scores of stories about these fascinating brothers of ours but I have to stop there.
As I sit here I worry that folks in decision-making positions in Nairobi may not know enough about our dear brothers. I fear that some of them typically display the same ignorance I have seen in many comments on my previous post on this topic. I will say no more about this seemingly hot topic.
P.S. I have read the comments accusing me of being an alarmist for nothing over our Somali brothers. Let me say that NOT all Somalis are involved in crime and NOT all of them are a threat to the security of our motherland. I know a number of who are good people and may get badly hurt reading my posts and knowing that I am the one who penned them. Sorry guys. However one has to get alarmed knowing what Kumekucha readers now know from my two posts. Especially when suicide bombers start popping up next door and a man buying land in the city centre suddenly and casually comes up with Kenya shillings 100 million.
My point is that there are enough bad Somalis hanging around to make Kenya disappear. May I also add that it hurts… and hurts real bad, when you host somebody for years and then they later turn round and threaten you. To me this is a clear illustration of the psyche in most bad Somalis. They will smile and kiss you shortly before plunging a knife deep into your back and twisting it. Every Somali with good intentions should join Kenyans in condemning this terrible habit.
Okay I will say no more now… for real.Kumekucha
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2:30
No SWAG from Safaricom
» bankelele There will be no SWAG from Safaricom at their annual general meeting that will be held on August 19 - so the company boldly proclaimed in a media briefing on Wednesday.
Even while projecting that just 30,000 of their 830,000 shareholders to turn up, the company budgeted a total Kshs. 352 million (~$4.5 million for the event) which they cite as being too expensive. They even have compared the cost of the day’s events to be the equivalent to one month of all their leases, of 1 ½ months worth of administrative expenses – all channeled to a one day event!
Yet two things are clear:
1. Much of the burden is regulatory: They estimate it will cost Kshs. 240 million to print and circulate an annual report (Co-Op Bank, the most recent listed company has a 150 page report). Dividend will be distributed to shareholders, and they estimate that it would Kshs. 73 million to send these by EFT to a fraction of investors. Truth is most dividends and paid by cheque, very few by EFT.
2. SWAG generosity is not that expensive (but these are tough times): Kshs. 40 million for shirts, lunch, caps, and umbrellas is not much money for the company to spend, even if they don't provide transport to the venue (about 10 kilometers from town) . However these are cost-cutting times even at the largest companies. A few years ago, Nation Media Group (NMG) would hire buses to take their shareholders to their Nation AGM at their premises (beyond Jomo Kenyatta Airport) where they’d would have lunch and get some SWAG items. This year's event was at KICC in the middle of town (no transport costs) and shareholders only got copies of newspapers with their buffet lunch.
For Safaricom to take a harsh stance on SWAG is rather cold unless the directors and manager also adopt a similarly Spartan lifestyle e.g. no water for directors at the meeting and no breakfast /giveaways for media and institutional investors when they announce quarterly results. Still I expect a few thousand shareholders to turn up, not believing that there will be no SWAG
Hi Tech Cost Cutting: Safaricom is combating the high cost of annual general meetings and investor relations through technology
1. Annual reports will be downloaded from their website, which is probably the best in Kenya among NSE listed firms in terms of communicating with shareholders. It is updated constantly, even on the same day with CEO briefs to media and institutional investors.
2. Use M-Pesa to pay dividend. Odds are that most of their local 830,000 shareholders are also their (13 million +) customers; many will not have bought shares since the IPO – meaning their dividend cheques are perhaps just 20 shillings $0.25), so by employing M-pesa this will be a much cheaper channel than cutting and posting cheques for such small amounts.
The logistics of doing this are quire significant, it will involve partnering with the company registrar, perhaps the central depository settlement corporation (CDSC), and M-Pesa agents, to ensure each person gets their 10% dividend payment in the correct formula (a reversal will be a nightmare). Once this is done it will be an eye-opener for some of the other companies with large shareholder bases +50,000 including Kengen, KCB , Kenya Re , Mumias , Co-operative Bank and Kenya Airways who had a their loss-making year in a decade.
Other Development: The media release media release (PDF) also mentioned two recent developments at Safaricom:
1. Investor road show where they visited institutional and fund investors and talked in detail about the company in London (T Rowe Price, Genesis Investment, Charlemagne Capital, Marshall Wace, Renaissance Investment, Eton Park Capital, JP Morgan Chase, Aberdeen Asset, Henderson Global , ROBECO Group, Cyrte ), New York (EMS Capital, DWS Scudder, Morgan Stanley, Galleon Partners, McKinley Capital, Harding Loevner, Goodman), Boston (State Street, Wellington, Fortis ), Johannesburg (Stanlib, RMB, Visio) and Cape Town (Investec, Allan Gray , Coronation, Fairtree)
2. Their investment with Jamii Telecom which will include partnering in use of fibre in metro areas , and resale of excess capacity on TEAMS and Seacom, among others.
Read also ratio magazine Dont Come to Safaricom for Lunch post
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0:40
The Legendary Masters of Rumba- Les Mangelepa live at Alliance Francais, Friday 3rd July from 7pm
» Kenyanpoet 
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19:52
iPhone to Change Africa
» Jellyfishcoolman's Blog Dear Friends. The first time I heard people saying that the mobile phone would replace the desktop or laptop I was very sceptical. Having used computers for a long time I have become accustomed to typing using a keyboard. Whenever I type SMS on my phone I feel slowed down and slightly cumbersome. I was also under the [...]
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Muthaura Flown to SA, Still Working from ICU
» You Missed This 
Hitherto energetic and never-tiring Head of Public Service Francis Muthaura has been flown to South Africa for further treatment. His doctors could not take chances after confirming that arteries in and out of his heart are THINNING. Such calcification is sure recipe for massive stroke. In fact the government has gambled with PS of all PSs, he should have been flown to London.
At least our sensational media can now rest easy after their object of hate and speculation has been relocated to Johannesburg. But Muthaura’s hospitalization leaves a gaping hole that can plunge Kenya into deep administrative problems. For starters he has no deputy and has been competently running this country single handed albeit chronically partisan.
But we must take heart from Dr. Mutua’s assurance that Mzee Muthaura will be back behind his desk in less than two weeks. We have no cause to doubt Alfred, he must know better, after all he is a doctor, isn’t he? In any case he never suffers whiners lightly no matter the might whether junior senator of Illinois or not.
Kenya cannot do without the veteran PS Muthaura. His work rate is phenomenon and above all unrivalled. What is more, even in the face of calamity, the good old man can at least afford a half grin, nay smile, for the first time even if on a stretcher. The old man can take just so much pressure after more than 10 years no leave.
Massive stroke
Heading civil service is a 24 hour duty while politicians snore in parliament. Muthaura’s energy is incredible. With no deputy, he was still working from his HDU bed. Kenyan media must also learn to respect the office of government spokesman. Our penchant to distrust official channels only succeeds in feeding destructive rumours.
In the meantime we must collectively wish the good ambassador well as he confronts his own mortality. Who knows, may be this scare would offer him the opportunity to contemplate the highly partisan and polarizing role he has played in the grand coalition in addition to toxic politicization of the civil service.
Hopefully the NDE and scent from ICU next door will transform him into a better man. God bless the unofficial emperor.Kumekucha
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Blogger Block
» For Love and Money Blogger Block
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Midweek miscellany
» Kenya Imagine The latest Foreign Policy Failed States Index is here (interactive, so may take a little while to load) and Kenya has made it to number 14. It seems a good time, then, to point out the methodological flaws, and Richard Just obliges at the TNR, even relying on Kenya as his counterexample.
This will inevitably come off as special pleading, but he does have a point.
State failure is said in many ways: Kenya is failing mostly because it has a murderously divided elite, Burma is failing because it has a murderously unified totalitarian elite. And his point about the different (unweighted!) criteria pulling in different directions is quite sound. But from the consumer side, so to speak, there's an even more serious difficulty. If you're reading the Index, you're wanting to find out how likely a given state is to fail in the medium term or you're looking for a rough guide to the distribution of some civil and personal freedoms across states. Burma and North Korea are relatively-efficient totalitarian regimes. While they'll eventually fall, their medium-term survival prospects are very good. By contrast, Kenya medium-term survival prospects aren't. The index is useless for that. Again, there's no useful ranking by political freedom which puts Kenya anywhere near Burma or North Korea: our state, while amazingly crap, leaves us relatively free. Either way, the ranking is basically useless.
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Years ago, I discovered Alain de Botton's How Proust Can Change Your Life when I was looking for a second-hand book to read on a flight home, and I've been more or less a fan ever since -- not least because it proved that philosophy undergraduates can have love-lives.
Caleb Crain reviewed de Botton's latest in the New York Times, and de Botton's response in comments at Crain's blog has to be seen to be believed. The vehemence of the thing is completely unexpected, and a little admirable. Despite de Botton's contrition afterwards (see his twitter account) my sympathy is with him.
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Via Aleksandra Gadzala - always sharp, always informative - Zimbabwe's Morgan Tsvangirai has managed to get a $950 million loan off China. Aleksandra also had a really interesting article about Chinese business networks in Kenya: one of her more dismaying findings is that Kenyans' ethnic divisions make it harder for them to compete against Chinese business.
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Barcamp Diaspora
» Kenyan Pundit For US/DC folks, Barcamp Diaspora will be held at John Hopkins on July 25, 2009. The theme is “Investing our Talent Where it Counts.”
More details here.
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Play: The Dying Need No Shoes written by Fred Mbogo at Kenya National Theatre from 3rd - 5th July
» Kenyanpoet 
They brought you "Thieves as Human" and now they are back with "The dying need no shoes".
They will be staging it at the Kenya National Theatre on 3rd to 5th July (Friday-Sunday) with shows starting at 6pm on Friday and from 3pm on Saturday and Sunday
Entrance is Ksh. 300
Call 0720 868368, 020 24 46 858 to book/buy tickets.
Synopsis
Purity is a twenty-one-year old University student whose last day is spent trapped in a room with her father, Professor Jairus Munanda, a 56 year old conservative man. Memories, stress, and fear spike a bitter exchange. The confrontation turns ugly as the innermost troubling bits of their emotional, mental and physical relationship are revealed. They must dig deep into their past which takes them back to a small village in Gilgil. Has Nairobi become so big that their dark secrets can be buried and lost forever? What do they learn when they exhume the remains of Mrs Munanda, Purity’s mother and the Profs Wife?
The play is written by Fred Mbogo and features Esther Nekesa as Purity and Oyatsi Simon as Prof Jairus Munanda.
Esther Nekesa has just completed a degree programme in the School of Arts and Social Sciences at Eldoret’s Moi University. She has participated in numerous student productions at the University.
Oyatsi Simon is an accomplished actor. He is the Rift Valley Coordinator of The Theatre Company. Although based in Eldoret he has toured with many productions in towns and cities across Kenya.
Fred Mbogo is a playwright and performer based in Eldoret. He teaches Theatre and Film Studies at Moi University. He is a 2008 winner of the Fire By Ten Playwriting Contest.
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Africa’s Poor: Premium SMS in the Crossfire
» White African If you provide services to poor people, should you make a profit?
That’s essentially the question raised by Katrin Verclas on MobileActive, and it’s an excellent one. Specifically, Katrin calls out the new Google Trader service offered by Google in Uganda, in conjunction with the release yesterday of their SMS products with Grameen and MTN Uganda, one of the local mobile phone operators. Basically, they charge 220 Ugandan Shillings per use, instead of the median 110 UGS charge across most networks. This is called a premium SMS rate.
Premium SMS rates are charged so that third-party service providers can make money off of services that they provide over the mobile phone network. The operator makes their (ridiculously high) profit as normal, and the overage is for the third-party. You’ll find a lot of dating, event and sports services offered in this way all over the world, not least across Africa.
Back to the questionThe question posed is if people who are claiming to help the poor should charge, and if so, should they make a profit?
I think we’ve seen from the Grameen model in Bangladesh (ex: Grameen Bank and Grameen Phone’s Village Phone program) that you can (and possibly should). By doing so you help both parties; first, by providing a service that consumers value and are willing to pay for, and second by making the business of running an operation self-sustaining. Many good business, or project, ideas die due to lack of sustainable cash flow.
For instance, if a 220 shilling SMS can save you the 1500 shilling visit to the doctor or veterinarian, or give you a 10% higher return for your crops, is it worth it?
Is there a problem in the question?There ends up being a paternalist nuance to that original question. After all, is it up to us to decide what services to offer the poor and at what price? Aren’t poor people able to make the value-based decision on whether a trip to the doctor is more useful to them than a call or an SMS to one? If services are being offered, the person making the decision to call, SMS or go physically to solve their problem, or not, is ultimately the arbiter of whether or not a service has merit and should be offered. It’s a classic market-led approach – if the price is too high for the service, equilibrium will not be reached and one will give, usually price.
This is particularly true when talking about for-profit companies offering services – like Google is with Google Trader. They don’t operate under the same development/grant funded subsidization that a lot of others do in Africa. Even if their goal was not to make a profit on this service, they still need to cover internal costs, as does every organization that isn’t provided with free money.
Final thoughtsThis space in Africa, of offering services to the poor (in lieu of the governments actually doing their jobs), has been primarily “owned” by large development and aid organizations. This has created a false floor for the economy, as projects and initiatives are propped up by outside money and services rarely have to survive on their own. This is changing, as low cost and high value options come into the market, be they mobile phone operators providing new communication opportunities, or cheap chinese batteries and LED lights for local energy/lighting needs.
I’m sensing a flux in the space, like two bull buffaloes before they fight, the heavyweights in the aid industry and in business are circling each other before they knock heads. The marketing is over who is helping the poor and marginalized in Africa best. In the end the market will decide, and regardless of the messages spouted by both sides, the “poor African” will choose the winner.
If there’s a problem with collusion and price fixing in an industry (like there sometimes seems to be with SMS services in a country), that’s something beyond the scope of individuals and needs to be tackled separately by regulation. However, that’s not the case here, we have expensive SMS services in East Africa, but the new entrants into the space always offer low rates, and the costs of switching providers is relatively low.
No, this is market-based competitive services and both non-profits and for-profits have the right to offer them at whatever price they like. Equally, individuals have the right to use it or not, be they premium SMS rates or not.
I’d like to hear some other African’s thoughts on this.
Do you want big multinationals like Google and MTN coming in and providing their services to you? Should we be asking questions for the poor, or is that condescending in itself? What is the sticking point here, and is there a side that I’m missing?
**UPDATE**
Thanks to Katrin’s email to Rachel Payne, Google’s lead in Uganda, we have the following response from her on this topic, and it does clarify quite a few unknowns:Hi Katrin.
Yes, I saw your blog post where you speak in detail about the pricing. However, what is written is not quite accurate. You see, Google, Grameen and MTN launched three types of mobile services yesterday: Google SMS Tips (targeting low-income, rural users primarily), Google SMS Search (urban, mainstream) and Google Trader (all users).
The second service is somewhat similar to other “premium SMS” content services currently available (except that it is built on Google search technology) and therefore, is the same price as other content services. To accommodate the first group, we have priced Google SMS Tips at half the price of a content service; this is available for the cost of a person-to-person SMS, which many rural individuals are willing and able to afford currently.
The third service drives income and livelihood benefits, so we decided to begin charging at the normal content service rate and monitor whether this excludes rural communities or not (we did extensive testing during the pilot, which included pricing discussions and most of the users found that Google Trader provided far greater, direct value than the 110 shilling price difference). For all services, we are offering them for free for the first few months, just to ensure that all users have an equal opportunity to try them out, risk-free and allow them to access critical content during this period so that they can assess whether or not they would like to continue to use the service.
I hope this helps provide a bit more information that clarifies the questions raised.
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13:50
RIP MJ
» More to Life I’m devastated! Completely in mourning! Not MJ. I so wanted that concert to happen, because from it, there would have been great video collection of his hits with some live performances to boot. I was a fan throughout MJ. Even when the world turned against him, I remained faithful. And hopeful for a comeback! The loss, no, the absolute death of that hope is completely saddening.
Even sadder is that MJ died unhappy. Saddened by all the negativity the world threw at him. Perhaps even a little depressed. How cruel the world must have felt to this man. Who never knew the life we all mostly lead. Paris Hilton has had a semblance of a “normal” life. MJ just never did. And to be a toddler and then an icon is a huge leap that is bound to cause out of touch with reality issues. Which MJ definitely suffered from. But we the world, who took his life and turned him into an icon before he was old enough to date, denied him a chance to ever hang out at a mall, go out to a bar with a friend, take a girl out for a date… the things that define us. The moments where we mark passages from childhood to adulthood. The transitions that help us understand growth has happened. For MJ it was one whirlwind of the sameness. Stardom. From toddler to forever. And then one day, the media woke up and realized they had the power to destroy. They tried it on an icon like MJ. I hope they are proud of their success. We as a society watched them, some of us cheering them on, others in protest. But MJ took it all in. Wondered why we had loved him so much and then hated him without any warning. And he had no real life experiences in between that to shield him from that blow. Cruel. That’s what we were to MJ.
So in his death, as the same media sings his praises, words they haven’t said of this man in years. His reality. His super stardom. His great contribution to the arts. All being highlighted in his death. I want to take this opportunity to remind everyone of this one thing; that the only time anyone ever needs your kindness is while they are living. And while it’s an awesome gesture to give it to someone’s memory, our real duty is to the living. Let’s try a little kindness, a little constructive criticism, a little corrective nudging, and completely turn away from the death blows we’ve learnt to cheer on from roof tops. Somewhere in this blog is a post titled “The Pontius Pilate syndrome.” Read it if you choose to. These are issues close to my heart.
And on that note, I don’t know who that pastor is; or is he a reverend? But the guy going around Kenya, where there were clashes getting people to confess and pray for forgiveness, I want to throw my full support behind what this man has achieved, what he is trying to accomplish and his method. I thank him for his initiative and I hope that many many many Kenyans will find peace and a new hope in their country from this man’s efforts. When I say a prayer tonight, I will remember to pray for this man to be successful in bringing people face to face with the truth of who they became, if only for a moment, and at the same time providing them with a means to make peace with it, forgive and start to heal.
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8:35
African Mathematics
» johnkaranja.com 
The impact of African mathematics brought to the world the binary system which has brought about digital technology and circuitry. In this very Interesting talk Ron Eglash talks about how Africans made use of fractals mathematics in their village design and how this knowledge governs African Design and Architecture to date. Thankfully African Fractals are being used by schools in Africa and America to better teach mathematics and understanding of the binary system.See more here [www.ccd.rpi.edu] and watch the video below.
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6:51
Tax Reform
» tHiNkEr'S rOoM Few things remind me of mind numbing redundancy than the requirement of the Kenya Revenue Authority that all tax payers submit their written returns. Countless man hours are wasted by taxpayers, accountants all around Kenya and KRA employees to collect data that they already bloody have. Mind numbing repetitive manual work at unnecessary cost to the taxpayer.
As I vented my spleen on this matter the other day on my fourth attempt at filling my returns, friends and relatives backed away to a safe distance and I let slip the dogs of war.
What is my problem with the process?
- COMPLETELY redundant. You need a P9 form to fill in your returns. You then copy values from the P9 form onto your return. You then attach the same P9 form to your returns. Just think about that for a minute. What’s the damn point? I might as well just hand in my P9 again!
- COMPLETELY Greek. Not a soul I know could fill in those forms unassisted. Many accountants (including ours) flounder with the Greek like forms asking you to subtract this from that and put it there. (49A + 12B + 5C). What. The. Fuzz?
- COMPLETELY unacknowledged. If some KRA officials get marooned on an island and decide to set your returns on fire for warmth and cooking, you are buggered and have no recourse because you cannot prove you handed in the returns. You don’t get any receipts. In that same vain the KRA can’t prove that you didn’t either.
- COMPLETELY brain dead. If my only income is from my job, and the money is deducted even before I see it, why bother me with amorphous forms asking me questions I neither know, care about or understand? My company accountant is paid to do this, and he does in 12 months a year. Why bother me?
- COMPLETELY GRATUITIOUS use of my time. It is not, repeat NOT my work to track down landlords.
Instead of lowering taxes on cameras to promote the local porn movie industry
- Let tax returns only be for those with other income to declare. I don’t have flats or any other business so leave me alone and stop wasting my time!
- If we still have this foolishness, can’t the P9 be redesigned to BE the return for salaried employees?
- If we still have this foolishness, at least let it be online
- Stop asking me stupid questions. Especially if the answers are already in the P9
- Redesign the bloody thing to make it easier to fill. Why should I give my name, ID number, etc and I already filled in my PIN? It takes special talent to come up with the concept of Personal Identification Number and then ask me to identify myself some more. Nonsense.
- While at it, redesign the P9 too and label the figures with the corresponding slots in the returns forms. As it is both forms seem to have been designed by dyslexic, epileptic monkeys on crack and safari cane highs writing in a moving vehicle driving over corrugated potholes.
I assure whichever finance minister that scraps this stupidity, or at least reforms it, he will be thought of at least as a higher level mammal with binocular vision rather than the river trolls most people are sure their politicians are!
AOBYes, I am very much alive and have not been captured by martians. My blogging mojo is much sapped by twitter ( [twitter.com] ). However I shall make it a point to blog more. I have a lot to say
© M for tHiNkEr'S rOoM, 2009. | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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Corporate committee of shitheads
» Black Looks Current TV – Sahara Reporters
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Dialogue From State House Security Meeting
» You Missed This This is an imaginary meeting that never took place that nevertheless tries to capture a situation where dinosaurs using outdated ideas inevitably run out of options. It is instructive that this is the crux of the problem with the Kibaki/Raila administration. The meeting takes place between a senior presidential security advisor and a high ranking police chief. Enjoy.
Security advisor: I called this meeting to demand an explanation from you concerning the current escalating crime rate in the country. The president is concerned.
Police chief: Where is his Excellency if I may ask?
Security advisor: He’s still asleep but that is beside the point. What will I tell him when he wakes up?
Police Chief (glances at his watch and realizes it is going to noon): You will remember that I warned you this would happen. Let’s see if those human rights activists can fix it now.
Security advisor: Surely there are other ways of fighting crime without having to shoot down every thug in town.
Police Chief: I would like to hear about them. As you know our justice system doesn’t work.
Security advisor: What happened to the idea to increase patrols and other crime prevention measures? Your officers seem to have slackened considerably.
Police chief: The firearms we ordered never arrived. Patrols with G3 rifles when thugs have automatic weapons just gets my officers killed.
Security advisor: So what do we do now?
Police Chief: Maybe the human rights activists can give us some ideas.
Security advisor: Stop being sarcastic. Are you suggesting that we replace you with somebody else who will have some new ideas?
Police chief: That is the prerogative of the president but you know my replacement will be faced with exactly the same situation.
Security advisor: If you want to keep your job you will need to find a way to deal with escalating crime. Am sure you realize that.
Police Chief: If only we could fully reactivate the Kwekwe squad. Or even better form a new unit. Remember how we dealt with the Mungiki?
Security advisor: But I thought the Mungiki are still very much around and causing chaos?
Police chief: Yes, but they can be dealt with in the same way we did the first time. We shall find better ways to get rid of the bodies leaving no trace of evidence.
Security advisor: I have told you before that we are under considerable International pressure over those killings, we can never go back to that.
Police Chief: Then I might as well resign and leave the human rights activists to fight crime in this country.
Security advisor: I wish it was that simple. You know we still have skeletons in the closet over those damned elections. Even a fool would not accept your resignation at this time.
Police chief: You know my lips are sealed concerning that.
Security advisor: They better be. Even if you end up at the Hague?
Police chief: Even if I end up at the Hague.
Security advisor: So shall I tell his Excellency that you would like to step down?
Police chief: Of course not. This is Africa where nobody resigns. Tell him that our hands are tied, we need some little authority to clamp down with force on thugs. There is no other way.
Security advisor: I can tell you he won’t be happy about that. Anything else?
Police chief: It also helped when I had control over what crime the media could report and how it was reported. You know these reports cause panic and make us look bad.
Security advisor: Again we can never go back to that. All efforts to put the media on a leash have failed. Besides even if the media keeps quiet there is always that silly Kumekucha site. That chap has informants everywhere.
Police chief: How many people read that stupid site?
Security advisor: The problem is that the International community does and more Kenyans than you realize.
Police chief: Then I can tell you that it will always be very difficult for anybody holding this office that I hold.
Security advisor: I have to run. I have two more meetings before the president wakes up. My parting advice is that you should think out of the box and you need to do it urgently.
Police chief: Okay. But I have always done that haven’t I?
Security advisor (hurriedly departing): Keep me informed.
P.S. On other matters, I need to ask a question. Is it true that Africans are generally more resistant to the dreaded Swine flu? What most people don’t realize is that the unfolding scenario is a nightmare-come-true for many virologists who for years have feared a worldwide outbreak just like this. You can’t stop it as long as International travel continues. But it seems the penetration level in African countries has been extremely low. Those who are religious will say that it is the mercy of God (and I would agree) because surely we are just too ill equipped to deal with a full blown out-break of this thing within our shores.
One of my informants in Kenya says that he overheard in a matatu this morning a smartly dressed lady asking why the person with Swine flu was not deported immediately to solve the problem. It is clear that Kenyans know very little about the Swine flu.Kumekucha
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Netbook Is The New Laptop
» For Love and Money Netbook Is The New Laptop
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Mzee Muthaura is Key to Kenya’s Health
» You Missed This 
Head of Civil Service and Secretary to the Cabinet Francis Muthaura has been admitted a door away from ICU. It wouldn’t have come at a worse time when Kenya is in dire traits and chronic need of Muthaura’s able hands. Almost 70 years old and close to five decades in government, very few Kenyans can match ambassador Muthaura's experience.
The need for REFORMS can only be shepherded by Muthaura’s tried hands. He knows the government inside out. What is more, he has the boss’ ears. Many neophytes in the GCG may hate him for his fidelity to protocol. But serikali is no civil society and none of these activists can hold a candle to the veteran ambassador.
Our sensational newspapers must spare PS Muthaura more headache. Whether he was hospitalized last month or yesterday morning is immaterial. These alarmist reporters fail to understand the enormity of the national burden Muthaura shoulders on our behalf. They even shamelessly fail to glimpse the gravity of the mater when police boss spends five hours at the hospital hosting Muthaura.
10 years work, no leave
You see Major Ali needs alloyed guidance to stop thugs in Juja from petrol-bombing houses when owners refuse to open their doors to allow unhindered looting. Add that to the explosive Mungiki-vigilante executions and you have to sympathize with Muthaura's predicament in this sick status.
The press must learn to respect top government officials who discharge their duties under great pressure. You fail to understand why they doubt Dr Mutua’’s official statement that Muthaura BOOKED himself in hospital on Sunday. He must know better.
What more can unforgiving and unappreciative populace ask for besides a 70-year old working for more than 10 years without leave. After offloading our collective national stress on Mzee Muthaura he is now smarting from chemical imbalance in his body. True, rewards from an ungrateful donkey are fatal kicks.Kumekucha
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How to Get an M-Pesa Refund
» bankelele and other Safaricom tales
M-Pesa mistake: I interacted with two products over the weekend from Safaricom: One is of course MPesa from Safaricom (Kenya’s largest mobile company), the money transfer system that has been the talk of the remittance and mobile banking world; but what should be a Kenyan success story, is a Vodafone (UK ) tested, developed, and rolled out here as a Safaricom licensee. There was quite a bit of discussion of that at the mobile for change summit on Saturday in Nairobi, but that’s for another day.
My M-Pesa tale is one that many of the 6 million registered users have probably experienced. You go to a pharmacy/cyber café/supermarket and pay a Safaricom agent your money to load you phone up with funds (up to Kshs. 35,000 or ~$450) and zap it off to pay for anything – grandma’s medicine, farm inputs, auto spare parts, satellite TV, etc. the list of MPesa uses is growing
You then wait for a few seconds and get a confirmation message of the transfer, only to discover that you have sent the money to the wrong recipient! Somewhere in Kenya, there was a lady with an unexpected month-end bonus from an anonymous donor. Common rare courtesy calls for one to refund the money, but #$%* did not answer my calls.
It appeared that I would not be able to persuade her to refund my money and so I wrote it off as money lost. I went back to the same agent, and paid money again and sent it off to my aunt, this time with the correct number.
I was till mad and went on to @Twitter ranting and raving that I had sent the wrong person my money and that #$%* had probably gone on a celebration spree as some idiot had sent her a weekend bonus. But on twitter my prayers were answered - by @69MB (who’s traveling in Tanzania) and @Ngeny who sent tweets back, that I could halt that transfer unless #$%* had already withdrawn the money.
Next, I rushed and called the dreaded (always busy) customer service line at Safaricom (#100) to try and get my money back. After a dozen attempts I got through and was asked to call another line at Safaricom (#234). This one was even busier, but I eventually got through to a gentleman, and I explained the error I made. He asked several questions - my name, intended recipients number, amount sent, number wrongly sent to, my birth date etc. I had all the answers and was every relieved when he said that my money would be refunded within 72 hours. EDIT (uhusiano add that there is an Mpesa Customer Care dedicated line 0722002200)
Oh and about a ½ hour after I finished with Safaricom #$%* tried to call me, perhaps she had raced to agent to withdraw her booty only to be told that the transfer had been held up. I was courteous enough not to answer her call and yell at her
So I now have my money back (still in my phone) and I’ve learnt, thanks to Twitter, and Safaricom, that it’s possible to get an M-Pesa refund
EDIT official advice from Safaricom
If you send money to the wrong number:
- Call Line 234 immediately and provide them with the number that has erroneously received the cash.
- Funds sent to a wrong number will be reversed only if still available in the wrong recipients account.
- If successful, you will receive an SMS indicating that a reversal has been done
Micro air-time loan : The other Safaricom product I tried to use was Okoa Jahazi (rescue a sailor in Swahili? – someone correct me) (Okoa Jahazi literary means save/rescue a ship/boat/dhow in Swahili) which works on the premise that you may be stranded somewhere and need to maker an emergency call but don’t have money or are not in a place where you can buy an airtime voucher to complete the call.
Okoa Jahazi is a 50 shilling ($0.65) airtime voucher, almost a micro-loan, which you can request from Safaricom by typing a simple code. It’s not free and will be deducted the next time you purchase a similar voucher. It also attracts a 10% levy, so you get just 45 shillings.
I requested the voucher, as an experiment and made some calls. I then bought a replacement 50 shilling voucher which paid off the micro-loan from Safaricom. But I had a bit of difficulty after that; I could not call a rival network (Zain, Orange) or browse the internet, using the borrowed airtime – it was strictly for making calls to other Safaricom users. So I had to buy another voucher, to get my credit up and out of my micro-debt. This comes when you don’t read the fine print. Anyway it’s a useful service, but one that should only be used for emergencies.
Summary: So we have two products form Safaricom. One I have used several times, and will probably use again, one that I hope I will not have to use again (emergency only). The rules are quite clear, but few read the fine print of the offers made by service companies. It makes sense that the micro-loan is restricted to minimal emergency functions, but it would also be nice of Safaricom to inform their (6 million) MPesa users that it is possible to get refunds from M-pesa. If I was not on @Twitter I’d have lost a lot of money
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Somalia, for and against.
» Kenya Imagine Capt. Munyiri's view is that there's no reason to intervene in Somalia: Al-Shabaab is a Somalian matter - an internal armed insurrection which is no concern of ours - which Kenya lacks the mandate to handle. Henry Gekonde thinks there are strong pragmatic reasons to intervene, that an intervention would have public support, and that the mandate is available if the action is an African Union matter.
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New SMS Services in Uganda from Grameen, Google & MTN
» White African Grameen Foundation’s AppLab has released a new suite of mobile phone applications developed in Uganda, using Google SMS Search and in partnership with MTN Uganda as the mobile operator. The services include:
- Farmer’s Friend: a searchable database with both agricultural advice and targeted weather forecasts
- Health Tips: provides sexual and reproductive health information
- Clinic Finder: helps locate nearby health clinics and their services
- Google Trader: matches buyers and sellers of agricultural produce and commodities as well as other products. Local buyers and sellers, such as small-holder farmers, are able to broaden their trading networks and reduce their transaction costs. (known locally as “Akatale SMS”)
Back in 2004 Grameen started to replicate in Uganda what they had done in Bangladesh with their Village Phone Operators. That is, they would go 20km beyond the best phone signal and provide a loan to a lady in the village that would let her buy a phone and an antenna that would extend the range of the network. The lady would then resell services to local individuals who didn’t have access, or the ability to buy their own phone.I’m actually quite impressed with this initiative, as it fits in perfectly with Grameen’s mission: providing opportunity through the most basic of mobile phones. All of these services work on SMS-only phones, so anyone with a single bar of coverage and a phone has access to a lot of knowledge in their hands.
Here is a promo video from Uganda, explaining why these services are needed:
High-powered PartnershipsBeyond the applications themselves, what I find most compelling is how the Grameen Foundation collected such a high-powered group of partners. The list reads like a who’s-who of innovative mobile services and development in Africa with Google, MTN Uganda, Technoserve, Kiwanja.net, and BRODSI to name a few. It’s a mixture of for-profit businesses, local NGOs and non-profit tech organizations.
I remember a conversation a couple months back with Sian Townsend (Google) and Ken Banks (FrontlineSMS) about how they did the field studies for this project. Sian shared with us some of her research on mobile user experience while in Uganda – it was extensive. Through a month of rapid prototyping and studying how users were actually using the new services, the team quickly learned what was important and how to better serve information up to the end-user.
Though I haven’t been able to personally test the services yet, with this group, I would expect the results to be better than average. For instance, Google doesn’t tend to get involved with ideas that don’t scale. I imagine that they see replicability with both SMS Search and Google Trader in many other countries as well. Rachel Payne, the country manager for Google in Uganda, has a blog post here, but not much more information on the long-term plans for Google Trader. I’d be interested in seeing how this compares to Esoko out of Ghana.
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Gratitude 2
» Black Looks “My mother would Say, ‘those gay people Are unnatural…’ just a Product of her time”. My Attention asked of her Thoughts hidden behind Unspoken present angst: yalo -the masculine woman, Ito -the Transgender man, Julio -The transman, the sworn Fag hag armed with his Perky breasts to boot Are examples to us all Who do or who do not Inhabit gender variant Space. Normative gender In it’s paranoid Restriction aims to rob [...]
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3:20
Importance of Twitter in Africa
» REBECCA WANJIKU'S BLOG There is no doubt that Twitter is a global phenomenon; influencing politics and entertainment. To think that the company is only two years old, its truly inspiring.
For people who love live updates and with access to the internet, this is an awesome tool. For those in South Africa where the mobile device interface is active; am sure they are beyond happy.
But what about other countries where the internet has remained a dream? Where promises of true broadband have just been a disappointment? Where operators or companies are yet to see the need of delivering twitter updates to mobile phones? Maybe its just a case of making a business out of it.
I was happy to participate in a twitterthon championed by Computer Aid the other day. The drive was to raise the level of computer donations to Africa. The event achieved its objectives.
The most disturbing thing was that a friend of mine (I would like to think that way), wrote to me complaining that the computers are being dumped to Africa and that kind of thing. I wondered, whether that was the debate, as to whether the computers are being dumped or not, that is the responsibility of our governments to ensure that the machines are of higher standards. Kenya has imposed a 25% tax, Uganda, Zambia have banned but Rwanda is still receiving. After talking to several people in the rural areas who have been conned about the new computer schemes only to learn that they were refurbs, I like to steer clear of the debate and let the people decide. For instance; I talked to the principle at Kigari teachers college in Kenya about why they buy refurbs and she was in praise of the computer performance.
In Canada, the schools use refurbished computers, makes you wonder, how many rural schools or hospitals would be happy with that refurb. I guess the point is that the manufacturers should be made to open up recycling centers like they do in the west, then all the comps will be there.
Anyway, I digressed too much, the debate was about twitter.
How then can twitter be used to reach more people in Africa? It has to come with increased connectivity and increased awareness, that its not a tool for spreading rumors and malice but a constructive tool. You can imagine the power of twitter in a crisis situation like in Kenya last year with the post election violence.
The best thing about twitter is that you can share your thoughts, whether professional or just personal issues- it is the new way of people keeping in touch!
These are just random thoughts....
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Affairs in Nairobi? I thought We Were Christians
» You Missed This In the beginning God created Adam.
Okay, I won't bore you with a theological discussion on morality or give my own take on how married folks should live their lives. I don't want to give my friend Taabu a chance to come down on me with that "sermon thing." But I had a very interesting discussion with a group of ladies and gentlemen in one restaurant here in Nairobi that left me reeling. These folks insisted that affairs have become so common in Nairobi. A way of life. In fact, one lady said that what is shocking today is that anybody should be shocked if they find out their wife or husband is seeing someone out there.
Really?
I still remember the day I first met my beautiful Hellen. It was a sunny afternoon under the unforgiving heat of Kendu Bay. From the time we met, I knew I'd met a remarkable lady, one I wanted to know better...and even marry someday. I played my cards right and everything worked just fine. Nearly two decades later, it feels just like that first time.
Love!
When you think back at your own experiences with that sweet lady you call your wife, or fiancee, or girlfriend, what comes to your mind? Do you think of the moments you brought her roses and rolled a sweet kiss down her lip or do you wince at the thought of the painful things she's done to you? Do you pray for another four decades of life with her or do you wish a thunderbolt would shoot from the sky and end her life? Has your love remained undiminished by the roll of the years?
I'm not naive to deny that many times people have gotten into relationships that turned out wrong and painful. I'm also aware that straying is possible. But can someone explain the growing epidemic of affairs in Nairobi? Is it the cell phone? Is it our sense that morality is a thing of the past? Is it a failure of the church to instill its relevance in our lives? Or is this just where a nation that loves everything Western (Hollywood) must inevitably find itself?
C'mon, guys, I think affairs are for cowards. Why keep a sweet lady at home and go after another elsewhere? And just why would a lady switch men over a single weekend like it's something normal?
Hhmmm...
Let's talk about this. We'll talk war with Somalia next week.
Breaking News added by Chris
After denials over the weekend, the Kenyan government has finally confirmed the first case of Swine flu in the country, a student who traveled from the UK over the weekend. A public health alert is to be issued later today.Kumekucha
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7 hours in Twitterland
» Mshairi About 6 hours ago in reply to mamajunkyard Trying to be as cool as Jean-Luc Picard About 5 hours ago from txt Twitted…but followers perplexed About 4 hours ago from TweetDeck Gotta stop twitting without spellcheck About 3 hours ago in reply to blacklooks Twitted but really outta be on school books About 2 hours ago from the web The twitting verve never seems [...]
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Amnesty – real progress, or yet more purposed inertia.
» Black Looks Wole Soyinka makes a public statement on the Niger Delta. Particularly pertinent is his emphasis on making a distinction between genuine militants seeking justice and opportunistic mercenaries s seeking to destroy. “The attempt in some quarters to confuse issues by refusing to separate the principled militants, such as members of MEND and its affiliates, from the [...]
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Drums Of War: Terrible Stuff Most Kenyans Don’t Know About
» You Missed This 
The Somali situation is very much in the news but many Kenyans have no idea that we have been at war with the Somalis before—and it was for a long time. There was heavy loss of life in that war (the numbers are still a closely guarded state secret) and in my book the Somalis won that war… easily. Indeed even Kenyans who were old enough to understand stuff in the 50s and 60s are hardly aware of how serious the Shifta war was. It lasted from 1964 to around 1968. Some people say significant skirmishes continued well into the 70s.
This is the war that the Kenyan government never wanted to acknowledge. At best it was always downplayed when the government did grudgingly agree that something was going on in Northern and North Eastern Kenya. Those Kenyans who knew that there was indeed a war going on were those who were touched by it like in the story I am about to tell.
But before I tell you my fascinating story about the “war that never was,” let me say that those who have been reading this blog for a long time are well aware of the fact that I have been shouting myself hoarse here warning about the time bomb that are the Somalis and that explosive part of Nairobi called Eastleigh which for all intents and purposes is really part of Mogadishu. If you doubt this then I also need to tell you that proven intelligence sources have indicated that dreaded Somali pirates come to Eastleigh to relax and enjoy their money from piracy activities while preparing to launch their next “mission.” You can find anything, and I mean anything in Eastleigh. From a US passport that will get you into America without any problem to some for the latest assault weapons. To be honest I don’t mind those quality suits that would ordinarily cost about Kshs 15,000 in parts of Nairobi but go for a paltry Kshs 1,500 in Eastleigh.
But let me get on with my story.
Mutunga (his real name) was a police constable and driver to a senior high ranking policeman in Isiolo. The year was 1967 and the Shifta war (which was mostly a guerilla war) was ongoing. Mutunga was driving his superior one lovely sunny afternoon when suddenly without any warning the police Landrover they were in was lifted high in the sky. They had hit a landmine. When the vehicle landed on the ground again with a thud Mutunga’s boss was badly injured with a suspected punctured lung. Mutunga himself was much worse off. Being at the front of the Landrover he had taken the full brunt of the mine. All the bones in his leg had been shattered and were almost powder. He was obviously in great pain.
Frantic efforts were made to radio Nairobi for an aircraft to airlift him for urgent medical attention in the city. The police officer running the operation got Mutunga’s boss to a hospital in Meru where the doctors grimly said that had he arrived moments later he would have almost certainly died because his lungs had stuck together after the explosion meaning that as he breathed there was no movement in his lungs. The police officer breathed a sigh of relief at the fact that one officer had been saved even as he battled to save Mutunga’s life. He finally convinced a “mzungu” pilot to land his small aircraft in the Isiolo airstrip after running police lorries across it several times up to the moment the aircraft started it’s final approach to ensure that there were no mines.
My source says that he will not forget that moment in the aircraft when he bid Mutunga goodbye giving him a bottle of water to sip (thirst is a sign of enormous internal bleeding). The brave policeman was still answering “Yes sir” as loudly as he could even as he lay there dying with his badly broken body. Radio contact was maintained as the aircraft flew back to Nairobi with its’ sole passenger. A humble police officer who had never been on an aircraft before. In those days aircrafts could not land at Wilson Airport at night because there was no electricity there yet. So as the aircraft approached Embakassi Airport the pilot heard some strange noise at the back of his aircraft. He did not need to look back to know that Mutunga had died minutes away from medical attention. The information was radioed back to Isiolo and the sad news was passed on to his colleagues. The Shifta war had claimed the precious life of yet another Kenyan.
Opinion is divided as to how that war finally petered off. Some say that President Kenyatta got the help of Tanzania president Mwalimu Julius Nyerere who acted as a go-between and talked to the then Somali president Siad Barre of Somalia to “cool off.” Others say that the war just run out of steam as other priorities emerged for Somalis. Whatever happened the fact is that to this day the Somali flag has 5 stars on it and yet there are only 4 provinces in the country (at least there were at that time). The fifth province is 6 districts in Kenya namely Isiolo, Garissa, Moyale, Wajir, Marsabit (I forget the sixth). What I am saying is that the Somalis already have what appears to be a good enough reason to be at war with Kenya.
Incidentally the Tanzanians are very serious about their security. A few years ago some factions in Somalia invaded a remote part of that vast country. The response from Dar was immediate and decisive. The army was sent in and the problem was solved albeit with major loss to human life.
I personally witnessed a Somali man being refused entry into Tanzania at the Namanga border about 2 years ago. His papers were in order but immigration officials exercised their prerogative to deny entry.
Contrast that to Nairobi’s response. When a Kenyan immigration officer sees a Somali, they see money and a fat bribe. Tanzanian immigration officers are also corrupt but they know the sharp distinction between corruption that endangers national security and corruption that does not. Again former President Moi’s reason for allowing the influx of Somalis into the country was because the foreign exchange they brought in kept the country going at a difficult time. President Kibaki had a chance to tackle the problem but his response like in everything else has been inconsistent, disjointed, indecisive and devoid of any long term strategy. During Kibaki’s tenure, flights out of Wilson Airport to Somalia have been grounded at least twice for short periods of time. The border with Somalia has also been closed once only to be reopened. Army patrols on the same stretch of our porous borders started way too late.
Yet even a primary school child would have seen a long time ago that Somalis are a serious threat to our national security. For instance all the guns used in crime and murder in the country (save the ones belonging to policemen) come in from Somalia. You can be sure that political assassins are bound to use the same the hardware. The taxman also gets deprived of billions of shillings in taxes by the Somalis in Eastleigh. I am told that these days people import stuff from Dubai and receive it at Eastleigh. Yep Eastleigh is becoming an increasingly large inland port in Kenya.
The bottom line is that now it is way too late to do much about the Somalia issue except wait for what is inevitably coming to us.
People are talking about Kenyan soldiers launching offensives to protect the border. It’s fun talking about war and how tough the Kenya army is, but the truth is that this is laughable because if full scale war ever broke out, Somalis have a base to comfortably operate from and launch their attacks from that is right at the heart of Nairobi. I am talking about Eastleigh of course. How do you even begin to divide the Kenyan Somalis from the Somalia Somalis? And we should all know by now that the Somalis are masters of guerilla warfare (ask American Marines) so they will quickly neutralize Kenyans’ alleged massive military hardware and personnel to nought—just like they did in the 60s when they did not have an Eastleigh to operate from.
Will the last person leaving Kenya please remember to kill the lights.
DVD movies available in Kenya that Kumekucha has been watchingKumekucha
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Gratitude 1
» Black Looks Here with gratitude to All transgender, gender -Queer & gendered Alike, Listen up people: nobody Knows anything they do Not acknowlegde out of Fear. Do not judge Anything from a position Of fear. There is always Something new beneath The face of heaven, Always, always, always. Here with gratitude to Say what we have all Long suspected but darn’t Openly or outwardly Speak lest we are found Wanting & undesirably so. Under the [...]
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A Bit of Everything
» Kikuyumoja's realm I’ve recently developed an interest in….metal detectors.
That’s right. Metal detectors that enable the search for metallic objects hidden some inches below the surface. Contrary to other places, the geographical middle of Europe seems to be blessed with archaelogical treasures.
Which leads me to the actual dilemma:
1. I actually don’t have any time to waste on another hobby.
2. There are so many other interesting hobbies I have.
3. I’ve always thought it may be better to limit myself to a few leisure activities (due to 1. & 2.) and focus on them only.
4. Most of my friends are academics or intellectuals who aren’t as geeky as I am and/or won’t have an interest in …strange….hobbies such as using a metal detector to search the nearby forest for Roman coins.
So I did a quick test and asked the freakiest freak-friend of mine who usually rumbles around in military clothes all day long and looks like a potential metal detector freak (he actually looks a lot like Al Yankovic in UHF) if he would be interested in joining me on such a hobby.
“Naa…”, he said, “…not really”.
See? This is the same reaction I received from most of my friends in 1994 when I started being interested in amateur radio. Or fishing. Or guitar playing. Or shooting. Or blogging. Or while repairing my old ‘89 VW Golf. Or repairing electronics with a jua kali approach. Or my recently aquired toy helicopter. Or other handicrafts….
I’ve always been interested in geeky stuff – which isn’t that bad – but I’ve so often been alone on this. And then I’ve chosen those activities although there are other things I would really like to spend more time on. Like improving my guitar playing. Or learning more foreign languages. Reading the pile of books that’s next to my table – not fiction but books related to water & sanitation or political issues.
Well I am not complaining – for I am still free at this (advanced) age to do whatever I want to (uhuru!) and actually created this space in order to enjoy this variety. It’s only that I am wondering why I’ve always chosen such rather geeky hobbies instead of playing soccer with my mates or clubbing with the fiancée*.
What a luxurious dilemma this is! Get a life…
I know. I’m just sayin, u know…?
Oh, and btw, would you join me on a walk to the forest? Hey this is really cool, we can find great stuff!
*fiancée isn’t into clubbing and also says that metal detectors are for Spanish grandmothers who are combing the beaches, improving their pension.
[Disclaimer: I am yet to decide whether my I can afford to cough up USD 200 on such a metal detector if in the end I'll only use it about 20x and then sell it on eBay...]
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The downtrodden are the future: remembering Father Gerry
» Black Looks Memorial for Father Jean-Juste Saturday, June 27, 7 p.m., at St. Joseph the Worker Church, 1640 Addison, Berkeley Pierre Labossiere with his daughter Malaika glow in the presence of Father Gerry Jean-Juste when he spoke on Sept. 9, 2006, at St. Joseph the Worker Church in Berkeley. This historic interview by Minister of Information JR for Block [...]
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10:53
Kenyan Stock Market Update
» johnkaranja.com 
Our markets have been unpredictable for the last couple of months and many analysts have fallen over themselves trying to determine which direction it will take. Many have tried to call its bottom-line and failed miserably because apparently, our market is like a pendulum, swinging daily in different directions at the behest of various market dynamics such as supply, demand, investor sentiment, grand coalition government woes and company key fundamentals.
An analysis by Hidalgo Investments picks these companies as the top ten stocks to watch in the next quarter (and especially the next one month):
1. Kenya Airways
Low P/E – Upcoming poor results already factored in to the price. Will recover from effects of post-election violence for now and grapple with the current economic downturn which has made traveling only essential, thus cutting its passengers by 17 percent. Fuel prices are cheaper now, and hedges which they had gotten themselves into must have run out direct flights from JKIA. This will mean more connecting flights from Eastern/Central Africa. The worst of the financial crises is however over thus making KQ a good buy for the long term.
2. Centum
Low P/E – Upcoming bad results already factored in to the price. Their big loss will be a one off; will not affect next financial period, and their rebranding seems to be paying off.
Their application to buy into carbacid shares will be a definite boost since it will be an opportunity to unlock millions in investment options held by the company. Their holdings will appreciate starting April (except RVR), but hoping that RVR does get a strategic partner in South America, Brazil. Solid company, good management, have learnt their lesson through the rebranding issues.
3. AccessKenya
High P/E – AccessKenya has its own network of fibre optic cable, something no other ICT company, save for Safaricom through sea cables has. It also bought a stake in the undersea cable and currently has the largest satellite download. They could look at leasing out some of their bandwidth in the future, something which competitors Kenya Data Networks (KDN) until recently had a monopoly on. Key difference in their internet offering with Safaricom is that theirs is guaranteed speed, while Safaricom’s go by how many users are logged on and targets the mass market. AccessKenya targets mainly high net worth individuals and corporate. I think the high P/E is more reflective of the growth potential on this company. From a price perspective, the stock is also quite stable technically on pricing.
4. 4. Sasini
Low P/E – Low price; can rise 50 percent without breaking a sweat; diversification into the hospitality business with its brand name, ‘Savannah”. The re-strategy of its core business to factor with the global crisis thus keeping it ahead of its peers in the same industry. Tea output has suffered in Kenya, so it will be interesting to figure out if its farms have suffered the same. On the plus side, the Shilling has lost value against the dollar and tea prices globally are high (on account of reduced supply); it is also not clear if its diversification initiatives have borne any fruit thus far – that is, Savannah’s contribution to the bottom line. Speculative buy for me based on low price.
5. Equity
Low P/E – They are opening 500ac’s/day in Uganda. The best bank in terms growth and client acquisition; regional expansion working for them; incredible marketing strategies to stay ahead of the rest; impressive results and prudent management. The three year lock in period for majority foreign shareholders did elapse. The split is their best ever strategy to make the share more affordable to the local retailer and increase its supply at the market. World Bank and IMF support.
The aforementioned are companies that deserve a second and third look when investing and the short notes below each company represent the issues of sentiment, fundamental and fact about each company that one needs to consider. As an analyst, I stand to be corrected especially in a market like ours.
Steve Wafula C.E.O of Soko Directory
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10:27
Whive.com to launch Swahili social network.
» johnkaranja.com 
Whive.com is about to launch the first swahili social network that will allow millions of Africans who speak Swahili to access the social networking platform. These will enable these people to interact with each other for both business and social purposes. You can preview the new Swahili Network at this link [Whive.com Swahili].Please see the mobile network being used by hundreds of Kenyans to send SMS.
This is bound to increase the creation of Swahili Content and improve communications amongst a people who have been in the dark technologically.
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The Power Of The Internet
» For Love and Money The Power Of The Internet
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Interactive map of Niger Delta
» Black Looks An interactive map of the Niger Delta by the Financial Times showing oil fields and conflict zones -See MAP // 0){if (nl.getElementsByTagName("p").length>= paraNum){nl.insertBefore(tb,nl.getElementsByTagName("p")[paraNum]);}else {if (nl.getElementsByTagName("p").length == 3){nl.insertBefore(tb,nl.getElementsByTagName("p")[2]);}else {nl.insertBefore(tb,nl.getElementsByTagName("p")[0]);}}}} // ]]> Umaru Yar’Adua, Nigeria’s president, offered an amnesty to militants in the Niger Delta on Friday as part of his strategy for ending attacks on Africa’s biggest oil [...]
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17:09
Awarded!
» Memories, Sentiments, Rants and Raves 
“This award is bestowed upon a fellow blogger whose blog content or design is, in the giver’s opinion, brilliant.”And so the 3toc tagged me, thank thank. Having done one too many lists on this blog forgive any repeats here. Here goes:-
1.I have up and downs in my spiritual life. I love God. I have moments when i love to be in his presence but i have been on a dry spell where even praying is a big deal.I am getting back up there, thanks to my prayer warriors(my mum and sister)who hold me up.
2.I have never had issues with my weight until earlier this month, the doctor informed me that am too heavy for my bones. I love my size, i love being round and "curvy" but it has to go so health eating and exercise are in full force, of course plus occasional indulgence.
3.I just finished some classes that i have been taking so that i can switch careers, results are out on the first week of July.
4.I finally decided on my side hustle of choice and am actively working on it in partnership with my parents. It will take a lot of time and money but it feels great to spend time with folks and i know we cannot fail.
5.I do not watch horror, thrillers or any scary movies because i get nightmares, yes you read right, nightmares. This ends with me sleeping with the telly on plus a bible/rosary or sleeping over at a friends. So no scary movies for me.
6. A couple of my friends are getting married this year from July to end year we have at least one wedding each month and two in others. This means dresses, heels, weird questions, bridal showers, cake, dancing and great fun always.
7.I love spending time alone, i can sit at my house the whole weekend without the need to hang out with other people.I miss traveling alone and plan to by the end of the year.
8. In the last 3 months, a lot has happened and i feel like even though i was involved i got to look at it all from outside. I have had to review what friendship is, what matters, what i can live with and without. Subconsciously decisions have been made, plans made and are now in action. I like this work in progress me.
9. I intend to learn how to swim and a foreign language this year.
10. I have discovered great music thanks to some great bloggers. Here's to many more.
Thanks to all who read this blog and comment, to lurkers and to all who mail.Am truly grateful and mi casa su casa.
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15:39
MediaPost Publications The Internet Vs. Al Ries 06/26/2009
» The Benin Epilogue Part I: Africa-Ready for Business MediaPost Publications The Internet Vs. Al Ries 06/26/2009: "In a trade publication last month, marketing guru Al Ries proudly declared that 'determining the ROI of a marketing program is an expensive exercise with little or no value -- an experienced marketing executive instinctively knows whether a marketing program is working or not.' He countered one CMO's perspective on the value of analytics, by concluding that the practice of marketing 'is not even 1% mathematics.'
With math-bashing marketing hand grenades like this, it's not surprising that the column sparked a healthy response; readers are still submitting comments that wrestle with Ries' assertions."
Of course, I love your comments. But, if you can't comment at this particular time- but would like to let us know that you were here; please sign and View my guestbook
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13:13
The Virtual Freelancer: The Future For Young Kenyans
» Kenyanentrepreneur.com I was just reading this great article in the NYT about the changing work force around the world. Everyone who works should read this article because it highlights what is happening to jobs around the world today. A quote from the article follows: “A new generation of online service marketplaces is giving small companies more opportunities [...]
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Ma Island by Be
» Black Looks Be Spot
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Mstari Wa Nne at Alliance Française, Tuesday 30th june 2009
» Kenyanpoet You are invited to come watch Mstari do their thing on Tuesday, June 30 (3:30pm - 6:00pm) at Faceoff, dubbed as an intense afternoon of back-to-back performances alongside TheBandits, SautiSol, Outsyderz, Dela, MarcusOlang’, Juliani, JoanMatata, Elani, Aziza, Alpha and the AllianceFrançaiseBand. You are all welcome to attend and don't forget to invite your friends.
Tickets will cost Kshs. 200 in advance and Kshs. 250 at the gate. Advance tickets are available at the Alliance Française de Nairobi Salle de Détente (3rd floor).
For more information search for the event on facebook (Faceoff), call 0736479517/0711720438 or follow the link below.
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Pop Icon, Michael Jackson is Dead
» The Benin Epilogue Part I: Africa-Ready for Business Pop Icon, Michael Jackson is Dead
Michael Jackson, was pronounced dead on Thursday afternoon at U.C.L.A. Medical Center after arriving in a coma, a city official said. Mr. Jackson was 50, having spent 40 of those years in the public eye he loved.
For his legions of fans, he was the Peter Pan of pop music: the little boy who refused to grow up. But on the verge of another attempted comeback, he is suddenly gone, this time for good......CLICK HERE TO READ MORE on the death of Michael Jackson
