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17:56
Safaricom - 10% (not 5%) was stolen!
» Rants, Raves & Reviews
Mobitelea, a subsidiary of Thieves, Inc
The crescendo over the, mobitelea stolen indirect 5% ownership in Safaricom, is rising. What many commentators are missing is that it was 10% (not 5%) that was stolen from every Kenyan Man, Woman & Child.
mobitelea - often referred to as moi biwott telecoms of east africa - had stolen 10% but sold 5% in 2002 to its partners in bribery, vodafone, when moi's proxy was going to lose the elections.
The way I figure it out is that Vodafone bought 40% of Safaricom from GOK but had to cough up 10% to mobitelea as "grease" money. A pity but vivendi had to cut a deal with naushad merali (the ty"con") for the 2nd license.
Suggested remedy for the Public & Vodafone?
Well, vodafone should return the 5% to the GOK (to be sold as part of the IPO) for what they paid & a "fair" return. I can't blame them for buying what seemed a bargain. As part of coming clean, they should sell the 5% back to GOK at a discounted price to current market value.
The monies paid by Vodafone to mobitelea should be recovered from mobitelea by the GOK & vodafone.
Thhe 5% that originally "belonged" to mobitelea but then sold by mobitelea to Vodafone.
What of the 5% that still "belongs" to mobitelea?
daniel moi & biwott will support kibaki in the 2007 elections as long as this thievery is kept under wraps!
We need to go after these crooks & retrieve the stolen 5%. As well as any dividends made to them! The 5% are stolen goods!
FOLLOW THE MONEY...
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17:13 The VIP - an invention from Zimbabwe
» AfriGadget Ingenuity, obviously, isn’t only limited to the African continent, as it is especially found in societies where access to resources is limited. While we’ve been able to witness lots of interesting innovations from other regions of the world that were born out of a lack of readily available solutions, we must also not forget that a few smart ideas were actually developed in Africa and have since then conquered the world.
One of such smart ideas is the Ventilated (Improved) Pit Latrine, in short: the VIP – which was developed as the “Blair Latrine” by Peter Morgan, who has been living and working in Zimbabwe for over 35 years, researching and developing water and sanitation technologies.
Diagram showing effect of vent pipe on functions of pit latrine (source)The major advantage of the VIP over a normal pit latrine is that it comes with a ventilation pipe (covered with a durable fly screen on top) which reduces flies and odour. In the absence of other alternatives, the Ventilated Pit Latrine is considered reliable, which explains the success of this technology: over 500.000+ units of this type have been built in Zimbabwe alone and it has proven to work elsewhere around the world.
The VIP clearly isn’t the solution to sustainable sanitation as it comes with a few limitations, but it does function without water and has very low investment, operation and maintenance costs.
Next to some interesting experiments with different water pump systems such as the Blair hand pump (also known as the Zimbabwe Bush Pump) or the spiral water wheel pump, Peter is also active in the field of ecological sanitation and recently published a very interesting booklet titled “Toilets That Make Compost” where he writes about his experiences with compost toilets such as the Arborloo and the Fossa Alterna.
screenshot from Peter Morgan’s manual on how to build an Arborloo (PDF,~ 3,1MB)While there’s no single sanitation concept that will work in all places around the world, the VIP for one is a proven technology which has been accepted by its users since 30 years.
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14:02
Marian's Blog on Blogstreet India, and more racist beatings in the European Union (EU)
» Marian's Blog Our thanks to the folks at Blogstreet India for taking the initiative to bring Marian's Blog into their unique, growing community. A note that my blog topic category, "BLACK IS A COUNTRY", comes directly from Nikhil Pal Singh's 2004 book,...
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13:35
All We Need is a Nice White Lady
» Black Looks –”When it comes to teaching inner-city minorities, you don’t need books and you don’t need rules… All you need is a nice white lady.” I can’t stop laughing! Thank you Mad TV! Share This: -
An Afrocentric Reading
» Black Looks This video of a Miss Teen USA pageant contestant is all over the Internet but most of the attention has focused on Miss South Carolina’s weird and stupid response to the question of why she thinks a fifth of Americans can’t locate the US on a map and how she believes it’s because “some people [...]
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12:01
One cold night in KENYA!!
» Me I LOve NAirobi REgardless - MILONARE One cold night in KEeping up with NYAng’aus!!
I’ve had three major incidences with my car. Two were accidents, one was a carjacking. The only common factor in all these was that there was a woman involved (apart from my being there too hihihihi)… I’ve already blogged about two of these i.e. Starlet to body, 60MPH and Jacked at SOUTH B.
The third was the most painful. Sniff.., But I’ve attained a state of Mukti/Moksha and can now safely reveal what happened.
Cueing the cues..
One cold night in Kenya, my pal Henny had the ideal gal for the moment: long on looks, short on morals; ample on booty, scarce on attire. And she had friends… So we were chillin at Crooked Q, Milo displaying his cue-talents on table, Henny having his crooked chalked. Then her pals decide we need to head over to K2. Now back in 2003ish, K2 used to bamba vi-proper. I wouldn’t have budged an inch as I was on a roll (ninth game bila loss) but the M. I. C. ie Mamiso In Charge seemed to want a hot cup of steamy Milo, seemed to love ma-hepi regardless, seemed to want me to comment on her blogspot (if you know what I’m sayin…) LOOOOOOL
All roads lead to...
So I begrudgingly gave away my winners and proceeded to head for K2, max’mum speed, min’mum delay. All was going well, mkwajus/mikwaju beginning to stiffen, adrenalin kiasi, hopes up high. The music in the car was loud and clear; the mood Ol Skool. “I wish I was a little bit taller, I wish I was a baller…” One could almost imagine that Skee-Lo was seated in the back seat performing live much thanks to Sony Xplod speakers, Kenwood tweeters and the 600W Alpine woofer (woof! woof!). The irony of the song was yet to hit us, literally!!
Alas, at the Haile Selassie-Uhuru highway round-a-bout having joined and negotiated a majority of the semi-circle, a Yellow-Red canter decides to jump in bila warning. Brake-pedal to floor, screeching of tyres clutching tarmac for dear life and the smell of burning rubber. Seems at that moment my ABS just stood for my brakes asking “Assi! Be Serious??” There was grinding and gnashing of teeth as the whole of my bonnet was condensed and mangled into a fist of sorts. Canter on receiving the brunt of force from 199x car on 197x body suffered the type of scratch one wouldn’t even humor with elastoplast!!
Surely, surely!!!!!
Now this is where things got interesting. Canter proceeds to head up Upper Hill road undeterred and unconcerned!! There’s madharau and then there’s madharau – I swear! Father-au even!!! Anways, Rav4, now reduced to kedo Rav1.5, was in quick pursuit and I managed to head the nyang’au off somewhere just before Railway club. Jumping out of said Rav, an enraged Milo accosts the canter driver (a Justice wannabe with two twilight nyangaus by his side). No niceties are exchanged but canter keys are confiscated and 999 is dialed. As we patiently await the arrival of Watumishi kwa Wote pigmy decides to show his mamisos his macho side. “If you are bila insurance and cant pay to have your car repaired that’s yours! I can afford to have mine repaired! And no one touches my car keys just like that. Return them before things get bad!!!” he pipes in English laced with a KhoiSan accent.
Revenge of the Drunken Master...
Now I was mad, super-hyper-irate!!!! As the dwarf approached, Milo’s jujitsu, ninjitsu, fujitsu training took over and I was in a zone. Hand-to-body, sneaker-to-butt collisions rendered said vertically challenged individual prostrate on the cold tarmac, whimpering and begging for mercy. Trust Henny, who had been hiding behind me all the while, to suddenly appear at the forefront (when the adversary was on the ground) administering Timberland kicks to torso and unleashing shouts of “Kwenda!! Ghasia!!!”The rest is a story for another day but the ladies we were transporting ended up in K2 courtesy of the ladies’ everpresent plan B as Henny and I awaited the cops andstatement/insurance/excessmisery!!!Nyangaus! Nyaaaaaaannnnggggggaaaaaaaauuuuuuus!!!!!
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10:19
Katrina & Congress: Increase aid, bring Gulf Coast natives home
» Marian's Blog This week is the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the utter failure of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-constructed levee system. For more on this please visit levees.org. Can you believe anyone would actually front Michael Chertoff to replace...
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10:18
Quick Hits Around the (African) Web
» White African Elie Smith claims that Nigeria is making headway against email scammers:
But above all, while some scam e-mail may still come from Nigeria, most are not. The new sources of those scam-emails are irrefutable substantiations that, Nigeria and the Nigerian government are fighting financial crimes and the country is definitely changed.
Nii Simmonds will be hosting the 4th Carnival of African Enterprising at his blog, the Nubian Cheetah, next week. Submit your best blog posts here.
The Financial Times claims that Angola will be the third hub for Africa, along with the Nigeria and South Africa. (Interesting that Kenya was left out)
The combination of its oil bonanza and a huge investment in infrastructure has led it to become the hot destination for businesses seeking to invest in Africa. “There’s a general feeling that if we are not a player in Angola in the next five years we will have missed the best opportunity in Africa,”
(hat tip Emeka at Africa Unchained)
Steve Mugiri does an excellent interview for AfriGadget on the Sietch:
The primary challenge is of course finding the stories while looking through the blinders of having lived these stories ourselves, For example, I suspect that I would be hard pressed to find someone from my generation, rich or poor, who did not make their own toys while young. This was simply a fact of life. Having lived this all through our childhoods, it thus becomes a little difficult to step outside our experiences and realize that just this fact is a story of itself.
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10:17
Bank for sale
» bankelele The Government intends to sell a portion of Development Bank of Kenya (DBK) to a strategic investor.
The goverment, through ICDC owns 90% of the Bank which was almost merged with Housing Finance in 2005.
DBK is Kenya's 34th largest bank with assets of Kshs. 3.9 billion ($55 million)
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9:10
Some storos…
» Kenyan Pundit - Does Safaricom Bambanet herald the dawn of affordable internet access in Kenya? Lets hope the connectivity speed matches up to the pricing. Users of the service, please let us know. - No afro’s please, we’re a law firm. What the hell? I’m a bit sensitive to this issue [...]
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9:04
Finding x The Easy Way
» Cock And Bull When Microsoft Windows 2000 Server entered the market, it became the easiest computer operating system to use. Prior to Win2K, we used Windows NT Server. WinNT was notorious for its frequent ‘blue screen’ crashes, hostility to hardware device drivers, and required to be restarted for almost every configuration change. On the other hand, Win2K was more stable, fully supported plug and play, and rarely required restarting.
Despite the good news that the new operating system brought to all computer users, some of us were not thrilled. The reason is because every operating system upgrade requires IT professionals to go back to class to learn about the new changes. Win2K came with major changes especially in security management and that required extensive studies and endless hours of hands on exercises in order to become competent with handling the system. That also meant that the skills of operating WinNT that came with rigorous training and experience gained through sleepless nights at client sites was about to go down the drain. With Win2K being easier to use, it also meant that many school leaving kids would want to give IT a hand, and sure enough soon the market was flooded with IT ‘gurus’ still in diapers, giving old-timers stiff competition. We did not like that very much.
I suppose that is the kind of apprehension that doctors feel when confronted with health restoration natural therapies such as the one covered in a book called ‘Health In Your Hands’. The book by Dr. Devendra Vora comes in two volumes and extensively covers acupressure as a remedy to various human ailments. Acupressure therapy has been used in India for over 5,000 years, and is the art of treating diseases by applying pressure on specific points with the help of one’s thumb or an un-pointed instrument.
Acupressure works on the principle that the body is made up of electricity circuits that pass through all its parts. For the body to remain fit and operate in good health, current has to flow through each of these parts without interruption. If for any reason the current does not reach any part of the body, there is malfunctioning in that part accompanied by pain in some cases. If not attended to for some time, this may invite illness. So, if the current is sent to the affected parts, the pain, if any would subside and the disease or malfunctioning of that part would be cured.
The switchboard of electric current flowing in the body is located in the palms of the hand and the soles of the feet. The image above shows an example of the location of the different switch points on the left hand, and the organ and endocrine glands they are connected to. Applying pressure on any point sends current to the corresponding organ and activates it. For example, most headaches are due to cold, change of season, etc., resulting in congestion in the head and can be cured by treating Point Nos. 1 to 7 and 34. The pressure applied should be just enough for you to be able to feel it.
According to the author, regular massaging of the palms will release current to all parts of the body and hence help in the prevention of all types of diseases including heart problem, paralysis and even cancer. While giving yourself acupressure you can get instant and proper diagnosis by locating the point of pain on the hand or foot and associating it with the part of the body that it corresponds to. For example, pain in Point No. 26 would indicate a problem with the kidney, even though a person might not be aware of any malfunctions yet. Both volumes 1 and 2 of “Health In Your Hands” are very comprehensive and easy to understand and give self diagnosis and cure for many common ailments and even chronic diseases such as cancer and HIV/AIDS.
Sounds ridiculously easy, right? But do solutions really need to be complicated to work? One thing I can tell you is that the therapy cures my headache in no time. When I think about it, I am reminded of the following solution:
A mathematician might furiously claim that this desecration of Pythagoras Theorem is tantamount to sacrilege at the high alter of all sciences. But the fact is that when all is said, x has been found, right? So in case you are interested in the books, they are available at Prestige Bookshop along Mama Ngina Street in Nairobi.
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8:50
Replacing The Razor With An Axe
» Cock And Bull Many years ago, the sitting president of Kenya jested that trying to bring down his political party KANU was the equivalent of attempting to cut down the legendary Mugumo tree with a razor blade. Back then, he was a cabinet minister and maybe only dreamed of a day he would be president. Years later he was to ditch KANU which was later defeated in the 2002 elections after almost 4 decades in power. Now, the party is struggling to survive in the height of internal leadership wrangles, and confusion based on unclear policies.
In life, there are problems that are as big as the Mugumo tree. Trying to solve them might seem as futile as trying to cut across the girth of hardwood using a razor blade. For example, a person wanting to own a house might feel like the monthly savings that are often consumed by some unexpected emergencies are the razor blade.
The good news is that there is always a silver lining especially in the horizon of the determined. Yesterday, I read a story about an African man who went into the US as a refugee in 1999, without knowing a single word in English. As soon as he got his papers, he told his friends that he wanted to do a Law degree. In return, they laughed and encouraged him to find a job as a taxi driver and be content with his new civil war-free life. He wrote that he chose to ignore their laughter and listen to his inner voice. Even though he didn’t know how to get to where he wanted to go, he knew that there is a reward for those who work hard, try things, and are not afraid of committing mistakes because they learn from them. Right now, he is just about to get into Law school and fulfill his dreams.
No matter how big or tough a tree is, it can be brought down. It is important to recognize the magnitude of the problem, and the ability to solve it in order to correctly measure the efforts required. Based on this evaluation, one might then decide to continue with the same effort or change tactic. The only reason why KANU was removed from power was because the opposition changed tactics. Rather than attempting to compete as individual parties, they grouped into a formidable coalition that swept KANU away like a tsunami. Instead of continuing to use a razor blade to cut the Mugumo tree, they decided to use an axe.
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8:49
Email For Blessing
» Cock And Bull I am sure you have received the forwarded emails that are almost always circulating with beautiful PowerPoint messages about Jesus Christ. At the end of the message, instructions are usually given about forwarding the message to many other people to prove that you Love Jesus Christ. The messages always promise gifts in the form of blessings; the more people you send the message to, the bigger the blessing you should expect. At times, the author of the messages threatens you with misfortune if you fail to forward the email.
These emails always take me back to the days when Jesus walked the earth as a man. I imagine the brief moments that he interacted with his disciples before and after his resurrection. While he was instructing them to spread the gospel, he might have given each one of them quotas and incentives based on the number of people that they converted. The authors of the emails would then just be propagating a tradition that Jesus himself began.
However, Jesus did not set quotas for anyone since his is a gospel of Love. Meaning that one is required to talk about Jesus Christ based on the Love he or she feels for the savior. That Love comes easily when one opens up their heart for Christ to come in, and learns how to satisfy their spiritual hunger and quench their spiritual thirst by seeking him each day. Hence it is easy for one to talk about Jesus Christ as a spiritual witness, in much the same way that the disciples talked about Jesus by the virtual of witnessing his physical presence.
Does forwarding an email to a lot of people prove that the sender Loves Jesus Christ? It would if a person was to do that without being coerced by the author through incentives and threats. The fact that you are reading this article means that God has already blessed you with breathe, and eyesight, and intelligence, and technology, and time, and even the ability to satisfy your spiritual curiosity. If you count all the other blessing that you have, you will easily see that God is not hoarding His blessings waiting for you to forward an email to prove that you Love Him.
Anyone who has Loved knows that Love does not require proof through doing. The reason is because the feeling that Love gives is proof enough.
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8:11
Musically Speaking
» For Love and Money My first encounter with Kayamba Africa was sometime back in the summer of 2000. I had attended a friend’s wedding in Nairobi and the musical group was part of the entertainment. If my memory serves me right, they were an acapela group at that time as I don’t recall them singing with any musical accompaniments. They may have had a few percussion instruments but they certainly didn’t have any guitars or synthesizers.
Once they took to the stage, everyone listened calmly with the guests nodding their heads and tapping their feet to the rhythm. After the guests had warmed up to their tunes, they switched to Luo songs as both the bride and the groom were from Nyanza. It was then that all hell broke loose, literally, with even the bridal party taking to the stage dancing and jubilantly singing with the group. I was thoroughly entertained by both the group and the sight of guests dancing their hearts out to their music.
Since then, the group has evolved and have gone on to record several musical CDs under Samawati’s Suzanne and Gido Kibukosya. Their music consists of a mixture of Kenyan traditional songs from various ethnic groups and as such they resonate with a wide audience of Kenyans.
While prowling the streets of Nairobi, I came across their musical CDs in one of the music shops and instantaneously bought all of them without checking the songs they contained. From then, I have been continuously listening to their tracks in the car and I am yet to listen to the radio or other CDs that I bought in Nairobi. My favorite song has got to be the Kisii song titled Sindigisa. Even though I don’t understand what they are singing about, I like the part where they sing the “Sloooowly, Slowly my dear” chorus in a heavy Kisii accent.
I would recommend their CDs to anyone looking for Kenyan ethnic music. Though I did not enjoy their music when I first quickly listened through their CDs, I later got hooked onto their music after listening to a few songs that I knew. Their CDs retail between 850 and 1000 Kenyan shillings and can also be found online at Stern Music. They also have a VCD featuring some of their videos, which includes the above cartoon video of the song Ngukinyukia Okahora.
PS. The original Kayamba Africa crew broke up and now consists of two main competing groups, namely Kayamba Africa and Kayamba Fiesta. There may also exist a third group that goes by the name Kayamba Sese, though I am yet to come across their CD. The four CDs that I bought includes one from Kayamba Fiesta.
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5:20
Wherever you will go…
» Me, Life & Everything Rendezvous: 1320hrs Prolixity: Random Mood: There Whereabouts: WaSk Echelon: II Track: As shown. The Calling - Wherever You Will Go So lately, I’ve been wonderin Who will be there to take my place When I’m gone, you’ll need love To light the shadows on your face If a great wave should fall It would fall upon us all And between the sand and stone Could you make it on [...]
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1:23
Odds and Ends
» Afromusing Pardon the light posting…my attention has been diverted a bit to a couple of gigs that are keeping me away from the blog. While i get my schedule rearranged and all that good stuff…Please head on over to
Afrigadget for a very Afro-cool post from Henry Addo
A ‘10 questions’ interview of Steve ‘Ntwiga’ and Afrigadget team at the Sietch.
Subscribe to the Global Voices podcasts
Check the site of the Afro-preneurs who are holding an event… (that i hope someone blogs or tweets for us who are away)
TIDE (Technology, Innovation, Design
and Everything)- Innovation Series Event *this Saturday September 1st,
10-12pm at Grand Regency. The guest speaker will be Joseph Mucheru, Google
Kenya CEO. The entrance charge is Kshs.1000. This talk is open to all
persons and is not a technology only event, it will focus on innovation in
Africa from a business and entrepreneur point of view.Last but not least, check out the 5 dollar solar thermal water heater from Instructables (Requires modification).
I almost forgot…you have got to watch Vusi Mahlasela. From Ted Blog
AOB - Agony is: finding your web host’s site has been hacked into.
so if the blog is not reachable, i have a backup, i am keeping my fingers crossed that it gets sorted soon.
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