Mashada Blogs » November 10, 2008

What An African Woman Thinks: So You Want to Be Famous?

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 23:19:00 -0500

I was over at The Root, reading Kim McLarin’s piece on Michelle Obama, the First lady of the United States and this anecdote told to her by some former Clinton staffers caught me by surprise and made me laugh out loud and pity the first lady all at once:

In trying to get a sense of what Michelle's new life might be like, I called Ann Walker Marchant, who was a communications adviser in the Clinton administration. She recalled for me a moment when she and her roommate, Capricia Marshall, the White House social secretary, received an urgent 4 a.m. call from the White House usher's office. Mrs. Clinton, it seemed, had risen early and gone to the kitchen to make some eggs.
"Everybody was freaking out," Marchant said. "'She's in the kitchen! She's in her bathrobe. Should we go in? What should we do?' One minute you're out there campaigning and then, all of a sudden, you're there and you want to make some eggs and people are making phone calls about it."

It's my window, but I don't own the view.

For Love and Money: Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls...

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 22:37:00 -0500

Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls...

For Love and Money: Worse Just Got Worser

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:09:00 -0500

Worse Just Got Worser

You Missed This: Abracadabra, Let There be Lights in Kogelo

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 16:23:00 -0500

With lightening speed, Obama’s ancestral home at Kogelo in Siaya was fully connected to the national electricity grid in two days. And that came after Kenyans were granted an Obama holiday last Thursday while the Americans who elected him had no such luxuries. Either its the paradox of a so-called working nation in love with RECESS or the smart scoundrels grieving with king size tears and louder than the bereaved to mask their hitherto disdain.

Well, either way the true face of deception never fails to embarrass. Welcome to African brand of leadership of personal whims selfishly played to gain political scores at whatever cost. No prize is big enough to catch an eye when expediency rules supreme.

To hell with informed leadership from in front and by example. Mediocrity is our forte while integrity remains an alien virtue these shores of ours. We are led by the leash using outdated whims of yore. Anything unfamiliar is shunned and new ideas are summarily dismissed with the wave dinosaur hands struggling to steady the wheels. What is more, the leaders can chose their actions at any tangent well secure in the knowledge that their kinsmen will foam at the mouth trying to sanitize the rot on their behalf. In the process the country suffocates from official rigidity and becomes too intoxicated with the fumes of moral decay. The free fall towards self-destruction has been so effortlessly

Leaves you wondering what bleak fates await thousand of villages which don’t have their won Obama. So resources are there aplenty and can be SELECTIVELY deployed at the flash of a finger. And that proves the perils of personalized rule legalized in IMPERIAL PRESIDENCY. In the whole game Kenyans remain helpless collateral in the political chess board.

Kibaki seems to be on an ego trip to turn Kenyans into torches to light his Christmas tree. Kenyatta and Moi may have found it difficult to conceptualize what it takes to serve neither the commensurate responsibility demanded of the same service. But Kibaki perfection of penchant for contempt to all Kenyans is inexcusable in this age and time.

Forget about the nostalgic fad of being a scholar of yore. The present leadership simply acts on sectarian whims bereft of any intellectual spine. And as for the street rants that intellectuals don’t make good politicians you can as well go ahead and tell than to the birds so that they fly high in the skies.

Leadership from the rear
We need leaders with the mien and capacity to inspire and not promise miracles. Leaders with quality housed in the box above their shoulders who leave their names in history books as builders and custodians of durable institutions that remain the bedrock of a nation’s present and future prosperity in all spheres towards sustainable stability.

Smart leaders exploit crises to shape and make history. Formulating sound policies that outlive their reign is what uniquely defines them. Focused hope is a bankable virtue that once successfully sold to a populace gains a momentum of its own for the long term good. Instead what we have flying around us are jingoists who won’t miss an opportunity to populate any opening with their TRIBESMEN with no regard to equity and fairness.

While Einstein may have preferred imagination to knowledge, Kenyan leaders are very keen to demonstrate their lack thereof of both. The only commodity they sell and dispense in abundance is fertile and creative mind to fleece and rape Kenya to the bone. Our national sense of success is so impaired so much so that without opulence, you stand accused of laziness and failing to make hay when the sun shines.

One only hopes and prays that maybe someday soon Kibaki will shuffle in shame when he miraculously rediscovers that what is housed in his head is a brain meant to be used. Predictably, Emilio's apologists will readily jump to his defense with such cheap take as promoting tourism or creating a plastic higher pedestal of fake statesmanship or any such hollow derivatives for that matter. Well, we cannot stop them from cheering on the nude king.

DVDs cheap, delivered to your door anywhere in Nairobi. Order online.

The Displaced African: My 4 Hour Work Week Journey: How to Test a Cashflow Muse

Mwangi — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 13:20:23 -0500

This is day 13 (well in truth waaayyyy longer, somewhere between 4-6 months now but my 13th post) of My 4 Hour Work Week Journey. Please make sure you read the rest of the articles that came before this one to understand where I am in the journey. Click here to buy a copy of the 4 hour work week and go on the journey with me.

First of All

My potential cash flow muse, Conversations with Podcasting Gurus came out yesterday. I have an early bird special for the next 3 days to encourage folks to support the product so check it out by visiting the Conversations with Podcasting Gurus (& Bonus Quick Start Guide) Sales Page and ordering today.

Now onto the scheduled programming.

The Video

Click on the Video to Play "How I Tested My Cash Flow Muses"

To watch this video on Youtube click here:
[www.youtube.com]

The Slide Presentation

You can also access the slide presentation using the link below:
How to Test a Cashflow Muse Slide Presentation hosted by Sliderocket

Websites and Resources Mentioned

1) Google Adwords Keyword Tool: [https:]]

2) www.Ask.com

3) Keyword Discovery Tool: [www.keyworddiscovery.com]

4) Perry Marshall’s 5 Day Free Adword Course

Any questions, don’t hesitate to leave a comment below so we can begin a dialogue on how we can all create cash flow muses.

Have a day more beautiful than the muse that inspired it,

Mwangi

What An African Woman Thinks: The Worst of Nairobi, The Best of Nairobi

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 12:30:00 -0500

I visited with a friend who runs a food outlet in Nairobi today. I listened to horror stories of regular harassment by bully city council employees who descend like vultures on her business soliciting bribes on threat of arrest for violation of obscure city bylaws she knows nothing about. I left really angry at all the roadblocks that stand in the way of small businesses, in Nairobi, as if it isn’t hard enough to survive without the system tripping you up all over the place. I was frustrated in particular, because I wanted so badly to do something about it but I couldn’t think of anything I could do that would make a difference.

Then, as I was leaving, I found someone had double parked behind me and gone off to I-don’t-know-where. I had to manoeuvre my way out through this really narrow space between this big-bodied car on the one side and an intimidating protruding cement structure on the other side.

As I braced myself to attempt the feat, passers-by, seeing my predicament, gathered around me and without my soliciting their help, began to guide me. Through the rear view mirror, I saw a young woman approach my car and paused to give her way. She declined to pass, offering to be my eyes instead, to help me steer through the narrow space.

It was an intense five minutes or so, with much wincing and many sharp intakes of breathe. But, I made it. Eight or so Kenyans, strangers to me, stood around, smiled their relief, cheered, and then went their merry way on to their business.

Nairobi makes me so mad sometimes I could throttle it with my bare hands. And then again, I love love love Nairobi.It's my window, but I don't own the view.

Black Looks: Bush cleans his hands after greeting Obama

Rethabile — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 12:11:29 -0500

“Obama!”Bush exclaimed… “Come here and meet Laura. Laura, you remember Obama. We saw him on TV during election night. Beautiful family. And that wife of yours — that’s one impressive lady.” The two men shook hands and then, according to Obama, Bush turned to an aide, “who squirted a big dollop of hand sanitizer in the [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Bush cleans his hands after greeting Obama", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/11/bush_cleans_his_hands_after_greeting_obama.html" });

What An African Woman Thinks: R.I.P Mama Africa

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 11:03:00 -0500

Miriam Makeba passed away last night.

It's the definitive end of an era for those of us who grew up listening to the haunting, soulful sound of her music as she gave voice to the struggle of black men and women during South Africa's apartheid era.

I still recall, wistfully, how she and Winnie Mandela occupied the same lofty space in my young impressionable mind, revered as strong women, freedom fighters, voices of the struggle, valiantly taking their place at the battlefront, fighting for the soul of South Africa.

She lived a full life, she made her mark, she leaves a rich legacy.

Africa salutes you, Miriam Makeba.

Rest in peace.It's my window, but I don't own the view.

Kenyanpoet: South African Songbird, Miriam Makeba dies of Heart Attack at a concert in Italy, 10th Nov

N.W — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 08:27:00 -0500

Legendary South African songbird Miriam Makeba has passed away in Italy. "Mama Africa", as the 76 year old performer was fondly called, collapsed while performing at a music concert in Naples in honour of Italian writer Roberto Saviano, who received death threats after writing an expose of the Italian mafia.

"She had been the last one to go on stage, after the performances of other singers," an AFP photographer said.

"There were calls for an encore and at that moment someone asked if there was a doctor in the house. Miriam Makeba had fainted and was lying on the floor."

She was taken to a clinic where she died of a heart attack, ANSA said.

Makeba was born in Johannesburg on March 4, 1932, the daughter of a Swazi mother and Xhosa father.

She captured international attention as a vocalist for a South African group, The Manhattan Brothers, when they toured the United States in 1959. Her citizenship was taken away the following year when she wanted to return home for her mother's funeral, and she then spent more than three decades in exile, living in the United States and Guinea.

She was briefly married to trumpeter Hugh Masekela, another famous South African artist who also spent long years in exile under apartheid.

Makeba had her biggest hit in 1967 with "Pata Pata" -- Xhosa for "Touch Touch", describing a township dance -- but unwittingly had signed away all royalties on the song.

She was often short of money and could not afford to buy a coffin when her only daughter, Bondi, died aged 36 in 1985. She buried her alone, barring a handful of journalists from covering the funeral.

According to her biography, she also battled with cervical cancer and a string of unhappy relationships. It said rumours of her alcoholism were unfounded.

While she was still in enforced exile, she performed with Paul Simon in the US singer's 1987 Graceland concert in Zimbabwe, neighbouring South Africa.

She finally returned to her homeland in the 1990s after Nelson Mandela was released from prison as the apartheid system they had both fought for so long began to be dismantled.

But it took her six years to find someone in the South African recording industry to produce a record with her. She entitled it "Homeland".

Info courtesy of AFP

Thanks Kwambo for the info

KA-INVESTOR: No Country for Foreign Investors

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 03:55:00 -0500

When it comes to investment in the stock market and other business issues Kenyans are renowned for their ingeniousness. In fact residents of most East African countries have come to both revere and despise Kenyans particularly for this reason. In the most recent IPO’s in Tanzania and Zambia, Kenyans and other East African’s (who are always considered as local investors in Kenyan IPO’s) have been left out on flimsy ground of nationalism and in some cases (Celtel Zambia – IPO) only foreign institutional investors were allowed but still some Kenyan fund management firms got nothing.

The Safaricom IPO in Kenya was the last stroke that broke the horse back. In this ‘mother of all public offers’, all and sundry were invited to participate including some dubious ‘foreign investors’ who dumped shares at first instance of a profit. Tanzanians were not allowed by the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) to buy into this IPO and they are happy now that they didn’t do so. For Ugandans who risked to invest in it painful results followed and some of them have sworn never to invest in Kenyan offers, while some legislators who now want a law passed to stop Ugandans from investing in Kenya and vice versa.

It seems we are reversing on the pledge of having an East African Securities Market any time soon. Although Kenya firms such as KCB Group are will and in the process of cross-listing, joining others like KQ and Jubilee Insurance which have already done so, our partners in regional bourse integration seem to have sinister ideas of the same process.

Last year I had mentioned of some cross border IPO’s that were expected to materialize but were delayed due to reasons well known to the offer advisors (including Dyer & Blair). Eventually only the NMB IPO in Tanzania came to pass – and Kenyans were kept out, with the following impressive results:

NMB IPO results and performance

The NMB offer was over subscribed by 300% with Tanzanians forking out over Tsh.189 billion ≈ Ksh.11.8 billion for the offer that was expected to raise Tsh.63 billion ≈ Ksh.3.94 billion only (Tsh.48 billion ≈ Ksh.3 billion or 76.2% for Tanzanian investors and the rest for the bank’s employees). Despite the listing offering the banks existing 20,264 shareholders an exit mechanism, the huge appetite for NMB shares was carried forward to the DSE when they started trading last week on Friday with the counter jumping 70% to close at Tsh.1,020 ≈ Ksh.63.75 from the listing price of Tsh.600 ≈ Ksh.37.50 per share with a minimum of 100 shares per applicant (Ksh.37,500 – which I think is reasonable pricing compared to the Safaricom disaster). The share is expected to continue increasing in price, as its demand is so high, given the prospects that NMB was the most profitable and biggest bank in Tanzania's banking industry and is considered undervalued at the current price.

NICL IPO (Uganda)

This IPO has been postponed three times now since the last time I wrote about it. I’m still waiting to see if Kenyans and Rwandans will be allowed to participate in it after the recent development. Tanzanians are technically out of this one.

Salute to Miriam Makeba

A minute of silence for a fallen hero.
REST IN PEACE MAMA AFRICA.