Born on 29/12/08. Hefty 3.52 kgs. 
We’re all well and thankful for a wonderful start to 2009. Thanks everyone for your messages. Back to sleepless nights for me (however, nice to be a relaxed mama second time around).
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16:08
Baby Nia
» Kenyan Pundit
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8:50
Event Blogging from Tanzania
» bankelele 
2008 was still a great year for the blog exxcept for my low travel schedule - travel is invigorating, and is the my life blood of writing and I really hope to do more out of town corporate excursions this new year.
Almost a year ago I was fortunate to get a gig at for AllAfrica (thanks Mental) to cover and write about a factory opening in Arusha.
I had read the authoritative conference blogging guide by Ethan Zuckerman and gratefully hit the road with an interesting group of media types, on a brief escape from the post-election machinations going on in Nairobi
Here’s the two part report of the factory opening (see also the official factory site)
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8:49
Breaking News: Kibaki Signs Controversial Media Bill Into Law
» You Missed This President Mwai Kibaki has just made history a few minutes ago by signing the latest controversial media bill into law. He officially goes into history books as the most hostile president to the media in the history of Kenya and East indeed Africa. During his tenure so far a record number of bills aimed at curtailing media freedom have been introduced in parliament. It was also during Kibaki's first tenure that the Standard raid happened. Not even during the darkest hours of Moism did anything close to that raid (that involved the burning of newspapers) happen.
The signing of the bill into law confirms early reports that this blogger received that the President has in fact all along been the originator and real sponsor of all the media bills and more so this latest one which was also passed by the 9th parliament but as elections were around the corner Kibaki bulked to pressure and refused to sign it. The same bill was re-introduced into the house at record speeds and hurriedly passed just before Christmas last year.
With the president's signature it becomes law.
In effect what has now happened is that it has become much more difficult for any Kenyan to get any information through the media. This is a day for great celebrations amongst the political class and impunity in Kenya has won really big. I will be doing a deeper analysis of the effects of this draconian bill (that would have made even the evil apartheid government of pre-Mandela South Africa blush) later into the weekend.
Remember to say a prayer for Kenya tonight before you sleep.
P.S. Now that it is clear that the main stream press will never publish anything about scandals in a hurry as a result of the new law, let me just reveal the name of the company that was at the centre of the recent artificial fuel shortage in Kenya. It is Oilibya. More information to follow as I verify a few more facts.
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6:08
Elizabeth Alexander the Inaugural Poet at the Obama Ceremony
» Kenyanpoet Elizabeth Alexander, a poet, essayist, playwright and a proffessor of African-American studies at Yale University, was chosen by President-elect Barack Obama to compose and read a poem for his inauguration on Jan. 20.
"I'm completely thrilled and deeply, deeply honored," Alexander said Thursday.
Born in New York City and raised in Washington, DC. Alexander has degrees from Yale University and Boston University and completed her Ph.D. in English at the University of Pennsylvania. She has published five books of poems: The Venus Hottentot (1990), Body of Life (1996), Antebellum Dream Book (2001), American Sublime (2005), which was one of three finalists for the Pulitzer Prize and was one of the American Library Association’s “Notable Books of the Year;” and, most recently, her first young adult collection (co-authored with Marilyn Nelson), Miss Crandall’s School for Young Ladies and Little Misses of Color (2008 Connecticut Book Award). Her two collections of essays are The Black Interior (2004) and Power and Possibility (2007), and her play, “Diva Studies,” was produced at the Yale School of Drama.
The tradition that a president-elect should choose a poet for his inauguration goes back to JFK and Robert Frost. Frost stole the heart of a nation with his performance on an icy January afternoon in 1961, reciting his poem "The Gift Outright" from memory when he found he could not read the faint typescript of the poem he'd written for the occasion.Frost was the first poet to read at a presidential inauguration, and there have been only two others in the almost five decades since: Maya Angelou, at Bill Clinton's first inauguration in 1993, and Miller Williams, at Clinton's second, in 1997. (Some would include James Dickey, who composed a poem that he read at Jimmy Carter's inaugural gala but not at the inauguration.) Now America is about to meet its fourth inaugural poet, a 46-year-old Yale professor named Elizabeth AlexanderSample her poetry here.
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5:37
Welcome to 2009
» KA-INVESTOR 2008 is finally around the corner and we are in the New Year 2009. 2008 was quite a busy year, but as time goes by it will only be a fading memory. I took the liberty of writing a final annual summary for the business year 2008 and some things I expect in 2009.
The NSE
The NSE was full of surprises in 2008. First there was the biggest ever Safaricom IPO that went sour, ushering in the bear run and brought back some sanity to our over-valued securities market. The Cooperative bank IPO that followed was only 81% subscribed a sure investor confidence reality check. Unilever got de-listed, Uchumi did not get re-listed, and some two rights issues from KBC and Housing finance graced the NSE during the year.
Broke Brokers
Yet again another market player, Nyaga stockbrokers, went under and several other were put on the warning radar. Discount Securities was put under statutory management following some internal squabbles and one of the biggest securities agent Tsavo was also in some trouble of its own. The depressed market was not doing any good to the brokers as commission revenues diminished.
Strange Deeds
2008 was full of strange things in the Kenyan business cycles. the resignation of Centum’s CEO, Peter Mwangi, and a month later NSE Boss, Chris Mwebesa, a few months after reappointment. The former ended up replacing the latter on the NSE seat, making it seem like it was all choreographed by the big boys. Mwebesa later went back to his former job at CFCfs, leaving a begging question if he was pushed out?
Then there were several share manipulation allegations that rocked the market, particularly the Crown Berger and East Africa Portland Cement cases. Despite CMA’s efforts insider trading is still very rife in our bourse. In good light though, the Uchumi insider trading case was opened where former KCB CEO, Terry Davidson, was charged.
Facing the Bear
Finally, after the perpetual bull ride that had characterized the NSE for the last few years, the bourse was hit by a full blown bear run. Investors are still counting their paper losses, while the searching for the elusive bottom. Every time the indexes hit a ‘decisive point’ analysts are in haste to say that the market will not fall bellow that (NSE 20 – 4000, 3500 or 3000), but every time it just keep on dropping. The market index has dropped 43% from a high of about 5,445 in December 2007 to as low as 3,106 in December 2008.
Investor’s Goodies
In light of the changing investors’ sentiment, investment firms and also the government have come up with better investment packages that target the low earners. Old Mutual launched the Toboa investment scheme that allows investors to invest as low as Ksh.7,500 per months in their different unit trust combinations. Similarly the government lowered the minimum investment in Treasury Bills, to attract small investors and also help the blotted government to raise the much required funds.
Acts of God
The year saw some major changes both in Kenya and the world scene. Kenya opened the year on a bad note with the post election violence rocking every sector of the economy (some firms are yet to recover?) most importantly the political terrain. The Global financial crisis could not have come at a worse time, with the oil and food prices sky-rocketing everything went to the dogs. Obama’s win was a lifting moment from all these misery.
Expected in 2009
I’m not very optimistic about this New Year. However I expect the following to occur during the year:
- A few more IPO’s from Nakumatt, K-rep and some de-listings or suspensions on the NSE (Eveready? Marshall E.A.)
- the NSE will either plateau at between 3,500 and 4,000 or drop even further with most of it pegged on the listed financial firms
- the global financial crisis may get worse in the first half of the year before getting any better
- new regulations by CMA will reign some sanity to the market and in the process some brokers may fold
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3:00
Technology: Drawing New Lines around the Personal and the Public
» What An African Woman Thinks Reuters recently reported that a group of Japanese Lawyers and Professors requested Google to stop providing detailed street-level images of their cities on the premise that their privacy is being violated by the IT giant’s 360-degree street level image service.
The service provides recognisable images of people going about their day to day business. This group is not the first to raise concerns, it’s only the latest.
We don’t have detailed street level images on Google Maps in Kenya yet, but what satellite imagery there already is on Google Maps is spooking the Mother.
Somebody went onto Google Maps and unveiled a satellite image of their compound for the Parents.
The Father was way blown way. Awesomeness, in his book.
The Mother was spooked that you could see the roof of her compound and the canopy of her beloved trees. She wanted to know who would go to such lengths and why, and what was the point,exactly? She declared that it was a little too much information about her and hers to put out there—definitely an invasion of her privacy. She wondered what’s next, really?
Which line of questioning got me online and searching and finding the Japanese and Others.
The surfing and the reading got me wondering what the private and public domains will look like in a few years time.
Even more importantly, who’s making the rules and who’s enforcing them and, if she cares to, where does the little woman go to fight against the big corporate giant who’s sticking his nose into her canopy of trees? (And also, while she is at it, to sue her daughter for putting her business online.)It's my window, but I don't own the view.
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2:03
January
» Black Looks SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "January", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2009/01/january.html" });
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