Mashada Blogs » June 30, 2009

Kenya Cricket: Cricket Kenya: Groundwork to continue

2009-06-30T19:40:00-04:00

Despite the ICC's recent decision to strip Kenya of hosting rights to the 2010 Under 19 World Cup, Cricket Kenya has confirmed that the upgrade work to the grounds around the country will continue as planned. In an email to Kenya Cricket.com, Samir Inamdar (right) the Chairman of Cricket Kenya stated that:

"The grounds improvement programme across the country will continue unabated. This is important because we would like to see our infrastructure at clubs improve for the game to benefit"

Writing from London where he is conducting meetings related to formulating Cricket Kenya's formal response, Mr Inamdar also said that Cricket Kenya

"will be claiming our money spent in good faith to get our venues in order from the ICC"

and that

"The ICC's Chief Executives Committee has determined that in the event Canada (who are due to host this event in 2012) concede that they cannot hold it, CK will get the first opportunity to secure these rights."

It is good to hear from Cricket Kenya on this and especially that the upgrading of the grounds will continue. Even without hosting the U19 World Cup, this will at least benefit players in all three hubs who will get to play more games on higher quality pitches which can only improve the quality of Kenya's game overall.

It is also heartening to see Cricket Kenya gearing up for a fight to recoup some of their losses from the ICC. Given how the ICC has been forthcoming in reimbursing Test nations in similar situations, there is at least some hope that this will have a successful outcome.

That Kenya gets first bite at the cherry should Canada not be ready is bitter-sweet and at first glance smacks of the divide and rule mentality employed by the old British Empire. For Kenya to gain from this, another Associate must fail and that is something one would hate so see happen, even if it did benefit Kenya. There is also no guarantee that just because Kenya are to be given first opportunity to secure the rights that this will in fact happen. Going on recent events, it does not look about whether a country is capable of hosting, but capable of generating the ICC higher revenue. If for example, India decided they wanted to host, I wonder how long Kenya's application would even sit in the consideration tray.

Lastly, there is no word yet on the fate of Kenya's U19 team. This situation is not just about money, it is also about players. That they were sent under strength and under prepared to the regional qualifiers can only be blamed on Cricket Kenya, but for the team to finish so low also rests to an extent on the shoulders of the players selected. That said, they were using the event as a practice tournament. Should they not at least be given the opportunity to travel to the next stage of qualifying as an extra team and have a chance to fight to retain their spot on the playing field? If they fail again, there can be no excuses, but at least give them that chance rather than whisk the rug out from under their feet.

Photo from ICC filesBecome a fan of Kenya Cricket.com on facebook: [www.facebook.com]

White African: Africa’s Poor: Premium SMS in the Crossfire

2009-06-30T18:50:02-04:00

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 question

The 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 thoughts

This 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.

More to Life: RIP MJ

2009-06-30T13:50:00-04:00

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.

Mauri Yambo: First Case of Swine Flu Confirmed in Kenya

2009-06-30T09:26:00-04:00

[Read updates at bottom of the page]

Nairobi was abuzz last Saturday with rumours that the first case of swine flu (H1N1) had been detected or confirmed at the AAR clinic, based at Sarit Centre, which is one of the country's leadng shopping malls. The event behind the buzz was quickly dismissed by the authorities as either a "hoax", or a premature newsbreak concerning a case that in the end tested negative at the CDC-Kemri Labs, located in Nairobi's western suburbs.

Keyans seem generally to have accepted the government's explanation late last Saturday. Little did they know that that was the lull before the storm; that the government would get back to them in about 48 hours with a confirmed case -- not in Nairobi but in Kisumu City, far to the west of the country.

A 20-year old British student from the University of Nottingham College of Medicine, who, it turned out, was already in the country when the "hoax" broke -- having arrived in Nairobi on Sunday, June 21st, and having then travelled some 350 kilometers by bus to Kisumu -- ended up testing positive for swine flu last Sunday, June 28th. The government did not go public with the confirmed case until yesterday, Monday. The story hit the newspaper headlines today. Read more from:

(1) The Standard and,

(2) Daily Nation.

I do not detect any palpable panic in the general public: I was at the sarit Centre this morning. I walked some of the streets, downtown, this afternoon.

I think the Mexican experience in this matter strongly suggests that this absence of panic in Nairobi is not without reason -- or recent precedent. Perhaps, too, in a quaint sort of way, the Saturday "scare" numbed some of what might have been nerves today.

Still, it is reasonable to say that the Kenyan government has handled the case quite clumsily, since the student was a member of a visiting party from a part of the UK [East Midlands]well known to be a sort of swine flu "hot zone" right now, with at least 63 confirmed cases. The visiting party of medical students should have been quarantined (and should have themselves asked to be quarantined, on ethical grounds)as soon as they arrived at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) more than a week ago.

There is another culprit here, let it be said. The British government was derelict here; it SHOULD HAVE ALERTED Kenya. Better still, it should have quarantined its own citizens before allowing them to travel to an obviously more vulnerable country -- both economically and in matters of preventive, and curative, medicine.

The British government will owe Kenyans one big one, should things get out of hand; and even now is obliged to join Kenya in a substantial way in preventing things from getting out of hand.

UPDATE:
1. July 1, 2009 story in The Standard: Click here
2. July 3, 2009: It is reported that confirmed cases of H1N1 in Kenya has risen to nine. Read: The Standardhttp://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping

Kenya Cricket: Why the Silence?

2009-06-30T09:25:00-04:00

What do all of these have in common:
Kenyan Press, Cricket Kenya, ICC, ACA?

Answer: They are all staying strangely silent on the change of venue for the U19 Cricket World Cup. Why?

Kenya's press should be screaming their condemnation of this.

Cricket Kenya should be giving us their side of the story, telling us why this was allowed to happen and what they intend to do about it.

ICC should come clean on the real reason. As per my letter, if there are genuine reasons, lets see them documented.

ACA - who will they support? Will they kowtow to their parent body or support the smaller nations they have been formed to serve.

When people say nothing, it is often because they have something to hide. I urge all readers of this site to write to any or all of the above to voice your displeasure and request transparency and action. Cricket is meant to be a game of honour - it has really lost that sheen of late.

For those in Kenyan cricket who are looking at this as an opportunity to bring down Cricket Kenya: Think long and hard about whether Kenyan cricket will survive another civil war. You will not profit from taking over a carcass. Together we might just keep our heads above water, divided we will surely drown. They may not be doing the best job possible, but make your moves legally and at the right time. That time is at the elections. It is not now. Now all those who value Kenya and cricket must stand united.Become a fan of Kenya Cricket.com on facebook: [www.facebook.com]

johnkaranja.com: African Mathematics

2009-06-30T08:35:21-04:00

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.

tHiNkEr'S rOoM: Tax Reform

2009-06-30T06:51:49-04:00

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!

AOB

Yes, 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

Black Looks: Corporate committee of shitheads

2009-06-30T06:04:54-04:00

Current TV – Sahara Reporters

You Missed This: Dialogue From State House Security Meeting

2009-06-30T06:02:00-04:00

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

Diary of a gay Kenyan: Multi-tasking

2009-06-30T05:49:00-04:00

Talking about Vaseline and burns have you heard about this poor guy
who was in a fire and had to have some skin grafted from his buttocks
onto his face. Fair to say he now wipes his nose and ass at the same
time....

Sent from my iPhone