Followers

Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Tuesday Edition Contents - Published January 31st 2006

Anglo Leasing: The Missing Link

Amid the persistent rumours in Nairobi, I attract attention to the one thing that is still missing in Anglo-leasing so far... something that has to be there, going by past Anglo-leasing-like scandals


Commission Of Inquiries And The Government’s Stale Old Tactics To Deal With A National Crisis

The government started responding to the Nation Anglo-leasing report this week. Their predictable ways illustrate the problems that have dogged this administration since day one.

What Moi Would Have Probably Done To Deal With Anglo Leasing

Had the self proclaimed professor of Politics still been President…

Anglo Leasing: The Missing Link

As the legendary Nairobi Rumour-mongering machine goes into overdrive the mystery remains…

Despite the fact that the well-researched Nation “story of the century” has answered most questions related to the Angle-Leasing scam, and given perhaps the clearest picture ever of a scandal in a government still in power, one deeply disturbing question still lingers.

It is a sensitive mystery and yet it is one that will have to be solved sooner or later.

To understand the Anglo-leasing mega scandal, one needs to be aware of the history of Anglo-leasing-like scandals right from the government of founding father Mzee Jomo Kenyatta. We detail this in our comprehensive earlier post (read it here)

On closer examination of all the earlier cases, you will find one consistency – a link to center of power, usually a close relative.

In the Kenyatta government a number of his very close relatives within the kitchen cabinet members were heavily involved the so called “Africanization” fund raising activities (corruption on a massive scale).

In the Moi administration the names of some of his sons were often mentioned in relation to various Anglo-Leasing-like scandals.

So even as some Ministers took time to issue a hard-hitting statement on Monday that was a warning to the media not to bring in the President’s name into the scandal, the rumour mills in Nairobi went into over-drive. It is not the policy of this blog to peddle unsubstantiated rumours, so I will just say that talk on the street is that a very close relative of the President has their name linked to Anglo-Leasing. So far this has not come out of the Nation report nor any of the statements from former ethics PS John Githongo.

Some of our sources disagree with us and claim that all the key names have already been mentioned and already amongst them, there is at least one very close relative of the President, the powerful former minister for internal security, Chris Murungaru.

Whatever the case, this is one scandal where all the truth will come out sooner or later, so just a little patience is required.

=================
Letter from a reader sent via email


I read the blog and am exhilarated at your very professional, informed and balanced analysis.

Kweli kumekucha!

The Nation expose’ is still baffling analysts who understand the Kenyan media.
A few weeks ago just before the referendum, it was known they had decided to back the banana-senior editors had been verbally briefed and told to toe the line or leave.

Am still reeling from the shock, and I remember asking myself twice if the two dailies had exchanged mastheads!

Why the change of heart at this hour? Why the names? Who gave the Nation all that stuff at that time? Is it not obvious that the Nation sought the story and consulted widely before going to press?

In my opinion they held on to the story for about a week.
The truth will come out shortly.

Commission Of Inquiries And The Government’s Stale Old Tactics To Deal With A National Crisis

As predicted in an earlier post (see paragraph 7 in this post) a Nairobi lobby group says the government is preparing to appoint a commission of inquiry into the Anglo-leasing saga.(See story about this claim here)

But what has even more interesting this week is that finally the government strategy on dealing with the scandal has started to unfold. It is a strategy which clearly illustrates the problem which has dogged this administration right from the beginning. Namely 1970s-thinking and the same old now-stale solutions and delaying tactics. It is clear that there is a total lack of any creativity or new ideas, aspects that Kenyans need badly in their government in these unpredictable times.

This is the strategy:

- Get the cabinet to issue a statement defending the President and pledging that investigations already under way will be speeded up. (This was done on Monday this week albeit with a poor showing of about 5 ministers cliaming to represent the entire cabinet).
- Damage control by warning the media that they have already over-stepped the mark by linking the President’s untainted name to the scandal and threatening legal action to discourage any brave gutter press from taking up the story and stating what has already been read between the lines clearly for those who don’t read between the lines to understand and comprehend.
- Politicize the whole issue by blaming it on enemies of the government (without being specific) keen to bring it down.
- Behind the scenes lobbying and pressure to bring things under control. Uisng the vast government machinery to its’ maximum.

Many Kenyans reading this article will be disgusted because the feeling on the ground at the moment is that the thieves behind Anglo-leasing should be prosecuted immediately irrespective of who they are in government. Period. Many Kenyans will therefore not see the point in my analyzing the very strategy that is designed to defend the culprits of Anglo-leasing and prevent them from facing justice.

The reason I have done this is to illustrate the weaknesses within the current administration which are responsible for fanning the political crisis the country is now faced with.

The strategy will fail for many reasons. I want to mention two of the main ones here.
Firstly it is not going to impress the donors (one important target group). In fact already the World Bank has announced the with-holding of 15 billion in development Aid until the government can show some seriousness in dealing with corruption (see story here)

Secondly it will definitely not impress the Kenyan voter who is now very experienced in sifting out the truth from the government propaganda (right from the days of the Moi administration to the promises of the Narc government that never even took off.

So who is the government speaking to?

Sadly this is a reflection once again of the kind of people calling the shots in the Kibaki administration – a couple of old men cushioned by their immense wealth from the current reality on the ground and still living very much in the 70s when there was only one government-controlled radio and TV station and when no newspaper would dare mention the name of the President in any article that had not been penned by the Presidential press unit or Kenyan News Agency. The cold war was still on and the world was a very different place.

What Moi Would Have Probably Done To Deal With Anglo Leasing

Had the self proclaimed professor of Politics still been President…

Mere speculation this, but based on the professor of politics’ track record and ability to make a political about-turn for the sake of survival.

1) Sack 2 ministers mentioned in the Nation report and move with speed to announce that full investigations are being carried out.

Do not be fooled. The idea here is to give the public and the donors, the impression that something is being done. People forget quickly. Give them everything to help them forget quickly. Meanwhile these changes will not affect the kitchen cabinet and his close aides, sit it is business as usual. Of course precautions will be taken to be more careful the next time. This one would work very well with the donors and upcountry voters (the vast majority of voters). So even if Nairobians continued to make their usual noise its’ effects would be diffused.

2) Speak publicly about the scandal, distancing the government from corruption
When the youthful President John F. Kennedy was faced with the Bay of Pigs scandal – a botched up CIA operation to overthrow the Cuban government of Fidel Castro that went badly wrong with heavy loss of life – he chose to take it head on. He addressed the nation, took full responsibility and apologized. It worked like a dream, diffusing the situation and catching critics flat-footed. His ratings soared.

Moi was no Kennedy but he knew the power of communicating to the public in a sincere-looking way. He would have denounced the scandal at one of his many public road-side rallies. The professor of politics would have looked very angry and talked at length about how corruption affects the poor mwananchi for who he stands for.

He would probably have said something like, "Hii Shetani Anglo-leasing tutaimaliza.." (This devil, Anglo-leasing, we will finish him.)

3) Distribute money behind the scenes like crazy
Money answers all things. It is amazing the things you can get people to do after handing over a couple of million shillings to them. The Moi administration had perfected the art of combining money and the sheer muscle of government to get things done and to even reverse public opinion.

The ordinary mwananchi does not know the finer details and why the Moi administration had to be removed but currently many ordinary Kenyans are clearly stating their feelings;

"Afadhali Moi," they are saying. (Moi was better.)

Thursday, January 26, 2006

Thursday Edition Contents - Published January 26th 2006

Two Serious Tragedies In Kenya This Week

Yet cabinet minsiters don't seem to be taking either tragedy seriously enough, here's why...


Could John Githongo Be Seeking Political Office?

The timing of the revelations from the main source of Anglo Leasing inside info raises questions even as the writer rememebers the last time he personally talked to the former PS for ethics.



Why Nairobi Journalists Don’t Understand The Common Man These Days?

There could be a business idea here for those with the stomach...





----------&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Special Dedication
Our hearts go out to all those innocent hard working Kenyans who lost their lives
in the collapsed Ronald Ngala Street building. The only way the rest of the nation can
pay tribute is to work harder for a better Kenya where senseless, unnecesary deaths
that can be avoided like these ones will no longer happen.
------------------------

Two Serious Tragedies In Kenya This Week

Two very tragic events have taken place in Kenya this week.

The first tragedy really started happening a long time ago but it was only a ground-breaking series in the Sunday Nation and Daily Nation this week that has brought out the truth. I am of course referring to the Angle Leasing mega-scandal.

The second is the Nyamakima tragedy where a building under construction, at the corner of River Road and Ronald Ngala Street, collapsed killing and trapping innocent Kenyans desperately trying to earn a living in the harsh environment that is the Kenya of today.

Ironically the timing of the second tragedy is a great injustice to the Kenyan people because it has given some breathing space to those in government who were adversely mentioned in the Anglo Leasing report, published by the Nation.

You hit the iron when it is hot and a lot of the outrage over the Angle Leasing saga has died down as all attention has been diverted to saving lives at Ronald Ngala Street. This was clearly illustrated by an incident earlier this week where the Vice President, Moody Awori, who had promised to issue a statement on the Angle Leasing crisis changed the subject of an arranged press conference to focus on the government efforts to save lives in downtown Nairobi.

Even the ODM (Orange Democratic Movement) has been caught flat-footed because you don’t kick somebody in the guts when they are already lying down on the floor (at least no decent human being is supposed to do that). The government is trying to deal with a terrible tragedy and has actually done a commendable job that has saved lives – like inviting the Israeli experts. So naturally the opposition and the ODM have been forced to hold their fire over Anglo leasing over that critical period where it would have had the most effect.

It is the perfect opportunity for the President to slip into his old habits. Which means that no decision will be made on the scandal for some time. In fact a commission of inquiry into the scandal would suit him just fine. The commission will run for months as the impact of the whole thing is diffused. And judging by the way things have gone so far, the government may just get away with such a move.

Have you noticed how there is still no unity in the government even after the exit of the so-called LDP rebels? The cabinet has refused to speak with one voice. Almost half the ministers wants culprits to carry their own crosses while the other half is of the view that they should face the crisis from a unified front.

While it is true that individual crimes should be viewed in that way, it is also unrealistic to start apportioning blame when you are under attack. Better to drive away the fox first then you will sternly warn the hens not stray, later.

In fact in my opinion, these guys are not taking the Anglo Leasing tragedy seriously enough. To many of them it is not even a crisis. The reason is that they knew all along what was going on. This new disturbing revelation to the public is old stale news to them.

And if any minister thinks that they are campaigning for the next elections by distancing themselves from Anglo Leasing, then they are mistaken. Accepting a cabinet post in the Kibaki administration has already done such extensive damage that whatever they do or do not do between now and the general elections matters little.

The problem with this entire circus is that it is postponing a crisis, building up more pressure for a bigger explosion later. The Kenyan voter is angry. Very angry at the moment and feels cheated. Life under the Kibaki administration has been much worse for most. Talk of the booming economy and recovery of the tourism industry has only touched an insignificant percentage of the population. And even the people who should be happy about the tourism boom are bitterly complaining about the strong Kenyan shilling (some have said that they are earning less now than they did when arrivals were much lower but the shilling was weaker).

Attention has also been diverted away from the famine ravaging a huge section of the country.

A very sad week for Kenya

Could John Githongo Be Seeking Political Office?

I still remember former PS for ethics John Githongo enthusiastically telling me about his publishing idea. It was those heady mid 80s and I was just starting out in publishing. He had heard of my exploits and just wanted to compare notes.

I remember his rather loud laugh and easy manner, we hit it off immediately. What struck me most about him was that despite his privileged upbringing (e.g. elite private school education at St Marys where he was two years behind the official leader of the opposition, Uhuru Kenyatta) he was very down to earth and mixed easily with all sorts down-and-out characters.

He obviously knew me well, said he had watched me playing rugby several times. A mutual friend introduced us and we had several meetings after that, talking about many other things, apart from the project at hand. Mostly the stuff that would interest young men waiting to go into university. He especially liked a drinking joint called the New Florida Night Club along Koinange Street – although in those days it was yet to be notorious for prostitutes.

Our paths never really crossed again, although they should have. Especially when he started working for Executive magazine where he helped plan a special East African feature. This happened shortly after the business magazine that I was working for then as editor, had embarked on such a project (a very rare idea in those days when even the EastAfrican was about two years away from being launched). I though we would meet at the airport or in some Finance minister’s office. But it never happened.

I have a lot of admiration for Githongo. He is proof that a new generation of younger leaders born after independence can do a much better job of leading this country.

Being in government and close to power changes people. Githongo is very ambitious, yet he chose to say no to money that would have made him a very wealthy man today. Today, instead of being on the run for his life, he would have been wallowing in luxury in Nairobi. All he had to do was look the other way where Anglo Leasing was concerned. For that you have to give him great credit and the people of Kenya owe this man a great debt.

All these thoughts have been going through my mind this week as the Anglo Leasing story broke in the Nation with Githongo as the main source of the investigated and verified details.

What kept on nagging on my mind is the timing. Who initiated the story? Was it the Nation or Githongo? Githongo has been in exile for quite a while now. There is no doubt that the Nation has been trying to get in touch with him to spill the beans all this time. Remember that the man was a columnist with the EastAfrican (part of the Nation media group) and he no doubt has numerous close friends at the newspaper.

So why has he decided to spill the beans now? Why has he submitted his report to Aaron Ringera’s KACA now? With safety in mind, it may have been a better idea to make his move after the elections when hopefully a new and more sympathetic government would be in place. Or he would have submitted the report a few months into his exile (it surely does not take over a year to write a report).

Could it be that John Githongo is preparing to return to Kenya to seek political office?

There is nothing wrong with Githongo having political ambitions and given his track record for fighting corruption, it would position him rather well for virtually any political office in 2007.

Over to you, John.

Oh, and about the publishing idea John had in those days. It didn’t work out. In my opinion and with the benefit of hindsight, it was ahead of its’ time.

Why Nairobi Journalists Don’t Understand The Common Man These Days?

I still remember the days when senior newspaper editors in Nairobi would mix freely with ordinary wananchi. You would find them in all sorts of seedy places. And their newspapers reflected a deep understanding of the masses and the basic problems they faced in those days. That was how newspapers like the Daily Nation built their reputation and huge circulation, especially in those days.

Alas, things changed. First of all very few Kenyans can afford to buy a newspaper these days – mostly the rich and upper middle income.

The ordinary Kenyan lives in some slum, struggles to make ends meet and can hardly indulge in the luxury of buying a newspaper daily. Lifestyles of senior editors have also changed with the times. They no longer live in estates like Jericho and Shauri Moyo and they now enjoy the sort of salaries that put them up there with the more privileged in society.

There is nothing wrong with that of course, except that the masses have no voice left. We do not have a newspaper in Nairobi like the UK tabloid, The Sun, which is targeted at the masses. Maybe the big boys, Nation and Standard should seriously look into this idea.

The internet and Prime time TV news have complicated things a little but there is still a huge market out there amongst voices that are not being heard.

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

News Extra: The Kanu "Game" Takes Shape

As we said earlier, the so-called "heated exchange" in Kanu needs to be looked at closely. See our earlier story.

You can now see what Moi is saying. A change of heart? We don't think so.

Moi's tone changes?

Prepare for a non-Kikuyu Kanu presidential candidate.

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Tuesday Edition Contents - Published January 24th 2006

Anglo-Leasing Scandal: What The Newspaper Articles Have Not Said

What the newspapers have not told you about the Anglo Leasing scandal will help you understand the magnitude and seriousness of this issue and why there is only one way of stopping it all...

Why The Nation Published This Hot Potato

It's a mystery why the Nation published the controversial Anglo Leasing scandal revelations. Here's why.

Briefly told...

What Kenyan companies are doing to survive... tips you can apply to your business;

The deadly link between crime, bad governance and the 500,000 jobs a year that never came;

AIDS? What’s that?

Anglo-Leasing Scandal: What The Newspaper Articles Have Not Said

Just when election fever has started picking up in the country, the scenario has changed dramatically with the expose of the Anglo-Leasing scandal. This is an expose that has to go down in the annals of Kenyan media history as truly unique and unprecedented. Almost every other similar expose of this magnitude the world over has always stopped short of naming names. The Watergate scandal for instance, which brought down the Nixon government in the early 70s comes to mind.

The Anglo-leasing story in the Nation named names, and big names at that. Vice President Moody Awori, former powerful Minister for Internal security Chris Murungaru, Finance Minister David Mwiraria, former Justice Minister Kiraitu Murungi amongst a host of others.

Although there has to be another big story behind the Nation decision (see separate story) the Nation disclosure, whatever the motives should be commended by every Kenyan. The time has come for us to face the ghosts of the past and bury this guy called "corruption at high level" together with his close first cousin "going into politics to get rich."

We have always said in this blog that for Kenyans to face the future successfully, they must come to terms with the past and understand it. Corruption is a classic case in point. Kenyans have now realized that we have just been listening to empty rhetoric all along. We must now begin to understand why this cancer goes so deep into the fabric of our society that we cannot remove it surgically without out dismembering most of our body.

A brief history of Anglo-Leasing like Scandals is in order…

Early 1964…
The government of President Jomo Kenyatta is just settling in at State House. However there is one concern that is rapidly emerging. For the infant government to fully establish itself it has to come to terms with the power that white land-owners have had in the country. The policy of Africanization that is mooted soon after is with the realization that real power and control can never be divorced from money and financial wealth. The policy is to help indigenous Africans acquire land that belonged to previously powerful white settlers. But what starts out as a noble idea quickly changes into something very different. Those close to the President use it to enrich themselves and their reasoning seems to make sense. In order to protect the government it is important that those with the wealth are close to the government.

In the years that follow, a number of Kenyans who are seen as real or imagined obstacles to this Africanization policy are brutually cut down. This is the reason for the famous JM statement, “I would not like to be in a Kenya of 10 millionaires and 10 million beggars.” JM’s remains (with the genitals cut off) are found by a Maasai herdsman one morning in 1975 somewhere in Ngong Hills, after days of a circus in which Kenyans were at one time made to believe that he was on an impromptu business trip to Zambia. It is instructive that JM was a former Press Secretary to President Kenyatta and must have observed at close quarters exactly what was going on.

Earlier, nationalist, Tom Mboya had what seen what was going on and had changeg his earlier views on how African countries should be governed and the need for a constitutionally powerful leader to act as a symbol of unity and a uniting factor for the people. He is too smart to confront the government directly but rumours abound in Nairobi. Some of them say that he will stand for President and expose all the evil in the forthcoming general elections. Nobody doubts his organizational abilities. Surely the man who brought the powerful colonial regime to its’ knees (and more than anybody else engineered independence for Kenya) should have no problem with the young Kenyatta government.

We will probably never be able to establish the truth of those rumours because Mboya never lived to see those elections. He stopped two bullets on a Nairobi street outside a chemist, in broad daylight, one afternoon July 5, 1969.


Late 1978…
Daniel Arap Moi is acting as President after the sudden death of President Jomo Kenyatta in August 1978. The foreign press publishes a list of possible successors to Kenyatta. Moi is missing from that list which reads like a who’s who in Kenyatta’s kitchen cabinet.

Legend has it that Moi did not want the Presidency. “Wakikuyu watanimaliza.” (Kikuyu’s will finish me) he is said to have lamented. What Moi meant was that those powerful Kenyans who had enriched themselves through “the government policy of Africanization” would get rid of him in the same way that they had done with others. The brutal assassination of JM Kariuki had proved that this issue of corruption in high places was so deeply entrenched that even a tribes-mate who stood in the way could be snuffed out without a second thought. JM was a Kikuyu, just like the leading beneficiaries of “Africanization”.

Moi was never comfortable with the Kikuyu during his entire Presidency. Again the inner circle had to find ways and means to neutralize the immense wealth of what they saw as a political time bomb that could easily explode in their faces at any time. This policy which was carried out with extreme caution and almost reluctantly at first, was speeded up tremendously after the failed military coup of August 1982. This one was open to more Kenyans. All you had to do was get close to the center of power. Some of the biggest beneficiaries were Asian businessmen.

Early 2003…
A full 40 years after independence, the same Anglo-leasing-like game continues. The Presidential baton passes on to an individual, who was a member of both the Kenyatta and Moi administrations.

Some Kenyans who hardly had a bank account worth mentioning when Moi came into power, are today multi-billionaires and they are seen as serious political threats and… (the rest you now know as the Anglo Leasing scandal).


So How Do You Fight Corruption in Kenya When…
- Some of the leading Kenyans in society today were born, bred and educated with corruption money, including some possible presidential candidates in the forthcoming general elections.
- All the richest people in the village made their money from politics, which in Kenyan dictionaries is synonymous with corruption.
- The richest families in Kenya today can trace their fortunes back to either the Kenyatta or Moi regime.
- Some readers of this blog were taken to expensive Ivy league colleges and other universities and are who they are today only because of corruption money… most of which is tainted with innocent blood, because some brave Kenyans had to die to ensure that the family wealth was protected.

In my opinion, the only way to end corruption in Kenya once and for all must begin with a Truth-and-Reconciliation-type tribunal to flush out all the ghosts of the past, even as the current perpetrators are prosecuted to the full extent of the law – whoever they are.

Why The Nation Published This Hot Potato

If there is any media house that can claim the glory for having helped bring the Narc government to power, then the Nation media group has to be at the top of that list. Yet this week, the same newspaper broke recent tradition and published an explosive report on the Anglo Leasing scandal that looks like it will bring the same government to its’ knees.

Readers of the Sunday Nation expected names to be edited out (for legal reasons if nothing else). Instead the report named names. Already there are indications that at least two individuals are looking to take legal action against the newspaper.

In a page one editorial, the Nation top management took full responsibility for their story and stated that they were well aware of the possible consequences and were fully prepared for them.

Analysts were shocked. For a newspaper that only a few days earlier could not even dare state the correct marital status of the President, exposing the Anglo-Leasing scandal was completely out of character. In an overview of the possible presidential candidates in 2007, the Nation claimed that the President is married to one wife - Lucy and that they have four children. The facts are that the President is a polygamist who has two wives (see earlier post on this subject in this blog).

To understand the surprise of analysts, one must appreciate the fact that the Nation group is one of the most profitable companies in Kenya and a respected member of the top corporate blue chips in the country. Publishing such an explosive story required lots of consideration, a fact the Nation management admitted in its’ page one editorial of the Sunday Nation where the Angle-Leasing disclosures first broke.

At this juncture one can only speculate on the behind-the-scenes goings-on that led to the publication of the story.

Could it be that shrewd managers at the media giant have already seen the collapse of the current administration and are carefully re-aligning themselves for the events of the coming months?

Is Kenya Airways Planning To Acquire the A380?

Airbus vice-president for Africa and Indian Ocean Hadi Akoum was in Nairobi last week urging national carrier Kenya Airways to resume buying this alternative to Boeing. He also took time to urge local authorities to make adjustments to the airport to enable it to accommodate the giant A380 – the largest aircraft ever built. The A380 is expected to come into service soon.

Boeing has said that such a large aircraft is not commercially viable. Airbus officials are so sure that it is that they’ve spent billions in the development and building of this behemoth capable of carrying well over 3 times the number of passengers the largest aircraft carries today.

My money is on Airbus.

One of the things the World Wide Web has done is help increase international travel tremendously. This is set to grow even more with the sort of budget fares that can only be possible with a giant aircraft like the A380. My firm belief is that the A380 will break all sales records for Airbus.

There is no doubt that Airbus Industrie view Kenya Airways as one of their serious prospects for the A380 in the very near future.

Briefly Told…

What Kenyan Companies Are Doing To Survive These Hard Times

• Using the internet to cut down on communication costs.
• Using the internet to cut down on marketing costs and still reach their targeted markets.
• Diversifying (a dangerous strategy because it usually unfocuses a business and its’ management team.)
• Raising the price (this worked beautifully for a certain Kenyan company (see our email article).
• Opening a subsidiary in neighboring countries where the cash is still flowing. Tanzania, Uganda and more recently Rwanda are the most popular destinations.
• Read our full report that mentions some of the names of Kenyan companies involved in examples given. Titled, What Kenyan companies are doing to survive these hard times, it is available via email, only to our subscribers. To subscribe now send a blank email to Kumekucha-subscribe@yahoogroups.com


The deadly link between crime, bad governance and the 500,000 jobs a year that never came

The shocking reason why crime is so low in neighboring countries and so high In Kenya.

What do youngsters who can only admire the lifestyles of their agemates from rich families do? Actually it seems most of them go into violent crime. They join the group of dangerous Kenyan carjackers prepared to kill with little or no provocation.

It is extremely sad to realize that the typical age for a dangerous carjacker is between 15 years old and 21.

Experiences of the Narc government (Now the NAK coalition) prove that it is not possible for a government that is heavily involved in corruption to fight crime effectively. Actually the two are very similar crimes.

It is instructive that in neighboring countries where poverty levels are higher, violent crime is still extremely low. In fact it is Kenyans who are robbing banks and generally exporting crime to those countries.


AIDS? What’s that?

Shocking Sex habits of Nairobi office workers and the crude email that tells it all

In times of war, people usually become very sexually promiscous. There is no war in Nairobi currently (even the war on corruption was a war that never started, as Kenyans have discovered this week) but office workers have just gone overboard.

Is it the pressures of work? The difficult economic times or what?

An outsider visiting Nairobi on a weekend will be shocked. It’s like Aids does not exist or Nairobi has been declared Aids-free.

A recent crude email circulating in email inboxes seems to confirm this dangerous behaviour amongst Nairobi office workers. It portrays boring work the whole week -- illustrated by a multimedia line drawing in full motion, hitting their head against the desk repeatedly. Fridays are filled with beer bottles but most of the weekend is filled with lots of sex illustrated by the line drawing repeatedly moving from one position to another of the act.

Friday, January 20, 2006

BBC Figures on Kibaki Government Corruption in Kenya

In an earlier post I left out an important link to a story detailing corruption figures in Kenya since 2003. I include it here;

The BBC article says;

"Despite President Kibaki's pledge to tackle corruption, some donors estimated that up to $1bn had been lost to graft between 2002 and 2005."

The full article is found at this link (the above paragraph is the third under the heading "OVERVIEW";

BBC overview on Kenya that includes estimated corruption figures.

Thursday, January 19, 2006

Published Thursday 19th January - Table of Contents

What The Appointment of New Intelligence Chief Tells Us About President Kibaki’s Intentions

The political temperatures are set to rise again because President Kibaki's appointment of a new spy chief this week speaks volumes.


Moi’s Growing Influence And The "Political Game" In Kanu

Find out why the retired president's influence is growing despite recent happenings within Kanu. It's all part of a winning game plan for 2007.


The Sleepy Male Jobseekers of Kenya

The ladies are visiting all the right websites even as men spend all their time at the Arsenal Football Club web site(and elsewhere), and that's why they are landing the jobs. Read all about their simple secret.

=============
To ensure that you never miss out, subscribe now to our news summary to arrive in your email box every Tuesday and Thursday. It's FREE Send a blank email NOW to kumekucha-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

============

What The Appointment of New Intelligence Chief Tells Us About President Kibaki’s Intentions

Even as President Kibaki appointed a new director-general to head the National Security Intelligence Service, on Monday this week (16th January 2006), his mind must have lingered for a moment on the time in 1991 when as Health Minister, he caused the sacking of Kenya’s second spy chief, James Kanyotu.

Actually Kibaki’s announcement on Christmas Day 1991 also caused the sacking of another dedicated and professional Kenyan, the then KTN (Kenya Television Network) news editor Rose Lukalo. That was the day that Kibaki announced his resignation from the then Moi government and the formation of his new Democratic Party of Kenya (DP). Kibaki had been demoted from Vice-President to Health Minister and despite being urged by many to join the opposition and abandon Kanu, he had remained indecisive and delayed his decision for too long (sounds familiar?). Well, at least until that Christmas day in 1991, when he made his bombshell announcement from Mombasa, which was promptly aired on KTN TV as a news flash (very rare thing in those days). The professional Rose Lukalo must have realized that this was a major news scoop but failed to grasp its’ implications on those who owned the TV station (persons very close to President Moi). She was promptly fired.

Sources say that the then President Moi, who may have been personally watching the news, promptly called his then head of Special Branch, James Kanyotu and demanded, quite rightly, to know why he was getting this information for the first time through the media. Kanyotu was fired on the telephone. (Tells you a lot about Moi’s style of governing and how reliant it was on information).

This week the current President did what most of his close advisors have been pushing him to do for ages – he got himself a new spy boss.

That tells you a number of things about the President’s intentions in the months to come. Firstly he is going all out for re-election in the general elections, scheduled for next year. This is further confirmed by his recent activity (see today’s news about what a leading Kenyan newspaper called his “whistle-stop tours”).

Ignore all the talk about legal hitches that stopped Brig Wilson Boinett’s contract renewal. (Section 6 (2) of the National Security Intelligence Service Act says the Director-General "shall hold office for one term of five years, but shall be eligible for re-appointment for one further term of a period not exceeding five years."). The Kibaki administration has been notorious for ignoring court orders, let alone the small print in the constitution that could easily be side-stepped by allowing Boinett to hold office without a contract, pending a replacement. This can go on for years. At he time Kanyotu was fired by Moi he was working under an arrangement where he was a sort of consultant on contract, his legal tenure at the Special Branch having long expired.

The truth is that those close to the President do not trust this highly professional spy – arguably the best Kenya has ever had. Matters have been made worse by President Moi’s growing political influence in the country, mainly caused by the blundering Kibaki administration. (Also ignore the so-called squabble within Kanu over Ruto’s announcement that he is seeking the Kanu nomination to stand for President. This is simply politics – see other story in this blog). Moi’s influence is not declining, it is growing by the day.

For those with short memories Boinett was President Moi’s ADC aide de camp between 1978 and 1985. He was appointed to head the Special Branch because Moi needed somebody he could totally trust after the failed military coup attempt of August 1982. Boinett’s closeness to Moi can never be in doubt.

One of the reasons why Boinett had to go was so that the President can deal with the problem of Moi’s growing influence – especially as the general; elections draw nearer.

=============
To ensure that you never miss out, subscribe now to our news summary to arrive in your email box every Tuesday and Thursday. Send a blank email NOW to kumekucha-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

============
STOP PRESS… opps I mean STOP POST

Don’t miss these special features, only in this Blog On Tuesday…

What Kenyan Companies Are Doing To Survive These Hard Times

The deadly link between crime, bad governance and the 500,000 jobs a year that never came
The shocking reason why crime is so low in neighboring countries and so high In Kenya.

AIDS? What’s that?
Shocking Sex habits of Nairobi office workers and the crude email that tells it all.
===========

Moi’s Growing Influence And The “Political Game” In Kanu

In the run up to the historical general elections of 2002, I attended a rare meeting between the main opposition politicians and a Christian lobby group for better governance in Kenya. The National Alliance Party of Kenya had already been formed and the Kanu fall-out had unfolded after Kasarani, although NARC had not yet been formed.

The main speaker at that function was President Kibaki (then an opposition leader who had had two unsuccessful stabs at the presidency). It was clear that he viewed the then President Moi with contempt as an over-spending dictator who didn’t know what he was doing. Kibaki’s implied view was that Moi’s social and educational background (he didn’t go to Makerere University and has never been known to play Golf at Muthaiga) was not befitting for a Kenyan president. Kenyans now know different and despite the many crimes and human rights abuses committed by the Moi regime, the former President is rapidly emerging as a hero and definitely the better President. His own prediction that Kenyans would miss him seems to have come true.

Whatever anybody thinks of the former President’s educational or social background, it is now apparent that he is an extremely shrewd politician who seems to have quietly under-studied some of the greatest politicians in Africa. They include the likes of Kenya’s own Tom Mboya (see special feature on him in this blog), and Tanzania’s Mwalimu Julius Nyerere (the all-powerful Kanu of the 1980s was modeled along the lines of Nyerere’s CCM). It is a huge credit to Moi’s political astuteness that he is quietly enjoying his retirement scot-free despite the massive crimes his regime committed. Admittedly the Kibaki administration has made matters easier by being so corrupt that they no longer have the moral authority to do anything about the previous regime’s crimes. (See the latest BBC analysis of graft in Kenya, under Kibaki. They estimate that over $1 billion dollars has been lost to corruption under the current government.)

So if Moi’s influence is growing, what is all the current fuss in Kanu about? Why have Kanu MPs asked Moi to stay out of things as so-called tribal ambitions come to the fore?

There are two distinct possibilities. The first is that Kanu MPs in Rift Valley, including Secretary General William Ruto, are committing political suicide. Anybody who opposes the wishes of the former President is unlikely to win an election anywhere in Kenya’s largest and most represented province. But then this possibility is highly unlikely, more so because the main players are experienced survivors who don’t make too many mistakes, let alone commit political suicide in such an obvious manner.

The second and most likely possibility is that Kanu (led by their de facto leader, the old wily fox called Moi) are putting in place a deadly strategy for victory in 2007. The reality is that the political situation in Kenya has changed and it is unlikely that a Kikuyu candidate can win the Presidency next year. The Nov 21st Referendum clearly demonstrated that there is a massive anti-Kikuyu sentiment among the electorate, which has been brewing for many years but has only recently come to the surface and will grow as the polls draw nearer.

And neither can a Kalenjin (Ruto) presidential candidate succeed. The best bet would be on a neutral candidate whose community has yet to taste the Presidency. To ease out Uhuru Kenyatta from the position of being Kanu’s presidential candidate with minimal fall-out, why not create an opposing force within the party and then later settle for a compromise candidate (preferably after the LDP Presidential candidate is known)? Who says Kalonzo Musyoka cannot be the Kanu candidate after LDP inevitably sanctions Raila? He is still a close friend of the former President and can move back to Kanu at a moment’s notice. Another Kanu presidential candidate possibility is a politician from the highly neutral Coast province. How about Katana Ngala? Or Mardsen Madoka?

All politicians are keenly studying the referendum results because they accurately indicate the expected voting patterns in 2007. You should be doing the same if you want to understand the current political re-alignments taking place.

Kanu’s secret weapon as we head to the polls (which everybody seems to have shifted attention from) is the most experienced politician alive in East Africa today – Daniel Moi. It is that common situation in soccer all over again, where the defense ignores the older, slower striker and instead concentrates on marking the younger faster attacking player. The inevitable always happens – the older more experienced man ends up scoring from an unmarked position.

=============
STOP PRESS… opps I mean STOP POST

Don’t miss these special features, only in this Blog On Tuesday…

What Kenyan Companies Are Doing To Survive These Hard Times

The deadly link between crime, bad governance and the 500,000 jobs a year that never came
The shocking reason why crime is so low in neighboring countries and so high In Kenya.

AIDS? What’s that?
Shocking Sex habits of Nairobi office workers and the crude email that tells it all
==============

The Sleepy Male Jobseekers of Kenya

The popular Myjobseye website is very convenient for Kenyan employers. Put yourself in an employer’s position, they usually want to fill a position quickly with minimal disruption to the day to day running of the organization. Put an ad in` the daily papers these days and whatever you do, your resources will be stretched to the limit for days.

Smaller businesses that ask people to call will have their lines jammed and paying customers will not be able to get through. If you use the mail (snail mail), you’ll receive a sack-full of applications that will take hours to sort out. Even if you use email, the same problem of going through all the applications will be prove to be cumbersome.

How about going straight to an existing data base of job seekers and short-listing a few names? You can do it one slow afternoon, call a few names for an interview using the mobile telephone numbers and have the position filled the next day.

The strange thing about hiring online in Kenya is that a vast majority of the applicants you will end up with are female. In a way that partly explains the rapidly rising percentage of women in offices and in all sorts of jobs across the city of Nairobi. I know because I have hired through Myjobseye.com several times. When over 70 per cent of the names you’re handling are female, chances are much higher that you’ll settle on a lady for the position. They’re capable and they’ve shown the initiative to pay attention to what’s going on online, why would anybody want to risk the position with a sleepy guy whose missed it all. The same ignorance is bound to extend to their work performance.

Visit any cyber café in Nairobi and chances are high that you’ll find the men on either an Arsenal Football Club website but more likely on some porn site. The ladies will be reading and answering email. The same men idling away at cyber cafes are fond of complaining about women being favored or securing all the plum jobs in exchange for certain favors that only a woman can give.

Wake up from your slumber, guys.

Next Thursday: Experiences with leading recruitment companies in Kenya.


==================
STOP PRESS… opps I mean STOP POST

Don’t miss these special features, only in this Blog On Tuesday…

What Kenyan Companies Are Doing To Survive These Hard Times

The deadly link between crime, bad governance and the 500,000 jobs a year that never came
The shocking reason why crime is so low in neighboring countries and so high In Kenya.
==================

Monday, January 16, 2006

We Are Not The Only Ones Who Think That The Kenyan Economic Boom Is Myth

Dickie Evans is a major investor in the Kenyan Horticulture industry. His company employs thousands of Kenyans directly. Recently he wrote a letter to the press on his opinion on the current so-called economic boom and record GDP growth figures.

We reproduce the letter that this CEO of the Homegrown group wrote concerning the Kenyan economy.

-------------

Booming Economy?

What a pleasure it is to wake up every morning in Kenya and open your newspaper to see that the country is enjoying an economic boom where growth is five per cent annually and getting stronger.

However is this the same place where;

• There has not been a significant new investor creating jobs in the key economy sector of agriculture for years?
• The tea, coffee, sisal and horticulture sectors which were thriving in 2002 are being destroyed by an over-valued exchange rate and it is clear that the government is interfering in the exchange rates?
• Major existing investors in horticulture are mechanising, selling their farms, shedding jobs and moving elsewhere (Ethiopia, South Africa), but doing it quietly so that they don’t get publicity?
• Although visitors/tourists have increased significantly, the ridiculous exchange rate means investors are earning less than in 200r when tourism was much less, as were costs?

“Busy fools” is the expression of a leading respected hotelier.
• The top tax payers are the beer company and the cellphone business – what an indictment on an economic policy where neither industry creates jobs.

The current propaganda about a booming economy would be humorous if it was not so serious. There are no jobs; there are no investors; who is kidding who?

As a cabinet minister said recently ‘but our school fees overseas are now cheaper with a strong shilling.”

Ah – so that’s the reason! Must have been something I missed.

I look forward to waking up tomorrow in this booming economy and spending all day trying to save 7,000 jobs.

DICKY EVANS
CEO
Flamingo-Homegrown Group

==================
Want to make more from your Adsense Ads? Visit this amazing Adsense blog

Key Problems In The Kenyan Economy And Why The Economic Boom Is A Myth Or Joke in Poor Taste

i) A quick survey by this blog shows that most Kenyans are now much worse off than they were during the Kanu regime’s last days in 2002 (when we all thought we had hit rock bottom. Little did we know that we hadn’t seen anything yet). The booming economy must be very selective. We know that it takes time for the effects to trickle down to the wananchi but just visit neighboring Tanzania and you can immediately “feel” the difference in the economy. It is not an accident that hundreds of businesses have relocated from Kenya to Tanzania in the last three years or so, some shutting down their Kenyan operations for good.

ii) It is crystal clear that despite what they say, the government has no clear policy, let alone priorities for the Kenyan economy. They may think that they have a good excuse in the fact that they have been busy putting out (political) fires. However it is clear to most Kenyans that the campaign promise to create 500,000 new jobs a year has actually ended up in a situation where 500,000 old jobs are being lost every year. The main reason is that the Kibaki administration just doesn’t know what they are doing as far as the economy is concerned. One example of this is the strong Kenyan shilling, which has been responsible for the loss of thousands of jobs in the horticulture industry.

This is a clear example of how terribly wrong things can go when you practice text-book economics without wide consultations on the ground. This is sometimes the problem when a person feels that they know something too well. President Kibaki was the finance minister in the peak-performance years of the Kenyan economy in the 70s. Why consult when you already have the right prescription in your hands. The only problem is that a lot has changed since the 70s.

There is no denying that the original idea was noble enough. Reduce interest rates, and borrowing will increase which will spur economic growth. Strengthen the Kenyan shilling to help cement this situation and also to make imports cheaper and thus kick-start the economy. (don’t believe for a moment that the Central Bank is not manipulating the so-called strength of the Kenyan shilling. Amazingly the shilling has even ignored significant political developments in the country – clear evidence of manipulation).

But there are a few problems here.

a) The government failed to analyze the impact of this policy before implementation. A bird in hand is better than two in the bush. Policies should at least maintain gains made in the past even as new policies and directions are pursued, otherwise it is easy to end up much worse than before. The key export sector has suffered massive revenue loss and job losses thanks to this policy which has benefited very few because even industries with a large percentage of imported inputs are yet to pass the benefits of a cheaper dollar to their clients. They are unlikely to ever do this
b) A large percentage of Kenyans have always felt intimidated by banks and prefer to borrow from Saccos (Savings and credit societies). So this policy has benefited a tiny handful of rich industrialists who have continued to cut costs by using the borrowed funds to mechanize and automate their operations so as to cut down on their staff numbers. In other words the government has made it easier for industries to reduce their work force.

iii) There are a number of key indicators that usually support an improved and rapidly growing economy. In Kenya they are missing.

So The Kenyan Economy Has Improved... The Big Lie

One of the achievements that the Kibaki administration keeps on harping on, is an improved economy. We all know that when you repeat something often enough, you can turn a blatant lie into “the truth.”

If you want to know how powerful propaganda can be, take a look at some earlier posts in this blog where even our analytical writers fell for this “well known fact”.

But let us for a moment examine the cold facts;

i) This boom in the Kenyan economy is on paper. You can use numbers to prove anything you want. On the ground, chances are that you’ll start a fight trying to prove to starving Kenyans that their economy has improved.

ii) The only thing that has changed in the Kenyan economy since the Kibaki administration took over, is that tax collection. It is much more efficient. And they can’t even take full credit for this because most of the groundwork was done by the last Kanu administration under President Moi. All they lacked was the political will to implement which the Kibaki administration had.

iii) Despite pouring massive resources into fighting crime, little has changed. How do you succeed in fighting crime when joblessness is on the increase? Somehow this so-called boom in the Kenyan economy is riding on the highest number of job losses in history.

iv) Even the clearly booming tourism industry has had very minimal impact on the economy. Firstly the stronger shilling means that some businesses are earning less now than they were when they were receiving much fewer visitors. Secondly it has created very few new jobs because most businesses in the industry retained most of their staff through the difficult years.

v) While investors are almost falling over themselves to get into neighbouring Tanzania (who have a socialist past and are very new to the game of wooing investors), investors already in the Kenya economy are falling over themselves to get out – they must be blind, can’t they see the booming economy? You’ll be amazed at the wide range of different countries where they have transferred their resources and expertise. To name a few, Australia, Canada, South Africa, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Uganda, Seychelles, Mauritius etc.

==================
Want to make more from your Adsense Ads? Visit this amazing Adsense blog

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Let History Not Repeat Itself

The old ghost of political assassinations in Kenya seems to be rearing her ugly head yet again.

In events that have an uncanny resemblance to those of 1963-1969, Raila has fallen out with the President’s inner circle or the President’s kitchen cabinet. Just like Tom Mboya did shortly after independence in 1963. Tom Mboya is the man who said "Kenyatta Tosha" in those days. He fought for the interests of the masses as he saw the Kenyatta administration slide down into corruption, land grabbing and gross nepotism and tribalism (cabinet members routinely conversed in Kikuyu as they waited for the President to arrive for cabinet meetings.)

There are a lot of similarities between the Kenyatta and Kibaki administrations and mostly not positive ones.

Sadly Mboya did not take warnings to beef up his security seriously. Not even from his American friends who offered more bodyguards. And not even when a policeman fired shots at the empty back seat of his ofdfical vehicle a few months before his assasination. The policeman was later arrested and charged.

Luckily Raila, unlike Mboya, is taking the tell-tale signs very seriously indeed and so are the police. We may not all agree with everything that Raila Odinga stands for, but political assasinations should never be allowed to happen in Kenya again. EVER!! Let history NOT dare repeat itself.
=======
Use blog power to drive tons of traffic to your site/blog.

==================
Want to make more from your Adsense Ads? Visit this amazing Adsense blog

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Raila Launches Campaign For The Presidency

Three incidences have happened over the last few days that leave no doubt over the fact that Raila has already launched his campaign for the Presidency.

Incident Number One: Raila donates bulls, sacks of maize and trophies at Rarienda constituency in Nyanza to thank voters for turning up in large numbers for the November 21 referendum poll. Rarienda is significant because it is the home of the only Nyanza MP who has dared stand up to Raila, foreign minister Raphael Tuju. The exercise is set to be carried out countrywide and throughout Nyanza but it has not been lost on political analysts that Raila chose to start at Rarienda where the electorate firmly voted against their own MP who was campaigning for a “yes” vote.

Incident Number Two: Raila hits out at Musikari Kombo’s leadership style and says he is incapable of being president. He adds that the man is too weak and unprincipled to be President of Kenya. He gives the example of the recent incident where Kombo demanded government jobs for members of his party in return for taking up his cabinet appointment and keeping his party in the greatly weakened ruling coalition. Kombo has already indicated his interest in running for the presidency in 2007.

Incident Number Three: The LDP pours cold water on poll results by Steadman and Associates that shows Kalonzo Musyoka ahead of all other candidates, including President Kibaki, in terms of popularity for the Presidency. The party says that Musyoka’s nomination to run for the presidency will not be automatic and he will have to fight it out with other LDP candidates (including Raila of course).

It has already been announced (just yesterday) that LDP will nominate their presidential candidate at a national delegate’s conference. All three leading LDP candidates (Raila, Kalonzo Musyoka and former VP Musalia Mudavadi) were victims of a Moi-orchestrated delegates conference that locked them out of the Presidential race in favour of Uhuru Kenyatta in 2002. So with that kind of experience the LSDP delegates’ conference is set to be the event of the next general election – assuming that all contenders remain in the party and in the running for the party ticket.

The pace has picked up tremendously and it seems that LDP is preparing for the snap poll they predicted will happen in 2006.

Meanwhile Kenyans are divided almost 50/50 over the issue of the snap poll. Despite President Kibaki’s unpopularity some Kenyans who voted "No" in the November 21st referendum are in favor of waiting until 2007. The big question is, can the starving, desperate masses in Kenya wait? LDP and Raila don’t think so.
======
Use blog power to drive tons of traffic to your site/blog

Monday, January 02, 2006

Can Raila "Kibaki Tosha" Odinga Be The Fourth President Of Kenya?

The news that former Roads minister Raila Odinga will run against President Kibaki in the next General Election may not have come as a surprise to many who have closely been following recent political developments in Kenya.

However the big question is this. Is the man whose “Kibaki tosha” statement helped get President Kibaki to State House, ready for the big job?

If we start talking about one of Raila’s favourite subject – that is personal sacrifices made on behalf of Kenyans - then he has no equal. The man has spent so much time in political detention and suffered tremendously alongside his late father Jaramogi Oginga Odinga. The older Odinga was once the vice President in founding father, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta’s government before the two fell out in circumstances that are not very different from the way Raila and President Kibaki have fallen out.

Probably an even bigger question is, in the event that Raila is defeated in his party’s nomination process, will his radical supporters accept defeat and support the winner?

There is little doubt that Raila-phobia (described as fear of Raila’s real intentions and power with the masses) is set to spread amongst his colleagues in ODM and LDP over the next few weeks and months (watch this space for regular updates).

Raila has played a major role in voicing the feelings of the vast majority of frustrated Kenyans who are utterly disgusted and disillusioned about the Kibaki administration and there is no doubt that many voters will remember that in 2007. However when it comes to rallying the whole country to stand behind Raila for the Presidency, it becomes a totally different matter. There is probably nobody more deserving of the position at the moment but then politics is not about that.
=========
Use blog power to drive tons of traffic to your site/blog