In his weekly press briefing to journalists yesterday, government spokesman Alfred Mutua said that the government was studying various departments to see which ones would immediately justify longer hours of service and which ones should be open 24 hours.
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Also in Kumekucha today: Is your small business in trouble?
Relationship headaches: How important is the age difference in a relationship?
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Kenyans will remember that this was one of the key election pledges of presidential candidate Kalonzo Musyoka and his ODM-Kenya party in last year’s general elections.
The good thing here is that we are beginning to get a glimpse of some of the advantages of competitive politics. This is welcome because so far we have mostly been treated only to the deadly repercussions of it, more so in a culture where politicians are too quick to fall back on divisive tribal politics to gain an advantage.
Although the change in Kenyan politics is much slower than what most Kenyans would want to see, it is encouraging noting that we are slowly but surely heading in the direction of service delivery and ideas to improve the quality of life of the people.
The immediate benefits of a 24-economy include the fact that it will create numerous new employment opportunities and considerably speed up service delivery and hopefully development. Indeed it is an idea that is long overdue.
Already we have companies in the private sector like Nakumatt that offer 24 hour services in many of their outlets countrywide. This has been very well received and is so far working out well for the country’s largest supermarket chain.
Of course there are bound to be teething problems and the immediate concern for most Kenyans is understandably security more so now when crime has escalated considerably country-wide.
P.S. Chris is busy putting together the second part of his controversial weekend special on how the most respected Kenyan families made their dirty money. He has asked me to promise you all that in this weekend’s feature, nobody will be spared right across the political divide and including the politicians that some Kenyans hero-worship. Make a date with Chris this weekend, you won’t regret it.
…And after that get 1,000,000 more hits for FREE
Kalonzo for prezzy!! He is a peaceful man.
ReplyDeletewhy do we blog? after many feelings of hopelessness at the Ntimama issue( yes am still on about that) i realised the people who had the power to do anything just couldnt be bothered. the pen is mighter than the sword so the say, so why have u all gone quiet and ignored this like it doesnt matter? why is it that u always blog about what happens but have chosen to go silent? even the famous kumekucha seems to have either joined the group of bloggers that has decided to turn around like those words were never uttered!!
ReplyDeleteso why do u all blog? i blog because my friends are far from this place and sometimes my emotions are too much i have to put them into words! sometimes i blog so i can get an honest opinion from strangers i will never meet and who dont know me well enough to give biased opinion or advice. other times i blog because i feel the need to contribute to a topic. most of the time i blog coz am idle and have alot of time in on my hands. i started blogging coz i thought it was cool to own a blog, i wanted to be able to see myself through other peoples words, i wanted to be able to bare it all out, my emotions, my fears and joyous moments. nobody knows who i am where i come from or how i look like. its a sort of freedom to be able to say my deepest fears and share my darkest secrets without having to be afraid of being judged, and even if you judged me then hell i dont care.
i wanted to blog just so i could say i own a blog, hell after a while i wanted to blog just to see if i can make a difference. well i just had to hit myself on the head with a rolling pin to get it to my head in the last week or so that i CANT make a difference, i will NOT make a difference with a silly blog called loud silence and i SHOULD NOT even try.
so why do u blog?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OtJCfSIyr4
ReplyDeleteGimmickry! That is the idea behind this post, anon 1.54. You have to be smart enough to smell diversionary tactics from afar.
ReplyDeleteWhat you should be concerned with, anon 1.54, is acknowledging that Kalonzo Musyoka does not need favourable press from the likes of Kumekucha to be President. A 24 hour economy is an idea that should of course be discussed. But dragging Kalonzo's name in your desperate quest to appear objective will not fool anyone besides yourself.
You can go ahead and compose another one for Hon Kibaki, Kukubo, Ng'ang'a, Muiru, Nazlin and the other guys. That will however not change what this blog has always been about---heaping praise on Satan to make him President. I have one advice for you though-- That will not happen in this life. I also doubt it will happen in the next.
Chris,
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to Udaku daily?
do you want to visit a kenyan blog where tribalism is dead?
ReplyDeletedo you want to have a hearty laugh about kenyans making fun of daily issues?
do you want to visit a blog where they even organise funeral fundraisings when their members have bereavements?
do you want to visit a blog where people will make you laugh all day?
i joined it 2 weeks ago and i did not look back. the place is kenyalist.com. just try it and i guarantee you will have a suprising experience. a good place to hide from all the hatred in kumekucha.
prefect
Hi Oscar,
ReplyDeletewhere have you been? It's good to see you back. Don't worry about these insane comments here, just ignore them. Your post is good.
For once since his six-month long jail term, Vikii is talking sense.
ReplyDeleteFYI, many enterprising Kenyans already engage in 24-hr economic activities in nearly all sectors of economy and do not need empty campaign pledges from Kalonzo so as to earn a living. Thats right, from small jua (mwezi?) kali to mama chai's and matatus, etc they are already doing it.
Oscar, thanks but I will NOT buy that gimmick.
Phil
Anon 3:33 I agree
ReplyDeleteAll the best, that is all i can say for now. It is gonna be a tough one but we are tougher. You see i dont think Nakumatt woke up one day and decided to have a 24 hour shopping, Barclays prestige didn't just decide to have longer banking hours...There must be a NEED then we look for ways of meeting that particular need.
So my question is, Is there a need that is pushing us to work for 24 hours?
Kalonzo stressed on this need one day when he was in Kamukunji and i believe Eastleigh jamaas dont sleep and that is where we have 24 hours business with all the shopping complexes mushrooming in that particular area. So is Eastleigh our blue print? Meaning that if it can work in Dubai and Eastleigh so why not Nairobi?
Anyway All the best
Anon@2:02, this is not the time or the place to seek professional help-please see someone outside the internet in your own private world
ReplyDeleteVikii,
ReplyDeleteI thought UrXlnc had brought you back to the 'real world'. Kumbe we were giving you too much credit for nothing.
This is what you said...
---heaping praise on Satan to make him President. I have one advice for you though-- That will not happen in this life. I also doubt it will happen in the next.
Why demonise someone when you yourself are one? You seem to have gone to school but sadly, not educated.
To kambas: some of you might think they are liberal and can support whoever they like. Take it from me that nzaluos do not just hate kalonzo alone: they hate you as kambas. If you dont belive me go to jukwaa. You denied their man the presidency. So stick with your man and resist upuzi ya nzaluo. Let people call me what they want.
ReplyDeletemy bar is open 24hrs, the hospitals, the hotels, the police so this Kalonzo issue is far fetched. kenya does nt belong to the Miracle boy who bewitched people to get to power. ashindwe.
ReplyDeleteAnon 5.30 FYI, Kambas are not liberal. We support Kalonzo and we have no problems with Kibaki.
ReplyDeleteBut Raila No! apana!!!
hopefully we can stop looking at this as a personality issue but as a kenyan problem/issue/concern/initiative and explore in greater detail what its implication is on us as kenyans i.e the good and the bad
ReplyDeletei believe this is the article that Oscar describes
http://www.communication.go.ke/media.asp?id=666&media_type=2
evidently some research will be undertaken by NESC which is a good thing and allows for citizens to air their views
the issues associated with this initiative are captured quite nicely in Ivy's comment @ 3:52 above
what exactly is being achieved with the "24 hr economy". is the purpose temporary to handle govt workload backlog or is it because the volume of work has increased? if its an increase in workload, would it be more efficient/beneficial to pass on some of the processes/workload to regional centers? have the internal processes been optimized for efficiency because if backlogs are due to inefficiency then increasing staff or shifts only exacerbates the problem with now double the innefficiency and even worse more pay out in salaries, which brings me to the next point
this implies increased staff/resources and/or remuneration. how will this be funded, is there sufficient tax revenue or will this lead to increased taxes? or is it assumed that the increased workload will pay itself off (self sustaining). for decades now there's been talk of cutting down on civil service numbers and paychecks which consume over dont know what percentage of revenue so how does this fit in with the overall picture.
all the above is in reference to increased work hours for govt staff which in my mind does not translate to a 24 hr economy but a stopgap measure or band-aid to overcome inept performance by a majority of govt officers/offices.
as ivy points out 24hr economies are typically based on daily consumer services which again are ideally delivered regionally e.g supermarkets, and other retail services. what in this respect govt needs to do is guarantee safety and security. people close shops not because there is no business but because from 6pm the bandits, thugs, gangster, etc rule kenya, if adequate security and safety is guaranteed then shops will open all day and all night.
once again this is not about personalities but whether its a worthwhile initiative and how will it impact us in the short and long term. this is the time to reflect on the positives and negatives and have your say.
should add that i would support such an initiative if its addressing expanded services and not covering up inefficiencies and underperformance. and it should have a clearly defined funding process not necessarily asking us to get taxed some more.
ReplyDelete