Enjoying Economies of Scale

I can not drive into a function with “a small car” belonging to teenagers

A Terrible Way To Die: Flight 447 We Remember

There are many ways people die but over the last couple of days the way in which passengers of the doomed Air France flight 447 may have died has haunted me and refused to leave my mind.

Conclusive investigations are of course far from being completed while other experts say that we will probably never know what really happened. Still one can imagine the following scenario;

The aircraft enters serious turbulence which naturally causes fear when you are that high above the ground as the aircraft shakes violently. Suddenly all the lights go off and there is pitch darkness (because it was a night flight). The next thing that happens is that the aircraft suddenly breaks apart and passengers can immediately feel the decompression of the cabin which causes breathing problems. So the poor passengers suffocate as they fall into dark nothingness. Most, if not all would be dead long before their bodies hit the icy waters thousands of feet below.

What also disturbs me about this accident is the fact that strange things always seem to happen when an Airbus accident is being investigated, something that this article brings out so well.

Aviation is a subject that has always fascinated me, more so it's history. Great risks were taken to make what we take for granted today possible. The first ever aircraft accident in history is instructive. Scroll down to the last article on this page to read a brief amazing history of how mechanized flight was discovered.

Get detailed latest information on this air disaster.

What Kumekucha has been reading;

I found this web page discussing the accident fascinating. More so because there were comments from several experts.

Uhuru’s Star Performer with Majimbo Budget

Uhuru’s delivery of his debut budget speech was marvelous. Short on jargon and long on freebies to everybody from alcohol to mitumba dealers. And his fellow MPs aptly rewarded him with thunderous applause. Jomo Junior’s delivery was superb and betrayed the hitherto so-called professions before him.

But there ends the party. Those old enough to have had their ears assaulted before with tough empty talk by Kenyan politicians know better. With all eyes on 2012, UK knew even better. With his populist constituency conditional stimulus plan, he hoped to bag allies in advance, delivery notwithstanding.

The majimbo budget was cleverly crafted to soothe national egos. Nyachae played to a full gallery before with his austerity measures that never took flight from his lips.

All the talk about localized package to pay for construction of roads, building fresh produce markets and fishponds and also enable a number of Kenyans living in far-flung areas access quality education is sweet music. Experience will drain you on any trace of optimism in walking the talk. Not being an alarmist nor a doomsayer but reality is never pleasant.

Colourful mirage
With no institutional reforms, all the good promises will only be selfishly implemented to serve partisan interests. Ask any government insider and s/he tell you that the so-called freeze on civil service recruitment only exists on paper. Finance and Education ministries are constantly hiring the RIGHT people. No prizes for guessing the fate of Sh1.3 billion set aside for teacher recruitment albeit with some token exceptions to create a false impression of objectivity.

All the buzz about devolved budget is great. But don’t be fooled. With no firm institutions to monitor implementation, the smart looters are simply creating disguised avenues to milk us dry. The fine print will lead you to modernized faceless Anglo Leasing-like schemes.

So UK scored highly on delivery. But only the mentally timid can start ululating hoping for commensurate action. Well, mirages keep caravans hopeful amidst sand dunes and scorching heat.

For those in search of evangelist missions, it never hurts to occasionally have your ego boosted oblivious of the painful disappointment thereafter. Welcome to Kenyan political theatre of scoundrels.

Ringera Best Person for Demanding KACC Post

He has the INSTITUTIONAL MEMORY demanded of an infant anti-corruption authority like KACC. He knows the shadowy Anglo Leasing ghosts inside out. He waxes Shakespearean like no Kenyan justice. And above all else he acts and thinks in the right first language.

Why would you give 2.5m monthly salary to a novice who will get overwhelmed with such a wage? Not even the most active president Kibaki can handle that much money.



Justice Rignera has no equal in Kenya’s judicial circles. In one fell swoop, the dragon slayer chopped the limbs of all legal scoundrels with his radical surgery.

Only Ringera with his unique hindsight correctly read the hitherto infant official mood in advance. Ahead of his time and before other Kenyans, he helped weed out unpleasant judicial faces. Hail Aaron.

Ringera is incorruptible thanks to his unique pay cheque. he has not betrayed his principal briefs in any way. And who else would have the guts and temerity to demand more powers to prosecute fraudsters?

Right tongue
Kenyans must learn to give credit where due. Ringera saved us international embarrassment by defending our sovereignty when one John Githogo took his phantom plays to the global gallery.

Ringera is a proven true patriot who sings no partisan tune. he deserves a second stint at the helm of KACC to complete the reign of banishing Anglo Leasing ghosts lest. Any other nosy choice will only succeed in flinging the loaded cupboard wide open. Please re-appoint Ringera and let the worms rot inside the drawers.

Omar Bongo Dead: End of Reign of Dinosaurs

These dinosaurs treat their countries like personal property. They consider themselves deities and woe unto those who dare challenge them.

We ordinary mortals owe plenty of gratitude to heart attack as liberally dispensed by Mother Nature. The attacks are not only MASSIVE, but so faithful they comprehensively accomplish the task which no money nor power can buy. The scoundrels may fraudulently escape tax for now but not the equalizer and only constant, DEATH.

President of Gabon Omar Bongo was not only Africa's longest serving leader but also the SHORTEST in stature. His diminished height may have been a source of personal and emotional insecurity hence the brutality meted on his perceived opponents.

With typical African BIG MAN mentality, Gabon’s PM denied Bongo’s death in Spain as earlier reported from there. But you cannot cheat death and he has eventually faced the truth by making the sad news. What is more, Bongo lost his latest wife (daughter of Congo Brazzaville President Dennis Sasso Ngueso) just two months ago.



Next customer please
Make no mistake, Gabon is not out of the woods yet. Ali-Ben (Bongo Junior) is the heir designate and as the present Defence minister he already has his fingers on the levers of power. Add that to the fact that his sister Pascaline (ex-FM) was the father’s chief of staff and you get a true African dynasty.

Gabon is an oil rich country with only 1.4m people making it officially one of Africa’s richest countries, but is it? No prize for guessing.

Mother Nature should expedite dishing the favour from Cairo to Harare and all the ROT SPOTS in between. That would free Africa from these dinosaurs who suffocate their people with unbridled IMPUNITY. Next customer please!

Take the Kids Home First, Dammit

I had a beautiful ride to Karen the other day.

When you are new in a city as expansive as Nairobi, sometimes you learn a few things the hard way. A friend asked me to visit her in the Karen area. Well, since we hadn't seen each other for long I said I'd be glad to. She asked me if I knew how to get to that side of town and I said Of course I did. But since I wasn't sure I could drive there, I decided I'd catch a Number 24.

That was a mistake.

Turns out Number 24 goes out on a major excursion. When I told one of those dudes who hangs at the door as the bus cruises along where I would get off, he looked at me strangely, then asked, "Why did you take a 24?"

"Won't it take me to Karen?" I asked.

"Yes, but you should have gone through Langata."

Deng!

So I was in for a longer ride than I planned. And it didn't help that just fifteen minutes into the ride my friend started calling...wondering why it was taking so long. "Is it the rains?" she demanded.

I said, "Nope."

"Then what's the matter?"

The matter was...I was in the wrong bus, but being there made me see something that completely messed up the rest of my evening. As our bus came to a stop at one of those places where they empty folks and fill up, I saw a bevvy of excited school kids ready to jump in and head home. And by then it had started drizzling. I looked into the bus and could tell that there wasn't enough room for all of them. Was I going to have to get out of the bus to let in two more?

Man, imagine my surprise when the bus stopped, let out two passengers, then started off without the kids. Not a single one. Instead of the kids, the dude who hangs at the door allowed in two women and a hefty man! To my further dismay, nobody in the bus seemed to mind this sorry picture.

I rushed to the dude who hangs at the door and asked him to stop the bus. "The kids," I said.

"Wachana nao."

Leave the kids?

I couldn't take this. I told him to let four kids in and I'd pay the adult rate for them. To my sweet surprise, other parents in the bus took a child each and before long our bus was filled with happy children heading home to their parents and to do their homework.

In spite of the touching ending of that drama, I was left with many questions on my mind. How can it be that we would let parents ride home ahead of their children? I understand the right of the matatus to maximize profits, but are those profits worth our telling the young, helpless Kenyans that we don't give a damn about them? Can we treat the kids like they don't matter and still wonder why they turn out so angry and disillusioned in this society?

Someone needs to act, to work out a policy that forces the matatus to take the children home ahead of their parents. Until then, my fellow Kenyans, if you are in a matatu and a child is about to be left behind because he/she won't pay as an adult, step in and pay for that child.

Take the kids home first, dammit!

Of Poisoned Pyramid Wealth and Drug Money

Our mad rush to join the wealthy class has crashed head on with core values of humanity. The rich are using their corruptly acquired wealth even to impoverish more Kenyans. A look at victims of the pyramid schemes will disabuse you of the imagination that only the less-informed and villagers are vulnerable.

Despite the inviting hooks to destitution, you will find it damn difficult to stop a middle class Kenyan flashing his/her her Sacco loan into the drain of these pata potea schemes. The bait is often so sweet after few pioneers are handsomely rewarded with interests generated from new members. No wonder our televangelists are doing so well in this industry.

Before you know it the pyramid is speedily inverted and saturation at the base leaves it with only one option, crumbling down. You cannot fault Kenyans for their penchant to make a killing with any prey in sight.

The problem is that the prey is often deadly poisonous leaving trail of corpses from those who rush to sample its juicy steak. Just ask Equity bank investors who are yet to get they refunds after the artificially-engineered over subscription. But that is a story for another day.

Enter the PAINFUL tale of numerous young Kenyan women having a date with the hangman in China. These enterprising Dubai-bound businesswomen are now pleading innocent when the bubble bust in their faces together with their plastic fortunes. They must have known the high risk that comes with their REAL BUSINESS.

Hawking fake sympathy
After numerous trips abroad, it smacks of shameless naivety to claim that you were caught with heroin while innocently helping a business associate carry a bag. Leaves you wondering what would they say and tick when checking online whether they packed their own bags. But again we are Kenyans who are synonymous with obtuse vices that define genesis of our prosperity - the end justifies the means.

There is no substitute for honesty. The aura of FRAUD thriving among us will only succeed in extinguishing any trace of credibility hitherto associated with Kenya. HELL FOR LEATHER appears to be our motto. Woe unto you who fail to smell the opportunity miles away. A smart Kenyan will stealthily grab it leaving you wallowing in poverty.

Prosperity built on vice or its derivatives is unsustainable. It maybe human to sympathize with these mothers languishing in Chinese jails. But aware of their original sin in drug pushing and the zombies their heinous actions manufacture amongst us, you cannot be sure to hawk a fake sympathy.

What a sense of déjà vu seeing the MOST SUCCESSFUL only turn to recognize and appreciate the collective value of their less industrious peers when the chips are down and out. Damn values for they bring no food to the Kenyan table.