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What are you waiting for? Contact the Kumekucha representative in Kenya now. Call him on 0727-217920.
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Or maybe you need to see case studies from people who have greatly benefitted from being found on Google...
Thursday, July 07, 2011
Wednesday, July 06, 2011
Beware: Dangerous Wild Hungry Animal On the Loose in Kenya
If you are in Kenya the animal will get you if you don't take precautions, you have been warned
Please be patient and I will tell you about this very real and very dangerous animal on the loose.
Life is full of deals gone bad.
Allow me to tell you a little story that involves somebody very close to me.
This man when to see his girlfriends’ parents and was promised her hand in marriage. According to him it was a done deal more so because he was talking to her father who is an old man. Old wise men always keep their word don’t they? He left a happy man and went to start making all the necessary arrangements including getting his wife out of an expensive maternity hospital in the city.
Six short months later he was told that his girlfriend was getting married to a rich Asian tycoon. His girl friend claimed that her hands were tied; she had to do what her parents wanted. “But we had a deal (MOU—memorandum of understanding),” the jilted would-be husband protested to the old man. The old man got really angry and insisted that it was his daughter and he had a right to do what he wanted with “his property.”
This true story has an interesting ending. The Asian tycoon changed his mind because of a reason that had nothing to do with love and the poor “boomerang girl” was left hanging. And because the jilted man really loved her he is back on the scene.
Sometime last year the President and Prime Minister eager to get the new constitution passed (I am certain both have their deep regrets today) made a gentleman’s agreement with the 10th parliament. The legislators were worried that under the new constitution they would be required to pay taxes. They were reassured that this would only kick in when the 11th parliament came into the scene. Indeed the whole thing was put in writing with written assurances from both the finance secretary (Minister of Finance) and the chief tax man Bwana Waweru himself. Under the new constitution even if the president wrote and sealed a letter with his personal seal it would be null and void.
And the greedy legislators relaxed knowing that all was well and they could continue with their reckless spending and careless financial arrangements and basically enjoy their last few months in the house. Only for them to get a rude awakening about to weeks ago when the taxman presented the MPs with a huge tax bill backdated to August last year.
Everybody knows that story, but the big question is what triggered the taxman to demand his pound of flesh so suddenly and despite a high-powered MOU? Was it some political motive and if so by whom?
Many Kenyans are convinced that somebody was behind it for political reasons.
After some serious research I can today reveal the fascinating reason behind the legislators tax troubles. It will disappoint the conspiracy theorists but it is the truth.
When the new constitution was passed a friend who could not understand my excitement (just like many readers here) wondered if the constitution would really make a difference with all the impunity merchants still firmly in power. After all even the old constitution was often ignored. I remember my confident reply to that which I reproduce here word for word;
“The new constitution is an animal with a life of it’s own. There are going to be many many casualties to this animal, just wait and see. What we have done today is release a train that is unstoppable… not even the president has power to undo what has been done today.”
As I write this we have in Kenya for the first time a toothless president who cannot appoint his cronies at will. This alone has changed the political dynamics dramatically. This is the problem when change happens so fast. It takes time for stuff to sink in and register.
What is happening on the ground is that various institutions, now independent from the executive for the first time in history are carefully re-examining their positions under the new constitution. Especially because there are dire consequences to ignoring the constitution. KRA is one of the institutions that did just that and the result is what you see today.
Admittedly there are a few more institutions that are still in deep slumber (like the Kenya Police) but you can be sure that the animal will get them. Even parliament is still asleep trying to flex muscles that it really doesn’t have any more. Just watch what will happen to the Tobiko appointment.
We live in exciting times folks. Long live the new constitution with one important disclaimer; the animal will get to you too, so please re-read the constitution carefully.
Moi and Ruto secrets past and present
Property for sale in Nairobi and Mombasa
The Mutula Kilonzo you don't know
Please be patient and I will tell you about this very real and very dangerous animal on the loose.
Life is full of deals gone bad.
Allow me to tell you a little story that involves somebody very close to me.
This man when to see his girlfriends’ parents and was promised her hand in marriage. According to him it was a done deal more so because he was talking to her father who is an old man. Old wise men always keep their word don’t they? He left a happy man and went to start making all the necessary arrangements including getting his wife out of an expensive maternity hospital in the city.
Six short months later he was told that his girlfriend was getting married to a rich Asian tycoon. His girl friend claimed that her hands were tied; she had to do what her parents wanted. “But we had a deal (MOU—memorandum of understanding),” the jilted would-be husband protested to the old man. The old man got really angry and insisted that it was his daughter and he had a right to do what he wanted with “his property.”
This true story has an interesting ending. The Asian tycoon changed his mind because of a reason that had nothing to do with love and the poor “boomerang girl” was left hanging. And because the jilted man really loved her he is back on the scene.
Sometime last year the President and Prime Minister eager to get the new constitution passed (I am certain both have their deep regrets today) made a gentleman’s agreement with the 10th parliament. The legislators were worried that under the new constitution they would be required to pay taxes. They were reassured that this would only kick in when the 11th parliament came into the scene. Indeed the whole thing was put in writing with written assurances from both the finance secretary (Minister of Finance) and the chief tax man Bwana Waweru himself. Under the new constitution even if the president wrote and sealed a letter with his personal seal it would be null and void.
And the greedy legislators relaxed knowing that all was well and they could continue with their reckless spending and careless financial arrangements and basically enjoy their last few months in the house. Only for them to get a rude awakening about to weeks ago when the taxman presented the MPs with a huge tax bill backdated to August last year.
Everybody knows that story, but the big question is what triggered the taxman to demand his pound of flesh so suddenly and despite a high-powered MOU? Was it some political motive and if so by whom?
Many Kenyans are convinced that somebody was behind it for political reasons.
After some serious research I can today reveal the fascinating reason behind the legislators tax troubles. It will disappoint the conspiracy theorists but it is the truth.
When the new constitution was passed a friend who could not understand my excitement (just like many readers here) wondered if the constitution would really make a difference with all the impunity merchants still firmly in power. After all even the old constitution was often ignored. I remember my confident reply to that which I reproduce here word for word;
“The new constitution is an animal with a life of it’s own. There are going to be many many casualties to this animal, just wait and see. What we have done today is release a train that is unstoppable… not even the president has power to undo what has been done today.”
As I write this we have in Kenya for the first time a toothless president who cannot appoint his cronies at will. This alone has changed the political dynamics dramatically. This is the problem when change happens so fast. It takes time for stuff to sink in and register.
What is happening on the ground is that various institutions, now independent from the executive for the first time in history are carefully re-examining their positions under the new constitution. Especially because there are dire consequences to ignoring the constitution. KRA is one of the institutions that did just that and the result is what you see today.
Admittedly there are a few more institutions that are still in deep slumber (like the Kenya Police) but you can be sure that the animal will get them. Even parliament is still asleep trying to flex muscles that it really doesn’t have any more. Just watch what will happen to the Tobiko appointment.
We live in exciting times folks. Long live the new constitution with one important disclaimer; the animal will get to you too, so please re-read the constitution carefully.
Moi and Ruto secrets past and present
Property for sale in Nairobi and Mombasa
The Mutula Kilonzo you don't know
Monday, July 04, 2011
William “Statehouse punch up” Ruto and his 2012 strategy
Nobody can deny the achievements of Eldoret North legislator William Ruto. Above everything else he is the only person to openly defy President Daniel arap Moi in the Rift Valley and survive to talk about a resounding victory. He is also the only person I know who has been in a fist fight within the precincts of State House (more on that later in this post). Quite a character this Ruto who has recently re-packaged himself for gullible Kenyans...na bado.
William Ruto
In recent days Ruto has been terribly busy marketing his UDM political party in Mombasa where he has already received strong backing from the likes of Chirau Ali Mwakwere and Naomi Shaban.
And so it seems that Ruto will be a major force in the 2012 polls. Or will he be?
There are those who quickly point to Ruto’s massive support in the Rift Valley to prove that the Eldoret North MP will play a major role in deciding who the next occupant of State House will be. Indeed the behaviour of many legislators in the Rift Valley seems to suggest that nobody can challenge the man successfully amongst the Kalenjin community. How many legislators from the region have defied Ruto only to turn up the next day hat in hand and full of apologies?
Hi detractors simply point to the Hague and the battle awaiting Mr Ruto in the hands of the ICC. Hilariously there is a presidential candidate whose main strategy is based on Ruto and Uhuru not being around to challenge him for the presidency, but that is a story for another post.
But assuming he will survive (which I doubt) it is not difficult to figure out the kind of political calculations that may be going on inside the mind of William Ruto. Any presidential candidate who captures Rift Valley is almost there and needs just a little more support from the rest of the country to get enough numbers to get into the run off stage (most political analysts are sure that whatever way one looks at things we will have to go into a run off and so what presidential candidates have to do initially is to go for the numbers first.)
There is another school of thought that suggests that sly Ruto already knows that he stands no chance and is just positioning himself to make deals that will be beneficial to him with those who will emerge as the leading presidential candidates. This is what this blogger suspects is Ruto’s real game plan. There are many reasons for this but top on the list is the fact that financing a serious presidential campaign requires considerable resources. At the end of the day Ruto has consistently ensured that all his calculations have always ended up with more cash in his pocket. There is no reason to suggest why he should have it any different this time round. Ruto is not capable of attracting serious financing and although he is not a poor man it is unlikely that he will want to finance his own presidential campaign. Meaning that all he will do will be to position himself as a leading tribal chief to be courted by every serious presidential candidate for his own financial gain. Remember that this time round there are no cabinet posts to be distributed.
Having said this I will be the first to admit that Ruto is still capable of pulling off surprises, mostly of the nasty kind. This is the man who did the unimaginable in State House, Nairobi a few years ago when he attacked and punched Reuben Chesire, an elderly man who could pass for his father. Ruto had accused the old man of going around and tarnishing his name by telling people that he was a con-man.
Ruto, the democrat was also an official of the youth for Kanu 92 lobby group which dished out so much money to Kenyans in forms of bribes to ensure Moi's re-elected in the first multi-party elections of 1992. The inevitable effects of suddenly increasing money supply was runaway inflation, and was the point at which many Kenyans entered the deep poverty rut they are yet to emerge from today.
The former cabinet minister who was very powerful in a regime that stifled the basic democratic rights of Kenyans like freedom of speech and association told Kenyans at the Coast over the weekend that they should not elect anybody with a suspect past. Hilarious stuff is it not?
Moi and Ruto secrets past and present
Property for sale in Nairobi and Mombasa
William RutoAnd so it seems that Ruto will be a major force in the 2012 polls. Or will he be?
There are those who quickly point to Ruto’s massive support in the Rift Valley to prove that the Eldoret North MP will play a major role in deciding who the next occupant of State House will be. Indeed the behaviour of many legislators in the Rift Valley seems to suggest that nobody can challenge the man successfully amongst the Kalenjin community. How many legislators from the region have defied Ruto only to turn up the next day hat in hand and full of apologies?
Hi detractors simply point to the Hague and the battle awaiting Mr Ruto in the hands of the ICC. Hilariously there is a presidential candidate whose main strategy is based on Ruto and Uhuru not being around to challenge him for the presidency, but that is a story for another post.
But assuming he will survive (which I doubt) it is not difficult to figure out the kind of political calculations that may be going on inside the mind of William Ruto. Any presidential candidate who captures Rift Valley is almost there and needs just a little more support from the rest of the country to get enough numbers to get into the run off stage (most political analysts are sure that whatever way one looks at things we will have to go into a run off and so what presidential candidates have to do initially is to go for the numbers first.)
There is another school of thought that suggests that sly Ruto already knows that he stands no chance and is just positioning himself to make deals that will be beneficial to him with those who will emerge as the leading presidential candidates. This is what this blogger suspects is Ruto’s real game plan. There are many reasons for this but top on the list is the fact that financing a serious presidential campaign requires considerable resources. At the end of the day Ruto has consistently ensured that all his calculations have always ended up with more cash in his pocket. There is no reason to suggest why he should have it any different this time round. Ruto is not capable of attracting serious financing and although he is not a poor man it is unlikely that he will want to finance his own presidential campaign. Meaning that all he will do will be to position himself as a leading tribal chief to be courted by every serious presidential candidate for his own financial gain. Remember that this time round there are no cabinet posts to be distributed.
Having said this I will be the first to admit that Ruto is still capable of pulling off surprises, mostly of the nasty kind. This is the man who did the unimaginable in State House, Nairobi a few years ago when he attacked and punched Reuben Chesire, an elderly man who could pass for his father. Ruto had accused the old man of going around and tarnishing his name by telling people that he was a con-man.
Ruto, the democrat was also an official of the youth for Kanu 92 lobby group which dished out so much money to Kenyans in forms of bribes to ensure Moi's re-elected in the first multi-party elections of 1992. The inevitable effects of suddenly increasing money supply was runaway inflation, and was the point at which many Kenyans entered the deep poverty rut they are yet to emerge from today.
The former cabinet minister who was very powerful in a regime that stifled the basic democratic rights of Kenyans like freedom of speech and association told Kenyans at the Coast over the weekend that they should not elect anybody with a suspect past. Hilarious stuff is it not?
Moi and Ruto secrets past and present
Property for sale in Nairobi and Mombasa
Saturday, July 02, 2011
Election Date A Secret Weapon Still?
When are we going to the polls?
Now that may sound like a strange question to ask. After all we have hardly implemented the new constitution and the legal infrastructure is definitely not in place for a general election to happen. So surely I am putting the cart ahead of the donkey, am I not?
Not really. Have you not noticed how election campaigns for the presidency have already kicked off in earnest?
The sure sign that the general elections are due sooner than most Kenyans think has been the announcement by Gachoka legislator Mutava Musyimi yesterday that he is vying for the presidency. Musyimi is a meticulous planner and not the kind of person to jump the gun on a whim and go public way too early. His announcement yesterday is a sure sign that elections are just round the corner and sooner than most Kenyans may think.
But what should really concern Kenyans is the recent tendency by politicians and the political class not to say anything to the public about how soon we may be headed to the polls. It evokes memories of retired president Moi who used to use the date of the elections as a political secret weapon to his advantage. Leading presidential contenders are busy criss-crossing the country but are silent on what all the urgency is about. Their behaviour gives them away.
Actually what is happening is that other candidates are frantically trying to cancel out the huge advantage candidate Raila Odinga seems to have. Indeed if elections were to be held today, Raila would start as favourite. In fact the earlier the election dates, the more of an advantage it will be to Raila Odinga.
But as I have said here before, candidates from the old order including people like Raila Odinga, WilliamRuto and Kalonzo Musyoka will suddenly find themselves positioned out of the running as long suffering Kenyans will earnestly seek a clean break from our past. And this is precisely why the front runners for the presidency this time round will be the most unlikely names anybody would expect.
To keep up with times, I will in the next few days start analyzing the kind of presidential candidates that I feel would make excellent possibles for the highest office in the land.
Now that may sound like a strange question to ask. After all we have hardly implemented the new constitution and the legal infrastructure is definitely not in place for a general election to happen. So surely I am putting the cart ahead of the donkey, am I not?
Not really. Have you not noticed how election campaigns for the presidency have already kicked off in earnest?
The sure sign that the general elections are due sooner than most Kenyans think has been the announcement by Gachoka legislator Mutava Musyimi yesterday that he is vying for the presidency. Musyimi is a meticulous planner and not the kind of person to jump the gun on a whim and go public way too early. His announcement yesterday is a sure sign that elections are just round the corner and sooner than most Kenyans may think.
But what should really concern Kenyans is the recent tendency by politicians and the political class not to say anything to the public about how soon we may be headed to the polls. It evokes memories of retired president Moi who used to use the date of the elections as a political secret weapon to his advantage. Leading presidential contenders are busy criss-crossing the country but are silent on what all the urgency is about. Their behaviour gives them away.
Actually what is happening is that other candidates are frantically trying to cancel out the huge advantage candidate Raila Odinga seems to have. Indeed if elections were to be held today, Raila would start as favourite. In fact the earlier the election dates, the more of an advantage it will be to Raila Odinga.
But as I have said here before, candidates from the old order including people like Raila Odinga, WilliamRuto and Kalonzo Musyoka will suddenly find themselves positioned out of the running as long suffering Kenyans will earnestly seek a clean break from our past. And this is precisely why the front runners for the presidency this time round will be the most unlikely names anybody would expect.
To keep up with times, I will in the next few days start analyzing the kind of presidential candidates that I feel would make excellent possibles for the highest office in the land.
Friday, July 01, 2011
Tough Executive Decisions That Have Led Kenya to the Brink
Last warning: prepare for the worst like you never imagined in your worst nightmares
Every leader is faced with those terrible, terrible decisions. The more powerful your leadership position the more terrible the decisions you will have to make. I am talking about the kind of decisions where you toss a coin and if it is heads people die and if it is tails more people die. If you choose not to toss the coin then it is even worse because you postpone catastrophe.
Faced with this kind of terrible decision early in his administration, our dear president true to form chose the third option as he has done many times before. The result is that even if you don’t know it yet (just like many Kenyans) we are on the brink of unprecedented economic troubles.
You will remember that shortly after being sworn in on that most memorable day in December 2002 President Mwai Kibaki made his first speech where he emphasized that the new government would have zero tolerance to corruption. Looking back today those words ring hallow and empty because there are those who say that corruption has increased rather than decreased under Mwai Kibaki’s administration.
In retrospect it is now clear as day that the president had very good intentions at heart but one of his major shortfalls was his managerial weakness of failing to make critical decisions with the speed they deserve.
Try and empathize with his position as you read the following scenario. Those hundreds of wannabes who regularly get off imagining themselves in State house as president of the republic of Kenya please pay special attention and make a decision to withdraw your candidature. Quit dreaming only of the gardens of State house without taking into consideration the extremely tough decision-making side of high office.
Imagine the following scenario for a minute. That you are the president of Kenya and you are having a meeting with your advisors one morning. You have come to the meeting with some enthusiastic proposals to round up all the drug kingpins whom you know very well (everybody in the political class has known them for years) and you also want to shut down Eastleigh because you know that most of the cash from piracy off the Somali coast and beyond ends up there.
But your advisors tell you things that cause you to apply emergency brakes to your enthusiasm. If you move against drug lords in the country you will be sure to cut your own “political feet” because these are the people who oil politics in Kenya and you Mr President are no exception. Secondly the repercussions to the economy will be colossal. Cash from the evil trade props up the Kenyan shilling and indeed the entire Kenyan economy. If the hard drugs traffic is interfered with, you promptly interfere with the Kenyan economy and those who will be worst hit will be the common wananchi.
And before you recover another of your advisors gets up with statistics showing you the disaster that will befall the nation’s economy if you dare move against Eastliegh and the cash flowing there from piracy in the high seas.
If you are a good manager who makes decisions quickly chances are that you will opt to do nothing. If you are Barrack Obama you will think outside the box and create a third option that nobody ever thought of before. Chances are that it will be quite controversial but at least it will buy you political time and at least it will be a decision. But if you are Mwai Kibaki you will do the most dangerous thing of all. You will make no decision.
That is exactly what happened in 2003 and tragically that indecision has caught up with us after a chain of events has quickly brought us to the current circumstances. I want to keep this post as short as possible so the chain of events that have led us to today will be the subject of a future post.
The current situation is that the Americans are on the war path against the drug trade and are determined to shut down one of the busiest transit cities in the world, namely Nairobi. How do you kill a snake? According to the government policy in Kenya currently you start by hitting the tail of the snake as hard as you can and you follow this up by concentrating all your efforts on the tail of the snake (KACA tactics). But the decisive Americans have a different approach they go straight for the head and if the snake had a jugular that is exactly where they would hit with pinpoint precision. And that is why the two names of Kenyans were released by the Obama administration. The effect has been phenomenal. For all intents and purposes the drug trafficking business in Kenya and the region will never be the same again.
But what many people are yet to do is link this recent happening to the catastrophe that is unfolding on the economic front. It started with the shilling going on a free-fall. As I write this it has sunk to it’s lowest point in history at one point exchanging at Kshs 91 to the green buck.
After weeks of shocked confusion, the Central bank finally decided to react. What they did was predictable; yesterday they raised the benchmark CBR (Central Bank rates from 6.25 per cent to 8 per cent. What this means is that the rates across the board will increase… dramatically.
Historically this has been the only avenue Kenya has followed to tame inflation. This time it is clearly the wrong approach at the wrong time. Most experts agree that what the drastic increase of rates will do will be to choke the economy and dramatically slow down what little speed is still there going forward. If businesses find it increasingly hard to borrow they will lay off people for sure and those already using borrowed money whose cost has suddenly shot up will pass on the cost to the consumer for sure, raising prices further. But the really tragic thing here is that all this would not have happened at a worse time when famine is spreading across Kenya and prices of the staple maize crop has reached where it has never treaded before in the history of the nation.
Moral of this post: Had we made the decision to do the house cleaning way back in 2003, we would not be in the deep hole we find ourselves in today. Do not imagine for a minute that I am saying I would have done better than Mwai Kibaki did. Hell NO. What I am saying is that the executive job is one that comes with numerous terrible decisions that make you lose hair and age quicker than anything else can age you in this world. Those who are eager to be president really, really need to chew on that… and withdraw their silly pipe-dream ambitions. If you have been MP for 20 years and your constituents still have serious water problems, sir with all due respect this office is NOT for you. Go sort out the water problems first.
Understanding Kamlesh Patni’s Goldenberg Scandal
Every leader is faced with those terrible, terrible decisions. The more powerful your leadership position the more terrible the decisions you will have to make. I am talking about the kind of decisions where you toss a coin and if it is heads people die and if it is tails more people die. If you choose not to toss the coin then it is even worse because you postpone catastrophe.Faced with this kind of terrible decision early in his administration, our dear president true to form chose the third option as he has done many times before. The result is that even if you don’t know it yet (just like many Kenyans) we are on the brink of unprecedented economic troubles.
You will remember that shortly after being sworn in on that most memorable day in December 2002 President Mwai Kibaki made his first speech where he emphasized that the new government would have zero tolerance to corruption. Looking back today those words ring hallow and empty because there are those who say that corruption has increased rather than decreased under Mwai Kibaki’s administration.
In retrospect it is now clear as day that the president had very good intentions at heart but one of his major shortfalls was his managerial weakness of failing to make critical decisions with the speed they deserve.
Try and empathize with his position as you read the following scenario. Those hundreds of wannabes who regularly get off imagining themselves in State house as president of the republic of Kenya please pay special attention and make a decision to withdraw your candidature. Quit dreaming only of the gardens of State house without taking into consideration the extremely tough decision-making side of high office.
Imagine the following scenario for a minute. That you are the president of Kenya and you are having a meeting with your advisors one morning. You have come to the meeting with some enthusiastic proposals to round up all the drug kingpins whom you know very well (everybody in the political class has known them for years) and you also want to shut down Eastleigh because you know that most of the cash from piracy off the Somali coast and beyond ends up there.
But your advisors tell you things that cause you to apply emergency brakes to your enthusiasm. If you move against drug lords in the country you will be sure to cut your own “political feet” because these are the people who oil politics in Kenya and you Mr President are no exception. Secondly the repercussions to the economy will be colossal. Cash from the evil trade props up the Kenyan shilling and indeed the entire Kenyan economy. If the hard drugs traffic is interfered with, you promptly interfere with the Kenyan economy and those who will be worst hit will be the common wananchi.
And before you recover another of your advisors gets up with statistics showing you the disaster that will befall the nation’s economy if you dare move against Eastliegh and the cash flowing there from piracy in the high seas.
If you are a good manager who makes decisions quickly chances are that you will opt to do nothing. If you are Barrack Obama you will think outside the box and create a third option that nobody ever thought of before. Chances are that it will be quite controversial but at least it will buy you political time and at least it will be a decision. But if you are Mwai Kibaki you will do the most dangerous thing of all. You will make no decision.
That is exactly what happened in 2003 and tragically that indecision has caught up with us after a chain of events has quickly brought us to the current circumstances. I want to keep this post as short as possible so the chain of events that have led us to today will be the subject of a future post.
The current situation is that the Americans are on the war path against the drug trade and are determined to shut down one of the busiest transit cities in the world, namely Nairobi. How do you kill a snake? According to the government policy in Kenya currently you start by hitting the tail of the snake as hard as you can and you follow this up by concentrating all your efforts on the tail of the snake (KACA tactics). But the decisive Americans have a different approach they go straight for the head and if the snake had a jugular that is exactly where they would hit with pinpoint precision. And that is why the two names of Kenyans were released by the Obama administration. The effect has been phenomenal. For all intents and purposes the drug trafficking business in Kenya and the region will never be the same again.
But what many people are yet to do is link this recent happening to the catastrophe that is unfolding on the economic front. It started with the shilling going on a free-fall. As I write this it has sunk to it’s lowest point in history at one point exchanging at Kshs 91 to the green buck.
After weeks of shocked confusion, the Central bank finally decided to react. What they did was predictable; yesterday they raised the benchmark CBR (Central Bank rates from 6.25 per cent to 8 per cent. What this means is that the rates across the board will increase… dramatically.
Historically this has been the only avenue Kenya has followed to tame inflation. This time it is clearly the wrong approach at the wrong time. Most experts agree that what the drastic increase of rates will do will be to choke the economy and dramatically slow down what little speed is still there going forward. If businesses find it increasingly hard to borrow they will lay off people for sure and those already using borrowed money whose cost has suddenly shot up will pass on the cost to the consumer for sure, raising prices further. But the really tragic thing here is that all this would not have happened at a worse time when famine is spreading across Kenya and prices of the staple maize crop has reached where it has never treaded before in the history of the nation.
Moral of this post: Had we made the decision to do the house cleaning way back in 2003, we would not be in the deep hole we find ourselves in today. Do not imagine for a minute that I am saying I would have done better than Mwai Kibaki did. Hell NO. What I am saying is that the executive job is one that comes with numerous terrible decisions that make you lose hair and age quicker than anything else can age you in this world. Those who are eager to be president really, really need to chew on that… and withdraw their silly pipe-dream ambitions. If you have been MP for 20 years and your constituents still have serious water problems, sir with all due respect this office is NOT for you. Go sort out the water problems first.
Understanding Kamlesh Patni’s Goldenberg Scandal
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