Last night Finance Minister Amos Kimunya was interviewed on the NTV On The Spot show hosted by July Gichuru. The usual sms survey during the show must have brought wide smiles to President Kibaki's handlers because it revealed that a whooping 79% of those who were watching the show believe that the economy has grown by 5.8% and have actually felt the impact.
I do not want to pour cold water on this survey for no reason but the truth is it is a reflection of the kind of audience a show discussing the Kenyan economy is bound to attract. Company CEOs and generally the top 1% (to borrow from a fascinating new book about the widening gap between the rich and the poor worldwide and the dangers this poses.). These are the sort of understandably selfish Kenyans who speak the language of the Kibaki administration. Many play golf regularly at the Muthaiga Golf club (not far from starving Kenyans living in the most appalling conditions which few can imagine, in the nearby sprawling Mathare slums). These people (a significant percentage of them are not even Kenyans) are fully in support of the idea of getting the riff-ruff (hawkers) off the streets and as far as possible from the city.
What came out of the Amos Kimunya TV interview is the thinking at the heart of the Kibaki administration. The minister kept on repeating the same message over and over again during the entire duration of the interview.
The message was simply this;
The government wants to see many small independent traders merging to form bigger entities, which will have a bigger impact in the economy than many small micro enterprises. In the minister's book, "big" means more efficiency and more profits.
At first sight this may appear to be very sound and solid thinking. Except for one problem. An aggressive promotion of such a policy over the next few years will result in only one thing. It will sink the country into chaos and anarchy.
This is the thinking of the 70s. Modern management and economies are thriving on micro enterprises. It has been proved over and over again that the fastest and surest way of creating employment is to promote small business not encourage mergers that will form big enterprises that will use technology to limit their staff numbers.
The Kimunya interview proved conclusively that this government is only paying lip service to the creation of jobs.
We are fooling ourselves big time if we think that we can continue to ignore the growing gap between the poor and the rich in Kenya. We are being blind if we think that we can push job creation down the list of priorities and expect crime not to escalate beyond the current levels.
We must also bear in mind that the reason why most Kenyans live below the poverty line today is because of massive corruption and the implementation of policies that have always been designed to maintain the status quo. To keep on heading up the same beaten track will only lead to disaster.
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Friday, October 27, 2006
Why Both Kenyans And Tanzanians Are Victims Of Propaganda
Anybody who wants to understand just how deep a hole the nation of Tanzania is in, just needs to read the comments by Tanzanians in all articles in this blog that touch on the nation. Especially the most recent ones.
Tanzania is o the verge of a total blackout after months of a crippling 12 hour power rationing regime. Crime is set to rise to unprecedented levels after the government ordered the demolition of tens of thousands of structures near roads and even in poor estates that has wiped out sources of livelihood for hundreds of thousands of locals. The Tanzanian shilling is in a free-fall, and I could go on and on.
But reading the comments, it is clear that Tanzanians believe that their economy is still growing faster than that of Kenya and that hakuna tatizo katika jamuhuri ya muungano wa Tanzania (there's no problem in Tanzania).
That is exactly what propaganda does – it blinds or dramatically limits a person's vision so that they are able to see everything only from one point of view.
But Kenyans too are victims of years of propaganda. And his is in the issues of relating to our dear brothers from the DhoLuo community. If you are reading this blog for the first time, let me make it very clear that I have no connection whatsoever with the Luo community, except that one of my closest friends (now deceased) was a Luo whose death can be directly linked to this propaganda that I am talking about here.
Reading many of the ridiculous Tanzanian comments should be an effective mirror that should help us see ourselves better and begin to understand the reasons behind some of our short-sighted views when it comes to issues of tribalism in Kenya.
=======
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Tanzania is o the verge of a total blackout after months of a crippling 12 hour power rationing regime. Crime is set to rise to unprecedented levels after the government ordered the demolition of tens of thousands of structures near roads and even in poor estates that has wiped out sources of livelihood for hundreds of thousands of locals. The Tanzanian shilling is in a free-fall, and I could go on and on.
But reading the comments, it is clear that Tanzanians believe that their economy is still growing faster than that of Kenya and that hakuna tatizo katika jamuhuri ya muungano wa Tanzania (there's no problem in Tanzania).
That is exactly what propaganda does – it blinds or dramatically limits a person's vision so that they are able to see everything only from one point of view.
But Kenyans too are victims of years of propaganda. And his is in the issues of relating to our dear brothers from the DhoLuo community. If you are reading this blog for the first time, let me make it very clear that I have no connection whatsoever with the Luo community, except that one of my closest friends (now deceased) was a Luo whose death can be directly linked to this propaganda that I am talking about here.
Reading many of the ridiculous Tanzanian comments should be an effective mirror that should help us see ourselves better and begin to understand the reasons behind some of our short-sighted views when it comes to issues of tribalism in Kenya.
=======
Join in the raging debate over this thorny Luo-Kikuyu relationship issue
(Please scroll down to the bottom of the page (and click on the "Post A Comment" button) to post your comment.)
========================
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Alnoor Kassam And The TradeBank Story: Proof That Many Prosperous Asians In Kenya Usually Run An Illegal Business On The Side...
...It Is The Only Way To Make Super Profits
Innovative Entrepreneur Who Crossed Swords With "Total Man" Nicholas Biwott Spills His Guts And Tells All...
To Heal His Conscience, he Says
The Standard newspaper has this week been carrying an exclusive series where their Washington correspondent interviewed Alnoor Kassam, now doing very well as an entrepreneur in Calgary, Canada.
Many younger generation Kenyans have no idea who Alnoor Kassam is. Yet behind this name is one of the most amazing Kenyan business stories of innovation, which I am about to tell.
Alnoor Kassam, as I remember him, was a short bespectacled man with a funny walk (almost a limp). But he built a Kshs 100 billion (annual turnover) business from almost nothing, in a very short space of time. That was the Diners Club Turnover shortly before his empire came crashing down.
Kassam bought the local Diners Club franchise when it was struggling. Those running it then saw it as a headache business where collections were quite often difficult. Kassam saw it as a legal way to "print money" because the 5% per month interest rate on Diners Club credit card balances actually meant a 60% per annum rate.
Kassam's first business on graduating as a Chartered accountant and returning to Kenya in 1979 had been a book match company called Empire Match Company. Book matches are those small matches that open like a book and often have advertisements printed on their front. With the sort of margins he was making from this small business, Kassam must have been very excited about the prospects in Diners.
However like a vast majority of Asian business persons in Kenya then and now, the match company was his legitimate business or cover, but he had another much more lucrative illegal business on the side that was his main cash cow. Kassam was an illegal foreign exchange dealer. In those days, it was illegal to hold or trade in foreign currency. Kassam found ways, using his foreign contacts of obtaining foreign currency, which he sold at a premium in the forex-starved local market.
On purchasing the Kenyan Diners franchise and with a little help from an American program that uses retired professionals and entrepreneurs to give technical advice to businesses in third world countries, Alnoor Kassam was able to build the local Diners Club franchise into one of the fastest growing and most innovative organizations ever seen in these shores.
Employees were motivated with huge cash rewards for performance and ideas that would improve customer service and profits. The workplace at Diners became one of the most exciting places anybody in Kenya would be privileged enough to work in. Some of the innovations that resulted included 24 hour round-the-clock banking services and drive-in banking amongst a host of other very innovative ideas that had never before been seen in these shores. A major subsidiary, Diners Finance quickly followed.
But the problem subsidiary that brought everything crashing down was TradeBank.
Kassam bought the bank from an Israeli national by the name of Gad Zeevi and was informed that TradeBank had loaned HZ construction Shs 400 million. That money actually went directly into the pockets of the then all-powerful cabinet minister and Moi confidante Nicholas Kipyator Biwott. Kassam came up with all sorts of schemes to recover this colossal amount owed to TradeBank, including acquiring the building that almost cost him his life, Yaya Centre as an asset against the cash owed, but the loan was never recovered. In fact it caused the collapse of TradeBank and Alnoor's business empire in Kenya.
The other big mistake Kassam made was to get mixed up with politicians. Kassam's life was threatened many times and this was how he finally had to flee the country for dear life through Tanzania after some security officers turned up at his office one day to arrest him.
In his account of how he escaped, published in the Standard this week, Kassam says he invited the arresting officers for lunch while he made good his escape through a back entrance they probably did not know about. Or did he just bribe them, as is widely believed?
Kassam claims that he has told all in the Standard, but there are a number of mysteries that linger like this one. How do you get arresting officers to allow you out of their sight? By just inviting them to lunch? Or did he mean he invited them to "chai?"
Read the fascinating Standard newspaper articles on Alnoor Kassam;
Alnoor Kassam Confessions Part I
Alnoor Kassam Confessions Part 2
Alnoor Kassam Confessions Part 3
=======
Join in the raging debate over this thorny Luo-Kikuyu relationship issue
(Please scroll down to the bottom of the page (and click on the "Post A Comment" button) to post your comment.)
========================
Get more help with you invention ideas by reading this invention ebook by a man who has sold millions of units of his own inventions.
Millions From Adsense And Blogger If You Can Find The Right Software
Innovative Entrepreneur Who Crossed Swords With "Total Man" Nicholas Biwott Spills His Guts And Tells All...
To Heal His Conscience, he Says
The Standard newspaper has this week been carrying an exclusive series where their Washington correspondent interviewed Alnoor Kassam, now doing very well as an entrepreneur in Calgary, Canada.
Many younger generation Kenyans have no idea who Alnoor Kassam is. Yet behind this name is one of the most amazing Kenyan business stories of innovation, which I am about to tell.
Alnoor Kassam, as I remember him, was a short bespectacled man with a funny walk (almost a limp). But he built a Kshs 100 billion (annual turnover) business from almost nothing, in a very short space of time. That was the Diners Club Turnover shortly before his empire came crashing down.
Kassam bought the local Diners Club franchise when it was struggling. Those running it then saw it as a headache business where collections were quite often difficult. Kassam saw it as a legal way to "print money" because the 5% per month interest rate on Diners Club credit card balances actually meant a 60% per annum rate.
Kassam's first business on graduating as a Chartered accountant and returning to Kenya in 1979 had been a book match company called Empire Match Company. Book matches are those small matches that open like a book and often have advertisements printed on their front. With the sort of margins he was making from this small business, Kassam must have been very excited about the prospects in Diners.
However like a vast majority of Asian business persons in Kenya then and now, the match company was his legitimate business or cover, but he had another much more lucrative illegal business on the side that was his main cash cow. Kassam was an illegal foreign exchange dealer. In those days, it was illegal to hold or trade in foreign currency. Kassam found ways, using his foreign contacts of obtaining foreign currency, which he sold at a premium in the forex-starved local market.
On purchasing the Kenyan Diners franchise and with a little help from an American program that uses retired professionals and entrepreneurs to give technical advice to businesses in third world countries, Alnoor Kassam was able to build the local Diners Club franchise into one of the fastest growing and most innovative organizations ever seen in these shores.
Employees were motivated with huge cash rewards for performance and ideas that would improve customer service and profits. The workplace at Diners became one of the most exciting places anybody in Kenya would be privileged enough to work in. Some of the innovations that resulted included 24 hour round-the-clock banking services and drive-in banking amongst a host of other very innovative ideas that had never before been seen in these shores. A major subsidiary, Diners Finance quickly followed.
But the problem subsidiary that brought everything crashing down was TradeBank.
Kassam bought the bank from an Israeli national by the name of Gad Zeevi and was informed that TradeBank had loaned HZ construction Shs 400 million. That money actually went directly into the pockets of the then all-powerful cabinet minister and Moi confidante Nicholas Kipyator Biwott. Kassam came up with all sorts of schemes to recover this colossal amount owed to TradeBank, including acquiring the building that almost cost him his life, Yaya Centre as an asset against the cash owed, but the loan was never recovered. In fact it caused the collapse of TradeBank and Alnoor's business empire in Kenya.
The other big mistake Kassam made was to get mixed up with politicians. Kassam's life was threatened many times and this was how he finally had to flee the country for dear life through Tanzania after some security officers turned up at his office one day to arrest him.
In his account of how he escaped, published in the Standard this week, Kassam says he invited the arresting officers for lunch while he made good his escape through a back entrance they probably did not know about. Or did he just bribe them, as is widely believed?
Kassam claims that he has told all in the Standard, but there are a number of mysteries that linger like this one. How do you get arresting officers to allow you out of their sight? By just inviting them to lunch? Or did he mean he invited them to "chai?"
Read the fascinating Standard newspaper articles on Alnoor Kassam;
Alnoor Kassam Confessions Part I
Alnoor Kassam Confessions Part 2
Alnoor Kassam Confessions Part 3
=======
Join in the raging debate over this thorny Luo-Kikuyu relationship issue
(Please scroll down to the bottom of the page (and click on the "Post A Comment" button) to post your comment.)
========================
Get more help with you invention ideas by reading this invention ebook by a man who has sold millions of units of his own inventions.
Millions From Adsense And Blogger If You Can Find The Right Software
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