Mwau Supporters Flood Kumekucha With Angry Emails

Quite a number of people have been sending me angry emails over the last few days about how inaccurate my information on Harun Mwau and William Kabogo is. One nice lady even supported Mwau’s ridiculous theory about the Americans wanting to finish the innocent Kilome legislator and wondered why I “trust the Americans so much.”

I have answered most of these emails politely but deep inside me I have felt very offended that people would want to insult my intelligence even if they think it is limited. Where do these people think I came from? Do they think I fell from the sky and landed in Kenya one day and promptly started publishing articles about drug kingpins by cutting and pasting information from some newspaper? Do they honestly believe that the story about Obama and the Americans wanting to finish Mwau can really, really be taken seriously outside the Mathari mental hospital in Nairobi? I know that the feared Tana River crocodiles of Kenya can swallow just about anything but it is like these people are expecting it to swallow a Mugumo tree that has not even been uprooted if they think we can buy their cock and bull story.

There was a time not too long ago when I was running for dear life. And one of the serious enemies I had made were some individuals in the local drug business (apart from the main threat who was a fellow involved in extra-judicial killings now facing Ocampo at the Hague). At the time nobody had ever dared name the said drug lords before. I was the first and I paid for it (if you have never been on the run for your life you will not have an inkling of what I am talking about when I say I paid dearly). And during that time I was informed about several other people running for dear life courtesy of Harun Mwau. But that is a post for another day.

As you read this Mr Mwau is just about finished. The Americans have convinced the world beyond any reasonable doubts that the evidence they have on the Kilome legislator (and others) is rock solid. This has come at a time when the police have recommended that Mwau’s bodyguards be charged with giving false information to the police. Some Kenyans feel that the bodyguards should be interrogated to ascertain where they got their instructions from (to try and fool the police). Local sleuths have evidence to prove that the bullets were not fired where the bodyguards say they were (simply because they were no spent cartridges on the scene, stupid) and the police are also convinced that the bullet holes on the car are consistent with a situation where they were fired when the car was stationary and not when it was moving as the body guards told the police.

So now the big question is what was the motive of the stage managed shooting?

It was to prove that indeed Obama had sent some people to kill Mwau (I am laughing even as I type this) and that his life was indeed in great danger. The idea was to draw sympathy from the public so that Kenyans find it easier to believe that the legislator is innocent and just being targeted for reasons unknown. I guess this is the kind of scheme that would have worked like a charm in 1960 and the kind that somebody dreams up in this day and age when they have been overtaken by the times. You and I know that when the Americans want to execute somebody (every government has to protect it’s interests) they will tend do it in a very clinical fashion and they will certainly not send some gunmen who can’t shoot straight to Garden square restaurant to lazily have a few beers before shooting aimlessly at the speeding car of Mwau after the target has been dropped off and then probably go back inside Garden Square to finish their beers and discuss the failed assassination. Come on!!! Even an amateur assassin straight out of primary school in Kenya just learning his trade would never be so hilariously incompetent.

DPP Keraiko Tobiko has the very first test before him. Kenyans are watching him very closely. Will he decide to prosecute? And if he does who will he prosecute? The bodyguards only? Or will the case seek to find out where these hirelings got their orders from?

But what has really hit Harun Mwau hard and below the belt is the fact that he can no longer do business with the United States or for that matter anybody in the United States. But what’s more is that his colossal assets in that country have been frozen.

In his heart Mwau must be seething with rage at the hypocrisy of the Americans having done so many key errands for Uncle Sam in the region over the years (mainly deals that had to do with gun running). The reality is that this is the nature of business and politics the world over. It is not personal it is pure business and very normal for what a friend calls the toilet paper syndrome to kick in. That is somebody whom you were a valuable business partner just the other day dumps you after he is done with you. That’s reality, that’s how the real world works.

But for many Kenyans celebrations will be in order over Mwau’s predicament and for many it is for very personal reasons. All those young Kenyans who have irreversibly been destroyed by hard drugs were somebody’s son and somebody’s dear brother or sister. Kenyans will also be celebrating the terrible wounding of impunity. Personally I am not popping any Champaign just yet. Mainly because I know for a fact that a hungry lion is much easier to deal with than a wounded one. The latter is terribly dangerous.

P.S. The reason why Tobiko will not touch the person who gave Mwau’s bodyguards orders to stage manage a shooting is because the legislator has serious connections across the political landscape. He was one of the major financiers of ODM and Raila Odinga’s bid for the presidency. Indeed he was offered a full cabinet post by PM (but declined) even when he and everybody else in the political class knew exactly how Mwau makes his money. So the poor bodyguards may just take the rap for somebody’s bad ideas. That’s Kenya for you.

Hidden Profits: How to squeeze more profits from your business Part 2

By Jeff Kumekucha
I have received a lot of positive feedback from the first part of this article. It seems that I touched a raw nerve and many entrepreneurs at this moment are facing the problem of shrinking profits.

Today I conclude my article.

Actually it is easier to squeeze out more profits from a business than most people think. To illustrate this let us take a closer look at a typical restaurant business (a great favourite for many Kenyans).

The typical experience is that this waiter comes up to you and takes your order in a hurry. They are usually harassed and want to move on to the next client. From the moment they stand in front of you, you feel under preassure to give your order as quickly as possible so that you can release them to rush off to the next customer. It is like they are doing you a favour serving you. I know many restaurants that do this and still seem to be doing well. I can see the thinking behind hiring the minimum number of waiters. It is to cut down on costs.

Now come with me for a minute and let’s take a completely different path. The waiter approaches you with a smile as you peruse the menu and greets you warmly.

II have never seen you here before. Is this your first time to honour us with your visit?” he asks.

And then he goes on to suggest that you have a drink as you decide on what you are going to eat. You agree. When he gets back he offers his help by asking you a few questions like how hungry you are (so that he knows what portions to give). Are you on a diet? (so that he can recommend dishes more knowledgeably).

After you finish every course he suggests something else. Even after you have finished your meal and want to leave. The weather is extremely hot outside and you have had some chicken curry or something. The waiter intelligently suggests that you try their special ice-cream to cool off and make the hot weather more bearable before you leave.

This attention to detail and friendly talk is NOT wasting time. The end result is that each customer served ends up spending more than they had planned. Admittedly not every customer will take the recommendations given but say out of every 50 customers served in a day by a single waiter, at least 25 will end up spending 50% more than they had planned and maybe 5% will spend three times what they had originally intended to spend. Done properly you will find that hiring more well trained waiters will not only increase your costs but will increase profits many times over.

Translate the example I have just given into figures and you will begin to see that too many restaurants in this country never reach anywhere near their full potential for earnings.

Now the example I have given in a restaurant can be applied to any business. The person taking the order just needs to prepare themselves and think on their feet. For instance a customer at a stationary shop who buys a ream of photocopying paper may also be interested in toners for their laser printer or photocopier. Especially if you can offer it at a discount.

If you are selling something that people need to replace periodically you can estimate how long it takes them before they require new supplies. You can even ask them directly. By simply contacting them at the right time and making useful suggestions, you can win a lot of business that would have otherwise gone to your competitors.

Much more profits can be squeezed out of any business while giving your customers better service. And you do not have to raise prices which is what everybody rushes to do first.

Read about many more specific examples from the Kenyan market and beyond that will help you find hidden profits in your business that you never thought existed. It does not matter what kind of business you are in, whether it is a website or small stall in the market or a high tech computer company, these ideas will impact on your profits and bottom line. Get my regular Free Hidden Profits report NOW

Read Part 1 of this article