Standard Newspaper's One Billion Shilling Investment Program

As the smoke continues to go up at Kimathi street, home of the Nation media group, rival Standard group recently announced an ambitious one billion shilling investment program. On the surface there is hardly anything out of the ordinary about this for a company whose flagship product, The East African Standard was launched in 1902 and is by far the oldest newspaper in the region.

After all, only recently shares of the company started trading on the main board after years on the second tier market of the Nairobi Stock Exchange.

Keen observers however did not fail to notice that out of the two banks funding Kshs 600 million of the investment programme (the rest will come from internal sources within the Standard group) one can qualify to be called a Standard group sister company. The Commercial Bank of Africa majority shareholders are the same people who are also the majority shareholders of the Standard group. Namely the Moi family. That is why it was so amusing to hear CEO Isaac Awuondo give the "solid reasons" why his bank had accepted to fund the Standard group expansion programme. The other bank funding the project is CFC bank.

There is little doubt that this latest move will greatly help the Standard group's KTN to fortify its' position as Kenya's leading Television network. Despite stiff competition and the entry of the Nation group into the business, KTN has been unshaken and there is no doubt that no other station in the region understands television like the folks at Nyayo House.

The newspaper is however a different kettle of fish and there are those who would argue against the purchase of the state-of-the-art new printing press just now.

If truth be told, ever since the Daily Nation changed direction from a circulation-oriented daily to a newspaper that relies more heavily on advertising to meet it's quarterly budgets, (in the 90s) The Standard has never really managed to re-position itself effectively. It is as if the newspaper has had two competing minds. The first has made a serious stab at trying to fill the circulation vacuum left by the Daily Nation's change of direction, which has mainly been attempted by sensational headlines with little or no content to back it up. On the other hand, the newspaper has also struggled unsuccessfully to regain its' position as the top ad revenue generating newspaper in the country.

Still it is worth noting that the circulation boosting efforts by Standard newspaper executives seem to have been at least good enough to cause a strange incident last year where some unknown people were going round newspaper vendors in Nairobi paying them not to display the Standard newspaper.

Many feel that it may have been a wiser move to hold off the investment in the new press until the newspaper is surer of the way forward.

However it is also true to point out the fact we are in an election year and by simply playing second fiddle to the Nation, the Standard is bound to break all circulation records filling in where the Nation will have quickly sold out. So the new press is probably justified just for this reason alone.

A Kenyan safari of a lifetime at a price you will not believe.

Mutula Kilonzo The Mediator

Nominated MP Mutula Kilonzo is no ordinary lawyer. Having represented the former president and a number of other platinum clients, the successful city lawyer has now been chosen as the mediator to sort out the bitter differences between presidential aspirants Kalonzo Musyoka and Raila Odinga that is threatening to tear apart ODM-Kenya.

Kilonzo who holds the amorphous post of team leader in ODM has been at the forefront in defending the movement at press conferences and has even overshadowed the party's official spokesman, Anyang Nyongo who is the interim party secretary general.

Having known the fabulously rich lawyer since the Moi's days, I was not in the least surprised when Kilonzo won the trust of the big wigs in ODM over a very short period of time not to mention the fact that he is still a Kanu nominated MP… And still former president Moi's lawyer. This last one is all he more fascinating because Moi has on several occasions expressed his disaffection towards ODM.

For one, Kilonzo is a very highly intelligent guy who is very impressive and convincing when it comes to arguing out his case whether in court or in a business deal, but his greatest asset is his ability of maintaining client confidentiality at all costs.

It is as a result of this confidentiality that Mutula happens to still represent Moi and other prominent clients like appellate judge Waki who won his case against corruption allegations and was reinstated.

It is also worth noting that Kilonzo is now representing justice Thomas Mbaluto who is facing corruption allegations. Among his other high profile clients are former Central bank governor Andrew Mullei and embattled Ford Kenya chairman Musikari Kombo (a competitor to ODM-Kenya. Mutula's list of prominent clients who may even be rivals is endless.

Kilonzo once bragged to me once that he has also acted for Kibaki when he was a minister in the Kanu government and he is well known to him in spite of being on opposite sides of the political divide now.

Mutula may not have the experience of mediating but due to the time and effort he has put into ODM so far, not to mention the moral and material support, he is the best placed among ODM ranks to make peace.

Other lawyers in the party like Daniel Maanzo and people like Otieno Kajwang are so partisan and short sighted that the best they can do is to act as alter ego's to the presidential candidates they support.

My bet is that id Narc-Kenya and ODM-Kenya need a mediator in the not too distant future, then that person is most likely going to be… You guessed it, Mutula Kilonzo.

A Kenyan safari of a lifetime at a price you will not believe.