White Collar Wonderland

Last Friday, the directors of the collapsed Euro Bank were acquitted of charges in a complex case of fraudulently accepting a deposit from the Postal Corporation of Kenya.

This extends a long trend of poor prosecutions resulting in a series of acquittals in high-profile corruption cases.

What does this portend for suspects in Anglo Leasing, Goldenberg, recently-suspended heads of parastatals, and others charged with white-collar corruption crimes in Kenya? They may not have much to worry about beyond their names being forever linked with graft cases.

Perry Mason problem
Former DPP Murgor complained for a long time that it was unfair and demoralizing for his prosecution staff to earn so much less than KACA investigators. And like the fictitious prosecutor Hamilton Burger, who lost every case to superstar-lawyer Perry Mason, government prosecutors end up facing the cream of the Kenyan legal society who all the major accused people are able to hire with their deep pockets. Along the way, they may suffer a few setbacks but the high-powered defence lawyers mostly win their cases. e.g. Ketan Somaia and his co-accused were sent to Kamiti for a few months (and spending a good chunk of time in a Nairobi hospital) but their convictions for stealing from the National Bank was eventually overturned.

Complex cases
Better lawyers aside, most cases are difficult to understand, let alone to prove. In the words of Vice President Moody Awori - “who is my accuser, on what charge?” - the principals are far removed from the crime and the crime itself is not easily defined. It is easy to prosecute a case where a policeman asks for, and receives a 5,000 shilling bribe from a motorist who later shows up and testifes in court against the policemen, armed with evidence supporting the bribe. But the Anglo Leasing and Goldeberg are complicated since the prime movers signed almost no documents. The few fingerprints to be found are those of their juniors who processed the dubious payments to non-existent companies. Murgor/Wako have had to terminate and withdraw many corruption cases that their prosecutors had presented in court because they later realized that the charges could not be sustained.

Lawyers vs. Bankers
The court process is not speedy especially where assets are involved. E.g. All Banks incur thousands of shillings monthly in legal fees often in cases where straight forward loan-default cases are tied up in courts awaiting hearing dates or where injunctions are filed, allegations of bank fraud, excessive penalties & interest are all raised by unscrupulous lawyers to muddy the case. lawyers are able to stretch cases for several years, to point where the legal cost exceed the loan costs and force banks to surrender by settling with their clients. The lesson here is the longer the court process, the better the chance of acquittal or dropping of charges

Conclusion
So it unlikely that people accused of corruption will ever be convicted. It may now be easier to prosecute people under the Public Officers Ethics Act, but as Mutula Kilonzo says on Crossfire, the law came into effect in 2005, and cannot be applied retroactively.

Homeless Part II

The apartment search continues and I had settled on a nice place on Mbagathi Way. But today a shocking notice was placed in the newspapers that Mbagathi Way will be closed for 2 months to Westward-bound vehicle traffic from March 1 to facilitate completion (cementing) of the road repairs.

I predict a public uproar over this proposed move as there are tens of thousands of residents who live in ever-increasing apartments on the highway not to mention the thousands of cars that travel between Ngong and Langata roads along Mbagathi Way - and the Ministry or Roads & the Contractor will probably be forced to scale down their plans, perhaps to allow single lane traffic alongside road-repair crews.

Online help
The best site I have found for apartment searches is Nyumbanet. Another service, that I used to like was The Property Gallery but it’s now inactive.

Some real estate agents also keep up to date information on their (pricey) apartments such as Knight Frank, Neptune, Regent and Villa Care. Also check out Property Kenya and other online real estate agents listed here.

NCC Revenue Collection

Digital maps
Nairobians have started receiving invoices for land rates in 2006. The Nairobi City Council uses data from Geomaps to come up with valuations and land rates whose calculations are not easily understood. E.g. one bill assesses a house about 0.6% in 2006 land rates, and with additional penalties of 3% per month. And it is not clear if these rates are legal.

Tow thugs

Not content with smashing outdoor restaurants, teams from the city council have now taken harassment in the name of revenue collection to a new level. 5 PM is the cut off time in the city, after which parking is free of charge. But now if a car is illegally parked in the evening (usually the owner is in a bar somewhere) it is likely to be towed away by a council land rover. This is often preceded by a standoff between angry bar patrons on one side and the rungu-armed team who travel in each land rover. The owner later has to part with a few thousand shillings to release the car.

It is already difficult to find decent parking near many popular bars as all the good spaces are taken up by taxis. Imagine how bad things would be if they extended this new rule to more Westlands, Hurlingam or other bar-filled areas of the city.

Jobs

Check these out
- Nakumatt has opened a new store in Karen.
- Java coffee house now have a new restaurant just off Uniafric House on Koinange Street.

Area sales managers at African Spirits. apply to info@wines.co.ke by March 3.

Quality assurance coordinator at Celtel. apply to hr@ke.celtel.com by March 3.

East African Cables
- human resource assistant
- marketing operations coordinator
- sales operations coordinator
Apply to the human resource manager bkowitti@eacables.com by March 10.

Project officer at East African Development Bank. apply to the resident manager p o box 47685 Nairobi by March 17.

Kenya Airways
- systems developer
- safety & emergency procedures instructor
Apply by March 8 to the group director, human resource p o box 19002 Nairobi.

KIPPRA the Kenya Institute of Public Policy Research and Analysis has 10openings for its one-year Young Professional program beginning in July. There are 2 vacancies each in macroeconomics, productive sector, social sector infrastructure & economic services, and private sector development. Candidates must have economics masters degree and apply by March 30 to admin@kippra.or.ke (more details here).

Credit officers at Kenya Women’s Finance Trust. Apply by March 13 to the recruitment committee P O Box 55919-00200 Nairobi.

Desktop publishing & information officer at Kick Start. Apply to kickstart@kickstart.org by 10 March.

Sales executives at Nyali Beach hotel. Apply to cezam@czmkenya by March 6.

Ogilvy East Africa
- account manager medical marketing
- media planner
Apply to jobs@ogilvy.co.ke.

Safaricom & Mercesdes

With some ministers very quiet on the job these days, some key permanent secretaries are speaking more about their ministry policy directions and plans for the rest of the year.

Communications
Dr Bitange Ndemo, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Communications gave an interview this week where he revealed that:
- Telkom will be restructured in the next few months and privatised by the end of the year. This is urgent because the value of Telkom is decreasing each year and the restructuring, estimated to cost 50 billion shillings, will be financed by the sale of 9% Safaricom to Vodafone.
- The licensing of a second national operator, - FORGET ABOUT IT, as Telkom already faces enough competition

Finance
- Joseph Kinyua, the Finance PS announced that government would privatise National Bank by the end of the year.
- Consolidated bank will also be sold to another party. The previous owners of Consolidated have expressed interest in re-aquiring the bank’s assets.
- He also announced that the government will follow in the steps of Rwanda and limit purchases of government limousines. Good luck, as we’ll keep any eye out for any new GK giants like the all new Merc S Class.



- Sector documents from the Ministry of Finance are now available at their web site

Barclays 2005

Barclays is the first bank to publish it’s final accounts for the year 2005 and the results re-affirm the Bank's # 1 status in the country even though their balance sheet shrunk from 110 to 105 billion ($1.45 billion).

The bank’s performance dipped during the year and after tax profit was 3.72 billion shillings, which was down from 3.85b in 2004. The Bank attributed the loss to closure of branches and one-time retrenchment costs. Even as loans during the year increased from 63b to 66b, total non performing assets also increased from 9b to 11.9b

Also noticeable was the Bank’s fee & commission income dipped from 5b to 4.8 billion shillings which could be an indication that Kenyan bank customers are getting smarter about avoiding/minimising the amounts that bank’s can extract from them through charges. Barclays and Standard Chartered both earn about 40% of their total income from fees, while other banks like Equity, KCB, Cooperative and CBA are more dependent on such income.

With earnings per share of 18 shillings, the Bank was once again very generous and will pay a total dividend of 14 shillings per share. Barclays 2nd and final dividend of 11 sh per share (1st of 3sh was paid in October) will be paid after their AGM on Friday April 28 at KICC to shareholders of record as at 23rd March.

February 21

Bank news

SMS Banking: Paramount Bank is the latest to introduce SMS Banking in conjunction with Safaricom. Each SMS received e.g. for mini-statements, withdrawal/deposit notifications, balance queries and Forex rates will result in a 10 shillings debit to an account. This compares with Co-op Bank which charges 15/= to 30/= for similar services via mobile phone.

Top dog: Citibank Kenya gets a new MD

Un-doing Githongo

The Kenya Pipeline Company has resumed construction of its headquarters in Embakasi which was stopped by then-PS John Githongo. A move to new building, once complete, should save the company about 50 million a year which it pays to the National Bank for renting one quarter of its headquarters in downtown Nairobi.

Other news
BAT: In 2005, British American tobacco turnover increased from 9.87b to 11.2 billion shillings and after tax profit increased from 1.21b to 1.38b. The company will pay a final dividend of 4.5 shillings after the AGM on 25 April to shareholders as at 20 March. Total dividend for the year will be 12.5 out of EPS of 13.82 shillings for the year. Like EABL and Safaricom who probably feel some guilt over their high annual profits, BAT reminded the public that they paid 5.3 billion shillings to the government through excise, VAT and income taxes last year.

Kengen has cancelled a controversial plan to reserve IPO shares in the company for a select group of investors.

The NSSF is still saddled with several prime plots a year after they first tried to sell them. These include a 4.7 acre parking lot between GPO & Grand Regency, .9 & 1.3 acre plots on State House, 2 acres opp. Fairview Hotel and 63 beach-front acres in Kikambala Mombasa, among others. They appear to have sold their 50 acres near Karen, 20 acres on Langata Road and 2.5 acres on Hospital Rd in Upper Hill.

Opportunities
Develop web sites for the Government of Kenya (tender 3/2005/06 ) including the official government web site and standard sites for each of the 33 government ministries. Apply to the Secretary to the Cabinet and Head of Public Service, P O Box 62345-00200 Nairobi by March 20. More info can be obtained from the ICT secretary at info@kenya.go.ke and the application process also includes a non-refundable fee of 10,000 shillings.
Import from Japan: The Government of Japan is funding an import substitution program to businessmen and companies through the Government of Kenya Monday. Apply by March 13 to crownagents@ke.crownagents.com.

Jobs
- AATF administration & finance manager at the Africa-agricultural technology foundation. Apply at aatf@aatf-africa.org by Feb 24
- Danida Kenya senior private sector development adviser. Apply here y Feb 23.
- IFC Expert consultants at the Africa business environment rapid response task force. Apply at ifc.org/careers by March 3.

Politics
Political Reform*1: Planning Permanent Secretary, Dr. Edward Sambili, has called for the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission to probe allegations of misuse of constituency development funds (CDF).
Political Reform*2 From South Africa - Contained in the ANC’s election manifesto is a code of conduct for their municipal candidates that Kenyan MP’s should be asked to swear to include;
- I will fight against corruption in any guise or form.
- I will listen to the views of the community and hold a public meeting with all community members to report back on my work, at least four times a year.
- I will live in the community that has elected me.

Homeless

I am effectively homeless after giving my landlady formal notice to end my lease. The requirement of a two-month notice has left me with about 50 days to find a new place. In the meantime I also have to move out and fix & paint my old place in order to get back my deposit worth 2 months rent and other tenant costs.

I am very happy where I am now but this year my situation has changed this year – I need a bigger place, and I also have an additional car loan to service. But I was also getting tired of my current lease requirement of paying rent in cash only – which necessitated two visits to the ATM on consecutive days. In between I always feared I'd be car-jacked and lose a month's rent.

So I am looking for a new place, at similar or lower cost, that’s still close to town, a secure neighborhood, and that’s green. - There are parts of Nairobi where the lack of greenery (trees or grass) is depressing. Also traffic, and the commute to town, should not be a major issue – and this rules out living on Thika Road or Jogoo Road.

In terms of security, there are many beautiful apartments in Nairobi - but to access the compounds is very tricky. Some have non-existent, rocky, dusty or bushy roads. This may be fine now, but I wouldn’t want to use the same road by car or foot at night, and I can only imagine how bad it would be during the rainy season

The search for an apartment has been time-consuming and frustrating and I spend all my free time driving around, looking at "for rent" signs. Any apartment advertised by a real estate agent will cost about 10,000 more than it can truly had for - and they try and justify this by throwing in pool, gym, Jacuzzi and other facilities that I may never use.

The number of con people out there also is troubling. I have seen houses, which I later found out, were not available for rent, or which the owner was unknown, or out of the country. I flatly refuse to pay a viewing fee that some people charge usually 1,500 to view a house. I have learnt not to call cell phone numbers, as 70% of them are a waste of time. And I have found confirmed that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is - like when I see ads, like 3br apartment in Westlands for 20,000

February 17

News

KPLC
The Kenya Power & Lighting Company will launch a pre-paid payment system on a pilot basis before rolling it out to their 750,000 customers. The public opening of tenders for the project will be held on February 23. KPLC’s 6 month after-tax profits increased to 761 million at December 31 from 504m the previous year.

Serena
Even with over 90% of shareholder notices returned, the hotel chain has extended the deadline for its share swap to April 14. The new stock should be listed on the NSE on March 15 and an extraordinary general meeting will be held on March 24 to approve de-listing of the old shares.

Jobs

Aga Khan Foundation
- Regional financial analyst. Apply at akf.east-africa@akdn.org by February 24.

East African Standard
- Senior business writers
- Photographers
Apply at hrd@eastandard.net

Kencall
All applicants must have clear & neutral accents and check for more details and apply at their site
- Telesales executives
- Transcribers
- Marketing/PR/Business Development Manager
- Database Analyst SQL2000/2005 or mySQL
- Systems Administrator Helpdesk and Service Desk

Planning Systems Services
- Architects
- Architectural assistants
Apply to the administration director at info@planning-kenya.com

Spy vs Spy

Africa Confidential reports that both President Kibaki and National Intelligence chief Brigadier Wilson Boinet knew that Githongo was covertly recording conversations with senior officials in the government. And for his part Boinet was monitoring all of Githongo's external calls.

Venture Capital & Asset Backed Securities

The Capital Markets Authority has published new regulations for venture capital companies and asset-backed securities for public discussion up to March 3.

Monkey Business?
After East African Cables announced it’s 2005 results, the company’s shares jumped by 17 shillings or 11% on a volume of only 1,000 shares traded on February 14 (opened at 158 and closed at 175). The next day they dropped by 4 shillings on a volume of 25,627 shares and today they lost another 2 shillings on a volume of 1,560 shares traded.

Un-Absa

A South African banking regulator believes that absorbing Barclays Africa operations in nine countries (including Barclays Kenya) would be “too much to chew” for Absa. This is part of the second phase of the Barclays Absa merger

Also at the NSE

Consolidation at REA Vipingo
The Robinow family (UK) has applied to the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) to increase its stake in Rea Vipingo plantations from 21% to 57% by acquiring shares from REA Holdings (for Kshs. 94 million) and Unitbuckle Holding through a private transfer. They are appealing that the effective takeover be classified as a consolidation and not as a take over and intend for the company to continue trading at the NSE.

East African Cables group turnover increased from 825m to 1,162 million shillings and profit almost doubled from 124m in 2004 to 213m in 2005. The company will pay a 2nd and final dividend of 3.5 sh per share (1st interim dividend was 1.5) after the AGM in March.

Pan Africa Insurance ended 2005 with net premium income increasing from 790m to 1,031 million and total income from 1,105m to 1,569m. Profit for the year increased from 94m to 177m and the company will pay a dividend of 1.2 sh per share (up from 1) after May 11.

Serena: Wednesday February 15th is the deadline for Serena shareholders to participate in the company’s consolidation.

Banks

EABS Bank intends to reduce its share capital from 1,662.5 million to 1,112.5 m shillings and a court hearing will be held on February 28 in this regard.

Dubai Bank has advertised to sell the road construction assets of the late Sunil Behal - including graders, caterpillars, lorries, tippers, fuel & water tankers, trailers and bull dozers - by public auction on February 21.

Scholarship opportunity

The Les Aspin Center for Government is inviting a select few Kenyan to a 6 week training program on anti-corruption and good governance to be conducted in Washington DC in August and September 2006.

Candidates: Must be Kenya so over 25 years (if university students over 21 years) with not less than 2 years relevant work experience e.g. at government agencies, civil society, human rights, women development, education, print & electronic media, or to do with public or private accountability.

Applications: Deadline is March 17, and send pack (application letter, 2 letters of recommendations, p.copy of passport, current org. info, CV and 200 – 250 word statement of purpose on how training will benefit the candidate & society) to the Les Aspin Center for Government P O Box 50309 city square Nairobi. (apply only to Nairobi & by snail mail)

Cheap Advertising
The Nairobi City Council has slashed advertising rates by 50%.

Missing Links

There are about 20 roads envisioned for Nairobi, known as Nairobi missing links that had been planned as far back as independence and in subsequent development plans for the City. These were designed to open up neighborhoods to development and ease transportations problems – but were never built.

These plans have remained on city maps and while land developers have generally avoided constructing on these set-aside areas, there has probably been encroachment on in the more densely populated areas, as indicated by the recent failure of fire-fighting efforts. In some cases the city council has licensed businesses to operate there but only as temporary occupants.

The Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is undertaking a study on the development of missing links “3 6 & 7” which are located on the western side of Nairobi to be an experiment for the rest of the City’s roads – and they will the projects for financing by the Government of Japan. If approved, construction of the following roads (with bridges, pedestrian & cycle lanes) should begin in 2007:
(i) a short road from the Westlands roundabout to Riverside drive
(ii) a road from Kileleshwa police station/Kasuku center to Methodist university
(iii) a road from Yaya center to Lavington area.

February 10 - Hemi

Cool Wheels


Today I saw a Chrysler 300 on the streets of Nairobi for the first time. (Billionaire Businessman had spotted one last year) It’s a sleek, fast machine and is used by the South Korean Ambassador. I wish DT Dobie (who have the Jeep franchise) would ship more Chrysler 300’s to Nairobi. It would be the perfect car for government executives to use, is more affordable that the popular GK (and getting far too common) E-class, and would fall within most government procurement limits (except engine size).

Bbank Jobs
Equity Bank
- Corporate communications manager. Applicants should be age 35 – 45, have communications, business or journalism degree and 6 years PR experience. Apply to communications@ebsafrica.co.ke by February 22.

Commercial Bank of Africa
- Senior manager , business banking unit corporate banking (Ref SM/BBU/CB)
- Assistant general manager corporate banking (AGM/CB)
- Business development manager corporate banking (BDM/CB)
- Senior manager human resource development (SM/HRM)
- Assistant general manager – liability management & institutional banking (AGM/LMIB)
Apply to jobs@cba.co.ke by February 24.

Kenya Commercial Bank
- Business development manager (focusing on western union)
- Field services manager
Apply to the divisional director HR - P O Box 48400-00100 Nairobi by February 22

World Bank
- Principal Regional Team Leader (Africa) based in Nairobi. Applicants should have an advanced degree in a relevant field, such as Sanitary or Environmental Engineering, Social Science, Economics, Finance or Business Administration. They must also have a minimum of 12 years of professional experience in relevant sectors plus a PhD degree, or 15 years of relevant experience plus a master’s degree. Closing date for applications is February 9. and more details can be found more can be found here.

Financial Jobs

HLB Ashvir & HLB Zainash Consulting
- Audit supervisors
- Audit seniors
- Tax supervisor
- Consulting senior
- IT consultant
Apply to consult@ashvir.com by 15 February.

International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) is seeking a Director of Finance and Administration based at its HQ in Nairobi, Kenya. Applicants should have a business degree, an FCA/ACCA/CPA and at least 10 years of relevant management experience at a senior level. Apply to icipehr@icipe.org by February 28.

Nation Media Group is hiring accounts assistants. Apply to hrrecruit@nation.co.ke by February 13.

Oxfam is hiring a program finance support officer. Apply to kenyajobs@oxfam.org.uk by February 24.

Other

Kenya Institute of Public Policy Research & Analysis (KIPPRA) is hiring an executive director. Apply at admin@kippra.or.ke by March 15.

Kenya Wildlife Services is hiring a head of information & communication technology. Deadline is February 24.

UUNET
- Customer support engineer
- Marketing manager
- Account manager
Apply to recruitment@ke.uu.net.

Consultancies/Tenders
- Kengeles is inviting investors to take over the running of Kengeles restaurants in Lavington, Yaya, Nairobi West, Koinange street and Kula Korner or other restaurant owners to convert their premises and become Kengeles franchisees. Apply at kmg@kengeles.com
- The Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission wants to buy closed-circuit TV’s and statistical software.
- The Communications Commission of Kenya is inviting consultancies to research and analyse the internet market in Kenya including the penetration rate and factors affecting internet development. Apply by March 6.
- The Kenya Airports Authority is invited companies to install outdoor and indoor advertising billboard at JKIA.
- The Ministry of Finance is inviting consultancy services to (i) review the banking act & building societies act and (ii) establish a debt management department. (All part of the FLSTAP project and deadline is February 13)
- The Ministry of Finance is also tendering for a pensions information management system. Deadline is February 28.
- New regulations on venture capital and asset backed securities should be available at the Capital Markets Authority web site from February 14 for pubic discussion.

Housing
The Kengen staff retirements benefit scheme will construct 84 executive apartments in parklands area with pool, clubhouse, sauna, squash court and jogging track.

Retirement
A Retirement Benefits open day is being at the Sarit expo centre on February 10 and 11.

Feeling like retiring, and also slumping at the worst time is (my) Liverpool who face Wigan on Saturday (Prem), Arsenal on Tuesday (Prem), Man U on Sunday Feb 19 (FA Cup) the Benfica on Tuesday Feb 22 (Champions League).

Safaricom vs. Celtel

Safaricom Success.

Safaricom vs. Celtel
Am contemplating making my Celtel number my main line and downgrading Safaricom to secondary status, after switching to the new Celtel 24 S plan.

Celtel have, clearer calls, good products and service but their marketing has never been as good as Safaricom’s. Safaricom has often released products that are clone’s of Celtel with more fanfare and blitz, and capturing the consumer’s mind sense - such that everyone believes that Safaricom pioneered such products as sambaza (celtel had me2u first) and instant loading of airtime and checking of balances (also a celtel first). Safaricom has the right marketing mix, using colours, sheng, branding – e.g. bamba50, sambaza, as well as popular campaigns such as matatu poa. But one gripe I continue to have with Safaricom is the inability for international callers to get through to me.



Safaricom are quiet right now, but I would not be surprised if they are crunching their numbers, reverse engineering Celtel’s 24 S plan and will come up with their own plan that will offer the same service, but at a slightly cheaper rate.

Telkom modernizes
Starting today, anyone with a Telkom Kenya line in Nairobi or Mombasa will be able to
check their bill online.

The Road to Diani
Tourism Minister, and aspiring Coast king-pin, Morris Dzoro has announced that a new road will be built from
Mombasa airport to Diani Beach - bypassing the Island and Likoni ferry crossing.

EA Breweries
Turnover increased slightly from 18.4 to 19.7 billion shillings in the half year ended in December 2005. After tax profit increased from 3.08b to 3.32 billion and company will pay an interim dividend of Kshs. 1.75 per shares (‘04 was 1.5) to shareholders on 15th March. The company also earned 8.6 billion shillings in indirect tax for the government in the half-year (up from 8b).

US & Anglo Leasing
The day after Finance Minister David Mwiraria resigned, the People newspaper reported that one of the triggers of his departure was that the US Embassy in Nairobi has signalled that it would not grant him a visa to head a Kenyan delegation travelling to Washington DC to attend World Bank talks in February.

Broadband Kenya
Japan's Kyocera has announced the commercial introduction iBurst wireless broadband services to Kenya.

Chasing another pig

Chasing another pig through the village is a German phrase I found in the Economist and which refers to pushing a new cause before finishing an old one.

And this can probably be an accurate description of an upcoming directive by the government to do away with 14-seat matatu’s in favour of larger 25-seater matatu’s (pictured)

Firstly, at this point, initiatives from the Government has so discredited that Kenyans are immediately suspicious that someone in government is pulling a deal whenever a new directive is issued (new passports, seatbelts, sugar/maize importation, state privatisation).

Just two years ago, matatu owners spent thousands of shillings on driver uniforms, re-painting, re-fitting their vehicles with seatbelts and new seats, etc – and now those who own 14-seat vehicles have been told to pack them up as well.

The main difference between 14 and 25 seaters is the source and cost. While most 25 seaters are locally assembled by General Motors and other companies and are sold for over 2 million shillings, the 14 seaters are either older tourist (9 seat) vans or used imports from Dubai or Japan costing less than a million shillings.

There was a time when Nairobi and Mombasa were served by large buses which were even dedicated to school routes and students could buy passes for a term and not have to carry cash for bus fare every day. The buses could carry about 90 people (seating and standing, but with the introduction of matatu’s the buses could not compete and withdrew from many routes to focus on major commuting areas. What next - will the government advocate a return to the bigger 50 seat buses (and allow standing passengers), which can’t manoeuvre on many small roads and in estates?

The problems of urban transport will not be solved in a day or from one directive but I think the major problems are the lack of mass public transport and the large number of private cars on the road with single passengers (e.g. me)

Other measures that can be attempted:
- Tear up Nairobi and plan & build a whole new city (Aut already been done in Abuja, Nigeria with mixed results)
- Car-pooling (but can’t be enforced and private car owners will run their cars as taxis by charging their passengers a fare)
- More railways – (but there’s no land and no caash for new railways in the City)
- More roads, (in progress, but very slow)
- Alternative work hours (to reduce rush hour jams)
- Hefty commuter taxes (like London is trying) for private drivers
- Create special lanes for motorcycles and bicycles (also with obstacles/barriers to prevent matatus & cars using these special lanes)

No Kengen

Every investor I know is interested, setting money aside, and eagerly awaiting to buy Kengen shares - and time and again, investment bankers, government officials, and institutional investors have expressed sentiments that this will be the biggest IPO in Kenya’s history

But now the Sunday Standard has reported that the IPO will may lock out anyone who can't buy a million shares - which is contrary to earlier expressions on the part of the government that the IPO would be as fair as possible and be allocated to as many investors.

I don’t read political mischief in this, but it appears that Kengen is a can’t lose investment – and whoever gets the shares at say 20/= will immediately flip them on at the market price (say 100+ shillings) earning a substantial profit (and with no capital gains tax in Kenya, huge profits will be made). Still I am hoping that the controversial clauses may be removed to enable us small investors, who can't afford a million shares, to get a chance at the NSE's version of Goggle

February 3

Jobs

Oriental commercial bank: (formerly Delphis)
- Branch managers
- Head of finance
- Head of internal audit
- Head of technical services
- Head of treasury, foreign exchange, and international banking
- Deputy general manager
Apply through the executive selection division of HLB Zainash Consulting at consult@ashvir.com by February 7

K-Rep Bank
- bank clerks
- business development officers

KADET: The Kenya agency for development of enterprises & technology (KADET) a world vision international subsidiary
- Audit assistant
- Accounts assistant
Apply to kadetrecruit@wvi.org by February 8

UNDP/GOK: public sector reform/development secretariat
- Program coordinator: transformational leadership ethics and values
- Technical coordinator: information and communications
- Program officer: transformational leadership ethics and values
Apply though inmail.kenya@undp.org by February 6

Caritas
- Finance & Administration officer at Caritas, a Roman Catholic aid agency, who will be based in Nairobi, with frequent travel to Sudan and Somaliland. Apply through jobs@caritas-switzerland.org by 12 February

Millennium Villages Project MVP of the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) - based in Kisumu
- Project Manager
- Operations Manager
- Agricultural Coordinator
- Health Coordinator
- Infrastructure Coordinator
- Community Development Coordinator
- Enterprise Coordinator
Apply via icrafhru@cgiar.org by 15 February.

HLSP
HLSP is an international organisation working to improve world health with opportunities in Nairobi
- Business Manager
- Project Officer

Symphony a leading regional IT company
- channel manager
- sales executive
- products & procurement manager
- admin assistant
- senior accountant
- accounts assistant
- system engineer
apply though hrd@symphony.co.ke by 10 February.

Bank News

- IFC will set up a regional credit reference bureau in Nairobi to serve Kenya Uganda Tanzania Rwanda and Burundi.
- CFC will launch a credit card this year.
- Consolidated Bank has added on ATM’s (Kenswitch networked) in Isiolo, Nyeri and Maua.

Corporate News

Half-year corporate results as at December 31

Mumias Sugar: Six-month revenue increased from 6.39 to 6.92 billion shillings despite selling 5% sell sugar and generating 50% less cash. After tax-profit rose from 567m to 774m and the company will pay an interim dividend of .75 per share (last year was .6) to shareholders on March 27

East African Portland: Turnover at the cement company increased from 2.59m to 3.11 billion shillings and after tax profit increased from 252m to 594m shillings. The company will pay an interim divided of 1.3sh per share on March 31. The company’s performance was assisted by the strong shilling versus the Yen in which the bank is servicing a huge loan.

Unga: Turnover was flat - 3.79 billion shillings ( 3.74b in 04) and after tax profit is still low, but increased from 34 to 73 million in the half year.

Sports
Saturday 04 February
3:30 PM AFCON:: QF 3: Nigeria vs Tunisia
4:15 PM 6 Nations:: Ireland vs Italy
5:30 PM Everton vs Man City & SS6 Birmingham vs Arsenal
6:30 PM 6 Nations:: England vs Wales
7:30 PM AFCON:: QF 4: Cameroon vs Ivory Coast
8:00 PM Man Utd vs Fulham
8:15 PM Indoor GP: Stuttgart, Germany
10:15 PM Real Madrid vs Espanol

Sunday 05 February
4:00 PM Tottenham vs Charlton
5:45 PM 6 Nations:: Scotland vs France
6:30 PM Chelsea vs Liverpool

Monday 06 February
2:00 AM ESPN Superbowl XL: Seattle Seahawks vs. Pittsburgh Steelers
7:15 AM Pakistan vs India 1st ODI

K-Street encounter, and other (in) security matters

not what you’re thinking
Last night, I was driving home alone after a stressful workday. It was about 7:15 PM and I was at the traffic light at the end of Koinange (K) Street about to turn onto University Way. Koinange Street is notorious for its red-light nightlife, which normally stars after 9 PM.

I was the second car behind the traffic light and, as usual, I left some space between myself and the two cars ahead. A man (not a parking boy) stepped onto the street and began begging from the drivers of the two cars ahead. In my headlight, he was really rugged and dirty, with one shoe, looked drunk/high, and kept making gestures as though he wanted food in his mouth – but he got nothing from them.

He then walked down the street past me, and then appeared to remember that he had passed a car. He turned and came up to my closed window and repeated his hungry gestures. I ignored him and he stepped back. I tracked his movements in my rearview mirror as he walked round the back of the bar and came round in front of my empty passenger side.

All this happened in a few seconds: He then reached down and tried to pull out my left headlight. I wasn’t aware of what I was doing, but I engaged gears and stepped on the accelerator shoving him away from the car. It didn’t appear to bother him and he walked round the back of my car again. It took a few moments for me to find the reverse gear and eventually I engaged it and moved back by a few feet towards him – and so he walked away and disappeared into the dark alley by Lillian Towers.

I drove into the Vice Preston petrol station where I got out and examined the car for damage, and thankfully there was none. In the past I have seen parking boys on TV, extracting headlights in seconds using screwdrivers or other crude tools - but I think this dude was too stoned and had tried to do the job with his bare hands.

Anyway, this all got me thinking: What if my small bump with the car had not chased him off? Would I have had the courage to run him down? And then what next? Would I have stayed to finish him off/or help him up, or would I have driven 100 meters to Central Police Station, and what would I have reported there? And if a crowd had appeared on the scene, would they have beaten him for being a thief, or stoned me for deliberately running over a hungry, beggar? And if I had seen him carrying my headlight, would I have unwisely got out of the car to get it back from him?

Security industry
The security industry is one area that has experienced tremendous growth over the last few years. Insecurity has gripped the country and especially our leaders. Buildings everywhere are being fenced off and fortified. In front of the Treasury, there is now a 24-hour roadblock /security checkpoint and another one in front of Central Bank. One senior official even (reportedly) has a full-time armed guard in his office, even when he has meetings or visitors.

Ministers and senior government officials are escorted by chase cars full of bodyguards who all speed down the wrong side of roads to bypass (insecure) traffic jams. No one is too un-important to qualify for some extra protection – from MP’s to Narc activists, Kikambala bombing suspects, to department heads and other ‘VIP’s.

It is common to see buses, minivans or some other uninsured GK vehicles early in the morning or evenings dashing across town, full of policemen with their rifles going to relieve other teams that are guarding so-and-so’s houses.

The average Kenyan has deal with a verity of hostile elements, but it appears that these superheroes face a whole other set of super villains and need some extra powers and protections.

Mata Hari


But all the physical security in the world is not enough to protect anyone from their own worst enemy. Loose lips sink ships and just as Kiraitu probably regrets all the talks he held with John Githongo, there is little one can do to secure the words we speak (unless we start acting like the Mafia, and speak in code or assume that all conversations are being recorded)

One night this week at an upscale restaurant, one official was helpless in the hands of a Caucasian lady who, though appearing to be attracted to the man and his every word, pawed and milked him for sensitive information about his powerful government job which he happily provided. Meanwhile he probably had a security team outside waiting to safely escort him home.

Talking Point
Why do most policemen have cell phones (and very good Nokia models) and which they use to report all police matters. Don’t they have walkie-talkies any more, do they trust their radios or are the radio networks unreliable? Who buys airtime for the cops cellphones?