Random Saturday Observations

– Cement index: There was a Nation story today about new faces and other giant killers who knocked out several prominent members of parliament in party nominations last month. However some signs were on the wall for non-performing MP's; cement industry people could tell which MP’s are likely to survive/be thrown out on election day (December 27) based on how much cement a constituency CDF has bought – an indicator of how development minded an MP has been over the last five years.

– Nairobi City had been transformed hawkers everywhere, undoing all John Gakuo’s hard work. One group I’d not mind seeing are the fruit vendors at a time when Uchumi is selling imported tangerines at 350 shillings ($5.50) per kilo and oranges at 160 per kilo from South Africa.

– Pesa Point should relocate their kileleshwa ATM from the Kasusku center where it is not accessible after 6:30 PM – to the police station across the street where it is equally safe, but can be accessed 24/7 like all other pesa point ATM's.

– A stockbrokers office is up to no good again - messing around with clients funds & shares, and making unauthorized sales without informing investors. Diligent investors who discover the anomalies are told they are ‘errors‘ which will be corrected.

– Exam markers for KCPE essays say they can tell the difference between academy and public schools students - The differnce in quality is so stark with academy kids way ahead.

– It seems pretty woman liaisons that start on the beaches of Mombasa now end with afternoon shopping trips at Nakumatt Nyali for groceries.

- Local pubs watch out most Nairobi butcheries are are shortchanging buyers of roast meat. I always knew it - but how can you prove it without looking cheap? If you argue before cooking, your order is going to be messed up, but if you wait to complain after you see the roast meat on the table, you’re too hungry to refuse what's on offer.


Business briefs
– Allahabad Bank (of India) is looking to acquire a small to mid-sized bank in Kenya or Tanzania.

– Cooperative Insurance Company has extended its private placement from November 23 to December 31. The placement needs more publicity as every new investment officering this year has been over subscribed - from bank rights, to new bonds and IPO’s

– Standard investment bank partnered with the National bank of Kenya to offer stockbroking services through NBKL branches. Are insurance companies watching this – how their stockbroking siblings are using banks to penetrate into rural Kenya?

– The World Bank will seek to mobilize the African Diaspora towards partnerships to develop the continent. More than 1/3 of Africa’s highly qualified human resources are presently in the Diaspora and most are unlikely to return to the continent, but do remit $4-6 billion per year and a significant number of professionals from the continent are cu. One of the proposals is for the WB to work with the African Union to create a Diaspora Remittances Investment Fund.

- The Cheetah index business site has been launched by African Path

– Nakumatt Kisumu is now open 24 hours daily

- Safaricom and EABL had better hurry up with their Christmas promotion competitions

Local media

- Along comes K24, Kenya’s first 25 hour new channel. According to the People newspaper it is backed by Regional Reach mogul Rose Kimotho and it will use Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) to distribute its signal as part of a private/public partnership. K24 will also see the reemergence of Jeff Koinange last at CNN and other local media exiles.

Morning shows have been American broadcast network cash cows for years – and now they have come to Kenya. NTV started it off with NTV this morning which has been running for about two months, and last week Citizen started their own called power breakfast. They have to generate more content to fill up the 3 hours.

- Needs content; I was initially a fan and fell for the beautiful scenery of NTV’s Cobra Squad but now can’t stand the monotony and repetition - (5 min) car chase, cop blunders (5 min) foot chase, twist in story, (5 min) car chase, gun fight, (5 min) car chase.......