The Total Motor show took place this last weekend in Nairobi (Friday 9th to Sunday, September 11, 2011). It was interesting as usual, but this time it was at KICC unlike the last one that was at the Ngong Racecourse. With the weaker shilling, and higher petrol prices, there was a noted change in some vehicle prices and more companies offering more efficient vehicle management solutions.

Some notable moments:

Companies like CMC (Ford, jaguar, Volkswagen) and Toyota did not display prices, but it was a shock to hear that a Toyota Corolla 1.8, cost Kshs 3.3M ($36,000) which is about three times the price people pay for used import models.

Public Service Vehicles: Companies like General Motors have their Isuzu's ready to ride on the Government’s plans for larger PSV vehicles and they had a pimped out matatu – the NPR that costs Kshs 4M ($43,000), and an Isuzu FRR model (Used by many Citi Hoppa’s operators and which costs Kshs 5.8M ($63,000) and an 62- seat bus that was Kshs 9.4M

Trucks: These were a plenty, but the the truck king of the road is the Mercedes Actros; new models of these can be bought via D.T. Dobie at a cost of €93,500 (~Kshs 12.2 million) and each order is customized to the buyer’s requirements before it is built. The popular Mitsubishi FH215 is Kshs. 5.1M

Luxury: Head to head in the luxury department were BMW (from Simba Colt) and perennial market leader Mercedes (from DT Dobie) who had a range of cars, priced with and without duty/tax (an option for diplomat’s, Government and NGO buyers). BMW had the X3 at €60,000 )Kshs 7.8M) while Mercedes had the ML350 for €110,000 (kshs 14.3M). BMW had the 3-series for €47,000 (~Kshs. 6.1M) while the C200 Mercedes was €60,000 (or €34,000 duty free), and BMW also had the 5-series on show for €60,000 while Mercedes had the E200 for €78,000 (~Kshs 10.1M) or duty free for €48,000 (~Kshs 6.25M)

Pick-Up/SUV: DT Dobie has the Nissan NP 200, launched at the 2009 motor show at Kshs 1.2 million, but which now costs Kshs 1.87 million and CMC had a new Volkswagen pickup that was not priced. Mitsubishi had an L200 double cab at Kshs 4.1 million, an update of the popular Pajero at Kshs 6.5 million, while Mahindra had pickups ranging between Kshs 2.4 - 2.9 million.

With rising fuel prices, fuel saving solutions on offer include Stoic (touting to save up to 40% on fuel prices) and Fuel max (sold by Kiprin Enterprises - and enticing with savings of up to 50%). Other energy savers were Solar powered lanterns called Total Sola from sponsor Total. Better driving solutions were offered by Glen Edmunds driving school for defensive driving while Scania had one for long distance truck drivers that are purported to save 6 litres per 100 kilometers driven (from the current average of 40 litres over 100 kilometers) and which also brings better tyre and break wear

Other: Toyota also sell Yamaha motor bikes including a 106CC model which comes with a free helmet, reflect jacket, registration and one year warranty (or 6,000 km)

Car Tracking : Companies included Rivercross tracking (who also install a fuel fuel monitor that warns when truck drivers may be selling diesel from their trucks) as were other companies like Retriever, and Cyber Trace.

Online Classifieds: Car buyers and sellers had cheki and dealfish (which is free for buyers & sellers)

Banks: Banks in the auto finance sector were represented at the show including NIC, KCB, Equity, Imperial, Co-Op, Chase and CFCStanbic. Co-op have PSV financing (aimed at Sacco’s) and school bus financing (unique application requirement are board of governor approval and minutes, and ID, fees structure of school.

Apprentice: A motor show surprise was a twitter conversation with @karuoro and @mediamk on the prevalence of former D.T. Dobie mechanics who are specialists in Mercedes.

- @bankelele: I know about 3 garages run by ex-DT Dobie mechs (it's like a badge of honour)
- @mediamk: those mechs are amazing, I wish this was the case across different industries (as) apprenticeship is a good way to grow an industry.
- @karuoro: "The industry leader is obliged to be a net supplier of talent to the industry" - Linus Gitahi (@LGTwits) ...I think quite a number are licensees

.

The D T Dobie apprenticeship mechanic program is open to all Kenyans, male & female, who are less than 22 years and obtained KCSE C+ in English physics and mathematics. Though subsidized it will cost Kshs 50,000 ($550)per year for three years after which staff will be bonded for 3 years. They also accept self sponsored applicants who will pay Kshs 140,000, and the application deadline is 30 April 2012.

Motoring Moment: Thika Road, Commuter Trains

Discovering Thika road: Took a road trip up Thika Road to hang with the Kuweni Serious crew last weekend. Chinese contractors are converting the road into a super highway and the dramatic transformation (follow Thika Road blog ) has plenty of soil hills, deep valleys, closed roads, missing roundabouts etc. It was a fun trip, but as it is said every day, don't drive on Thika Road if you're a stranger, or it’s dark, or the road is wet.

The journey is made more dangerous by Matatu’s and some road regulars who make their way anywhere they see fit - by driving in the wrong land, making U-turns in traffic, over-lapping patient motorists etc.

The highway defies belief, and when it’s done it will probably need other roads to be closed off or expanded. e.g Outer Ring Road and a bypass to Mombasa Road. The large volumes of traffic need to enter and exit cleanly and without delay otherwise there will be more situations like the one at Riverside Drive and (current) Museum Hill Roundabout where traffic waiting to enter these smaller roads spills over backwards onto the large highway causing more jams.

The on-going rains make it more difficult and with all the un-drained water, some cars are probably washed daily only to end up covered in red mud. For users of public vehicles, the rains mean added journey times and increased fares on Matauts.

More Commuter Trains: However there is some relief for commuters who live along Thika Road since Rift Valley Railways (RVR) has upped the number of daily consumer trains in Nairobi from 8 to 18 which collectively serve Kahawa, Dandora, Embakasi, Ruiru, Kikuyu, and Kitengela/Athi River

The addition of the early morning trains has slashed some commuters’ fares by almost 2/3 e.g. some Embakasi residents who take the train paying Kshs 30/- per trip compared to the previous Kshs 70 – 100 per trip by Matatu. Also, the train is more dependable, and takes 25 minutes to complete the journey, unlike driving in a car or matatu, which usually takes over an hour in 'rush hour'.

Ultimately having dependable train travel may lessen the burden on the roads (fewer Vitz card) and while there is talk of having a train to Jomo Kenyatta Airport, it is not a government priority or feasible in the short to medium term.

Commuter trains aside, the reason that the concessionaire, Egypt’s Citadel (operating as Kenya Uganda Railway Holdings) invested was for cargo and the train transport while significantly cheaper than the Kshs 120,000 ($1,500) to transport a container by lorry from Mombasa to Nairobi ($3,600 for Mombasa to Kampala) needs to emphasize this aspect and demonstrate more reliability to business owners. This will relieve the burden on the roads.

Oil Shipment: As the international price of oil is expected to go up owing to instability in the Middle East, in Kenya there is a small dispute between oil companies led by Shell and Kenol pitted against NOCK - National Oil Corporation (NOCK), a Kenya government state agency that imported the latest shipment of diesel on behalf of all the oil companies. After some postponed arrival delays, and tales of missing phantom ships [MT Volga, MT Adden, MT Ratna Sheruti, MT Ratan Namrata], which resulted in a partial cancelation by Shell, a shipment finally arrived on March 1.

However that did not put the matter to rest since NOCK has announced that they would bill the oil companies using the higher March prices instead of the February price. And where is the diesel? NOCK says it has all been sold, but the other oil companies say they have not bought it, and won't be buying it owing to the higher price being demanded.

Fuel Relief: Some slight relief for motorists comes from Kenol who have discounted the price of petrol and diesel by 2 shillings on Tuesdays and Fridays – so petrol today costs about Kshs 100 (~$5.30/gallon) under Deal Poa promotion, and for holders of Kenol corporate fuel cards, they enjoy a 2 shilling discount every day, which doubles to Kshs 4 on Tuesday and Friday

In Car Beverage: My current in-car beverage is Nestea iced tea that you can make in a supermarket. How? (i) Buy a Kshs 20 Nestea satchet (ii) Buy a one litre bottled water for Kshs 40 - 60 (any brand) (iii) pour the sachet contents in the bottle & shake (iv) you have a litre of iced tea for less than $1.

Motoring Moment: Ugly Cars, Overlappers, Thika Road

Overlappers are one of the most irritating nuisances of driving on Nairobi. Over-lappers are drivers who are too impatient to wait their turn in traffic, so they swerve into the lane for oncoming traffic or onto pavements & footpaths, and speed away, only to nudge/cut-in/force/beg for their way back into their assigned lane when they run out of road or meet another car. The habit is believed to have started with Matatu (minibus) drivers who used to be acknowledged as the worst drivers in Nairobi, but has spread to other including ordinary drivers, taxis, buses, governments & diplomatic vehicles.

So we’ve started a new site - Overlap.co.ke ( #overlapKE ) - to rank serial over-lappers and point out over-lapping hot-spots for over-lapping . The police may not be anywhere or have an interest in the reckless road behaviour of some motorists, but there are ordinary motorist who are fed up with the impunity that is symbolized by over-lapping and can send in reports to identity the worst offenders.

Car Use Verification: Odometer tampering is suspected to be a not rare occurrence employed to increase the value or enable the importation of the 5 to 8 cars brought in to Kenya from Japan, Singapore, and Dubai.

However for vehicles shipped from Japan, @Karuoro of Huduma Bora points to the JEVIC(Japanese Vehicle Inspection) site which wary drivers can use to confirm the details of the vehicle they are about to buy, including identification/serial numbers and odometer readings at the time they left Japan.

Road Rage incidents are thankfully still only isolated incidents despite, the build up of traffic gridlock. The use of Police Officers to control traffic is both praised and loathed in different measure. - and a few weeks ago, a truck driver got involved in a major fist fight (longer than several boxing matches) with a traffic policemen.

It was captured on camera (above), and when played on TV caused some debate with different viewers siding with the policeman and others with the driver who was later charged in court.

Thika Road: It's transformation to a super-highway courtesy of engineers from China continues, and they are changing the landscape from Nairobi to Thika - going by the changes at Museum Hill, University of Nairobi, and Globe roundabout. You can follow the changes with this useful Thika Road Blog.

Ugly Cars: via @diasporadical comes two lists of ugly cars that may be less desirable than the controversial Toyota Vitz which is equally loved and loathed around Nairobi. My (least) favorite, it’s the Toyota Will V1, of which there a few around Nairobi, but this odd shaped car does not appear to have an (too embarassed?) manufacturer’s badge.

Twitter Week: January 7

Here’s a summary of my week on Twitter in a top 5 format covering traffic and restaurant woes

5. Raring for the World Cup in South Africa: - ESPN to broadcast 2010 world cup in 3D http (via Business pundit)
- Thinking of driving to world cup in SA? AA of Kenya offer (i) car passport (ii) international driver license (iii) COMESA insurance; r/t @bugzville58 good idea you should though Kampala bus is also offering a trip for about 800 dollars one way.

4. Traffic in Nairobi was Good and then Bad: - Nairobi should remain like this: no traffic, or queues and faster bandwidth. Lets close Thika & Nakuru roads and #devolve the rest to shags

- Back to 5 day week and a matatu strike in Kenya to kick off 2010; ying yang: Nairobi public transit strike means booming business for taxis (good luck getting one this evening); r/t @tmsruge I was in the CBD today. All streets were a parking lot. No point taking either as you won't get anywhere. #footing works best! ; Roads not so bad out of town 30min stationary then 10 min cruise home #matatustrike
- R/t @MoSande KE Matatus call off nationwide strike after PM promises to address their grievances. Normal service to resume immediately
- @inexes and i hear someone may be ending Mombasa vacation this evening #nairobitraffic; @karuoro someone just flew in from Mombasa holiday

3. Odds and ends: - From Nairobi Star: statehouse complains about Lucy worst dressed rank, while Atwoli is scandalized–says his peers in 150 wool class are Moi & Kirubi
- The Tamarind Group has taken over the Karen Blixen Coffee Garden Restaurant, which is renamed Tamambo KBCG
- Repeat of 'House of cards' showing on CNBC Africa. Documentary should be done on Nairobi or Nigeria shares bull run and bust
- Books first have buy pizza in happy hour, get one free. But also charge Kshs. 100 for take away pizza cartons - why?

2. Safaricom mandatory SIM registration, and costly 3G: - Via @kahenya solutions to improving mobile competition in #Kenya, and break #Safaricom domination of #3G http://tinyurl.com/y8bs9cl
- via @kainvestor #Safaricom forcing new users to register their sim cards, which can't be activated unless registered with an ID ->safcom=Gok r/t @LarryMadowo Its now a legal requirement for ALL SIM card holders to be registered & #Safaricom move is only the 1st step but @LarryMadowo @kainvestor Safaricom already has 1/2 their subscriber details from m-pesa accounts
- Can’t find a reliable #zain #zap money transfer agent in Kenya? Try the local post office or #posta (via #introverted blog post)
- Consumers getting unhappy about #Safaricom #internet bundle costs http://tinyurl.com/yzxjt25 but they rarely leave @archermishale the word is out, be careful how you use expensive Safaricom data bundles - are they billing on supa ongea tariff?

1 It's 2010: Happy New Year: Against sound advice, went out and got served a crap lunch. Remember waiters & kitchen staff are working, not celebrating the holidays
- Best food prayer I’ve heard '. . Also for the wonderful meal, bless the pockets that may have been depleted by it'
- Looking at the @KenyaBuzz year end calendar - Pole Dancing Competition at Tembo Disco Mombasa http://tinyurl.com/ya786td

Motoring Moment: Spare Parts and Bad Driving

Bad Driving today in Kenya, there is a matatu (public mini-bus) strike protesting at new crackdown by policemen for bribes, noise pollution etc. Matatu’s get blamed for a lot of the bad & dangerous driving behaviour on Kenya roads. This used to be the case, but the bad driving trend has passed on, and you’re just as likely to see over-lapping and traffic gridlock caused by small cars (especially taxis), buses, minister & other government VIP’s - who all over-lap traffic and engage in other risky road behaviour.

Shell Quitting BBC reports Shell petroleum will quit operation in 20 African countries disposing of refinery, storage and product sales. In 2008 Shell had already left some 15 African countries, and rumoured suitors for their assets included Oil Libya Morocco Oil in Northern Africa and Engen in southern Africa. Here in Kenya @coldtusker reckons KenolKobil would be interested if they could line up enough funding. Total of France are likely to snap up some stations after taking over Chevron, and the government will likely arm-twist a fraction of the Shell assets to go to parastatal National Oil Corp of Kenya (NOCK)

Read on Cars: also got the latest issue of AUTOnews published by the Automobile Association of Kenya - some gems in it:

In another world cup opportunity pitch, the AA of Kenya (aalicenscing@aakenmya.co.ke) is offering:
- Car Net a.k.a passport eliminates hassle of lodging log-books or cash duty as you cross border points
- International Driver License that allows Kenyans to drive across borders
- COMESA insurance that covers Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa

Also, (in the issue), did you know there are 9 Kinds of Spare Parts? I thought there were just two genuine and fake, but according to the AA the 9 are:

9. Off cuts - whole chunks of cars from accidents or scrap
8. Imported used parts (also scrap from cars shipped to Kenya in mixed load containers)
7. Stolen parts (from chop shops)
6. Reconditioned parts – salvaged parts which vendors claim to have re-conditioned and tested (likely an impossible task)
5. Salvage parts - taken piece by piece from wrecked cars
4. Counterfeit parts - illegal parts branded as genuine
3. Non-originals - independent brands which copy established brands
2. Original equipment (OE) parts - independent parts approved by manufacturers
1. Genuine parts - made by vehicle manufacturer, brand new & guaranteed with warranty

Cheap Bikes are Good Business: Toyota Kenya sells Yamaha motorbikes including the kazi ngumu which costs Kshs 99,000 (~$1,320) and comes with 1 year warranty, 2 free service schedules, free registration, and a free helmet. Elsewhere in the issue, the Toyota Marketing Manager says the arrival of cheap (Chinese) bikes are boosting their (Yamaha) sales, saying low cost brands offered an entry point, but as motorcycle market has become established they can afford higher quality machines and turn to Yamaha for superior reliability, durability and performance…we are not worried about used imports, they are not a bad thing, certainly there are anomalies in standards and much duty evasion, but mitumba is a way for people to get started, and as they flourish they will look for better and newer products

From Twitter - the classic @roomthinker: You can buy a Toyota Vitz in 2 configurations: 128MB and 256MB #AVitzIsNotACar
- @ArcherMishale: Overheard on FB: In addition to #ToyotaFeets #Feetsubishi #Legsus, Kenyans will also be on #KNEEsanPatrol! LOL!!

- @MwaiKibaki: Kenyans should not listen to radio traffic reports. There have been no traffic jams in Nairobi since January 2003

2009 Nairobi Motor Show

The 2009 Total Kenya Motorshow was held over the weekend. Since the last motor show was held in 2007, much has changed in the motor industry, mainly the global economic downturn, Kenya electoral violence and the dip in the fortunes of car manufacturers & dealers.

Who’s missing? Kenya Revenue Authority, CMC (Ford, Land & Range Rover Mazda, VW, Audi)

who’s here?

GM Kenya the Hummer is now old news in Kenya, and the highlight of their display was a dressed up a Chevy Optra. The 1800 cc car that costs Kshs 2.46M was outfitted with a Government of Kenya Flag and made for a very elegant slap in the face of Government Ministers who have resisted giving up their fuel guzzling Mercedes Limousines that costs 3X as much. NTV reports that the Government is buying over 100 new VW Passat’s, but it will be interesting to see if the top leaders will hand over their Mercedes cars, and what will happen to the fleet afterwards.

DT Dobie: had the new E-Class Mercedes which costs EUR74k (~Kshs 8M) while the smaller C-class Kompressor cost 6.2M and new B class costs 4.7M. Also an icon of Kenya roads, the 1200 Datsun/Nissan pickup has finally being replaced with the NP200, a 1.6 litre pickup that cost 1.2M. They are big in trucking and the award winning Actros was on show at a cost of about Kshs. 9.9M for new trucks, which can take a few weeks to order and deliver. Many local transporters import used Actros trucks from Europe at about ½ the cost. The dealers also sell the Chrysler 300 for $72,600 (~Kshs. 5.5M)

Toyota Kenya Toyota is the most popular car in Kenya, and they often advertise the slogan the car in front of you is always a Toyota They had the Land cruiser VX cost Kshs. 12M, but the diplomats, local NGO’s and donor groups can have it for 7.58M. Also the popular Prado costs 5.6M, with the duty free price is 3.74M and the hardworking Hilux double cab costs 3.69M, with a duty-free price of 2.45M

Simba Colt: the long-time dealers of Mitsubishi are now the new franchise holders for BMW of which they brought a whole range of cars; these included all diesel models of the 530D at 90,300 euros (~Kshs 9.3M) which is about 1.3m more than an E-class Mercedes favoured by the Kenya Government), X5 diesel for 100,000 euro (~10.9M) and vying for the title of new status symbol in Nairobi (currently held by range rover sport)is the (ugly?) X6 whose diesel version is 95,000 euro (~10.4M). Company also had the usual stock of Mitsubishi cars and trucks including the Fuso prime mover which costs 9.04M

Subaru: Had several cars including the Tribeca which Kshs. 6.8 million, and the 2009 Forester that costs Kshs 4.15M. Also car owners can order Subaru spare parts by phone, pay for them by M-Pesa and have them delivered.

Dealers for Indian Car companies were there for Tata, Mahindra, Ashok Leyland. Mahindra got bad reputation in Kenya many years ago when the police acquired some sub-standard used vehicles through political middle-,men that did not last long, and that image is yet to be cleaned up. They had a double cab pickup for 2.45M. Tata had many trucks and vehicles on display, and sales guys said that the Nano will be available in two months in Kenya, at a cost of Kshs. 250,000 (~$3,300 after our hefty vehicle taxes)

Dealers for China Car companies were also present. These included Transafrica for the increasingly popular FAW, Nelion (who’s Beiben truck closely resembles a Mercedes Actros) and Abson Motors . You see many Chinese trucks on the road these days, mostly working on government building projects being done by Chinese road construction companies. -FAW prime movers cost about 5.9M, and are increasingly popular with transport companies because of their manual features (not too heavy on the electronics, computerization of the Euro trucks), while the company also had a new pick up truck, the admiral, which costs 1.4M

Auto accessory companies these included for lots of anti-theft/car tracking (rivercress, stoic) companies, fleet management (AFMS), driving schools (Automobile Association of Kenya, GlenEdmund), body builders like Sai Raj who even fibre glass boats and bus builders KVM - who lamented the shortcuts that other bus (body) builders use in construction e.g. use of arc welding, which results in weak buses that are easily shredded in road accidents, leading to high casualties.

Also present in a big way were G4S - as the former security company has diversified into a hole range of services including fire fighting, ambulances, home fires safety (extinguishers blankets), , training (fire safety), vehicle tracking, all to go along with their traditional 24 hour burglary response

Auto financiers present were several banks (KCB, NIC, Bank of Africa, Diamond Trust (best bank in asset finance), Stanbic) and car insurers Heritage, CIC and CFC Life (who all had very aggressive sales people)



Related past Total motor shows from 2005 and 2007
Ref: Euro = 109 shillings, US dollar = 76 shillings, M=million kenya shillings

Motoring Moment: Bentley, Roundabouts, Crime

an occasional post about cars in Nairobi

The Boys are Back: (and some girls too) The TV nightly news have run a series of stories highlighting the re-emergence of crime in Nairobi targeted at vehicles, and not just when they are parked in unsafe spots. Thieves also wade through slow-moving traffic jams in the daytime looking to snatch handbags, cell phones from unaware motorist, or even pry loose indicator lights (which can cost Kshs. 5,000 or ~$65), external mirrors, hubcaps, or anything that meets their fancy and may fetch a price elsewhere. Because of the abundant re-sale market for car parts, Toyota and Nissan are the main vehicles targets, for indicator lights, but of late I’m also Mitsubishi’s, Subaru’s, and even a Mercedes looking like they’ve been to a motor dentist


picture taken during a replacement, not a theft

some advice
- keep windows reasonably up though its hot
- don’t have valuables in sight
- leave reasonable space between car in front (don't tailgate)
- be aware (don’t talk on the phone in traffic)

There are also other variations in crime , including people jumping on to slow moving cars to feign being hit (and later extort drivers claiming medical expense or quick cash settlements) or even crazier crime stories like this AK47 & technical that seems to be straight out of a Mogadishu playbook.

2009 Motorshow Total (Oil) Kenya have announced that the annual Nairobi motor show will be held at the end of August 2009. (some pictures from a past show (2007)). Great, now how about Nairobi also getting back the popular Air Show that stopped about three years ago?

Strange Cars: Robert Nagila, an NTV Reporter, went and dug out an old Rolls Royce (youtube video here) owned by the City Council of Nairobi , while eagle eyed @karuoro spotted a Bentley GT (twitpic) at the Village Market over the weekend.

Round about solution: Roundabouts are not popular with many Nairobians who believe they contribute to traffic jams. I, for one, believe they are a better option for Nairobi’s inconsiderate and careless drivers. Slate magazine has an article on story on roundabouts expalining why American should build more roundabout as they are safer than intersections. They are also more applicable to Nairobi since proposals to have huge freeways & fly-overs as envisioned in Vision 2030 drawings are far fetched as there is too little land available around the built-up and clogged Nairobi roads.

Garage Sale: The Government of Kenya has proposed a cutback in ministerial Mercedes and limousines, but Mars Group Kenya are not impressed by the proposed cost-cutting & tax raising sale measures.

TrackIt Overkill

KTN have been carrying a sensational three part series on car robberies, with a focus on Track-It. This is a company that installs tracking devices in cars to trace their location if reported as stolen and enable the car to be be recovered by either the company or police



For heavily stolen cars, tracking devices are recommended for owners. Some banks and insurance companies may even insist that they are installed as part of financial contracts. Fleet owners also appreciate using the devices which can assist in fleet management and monitoring

It’s a well researches story, they even obtained a list of alleged track-it customers including three members of parliament, who volunteered for their cars to be ripped apart and checked for the devices, which were apparently not found (KTN reported they found devices in just 50% of the cars they checked)

The saga has played out in an even more sordid as the managing director of that company was recorded on camera offering to bribe the journalists with about $12,000 after admitting it was true that his company had not installed tracking devices in some cars, despite charging their owners 45,000 ~ $560. The devices are small electronic units that are hidden, so that even car thieves won’t know

KTN have led with the story three nights in a row, Nairobi, but is it overkill? urely there are more pressing matters that can be covered in the news. The car theft story has led ahead of political and other events of the day.

Car theft is not a new thing; car jacking have been covered, bus passengers are robbed or terrorized, chopped up cars are fund in agricultural fields and industrial sheds every other week. To spin this story out of three prime time nights is over kill.

Also over looked in the story, and a fact alluded to by the embattled Trackit owner is business competition in the story in the business competition. The owners of the standard/KTN may also be linked to a rival company, industry leader - Cartrack. It would be unsual to KTN to acknopwlede a corporate link, but if thers’s one it should be stated. Maybe it would have been better if another media house e.g. NTV had broken this story, but I doubt if they would have made it a three day special.

e.g. Intel recently posted a query on @twitter on which of the two companies to subscribe to. But after this story is completed and based on the behavior of the Track it boss, that company is finished.

Motoring Moment

- KQ Plane overshoots runway at Entebbe. No reported injuries

- The Nairobi Star has a story about the Kenya Government not wanting to buy new limousines for ministers and the Prime Minister. Meanwhile the Uganda Government is selling 20 post CHOGM BMW jeeps – why not swop?



Speaking of which, what happened to the stretch limos that former presidents Moi and Kenyatta used to use. They disappeared totally during the first term of President Kibaki – but like with the re-discovery of Harambee House office shouldn’t they make a comeback in 2008?

- Is it a rule that lady drivers in expensive cars must wear monster sunglasses?

- The seat of power in Kenya is no longer back left; but front left next to the driver, then you can have bodyguards or aides in the back

- The latest power accessory is a chase car. Made popular by ministers, but now judiciary, military and even MP's & civic leaders use them when visiting trouble spots. Saw a military general last month, who has gone the Uganda route - his chase car was a pick-up full of soldiers with rifles

- It is scary to be a Nissan B16 owner - a car can have latest license plates (few weeks old) like KBA111E and already be missing indicator lights.

- Nice to see cars back in the DT Dobie showroom – which had empty windows in January and February. Damage to an $80,000 car is not worth the drive-past display. Besides if you want a Mercedes, you know how to get one, you don’t have to see it.

Motoring moment: asset finance personified

nice poster here from Lunch over IP on urban transport solutions

The traffic crunch in Nairobi has gotten worse in the last week since 1/3 of the city’s commuters had restrictions placed on their access to downtown Nairobi.

It’s fait to say that over ¾ of cars from KAP___ onwards (cars registered in the last five years) are financed with asset or bank loans - so they are a reflection of the amount of credit in the economy.

But the traffic crunch will continue unless some serious measures are taken as there are few new roads or new parking spaces coming up in the city

What are some solutions?
- Better public transport as the image above shows.
- Restriction on vehicle imports/registrations; But bad for the economy, encourage corruption
- Restrictions on asset finance lending; but bad for banks
- Restrictions on vehicle use e.g. only use vehicles ending with odd number on one day, even the next: but favors the rich (with more than one car) and will encourage fraudulent license switching
- The India way (as adopted by Uganda) and small town in Kenya which is to have motorbikes as taxis. This would be great for those who work in the upper hill area
- Car pooling, temporary parking meters, new capital city? The list is endless

Motoring moment: Schools, traffic jams & motor shows

motor show

The 2007 Total motor show was held at the Ngong racecourse over the weekend. Of late only the Concurs (classic car show) seems to run regularly, but it was great to have the motor show back after two years where we can always see the latest new vehicles and dream of buying them with Safaricom millions.
Nairobians can also look forward to the Nairobi air show to b held on October 7.

Who's here?: Heavy presence by American brands (hummer, Chevy, Cadillac, Chrysler, jeep), while also upcoming is India (Tata, Mahindra), and China (FAW and great wall)

Also present were several banks (NIC, CFC, Barclays, bank o Africa, and Consolidated) all offering vehicle purchase finance plans

who's missing?: some prominent British (Land rover), and German (BMW, Volkswagen/Audi) brands, and the Kenya Revenue Authority. It’s interesting (and sad) to realise how much tax is paid on new cards – as some car companies chose to display both the regular price and duty free price (which the government, embassies, or national of other countries - Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda etc. pay for the same car)

some prices

Cars
Chevy Optra 1.9m
Chrysler 300C 7 million (only 4.1 million duty free)
Mercedes E class 6.4 million [EUR 70k] (only 3.7 million duty free) [EUR 41k]

SUV
New Pajero 6.1m , older model Pajero 3.3 million,
Toyota Land Cruiser VX 9.7m (5.8m duty free), Land Cruiser Prado 5.2m (3.2 DF)
Jeep grand Cherokee 5.7m [$85k] (3.2m DF) [$49k]
Mercedes ML 8.5m (4.9m DF), GL class 11.8m (6.7m DF)
GH Humvee
Cadillac SPX

Lorries
Mercedes Actros 3340 prime mover8.3 million (only 7.1 million duty free)
Mitsubishi Fuso prime mover 8.2m
Trailer by Randon 2.5m

Buses
actually have the same chassis as lorries, just the upper body is different
Tat school bus (62 seats) 4.9m
Nissan 51 seat (i.e. Citi Hoppa) 4.3m
Mitsubishi Fuso (51 seat) 2.8m
Nissan 67 seat 8m

Pickup
Toyota Land Crusier4.8m (2.8m DF)

schools & traffic
last week has marked the beginning of third term for most schools kids – and the impact on rush hour traffic has mde bad traffic situation even worse – commutes have gone up by 30 min at least each way, and it is often faster to get off the matatu and walk passed a major intersection. The increase is from more passengers (school kids) on matatu's, more school buses on the road, but mostly from parents’ droppings kids off at far away schools across town before cutting back to the office

What would happen if parents were required to school their kids within a certain radius of their homes or offices? And the rule was given a 5 year grace period for investors (or teachers) to get funding (government loans) and other incentives lile land to create quality schools within neighbourhoods? What kind of impact would it have on traffic? There are negatives, but kids would be able to get to school/back home at a decent time (in daylight) or even walk. Parents would not have to make long commutes to quality schools for their kids, and the road would be much clearer even when schools are open. A wishful idea, but totally unenforcable

Gotcha

they finally got to me - halfway at least, almost a year and a half since the last known attempt. There may have been more attempt, but they were probably thwarted by round the clock security and other precautionary measures employed such as tipping night sentries and never straying from safe houses.

The perpetrators took advantage of a rare lapse in judgment and were swift, silent, and deadly in their attack.

The fateful moment came when I went to the bus station to pick up someone visiting the city. As is the case with many such visitors, they believe there is no food in Nairobi so they come armed with several sacks of fresh fruits and vegetables.
So for a few seconds I stepped out o the car (leaving it unarmed and exposed) to help my force the sacks into the boot – and for those few seconds, the car doors were open and the alarm was off.

As soon as I drove off I knew something was wrong – and sure enough when I stopped to check there was a huge hole where my indicator light used to be!

That’s one plague of driving very popular and very common Toyota is their parts are in great demand – much so that thieves are always ready to snatch your mirrors and lights to sell the last motorist who has lost his – and front indicator lights are a prized item that is likely to be stolen anytime.

Motoring moment: low tech cars

It took three stories to make up this post.

First was this story that appeared in the Standard last week about a range rover limousine that got messed up by a pothole. Then there was one where TV talk show host and car aficionado Jay Leno bragged about being the only celebrity who can drive a manual transmission SLR Mercedes. And finally this piece from the wall street journal which chronicles how frustrated new car owners are with their high-tech machines

Which brings up the question, how much it too much technology for cars? With my budget, I can only to drive a car that Wanjala, my mechanic, can fix at his garage and one whose parts are relatively available and affordable.

Yet Kenyans have been buying top of the range cars at an astonishing rate, some without local parts or technical support. And some of the cars are loaded with such gizmos and that make even their owners confused. How many times have you ridden in a car where the owner does not know what half the dashboard gizmos do? There are all wheel drive cars that never leave the city, tiptronic gears that are never used, cars that lock their owner out or in depending on their perception of insecurity, cars that are supposed to avoid collision and others that are supposed to park themselves.

Sometimes they break down in strange and sad ways - from cars with blown turbochargers that cause them to crawl or new cars that you see parked at the back of a garage as they await arrival of some obscure engine part or maybe it's because the dealer's electronic diagnostic kit has not discovered what bug is ailing the engine.

Other motoring moments:
- a VIP accident
- arrival of the Chrysler 300

Enough about cars

April 13 Jobs

most from the daily papers this week

Academy for educational development: finance manager, finance assistant, administration manager. Apply to regionaloffice@aed.org by 27/4

Investment analyst at British American asset managers. Apply to BAAMHR@baam.co.ke by 27/4

Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue. Project manager and a regional director,both in Nairobi. D/L is 30/4

Financial information systems manager at Equity bank. Apply to jobs@equitybank.co.ke by 27/4

Operations officer (Nairobi) at the IFC growth oriented women entrepreneurs (GOWE Kenya) program. D/L is 27/4

Human resource manager at Innscor Kenya apply to recruit@innscorkenya.co.ke by 27/4

Management trainees at KCB. Apply online by 27/4

Kenya national commission on human rights: principal human rights officer - research policy & legislation program, principal human rights officer - campaign & advocacy program, principal human rights officer - complaints & investigation program. Apply to the commission secretary 74359-00200 by 30/7

Magadi soda: senior buyer, product development manager. Apply to recruit@magadisoda.co.ke by 27/4

Microsoft: infrastructure consultant, corporate account manager, partner account manager. Apply to wecajobs@microsoft.com

Safaricom: Senior internal auditor, senior information systems auditor, and senior information security officer. Deadline is 18/4

Executive director at Transparency international. Apply to recruit@sadeptsystems.co.ke by 27/4

Regional Program Leader at the World Bank PPIAF Nairobi. D/L is 30/4

Bad driving Roundup

bad driver Index
The other day I was stuck in a meeting and had a chance to observe traffic at the Kenyatta Avenue /I&M Towers intersection - and realized how bad we are at driving. A few minutes later I was down there myself adding to the chaos nosing a car foot-by-foot through until other driver had to yield.

While the most aggressive drivers appear to be matatus, taxis, citi hoppas, we are all to blame as regular motorists because we are equally bad drivers. Driving along the roadside, changing or creating extra lanes, doing u-turns etc.

Matatu and other bus drivers can get reported by sending an SMS to 2333 and once a month the Ministry of Transport will publish all these offences in a full page spread in the newspaper.

But there’s no mechanism for reporting private motorists or consequence for private bad drivers.
I wish the Ministry would extend the program to private motorists – in conjunction with Safaricom or Celtel – and enable motorists, or pedestrians to report bad driving by any driver. The difference is that only motorists who pile up more than 5 or 10 offences a month (reported by different people) get printed in the paper and asked to appear before the traffic court to answer for driving offences. I wonder how many times I’d appear on that list!

But motoring is only an extension of our aggressive/ rude inconsiderate selves that can be manifested anywhere, not just when driving.

Consider these other examples from a supermarket last weekend;
- Our inability to form a queue. Uchumi has a sign clearly indicating where to line up for bread - but which most customers ignore as they crowd the counter and yell out their orders for hot loaves or croissant
- A man with his kids on his way to a birthday party who pushed a full trolley through the 3 items only aisle. When I asked him if he understood the policy of the aisle, he said he was buying only 3 items – chocolate bar, bag of sweets, and balloons - but 10 of each item which unfortunately also had to be rung up separately by the cashier!
- Another day, a lady with her young daughter who paid for her items only to realise that her young daughter had picked out the wrong type of lotion. But instead of dealing with it later, she shoved a 1,000 shilling note at the cashier and dashed back into the supermarket to pick up the correct bottle – leaving five of us in the 3 items express queue also waiting to be served. To add insult to the matter she bumped into an old friend and had a chat for a minute while the rest of us stood and muttered insults under our breath.

Enough about that.

Airlines
Just about 20 months ago we marvelled at Kenya Airways whose share price had just shot up into the 60's - before it went on to hit 140 and settle around 120 shillings a share. At the same time Richard Branson was setting up a Virgin partnership in Nigeria and the first scheduled airline services were resuming to the Sudan

Today, Kenya Airways share price is back in the 60's, Virgin Atlantic's boss is here to firm up his launch plans for the Virgin Airline and there seems to be a new airline to the Sudan every month.

Francis Thuo
Today, March 21, marks the deadline for investors and creditors of Francis Thuo Stockbrokers to have filed their claims with the statutory manager.

Busy paper pushers
There are people employed at organizations whose job is to align their organizations to the national goals of the day. Like chameleons, they alter their corporate objectives, mission, and policies to ensure they are aligned to ensure 10% economic growth, millennium development goals(MDGs), zero based budgeting, and now Visions 2030 etc. Also in a touch of electioneering they have been asked to mention what constituency any/all their operations are - which will no doubt end up in a little booklet that will be dished out by November.

More media
Amid the changes at KTN comes a new television station to Kenya with a twist: first to broadcast vernecular language

Finally
driving horror tale A bank manager parked his luxury car on the street during the daytime and came back to collect it at about 8 p.m. He entered and drove towards home along well-lit streets till near Westland's when he noticed that he couldn't see the road very well. He parked at a petrol station and got out - only to find that his car had no headlights. They had all been removed by street boys back in town, and he had blissfully driven this far courtesy of Adopt-a-light streetlights.

Motoring moment

Chrysler 300 officially here


One prediction (or wishful thinking) from a year ago has come true and there was a Chrysler 300 sitting in the DT Dobie showroom on Sunday. The car which has won numerous awards, and featured in every other rap video since it was introduced, can now be bought by Kenyan motorists (w/right hand drive steering) at a price of 5 – 6 million shillings ($85,000 after our prohibitive taxes are added up) [Chrysler site prices them at $25 to $36,000]

Unfortunately it shares the DT Dobie showroom with its corporate sister – the world beating Mercedes Benz E-class which is just about every other Kenyan’s dream car. Also, as with most American cars, the engine size does not make its fuel consumption pocket friendly at our petrol prices (~$4.3/gallon) even though Chrysler states that the 300’s consumption is better than that of a Subaru Legacy GT (common on Kenyan roads).

Is coolant necessary?
Over the weekend I had to top up a car radiator and found myself having to choose between water and coolant. In my experience coolant (aka anti freeze) is designed primarily for winter weather driving where water (in sub-zero temperatures) will freeze and damage engine systems.

Yet, most cars are imported to Kenya from winter countries (arriving with coolant already in the radiator system) - and while Kenyan drivers have always used water in in their car engines (petrol & diesel), many vehicle owners insist on using coolant since that is what the car is accustomed to.

But is it really necessary? Coolant is sold at petrol stations at prices ranging from 250 shilling to 500 shillings ($7). This is as much as what many drivers pay for fuel at the station. I have always used water, and while have occasionally bought coolant, I have never noticed any difference.

In searching the web, the best answer I could find, implied some benefit to some cars from using coolant instead of water.

Many cars overheat because dirty water is poured in to the radiator (usualy by petrol stations attendant). If car owners were careful about ensuring that onlu clean water is used, they can save some money instead of buying unnecessary coolant.

bullet proof cars
There was a story in the Sunday Nation about a company (Radar Danminar) that would soon be selling bullet-proof Toyota land cruisers for 19 million shillings ($270,000) . Alternately they could make your current car bulletproof in a few weeks time for 10 million shillings.

The article rightly points out armored cars are not the answer/will not prevent car jacking of motorists as their cost is too high and you can only arm huge, powerful cars like Land cruisers, Mercs, or BMW’s, and not smaller 1600cc Toyotas that most Kenyans drive.

Cost of going shags & other observations

Made a similar trip before, and this time I decided to quantify the trip in terms of the expenses. People upcountry ask why I visit so little and I try and explain that the distance and the cost are a burden.

Trip Costs
5,200 shillings ($72) for car fuel on the 950-kilometre journey
13,200 Car repair
10,000 (Pre-trip) car service
4,000 Cash handouts
3,200 Drinks
1,800 Fuel (diesel and kerosene for others)
1,500 Hotel
1,000 Food shopping (for others)
900 Food (mine)
250 Supplies
200 Newspapers
Total spent 41,250 shillings ($573)

Lessons learnt
- Avoid driving own car unless absolutely necessary. It's better to take a bus and remove the pain (really bad roads) and cost of car travel out. (68% of this trip costs were car-related including 13,000 shillings for a pair of new shock absorbers after I hit a pothole)
- Keep your movements as mysterious as possible, just show up and leave before people discover you’re around and try not to be expected.
- Eating costs are not much, because food is served in households and it is so much that you can get by on one (lunch) meal a day.
- Radio and TV are still the primary way that people get information up-country. Newspapers are not widely circuited – I had to make 3 phone calls to arrange to get the Friday newspapers and reliable cyber café to browse the Internet or check mail are rare things - cybers are not seen as a viable business and have very short hours. E.g. at the post office
- All our roads should be built by Chinese engineers and companies as the roads they built have stood the test of time over many years. We should also beware of roads put up before an election, as they often collapse within less than a year. It is shocking to find two stretches of a road, done by two different companies, where one is in great shape and the adjacent stretch had as little gravel as a school tennis court. Actually, our roads collapse because load limits are not observed, and lorries on the roads are too heavy.

Going Shags

I don’t travel much these days to shags (rural village home area) and it has been over a year since my last visit. The main reason is the bad state of the roads - with what used to be a 5 hour journey now taking at least 10 hours - on some of the worst possible roads in the country e.g. from Naivasha to Nakuru (including an additional rough 20km diversion) and the last 60 km to Eldoret town.

journey
Driving one’s own car is an unwise decision and likely to lead to tyre, suspension or other serious problems (bottom of car was scraped over numerous rocky road stretches) during or soon after the journey.

Besides the bad roads, other things contribute to delay;
- The occasional pot holes even on good stretches of road - which is where I got a puncture
- In many places where the roads are good, local people have put up humongous bumps to slow you down. Many of these have no warning signs and I hit a few at quite high speed. I later learnt that whenever you see any building esp. school, town, or even a signboard, it’s a good idea to slow down and expect to find some bumps
- police road blocks – there are too many of these and they appear to serve no purpose than to extort money from commercial vehicles. These guys should be performing security operations, not harassing motorists.
- Petty errands. It’s always best to drive non-stop, but some passengers (esp. women) always want to stop for lunch, visit relatives, buy fruit or vegetable etc.

Advice for going shags
- carry small denomination notes – have a separate wad of 50 and 100 and 200 shilling notes.
- avoid giving mobile number or you will be pestered by anyone who later visits the city.

observations
cousins: I have cousins who have been ravaged by alcohol and unemployment - lazy guys who drink all day and are prone to violent outbursts of frustration. I always wonder if I would have turned out like them I had grown up there or if my folks had never left the village to further their education.



They are hustlers who work on you, like Samuel Jackson’s great character in Jungle Fever for your money (hence the wad of loose cash). One said he wanted to replace a stolen mobile phone, 2 asked for money for fertilizer for maize fields, and one was honest enough to ask for drink money – but I suspect they all ended up in same drinking den where nothing like Tusker is served.

news: Going shags used to mean going incommunicado for day. Now one can listen to KISS or Capital FM, use mobile phones, play pool, and newspapers are easier to get. There's still no cybercafé even though I am told the post office was the only internet place but it was closed on Sunday which I checked.

clothes: We used to be take old clothes - torn, worn, too small etc. to donate to our cousins. Now they enough have mitumba clothes sold on each market day and they all have the same fake Arsenal shirts and hip jeans as urbanites.

dogs There seems to have been some crossbreeding since the usual shags dogs now show signs of having some Alsatian and Spaniels genes.

Accidents, Weddings, Banks & Jobs

Accident
Went for fish lunch yesterday and got to see some free street entertainment in the process. I was crossing the road at the Treasury, when a motorcade pulled up to the intersection. It was the vice president and his crew and I paused to admire the cars and especially the Range Rover he was riding in (similar to the one that Minister Ndwiga caught flak for using)



The Escort Mercedes cars lit up their sirens and some of the bodyguards, who were chewing on toothpicks (after lunch), now put their hands out of the open windows to stop traffic as the cars entered the main road.

Suddenly there was a screech of brakes as a speeding Toyota driver jammed on his brakes but unfortunately went on to swipe into the front of one of the Mercedes cars. The VP's range rover and other cars then sped off leaving the merc crew to deal with the errant driver.

They jumped out and surrounded the car, looking agitated with radios and mrundu’s sticking out of their jackets. The Toyota driver also got out in shock at the incident. As usual in Nairobi, a curious crowd of onlookers soon formed. Damage was slight - a few scrapes at the front of each car, but then what happens when you have an accident with an uninsured GK car?

I was too hungry to watch any more of this drama and so went on to lunch. When I passed back 30 minutes later, the cars had driven a few yards to police headquarters, the crowd was still there, and the drivers were explaining to traffic police officers who have now arrived, just what had happened. A typical Nairobi day, hope it ended well for all.....

Wedding
I got called by long-missing cousin to stand in as witness to his wedding at Sheria house. My main worry was what happened to his previous ‘wife’ he used to have years ago. He assured me that they had never been married, no church or traditional ceremony. I was relieved that there were no past wives and I would not be falsely swearing when I witnessed his 'first' wedding.

It was a simple no hassle five minute ceremony that cost 1,700 shillings including the license. And it made me question all the Saturday wedding functions I have attended that cost half a million shillings and involved white flowers, clothes from Turkey, borrowed ranges rovers (see above), three hour church services and all-day functions that unite the couple for the rest of their lives or until their tolerance for each other ends.....

Banks
Co-operative Bank (No. 4) continued its fast growth and turnaround as it doubled pre-tax profits from 354m to 706 million shillings. Deposits grew by 8b to 43 billion, while loans went up by 2b to 29b and the Bank increased its investment in government securities by 5b to 8.2 billion shillings during the year.

Bank of Africa (No. 20) The former Credit Agricole Indosuez increased customer deposits by 1b to 4.1 billion and doubled its cash placements from 517m to 1,015m shillings.

ABC Bank (No.24) Increased loans by 600m to 2.6 billion and deposits by 800m to 4.2b while commission income remained flat.

Banker-a-courting Several bankers are not having a great week including Central Bank governor Andrew Mullei who was charged by the anti-corruption court and former KCB manager Elijah Bii who was unable to bail himself out of Goldenberg-related charges. Of all the recent prominent people charged with corruption, he is one of the few who has not secured himself financially and has spent the last few years dodging auctioneers.

Opportunities

Jobs

Bidco
- area sales in charge
- territory sales supervisors
- apply to careers1@bidco-oil.com by April 5

Kenya Airways
- Information systems auditor
- Head of medical & occupation health
- Technical instructors (avionics and airframe & power plant)
Apply to group human resource director, P O Box 19002 Nairobi by April 3

Kenya Commercial Bank
- national retail manager
- head of business banking
- head of customer service
Apply through Hawkins associates or hawkins.associates@khigroup.com by April 3.

Standard group
- head of HR services
- head of ICT services
Apply to the CEO at pa-gceo@eastandard.net by April 3.

World Bank
The WB is seeking consultants to conduct an evaluation study on Water, Sanitation, Hygiene, and Communities in Kenya. The services include the collection of four rounds of detailed household survey data at 1500 homes in Western Kenya, the collection and microbiological analysis of water and fingerprint samples collected in homes and at drinking water sources. The closing date for submitting expressions of interest is March 27. 

Education Opportunities

St. Andrews Turi
various teaching jobs are available at the famous boarding school.

Scholarships
University of Nairobi is awarding PHD scholarships in economics. Apply by April 30 to economics@uonbi.ac.ke

Help a school
As part of their 60th anniversary celebrations the Davis & Shirtliff company will donate water equipment to needy primary schools. Apply to marketing@dayliff.com by March 31.

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).

Motor Show

The 2005 Total Motor show is being held from September 1 to 4th at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC). It is one of the few enjoyable corporate events that are open to the public. Others include the Air Show (Wilson Airport), Safari Sevens, and Concurs motor show.

This year the entrance fee is up to 300/= shillings ($4) for adults, which is rather pricey, and 50 shillings for unaccompanied children. But the price cushioned by the fact they you get a free autonews magazine (which retails for 150 shillings) and are also entered into a raffle draw with a million shillings cash prize. I had gone there over lunch with 300 shillings in my pocket, hoping to have lunch somewhere, but the event took all my cash.

Who’s there
Represented were auto manufactures including Audi, Chevrolet, Hyundai, Isuzu, Kia, Mazda, Mercedes, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Peugeot, Porsche, Skoda, Subaru, Toyota, Volkswagen, Volvo all with cars, trucks, buses alongside suppliers of spares and accessories.

Fellow bankers
There were many banks represented including Barclays, Diamond Trust, CFC, Southern Credit, NIC and Imperial, all offering a variety of auto loans, hire purchase, insurance finance and credit card products.

Sales teams were in front of each stand handing out brochure and enticing in everyone to leave their phone number and contacts. Whether this energy and enthusiasm will fizzle out over the four day show, we’ll see. One problem with going on the first day is that some stands are not yet staffed, or have no brochures to hand out.

Who’s missing
Dubai vehicle importers: Major motor industry players (especially General Motors & Toyota) always lament each year about duty-free, unroadworthy, 8 year old, 3rd hand “Dubai cars” that are imported from Asia, via Dubai and represent over 70% of the vehicles sold in Kenya every year.

New cars are quiet pricey, which is why a lot of Kenyans are importing or buying “Dubai” cars, and not from local showrooms. E.g. a Chevrolet Aveo was selling at 1.4m ($19,000) while a Nissan Sunny from DT Dobie was going for 1.7 - 1.9 million. But there are people who can write checks and buy cars at the show as someone did last year with the then new Range Rover.

Tax factor
Most of the manufacturer’s two prices for each car; the sale price, as well as the “duty free” price to entice diplomats, donors, churches and other tax-exempt buyers. E.g. While an embassy can buy a BMW 530i for 5.5. million shillings ($73,000), a Kenyan will pay 8.9 million shillings ($119,000) for the same car – 60% more. This disparity is found in all vehicle categories.

The Kenya Revenue Authority was represented at a huge stand and with officers who provided a wealth of information about vehicle importation licensing and tax issues. But they couldn’t tell me why, if I saved enough to buy a car - using my sweat and skills, why I would have to fork over another 60% to them. They were there to collect taxes, not to ask why they collect taxes!

Car Prices
Here’s a sampling of some common 4X4 prices for locals:
BMW X5 9.3 million ($124,000)
Mitsubishi Pajero 4.6 m + VAT ($71,000)
Nissan Patrol 4.6 m to 5.1m ($68,000)
Toyota Prado 4.8 million ($64,000)
Toyota Land Cruiser VX 8.3m ($111,000)
Volvo had the XC90 priced in South African Rand, which was too confusing

Others:
29 seat matatu 2.8m (inclusive of registration & licence)
46 seat luxury bus (9.9 million inclusive of 1 year warranty)
62 seat bus 7.6 million

Lorries:
Mercedes 2628 9.1 million
Mercedes 3340$100k

Star of the Show
Still, there were many of us ogling cars we could not afford; some cars were open for visitors to sit in including a Mercedes CLS350. There were a bunch of people waiting to sit in the front, so I sat in the back, which was rather cramped and listened as a prospective customer told the salesman that he didn’t like the car, because it “resembled a CLK.” The car was locked up soon after and I hope it will be opened up over the weekend. Many of the high-end vehicles from Audi, BMW, Porsche and Land Rover were all locked up

Car Wars

Nation Business Editor Jaindi Kisero urges the government to live within its means by buying vehicles it can afford. But given our governments’ extravagant taste in cars this is not likely. Witness the difference between what our government is likely to buy (Mercedes) for its ministers versus what India buys for her ministers (the Hindustan Ambassador – which was also until recently the official car of the Indian Prime Minister)