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23:34
From: White African
Read This Entry & More At White African
 I recently interviewed Ken Banks, the creator of the software used to monitor the recent Nigerian elections. Ken just sent me a copy of the Nigerian Election Monitoring Report (PDF), compiled by the Network of Mobile Election Monitors (NMEM). It’s a fascinating read, primarily because it’s a grassroots story and one that you would not normally hear from the press.
Traditionally Election observers and monitors deemed credible are often foreign diplomats, bureaucrats and professionals who are sent to visit as many polling stations as they can and inform the world of their impression of the polls. Their effectiveness is limited to the number of places they can visit in a just one day: in a country as vast as Nigeria; without maps or road signs to use in Navigation, these Foreign observers often limit their activities to Abuja (the Nations Capital), Lagos and a few major State Capitals. Places like the Niger Delta with its reputation for violence and kidnapping of Foreigners are no go areas.
A sample text message sent to NMEM:
“Almost all result sheets diverted by PDP stalwarts and INEC ad-hoc staff on the way to wards polling stations in Nsukka Enugu State. By Raph. A. N.”
This type of election monitoring is ground breaking in Africa. I wouldn’t be surprised if it continued to be a case study for future monitoring efforts around the continent - it perfectly showcases how technology can be used to circumnavigate government and organizational inefficiencies by going directly to the people. Make sure you take the time to read this paper. (download the PDF)
  
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17:13
From: Kenya Imagine
Read This Entry & More At Kenya Imagine
 "Too Young??? I don't understand..." "Just do it, I won't have anything to do with you nor the baby if you don't give it up." You know, words must be used wisely sometimes, but these words will never be forgotten by myself. [] I was more convinced now that I wanted my baby. I asked God for a son. My Son is now three years old. A handsome young gentleman. To this date, right from my son's birth, still no word from Derick. Not a pound spent by himself and you ask me why I am anti-men??? Charity Kivuli narrates here how her fiance forced her to have an abortion.
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16:37
From: More to Life
Read This Entry & More At More to Life
First and foremost, let me begin by lamenting. I missed Barrack Obama despite having paid my dues to go and see him. Thanks sinus infection! Despite the fact that I wasn't impressed by who was allowed to ask questions. It didn't include me despite the fact that I didn't intend to ask any questions. I simply meant to attend for the experience. If it doesn't make sense to you, worry not. I don't quite grasp it either. Growing up is proving to be rather tedious when it comes to making choices. Career moves, marriage or not; translating to dating types and even geographical location change decisions. I'm beginning to think that people get married so that they can burden others with decision making. It sure sounds like a good reason to get married right about now. On a charitable note, have you ever thought about feeding the hungry? Whenever I say this, people assume I'm talking about huge charitable deeds. No. What I refer to is just keeping an open eye for a person who seems hungry and is struggling to find the cheapest thing to eat. It happens a lot around where people congregate to eat. once in a while, offer to buy one such person a meal. It's tricky here as people often get offended if they can afford their meals. But trust your gut instinct. I've been doing this for years and I'm yet to falsely identify a person in need. On to some trivia. Did you know the Bronco O.J. Was driving around in on that fateful day was a Hertz rental? Yeah, he came from poster child to DNR (Do Not Rent)on the Hertz rentors list. Could the Kenyan election politics get any more boring (boringier really was tempting to use here). Midwest airlines is offering some redeemable miles for completing a sudoku puzzle. It was rather fun to note they had one after I had made sure to board the plane with a sudoku book at hand. I guess the fever has caught on everywhere. It's the favorite past time here at geeks square (IT professionals floor) at work. And this airline never ceases to amaze me. Great service! They delayed us for an almost 2 hours due to some problem with the airplane. As we deplaned, they were calling our names to give us $75 in discounts for our next purchases. Now, this was my first Midwest airlines delay and I can see how they don't make a habit of delaying people. It just seems airlines seemto thrive as smaller businesses. Finals week. I guess I better pull myself back to being useful. My condolences go out to all the family and friends of the KQ victims. And a speedy recovery is wished upon Kenya Airways as an organization and its employees as they recover from this tragedy. Have a great week.
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14:50
From: REBECCA WANJIKU'S BLOG
Read This Entry & More At REBECCA WANJIKU'S BLOG
There is nothing interesting in a coffee estate but being a young girl or boy growing up in central province, it’s worth it. As a teenager, the major hurdle is waking up at 4am, one must monitor the lorry moving up before strategically lining up by the roadside and wait for the rope to be lowered down, and the “turn boy” hoists you up. This marks the beginning of a hectic day. Rewind!!!!! Why would a teenager go to the estates?? Of course there is nothing good about child labour but the joy of making your own money is overwhelming. For those who don’t have parents to shower them with money and gifts, it feels good to have your own money and the liberty to spend it. On the other hand, the more money you make, the more you set yourself aside from the other lazy bones. This was probably one of the reasons why we would walk about five kilometers to a coffee estate just outside the town I grew up. We would gather around every morning and walk there, this happens when there is no transport. After 5 pm, we gather and compare our money, and vow to do better the following day. To us, it was the formation of the spirit of hard work and competition. But there is a thin line between child labour, competition and hard work. There are various reasons why teenagers, not children work in the estates, but when this work is forced and exploited, then it becomes something else. Just like Bill Clinton delivered newspapers when he was young. If there were any coffee estates in his region, am sure he would have taken the offer. Get me right, I am not advocating for child labour, I am only looking for the constructive side of it. So, read on……
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14:30
From: Kenya Imagine
Read This Entry & More At Kenya Imagine
This question has already been asked by FIDA-Uganda; hopefully it will be repeated aloud in Kenya, too. For domestic abuse knows no social limits, and is found with the self-perceived upper strata of society as badly as with jobless casual workers in the slums. Read as Alexander Eichener on Minister Samuel Moroto accusation of FIDA as a home breaker.
"I know there are certain hon. Members of this House who are members of FIDA. FIDA is breaking peoples' homes. The membership of FIDA is composed of divorcees. In some instances, minor marital cases which can be handled by village elders are rushed to FIDA offices. Such cases are twisted until husbands and wives break up. What impact will FIDA have on the Kenya Anti-Corruption Advisory Board (KACAB)? If we nominate such people, they will do more harm than good."
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13:57
From: Kikuyumoja's realm
Read This Entry & More At Kikuyumoja's realm
The following post on cooking goes out to all my friends out there who hardly ever cook. Yes, those very same ppl who enjoy watching Jamie Oliver creating some culinary miracorrrrs, but prefer to opt for the quick & dirty solution when it comes to organizing dinner.
Ok now, this is Germany, which means lots of people eating bread. Healthy wholemeal bread and not that kind of white bread the Brits (who can’t cook! yes, I said it!) presumably introduced to a country like Kenya. If there’s one good thing about Germany, then it’s the beer, a wide variety of whole-meal breads and different kinds of sausages.
As for the bread, there are ready mixtures available for as low as EUR 0,35 that just require 320ml of warm water, 2h hours of resting and about 45 minutes of baking in the oven @ ~ 200°C. A simple and quick solution for your own bread that doesn’t come with any preservatives and other fake ingredients. Since you’re the one who bakes it, you know what’s inside. Pefect.
vegetable soup with fresh parsley and home-baked whole-meal bread
And then there’s the vegetaboooool.
The vegetable they are selling here in Germany often comes from some articifial plantations in Spain or the Netherlands - and while it looks great, it often tastes like…nothing. The potatoes I bought, for instance, have come from Israel.
Israel! Now that reminds me of the apples from China we had the other day…
So I went shopping and came across a bunch of more or less cheap vegetables: potatoes, onions, carrots and celery. I added a bunch of parsley and headed home.
“No, I don’t want to eat any carbohydrates in the evening”, I heard this friend of mine complaining the other day. - “Yeah, sure…how about a light soup then?”.
Yes, how about a nice vegetable soup? My initial plan was to slightly cook the vegetable and eat it with some curd cheers, but then I just chopped everything, threw it onto the stove with some (very) salty water and let it boil until the vegetable had this particular “al dente” firmness: ready to bite.
I then pureed everything with my favourite kitchen gadgetimoja and added some nutmeg and fresh parsley and a bit of milk.
This recipe is just so simple and yet healthy as it contains no oils or other evil stuff that makes you think twice about the evening beer. Also, you may want to freeze any extra soup that you can’t finish in one day, which just makes it perfect for those many many singles out there who eat nothing at all in the evenings just because they are too tired to cook a single menu.
(this article is part of the “cooking with Juergen Kamau” series :-)
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10:29
From: assidous
Read This Entry & More At assidous
Imagine a situation in which a rapist is jailed for life then he goes ahead and refuses to go to jail then walks out majestically from the court precincts! Back to his home! Or in a worst case scenario, a murderer doing the same! Just imagine. What are we mere mortals to make of that? Shock? Surprise? Outrage, Outcry? Or what?
Now, let me bring your attention to the Kombo vs Taib. What is the difference with the above scenario? Absolutely nothing!
The highest court in the land ordered Kombo to gazette the reinstatement of Taib as the Mayor of Mombasa. In front of cameras without an iota of shame, he says he will disobey the order! Again, what’s the difference with the above scenario? None, according to this blogger.
If a Cabinet Minister can shamelessly ridicule a court order just because it has passed a verdict against him, what are we the holloi polloi to take about that? How would he have reacted if Shitanda had disobeyed the order reinstating him as the Chairman of the Ford K party? He would have appealed the decision of the court! Why he failed to ask for another appeal beats all logic.
As the sensible politician he has always tried to project himself to be, this time, he has gone overboard, stooped too low and lost credibility. Evidently, he can’t say that he is a democrat because my little understanding of democracy is that it is about the rule of law. But then again, after December 31st, 2002, it has become just mere talk. Ignoring court orders with impunity is the standard procedure by the Cabinet members.
The ball is now in the Judiciary’s court. Annul the Mayoral elections and institute contempt of court proceedings against Kombo. Then, at least some sanity may prevail and he may serve as a lesson to other government officials who may be harbouring such intentions! Failure to that, we are playing with fire and we will get burnt.
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9:28
From: Kenyanentrepreneur.com
Read This Entry & More At Kenyanentrepreneur.com
I’m not in a good mood today. One reason is that it’s Monday and I’m always a little grumpy on Monday’s. My “happiness meter” seems to get progressively higher as Friday approaches. The second reason for my grumpiness is that I finally decided to wind down an on-line business that just wasn’t working out. I [...]
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8:56
From: For Love and Money
Read This Entry & More At For Love and Money
 Walk into a mid-priced hotel in the US and there’s 40% probability that the owner is called Patel (and if not, he's an Indian). All over America, the wave of the 1970’s Indian immigrants into the US have established their presence in the hotel industry. Thanks to President Lyndon Johnson who eliminated the immigration quotas, there are now 2.3 million Indians living in the US. While many of them are professionals, a large number of them, mostly from Gujarat, have gone into running their own businesses. Unlike their counterparts in Europe who are known for running Post-offices, kebab and corner shops, the Indian-Americans prefer to own franchises of gas stations, 7-11’s, Subway's and hotels. The Patel’s, mostly from Western-India, rely on each other for help in order to succeed in their business endeavors. Many of them start with small outfits and with time grow their businesses into large companies. By employing their family members and friends, they are able to keep expenses low as they carry out even the most menial chores. In return for working for their relatives, the employees are later loaned out money to establish their own businesses. The Indian-Americans prefer a frugal lifestyle that allows them to invest most of their savings into their businesses. Their success can be attributed to their strong family and community ties, whereby they pool money and help each other in establishing their own businesses. Their honor system allows for them to borrow from each other knowing to well that they have to repay and also loan out to other Gujarati’s. Unfortunately, their success has come with a price. Their well educated American-born children are establishing themselves as professionals and are shunning their family owned businesses in favor of white collar jobs. Like the Patel’s, the same principles can be applied by immigrants from developing countries to establish their presence in businesses abroad. The fact that banks are less likely to give loans to immigrants should not be an excuse for failing to establish businesses. It’s no wonder that the richest Kenyans, Vijay and Bikhu, last name (surname) is Patel. Vijay opened his first pharmacy in the UK with a loan from his uncle and together with Bikhu have grown the business into a multi-million dollar company.
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8:36
From: My part of the world.......
Read This Entry & More At My part of the world.......
 Don't let appearances fool you, this doohickey here has given me headaches.... This weekend my mp3 player decided to give me the shock of a lifetime by not turning on even after I had tried to reboot it several times. I tried and tried, decided to ask the folks at the Geek Squad if they can retrieve that data but after hearing they charge $150 for just checking and they said usually in the case of mp3 players it's a lost cause; I was like "Screw it!" So just after my usual nightly lap around the house wearing nothing by my goat skin loin cloth, dini ya msambwa hat, I sang the usual songs of glory and beat the drum I used when we used to parade down Moi Avenue every Sunday morning in our blue and white uniforms; I tried again. And lo and behold! It worked! Bwana Asifiwe! Rest assured I am now backing up the last tracks that I didnt back up before it goes down for good this time and saving for an i-pod while I am at it! Moving on, there are some people in this wonderful world of ours who seem to see the world through their view and their view only. Let me give you an example, if you live here in the States you will realize that there is alot of institutionalized racism that has been part and parcel of society for centuries. But if you go to those in power and confront them with the statistics and everyday anecdotes that say otherwise, they shall just read you their script that says that isn't the case and that they are doing the best job they can blah blah blah (yes these idiots do love the sound of their own voice). It even gets worse when those in power say everything is just fine and when push comes to shove they say that it is those who are complaining that are part of the problem. Yes I know some of you do know someone who fits that last point to a T. Sadly most of the time we have to grin and tolerate the tomfoolery of such people but I encourage all of you to break the peace once in a while and even if they don't listen, tell them............ 
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6:52
From: White African
Read This Entry & More At White African
Benin Mwangi is coordinating a Google group for people who write about business in Africa. Benin has been especially active in writing about entrepreneurs in and around Africa, so it makes perfect sense for him to put this group together.
The idea behind this type of network is that although me may each be very skilled and talented on the individual level, together we can do even more to promote busines and entrepreneurship in Africa. (more on Benin’s blog)
If you blog about African business, this could be a good group to network within. Click the link below to join.
  
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6:00
From: tHiNkEr'S rOoM
Read This Entry & More At tHiNkEr'S rOoM
Despite the fact that I've already done a list on 116 things about M, I still find myself roped by supafly warembo into doing a list of 7 of things you don't know. Very well then my dears! I cannot do that "One minute's silence thing". The more serious ...
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5:22
From: Mentalacrobatics
Read This Entry & More At Mentalacrobatics
Today is the National Day of Mourning for all those who lost their lives in Kenya Airways flight KQ507. There doesn’t seem to be much going on in the way of commemoration apart from flags flying at half mast.
National flags at half mast at Jomo Kenyatta’s mausoleum, Nairobi
National flag and Nairobi City Council flag at half mast outside City Hall, Nairobi
COMESA national flags at half mast, KICC, Nairobi
There is an inter-denominational prayer service at KICC led by President Kibaki although when we walked towards the door we were told by a policeman that it was a COMESA event so not to sure what is going on there.
Then there are those who think having a national day of mourning is a joke.
More and more sides of this story are coming out now, including the information that two other planes from Cameroon Airlines and Royal Air Maroc opted to wait for the storm to die down while the Kenya Airways crew decided it was safe enough to take off.
However we would all be wise to heed the words of Kenya Airways chief executive Titus Naikuni who said investigators would have to make the final assessment. The probe was likely to take months.
“We don’t want to start speculating here,” he said Friday in Kenya. “So whether the pilot did the wrong thing or the right thing, I cannot answer that.”
Investigators said they cannot yet discount other factors, including mechanical failure, pilot disorientation or even sabotage.
Please visit the KQ507 tribute site to leave a message of support and sympathy.
Please link the KQ507 tribute site from your blogs and websites.
Please spread the word about the KQ507 tribute site.
© Mentalacrobatics for Mentalacrobatics, 2007. |
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0:50
From: Me I LOve NAirobi REgardless - MILONARE
Read This Entry & More At Me I LOve NAirobi REgardless - MILONARE
Seven things About BAshful milo with ranks Was tagged by Teetotalicious. You may know that Milo suffers from acronymic homophonia*(Milo 2007). You would have noticed that from my post titles and paragraph headings. Anyway, here is an acronymic, homophonic, ranked order of seven things about Milo: 1. MISNOMER, its noma I would have been called Ilo. My first thoughts for a blogID were I LOve NAirobi REgardless aka ILONARE. Thank God for the peculiarities of Kenyan speech including, but not limited to, sentences beginning with “Me I…” 2. ASSess hizo ma-SMS** I love a chick with a shapely, firm ass. It makes my beer taste sweeter as I watch her shake it in the club. It makes my mind wander/wonder when she walks by. Not the Ugandan oversize, lakini rounded, firm and manageable. I call them SMS (Shapely Manageable Sianda). Needless to say, my fave posi is Milo on top with partner lying kifudifudi… 3. Merry EX-MISS I miss my Ex. We dated from the millennium through to xmas 2005. After the breakup we didn’t speak for close to half a year. Since then we’ve become friends and get along quite well though we don’t see each other much. I miss her!! 4. ALTER EAGLE(-eyed) A lot of my previous posts focused on a fictional character called Henny. Henny was subject to various mishaps e.g. unwarranted hard-ons (down SIMBA, down), excessive borrowing of video-tapes (pressure at EPSOD), mishaps in the gym (a day at the GYM) and tight underwear and swallowing (les miseraBALLS) amongst other posts. To those who are eagle-eyed and have had some form of contact with Milo, you may well have realized that Henny is my alter-ego LOL. 5. IM Whistle (cf. IM Weasel) I’m a shameless yahoo messenger flirt and love a gal that can hold her own on chat. Granted that there have been poignant scandals arising from the selfsame IM tool but hey… Don’t shoot the messenger!! So all the whistling, cat-calls, etc on messenger – yup! That’s Milo… 6. MAHANJAMA Gandhi I’ve been suffering in silence (a la Gandhi’s passive resistance) with the curiosity to meet the following KBWesses who intrigue me, no end, in different ways: Movie Buff, Afromusing, DonQ, Bootylicious, Princess, Quintessence, Kelitu, Chatterly, Sanaa and HalfnHalf. 7. Mr BUMBASTIC Aside from my thutha-fascination (see 2 above), I’ve been bumming since April last year. And I love it, love it, love it!!! ( Kipepeo 2005) Life couldn’t be beta! I sleep when I want, do what I want and basically lead a stress-free lifestyle. Granted that I have a number of part-time projects on the go to get the bills paid but, (insert shaggy voice here): They call me Mr BUMbastic, say me non-frantic, catch me on the slack they say I'm Mr. No... Frantic, call me Mr BUMbastic, say me… *a chronic love for acronyms and homophones **Phrase borrowed from Kleptomaniax
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0:26
From: assidous
Read This Entry & More At assidous
From its humble beginnings in the 80’s in Central Province to its listing at the NSE, one thing is clear, that Equity has indeed come a long way. It’s also true that this is one stock to watch in the financial segment of NSE, and a good bet for short to long term growth.
The recently released financial report attests to this. Have a Look:
Pretax profit Ksh176M to Ksh503M up 186%,
Income from commissions & fees Ksh336M to Ksh673M,
Operating Income Ksh611M to Ksh1.17B up 92%,
Customer Deposits Ksh9.4B to Ksh20.2B up 112%,
Customer Accounts 668,449 to 1.15M accounts – 30% of all accounts in Kenya.
Loans and Advances Ksh7.1B to Ksh13.8B
Overhead Expenses Ksh434M to Ksh667M due to salary adjustments & additional staff.
The bank was in the last week rated by GCR of South Africa and had its long term upgrading in Kenya Shilling to A+ from A and Short term upgrading to Single A1 from A1(-).
In the last week, Equity has opened branches in Diani, Mombasa and Malindi.
Clearly, this is the bank to watch.
Read the complete article at
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