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22:05
From: White African
Read This Entry & More At White African
Two things happened within the last month that made me realize the true value of social networks:
- I signed up for Facebook (finally, after much prodding)
- I met some fellow real estate bloggers yesterday
   
(bloggers meeting up OFFLINE)
How could these two incidents be related? Well, the first is pretty obvious - joining Facebook. It’s the social network that has all the cool kids raving about it right now. It’s good, really good, at connecting people and keeping them coming back. I’ve used many other social networking sites, but this is by far the most useful and smoothest operating one I’ve found.
The second item was more important, primarily because we had a conversation there that proved out the theory better than anything else. Marcus brought up the fact that he thought social networks were a complete waste of time, it’s only offline that’s valuable. Social networks are most useful as facilitators for offline connections.
I guess I hadn’t thought of it that way before.
Blogging can be useful for knowledge and as a public platform for one’s views. However, it shares something in common with social networking sites, in that it is also a way to network with people. Blogging can act as a catalyst for email and other forms of direct communication.
The value of blogging, and of being part of a social networking site, is that the people you meet and find through connections that you make online can be utilized in the offline world. Connecting to a larger hub of people, and being able to communicate with them all easily, allows you to leverage that group when doing things as diverse as looking for a new job, organizing a reunion or finding old friends.
The chance to meet with the bloggers at TED, as well as meet some great contacts for future business or employment, was the best example of this I can think of. The ongoing online connections will be useful for keeping in touch and doing a few projects - but the true value is when we do something again offlinedescend upon San Francisco, as real estate bloggers. The meetings that we have there, and the business that comes out of it will be the value for our blogging and connecting on social networks for the past couple years.
If you take part in these social networks, or if you blog, make sure you utilize the platform for it’s true potential - meeting people offline.
 
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21:02
From: Kenyanentrepreneur.com
Read This Entry & More At Kenyanentrepreneur.com
Okay, so.. someone just left a comment in one of the pieces and he mentioned the site katesKikapu.com (How many of these are out there?)
When I use the term “copycat”, I’m not using it to denote some sinister or evil motive. The purpose is to stimulate the discussion, so that we can all learn about [...]
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20:40
From: Kikuyumoja's realm
Read This Entry & More At Kikuyumoja's realm
My good old friend A.-M. invited me to Freiburg over the weekend, as we had to celebrate her 30th birthday. Yeah! We know each other since 17 years now, and have become really good friends some years ago. She actually is the one who “allowed” me to refurbish her bathroom - a story I blogged two years ago, and which was of particular interest to me, since I had never done that before and, having an interest for such technical issues, getting more experience by simply doing it was a great idea!
Fellow blogger Afromusing already asked for some pics, as she highlighted that Freiburg is “the model town in energy sustainability”. As I just went there for two days for a party, I didn’t take this opportunity for any sightseeing. However, Freiburg is known to be the sunniest city in Germany, and with modern districts like Vauban, lots of cyclists and other green stuff, one soon understands the sustainability approach the citizens have come up with in the past.
On to something completely different: A.-M.’s “dead” Acer TravelMate 290 notebook. One day it just stopped working and refused to restart. Pressing the power button resulted in a 2 seconds activity of the fan, a few LEDs blinking - and a blank screen. Nothing else.
As A.-M. needed a working notebook, she eventually decided to settle for a new machine and stored this one in the closet. Mzeecedric actually passed by her place the other day and helped her securing all data from the old HDD (thx, bro!). She even took the old computer to a “PC guy” at her company, who quickly advised her to buy a new computer (through his channels, of course) as he couldn’t fix this one.
Now, dear Afromusing, this is why I didn’t take any pictures of the city. Upon arrival, I imediately pulled out my Leatherman and took the old laptop apart. Is this a typical nerd geek habit? :-)
Dismantling it of course didn’t bring about any change, as I had anticipated that some cleaning with Isopropanol and fixing any loose & dry contacts would awake this machine again. Nothing happened though - after reassembling the laptop, it still refused to awake from the dead.
This morning then, I had a chance to quickly google for some keywords and one user forum suggested to try the “15 seconds trick”, which is done by removing the battery and the external power supply and pressing the power button for 15 seconds, thereby discharging all condensers on the mainboard. As I had instinctively tried that before, the machine still didn’t show any life signals. Again, a dark screen and 2-5 seconds of blinking LEDs.
Most users would give up at this stage, I guess, and since the warranty on this 3years old laptop had already expired, a sale on Ebay seemed to be the most plausible further procedure. Unless of course I would try another “trick” I had read on another user forum: there is a very tiny “jumper” (J1) on the mainboard, just underneath the RAM compartment, which actually isn’t a real jumper as we know it from desktop computers, but instead just some blank soldering points that need to be bypassed for a few seconds. This - and that’s the initial reason why the machine refused to start - resets the BIOS. After doing that, the laptop started again and loaded the operating system as if it had never been half dead.
Computers…
So in case you’re the owner of an ACER TravelMate of the 290 series, or having similar problems with another notebook, make sure to actually google for some solutions, as this Acer TM 290, for instance, is said to be having these kind of problems: a hanging BIOS that fails to reset itself whenever the battery is run down to a very low level. Anyone with a decent srewdriver can do this, and it sometimes helpes to avoid expensive expenditures…
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17:43
From: Walk of Kings:
Read This Entry & More At Walk of Kings:
The Right Stuff READ: Galatians 1:6-12No other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. —1 Corinthians 3:11 David, I missed you in class today,” I told one of my college students when we ran into each other in the Information Services office. He gave me that stunned “freshman in the first week of college” look, and then it struck him—he had misread his schedule and had gone to the wrong class.The funny thing was, there were two grammar labs—mine, and another professor’s—and he had attended the wrong one. I told him, “That’s okay. You were getting the right information, so I won’t count you absent.”As I thought about it, I concluded that this is a little like the options many Christians have regarding the churches they attend. The key factor is to attend a church where the right information is shared—where salvation through Jesus Christ is preached (1 Cor. 15:3-5), where the Bible is the standard for faith and practice, and where an opportunity to serve in Jesus’ name is provided. It’s important that the message proclaims the true gospel and the historical message of Jesus—not a “different gospel” (Gal. 1:6-9). It’s not the messenger that’s most important; it’s the message. What “gospel” are you hearing? Is it built on the foundation of Jesus Christ? (1 Cor. 3:11).
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15:04
From: dkFactor
Read This Entry & More At dkFactor
 Celebrities like to portray it as a basket case, but they ignore very real progress.
It's a dark and scary picture of a helpless, backward continent that's being offered up to TV watchers and coffee drinkers. But in fact, the real Africa is quite a bit different. And the problem with all this Western stereotyping is that it manages to snatch defeat from the jaws of some current victories, fueling support for patronizing Western policies designed to rescue the allegedly helpless African people while often discouraging those policies that might actually help.
Read More >>>
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13:51
From: Kikuyumoja's realm
Read This Entry & More At Kikuyumoja's realm
Ich stehe im Gang des ICs von Mainz nach Frankfurt, lese endlich Ryszard Kapuscinskis Buch “Der Fußballkrieg” zu Ende - einem Buch, in dem er vor allem von Menschen, den Irrsinn der Kriege und seinen Erfahrungen bei Reisen auf dem afrikanischen und südamerikanischen Kontinent berichtet, und dabei immer wieder sein Interesse für die Menschen und deren persönlicher Schicksale deutlich wird (”ich hasse Schreibtische”) - und neben mir kommt es zu einem typischen Streitgespräch zwischen einem Fahrgast und dem Schaffner, weil der Bahnkartenautomat - als eigentlicher Übeltäter und Hüter des Systems - nicht auf Zugverspätungen eingeht, und in Folge dessen ein unpraktischeres, aber vor allem teureres Ticket ausgedruckt hatte. Streitwert: 8,- EUR, weshalb der Schaffner gebeten wurde, dieses auf dem Ticket zu vermerken (”..ich erwarte da mehr, ich bin immerhin Bahn-Komfort-Kunde..”).
Gestört durch dieses Hintergrundrauschen und der so unendlich typischen, unterschwelligen und angestauten Aggressivität beider Streitpartner, mische ich mich kurz ein um zu schlichten und darauf hinzuweisen, dass die Entwertung des Tickets durch den Schaffner schon hinlänglich genügend Beweis ist.
Es hilft alles nichts, der Kunde erwartet Service und Komfort, der Kunde hat - trotz mangelndem Rechtsverständnis - eh immer Recht, und nach ca. 20 Minuten Debatierens, trennen sich unsere Wege, und ich tauche wieder ab in meine Welt des R.Kapuscinskis - einer Welt, die mir so vertraut vorkommt und vielleicht gerade deswegen interessant erscheint.
Jung, dynamisch und ein kleines bißchen naiv schrieb ich im Jahre 1996 eine e-mail an Ostafrikas umsatzstärkste Tageszeitung, The Daily Nation, in der ich darauf hinwies, dass man in Kenia - im Gegensatz zu Deutschland - oft noch ein Lächeln für sein Gegenüber übrig habe. Dieser Hinweis wurde in der täglichen Gossipkolumne “The Cutting Edge” abgedruckt, die von vielen Lesern als erstes aufgeschlagen wird.
Letztens erzählte mir mein Kumpel T.H.User vom sechseinvierviernull-blog, dass er die Strecke FH FFM - Oberursel NUR noch mit vollgeladenem MP3 player absolvieren könne. “Der Akku ging zu Neige, und ich habe das Gerät dann extra ausgeschaltet, um auf der Rückfahrt noch meine Ruhe zu haben”, erzählte er mir - mit einem ermüdeten Blick in den Augen, wie ich ihn seit der alltäglichen Trips in der S-Bahn nach Eschborn gut nachvollziehen kann.
Meine Mutter rief mich im Zug an, und plötzlich strömten in Rödelheim zwei junge Kerle in den Waggon, die sich lautstark unterhielten. Meine Mum frug nach dem Grund für das laute Geräusch, in Folge dessen ich dann die beiden Spackos durch den Waggon zurechtwies, dass sie sich bitte ruhiger unterhalten sollen, weil es a) stört und b) ich telefonieren wolle. Aiii….“Aldaaa, machst Du Handy aus!”, kam als Antwort. “Machst Du Handy aus, machst Du Handy aus”.
Seit meiner letzten Bewährungsprobe in Kenia hat sich mein - für Aussenstehende fälschlicherweise oft als aufbrausend interpretiertes - Verhalten in solchen Situationen gelegt. Einzig der eine Tag in Nairobi, als sie unseren Wagen nach weniger als 2 Minuten blockiert und eigentlich nur nach einem Grund gesucht hatten, Geld zu kassieren, verbleibt mir als letzter emotionaler Moment in Erinnerung. Da war ich aber auch wirklich gereizt. Und die Kenianer mögen es ja überhaupt nicht, wenn man laut wird und sie damit mit einer Situation konfrontiert, die sie so in dieser Form nicht kennen.
Dies also als Erfahrungshintergrund, dazu die Müdigkeit vom Tag im Büro, veranlassten mich dann dazu, gar nix weiter zu unternehmen. Die anderen Bürohengste im Waggon waren eh damit beschäftigt, an ihrem MP3 player herumzuspielen, oder hatten auch einfach nur nicht den Arsch in der Hose, hier mal im Kollektiv der Jugend Respekt beizubringen. Ein Lächeln von mir als Antwort, und Ignorieren der nervenden Situation.
Der Mensch im Mittelpunkt? (Frankfurt am Main, Gutleutstraße)
Zurück zum enttäuschsten Bahnkunden und seinem Ticketproblem: so wie sie hier in diesem Land mit einer Sorgfalt, preussischem Pflichterfüllungswahn und Ernsthaftigkeit gute bis sehr gute Autos bauen, erwarten sie auch im Gegenzug ein nahezu perfektes Funtionieren der Systeme.
Kommt es jedoch anders, brodeln die Gemüter hoch und kanalisieren sich innerhalb dieses, durch die demokratische Grundordnung (LOL) eingefassten Rahmens, auf solche banalen Vorgänge wie Ticketverbuchungen und andere was-wäre-wenn-Situationen, die - für Ausstehende betrachtet - in ihrer Wichtigkeit weniger wichtig erscheinen.
Und es ist ja nicht so, dass es in Kenia nicht auch zu verrückten, zwischenmenschlichen Situationen kommt (was dieses traurige und schlimme Beispiel vielleicht verdeutlicht), aber dort habe ich in keinem einzigen Sammeltaxi (”matatu”) erlebt, dass sich Leute so dermaßen aufregen können. Und wenn dann ist dies ein schneller Prozess, bei dem dann alle Fahrgäste - z.B. bei einer spontanen, willkürlich übertriebenen Erhöhung des Fahrpreises aufgrund von außergewöhnlichen Einflüssen wie Regen - im Kollektiv den Fahrer und seinen geldeintreibenden Begleiter zügeln und auf den Boden der Tatsachen zurückbringen. Im Zweifelsfall wird dann einfach das Gefährt gewechselt. Vielleicht auch weil dies das System ist, welches solche Vorgänge regelt (und nicht etwa die Regierung).
Ich wünsche mir für ein Deutschland im 21. Jahrhundert, welches innerhalb von Europa nicht nur als Transitland dient, noch viel mehr Leichtigkeit, ein entspanntes Verhältnis im täglichen Umgang und Miteinander, ein wirkliches Interesse und Offenheit gegenüber anderen Kulturen und Rituale, mehr unsynchronisierte Filme im Fernsehen & den Kinos, sowie ein gesundes Demokratieverständnis, welches fernab geschichtlicher Altlasten und typischer Systemzwänge der Kreativität in allen Bereichen mehr Aufmerksamkeit schenkt.
Manchmal beneide ich solche Korrespondenten wie R.Kapuscinski oder P.Scholl-Latour, die parallel zur positiven Entwicklung ihrer Heimatländern, im Dschungel Afrikas oder Südostasiens, “von Mücken gejagt und Durchfall geplagt”, ein Porträt aus einer anderen Welt aufzeigen wollten. Und diese “andere Welt”, die Erkenntnis, dass es oft auch anders (zu)geht, genau das wünsche ich mir hierzulande manchmal.
Vor allem beim Bahnfahren.
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11:29
From: Kenya Imagine
Read This Entry & More At Kenya Imagine
Rabet Mataari on presidential aspirant Kalonzo Musyoka's recent interview with the Daily Nation. Kalonzo has variously been described as a late-comer to Kenya's agitation for change, and as part and parcel of the KANU system. In a recent interview with the Daily Nation, he sought to dismiss this perception of him as erroneous.
Read more here.
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7:44
From: You Missed This
Read This Entry & More At You Missed This
archiveIt is only right that I conclude my annual tribute to Tom Mboya this year by explaining the reason why this assassination of 38 years ago is so important and relevant to Kenya today. And why we as Kenyans need to face this old "skeleton in our closet" before we can expect to move forward. Tom Mboya's assassination started a very dark and macabre trend in Kenyan politics where anybody who appears to speak for the masses gets eliminated. After Mboya's assassination JM Kariuki was never the same person and there is no doubt that he clearly saw the coming crisis in Kenya and put it into those famous words that cost him his life; "We do not want to see a Kenya of 10 millionaires and 10 million beggars…" It was only a matter of time before JM was murdered. And of somebody thought that the long string of political assassinations had ended with the Kenyatta administration, they were dead wrong because Robert Ouko a cabinet minister who refused to join the gravy train of massive corruption in the Moi cabinet and by extension had the greater good of the Kenyan nation and its' people at heart was also eliminated. The fascinating thing about the Ouko assassination is the fact that Ouko was a political nobody in Kenya and mainly made his mark as foreign affairs minister (some say the very best Kenya has produced). But the dead Ouko is a totally different cup of tea because death elevated him to political heights that he never enjoyed when he was alive. Retired Superintendent John Troon says that his investigations point to Ouko being eliminated by executive order. In Kenyan-speak his assassination was ordered from the top. ( Read Kumekucha's candid interview with John Troon some months ago). In order to ensure that this tred is broken, Kenyans have to go back to where it all started—Mboya's assassination, resolve it and then work our way forward until we reach the Ouko murder. Let us do everything in our power to ensure that Tom Mboya's ultimate sacrifice to the cause of Kenya and Kenyans was not in vain. The photographs Kumekucha feared to publish.Horror of Kenyan with female sex organ sharing cell with men at Kamiti PrisonAre you a Kenyan? Do You love your country? Join in this noble campaign to change things. Do something instead of just complaining.Discover how the exciting new video web conferencing can make your business or web site.
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7:42
From: You Missed This
Read This Entry & More At You Missed This
archiveSome people in this blog—for reasons best known to themselves—have tried very hard to draw tribal boundaries and separate Kenyans along tribal lines. Sadly many unsuspecting visitors to this blog have been quickly sucked into the mess by the often-provocative comments spewed here by certain interests. Let me reveal a fact that will shock some of you. The emerging Kenyan patriot does not belong to any tribe. Many of the fiercest campaigners for a new Kenya that I know belong to the Kikuyu tribe, indeed many of my most trusted informers who take tremendous risks to get vital information to the Kenyan public through this blog are from the house of Mumbi. I need not remind you what part of Kenya John Githongo's parents hail from. You can imagine how offended they feel when somebody tries to stereotype them as is often done in Kenya and in this blog. Many of the greatest supporters of this blog from the Luo tribe have long dismissed radical Odingaism. This is the widely held belief in Luo Nyanza that any Luo who does not support the Odinga family or who chooses to go against their views in any way, is a traitor and outcast to the tribe. These guys have open minds and many of them have said they would have no problem voting for John Githongo (a Kikuyu) to be president. And the same applies to members of all other tribes who have joined the bandwagon for a new era of tribe-less Kenyan politics. I am confident that together we will change Kenya. The photographs Kumekucha feared to publish.Horror of Kenyan with female sex organ sharing cell with men at Kamiti PrisonAre you a Kenyan? Do You love your country? Join in this noble campaign to change things. Do something instead of just complaining.Discover how the exciting new video web conferencing can make your business or web site.
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6:53
From: bankelele
Read This Entry & More At bankelele
Another group trooped to the Governor of the Central Bank, lamenting about the strength of the Kenya shilling against the dollar, and its negative impact on exports - asking for intervention, or exchange rate controls to weaken the shilling. But is it possible and how? According to economist Dr. David Ndii, the Central Bank is largely unable to control currency and inflation rates. Inflation because a large part of the economy is informal (and unbanked), and the shilling because of remittances. Remittances grew from ¼ to almost 1/3 of export earnings and grew by 43% compared to exports which grew by 13% from 2005 to 2006. So unless authorities crack down on money transfers, or asks Kenyans in the diaspora to channel their funds through more productive avenues and investments, this is likely to continue. And with Equity bank and Safaricom poised to enter the international money transfer business, the reach of the diaspora to rural Kenya is about to take another leap forward. Ultimately we all hope the strong shilling can lead to a lower fuel bill for the country ad petroleum prices impact so many aspects of the economy including the cost of production for exporters. Opportunities most from the daily papers this weekExecutive secretary at the Africa capacity building foundation based in Zimbabwe. D/l is 31/8 Dozens of executive positions at the new Africa financial corporation to be headquartered in Lagos. . Details at KPMG site and d/l is 15/7 Baker tilley merali CPA: audit manager, senior audit professionals. Apply to reception@meraliscpa.com Senior advisor Kenya at Danida. Apply online Governance advisor Kenya, at DFID - the British government department for international development. Apply to dfidgov@adeptsystems.co.ke by 23/7 Elizabeth Glaser pediatric aids foundation: finance/HR manager, finance/admin assistant. Apply to mkihoro@pedaids.org by 23/7 Non executive board chairman at the Emerging Africa infrastructure fund. D/L is 31/7 Express advertising: account director, PR & events manager, media manager. Apply to Monty@expressad.co.ke by 19/7 First Community Bank - Kenya's first Islamic bank. Vacancies include head of risk management, head of corporate banking, head of retail banking, head of operations, head of treasury. Apply to fcb-vacancies@ahmedabdi.com by 20/7 Industrial promotion services aka IPS: business process re-engineering managers /officers and food sector business development officers. Apply to HR@ipskenya.com by 30/7 Kenya airways has finally embraced the online application process. Current vacancies include IS officer, automations service manager, licensed engineer, technicians as well as pilots and cabin crew. General manager at Kisii bottlers limited. Apply to jobs@afr.ko.com by 18/7 Managing editor - quality & product development at KTN. d/l is 12/7 International jobs can be viewed at the Kenya Ministry of Foreign Affairs websiteNation media group. Writers, also Internet sub editor. TNT international: sales account manager, sales administrator, IS administrator. Apply to hr@tntkenya.com by 20/7 Senior malaria advisor at USAID. check online and d/l is 20/7 World Bank young professionals program d/l is 15/7
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5:27
From: Mentalacrobatics
Read This Entry & More At Mentalacrobatics
There are gyms and there are gyms.
The first type of gym most of us would find familiar. They are mushrooming all over Nairobi in a pattern that is repeated in any big city in the world. These gyms have rowing machines, exercise bikes, a wide variety of pulley driven machines with digital interfaces informing you of your heart rate and exactly how many calories you have burned in the last 60 seconds. MTV Base on one flat screen TV in one corner, CNN on another, local news on the third. Chargers for mobile phones and iPods are available if you ask nicely. They carry a selection of free weights, starting from 0.5 Kgs (which you are encouraged to hold as you “power walk” on the treadmill). These gyms offer a dazzling amount of extras outside the immediate gym room such as aerobic classes, massages, power showers and complimentary towels, a sauna here, a steam room there and of course a hefty membership fee. Examples of this kind of gym, to name just two of the hundreds across Nairobi, are the gym at Silver Spring Hotel and the one at Sarit Centre shopping mall. Those are gyms.
Then there are gyms. If you ever find yourself in the NEWA part of Ngummo in the late afternoon or very early morning and are feeling brave, stop any of the young men and ask them for directions to The Jungle. A walk down one of the side alleys, a quick side step around some dogs and you will find yourself in a backyard which has one gym bench (refurbished), a barbell (welded), and many many free weights, usually made from pouring cement into paint tins and chipping away to ensure the weights are balanced. No rowing machines or treadmills here, if you want to warm up, well that’s why the government is laying tarmac on the roads, get your jog on.
For the most famous, or perhaps infamous, example of this kind of gym in Nairobi you need to get yourself to Ololo better known as Kaloleni and ask for Big Boys. Have you ever wondered where those gorilla bouncers, gorilla freaks, muscle bound nutters you bump into work out? Most probably Big Boys. I remember being taken there by one of my bros, who is one of those Gorilla bouncers, and sitting outside listening to a bunch of muscle bound nutters talking about beans. Beans and beans and beans, the poor mans substitute for those crazy and very expensive muscle supplements.
Big Boys was what people in the gym trade call Chuma (chuma is Kiswahili for iron/metal). You don’t say you are going to the gym, you say you are going to Chuma (usually holding both hands in a fist around your chest and saying, “Chuma daddy!”. It certainly lives up to that name. A look around the room and you will see many weight lifting benches, many barbells and dumbbells and the craziest collection of free weights you have ever seen. We’re talking about 100 kgs dumbbells here and the like. (Although I understand that these days Big Boys has become gisty!) Want to warm up, forget treadmills and the like, grab a skipping rope. Apart from the numerous mirrors everything else in there is basically hard, cold, no nonsense metal. CHUMA daddy!
So what has all this got to do with presidential motorcades? True, Moi’s motorcade when he was president and Kibaki’s motorcade now share a lot in common. Both are packed full of brand new, armoured plated, dark blue Mercedes Benz. (Moi’s guys tried BMWs for a year or so but I do not see them around now, I wonder what happened to them.) Both motorcades are packed full of the crème de la crème (or total nutters depending on your point of view) of the Kenyan police force, the Presidential Escort Unit. Both motorcades are extremely secure, both are extremely lethal if you have the audacity (or stupidity depending on your point of view) to cross them.
There are some notable differences between the two.
Moi’s motorcade was like Big Boys. Big, powerful, no nonsense, hard, get-out-of-the-way-now-if-you-want-to-live and fast. Very very fast. Very very very fast. You never ever got a good look at Moi’s motorcade. To be honest you probably didn’t even see it coming. You would driving along, minding your own business, smelling the roses and all of a sudden you have a powerful police motorcycle next to you and police man shouting in your ear, his face so close you can smell the Embassy Kings on breath, telling you to pull over NOW. Usually by pointing a finger off the road and saying “huko” which is Kiswahili for “there”. It didn’t matter if “huko” was a bush, a ditch, a rock, just get off the road and do it fast. A couple of seconds later a big Mercedes, dark blue on the bottom and white on the top, with a single blue flashing light and constant high pitch siren, with no number plates, a big red sign which reads “Presidential Escort” would fly past, windows down with four scary looking “Echo Charlies”, as PEU are known, staring out, then a flurry, a blur, of motorcycles, Mercedes, Range Rovers, and 504 station wagon Peugeots carrying the Presidential Press Unit would fly past. Then another motorcycle and then, suddenly
silence.
Just like Keyser Söze, they are gone.
It may not have been pretty, it may not have been fancy, but damn, it was scary, efficient and effective. CHUMA daddy.
Then there is Kibaki’s motorcade.
First difference, everybody knows when Kibaki is going to pass. Why? Because these days they close roads almost TWENTY BLEEDING MINUTES before he turns up. You sit and you sit and you sit, people switch of their engines, get out of their cars and lean against the bonnet, newspaper vendors make a killing selling copies of those weeklies no one ever buys, and everyone is on their mobile phone saying, “I’ll be late, Baks is passing.”
Second difference, when the motorcade finally does turn up, boy oh boy, those guys must be listening to “Summertime” by Fresh Prince and DJ Jazzy Jeff
Every moment frontin and maxin
Chillin in the car they spent all day waxin
Leanin to the side but you can’t spead through
Two miles an hour so everybody sees you
Whereas Moi’s motorcade would constantly break the land speed record, Baks motorcade, after making you wait for 30 minutes, drives past moss moss like they don’t have a care in the world! Two miles an hour so everybody sees you!
Third difference, Kibaki’s full ceremonial motorcade is like whoa! I’m not taking the everyday, working-at-state-house version. I am talking about the one they unleash for state occasions or big events. The first time I saw the “full” motorcade was on the way to Nairobi Show on Wednesday which as we all know is “President’s day”. (What do you mean you didn’t know!). I was on Ngong Road when we were pulled over by the cops for the now customary 20 minute wait.
And when it came, my goodness. I like to think I am not easily impressed but I will readily admit that motorcade made the hairs on the back of neck stand up. Unfortunately it is illegal to record or take pictures of the motorcade otherwise I would have been snapping away. There was a row of brand new Rav4 Police SUVs, the PEU Recce team Mercedes and Range Rovers, then came the Presidential limousine flanked by six big, armoured plated S-Class Mercedes and they were flanked in turn by a squad of around 20 big BMW police motorcycles. Remember that Peugeot station wagon 504 that was used to ferry around the Presidential Press Unit in Moi’s days? We’ll they’ve upgraded it. A brand new Mercedes E Class station wagon, they stuck a metal rack on top of the merc and the journalist climbs on top with his video camera tripod and video camera. On top of a Mercedes! Have a look for yourself!
Click picture for a larger image.
Yes, this motorcade is impressive, 878 Million Kenyan shillings (12 million USD) impressive.
It is like there are two different philosophies at work here. Moi’s motorcade is a big no nonsense bouncer saying, “Do not even think about it” Kibaki’s motorcade is a bouncer saying, “Come on, have a good if you think you are hard enough.”
Moi’s motorcade – hard, no nonsense, CHUMA gym.
Bak’s motorcade – hard, fancy, Hilton gym.
© Mentalacrobatics for Mentalacrobatics, 2007. |
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2:14
From: Me, Life & Everything
Read This Entry & More At Me, Life & Everything
Rendezvous: 1014hrs
Prolixity: long
Mood: amused
Whereabouts: home
Echelon: eight
Track: Troy - Sinead O’Conner, So far….
Now that its all relatively quiet in the blogosphere, blogren at sort of a pregnant pause, i release the second installment to my earlier tale, see the difference in the title? I shall again repeat, not related to any persons not dead nor [...]
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