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21:26 Time For Bullet-Proof Cars in Kenya?
» Kenyanentrepreneur.com I was reading this story in the Daily Nation about the spate of murders that have been taking place in and around the city. Most victims appeared to have been shot while driving home either late at night or very early in the morning. So, I was thinking to myself as I read this article, that [...]
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20:47
The fall and rise of Kenyan nationalism
» Kenya Imagine Nationalism was dealt a final blow when Kenyatta's motorcade was stoned in Nyanza: in reaction, Kenyatta consolidated his power base around a few cronies from Central Kenya.
Thomas Kiarie - come over and welcome him, he's new - has a short and hopeful history of democratic nationalism in Kenya.
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13:13
Maxwell is back after an 8 year break with not one but 3 new Albums!
» Kenyanpoet I was wondering what happened to Maxwell after his 7 albums that fully defined the difference between R&B and Neo Soul.
I remember when I first heard 'Get to know ya' and my! wasn't that something. And the video to 'Till the cops come knockin', enuf said.
He had his signature Afro hair then, well not anymore. The new Maxwell is clean shaven with a pair of designer glasses, heck even his fashion style has changed. ( I want the old Maxwell back!)
Pretty Wings is the only single from one of the 3 albums that has been officially released in various music sites. Maybe its just me but I didn't find it sounding neo soulish as his previous songs. It has alot of 'RnBism' to it.
I am hopeful though that he hasn't lost his touch with the other tracks in the 3 albums.
Maxwell will release his first new studio album in eight years on July 7.
"BLACKsummers ‘night," part one of a trilogy, will come out July 7, according to Columbia Records. The second CD in the trilogy, slated for 2010, will be called "BlackSUMMERS' night," while part three will be, you guessed it, "Blacksummers' NIGHT."
That seems like an ambitious release schedule-three albums in three years-from someone who has waiting eight years between CDs, but music from neo-soul singer Maxwell is a welcome thing indeed.
Maxwell will start a tour in support of "BLACKsummers' night" on June 20 in Milwaukee. Playing live last summer helped him get his groove back to finish the albums, he tells the AP.
"To have the gift of having people just need me to be onstage ... that was enough for me to make the best album I could make," he added. Additional info from hitfix
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Will it Be Phones or Computers that Close the Digital Divide?
» Kenya Imagine It is undeniable that an increase in national bandwidth capacity and what should be a corresponding decrease in costs to consumers could drive greater growth in the ICT sector. In turn, this should stimulate an increase in home broadband connection among the middle classes, as professionals take their work home with them and individuals live more of their lives online.
Stephanie has a brief yet thorough review of Kenya's ICT options. -
On the Sex Boycott
» Kenya Imagine -
Demystifying public perceptions on historical injustices around land
» Kenya Imagine Nearly two thirds -- 744 of 1133 -- of recorded deaths came in the Rift Valley, and about a third of those -- 230 of 744 -- were in Eldoret. Opinion regarding land ownership in Eldoret matter. CHRDEM find that:
For example, the land where Langas and Yamumbi estates sit in Eldoret town has been cited as one that President Kenyatta (Deceased) allocated to his Kikuyu tribesmen at the expense of the Kalenjin People. However, reports from the workshops and the available documents show that that farm was bought by 52 Kalenjin men in a Cooperative group which got a loan from Settler Fund Transfer (SFT). They later sub-divided the land into plots and sold them to mainly Kikuyu buyers. Every time there's an election, the Kenyatta regime has constantly been accused of having allocated the land in Langas and Yamumbi to his kinsmen.
An interesting report from CHRDEM, challenging, as it does, assumptions regarding the land issue in the Rift Valley.
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Emcee Africa 2 - Search for Africa's Premier Freestyle MC/Rapper on 23rd May at WAPI
» Kenyanpoet MC Big Mike carried it last year for Kenya to the final round in SA but lost to Snazz the Dictator of S.A.
"Emcee Africa 2" is back!
The Kenyan battle of Emcees will still be at the British Council parking lot, Upperhill on Saturday, May 23rd starting at 7:00am in place of WAPI May.
The Channel O Emcee Africa tour sponsored by Sprite is a continent-wide search for the premier freestyle MC/Rapper. The motive of the tour is not only to find the illest freestyle MC, but to initiate international awareness of the 'street life' and surrounding social and cultural context of the localized music. In other words, the tour is attempting to better contextualize the application and reception of hip hop culture in each of the visited countries.
Never before has a continental Hip Hop reality based competition such as this existed.
The winner will receive $10,000, a video, and a song deal. Leslie 'Lee' Kasumba, a top hip hop radio DJ from South Africa's YFM station, is the host. She also corresponds for Africanhiphop.com and has been chosen to narrate her daily experiences of traveling on the tour in what has been coined 'the Battle Chronicles.'
Five countries will be taking part in this year's Africa’s rawest hip-hop talent competition:
Botswana (Fashion Lounge in Gabarone on 18 April)
South Africa (Roka Bar in Milpark on 25 April)
Ghana (Tantra in Accra on 7 May)
Nigeria (Insomnia Nightclub (Formerly Reloaded)in Lagos on 10 May) and
Kenya (WAPI, British Council, Upper Hill, in Nairobi on 23 May)
They will all be eyeing the ultimate crown during the 13-episode series.
Performance for starters - the ability to rock the crowd and display enough swagger with prepared lyrics to impress. The skill to freestyle on any topic over a popular banger will also score points. And, finally, whoever comes out tops in one-on-one battling will be en route to the finals.
Country eliminations will produce two finalists each from South Africa, Botswana, Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya and then the judges hand over to the public to choose – through online and SMS voting.
Join Lee Kasumba and help discover Africa’s illest emcee make it to the top. And as Emcee Africa fans already know, the show is not just about who walks away with the bragging rights to being Africa’s number one emcee: Viewers and hiphop heads will also get a taste of the hip-hop scene in each of the five countries, meeting the hottest hip-hop producers, and the best hip-hop talents on the continent.
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9:57
Tweak Post
» KA-INVESTOR After contemplating this for a while I finally decided to change my blog template and do away with too much junk the old one carried. I picked this new look from Btemplate, a free blogger templates resource (I’m Kenyan; we don’t pay for things we can get for free – ‘Sare’). Only problem with this great looking templates is that the back end sign-in bar disappears and you have to go through other normal blogger sites to get to your own back end (so if you get me trespassing, I’m just trying to get into my own house). Hope it will serve me well.
Suicidal Fan:
Just learnt that a die-hard Arsenal fan hanged himself after Man-U beat them to the UEFA final. Sad happenings indeed…but is it worth it?
More beer: SABMiller Plc, the world’s second- biggest brewer, plans to build its fourth factory in Tanzania at a cost of $55 million by November, boosting beer production by 22 percent. The firm, through Tanzania Breweries (owns 52.8% stake), is also spending about $24 million to upgrade its Arusha and Mwanza breweries.
Trump coming to Kenya: US property tycoon, Donald Trump, is one of the 44 parties interested to invest in the multi billion shilling Nairobi Golf City development located on a 73-acre land that currently belongs to Kenya Railways. Other interests are from Commercial Bank of Africa, Associated Motors, Spencon International, TPD Serena, Premiere Flour Mills and Actis.
Prepaid power: KPLC is set to commence the first phase of the prepaid metering project. This will see consumers shift from the current postpaid system, giving them control over power consumption and avoiding several inconveniencies from the electricity monopoly supplier (sigh)
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3:39
M-Pesa IPO?
» bankelele Mobile transfer solution M-Pesa from Safaricom was on Monday inaugurated as loan repayment tool for microfinance.
SMEP using M-Pesa for loan repayment is now the latest M-Pesa partner joining satellite TV, medical cover, investment funds, spare part utility provides and insurance companies that now enable their customers to remit monthly or periodic solutions via M-Pesa.
This phenomenon is not unseen, it addresses gaps in the banking sector; and now M-Pesa solutions are coming from the customers, not Safaricom - which is the way it should be.
M-Pesa Flaws: M-Pesa with it's 5 million customers is not perfect and it may have reached the zenith for now; it is pricey, it requires business owners to put up substantial credit (float) to access the system, it's statements are crude etc. Electricity bills can now be paid by M-Pesa, but accounts take 48 hours to be credited, while with rival transfer product Zap (from Zain) they take 24 hours. The fault probably lies with Kenya power, which has forged closer links with the less established Zap and Standard Chartered Bank.
Loan potential: M-Pesa, a Vodafone solution is now goes into the area, that no one can contain credit growth. The SMEP (micro-finance loan) repayments are just a start. Banks and savings & credit societies (SACCO’s) can easily utilize M-Pesa for loan repayments under the current 35,000 shilling ($440) daily transfer limit. e.g. a 400,000 shilling ($5,000) SACCO loan at 12%, repaid over one year will have installments of 35,932 per month, or a car loan of 800,000 shillings ($10,000) repaid over 3 years at 21% interest would have repayment of 30,140 per month.
New markets: M-Pesa has been built on the back of Safaricom, operating informal relationships with subscribers who submit a bare minimum of information. That relationship requirement with customers requires a lot less than with a bank and international know your customer guidelines (KYC). Already, all the mobile companies have aspirations of moving on to international transfers and merchant banking which will also bring them more into collision with banks, western union and debit/credit card giants.
New regulations: M-Pesa's already fractious relationships with banks is likely to get worse; and with (soon) three mobile companies offering money transfers, and all eating into bank ledger and interest income, there will be calls to rein them in. Soon it is likely that the government of Kenya will create an e-commerce regulatory body (another parastatal) since neither the communications commission or the central bank has absolute authority.
Second Safaricom IPO: Vodafone should spin off M-Pesa into a separate company. M-Pesa is now able to stand on its own, and handle its own competition, regulatory, and licensing issues. Safaricom should let it go, focus on other voice and data services, while continuing to enjoy the revenue M-Pesa spins, by subscribing for shares in it. By freeing it from Safaricom, M-Pesa will move from being an 'unregulated’ but licensed solution owned and managed by Vodafone (UK) to a local-listed company, owned and operated in Kenya.
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Rhythm & Spoken @ Dass Restaurant 8th May '09 featuring Monique and Mstari Wa Nne
» Kenyanpoet Rhythm & Spoken is back this Friday 8th of May as always at Dass Ethiopian Restaurant, Westlands for Poetry, open mic and music.
In between the poetry they will be featuring the smooth vocals of Ugandan born singer Monique. Monique is no newbie to the entertainment industry and currently tours East Africa with her own band.
The event Starts at 8:30pm with performances from 9-10:30pm. Come listen to some great neosoul /rare grooves lounge with a party thereafter. Entry is KSh.200
NB. Mstari Wa Nne will be give a performance in dedication to Bantu Mwaura
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2:05
Silver lining
» the-undergraduate Life works in mysterious ways.Just when i thought we were out of the woods after loosing grandma in december,turns out that was just the tip of the iceberg.
Last month my nephew lost part of his hand to stone mining explosives.He must have found some stored somewhere and decided to experiment by putting them in a bottle and lighting it.Am sure its something he has witnessed before since they live close to a quarry but what he forgot was that the professionals usually leave the site immediately they set up the explosives.His brother found him sprawled out on the floor after he passed out from the bleeding.A couple of hospitals including one ran by a local public university wouldnt even give him first aid.When he finally found one that would admit him the doctors rushed him to theatre and he ended up loosing some fingers.I dont know how he'll manage school cos he has always insisted on being a boarder at his primary school but am glad he's fine.
Two weeks ago my aunt got admitted in hospital and for a while doctors expressed concerns over an injury she had on her forehead after she slipped and hit her head.Yesterday the scan results came back and we were all so happy and relieved that nothing came up cos we'd been worried about possible brain damage.Everything was fine...
Then today we get a call about a second aunt who had to be rushed to the E.R. after she collapsed in her garden.They found a blood clot in her brain...
I hope she'll be fine,am gonna maintain a positive attitude
This too shall come to pass
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1:43
Bon Appetit
» tHiNkEr'S rOoM 
Aah! Nothing quite like a swig of Pee and a mouthful of Shitto after a hard day’s work.
© M for tHiNkEr'S rOoM, 2009. | Permalink | 11 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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