Feeds

12356 items (0 unread) in 79 feeds

• May 20, 2009
• 15:45

  Movies

   » ‎ MREMBO
  This is an incomprehensive list of my memorable movies and why so: The Secretary : very sexy movie very! James Spader who first caught my attention Boston Legal is amazing in it. A History of Violence : best sex scene ever on film! Hot   and that’s just about it! so yeah.. I got sex on the brain! lol [...]

• 11:38

  What's the real cost of mismanagement?

   » ‎ More to Life
  What are the overall consequences of mismanagement? Often times, the obvious will be stated. But what REALLY are the consequences of mismanagement? I don’t mean outright crazy madness, where the managers are looting. That isn’t mismanagement. It’s embezzlement. I mean where you sit back and watch something you’re in charge of deteriorate to where there’s nothing left of it. Either you’re too dumb to see it’s happening and stop it, or are too busy with other things and have neglected your responsibilities to this point. Whatever the reason, I’m concerned with that kind of attitude. Where the person in charge is around when everything falls apart, and does nothing to stop it. And this situation considered only where no uncontrollable or extenuating circumstances exist.
  
  Of former schools
  Let me give an example of the things I’m talking about. I was very fortunate to have attended 3 of some of the best schools there were in my days for primary, secondary and post secondary education. Here’s my point. With all I know about each and every one of these schools, there’s not a single one of them I would wish for my children to attend in the current day. Forget that they were the schools to be in when I was in them. Forget that the longest application lines and processes existed with admittance rates at below 20% for how coveted these institutions were while I was in them. To say that, and for anyone to compare them with what they are now, is to cause everyone around to wonder if maybe I’m making things up.
  
  Primary
  2 out of 3 of the alma maters have started some kind of revival processes, thanks to the web and its far reaching arms. The 3rd one hasn’t probably won’t but it’s a far cry from what it used to be. It’s crazy, of all good management I ever saw, all factors considered, was my primary school headmaster. In retrospect. I was too young to understand how his attitude and habits were the overall glue that held all together in that environment. I guess we were fortunate in that for me and my siblings, we all finished our education while he was the HNIC. Fast forward to today. One of my classmates who started a family much earlier than most now has children in this very environment. And the only thing he has to say is just how bad everything is. He says we couldn’t understand it. We have no way to imagine things could be that bad. I’m always the one who asks, why? What happened, what catastrophe changed things? The catastrophe? Change in management. A leader who cannot make the correct calls on budget; including cuts and priorities. A leader who is incapable of identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the current institution and taking the steps needed to bolster the foundations.
  
  Post Secondary
  My post secondary education was in a prestigious environment, not to us who were in it, but to those who had formulated ideas and attitudes about it. We paid a lot, true. But the heart and soul of that institution had nothing to do with money. It had to do with cohesive functionality. We ranked 1st all the time for the international course we were all part of, to the point that we were audited severally because they thought we had to be cheating. What African school could have so many smart kids lumped in one area? Well, we had instructors who understood the curriculum and the deliverables. Who communicated that very clearly to the students and who allowed push back so that we could ask questions over and over again until we were clear. Never once were we judged, or considered too “spoilt” to have valid opinions. This environment created creativity and fierce loyalty to our brand. And this loyalty translated to so much pride that we were all out there striving to uphold our name.
  
  As luck would have it, this institution would have a history that would come to haunt it. While I was in it, it was run by catholic fathers. Turns out, the catholic fathers had been given the institution to run by a then wealthier different denomination that had more than it could handle. It appears that the ‘operate this school’ contract was “run this” no details attached. So one day, the other denomination is now running broke (shock!) and recalls its property. It’s a violent upheaval. But now they are running the institution. What they did different, I’m never going to know. But the results have been shocking, to say the least. I keep wondering how they possibly could be in the situation they’re in. What they needed to have changed to get there so quickly. Some things are so solid, so stable; you imagine it has to take some time to bring them down. No, not these people. They must have some kind of special talent. Because they have brought down a giant in record time. This is a future case study on how not to manage, for sure.
  
  Family Traditions
  Here’s my beef with all this. Primary school, I went to a very nice school. But not the first in my extended family. My father’s side of the family has a rare story for their times. My grandfather was a doctor, my grandmother a teacher. So my father and his siblings got the rare opportunity to not only live in Nairobi but also to attend the best schools. While my father didn’t attend the specific school that I did, his younger brother did. And it played out that our entire slew of cousins from that side went there as well. We wanted to keep this tradition if we could. Now, we’re definitely not considering it. I wonder if I can communicate this sense of loss.
  It reminds me of the time when my brother had to go to high school. The conversation had mainly centered on private day school until my mother had an epiphany of sorts and shoved that idea. Here was the problem, there were no boarding schools in Nairobi that we could take him to and feel safe with that decision. This is why the private day school had been the original idea. Now, for my father’s frustration point. My father was an old boy’s member, a group that was trying to revive the school he had gone to. When he was there, he was one of the African students, though by then, they had a few, but not about half the population. In actual fact, he attended the school when it had the title starting with “Duke of … “ Now, imagine his frustration with the fact that my brother has qualified to get into this school, but none of us will hear of it, because we have heard they treat their form ones terribly, and worse when they have small bodies. By then, one or two had died while being rabbalized. In addition, there was nothing but rumors of gay rape happening in these boarding schools. My brother ended up in Gilgil in one of the forces controlled schools. It turned out to have been a blessing because it is a great school he went to. But there! Because of headmasters who refused to reign in bullying and other shenanigans, my father lost what he really wanted. A chance to have an alma mater relationship with his only son. Can I communicate the extent of loss?
  
  Rare opportunity
  I should mention that my mother also was amongst the lucky few from their times. Hers was a more stumbled into lucky situation as compared to my father. For starters, proximity. My mother hails from one of the districts that are now about to be absorbed into Nairobi because they have become merely outskirts and suburbs. To put it in perspective, it was a 30 minutes drive to my mum’s shags and we went there on a whim on Sunday evenings often. But her parents were not wealthy nor educated. However, she happens to be the ultimate last born. She was the last born of the youngest of 3 wives children. And fortunately for her, her oldest brother from her mother was educated, done with school, married and flourishing. I should mention that whenever my parents have told us the story of “walking to school without shoes.” Both have lied every time. Very rare circumstance for children of my generation. Anyway, my mother was smart as daylight too. So she ended up in one of Nairobi’s greatest schools for her time. And I ended up there as well. And while I was there, my mother decried the deterioration in prestige of a still then very highly regarded school. Now she just wonders if anything could ever be done to save it. As a student in a school where my mother had been, it felt very good. I was one of two. The other girl, an old family friend, just happened to be my mom’s friend from high school’s daughter. It was quite something. And I had hoped that maybe I could share the same with a possible future daughter. Given the condition of that school currently, woe unto me!
  
  Frustration
  So here’s where I am at with all this. I’m frustrated. Maybe even a little upset. I’m just feeling victimized by the actions of those who were put in charge of these institutions. I’d like to write them a letter. It would be polite, but I would like to draw for them a picture that captures just how much more they have robbed people of. I’m sure that they see the decay, the failures of their mismanagement. The evidence is obvious. What I don’t think they know is the far reaching implications. They may not be aware of the “error that keeps on giving” situation they have left behind. To look outside of personal self, these are now huge institutions, filled with potential that at the very least will have a lull in their histories, assuming all ends well and these will be revived to their past glories. Which means that tons of money has to go into bringing back what was the norm into these places. Money that could have been used to take these institutions to the next level! Stalled development, the inheritance they’ve left us all with.
  
  What about the pride with which we regarded our alma maters? We now say we were there and everyone rumbles into, “oh the place has deteriorated” speech because they remember what it meant when we were there. What about that? And what about for those like me, who had hoped to continue a tradition of taking their children to these institutions? As they are currently, it would be an irresponsible decision on any parent’s part. What about that?
  
  Hope - Maybe
  All is not lost for me. The kids are yet to be manufactured. The dough has not been kneaded yet, let alone placed in the oven. I could still get lucky and find that by the time I have kids and they’re ready for school, the miracles needed have come through, and these institutions have been revived. Sigh! One can dream, anyway.

• 10:36

  A Rose by any other Name….

   » ‎ SportsKenya
  
  

  UPDATE:

  Thanks to the short-sighted nature of our politicals, Coca-Cola has cancelled the KSh.117m deal with the SSMB. After what the Coca-Cola Country Manager, Alex Maditsi said is 'untenable' referring to the Minister's demand that the name be changed to Nyayo Coca-Cola Stadium. Don't we love shooting ourselves in the foot all the time? And we thought we were heading somewhere lest we miss the 2010 bus? A fellow Minister said it on Wednesday that we're not doing enough to attract business relating to the World Cup.Lost, truly despicable !

  For those in the know, we had one of the ground-breaking moments to applaud the Sports Stadia Management Board pulling through a deal, having one of the biggest local stadiums named.

  This went on well and even as the stadium hosted the national team in a qualifier in March, we were still smiling with glee at the prospects this had on the sporting world. But no sooner had the ink dried on paper than some Government operatives started throwing tantrums about this and that – not being ‘consulted’ the other being the name change…of course this is what they bought RIGHTS , duh?

  Now I have never had serious reservations with the Minister in charge of sports (some of my kin think she’s always quick to jump into some glory which may not even have been associated with the Ministry’s efforts or none therein).

  But getting messages from sporting enthusiasts about the insistence on the name “Nyayo” sticking to the stadium that is now Coca-Cola Stadium, I begun having my misgivings about the whole thing. If you don’t know sports business, please Ms Minister stick to the welcoming delegations and the visits to the Hill accompanying departing teams. You can also enjoy  a game or two of rugby in your many overseas trips as well as visit the major capitals of the world as a Kenyan is bound to win a marathon, road-race or athletic meet in any of those.

  Please keep out of the business side of things, you’ve proved to be just like other Government operatives of which I have little respect for as many of the Kenyans can attest to right now.

   

  SIDENOTE:The Sports Stadia Management Board was supposed to get its new head a few months back but the first appointee lost his life on a road accident while the current ‘appointee’ – (who incidentally served as an educationist in the national union…’****!!!??P????P)Two wrongs do not make a right (as cliché as it may sound)…follow the due process Ms Minister ! Tragedy, real tragedy……

  
• 9:39

  Sports Purism

   » ‎ SportsKenya
  
  

  This tempest is not about to end anytime soon. Such has been the drama and disillusions in sports in Kenya that at times you wonder why we even bother follow our sporting scene. My misgivings have been on quite a number of things….

  Starting with the basketball federation which could not resolve the issue of representation of clubs in the voting process- which I think has been long overdue, how else do you play the league without the clubs?- onwards to the ever-boring sagas of football in Kenya, the poisoned chalice that is sports associations in Kenya to the now irksome business of naming a stadium.

  For sports purists and practitioners who hope to make sports in Kenya what it ought to be, these shenanigans WILL NOT STOP US from achieving that and for those who thought this fire’s been put out, THINK AGAIN !  

  

• 8:15

  Tribalists Ruining Kenya, Please Stop Them

   » ‎ You Missed This
  By Philip (the visitor)
  
  First a humble question to readers of Kumekucha, why have you lowered the bar that much? Even if your rants are a reflection of reality on the ground, you can surely do better than outdoing the villagers.
  
  The vitriol and venom spewed here leaves one wondering whether the writers are really Kenyans, living inside or exiled outside. Here I am left imagining what a bloody battle ground it would be if some of you met face to face
  
  I remember what a Kikuyu taxi driver told me on 14th January 2008 at around 4.00P.M as he was driving me to Eldoret airport (by the way my former Kikuyu boss had feared attending a meeting there so I was representing him):
  
  Kikuyu taxi driver: "Niliponea sana,eeh nilishtuka mazee, hao watu walikuwa wakistopisha gari na kichwa ya mtu kwa mkuki. Mazee sita wish noma kaa hii itokee tena. Inafaa tuwachane na hizi story kabisa."
  
  
  I don't think we will ever gain when, due to hatred for Raila, we pass blame to all Luos, or due to our hatred for Kibaki we pass our blame to Kikuyus.
  
  I'm lucky that my former boss was a Kikuyu, while one of the Consultant who used to give him consultancy jobs was a Luo. This made me to realise that what separates the good and the bad is God (an atheist can tell me other alternative). I don't think there is anybody among us who can say that he has never been hurt by a member of his/her tribe, to the extend that he'll defend his/her tribe as if his/her tribe is better than the other.
  
  In our current society where we have adopted the western culture so much and there is freedom of movement, the different between two people from different tribe is nothing else but the sound that comes out of their mouth when they speak mother tongue.
  
  So you are a FOOL (not you Chris, but some bloggers here) if you think your tribe is better than the other tribe.
  
  If our names were changed, then we were mixed with other strangers, and finally made mute, don't you think you could have realised that tribal difference between us.
  
  It is so sad and pitiful that we have let tribes to blind us so much that even goats, cows and sheep interact better than us, yet we call ourselves human beings given orders by God to control these animals.
  
  
  Therefore let's not put tribe as a defence to what our leaders do. We better realize that one's tribe will never justify his/her actions.
  
  I hate this attitude of "Raila stole, eehh Raila is a Luo, I am also Luo, so Raila actually never did something that wrong" or "Kibaki stole, eehh Kibaki is a Kikuyu, and I'm a Kikuyu, ah so Kibaki never did something that bad". Its all BULLSHIT!
  
  Forgive me for using any vulgar word. Only that I'm annoyed with intellectuals who are spreading tribalism.Kumekucha

  
  

  

• 4:20

  1st World Peace Poetry Festival in Kenya on 19 & 20th Sept '09 by World Poets Society

   » ‎ Kenyanpoet
  Walter Keyombe, an international Kenyan contemporary poet and a member of World Poets Society based in Greece is announcing the 1st World Peace Poetry Festival Kenya 2009 under the theme: “Reconcile, Transform, Forgive & Reconnect” to be held from 19th to 20th September, this year at Hope Centre auditorium in Nairobi Kenya.
  
  Poets from all around the world will participate and show case their poetic creativity in a well planned open mic, attend educational lectures and seminars lead by an international spoken word poets Mrs. Dasha Kelly from USA,Poet Koketso Marishane from South Africa and Philo Ikonya from Kenya. All local and international poets will take part in a reading and performing session which will mark the International Peace Day on 21st of September.
  
  ''This event is designed to promote kenyan amateur poets and educate the society,activists youth,students, leaders, churches and schools on how to achieve peace love and unity within our communities and to crash the obstacles facing the world towards stability''said Keyombe.
  
  Truly, this festival for peace will be a place where poets and other artists will learn and discover their responsibilities and find inspirations for their poems or works, some not getting into limelight or getting published, not to mention some poets will get a chance to win the coveted International Peace Bearer Award for 2009 by the United Minds For Peace Society (UMFPS). The award will be presented by the Society Secretary General and international award winning poet, Mr.Sonnet Mondal form India.
  
  Mr. Keyombe who is the host of this prestigious poetic event is welcoming any individual and organization who would like to sponsor the festival to come on board and do so. There will be a world class entertainment by the Voices of Hope Choir and schools around Nairobi to all the attending poets and their guests.
  
  A selection of distinguished poets and speakers will also be at the event to speak and to address those in attendants, this includes Pastor Charles Macharia and Mr. Benard Litwachi and Susan Mbuthia(Kenya),P..Gopichand & P.Nagasuseela (INDIA), official members of World Poets Society, World Peace Organization, World Hope International and United Minds For Peace Society (UMFPS) all the participants will be required to pay the festival fee of Ksh 500 for early registration, the fee includes snacks and refreshments,tickets to the open mic and seminar room.
  
  The deadline for registration is 30th August. Any one after the date will have to pay Ksh 600 and all payments should be sent via M-Pesa line 0710442872.
  
  Register Now and get the chance to meet, shake hands and discuss poetry and peace with the world legendary renowned and award winning academic poets. Win the international recognition for peace. To access more information about the event, contact or email to:
  
  Walter Keyombe
  World Hope International Kenya
  P.O Box 25062-00603
  Nairobi Kenya
  Email: walterkeyombe(at)yahoo.com
  Cell phone: +2547104428

• 3:25

  Total 2009 AGM

   » ‎ bankelele

  Tags:  triton  

  The 55th annual general meeting of Total Kenya was held on May 19 2009 at KICC and was presided over by company Chairman Herve Allibert
  Easy registration took a minute. Total have introduced an electronic check-in, shareholders or their proxies show up with a bar code, which is scanned and they as they sign in
  
  Q&A
  
  Erroneous publication: company secretary apologized for some omitting list of top shareholders and wrong agenda contained in the annual report; saying the printer gave out wrong copy.
  
  Buyout of Chevron assets: in 2007 Chevron decided has divested from petrol stations in west and east Africa and Total is buying their stations in Kenya and Uganda. The chairman clarified that parent Total Group (pronounced Tota hutra -meh) is buying the assets and deal will be finalized in June 2009. Thereafter Total Kenya (78% owned by Total Group) will buy the assets from the Total Group. Total Kenya has obtained regulatory approvals in Kenya, is arranging financing for that deal, and the directors will call for a shareholders meeting in a few months to approve that deal.
  In answering another shareholder, Chairman added that Total Group is not divesting from Africa; they know how to do business in Africa, work well here and will continue to invest here
  
  Performance drop in fourth quarter: board member answered shareholder that it was true that Q4 performance was worse. He said it was a s a result of negative stock effect (oil bought at $140+ that was sold at lower prices), and company had to make provision of Kshs 171 million for a supplier (Triton?) who was paid, but failed to deliver products to the company. He added that Q1 of 09 was much improved as the company had received a payment of 150 million in refunds from the Kenya revenue authority (KRA), a feat, which the Chairman added, was very difficult to attain.
  
  Increase in borrowing costs: this had gone up because of the price of fuel was up, while they also had to pay upfront for all taxes
  
  Bio energy: the group does research and investment for that and deploys products such as bio-diesel now sold in Ethiopia
  
  No women directors Chairman said company was aware of this mis-match. They were continuously seeking some women to join the board and also plan to have more women in all management levels of the company
  
  Hot point I - Total’s Q&A format; instead of having shareholders stand and ask questions, Total have (for some years now) had shareholders write their questions down on notes which are then handed to the board table and the company secretary selects a few which to read. The directors were today accused of ignoring some questions, not answering other key questions properly (about the flat share price and lack of bonus shares), while altogether leaving shareholders and some directors in the dark . The Chairman said they would review the practice before next meeting. Another aspect of the meeting (the French Chairman called it a “general assembly” ) that was challenged was the time of the meeting 3 PM
  
  Hot Point II – Goodies:
  - Total still doesn’t get it; they always have buffet of meat bitings , today by San Valencia that is messy to serve with shareholders jostling to get some food before it’s finished. They should just serve lunch boxes.
  
  - each shareholder got a tote bag, t-shirt and an umbrella. Some shareholders complained that they had not got their gift items (but somehow other shareholder had 3 or 4 umbrellas) – and the company secretary was asked to record their names and see if the company could have them delivered after the meeting

• 1:10

  The Dialogue on Development: Heart, Mind, Hand

   » ‎ What An African Woman Thinks

  If you manage to read all the way through my long (loong) review of Michela Wrong’s book, “It’s Our Turn To Eat”, somewhere near the end, you’ll find this statement tucked in:

  “it’s not the heart that is in the wrong place, it is the hand that is responding in the wrong way. In this respect, aid idealists and aid sceptics ought really to dialogue as on the same side, wanting the same thing, giving benefit of doubt, assuming goodwill unless proven absent. But that is another article, for another day.”

  I inserted it in there to compel myself come back to the subject because sometimes I mean to come back to a thing and then I get distracted and I don’t. So now I’m coming back to it. Sort of.

  At the weekend, while thinking about how best to approach the subject, I thought back to that opinion piece by Paul Kagame published in the Financial Times week before last in which he argues that Africa has to find its own way to prosperity. If you still haven’t read it, you should read it. It’s encouraging to see an African president engage proactively in the aid debate.

  What I want to zero in on for my purposes here is this statement he made early on:

  “We who live in, and lead, the world’s poorest nations are convinced that the leaders of the rich world and multilateral institutions have a heart for the poor. But they also need to have a mind for the poor.”

  While I read this, I had in mind what I had written earlier about the hand responding in the wrong way.

  It occurred to me that we’re both agreed on the fact that the hearts of donors, aid and development agencies/workers are in the right place, for the most part. Or, if they’re lost, they’re not terribly so—it would not take a long haul flight, a train and a bus to get their heart to the right place. (Yes, I know everywhere there are bound to be exceptions, but I speak in the main.)

  However, there was also an interesting difference in our diagnosis of where the problem might lie. I suggested that there was a lack of forward integration—that whereas the heart is in the right place, it is not moving the hand to do the right thing. Kagame for his part called donors and aid/development agencies on their lack of “a mind for the poor”.

  This difference interested me and gave me pause. I was intrigued specifically by the phrasing:

  A mind for the poor.

  Naturally then, I googled it, interested to track its most recent usage.

  Google led me to some interesting places: the NextBillion.net blog, on a review of the book “In the River They Swim” which features essays about poverty reduction, sustainable development and entrepreneurship by influential people around the world, including President Kagame of Rwanda; a commentary by Michael Miller, Director of Programs at the Acton Institute which made reference to the dichotomy between “good intentions” and “good solutions” published early last year that quotes an official of a Rwandan agency promoting investment in that country calling for more business investors and less philanthropist and; a FastCompany article on Rwanda.

  Interesting: what all these sources have in common with the FT.com article, apart from the phrase “a mind for the poor” is Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda.

  (Note to self, must buy, must read: In the River They Swim: Essays from around the world on Enterprise Solutions to Poverty. Does anybody else know of another genesis of this specific phrasing, another context where the term “a mind for the poor” is used widely? Do share.)

  In the opinion piece published in the Financial Times, President Kagame makes a valid point about the place of mind that fills the lack in mine when I argue that it is the hand that gets it wrong.

  In fact, the essence of the Make Poverty History Campaign is to compel the heart to move the hand in what Kagame describes as believing that we can solve the problem of poverty with sentimentality.

  To be fair, to be deeply moved to do something, to do anything, to do what we can, when we encounter human suffering is natural, and in this respect Bono and Bob and Blair are not acting out of sync with their humanity.

  What is harder is to develop the discipline to route the things that the heart feels compelled to do through the mind, to subject them to scrutiny for all the assumptions that they make about what it is fitting and right to do and how best to go about doing what needs to be done. It takes discipline to put a long enough pause on impulse in order to engage broadly and meaningfully with those to whom the hand will eventually be extended but in doing so you give yourself the opportunity to grapple with difficult questions such as: how do the poor see themselves and how is this different from or similar to the way we see them; why does poverty exist such as it does in that particular place and; how will the action that we are taking today serve to empower or emasculate in the short, medium and long term.

  But. (Yes, there is a but): I’m betting my bottom dollar that all the thinking that leading development agencies have done on poverty and development and aid since their inception can fill multiple terrabytes of electronic space. Further, this thinking is done by some of the world’s best minds, whether motivated by the opportunity to do good and make a difference in the world, or lured by, among other perks, business class travel.

  Yet we have not got it convincingly or steadily right.

  Which is why that phrase that Kagame et al employ intrigues me:

  A mind for the poor.

  Definitely worth investigating further.

  It's my window, but I don't own the view.