Mashada Blogs » May 24, 2009

For Love and Money: Rebalancing My 401(k)

2009-05-24T22:55:00-04:00

Rebalancing My 401(k)

You Missed This: It's Just Two Minutes to Midnight in Nairobi

2009-05-24T16:08:00-04:00

I've read accounts of a doomsday clock in the Oval Office, Washington D.C. According to those unverified accounts, that clock is actually on the floor and can only been seen by those who are keen to detail. In Dan Brown's political thriller, Deception Point, the clock is supposed to be carefully interwoven in the fabric of the sprawling carpet that gives that office the look and feel of the most important office in the world.

But I'm not here to tell you about the Oval Office clock. What I want to tell you is that there is another doomsday clock ticking in Nairobi as we speak. Everywhere I look, I see storm clouds gathering. The minute hand of our own doomsday clock stands at just two minutes to midnight. And the seconds are ticking incessantly. Is anybody else alarmed by what we see around us?

MUSEVENI:

I can't remember another time when Uganda so bodly challenged Kenya's territorial integrity. And I can't recall a time when our President let that landlocked neighbour behave as if it was the regional superpower. How can it be that our Commander-in-chief will let the pride of Kenya be sullied in the mad this long? Don't we have generals who can stand up and tell the Commander-in-chief enough is enough? I miss Mulinge and Opande, man!

KIKWETE:

And now suddenly we have Jakaya Kikwete feeling like he can go to the United States and discuss Kenya. What the hell does that Tanzanian know about Kenya? The fact that Bush sent him here with a stern message for our leaders a year ago does not make him some maharishi on matters Kenyan. If he doesen't think it funny for our leader to discuss his nation anywehere at its midnight hour, he should desist from discussing Kenya at our midnight hour. We are and will always be lightyears ahead of TZ.

OBAMA:

Then there is Obama. The man is not coming to Kenya. I've heard many people castigate Kibaki and Odinga, folks saying that our nation is in turmoil so Obama couldn't visit. Crap. Here is what I say...if he is the kind of a guy who would only visit us because everything was okay, let him stay the hell away. Like his nation that is grappling with racism, classism and periodically the madness of the Bush type, our nation will have issues it grapples with from time to time. Does it mean when we face those issues we should be shunned?

I feel that Barack Obama, by shunning Kenya, has missed a golden opportunity to stand in the middle of Nairobi and proclaim his wishes for Kenya right in the face of Kibaki and Odinga. It would have been a powerful symbol that this son of Kogelo would come here and make it known that he is solidly for reforms. To send some dude called Johnny Carson...and an ambassador who is partly responsoble for the mess we are in makes me sick to my stomach. And may Obama be told that we will have no use for him should he come here after his presidency is over.

KENYANS:

As a nation, I feel the right response to the foreign challenges we face must be to rally around His Excellency President Mwai Kibaki and the Rt Honourable Prime Minister Raila Odinga. As fervently as I disagree with Kibaki on just about everything, when the nation is under siege on multiple fronts, we must rally solidly behind him. We must all stand ready to follow his directives whenever he feels Uganda must be taken head on, and Tanzania must be calmed down, and Obama must be told we can handle our affairs...even when the process looks chaotic sometimes.

Fellow Kenyans, we may have our family fights that sometimes manifest themselves in the form of raw tribalism and other isms, but at the end of the day we will always be Kenyans. One big family. Let's not let our family feuds weaken us to the point where dependent nations like Uganda and Tanzania begin to feel they have a leg on our throat. We must always work hard to remain the regional superpower.

So at just two minutes to midnight, let's give our President and Prime Minister the support they need to confront the nation's foreign issues. It's that kind of a time when we must stand bega kwa bega, as Phil would say, and proclaim to the world that we are Kenya...and we stand ready to move our nation forward.

Those trying to mess with us...be warned.

God bless Kenya!Kumekucha

johnkaranja.com: The Kenyans we want - Ben Omondi

2009-05-24T14:53:30-04:00

Watch Ben Omondi turn bones into an artistic and functional commodity. Ben employs 4 other individuals, trains interns and reduces environmental impact of waste product such as bones. I haven’t understood why the government doesn’t consider our Jua Kali industry as our own indigenous manufacturing industry. Unfortunately AID Conditionalities reduce the capacity of government to support our own indigenous industries. The government should ensure it is people like Omondi who get access to the Kenya Youth Funds.

KA-INVESTOR: Broken Integrity

2009-05-24T12:39:00-04:00

What would you do if you discover that your so much cherished investment that you’ve been thinking is safe with your ‘trusted’ broker is not actually there has the CDS statement has been indicating? You don’t have to imagine, because this is the exact nightmare that hundreds of NSE investor are going through. And it doesn’t matter if your stockbroker is one of the few investment banks or the many shaky brokers constantly under CMA’s red list.
Seeing shareholders turning the Barclays Bank AGM into a cry session against unscrupulous brokers was a really sad turn of events. It’s now clear that the NSE, once the symbol of renewed confidence in the Kenya’s investment markets and a darling of all, has been turned into a shell by shameless brokers (owners and employees) who lack any sense of integrity and professionalism in their duty.
I see Uganda Securities Exchange (USE) turn to the electronic shares system, with investor having CDS accounts instead of share certificates, and I shudder. The advent of the same system at the NSE was just but the beginning of the investors’ troubles. Unlike with the physical certificate system the CDS gives brokers a pass to trade in clients shares without their knowledge.
A CDS statement indicating a cash balance is a magnate for brokerage employees to forge documents and defraud clients. Even worse is a case where the statement is forged to indicate that an investor has shares in his account when in real sense the shares don’t exist. The shareholder never receives dividends from companies he’s purported to have invested in nor does he get invited to the firm’s AGM. This happened a lot with Nyaga clients before it went down.
Nothing could be worse to an investor than discovering your investment that has lost over 60% was further pinched by your ‘trusted’ broker/investment banker (after moving two brokers – one collapsing and another being bought out by a bank). Brokers’ integrity at the NSE at the moment is at its lowest and so is investors’ confidence.
Will the perpetrators of these scams ever be prosecuted? Or investors will continue to be given lip service from CMA and NSE on what measures are being taken to bring back sanity to this ‘ponzi’ market? Micah, you’ve been served.

Kenyanentrepreneur.com: Kenyan Art & Entrepreneurship

2009-05-24T12:06:31-04:00

I was watching this video last night of an artist in Kibera (or was it Mathare?) who is using left over animal bones to create handicrafts and artwork. It’s really a must see video because this guy is using his creativity, innovation and business acumen to create unique products that are also environmentally adaptable. In [...]

You Missed This: Tanzania’s Last and Longest Laugh Over Kenya

2009-05-24T11:00:00-04:00

Tanzania’s President Jakaya Kiwete met President Obama last Thursday. Their discussion focused on East Africa’s regional security and anti-terrorism.

So we still brag being the biggest and most developed economy in Eastern Africa? Well, that brinkmanship and bravado will soon be so hollow just as our penchant to brand primitive wealth accumulation as industry.

Look no further than Tanzania. We may be more English than them but not when it comes to values. And the world has taken notice. Forget about the balderdash of going east.

President Kikwete may have relinquished AU's chairmanship to one Leader Gaddafi in January. But he remains the new regional anchorman and he has earned his mantle. You remember Bush sent him with NO-BUSINESS-AS-USUAL and the scoundrels were left with no choice but to listen.

Wetangula must demand apology from Kikwete after the Tanzanian President discussed Kenya with Obama. For the records, Kikwete has held regional brief for Kenya more than twice in less than four years.

The global village knows our deceptive ways inside out. No amount of proxy diplomacy by Kalonzo will wash. Waxing plastically patriotic cannot fool the world about our national vices. Instead we only fool ourselves by seeking Kikwete’s indulgence just as Kalonzo did early last year when embers of the inferno were sky high.

Bastardizing democracy
Obama’s choice of Ghana as his first African destination is neither accident nor coincidence. True he may trace his roots here in Kenya, but Obama is too smart to fall for our gimmicks lest he leaves our borders reeking DECEIT by association with our plethora of vices.

It is cheap escapism to mount Mutua-like defence that we don’t need nods from outsiders. We are best known for living serial lies and in study fortress of denial.
As Dagi Kimani aptly puts it the greatest and most costly lie to yourself is the belief that your ethnic community is more hardworking and more honest than the others. If that were so, how come you as person and your community chopping heads for money?

Make no mistake, Kenya’s present gatekeepers won’t barge in their stranglehold to keep Kenyans hostage. Even the murderous social upheavals like Mungiki will not make them reflect on their selfish schemes to bleed Kenya till her last drop.

Meanwhile the hitherto derided neighbour next door is laughing all the way to the bank as the world seeks her hand in efforts to mend broken Kenya. And before we know it we will be eating from the hands all the LESS-SOPHISTICATED Tanzanians thanks to our national twin vices of DECEPTION and FRAUD.

The ultimate prize of bastardizing a people’s democracy is incalculable.Kumekucha