Intellect vs Emotions

I have been studying the nature of human being and have come to agree with Edward Barneys commonly reffered as the fathe of public relations also the nephew of Sigmud frued the reknown psycho analylist, That if you want to catch peoples attention dont sell to their intellect sell to their emotions. And this man ruled the united states in the 1920s in politics and in business. Pretty very much what our leaders do with us, they have mastered the art and they swing the kenyan public right left and center stroking their emotional attachemnt to their tribes, fooling their peasant admirers that by attacking you neighbor then you will be better tomorrow. This didnt start yesterday or the day before this typical kenyan politics where you come from and the tongue you speak determines your votes and who can join in to form coalition and political marriages of convinience. The kenyan media has also coined the word political backyard to reffer to followers of the tribal chiefs. The hope of this country in the hands of an upcoming young generation no the one in the university but below the age of ten and those being born. Beyond age 10 if you ask i think they have already been poisoned and the kind of education they continue to receive both at home and in kenyas school system will only lead in deep waters than we are in now. 

phantom Ken-Ren Fertiliser Factory project

Fertilizer shortage sparks protests in Kenya – while Government pays Ksh 5 Billion for Non-Existent Fertiliser Factory

By 2015, when Kenya is due to make the last payments due on account of the phantom Ken-Ren Fertiliser Factory project, Kenyan taxpayers will have been gouged over Kshs 5.1 billion in respect of an original guarantee of only Kshs 350 million. The Kenyan taxpayer will have paid 14 times the value of the project and received nothing. Without the factory Kenya continues to import almost 500,000 metric tones of fertilizer annually and the bill amounts to Tens-of-Billions-of-Shillings. The factory could have employed scores of Kenyans and lowered the cost of agriculture production and food for tens of millions of Kenyans – for decades. The factory’s contribution to food security would have been immense. As things stand today, Kenyans have no option for balanced crop nutrition apart from imported fertilizer blends. And now, there is even a shortage of imported fertiliser. While the farmers protest, and politicians cry crocodile tears, it is time to declare that the Ken-Ren fertilizer factory fiasco was economic sabotage not just corruption.

The Ken-Ren Fertiliser Factory was a joint venture entered into in the mid 1970s between the Government and a now bankrupt American firm known as N-REN Corporation, to form a company registered as Ken-Ren Chemical and Fertilizers Company Limited (Ken-Ren). The plan was to save Kenya huge amounts of money then being spent on importing fertilizer. Ken-Ren was to build a factory at Changamwe, Mombasa to manufacture fertilizer for domestic consumption and export markets. The location, near Kenya’s coastal Oil Refinery was ideal and the use of refinery by-products to manufacture fertiliser made economic sense.

Ken-Ren on advice of N-Ren Corporation entered into several financing and equipment procurement contracts with various Austrian and Belgian banks and suppliers, with the Government of Kenya being the guarantor. The total guarantee provided to Ken-Ren, by the Kenyan Government, was US$.42,796 million (at that time about Kshs 350 million) at an interest rate of 8.5% p.a and other charges. The suppliers of equipment and machinery were Coppee-Lavalin of Belgium and Voest Alpine of Austria.

The American partners turned out to be fraudulent. The fertilizer factory project failed to take off and Ken-Ren was subsequently placed under receivership in September 1978, with the Registrar-General being appointed the official receiver and provisional liquidator. Although no work was done on the proposed factory, various pieces of equipment worth Kshs.237 million were delivered at the port of Mombasa by the Austrian firm, Voest Alpine. The rusting equipment can still be seen in Mombasa. Other equipment valued at Kshs.100 million was ordered and paid for but never shipped. Ultimately, the financiers for the Ken_Ren project instituted two sets of court cases and arbitral proceedings against the Kenyan Government – calling on the guarantee.

In the first case filed in May 1988 by the Ducroire Bank of Belgium against the Kenyan Government, the Tribunal sitting in November 2002 awarded the bank an amount of Kshs.1,720,000,000 (Euro.21,181,992), and a further sum of Kshs.6,790,875 (US$.87,500) in respect of legal costs. After further negotiations between the Kenyan Government and the financiers, the debt due was agreed at Kshs.3,274,934,000 (Euro.32,520,319) payable between July 2004 and June 2015. The Government had as at 30 June 2010 paid a sum of Kshs.2,016,894,395.70, made up of principal and interest leaving a balance of Kshs.1,258,039,604.30 (Euro.12,608,034.52) outstanding.

In the second case filed by BAWAG Bank of Austria on 29 June 1992 before a Tribunal, an award of Kshs.1,330,812,400 (Euro.16,635,156.16) was made in favour of the Austrian bank. However, the Government delayed honouring the award, and following several negotiations between it and the bank, a restructuring agreement was reached and signed on 14 November 2004. According to the agreement, the Government was required to pay a sum of Euro.16,635,156.16 twice a year, on every 31st March and 30th September. As at 30 September 2010, the Government had paid a sum of Kshs.1,044,173,755.35 in respect of principal and interest, leaving a balance of Kshs.837,312,353.50 (Euro.8,483,929.64) outstanding. As no fertiliser factory was ever constructed by Ken-Ren, the entire expenditure of Kshs.3,061,068,151.05 so far incurred on the project is nugatory. Incredibly, no-one has been prosecuted in Kenya and no recovery proceedings were brought by the Kenya Government; not even against N-REN Corporation.

By Mars Group Kenya.

War on Al Shaabab Unwarranted

Why this is not our war but its us who will suffer its consequences and its them the Al shaabab and the donor community that will benefit from it. Somebody convince me how this is a Kenya war aiming at protecting our pride and territorial integrity when our officers in the army have been accused of recruiting and training the Al shaabab in various army camps in the country.

Convince me if its about territorial integrity why we are not fighting with Uganda and Ethiopia where our hardworking brothers and sisters are being harassed daily by Ugandan authorities and only when the media exposes such does the government pretend to act. 40 Kenyans on single night 2 or 3 months ago were brutally murdered and many more maimed and injured by an Ethiopian militia. Pleasantries were exchanged by the two government's few days later, guess what the militia is back and still hurting our fellow Kenyans. But there no beaches in turkana, there are no investors in Turkana  so why bother throw resources to a region that has no value to the economic.

The over dependence on AID by most African countries makes them address issues to do with foreigners as opposed to acting on issues to do with Kenyans,there lacks enough income from tax to sustain the bloated government and ballooning salaries of Kenyan MPs. That's why every year the minister of finance reads a budget that is imbalanced with more weight on recurrent budget as opposed to development budget. To enable the goverment to cater for the above said ills the govt seeks 'help' from development partners through grants and loans to fill the deficit( and think i the former they are not supposed to pay back). Now i hope you know why the Kenyan who is in Turkana doesn't count to the authorities soo much, the protection of the international is the priority of the Kenyan govt and may be a distant 100 there comes Todonyang when the outcry from Kenyans is deafening or and most likely they want to play politics.

Otherwise how do you explain the govt lack of resources to feed  Kenyans just a few months ago and now it has tonnes of money to go to war we don't know when it will end. The govt has resources to go to war as its citizenry succumb to various cancer ailments due to lack of care and quality treatment in the country. The youths are unemployed because the government has not taken them seriously on issues of job creation and support of innovation through research and business enterprise ventures. The government have unpaid teachers and seriously demotivated civil servants who knock on their door year in year out with minimal success. But when foreigners are abducted note not dead the government is up in arm to defend border sanctity.The border has been constantly been mutilated by the immigration and provicial administration through receiving bribes to allow people who dont qualify to be refugees in the country unvetted. This what you should be fixed not going to war.

Kenyans lets be vigilant lets hold our govt accountable, alot things are going at the moment and this could be another theatrical exercise to divert the attention of Kenyans from what really matters the implementation of the constitution.

They may amend the constitution, they may pass faulty bill that dilute what we voted for overwhelmingly. They may trivialise the irregularities of purchasing 40% of De la rue as they trivialised the sale of Grand regency.

Open your eyes because when they finish eating what is ours they will come for what is yours.  And they have already started through passing all the effects of inflation to the consumer and through this they reward the goose that lays the golden eggs.

Am so smelling something. Lets be vigilant

Wandai

A Thinking Kenyan