Retrenchment: There are retrenchments on going on at several state corporations this month as the packages have finally being approved by the Office of the President and the cost-cutting which is going to affect several thousand employees gets underway. The Minister of Finance is soon expected to grant tax waivers to cushion the blow to employees, but the packages are nowhere near as lucrative as those golden handshakes of the 1990’s since, these days, retrenched employees are no longer paid their employers’ contribution until they are 55 years old.

Debt waiver:  The Nairobi City Council has announced another six-month interest waiver for defaulters to pay the principal amount outstanding in six installments from August to January 31 2007. Failure to pay could lead to either denial of business permits, NCC auctioning a property, or even compelling tenants (not landlords) to pay the rates.

Business news sources: Since the Nation and Standard have both made most of their business sections and archives subscriber only, the only local newspaper to have free business news online remains the Kenya Times which has a comprehensive daily business section.

Heat + Inside Man = Nairobery: A crime wave has hit Nairobi in the last month that targets banks, forex bureaus, petrol stations and business people that are executed with a lot of forward planning, inside information, and stakeouts – all resulting in millions of shillings being snatched at a go without a shot fired. Much of the blame has been directed at recently released prisoners who have resumed violent criminal lives while the police have also pointed a finger at under-paid and frustrated bank employees.

Regional Aviation: 

• Uganda will get a new national airline (25% owned by the Government) called Victoria International Airways, which will begin flights from Entebbe to regional destinations such as South Africa from October 1. from Air Finance Journal
• Precision Air of Tanzania (49% owned by Kenya Airways) will receive three ATR 42-500 aircraft and three ATR 72-500 aircraft between 2008 and 2010. from Air Finance Journal
• African Express Airways became the first international airline to fly and actually land at the Mogadishu International airport which has been closed for 14 years.

No more yellow maize: Africa is unlikely to receive imports of US corn as food relief in the future given that the excess US farm outputs can now be diverted towards the production of Ethanol. The grain required to fill a 25-gallon SUV gas tank with ethanol will feed one person for a year.

Sports Kenya: Kenya hosts Bangladesh in a cricket match this weekend, the first major local cricket event since the 2003 Cricket World Cup match where Kenya defeated Sri Lanka.

Jobs

From the daily papers this week

• Regional manager at Africa now. Apply to kisumu@africanow.org. by August 18.
• Various engineers at East Africa Cables. D/L is August 18.
• Fund manager, accountant and various officer vacancies at Farm Africa. Details at www.farm-africa.org and D/L is 14 August.
• Institute of Security Services: Senior researcher Nairobi, Officer director and project head Nairobi. Details at www.issafrica.org and D/L is 18 August.
• Kenya Wildlife Services: head of business development, manager business development.  D/L is August 23.
• Procurement analyst at the National Oil Corporation of Kenya. Apply to mdnock@nockenya.co.ke by 18 August.