Category Archives: Nairobi City Council

Deloitte celebrate 100 years at the Nairobi National Park

Deloitte celebrated 100 years of doing business in Kenya last week at the ivory burning site inside the Nairobi National Park

I’m sure Deloitte will exist in another hundred years, but will the Nairobi National Park as we know it, be around in a hundred years?

This has been debated before but it sure to come up again and again as the city rapidly expands into all open land to the South and East.

And with the three-hour traffic jams (more) that some city residents experience daily, each way on roads like Thika Road and Mombasa Road, there is appetite for some improvement.

Decision-makers may find it easier to hive off land than to radically change other aspects of rapid urbanizations such as taxation (increase tax on cars to reduce their numbers), develop a mass public transport system, or infrastructure (more by-pass roads) which in any case would still have to run through the park.

So it’s likely that in a few years you can expect moves to reduce / encroach on the parks 117 sq km to create more residential and commercial space close to the city.

And residents lulled by the offer of more land, easier access to towns, offices and new homes may support the absorption of some park space by the city of Nairobi.

Though the park has stood the test of time and remains largely intact to past encroachment efforts, the animal numbers have diminished as developments to the South have cut off migration paths. Stories of lions or leopards being seen in the Langata area at night have all but disappeared. The Kenya Wildlife Service has proven adept at relocating animals including elephants and rhinos to other parks in the country and would be called upon to do the same here.

The park has few forested areas so it’s easy to see quite far in the park. But at night during the Deloitte function, you could see lights in the distance all around the park, marking the edge of human activity bursting to enter the park.

Good luck to Nairobi National Park over the next 100 years!

Kutwa Tuesday

These are stories I have found (kutwad) and want to share this Tuesday

Getting a story straight: One way of getting your story out through the media is to buy space and have your statement run exactly as you mean it and straight to the public – and there are two recent instances of that.

Street Lights: First is by the CEO of Adopt-A-Light Esther Passaris who launched her transformed street lighting crusade into an anti-poverty and anti-corruption vehicle that may lead her to being the next mayor of Nairobi.

This comes after the City council of Nairobi disowned the contract they had with her company and advertised for other companies to fulfill outdoor lighting & advertising functions which were had been exclusively done by Adopt a light.

What’s in your water bottle?: The second statement is a concerned water expert who is worried that Kenyans may not understand the different types of bottled water being sold – drinking water, natural mineral water, mineral water, carbonated water etc. – and that water bottling companies are being liberal with the advertising truth. He writes that natural mineral water is bottled at source, and with no chemical treatment, which is an expensive process – and he doubts that it is possible for a company actually producing such water, can sell it at the same price as drinking water. I.e. some of the companies are making false claims on their water bottles. He also cautions users to check the amount of fluorine in bottled water as it can lead to bad teeth and bone disease (Should not be more than 1.5mg per litre)

Do they work?: Of course the media love a story waged on their papers and companies such as Kakuzi, Portland cement, Kenya pipeline, Nzoia Sugar and other companies have all bought space (in more than one newspaper) to run statements, usually denying allegations of financial impropriety. There was even an infamous statement defending Anglo Leasing a few years ago.

Esther Passaris took out 2 page advertisements in both the Sunday Nation and Sunday Standard – probably at a total cost of Kshs 1.5 million (840,000 for the Nation, and over 600,000 for the standard)

The media is happy because these statements add to advertising revenue and often lead to other statements and form a base for them to tackle stories that they may have been hesitant to delve into. IMHO, it is unwise for corporations to place such self-serving advertisements especially to deny allegations – the better thing is to lie low and let the bad press (negative stories) pass, plant a few trees & build schools (CSR is good first aid for a scandal wound), answer questions from regulators or authorities – but don’t splash your story in the media!

(See past PR statements by De La Rue and Italians in Malindi.

Communications Wananchi has applied for a data carrier network operator – DCNO license – joining other firms such as KDN, Simbanet, Telkom, UUNET and Access Kenya.

Bounty Hunter: In a Ugandan newspaper, I came across an article (copy here) about the search for Felicien Kabuga who is wanted for his role in the 1994 Rwanda genocide. The article had more depth than any story I have read in any Kenyan paper (fear of libel laws perhaps), but what continues to amaze me is that despite almost every literate urban Kenyan knowing about the search, a reward on offer of $5m (down to Kshs 335 million at current exchange rate), recent photos of Kabuga that the Nation published a few months ago, and significant evidence that he spends a great deal of time in Kenya – no one (his friends & associates) cares enough, for posterity, or for the reward, to turn this guy in. And now there’s a deadline – as the mandate for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and presumably the reward will expire at the end of 2008.

Brother please! Just came across this story – which at first I thought was from the the Onion or some satire website. But it appears to be a true story – that the wreckage of a six-seater aircraft has been found in Cameroon three months after it crashed. So should we be greatful that the KQ crash site was found within 48 hours?

Money go round: Even as some of the larger pyramid schemes are experiencing cash flow problems, smaller ones are still attracting new investors. In the newspapers every day there are more schemes in the works listed in the classified sections under business opportunity – all offering 16 – 20% returns per month, just for investing a small amount for a weeks.

Real estate The Kenya anti corruption authority (KACA) is seeking land in milimani, upper hill, kilimani or wastelands, presumably to set up a new office building. Lots sought should be 2 to 5 acres in size, close to major road and details should be sent to the Director by June 14.

Mining
– On J7 July at the Msambweni divisional office, a case will be heard between Simon Ndungu Karanja vs. Tiomin over his 1.9 ha piece of land
– Gippsland offshore petroleum of Australia is doing an geophysical survey of the Kenya coast (kipini area, ungama bay)
– Tile & carpet center are prospecting for carbon dioxide in (Kereita forest) of Kiambu district
– Oil giant Halliburton is moving is headquarters from Houston to Dubai!

Opportunities on the horizon

Yesterday, for about an hour, Mt. Kenya was clearly visible from Nairobi, high in the horizon with its snow peaks. It’s occasionally visible, usually early in the morning and it was a sight to see until some clouds moved in.

looked like this
Anyway, also on the horizon is:

Cheap Flights:
East African Safari Air has introduced a buy one, get one free ticket to Mombasa up to December 12.

also Coldtusker & Kenya Airways were correct about Kisumu – today EASA has also canceled flights to Kisumu citing the poor state of the runway

VIA Uganda has introduced one way fares of $69 from Nairobi to Entebbe starting on Monday.

Hotel revival :
At the Coast new hotels are springing up to capture the increasing number of tourists and visitors at the coast. Sarova are adding a hotel at the South Coast, Neptune may add two facilities more while 2007 could also see a return of Intercontinental hotels to the Kenya coast.

Marital lawyers:
Yesterday also had a nice chat with a group at which it was unanimously agreed that, in light of the Samuel Gichuru divorce & property fight, there is a growth market for lawyers who specialize in divorce cases, investigators to trace assets, and lawyers to draft creative prenuptial agreements.

Green cards: Just over a week left in the US 2008 diversity visa lottery as applications must be submitted online by Sunday December 3.

Women directors at state corporations of the Republic of Kenya: Following President Kibaki’s recent directive that 30% of the posts in public service be allocated to women, the government has now invited qualified Kenyan women invited to submit their CV’s to join the boards of state corporations – they must be university graduates with proven track records in senior management experience and be individuals of high integrity. Submit CV’s to the Secretary, state corporation advisory committee, Office of president, P O Box 62345-00200 or KICC 9th floor Nairobi.

Other Jobs

East African breweries:
– Head of human resources – EABL Kenya demand
– Human resource manager – EABL Kenya supply
Apply to hr.recruitment@eabl.com by 8/12

Country sales representative (Tanzania) at Haco. Apply to jobs@haco.co.ke by 1/12

Head of marketing at Housing Finance. Apply to human.reosurces@housing.co.ke by 4/12

Project administrator at ICRAF (world Agroforestry centre)/CIMMYT. Apply to icrafhru@cgiar.com by 8/12

ICT strategy consultants at Kenya airports authority. Apply through Hawkins.associates@khigroup.com

Kenya commercial bank (Tanzania)
– Head of corporate banking
– Head of retail banking
Apply to the divisional director HR KCB 48400-00100 by 30/11

Public relations officer at Pan Africa Insurance. Apply to hr@pan-africa.com by 29/11

Safaricom careers: senior manager reporting, optimization engineer, senior optimization engineer, senior CRM systems developer, credit controller, senior manager – organization development & change management.

Tiomin :
– Chief accountant
– Internal auditor
– Human resource officer
apply to apply@tiomingkenya.com by 30/11

But
There’s more madness from the City Council of Nairobi whose strong-arm tactics continue to frighten businesses out of downtown Nairobi. From knocking over restaurant sidewalk flower pots even as they plant their own at roundabouts, to charging exorbitant amounts for businesses to put up signboards (i.e. advertising) or any promotion. Yesterday Kenya airways staff were handing out flyers promoting the “2,500 to Mombasa fares” and they all bore “city council planning department/urban design/development section” stamps at the back – I wonder how much that cost or how long it took someone to rubber stamp each flyer.

Now, barely a month we laughed at the mayor’s ludicrous suggestion to double parking charges (i.e. 70 shillings in the morning 70 in afternoon), the council has informed motorists that from December 1, parking off-street will cost 100 shillings per entry – previously it was 100 per day. Also the new fee applies to motorists who bought and paid for quarterly monthly permits. So, in addition the almost 4,000 shillings they paid in October, they will have to fork over another 500 per week.

Mid-Week Business

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.

NCC loses

The Nairobi City Council has lost a long-running case regarding its controversial land rates increase in a case of concerned citizens saying enough – is – enough.

This is not likely to mean much since:

  • Nothing in our courts is ever final, and endless appeals can follow.
  • City council is known to ignore court orders and will probably do the same in this case
  • Many residents have already paid and will continue to pay, fearing retaliation from council workers.
  • Case not well-known.

Still WECareAboutNairobiDOIT did a great job. Next up, is a section of the business community challenging electronic tax registers.