Category Archives: tiomin

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.

Tiomin: A raw deal?

This interesting article/interview recaps some of the questions that have dogged the controversial Tiomin project in Kwale and which I am sure have been covered during the 10 years that that it has taken the project to start.

Such as:
– What is the true value of the Tiomin resource? $1,3-billion, or $11-billion? Given the current debate of whether mining & oil should disclose all their payments some of the figures which are bandied about need to be reviewed.
– Why was the approval of the Toronto stock exchange required for a Canadian-Chinese finance deal based in Kenya? Where’s the NSE & CMA?
– Was it really cheaper to construct a value adding processing plant in Canada than in Kenya? And that is after shipping the raw product to Canada?
– Why was an environmental-impact assessment (EIA) by a South African consultancy firm used and a Kenyan one ignored? And isn’t our NEMA the ultimate arbiter on environmental issues?

The article notes that most opposition to the project was because Tiomin was accused of being sketchy on the finer details of the project.

I hope when we find Oil, (and it’s only a matter of time, si Uganda has already found theirs?!), the benefits will accrue within Kenya.

Another Saturday Post

Dedicated to AfroM who says I don’t work on weekends

Banking

The Nation gives a peek at a damning report on the over-staffed and under-performing employees at the Central Bank of Kenya.

Charterhouse Bank management denied that they were involved in money laundering and claimed that accusations were meant to distract from the problems at the Central Bank.

Auditors of the collapsed Trust Bank will be sued for fraud by the former depositors.

An IFC report on the Ugandan banking sector.

Ex-Im Trade
The Ministry of Trade & Industry has published a handbook on importing and exporting in Kenya.

Kenya Airways
– The airline is offering Mombasa residents cheap tickets to fill seats, likely to be empty over the Easter weekend. There are so many coast holiday packages between the airline and Mombasa hotels resulting in full flights, and probably requiring extra & larger aircraft, to Mombasa before Easter and from Mombasa after Easter. So the airline is selling seats for 2,500 shillings (about ½ price) to Nairobi before Easter and to Mombasa after Easter
– The airline also offers automatic 10% discounts for tickets booked through its website (bypassing travel agents & their commissions)
– KQ will codeshare with Korean Air on the Seoul – Bangkok – Nairobi route effective April 20. (From African Flyer)

E-govt
Parliament will unveil a new website next Thursday, minus 7 MP biographies.

Sports
ABM AMRO economists make predictions about the World Cup showing Brazil are likely to win, but an Italian win would be best for the world economy.

Mining
Tiomin will buy a 20% Net Profit Interest Royalty (“NPI Royalty”) that Pangea Goldfields holds on the mineral sands exploration licenses of Kwale, Kilifi, Vipingo, and Mambrui in Kenya.

Communications
The Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) will simplify the licensing process by combining three different licenses: VSAT, internet backbone & gateway, and public data network operator (PDNO) & international data gateway into one data carrier network operator (DCNO).