- Award-winning Qatar Airways begins flights to Nairobi today.
- Vodacom (SA) could soon be bidding to buy out Vodafone’s (its parent company) 40% share of Safaricom Kenya.
- Is Kenya bartering wildlife to Thailand to win a seat on the UN Security Council?
- The Economist ranked Kenya Airways ranked as one of three viable African airlines alongside Ethiopian Airlines and South African Airways. Also while African airlines are fighting each other they are likely to be sidelined by foreign mega-airliners.
- The Japanese are buying & selling stocks in record numbers using their mobile phones.
Opportunity Friday
Rights issue
CFC has announced the calendar for their rights issue through which the Bank hopes to raise 744 million shillings by issuing 12 million new shares at 62 shillings (a discount of about 16% on the current market price). Each shareholder (of record on November 2) has the right to 1 new share for 12 currently held. Significant dates are;
– 16 November rights start trading
– 30 Nov last day of trading
– 9 December last payment date
– 16 Dec Results announced and register updated
– 21 Dec 21 new shares start trading
Who wants to be a millionaire?
Mobile operator Safaricom has launched a new contest that will reward 1 lucky subscriber with one million shillingseach week day over the next month. You qualify for the daily draw each time you top up a phone account by one hundred shillings. I’m down 1 today, 29 to go.
Bank consultancy
A Risk management consultancy opportunity has been advertised by PTA Bank, and the deadline is November 30.
Hotel for sale
The National Social Security Fund is selling a 114 bed hotel formerly known as Polana in downtown (not beach) Mombasa. Submit proposalsto the managing trustee by December 7. More information can be obtained from info@nssfkenya.co.ke
Transportation
For transportation of emergency relief commodities to various districts for a period of one year. Apply to the special programmes ministry in the office of the president by December 13.
jobs
Kenya Commercial Bank
– Database developer
– Hardware systems specialist
– Enterprise solutions specialist
Apply by November 25th to the divisional director, human resources, 48400-00100 Nairobi
Savings & Loan Kenya – a subsidiary of KCB
– manager sales (ESD/SL/05)
– manager marketing (ESD/MK/05)
– corporate credit analyst (ESD/CCA/05)
– advance manager (ESD/AM/05)
Apply by November 25th via KPMG’s executive selection division at esd@kpmg.co.ke .
East African Development Bank
– corporate finance specialist
– internal auditor
Apply by 25 November to the country manager EABB, 47685 Nairobi
UNDP Kenya
Poverty & Environment Advisor. Check www.ke.undp.org for details and apply by November 13.
Commonwealth Secretariat
GIDD (Government & institutional development division) advisors for East & West Africa. Check www.thecommonwealth.org for details and deadline is 9 December.
Deloitte & Touché
– Audit seniors. Apply by 30 November at admin@deloitte.co.ke
Tetra Pak
– financial analyst. Apply by November 22 to the human resource manager, 78340-00507 Nairobi.
Sports
Champions Unite: To create a champions league and super bowl powerhouse. (British soccer team Liverpool FC said it has held discussions with New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft amid speculation that the U.S. tycoon could be poised to buy a stake in the club.)
Declare Your Wealth
It’s that time of the year when a good number of workers, civil servants, government officials, soldiers, university & co-operative officials, among others, have to declare their income, assets & liabilities – or wealth for the year (November to November) by December 31. Major financial transactions over the past year are reduced to fit a four-page form:
- (page one) name, occupation, marital status, physical address.
- (page two) list all spouses and children under the age of 18.
- (page three) list all income (salary, income from rent, investments, kiosk, matatu etc.) and assets (home, car, kiosk, shares, TV.)
- (page 4 ) list all liabilities and other useful information, and have a witness sign the wealth declaration.
At the end of it all, your life should resemble a proper balance sheet. E.g. if you declare rental income, you should also declare ownership of the house you’re renting. If all one has is salary, the form can be filled in minutes.
The noble exercise stems from the Public Officers’ Ethics Act 2003, which was passed to call weed out corruption in the civil service by having officers declare their how their wealth the public officers ethics act and suspicious declarations could lead to investigation for corruption.
Teething Problems
We got a talk from our company secretary who explained that implementation of the wealth declaration has been poor because:
- The exercise is enforced by the current public service commission (PSC) which remains toothless.
- All the PSC can do is collect completed forms and store them – they have no computers, staff, or capacity to analyse the returns.
- Information can’t be shared with spouses or the Kenya Revenue Authority or spouses who feel that someone is hiding assets or suspected of criminal behaviour.
- Returns are kept for 30 years, but none of the records are computerised, only stored in some huge warehouse. Plus everyone individual must file a separate return i.e. married couples must each file their own at work, while attaching a copy of their spouses return.
- Returns of senior officials are sealed and can’t be opened e.g. a minister could have submitted a blank return and no one will ever know or check.
- PSC collects all returns strictly E.g. if an office has 200 employees, 200 returns must be received by year-end.
- Or Else: the penalty for not complying with this pointless exercise can be brutal – PSC will immediately notify an employer, that their employee has not filed, and ask that you be struck off the payroll until you comply (which takes a minimum of 3 months to rectify). Otherwise, the maximum penalty can be a million shillings or a year in jail, or both.
- Even if you’re abroad e.g. working at the Embassy in Russia, you must file a return. Yet PSC will not put the forms online and insists that returns must be on their original forms, not photocopies.
Solutions
- A new Ethics and Integrity Commission is contained in the proposed new constitution (section 99) which will ensure & investigate compliance with the Act and also make public assets & liabilities of public officials.
- Failing that, an amendment to the act will be tabled when parliament returns that will make the returns public information as well as other improvements.
Biz news
Merger
It’s not AOL and Yahoo, but the merger of two internet service providers, Wananchi online and ISP Kenya, is big news today. According to Balancing Act Africa, Africa Online, ISPKenya, Wananchi, NairobiNet, Swift Global and Kenya Web account for about 60% of the Kenyan market.
E-Government
An e-Government consulting opportunity for companies to submit proposals on setting up a metro optical fibre network consisting of local area networks (LAN’s) at all ministry headquarters and a wide area network (WAN) to interconnect the LAN’s to enable cross-ministry communications and future e-government applications. Apply for proposal information (fee is 5,000 shillings) at info@kenya.go.ke and final submissions should be made to Head of Public Service by December 7.
Thai Expo
There’s a Thailand expo at Village market this week. No animals are involved.
Anniversary
Today marked the 1st anniversary of CDS – the central depository system of holding & trading of shares on the Nairobi Stock Exchange electronically, signalling the end of the era of paper share certificates in Kenya.
Godfather
Out of the box thinking
First Africa Capital is a different sort of investment bank. I find their alternative financing proposals refreshing because Kenya is a country littered with down and out organizations in need of capital – and while other investment Banks mainly chase after blue chip companies and projects, First Africa pursues innovative ways to enable struggling companies secure valuable resources and opportunities. Some of their recent, but unsuccessful, client venture include, Telkom Kenya’s bid to buy more safaricom shares from Vodaphone, Equity Building Society’s (now Bank) offer to revive (collapsed) Daima Bank, start up financing for Econet Wireless Kenya – and now parastatal National Oil Corporation’s bid for the assets of BP Kenya.
Job opportunities
National Aids Control Council
– Economist (financing strategy)
– Monitoring & evaluation control specialist
– database administrator
Apply to the Director, NACC by November 25.
Community Officer at Kituo Cha Sheria, a leading Human Rights and Legal Aid NGO. Applicants should have bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences, 1 year experience in community organisation & development and excellent counselling paralegal & computer skills. Apply to the executive director by November 15
Simbanet a leading IT company is seeking
– head of customer support; applicants must have A+, N+ or CCNA, MCSR and 2 years ISP experience
– support engineer for VSAT: must have recognised IT diploma or degree, and be CCNA/CCNP certified with good knowledge of IP addressing, routing, DNS web servers and with 2 to 3 years working at an ISP
– junior accountant: part qualified CPA or ACCA, with 2 to 3 years experience and be not older than 27.
Apply to jobs@simbanet.co.ke by November 21.
Trust Fund Manager at the national Environmental Management Authority (NEMA)
Job entails administering a trust fund, create an award scheme, network and write proposals for fund raising and sustaining donor relationships. Applicants must have a communications degree (marketing specialization) and some NGO experience. Apply to the Director General NEMA P. O. Box 68839-00200 Nairobi by November 25.
Senior Policy Analysts at the Kenya Institute of Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA). Applicants must have PhD in economics and 5 years policy research and analysis experience. Apply to Hilda@kippra.or.ke by November 24.
Country Manager at IAT, an ACT learning organization. Applicants must be aged 30 – 40 with MBA or CPA II, with at least 8 years experience (of which 5 were as a manager and 2 managing a profit center). Apply to the Human Resource Director at opportunities@iat.co.ke by November 18. (Include a max 300 word essay explaining how you will contribute to the position)
research, monitoring & evaluation officer at the coastal rural support program of the Aga Khan Foundation. Applicants should have an advanced social sciences or development degree, with some NGO and strategic planning experience. Apply to crsp-k@africaonline.co.ke by November 25.
internal auditor (hr/aud/01/05) at Del Monte Kenya. Applicants should have a commerce or business degree, be fully qualified accountants under age 40, be familiar with the Sarbanes Oxley act and agricultural organization and have 5 years audit experience. Apply to nanasi@delmonte.co.ke by November 16.
finance & administration manager at the intermediate technology development group (ITDG) applicants must have a business degree, be fully qualified accountants be familiar with contract accounting and NGO work and also have 5 years experience, 3 at managerial level. Apply to recruitment@itdg.or.ke by November 23.
policy manager at ActionAid International Kenya. Applicants should have masters in social sciences, with at least 5 years experience in development work, policy research and advocacy, understanding of public policies and laws, networking, lobbying & communications skills and be willing to travel outside Kenya. Apply by November 21 to hr@actionaid.org
Other opportunities
Cable distribution
Cablevision is seeking distributors of their digital cable TV with 80 channels. Contact Sachin Shaha at sachin@cablevision.co.ke
Survey for Citizen Report Card in Kenya: WSP-AF has embarked on an 18-month Consumer Voice project in selected cities in Africa with the objective of creating larger scale and more direct links with consumers, deepening consumers’ understanding of water sector reform and water and sanitation issues, and strengthening informed consumer voice in water supply and sanitation service reform and management. The vehicle WSP-AF proposes to use is the Citizen Report Card. The Citizen Report Card (CRC) is a simple but powerful tool to provide public agencies with systematic feedback from users by collecting citizen feedback on the quality and adequacy of public services from actual users. CRC’s s will be implemented in three cities in Kenya: Mombasa, Kisumu and Nairobi and an experienced and professional survey firm will be contracted to undertake the data collection that forms the basis for the Report Card. Expressions of Interest (EOI), in electronic format, are invited from suitable firms with the following characteristics; Experience with sample surveys of this magnitude in Kenya, Kenya-based staff, a track record of rigorous quality control and excellent reporting. The deadline for submission of the EOI is November 16 at 16 00 hrs.
non-runners in the news
Nationals of other countries were granted exemptions, but Kenyans still require transit visas to pass through South Africa.
Some ex-Maseno Boys accomplish themselves at college basketball in the USA
anyang nyongo week: The minister, quite rightly, pointed out that it is difficult for SME’s to borrow money from banks at affordable rates and conducive terms. But he also poured cold water only the recently concluded privatization of Kenya Railways.
Godfather
Finally, Nation’s NTV is showing The Godfather Trilogy on Monday nights after 9:30 and has now run two weeks of the series. The trilogy rearranges the three films into a proper chronological sequence (De Niro – Brando – Pacino) and also has extra scenes that were never shown in the theatrical versions (and which I have never seen). But it’s frustrating whoever edits the series at NTV has been cutting off scenes inappropriately to insert commercial and promos for other Nation shows.