Sunday, 31 January 2016

Housing sector and queries on source of cash

SUNDAY, JANUARY 31, 2016

Some of the estates under construction on Nairobi’s Mombasa Road. Experts now agree there is a housing glut. PHOTO | DENIS OKEYO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

In Summary

In just seven years, according to Stanlib, prices of land have risen by 535 per cent in Nairobi.
Experts have time and again insisted there is a huge demand for housing which have driven property prices especially in Nairobi on an upward trajectory.
The most expensive land can be found in Upper Hill where an acre is currently going for Sh470m followed by Kilimani at Sh370m an acre and Westlands where an acre costs Sh360m.
For the first time in 11 years, the industry this week admitted in two separate reports that there was an oversupply and a fall in demand for housing.

By VINCENT ACHUKA
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The shocking admission last week by the real estate industry that the housing sector has finally been hit by a glut has raised fears about whether one of the country’s four key drivers of economic growth is driven by demand as previously thought, or through illegal money.

Experts have time and again insisted there is a huge demand for housing, driving property prices especially in Nairobi on an upward trajectory; and painting a picture of an industry that has consistently defied the laws of financial physics.

So fast has been the escalation of the prices that by the end of last year, prices of prime residential areas in Nairobi had been ranked the second fastest growing in Africa, second only to Cape Town and 14th globally by the The Knight Frank Prime Global Cities Index that tracks the cost of luxury houses.

In just seven years, according to Stanlib, prices of land have risen by 535 per cent in Nairobi, making its sale the most profitable business in the capital.

The most expensive land can be found in Upper Hill where an acre is currently going for Sh470 million followed by Kilimani at Sh370 million an acre and Westlands where an acre costs Sh360 million.

This is despite the harsh business environment that has slowed down economic growth amidst losses and job cuts by companies listed at the Nairobi Securities Exchange. Eighteen companies at the bourse have issued profit warnings, making 2015 the worst year at the NSE.

OVERSUPPLY

But for the first time in 11 years, the industry this week admitted in two separate reports that there was an oversupply and a fall in demand for housing.

Liberty Holdings, another listed company with property within its portfolio, issued a profit warning on Friday, bringing to four the number of listed real estate companies set to record either losses or massive declines in profit.

“There was a general decline in the values of market-to-market financial instruments in the market in which the group operates. As a result there was a decline in asset values, which negatively impacted the investment income,” the company said in a statement.

A report released on Monday by Hass Consult showed a 0.1 per cent drop in rents in the last quarter of the year as living in apartments cost 2.3 per cent less.

The firm’s head of research and marketing Sakina Hassanali said: “The fall in rental rates in the city ate into returns for investors with yields dropping to 6.29 per cent compared to the 7.14 per cent recorded in the same period in 2014.”

“In December alone, apartments reportedly took up 59.6 per cent of the rental market, causing a drop in returns from 23.99 per cent in August to 20.34 per cent as at end of December 2015,” she said.

And on Wednesday the Kenya Bankers Association House Price Index (KBA-HPI), which measures house values across major suburbs, showed housing prices in 2015 slowed down to 1.14 per cent from 1.25 per cent due to a surge in construction of apartments.

The two reports come just a year after Mentor Management Ltd (MML) broke ranks with other experts in the industry when it predicted a glut in office space by about 2.8 million square feet in Nairobi by 2016.

Developers say apartments whose prices are not rising at all are mainly those put up a decade ago.

“Those units are barely moving,” said Mr Anthony Mugo, the chief executive at real estate firm Falcon Development.

So, are we really headed for a possible property crash or is Kenya just experiencing the effects of a prolonged bubble? Experts still disagree.

BAD SIGNS

“I think there is every sign that something terrible is just about to happen,” says Mr Waweru Kariuki, a property analyst and author of “The ABC of Real Estate Investment in Kenya: The Law, the Logic and the Math.

“The mass exodus of renters from high-income neighbourhoods to satellite towns and other upcoming middle-income areas around Nairobi and in the counties due to devolution is proof that high rental levels and high housing prices are beginning to take a toll on developers in the up-market areas,” he explains.

According to him, the housing bubble usually starts with an increase in demand which attracts speculators to enter the market, believing that profits can be made further pushing demand up.

“At some point, demand decreases or stagnates as supply increases, resulting in a sharp drop in prices and the bubble bursts,” he says.

But Mr Tony Watima differs. “We will have a housing bubble in Kenya when the majority of urban middle class will have sustainable disposable incomes to service home loans, but for now we will continue to have a housing boom with slow growth.”

Mortgage penetration in the Kenyan market remains very low currently standing at 4.3 per cent of the GDP compared to developed nations, which usually are above 50 per cent. According to a Central Bank report, there were slightly over 22,000 mortgage accounts as at last year.

Nevertheless, the surge in development of property looks like it is far from being slowed down with luxurious apartment and office blocks still coming up on almost every corner of Nairobi targeting especially the high-end market.

But with lack of a regulatory body in Kenya’s real estate industry, it is difficult to ascertain whether the sector’s rapid growth is fuelled by illegal money.

Financial Reporting Centre says the institute has found it hard to enforce compliance to the proceeds of Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Act in the industry due to the fragmented nature.

“It is a challenge to monitor suspicious transactions in the real estate sector due to lack of a uniform and recognised regulatory body,” it says.

The World Bank, United Nations and Interpol in 2014 ruled out pirate cash inflows from Somalia as being behind the real estate boom. CBK has also in the past lamented at the slow uptake of mortgage despite the tremendous growth of the sector, further heightening suspicion that one of Kenya’s drivers of the economy was being fuelled by corruption money. This puts serious questions on the state of Kenya’s economy as a whole.

A number of high-profile personalities being investigated for graft are also heavy investors in the sector.

I will rule till God says come: Mugabe

January 31, 2016 in Local, News

President Robert Mugabe yesterday launched a tirade against critics who say he has overstayed in power, vowing to hang on to power until he dies.

EVERSON MUSHAVA

Mugabe became AU chairperson in January 2015 amid pomp and fanfare, but local analysts and opposition groups say his term was a disaster.

In his hour-long speech, the soon to be 92-year-old leader said he would lead Zimbabwe until God called him.

mugabe-chairman

“I will be there until God says come, but as long as am alive I will head the country, forward ever, backward never,” he said.

Mugabe said those who were saying he must hand over power to others were not democratic. He said such calls were emanating from Europe.

President Mugabe who was preceded on the podium by UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon and the chairperson of the AU Commission Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma was cheered wildly as he took a pot shot at United States President Barack Obama.

“There is Obama today. What is he? A voice made to speak their language, not our language,” he charged.

“Blacks suffer in the US today, there is no education for all, health for all.’’

Mugabe had stumbled lightly before he reached the podium. The Zimbabwean leader has been in power since independence in 1980.

Meanwhile, MDC-T spokesperson Obert Gutu said Zimbabweans should be relieved that Mugabe’s tenure as AU chair had ended.

“Mugabe’s tenure of office didn’t bring any positive results to Zimbabwe in particular and Africa in general,” he said.

“For instance, the hot political spots in Africa such as Burundi, Somalia, Libya and the DRC are still in turmoil.

“Mugabe didn’t do anything meaningful and tangible to resolve the various political problems in these troubled African countries.

“He was just hoping from one plane onto another in 2015 as the African political hot spots continued to burn.”

Gutu said Mugabe has never been known to be an astute diplomat and trouble-shooter, but a talkative leader with less action.

“As for Zimbabwe, Mugabe was basically an absentee president in 2015 as he was always travelling,” he said.

“He travelled out of Zimbabwe a record 44 times, gobbling more than $60 million from the bankrupt national Treasury in the process, while the Zimbabwean economy remains in a comatose condition.”

People’s Democratic Party (PDP) international relations secretary, Willas Madzimure, said Mugabe was virtually “folding his hands while Zimbabwe and Africa burns” during his tenure.

He described him as the worst AU chair Africa ever had.

“His [Mugabe] report card as AU chair shows that Africa continues to be ravaged by wars, terror attacks, coups, food shortages, droughts, diseases, HIV and Aids, Ebola, corruption, human and child trafficking, child labour; and high unemployment while he and his continental henchmen stood akimbo,” Madzimure said.

He said Mugabe failed to provide political leadership to the continent, leaving most African problems unresolved and exploding into full-scale conflicts.

Serious problems are rife in South Sudan, Mali and Burkina Faso where General Gilbert Diendere staged a coup on September 16 2015.

In Burundi, another genocide is almost unfolding under Mugabe’s tenure after Pierre Nkurunzinza bulldozed himself to a third presidential term.

There is also growing insecurity on the continent with the rise of terror groups such as Boko Haram, Al Qaeda and ISIL in East, West and Northern Africa. This has forced many Africans to flee to Europe, with some perishing at sea.

“To all these heinous acts, the continental leader seemed to turn a blind eye, maybe realising he has often relied on the same tactics to extend his rule.

“Mugabe maintained his deafening silence on these tragic incidences,” Madzimure said.

During his tenure, Mugabe traversed the globe for presidential inaugurations and attended international conferences, but remained mum on the challenges some African countries were facing.

Additional reporting by Africa Review.

AU adopts Uhuru’s proposal for withdrawal from ICC

By Agencies, Citizen Digital

Published on 31 January 2016

AU adopts Uhuru's proposal for withdrawal from ICC

The African Union on Sunday adopted a proposal by President Uhuru Kenyatta for the AU to develop a road map for the withdrawal of African nations from the Rome Statute.

The proposal was adopted along with a report by the AU Ministerial Committee of Ministers of Foreign Affairs that criticises the ICC over the manner in which it has been handling the case against Deputy President William Ruto and Joshua arap Sang.

Also Read: CBK refutes claims that Eurobond proceeds were lost

The document asks the ICC to terminate the case against Ruto and Sang as the case lacks any believable evidence.

In his address, President Kenyatta said Africa should make a powerful statement that reflects its refusal to be carried along in a system that has no regard for the sovereignty of nations and tramples on the security as well as the dignity of Africans.

He said the only option left for Africa was to completely withdraw from the Rome Statute because the utility of the ICC at this time of global turmoil is extremely limited.

President Kenyatta said African leaders would be failing in their duties if they continued shoring up a dysfunctional instrument whose mainstay was to humiliate Africans and distract their governments from their mandates.

“We refuse to be carried along in a vehicle that has strayed off-course to the detriment of our sovereignty, security and dignity as Africans,” said the president.

The document together with the proposal to give open-ended Ministerial Committee of Ministers of Foreign to embark on drawing the road map was adopted on Sunday afternoon.

The ministers will first proceed to have meetings with the United Nations Security Council on the AU resolution asking for the termination of the Kenyan case and several other recommendations.

The outcome of the meetings between the ministers and the UN Security Council will determine the next course of action, which includes exercising the mandate for the mass withdrawal road map.

In his speech, President Kenyatta pointed out that Kenya’s position, which is shared by other countries, was born out of the total disrespect with which the ICC has treated the concerns of Kenya and other African nations.

“When Kenya and the large group of African countries joined the International Criminal Court, it was to seek legal means to complement the other important tools that we have stood up. We sought to combat impunity while being sensitive to the reality of our young and fragile democracies. We have been sorely disappointed,” said President Uhuru.

He added that Kenyans, including himself and the deputy president, were subjected to weak cases built on weak investigations and pursued with politicised zeal.

“There can be no recent illustration of this than January’s proceedings in the case against my Deputy William Ruto and Journalist Joshua Sang,” said the president.

“In the case of the deputy president the prosecution wants the court to proceed without evaluating the evidence,” said the president.

“In any criminal justice system, these cases would never have come to trial. It is our expectation that the law will be applied and cases terminated,” said the president.

President Kenyatta said Kenya’s disappointment with the ICC is made more serious because of the circumstances the country is facing.

“In the face of a mutating global terrorist threat that is costing us lives and great economic loss, in the midst of playing our part in mediating multiple peace processes in our region, we have had to contend with an ICC pursuing weak and politicised cases,” Mr Kenyatta.

The Head of State criticised the ICC by saying that the only notable thing the ICC has achieved by pursuing the Kenya cases was to distract the government from its duty to serve the Kenyan people and the continent fully.

“This is not what Kenya signed up for when we joined the ICC. I highly doubt that those of you that are its members expected this to be the way the court would conduct itself,” said the president.

President Kenyatta said the only alternative for the total withdrawal from the Rome Statute was for the ICC to be drastically reformed.

He said the continent and the African Union have sought constructive engagement with ICC and sought its reform and stated that Africa should not tire from the efforts to reform the ICC, even as it develops the procedures for mass withdrawal because African nations are not opposed to mechanism for justice.

“It is my sincere hope that our ICC reform agenda will succeed so that we can return to the instrument we signed up for. If it does not, I believe its utility for this continent at this moment of global turmoil will be extremely limited.”

The report by the ministers adopted by the AU calls on the ICC to unconditionally drop the case against Deputy President William Ruto and Joshua Sang.

The report expressed its deep concern with the continued prosecution of the case against the DP and called on the ICC “to terminate the case without further delay as any continued prosecution is without foundation given the unambiguous absence of any evidence capable of belief.”

Saturday, 30 January 2016

The self-proclaimed "Archbishop of Peckham" Gilbert Deya & the Miracle Babies: The chequered story of a Kenyan preacher

It is never easy to describe controversial Kenyan preacher Gilbert Deya. Yet he seems to have a talent in riding controversies. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP AFP

In Summary

This week, UK tabloid The Sun revealed that he was selling olive oil to unsuspecting members of his congregation claiming it could cure HIV and cancer.
This is only one of those times he has been in the news for odd reasons.
“This 'miracle worker’ still commands a sizeable congregation in the UK despite all the issues raised against him; fake preacher, extradition suit by Kenyan government, rape case against him, his wife serving a jail sentence and several tribulations, from which many would hide away."

By AGGREY MUTAMBO

A figurehead, a con or miracle worker? It is never easy to describe controversial Kenyan preacher Gilbert Deya. Yet he seems to have a talent in riding controversies.

This week, UK tabloid The Sun revealed that he was selling olive oil to unsuspecting members of his congregation claiming it could cure HIV and cancer. On Tuesday, he denied that claim but not before he accused the reporters of being "agents of the devil".

“That is manipulation of information. And that is why when they contacted me for the story, I said I don’t talk to evil people,” Deya, the self-declared Archbishop of Pekham in South London, told the Nation by phone.

“We do not sell olive oil because we claim it has healing powers; we sell it as part of the goods in the shop,” clarified Deya, who argued the olive oil business is separate from the church he runs.

But this is only one of those times he has been in the news for odd reasons. Born in Juja in today’s Kiambu County in 1952, the son of a sisal worker from Bondo has worn a ring of controversy ever since.

“This 'miracle worker’ still commands a sizeable congregation in the UK despite all the issues raised against him: fake preacher, [an] extradition suit by [the] Kenyan government, [a] rape case against him, his wife serving a jail sentence and several tribulations, from which many would hide away.

“Yet in all these, he still finds a way around his problems and for sure, he’s making capital of his limelight again,” Macharia Gakuru, Deya’s biographer, told the Nation on Wednesday after the olive oil claims emerged.

RAGS-TO-RICHES TALE
For a man who never received formal education beyond primary school, his story reads like a rags-to-riches tale, but with a tinge of infamy. His family was bone-poor, lived in a congested house and the children continually got infected with water-borne diseases.

Deya was the eleventh child in a family of fifteen. He believed his father, Samuel Oyanda Deya, was cursed and possessed with demons, was tuned to booze and toyed with women in the village for fun.

In the biography, Deya & the Miracle Babies, Mr Macharia, a Kenyan journalist based in London, writes that the preacher’s parents were never meant to be a couple, that his father only married his mother, Nono, because the woman prepared for him declined the arranged marriage.

Deya’s schooling was short-lived. He attended primary school only after his mother pleaded with his father to let him attend school. But then the preacher dropped out because of bullying and poverty.

His rise to preaching stardom took him to Jinja, Kampala, in Uganda, where he beat up a woman for hitting the children of his sister. He later worked there as a porter.

He married his wife, Mary Anyango, at 21. The woman was only 14. They bore five children, but the number could be unknown if you include the miracle babies Mary claimed to have brought forth. Kenyan courts jailed her for that claim. Deya survived the debacle by fighting extradition from the UK.

Deya says he “accepted Jesus Christ” in 1967. But his prosperity preaching dates back to 1976, when he started the "Salvation of Jesus Christ Church".

The membership included Hezekiah Ochuka, a soldier hanged in 1987 for plotting a failed Kenyan coup in 1982. The Kenyan government declined to register this church and it folded after the coup.

“His brand of religion is a unique combination of traditional African religions and beliefs peppered with threats of curses but tempered with exorcism and stirred with Christianity,” observed the biographer.

CHARISMA AND INTIMIDATION
His early hustles tuned him to be a man who could use charisma at one time and intimidation at another. He was a preacher, a street beggar and a shrewd businessman who could dump and recruit partners at will.

Deya claims he was influenced by American televangelist Morris Cerullo, whose dressing he liked. He rose to be an influential preacher. Deya claimed friendship with various politicians and famous people, including Daniel Moi, Kalonzo Musyoka, Raila Odinga, Reuben Ndolo, Kijana Wamalwa, Prince Phillip, King Mswati and Mwai Kibaki.

He claimed he met all these people during his work, sometimes praying for them, sometimes donating to their campaigns.

On Wednesday, Mr Macharia told the Nation: “Every politician is driven by all characteristics that Deya reflected and displayed, and Raila Odinga, and other politicians from Kenya and other parts of the world, including top pastors, could not resist.

“They dined and wined with him and he treated them well and gave them [the] publicity they needed. In fact, Deya had a quality of class and charisma similar to what Prophet David Owuor reflects today.”

This fame also brought him enemies, perceived or real. Deya has argued that he fled to the UK because Kenyan evangelical pastors threatened to assassinate him.

Then the story of miracle babies started. Mr Gerald Muthomi and his wife Catherine Kajuju had claimed their son born in 2001 had disappeared from their neighbourhood two years later, only to surface as a miracle baby by another woman in Deya’s church and who had no child before.

It continued: Some women had given birth within a short period. Stories involved such incidents as pregnancies that ultrasound scans could not see, but who were born two months later.

'TOTAL MADNESS'

“This is total madness to read some of the articles published in the newspapers,” Deya whimpered in a press release after the news emerged on August 28, 2004.

“It is a case of absolute conspiracy for this couple to come forward now to claim this baby. Does this wicked Kenyan leadership now expect the public to accept [these people] as the parents of this boy?

"It is rather naïve to assume that we are stealing children from Kenya and we are selling them to Mr (Michael) and Mrs (Eddah) Odera in Nairobi,” added Deya, who signed off as "Servant of God" and argued the government had in fact issued the birth certificate after determining it was the woman’s baby.

But Deya was always on the defensive. When Catholic Archbishop Ndingi Mwana a‘Nzeki (now retired) criticised him over the miracle babies, he wrote back, reminding the then Catholic head that Catholic priests were always "impregnating" women and running away from it.

“There are so many children without fathers in the streets, and some of them may even be children of some of these Catholic priests. It is unfair when the Catholic Church launches attacks against my ministry when their faith [does] not link with my faith.”

'CURSED' PRESIDENT KIBAKI

In some of his defences, he quoted John 12:9-11, the story of how Lazarus was nearly killed after being raised from the dead by Jesus … because the purist Jewish priests feared people would start believing in Jesus. He even "cursed" President Mwai Kibaki and then Attorney-General Amos Wako.

In one of the bizarre letters he wrote to President Mwai Kibaki, Deya insisted he was a patriot with global influence.

“May I remind you, Your Excellency, [that] I managed to unite relationship (sic) between former (Vice-President) Jaramogi Oginga Odinga and His Excellency, former President Moi?” he posed in the letter full of bad English grammar.

“When there was a sanction in Kenya I went to America and spoke on television in Los Angeles and Atlanta, telling Americans how Kenya was good. I have been a figure ahead of the believes in the country of Kenya with high honour and respect.”

The government still wants him to answer charges of child trafficking.

The self-proclaimed "Archbishop of Peckham" Gilbert Deya probed over Aids, cancer cure claims

The self-proclaimed "Archbishop of Peckham" Gilbert Deya, who is at the centre of an investigation over claims he sold extra virgin oil to his congregation claiming it would cure cancer and Aids. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

In Summary

Should he be found guilty, the preacher could be extradited to Kenya, where he is wanted for child trafficking charges over the “Miracle Babies” saga.
Mr Deya, 63, is the owner and founder of the Gilbert Deya Ministries (GDM), based in Peckham, South London.
Bishop Deya now calls himself the “Archbishop of Peckham”.
Mr Deya sells the “anointed” oil for the equivalent of Sh730 at his church in South London.

By NJOKI CHEGE

British authorities were last evening investigating fraud allegations against Kenyan-born televangelist Gilbert Deya, who is accused of duping his congregation that he has a cure for cancer and Aids.

Should he be found guilty, the preacher could be extradited to Kenya, where he is wanted for child trafficking charges over the “Miracle Babies” saga.

Bishop Deya has in the past vigorously fought attempts by Britain to extradite him.

The controversial preacher was exposed by an undercover team from the British tabloid, The Sun, who after two months of investigations discovered that he was selling extra virgin olive oil as medication against the terminal diseases. They also discovered that was earning a fortune from charging for miracles.

Tottenham MP David Lammy — who has been campaigning for Mr Deya’s extradition — was among those who reacted angrily after the exposé, calling the preacher a “pernicious crook” who is “still running rings around the Home Secretary and the police”.

“We need action,” he told The Sun.

THE "ARCHBISHOP OF PECKHAM"

Mr Deya, 63, is the owner and founder of the Gilbert Deya Ministries (GDM), based in Peckham, South London.

The ministry claims to have over 34,000 congregants spread across Manchester, Liverpool, Reading and Crawley.

Photos published in the church’s website show the televangelist meeting Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip at an unknown date.

The UK’s Charity Commission, the body responsible for registering and regulating charities and churches in England, has confirmed that it has launched investigations into the ministry following the exposé.

The commission said it had concerns regarding the governance and financial management of GDM.

Bishop Deya now calls himself the “Archbishop of Peckham”. He claims to have anointed the olive oil, and advised journalists, one of whom posed as a cancer patient, to use the oil on her food.

“Don’t use any oil except this oil ... and the cancer will just disappear,” he is reported to have instructed the undercover reporter.

He then took the couple aside and performed a disturbing ritual which involved rubbing the oil on the woman’s chest, assuring her that this was the beginning of her miracle.

He also told her that she would be declared cancer-free on her next doctor’s appointment.

Mr Deya sells the “anointed” oil for the equivalent of Sh730 at his church in South London. The same costs the equivalent of Sh290 in London supermarkets.

Detectives are also investigating claims by Mr Deya that he can help women conceive miraculously, which is one of his trademark baits, and which landed him in trouble with Kenyan authorities before he fled to the UK.

One woman in London, The Sun reports, claimed to have given birth to four children at six-monthly intervals, meaning that all the four pregnancies matured during their second trimester.

Mr Deya’s son, Amos, allegedly asked the couple for a Sh100,000 “sacrifice” or “seed money” to pray for them to conceive, even suggesting that they could sell their car to raise the money.

During one of the church services, Mr Deya is also said to have urged his flock to call him before calling an ambulance or seeing a doctor because he could take care of the spiritual problems causing illnesses.

Such claims, which are common among dubious charismatic evangelists, are seen as a way of shifting the balance of power in favour of the preacher, who benefits from tithes and offerings from the desperate congregation.

In 2014, the London Crown Court acquitted Mr Deya of rape and sexual abuse charges on grounds that there was no sufficient evidence to support allegations that the preacher had raped one of his church members’ daughters.

The 12-member jury ruled that it could not conclusively find Mr Deya guilty of raping or attempting to rape Ms Sia Kellie between August and September 2013.

Mr Deya and his wife Mary shot to fame over a decade ago when the couple claimed that their prayers could cause infertile women to conceive and deliver miracle babies.

Mrs Deya was imprisoned for three years for stealing a baby on September 10, 2005 at the Kenyatta National Hospital, and for giving false information that she had given birth to the baby. She completed her jail term in September last year.

Tanzanian man nabbed for putting sister in septic tank for 2 years

Police in Mbeya Tanzania are holding a 32 year old man for keeping his 25 year old sister in a septic tank for two years.

The Zambian Accurate News Services has been informed by the uncle to the two siblings Mr Siame that, the man identified as Nathan Machoma had for two years been keeping his sister (Neemah Machoma) both of Mbeya District in Tanzania in a septic tank full of water as advised by his witch doctor in Sumbawanga where he had gone to seek for satanic powers in order to get rich.

The Zambian Accurate News Services has also learnt that the named girl was once a pupil at one of the Zambian Schools in Nakonde (Ntindi Basic) some 10 years ago when she was staying with her Zambian grandmother in Chiyanga Village.

It has further been established that the (late) mother to the two siblings Ms Ruth Nakamba was a Zambian (Namwaanga by tribe) married to a Tanzanian National (also late) Mr Albert Machoma in Mbeya.

According to the accurate information obtained by this media, Mr Nathan Machoma had in 2013 gone to Sumbuwanga in Tanzania to consult the witchdoctor on how best he could become rich as he was living in abject poverty that time following the death of his two parents.

As the first born in the family of two, Nathan had nowhere to find money and was very quick at selling the soul of his only sister to the devil when he was told to sacrifice his most loved one as a qualification for quick riches.

Following the witchdoctor’s advice, the foolish and satanic minded Nathan gave his sister food which had some juju from the witchdoctor and in the same night she became an imbecile.

Nathan followed strictly the witchdoctor’s instructions which stated that he had first to have carnal knowledge with his naked made imbecile vulnerable sister.

After sleeping with his sister, Nathan took her in his bedroom where he kept her for two months during which he had the case of his missing sister reported to police who immediately instituted very unsuccessful manhunt.

Ironically, the man had even guts to report the case to the Tanzania’s Free Africa Radio where the matter of the beautiful missing girl was repeatedly broadcasted for one month but in vain.

As all that was going on, the man made feaces of his imbecile as party of his supper while he continued sleeping with her as advised by his witchdoctor while he looked for money to put up a pump and a septic tank..

It was after the water tank was erected in January 2014 that he threw his sister inside it while he continued feeding her inside the tank.

That means, the more feaces she dropped in the tank, the more money his pockets had and the man became a millionaire within a year of 2014 and bought five vehicles two of which killed people in road accident.

But one day, his lack was tested when the maid got Curious and went to check what He always went to see in the tank.

That’s how She saw that Girl and called the police.. Some People can be Wicked!, That’s why we don’t have to fear most of these rich people, their monies fall in the category in the ditch of questionable.

Right now, God fearing people have started praying for her so that she can come to her normality.

Our correspondent in Nakonde reports that ritual killings are notorious high in Tanzania and Nakonde, although Zambians that practice business witchcraft get their powers from Sumbu wanga.

The picture below shows how the poor Neemah was before being thrown and how she is after 2 and some months of being in a septic tank.

Charles Keter takes Energy ministry by storm

By STAR REPORTER

Jan. 30, 2016

Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich hands over documents of Ministry of Energy and Petroleum to the new CS Charles Keter. Photo/File

He has ruthlessly removed parastatal chiefs, ordered immediate electric hookups of 800 primary schools by tomorrow and demanded fast cleanup of the 18-month-old oil Makueni oil spill.

It will no longer be business as usual under the watch of the new minister who took office in December but had been acting chief since March when his predecessor was suspended.

In the last few days, he has approved requests from two parastatal boards to sack one CEO and suspend another.

The first casualty was Flora Okoth, acting MD of Kenya Pipeline. She was replaced a few days ago by Joel Sang, KPC General Manager.

On Wednesday the National Oil Corporation board sent home CEO Sumayya Hassan-Athmani.

Summayya is the only woman from Kilifi in charge of a parastatal.

"This is politics at play and is totally unacceptable," Suna East MP Junet Mohammed said yesterday.

Sources in the Energy ministry told the Star Athmani had not met expectations.

Keter has also told Kenya Power to connect 800 public primary schools by tomorrow, or else.

He wants to fulfil the Jubilee promise of connecting all primary schools without delay, but it's going to be difficult.

On Wednesday Keter ordered the Kenya Pipeline Company and Nema to clean up the Thange River oil spill in Makueni county fast — he demanded a progress report in two weeks. It occurred 18 months ago, polluted the river and land, destroyed crops and property and has threatened health.

He promised victims they would be compensated.

More energy — accessible and affordable — is a pillar of Vision 2030.

In September 2013 the ministry launched the road map for the 5000+ MW program to transform Kenya.

In addition to scaling up power generation, it aims to reduce the cost of power by more than 40 for industrial and domestic customers, translating to increased competitiveness.

Keter is pushing the Energy Regulatory Commission to reduce oil marketers’ margins included in pricing formulas and to cut fuel prices.

Apart from Kenya Power and Lighting Company and Kenya Pipeline, the other parastatals under Keter are the regulatory commission, the Rural Electrification Authority, Geothermal Development Company, Kenya Petroleum Refineries and Kenya Electricity Generating Company.

Others are Kenya Electricity Transmission Company, Kenya Nuclear Electricity and Renewable Energy Portal.

This week REA chairman Simon Gicharu told all contractors to complete work on schedule.

Speaking to the Star on Thursday, Gicharu said REA has paid more than Sh29 billion to contractors to connect public primary schools and government institutions to electricity.

"We will not seek an extension but will ensure all remaining schools are connected," he said.

It's going to be tough because a few days ago 400 schools were yet to be connected, 300 were partially done and in 100 schools no work had started, Gicharu said. Though power lines have been constructed, Kenya Power is yet to instal meters in some schools.

Friday, 29 January 2016

Mat(Art)u Culture

I don’t have any flowery salutations for you and your cronies. I believe you get enough of that in your offices swinging on imported leather chairs behind huge mahogany finished desks. Your chauffeur too ensures your ego is sufficiently stroked every day. When you walk out of your large mansion or furnished apartment and into the open back left door of your fuel guzzler. Your suit, is it an import? Italian maybe? What about your shoes? Does the driver complain about your possibly obnoxious cologne? Pardon me. Of course he doesn’t. He might hate his job but he loves his family more. Compromise. Something you should look up.

Inside your car with the windows blacked out how does it feel? Outside it’s hot. The sun is in our face. The lady sitting next to me, for some reason, has had a lovers quarrel with her shower. But I guess her water bill is at an all-time low. With this economy she might be the winner. Stinks. But she still is a winner. I don’t have a car. Chances are it might take me longer now seeing as your friends decided duty wasn’t enough. But I’ve read about them over and over again. I know what engine size I will start with 1800cc maybe 2000cc depending on how I wake up that day. Back to you. It’s hot outside but with the cooling effect of that 3M tint and the A/C cranked up it must feel like you’re in an ice cream factory right? God forbid you sweat out that expensive cologne. Did you know with the A/C on fuel consumption goes up? Of course you didn’t. Who fuels your car? The driver, yes? But not with his money, it’s mine of course. So he doesn’t feel the pinch.

Mornings are crazy. With all the traffic jam going around. I’ve almost lost my job now, twice. You see my boss doesn’t understand why traffic jam is an excuse. If only you left an hour earlier. He always says. Then you would avoid the traffic. An hour earlier for me means possible mugging. I don’t have a body guard, don’t look at me like that. I don’t have a personal fire arm. My only security is a prayer and the sunlight. For some reason these people are afraid of the sun. Can we make the sun permanent? But you, do you even have a boss? Is he ever in the country? Maybe he is whiling away the morning traffic at some country club drinking overpriced coffee and flipping through the dailies to see if the journalist got his good side for the photo. So you leave late. Traffic? Not a problem. You have this thing called sirens. And chase cars. So you maneuver around bullying us off the road. It’s not like you have somewhere to be. Office you say? You are funny my guy.

See for me, I will sit in traffic with the unbearable sun sweating out my 200 shilling deodorant and tolerating miss stinky. What makes it bearable for me you ask? No. Not the will to live. Not the salary I will get either. But you’re getting close. It’s the simple things, like the music. The television screen showing semi-nude women dancing. The internet connection. See I can go online and complain about miss stinky. I know somewhere someone will relate and we will laugh about it. Did I say the sun was unbearable? I did? Because it is. But this wasn’t a problem a few years back. We too had the tint. It’s ironical because while you think you have privacy you want to protect we too don’t want you looking out your window and seeing us. This shirt I bought for 400 shillings, the sunglasses a hawker convinced me made me look like Tom Cruise, they won’t please your eyes. Especially eyes that only have Dolce and Gabbana (did I say that right?) Ray Bans ad Chanel sitting on the bridge of their nose very waking hour. I checked my designer, he’s called made in china. Such a long name but you know these designers. Fancy and all.

So now all I have left is the music. You were once young right? You have a son maybe a daughter? They have a car yes? You bought them one to avoid sitting to miss stinky. I remember once on of your friends made a remark that he could not drive the same car as his son or be seen in one. This was a time when the government (I know technically you’re not in government) decided to get all its officials 1800 cc vehicles. At that time we did not ask why his teenage son could afford an 1800 cc vehicle. I digress. All we have is the music. Being young I want to feel alive. You can go sky diving, bungee jumping, shopping sprees abroad. I can’t. So the music makes me feel alive. Especially when the bass gives my heart the same kick jumping out of a plane at 12000ft gives you. I promise you it’s the same thrill. All I have to do is put my head outside the window and let the wind hit my face at 80Km/hr. By the way thank you for that. See I’m not just spewing hate. Any faster and I would not be able to write this. Goes to show when your head is somewhere other than up your behinds we can achieve some good.

But now you want to take it away. The music. You say it’s too loud. But, how do you hear it from your tinted, rolled up and bullet proofed windows? You wouldn’t. You say it’s a nuisance. How about your loud sirens? You think we like that? Do you see us complain? Hear us even? But you hear the music? Fancy gift you got there. Selective hearing. Mutant much? I admit to some it may be too loud. But we have this thing called freedom of choice. You exercise it every day when the E240 just doesn’t feel elegant enough so you jump onto the V8 land cruiser. Same here. We have options. We have buses that serenade you with their squeaky brakes and lull you to sleep with the monotonous drone of their engines. We have matatus with driver-conductor conversations entertaining enough to make you miss out on a whole week of Netflix. Then we have the club bangers. Well known. Entry into one is the proverbial or not so proverbial accepting terms and conditions. So you don’t worry about my eardrums. Matter of fact win-win if I can’t hear you lie right?

Finally. Youth. People like me and people like you trying to act like they are people like me. We are a very funny lot. We have been called lazy. Ungrateful. Uneducated. Rowdy. Dimwits. The list is endless. You and your friends promise us jobs. The Kenyan dream. Work in an office. Get a salary. Build the economy. But do you know how hard they are to come by? Jobs? Kind of like your tax returns. Actually exactly like your tax returns. So you ask us to embrace entrepreneurship. Embrace talents. Embrace the arts. Embrace sports. You’re selling us a new dream. The dream of a new economic front. A dream where we are all our own bosses. Can you believe that? Me, sending myself a text saying I will be late? But like the sheep we are we believe you. And guess what? You were right. It feels great working for yourself and building something out of nothing. Creating jobs. Generating income. Having your own business card.

But now you want to take part of that away. Because art disturbs your eyes. You want to see uniformity from the same people you asked to be different? How now? Explain. Identification you say? It’s hard to identify the color on a matatu? Because it has graffiti painted on its body? That’s really hard. I mean how would I explain to someone that I am in the matatu with the face of our first lady painted on it? There are so many first ladies out there. But enough with the art. Identification? Isn’t that what the plates are for? Do you know how many white Toyotas are out there? How do we know which belongs to who? The way I see it they should all get art done on them to make them unique. But you don’t see things the way I see it. You want to see enterprising young men and women lose their source of income. Or who did you think air brushed those matatus eeh? You think they were imported that way? You tell us to embrace talent and turn it into income then you turn around and say “Just kidding get a real job”.

How long until writing becomes a nuisance? Will you then ban people from reading books? How long till musicians become a social vice? Will you then ban radio stations? Soon photographers too will become a threat to the economy. Maybe national security because they shoot. Mr/Miss/Mrs whoever it may concern do me a favor please… GERRARAHIA MEN SHIIIIT!