On July 5th this year (2006) a Kenyan man was so much in love with his lover that he decided to give her a gift of a deadly Black Mamba snake wrapped in a gift box and told his unsuspecting girl friend not to open the box until she got home.
His parting remarks were even more bizarre. Without revealing what the gift was he asked her to come back for a “red one” if she was not satisfied with quality of the “black one” inside the box.
The man, Evans Nyakundi was found guilty of “pretending to conduct witchcraft by presenting a black mamba” by a Kericho court and was jailed for a year with an option of paying a Kshs 10,000 fine ($138).
It looks like romance for Mr Nyakundi’s lover evaporated the moment she received the strange gift, because she was in court to testify against him as the complainant (accuser) in the case.
What Mr Snake-gift Romeo had to say in his defense was even more interesting.
“I had no intention of bewitching her because to date we have not broken off our relationship.
“It was really a very small issue, I just wanted to scare her a little. But she screamed and people gathered and made it look like an act of witchcraft. She believed them because she is from a different tribe.”
The woman said she was traumatized when she expectantly opened the box, only to find a coiled snake.
This blogger doubts whether the court (or the reporter) got their facts right. The black Mamba is the deadliest snake in the world. It is lightening fast and its’ venom kills in minutes. It usually avoids humans and the only evidence that often warns herders that it is around is when a whole herd of cows or goats suddenly collapses, paralyzed and in great pain. Death quickly follows in a matter of minutes.
Chances are that if the woman in question opened a box containing a black mamba it is unlikely that she would have lived to testify in court.
Snakes are widely used in witchcraft and bizarre tales of childless women being asked to strip naked and sit on African pots so that a snake can lick their private parts from the darkness of the huge pot, to enable them conceive have been told to this blogger. In many communities the only people who would be carrying around snakes with them are persons involved in witchcraft.
==============
Previous Hot stories in this series:
The Doctor’s Revenge
Maid Gets Revenge On Sexually Abusive Father And Two Sons.
Matatu Nightmare
Couples Reunion Turns Ugly
Husband Learns His Lesson The Hard Way
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
A True Kenyan Story: Father And Two Sons Seduced By Death
This was once incident that shocked Kenyans to the bone and is still talked about in many parts of the country to this day.
Residents of either Thika in the outskirts of Nairobi or Ongata Rongai in the late 90s will be familiar with the tale as I am told there is a distinct link to the two locations.
The story started with this family like any other employing this househelp. A shy, very innocent-looking young girl. But then as this tale proves, looks can be very deceiving indeed.
After a short while, it became apparent that the house-help was very sick. However it was not exactly clear what the problem was. This was in the late 90s and people were not very fast to diagnose Aids or even attempt to test for the virus.
The young girl coughed a lot and she seemed to have some strange-looking sores on her body. The good-natured family did their best to get treatment for her but every time she seemed to show signs of recovery, something else would crop up. Either she would develop a fever or serious diarrhea.
Then one day she just disappeared and has never been heard of again since.
This family would have settled down and forgotten the whole incident, had it not been for the youngest son (a teenager) suddenly falling sick with symptoms that were strangely familiar and in fact similar to those of the departed maid.
To cut a long sad story short, the man of the house and his two sons ended up losing their lives from the mysterious disease that was later identified as the dreaded Aids.
What got people really talking so that this tale was all over Nairobi at one time, was the facts that it became clear that the Father and his two sons had been enjoying sexual favors from the house help, apparently without each other's knowledge. That is what is so sick about this tale. Strangely enough the mother of the house remained unscathed. There were some unconfirmed rumors that she had actually tested negative to the dreaded HIV virus.
One popular gutter press publication at the time had the headline to this story; "Maid Wipes Out Thika Family." In my opinion this headline is unfair and very far from being accurate. It portrays the family as the victim when it is actually the poor young girls we employ in our houses who are victims of sexual harassment and even rape, every day and have very few options in these matters. What is she expected to do when the man of the house, her employer approaches her for sexual favors? Or her employer's children? This is the sick thing going on in Kenyan homes and it took a maid suffering from Aids (maybe even acquired from a previous employer) to expose it.
Previous Hot stories in this series:
The Doctor’s Revenge
Matatu Nightmare
Couples Reunion Turns Ugly
Husband Learns His Lesson The Hard Way
Residents of either Thika in the outskirts of Nairobi or Ongata Rongai in the late 90s will be familiar with the tale as I am told there is a distinct link to the two locations.
The story started with this family like any other employing this househelp. A shy, very innocent-looking young girl. But then as this tale proves, looks can be very deceiving indeed.
After a short while, it became apparent that the house-help was very sick. However it was not exactly clear what the problem was. This was in the late 90s and people were not very fast to diagnose Aids or even attempt to test for the virus.
The young girl coughed a lot and she seemed to have some strange-looking sores on her body. The good-natured family did their best to get treatment for her but every time she seemed to show signs of recovery, something else would crop up. Either she would develop a fever or serious diarrhea.
Then one day she just disappeared and has never been heard of again since.
This family would have settled down and forgotten the whole incident, had it not been for the youngest son (a teenager) suddenly falling sick with symptoms that were strangely familiar and in fact similar to those of the departed maid.
To cut a long sad story short, the man of the house and his two sons ended up losing their lives from the mysterious disease that was later identified as the dreaded Aids.
What got people really talking so that this tale was all over Nairobi at one time, was the facts that it became clear that the Father and his two sons had been enjoying sexual favors from the house help, apparently without each other's knowledge. That is what is so sick about this tale. Strangely enough the mother of the house remained unscathed. There were some unconfirmed rumors that she had actually tested negative to the dreaded HIV virus.
One popular gutter press publication at the time had the headline to this story; "Maid Wipes Out Thika Family." In my opinion this headline is unfair and very far from being accurate. It portrays the family as the victim when it is actually the poor young girls we employ in our houses who are victims of sexual harassment and even rape, every day and have very few options in these matters. What is she expected to do when the man of the house, her employer approaches her for sexual favors? Or her employer's children? This is the sick thing going on in Kenyan homes and it took a maid suffering from Aids (maybe even acquired from a previous employer) to expose it.
Previous Hot stories in this series:
The Doctor’s Revenge
Matatu Nightmare
Couples Reunion Turns Ugly
Husband Learns His Lesson The Hard Way
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
What You Can Do Now To Influence The Outcome in 2007
The aim of this group that we are launching online is simple. To bring all young people of Kenya (45 years and younger) under one umbrella body where they can speak with one voice. This is not a political party and you are free to stay in whatever political party you belong to and support whoever you want to.
Our aim here is to speak and act as one. If you intend to stand in the forthcoming elections for any post from councillor to MP to President (which we encourage you to) then this is the group to join because we plan to bring candidates together so that they can campaign together countrywide in the various constituencies. There is strength in unity, there is a lot of power in unity. We may not always agree with each other (how can we?) but my firm belief is that we can do better than our fathers and agree to disagree and more importantly remain united in the single selfless mission of making our country a better place.
The Internet is a powerful tool to use although many Kenyans still do not have access to it. My belief is that online and with the help of mobile phones (we will soon start receiving membership through registration of mobile telephone numbers (for those who do not have net access) we can achieve a lot within a very short time. For instance we can take votes on certain contentious issues and instantly know what the feeling of the majority is. So that when the young people of Kenya speak anywhere in the country, they will be truly speaking for all of us.
More importantly we can also share ideas, experiences and strategies as well as the latest news that will make us a formidable force in the upcoming election.
Initially our aim will be to recruit as many young people of Kenya as possible, irrespective of where in the world they currently are. We Will also use our online group to sensitize those around us to the fact that the only way our lives can improve is if we take our country back from greedy politicians who are daily brainwashing us, telling us it can't be done and that to win an election, you need to have a lot of money.
The truth is that Kenyans are fed up and they are ready to try out a new generation of younger leaders with new ideas.
Our time has come. We must rise to the occasion and save Kenyan now. Please send that blank email to
YoungKenyan4President07-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Please tell every young person you know about this initiative. The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. Make that step now. Rise up to be counted at this momentous and yet critical time in the history of Kenya.
Send that email to register now. Send a blank email to
YoungKenyan4President07-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Our aim here is to speak and act as one. If you intend to stand in the forthcoming elections for any post from councillor to MP to President (which we encourage you to) then this is the group to join because we plan to bring candidates together so that they can campaign together countrywide in the various constituencies. There is strength in unity, there is a lot of power in unity. We may not always agree with each other (how can we?) but my firm belief is that we can do better than our fathers and agree to disagree and more importantly remain united in the single selfless mission of making our country a better place.
The Internet is a powerful tool to use although many Kenyans still do not have access to it. My belief is that online and with the help of mobile phones (we will soon start receiving membership through registration of mobile telephone numbers (for those who do not have net access) we can achieve a lot within a very short time. For instance we can take votes on certain contentious issues and instantly know what the feeling of the majority is. So that when the young people of Kenya speak anywhere in the country, they will be truly speaking for all of us.
More importantly we can also share ideas, experiences and strategies as well as the latest news that will make us a formidable force in the upcoming election.
Initially our aim will be to recruit as many young people of Kenya as possible, irrespective of where in the world they currently are. We Will also use our online group to sensitize those around us to the fact that the only way our lives can improve is if we take our country back from greedy politicians who are daily brainwashing us, telling us it can't be done and that to win an election, you need to have a lot of money.
The truth is that Kenyans are fed up and they are ready to try out a new generation of younger leaders with new ideas.
Our time has come. We must rise to the occasion and save Kenyan now. Please send that blank email to
YoungKenyan4President07-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Please tell every young person you know about this initiative. The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. Make that step now. Rise up to be counted at this momentous and yet critical time in the history of Kenya.
Send that email to register now. Send a blank email to
YoungKenyan4President07-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Kumekucha Announces Birth Of New Movement To Bring The Young To Power In '07
This blogger takes this opportunity to announce the birth of a new initiative called Young Kenyan For President in 2007. The initiative seeks to get a new generation of younger leaders into power both at State House and in parliament.
The aim is to bring together all young hopefuls (born after 1960) and their supporters together to campaign from a united front. You do not have to leave your current political party to join because this initiative is reaching out to young Kenyans across party and tribal lines.
Mahatma Gandhi won independence for India using effective non-violent means. When he started his campaign people laughed and wrote him off. However at the end of it, the then mighty British empire bowed down to pressure and Gandhi had his ay. This blogger is launching this initiative online and in a small way but it is destined to make a major impact in the general elections in 2007.
Most young people have an email address and those who do not have one or cannot access one, can be reached by those who do, using mobile phones. And in this way even those millions of young Kenyans who do not own a mobile phone can also be reached. Our objective is to get our generation of younger Kenyans into power in 2007. It is very possible. Yote yawezekana tukiungana.
Any Kenyan of any age can join as long as they support our initiative to get younger people into power. All they have to do is to send a blank email to the email address below and then promise to be active in group tasks. Group tasks will include recruitment and other simple activities that can be done online to start with. Later, as we register enough young men of Kenya, we will be able to move forward to other tactics and strategies.
I invite you to join now by sending a blank email to:
YoungKenyan4President07-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
It is better to try and fail than to regret that you did nothing as our country is taken over by selfish people with only their self interests at heart. BUT mark my words, this campaign will NOT FAIL. Send that blank email now and you will soon see the power of unity and purpose at work.
We will use Internet technology to bring as many young Kenyan political strategists as possible to work out a strategy that we will use together as a group to get a new generation of younger Kenyan leaders into power in 2007.
The mindset in our country is that one needs a lot of money to campaign and win an election. I put it to you that integrity, selflessness and a good strategy is much more valuable than billions of shillings and we are going to prove it here. After all Narc did not in with money in 2002.
Until we are able to hold elections the Interim leader of this campaign is the owner of this list, Kumekucha. This is a selfless campaign (let us not stray into the power hungry habits of the current leaders we have) and I take this opportunity to invite all young Kenyans (born after 1960) -- the younger the better who are interested in contending for any parliamentary seat or the Presidency to join this initiative. Together we can be much more effective.
The core values of this movement are as follows:
1) Fight to eliminate tribalism in Kenya.
2) Fight to reduce poverty by implementing policies designed to increase job opportunities for Kenyans both locally and out of the country.
3) Fight for a bigger say by ordinary Kenyans in the day to day running of the country.
This group is strictly for Kenyans living either in the country or abroad. We regret that at this time we cannot invite non-Kenyans.
I stress again, do not worry yourself about resources, together we will work out everything and not only become an effective force, but the winning team in 2007.
Please invite as many other Kenyans as you know to join, Kenya is depending on you.
Join by sending that blank email to:
YoungKenyan4President07-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Please do it NOW!
The aim is to bring together all young hopefuls (born after 1960) and their supporters together to campaign from a united front. You do not have to leave your current political party to join because this initiative is reaching out to young Kenyans across party and tribal lines.
Mahatma Gandhi won independence for India using effective non-violent means. When he started his campaign people laughed and wrote him off. However at the end of it, the then mighty British empire bowed down to pressure and Gandhi had his ay. This blogger is launching this initiative online and in a small way but it is destined to make a major impact in the general elections in 2007.
Most young people have an email address and those who do not have one or cannot access one, can be reached by those who do, using mobile phones. And in this way even those millions of young Kenyans who do not own a mobile phone can also be reached. Our objective is to get our generation of younger Kenyans into power in 2007. It is very possible. Yote yawezekana tukiungana.
Any Kenyan of any age can join as long as they support our initiative to get younger people into power. All they have to do is to send a blank email to the email address below and then promise to be active in group tasks. Group tasks will include recruitment and other simple activities that can be done online to start with. Later, as we register enough young men of Kenya, we will be able to move forward to other tactics and strategies.
I invite you to join now by sending a blank email to:
YoungKenyan4President07-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
It is better to try and fail than to regret that you did nothing as our country is taken over by selfish people with only their self interests at heart. BUT mark my words, this campaign will NOT FAIL. Send that blank email now and you will soon see the power of unity and purpose at work.
We will use Internet technology to bring as many young Kenyan political strategists as possible to work out a strategy that we will use together as a group to get a new generation of younger Kenyan leaders into power in 2007.
The mindset in our country is that one needs a lot of money to campaign and win an election. I put it to you that integrity, selflessness and a good strategy is much more valuable than billions of shillings and we are going to prove it here. After all Narc did not in with money in 2002.
Until we are able to hold elections the Interim leader of this campaign is the owner of this list, Kumekucha. This is a selfless campaign (let us not stray into the power hungry habits of the current leaders we have) and I take this opportunity to invite all young Kenyans (born after 1960) -- the younger the better who are interested in contending for any parliamentary seat or the Presidency to join this initiative. Together we can be much more effective.
The core values of this movement are as follows:
1) Fight to eliminate tribalism in Kenya.
2) Fight to reduce poverty by implementing policies designed to increase job opportunities for Kenyans both locally and out of the country.
3) Fight for a bigger say by ordinary Kenyans in the day to day running of the country.
This group is strictly for Kenyans living either in the country or abroad. We regret that at this time we cannot invite non-Kenyans.
I stress again, do not worry yourself about resources, together we will work out everything and not only become an effective force, but the winning team in 2007.
Please invite as many other Kenyans as you know to join, Kenya is depending on you.
Join by sending that blank email to:
YoungKenyan4President07-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Please do it NOW!
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Kumekucha For President: Two Initiatives That Will Have Tremendous Impact On The Lives of Kenyans
The potential we have in Kenya today is vast and yet it has never been effectively exploited and remains idle. Past governments, including the present one has been too busy trying to survive to focus on harnessing this potential for the good of ordinary Kenyans.
I can hear you asking me the question; what makes you so sure that your administration (if elected) will not be busy trying to survive like all the others before you?
To answer that question we must understand what it is that has put past governments in that position and a perfect example is the current Narc-government which came to power with massive goodwill from the people of Kenya. But the people in that government were actually the same people from the previous Kanu regime who jumped ship at the last moment (most of them) so the new government which we had so much hope on, slipped into the same old habits.
Had this government come anywhere near meeting the expectations of the people, not even the controversial memorandum of understanding would have been a threat to it.
But let us not dwell so much on the past and previous mistakes because this is one presidential candidate with a clear agenda and vision and a clear idea of how to get there.
There are two areas I am going to focus on where a little creativity and effort from a new government with new ideas can make a huge difference and a major impact on the lives of most Kenyans.
This is on the two issues of ordinary Kenyans owning houses and the so-called hawker problem (which I don't see as a problem but a major opportunity to turn around the fortunes of our country).
Very few Kenyans today own homes. The situation has been made worse by the disappearance of the middle class in Kenya. Various so-called low-income housing projects have been attempted in the past with little success. Yet a viable low-income mortgage plan is very possible and can have a tremendous impact on the economy both in terms of creating jobs (the main focus of my vision and everything that I propose) and also in improving the quality of life of the majority of Kenyans.
A national mortgage plan for low income Kenyans is no pipe dream. Not with the available creative mortgage plans that are working in other parts of the world today. Let me focus on two particular ones that can help us create one of our own.
We have the interest only mortgage that is fairly common in the United Kingdom, where the capital is not repaid throughout the term. Instead regular contributions are made to a separate investment plan designed to build up a lump sum to repay the mortgage at maturity. This arrangement is also called the investment-backed mortgage.
The other highly creative mortgage plan is where today, older borrowers in western countries qualify for a mortgage where neither the capital nor the interest is repaid. The interest is rolled up with the capital, increasing the debt each year. It is finally repaid when the borrower dies and the property is sold (or when they move into a home for the old). Legally the lender cannot lay claim to any additional assets if the sale does not repay the debt in full. This is usually covered by the heavy insurance that goes with this mortgage. In the event that the sale yields more than is owed, the money goes to he next of kin (if the borrower has passed on.) This kind of mortgage is called a reverse mortgage, lifetime mortgage or equity release mortgage, depending on the country.
What I propose in Kenya is a hybrid system that is a cross between the two for low-income earners. Today we have various investment opportunities that are bringing in very high yields (actually higher than in many other parts of the world). This can be of great help in creating a project that would allow a very large number of ordinary low income earning Kenyans to acquire their own homes by having mortgage plans where only the interest is repaid and the principal is taken care of by a special investment pool. Once we have a vibrant mortgage market, it will then be easy to handle defaulters in such a system (critical in keeping the project self-sustaining and moving) where their houses can be sold and if the price does not cover the initial mortgage loan, it can be met by insurance.
Just a little creativity in mortgage financing can unlock the huge potential and create a vibrant new construction industry and related services that will create lots of new jobs as well as enable many ordinary Kenyans to own their own homes.
Hawkers are considered a nuisance and every previous government despite paying lip service to the promotion of the so called "jua kali" industry has viewed them as such. The really ironical injustice here is the excuse government always has that it is protecting taxpayers against hawkers (who are supposedly tax evaders). Well we now know that very few of the mainstream businesses referred to as taxpayers actually pay their taxes. They are in fact the biggest tax evaders. Only recently we have heard some shocking claims about Nakumatt, the biggest private supermarket chain in East and Central Africa.
Then there is the well-known fact that government collects a lot of revenue from VAT which every citizen pays, including the hawkers. There is in fact a bigger impact on revenue collection when more Kenyans are generating income to make more purchases and thus pay more VAT.
Hawkers are a national asset that can be used to rapidly increase wealth and prosperity in our beloved country. I propose to do two things to make this happen.
Firstly I intend to dramatically expand and encourage the ongoing business incubation projects in the country. A business incubator as the term suggests, is where small businesses are accommodated in a special business park for a brief period of time where facilities are made available to "incubate" the infant business and give it a chance to grow sufficiently enough to stand on its' own.
It is not realistic to expect a 100% success rate, but even a very low success rate will move a good number of small businesses from one man hawker operations to prosperous small businesses able to employ one or two persons. A huge number of new jobs can be created in this way.
Secondly we should actively promote programs in all major cities in the country where certain main streets of the city are closed to traffic over weekends and small traders given access to the "central business district" market to sell their wares and practice their entrepreneurial skills. Extra revenue can be collected by charging them a small daily fee for this privilege.
I am not naïve to think that they will be no obstacles or problems in the radical ideas that I am suggesting here. Every successful enterprise must be prepared for setbacks here and there before they finally land on the rails to big success. In fact it will make a big and refreshing change from the past to see a little government failure as it works towards improving the lot of ordinary Kenyans. In fact Kenyans would have been more understanding today if our past governments had failed while making genuine efforts to improve the quality of life of ordinary Kenyans. Nothing like that has happened, instead past governments have helped individuals amass vast wealth at the expense of the ordinary Kenyan.
We must change this now, before it is too late. My passionate appeal today goes out to young Kenyans and older Kenyans who are still capable of dreaming, because the reality of success always emerges from dreams and not skepticism. I urge you to support this initiative by Kumekucha to make a difference and to have a genuine fresh start for our beloved Kenya. (please see my special appeal).
My Special Appeal by Kumekucha
Dear fellow Kenyans, recent events in our country have clearly proved this blogger correct in predicting the worst for Kenya in 2007 where we will see Kenyan voters being hoodwinked again by the very same people who cheated us in 2002. The people who took our dreams and crushed them, making us all look very foolish.
The only hope we have in stopping them is in a younger generation of new leaders who have not been in politics before taking over power in Kenya. The fact that you are reading this clearly shows that you are of like mind.
We cannot just sit and watch things happening without taking any action. We have debated and talked enough in this forum and elsewhere, we need to start doing something. Believe it or not, the small effort YOU are capable of making can make a huge difference.
I am going to suggest just one thing you can actively do today that will make a difference. You can put the following brief statement at the end of each email you send out to friends and associates. Even better you can make it your permanent email signature. It will increase traffic to this forum where we are selling nothing but a better and more prosperous future for Kenya. Keep visiting this site to participate in our next decisive move.
================
Wakenya, Kumekucha, Vijana Kumekucha, let us grab destiny and change things in Kenya. Visit http://kumekucha1.blogspot.com, NOW and start playing an active role in changing things in Kenya in 2007.
================
I take this opportunity to thank you in advance for your patriotic action. Thank you for loving your country and may the almighty God help us all in our efforts to save it.
==============
Previous Campaign Posts By This Presidential Candidate
Kumekucha launches Presidential campaign
Kumekucha’s Presidential Campaign: We Need One Priority, We Need Lots Of Creativity
===============
World famous Rodeo Drive will have one more thing that it will be famous for - plastic surgery. This is now the home to reasonably priced liposuction, face lifts and breast augmentation. At los angeles plastic surgery patients are sure to receive world-class service at competitive prices in an environment that befits plastic surgery’s growing mass appeal.
I can hear you asking me the question; what makes you so sure that your administration (if elected) will not be busy trying to survive like all the others before you?
To answer that question we must understand what it is that has put past governments in that position and a perfect example is the current Narc-government which came to power with massive goodwill from the people of Kenya. But the people in that government were actually the same people from the previous Kanu regime who jumped ship at the last moment (most of them) so the new government which we had so much hope on, slipped into the same old habits.
Had this government come anywhere near meeting the expectations of the people, not even the controversial memorandum of understanding would have been a threat to it.
But let us not dwell so much on the past and previous mistakes because this is one presidential candidate with a clear agenda and vision and a clear idea of how to get there.
There are two areas I am going to focus on where a little creativity and effort from a new government with new ideas can make a huge difference and a major impact on the lives of most Kenyans.
This is on the two issues of ordinary Kenyans owning houses and the so-called hawker problem (which I don't see as a problem but a major opportunity to turn around the fortunes of our country).
Very few Kenyans today own homes. The situation has been made worse by the disappearance of the middle class in Kenya. Various so-called low-income housing projects have been attempted in the past with little success. Yet a viable low-income mortgage plan is very possible and can have a tremendous impact on the economy both in terms of creating jobs (the main focus of my vision and everything that I propose) and also in improving the quality of life of the majority of Kenyans.
A national mortgage plan for low income Kenyans is no pipe dream. Not with the available creative mortgage plans that are working in other parts of the world today. Let me focus on two particular ones that can help us create one of our own.
We have the interest only mortgage that is fairly common in the United Kingdom, where the capital is not repaid throughout the term. Instead regular contributions are made to a separate investment plan designed to build up a lump sum to repay the mortgage at maturity. This arrangement is also called the investment-backed mortgage.
The other highly creative mortgage plan is where today, older borrowers in western countries qualify for a mortgage where neither the capital nor the interest is repaid. The interest is rolled up with the capital, increasing the debt each year. It is finally repaid when the borrower dies and the property is sold (or when they move into a home for the old). Legally the lender cannot lay claim to any additional assets if the sale does not repay the debt in full. This is usually covered by the heavy insurance that goes with this mortgage. In the event that the sale yields more than is owed, the money goes to he next of kin (if the borrower has passed on.) This kind of mortgage is called a reverse mortgage, lifetime mortgage or equity release mortgage, depending on the country.
What I propose in Kenya is a hybrid system that is a cross between the two for low-income earners. Today we have various investment opportunities that are bringing in very high yields (actually higher than in many other parts of the world). This can be of great help in creating a project that would allow a very large number of ordinary low income earning Kenyans to acquire their own homes by having mortgage plans where only the interest is repaid and the principal is taken care of by a special investment pool. Once we have a vibrant mortgage market, it will then be easy to handle defaulters in such a system (critical in keeping the project self-sustaining and moving) where their houses can be sold and if the price does not cover the initial mortgage loan, it can be met by insurance.
Just a little creativity in mortgage financing can unlock the huge potential and create a vibrant new construction industry and related services that will create lots of new jobs as well as enable many ordinary Kenyans to own their own homes.
Hawkers are considered a nuisance and every previous government despite paying lip service to the promotion of the so called "jua kali" industry has viewed them as such. The really ironical injustice here is the excuse government always has that it is protecting taxpayers against hawkers (who are supposedly tax evaders). Well we now know that very few of the mainstream businesses referred to as taxpayers actually pay their taxes. They are in fact the biggest tax evaders. Only recently we have heard some shocking claims about Nakumatt, the biggest private supermarket chain in East and Central Africa.
Then there is the well-known fact that government collects a lot of revenue from VAT which every citizen pays, including the hawkers. There is in fact a bigger impact on revenue collection when more Kenyans are generating income to make more purchases and thus pay more VAT.
Hawkers are a national asset that can be used to rapidly increase wealth and prosperity in our beloved country. I propose to do two things to make this happen.
Firstly I intend to dramatically expand and encourage the ongoing business incubation projects in the country. A business incubator as the term suggests, is where small businesses are accommodated in a special business park for a brief period of time where facilities are made available to "incubate" the infant business and give it a chance to grow sufficiently enough to stand on its' own.
It is not realistic to expect a 100% success rate, but even a very low success rate will move a good number of small businesses from one man hawker operations to prosperous small businesses able to employ one or two persons. A huge number of new jobs can be created in this way.
Secondly we should actively promote programs in all major cities in the country where certain main streets of the city are closed to traffic over weekends and small traders given access to the "central business district" market to sell their wares and practice their entrepreneurial skills. Extra revenue can be collected by charging them a small daily fee for this privilege.
I am not naïve to think that they will be no obstacles or problems in the radical ideas that I am suggesting here. Every successful enterprise must be prepared for setbacks here and there before they finally land on the rails to big success. In fact it will make a big and refreshing change from the past to see a little government failure as it works towards improving the lot of ordinary Kenyans. In fact Kenyans would have been more understanding today if our past governments had failed while making genuine efforts to improve the quality of life of ordinary Kenyans. Nothing like that has happened, instead past governments have helped individuals amass vast wealth at the expense of the ordinary Kenyan.
We must change this now, before it is too late. My passionate appeal today goes out to young Kenyans and older Kenyans who are still capable of dreaming, because the reality of success always emerges from dreams and not skepticism. I urge you to support this initiative by Kumekucha to make a difference and to have a genuine fresh start for our beloved Kenya. (please see my special appeal).
My Special Appeal by Kumekucha
Dear fellow Kenyans, recent events in our country have clearly proved this blogger correct in predicting the worst for Kenya in 2007 where we will see Kenyan voters being hoodwinked again by the very same people who cheated us in 2002. The people who took our dreams and crushed them, making us all look very foolish.
The only hope we have in stopping them is in a younger generation of new leaders who have not been in politics before taking over power in Kenya. The fact that you are reading this clearly shows that you are of like mind.
We cannot just sit and watch things happening without taking any action. We have debated and talked enough in this forum and elsewhere, we need to start doing something. Believe it or not, the small effort YOU are capable of making can make a huge difference.
I am going to suggest just one thing you can actively do today that will make a difference. You can put the following brief statement at the end of each email you send out to friends and associates. Even better you can make it your permanent email signature. It will increase traffic to this forum where we are selling nothing but a better and more prosperous future for Kenya. Keep visiting this site to participate in our next decisive move.
================
Wakenya, Kumekucha, Vijana Kumekucha, let us grab destiny and change things in Kenya. Visit http://kumekucha1.blogspot.com, NOW and start playing an active role in changing things in Kenya in 2007.
================
I take this opportunity to thank you in advance for your patriotic action. Thank you for loving your country and may the almighty God help us all in our efforts to save it.
==============
Previous Campaign Posts By This Presidential Candidate
Kumekucha launches Presidential campaign
Kumekucha’s Presidential Campaign: We Need One Priority, We Need Lots Of Creativity
===============
World famous Rodeo Drive will have one more thing that it will be famous for - plastic surgery. This is now the home to reasonably priced liposuction, face lifts and breast augmentation. At los angeles plastic surgery patients are sure to receive world-class service at competitive prices in an environment that befits plastic surgery’s growing mass appeal.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)