Nipate
Forum => Kenya Discussion => Topic started by: Omollo on November 02, 2014, 11:01:42 PM
-
He told us he should become Nairobi CEO because he was successful in Managing Mumias Sugar Company. Well it turns out he was stealing. When done with MSC, he turned to the Out Growers money and dipped in his hands. No wonder he is pandering to Jubilee for protection.
To show "profit", he would raid the Mumias Outgrowers Company (MOCO) and declare the stolen funds as profit.
Is this not criminal, since MSC is listed at the NSE. His investments should be looked in to to determine if he moved his money in line with his fraud at MSC.
Blatant looting and financial malpractice by successive managers of Mumias Sugar Company could be responsible for the current situation in which the principal employer in western Kenya is feared to be breathing its last.
One of the recent internal audits points to a deliberate violation of control procedures by managers in charge of due diligence for a period dating as far back as 20 years.
Sunday Nation has obtained documents, some filed in court, detailing serious fraud that has even prompted the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to recommend legal action against some of the leading audit firms in the country.
The firms allegedly colluded with the management to conceal false claims amounting to Sh2.6 billion in 2008 — sending the miller to its death bed.
“After analysis of your report, we are of the view that the matter is civil in nature since it points to professional negligence on the part of (names withheld) company. Kindly, therefore, be advised to seek civil redress to safeguard your rights,” a Mr Abdi Mohamed notes on behalf of the EACC chief executive officer in a letter dated July 24, 2013.
But it is perhaps the internal audit that lays bare the full extent of the rot, which could not have happened without the knowledge of company honchos.
It estimates that about Sh2.08 billion was embezzled in the period it covered and notes the figure could be higher.
Titled Key Issues of Concern in MSC’s Internal Control Environment, the report reveals that every process at the company was intentionally abused for the benefit of certain groups of individuals right from cane farms to the company.
Has significant violations
“The entire process has significant violations that could have been avoided if senior management were keen on compliance. Large amounts of cash have been lost as a result over the years,” the report sums up.
One of the egregious findings by the auditors is that the firm would give large amounts of sugar on credit to well-connected cash customers without credit ratings or bank guarantees as required by law. Some would even be supplied before clearing outstanding debts.
The sales department is also accused of favouring some customers by revealing to them classified information as to when sugar prices were going to be revised upward so they could stock up ahead of time.
“Amazingly, customers were allowed to use different orders depending on which one was favourable — effectively denying the company the benefits of price increase,” reveals the audit, adding that Sh23 million was lost in one such manoeuvre.
Mumias declared a Sh2.7 billion loss this fiscal year. It is also required to pay another Sh5 billion in loans borrowed over time.
The company has been closed for what the management says is routine maintenance, but the closure is really due to a shortage of cane. With the shortage biting and farmers abandoning cane farming, the listed company shows no signs of being out of the woods any time soon.
There are also serious allegations that over the same period of time, the management deliberately interfered with the books of accounts to declare false profits to portray an image of a healthy company that was in reality in dire straits.
“The profit of Sh1.5 billion on page 32 would substantially be reduced in the event the claim succeeds and the users of the financial statements could discover that the financial statement in question did not reflect the true and fair view of the state of affairs in the company,” notes Mr Gabriel Atoko, a former chief accountant in charge of systems, in one of the exhibits before the court.
The documents also indicate that in 2007, the management of Mumias Sugar Company allegedly took Sh2.6 billion from Mumias Outgrowers Company (Moco) –– money that was owed to farmers –– lumped it into their accounts and declared it as part of their profits.
Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero was the firm’s managing director at the time.
The figure shot up
When the matter of money owed to the outgrowers came up in Parliament in 2011, the figure shot up.
Agriculture assistant minister Gideon Ndambuki said the company was holding close to Sh3.7 billion belonging to Moco. This is almost the same figure lawyer Patrick Lutta, acting for Moco, cites in the court case.
In court papers, however, former Mumias Chief Executive Peter Kebati says a forensic audit revealed that a huge sum of money had been misappropriated by Moco directors and employees.
One of the letters by a former company accountant filed as evidence in court accuses the management of failing to credit the value of cane delivered to the factory amounting to as much as Sh783 million for a period of 75 days.
Analysts say the death of the cane development fund spelt doom for the company as it meant the firm could no longer obtain sufficient raw material for processing.
The company managers retained 15 per cent of the farmers’ cane proceeds to buy farm inputs as well as facilitate land preparation, but since this practice ended in 2008, the supply of cane has decreased.
Many farmers have uprooted the crop because they increasingly feel they do not get value for their investment amd have to wait too long to get paid for what they have delivered.
When he appeared before the parliamentary committee on agriculture last week to shed light on what ails Mumias, Agriculture Secretary Felix Kosgei said Mr Kebati awarded tenders worth over Sh150 million without seeking the approval of the board’s tender committee.
One of the exhibits before court warns of the company’s imminent collapse because of the unbilled cane account. The shortage has led to harvesting of immature cane that does not meet the required standard.
A report by KPMG, which the board is sitting on, also discloses what could be a scandal to rival others like the infamous Goldenberg that nearly brought the economy to its knees during the Moi regime.
Power generation, ethanol production, and water purification projects are cited as some of the ventures the company went into without ensuring their viability.
“There was nothing wrong with the projects; the only crime they did was to veer off the core business of the company which is cane crushing. How do you get raw materials for the new outfits when you do not recruit new farmers?” said Mr Lutta, who also comes from Kakamega County where the firm is situated.
Current managing director Coutts Otolo will have to apply prudent skills, be ruthless when necessary, and learn from the mistakes of his predecessors if he is to turn around the fortunes of the limping giant.
http://www.nation.co.ke/business/-/996/2507840/-/j8axxa/-/index.html
-
He has already screwed it. Nairobi county is in red...they had to borrow 2B more..and yet they are still providing essential the same service city hall were providing...and have about 10B from gov every yr.
The man is one big arrogant disaster waiting to happen.
I am glad i never voted for him.
-
Very frightening indeed.
-
I have known Kidero's track record at Mumias for sometime now. The man fits the bill for what Kenyans like to elect. Unapologetically rotten to the core.
-
When sugarcane is milled,it produces sugar,ethanol,water and baggase which is used to produce steam,i think the sugar and ethanol produced after milling would be under reported and released to the market cheaply,that's where big money is to be made,
Without Prejudice.
-
What is so hard about cleaning Nairobi? It is the easiest thing any monkey can do and make money and generate electricity for Negroes in the process!
1. Float an international tender to any firm that would collect garbage and recycle the same;
2. The best bid would be one which would have the best financial advantages for Nairobi County
3. Set aside land for the construction of a recycling plant
4. The qualifying bidder would be granted 15 years renewable contract. He would keep all the profits for some time and then eventually share with Nairobians at a percentage (itself subject of competition)
5. The construction of Power Generation would be a must
6. Construction of a paper plant using recycled material would be an advantage
7. Glass, Metal, Plastic, rocks, soil that is recovered must be processed with a view of benefitting Nairobians
I would mechanize the cleaning of Nairobi and use savings from firing broom resting mamas on the repair of pavements and curbs to make it easy for large water vacuum cleaners to reach. CBD roads would be washed (yes Washed) by machines twice a week and when dirty. No cars except goods transport vehicles limited to 5 am to 7 am.
I would construct parking houses with 30 floors under ground and 30 above ground strategically located to keep private cars outside CBD. Users would get free bus transport to CBD with no stops in between.
-
The wet behind ears that listens to generic nonsense your spew bought Mumias at 45bob a share..now it worth 1.5shs a share. That of being taken to cleaners. If one had invested 50M in MSC...he would be worth 1.5M.
When sugarcane is milled,it produces sugar,ethanol,water and baggase which is used to produce steam,i think the sugar and ethanol produced after milling would be under reported and released to the market cheaply,that's where big money is to be made,
Without Prejudice.
-
He could do that ... but he didn't. It's called hubris. It's a subject that is old and established in Africa: Get a copy of Chirundu, by Es'kia Mphalele and read about the minister who is tried for bigamy. When done look at Achebe's Man of the People and see how Chief Nanga plays roughshod with everything only because he can.
When sugarcane is milled,it produces sugar,ethanol,water and baggase which is used to produce steam,i think the sugar and ethanol produced after milling would be under reported and released to the market cheaply,that's where big money is to be made,
Without Prejudice.
-
Not when you're financially in the red like Nairobi County. Right now they cannot pay salaries or suppliers or contractors without borrowing.
First Kidero if he was serious should sell those old housing schemes in Eastlands and everywhere....and use the money to settle debts..and emerge from bankruptcy.
No other county is as bankrupt as Nairobi County.
What is so hard about cleaning Nairobi? It is the easiest thing any monkey can do and make money and generate electricity for Negroes in the process!
1. Float an international tender to any firm that would collect garbage and recycle the same;
2. The best bid would be one which would have the best financial advantages for Nairobi County
3. Set aside land for the construction of a recycling plant
4. The qualifying bidder would be granted 15 years renewable contract. He would keep all the profits for some time and then eventually share with Nairobians at a percentage (itself subject of competition)
5. The construction of Power Generation would be a must
6. Construction of a paper plant using recycled material would be an advantage
7. Glass, Metal, Plastic, rocks, soil that is recovered must be processed with a view of benefitting Nairobians
I would mechanize the cleaning of Nairobi and use savings from firing broom resting mamas on the repair of pavements and curbs to make it easy for large water vacuum cleaners to reach. CBD roads would be washed (yes Washed) by machines twice a week and when dirty. No cars except goods transport vehicles limited to 5 am to 7 am.
I would construct parking houses with 30 floors under ground and 30 above ground strategically located to keep private cars outside CBD. Users would get free bus transport to CBD with no stops in between.
-
Do you trust Kidero to preside over the sale of property anywhere on earth?
-
Nope. The man is a disaster. I voted Waitutu. Waitutu is a simple minded thug who would have done something at least.Kidero is mega thief who need to join national gov...where one can steal without collapsing the economy. Talk of a big thief in a small pond.
Do you trust Kidero to preside over the sale of property anywhere on earth?
-
Wow!!!
So taxes have to go UP!
-
Kidero needs to listen to Waititu, Sonko, Bishop Wanjiru and those other ghetto hardened buggers and do away with those 'wet behind ears' consultants and sycophants
-
I think Kidero did not seek the Governorship to help Nairobi but found better opportunities to steal. He was now fed up with having to steal Mumias sugar and sell it at a profit and then import cheap sugar and sell it as Mumias Sugar. To show good results, he would simply steal from the Farmer's companies and show great profit. He was probably a huge shareholder of Mumias and must have driven those shares up with lies only to cash in take his winnings and vanish.
I think many people are sleeping on the job. Why has anybody CMA (Capital Markets Authority) acted to ask NSE for information on Kidero's investments and compare the same with these dire reports from Mumias. There are a million crimes disclosed by the simple media report. How about the real report?
The stupidity of backing thieves because they pretend to support us is exactly what has led to the collapse of Mumias.
On Mumias: I do not think the government should rescue it. Mumias should be sold. Somebody can run it better. Already private owned sugar companies had long come to the rescue of farmers. I also think Mumias farmers should be free to grow other things that bring in more money. Cocoa is one such plant.
-
As George Carlins says '' They are screwed"
-
What is so hard about cleaning Nairobi? It is the easiest thing any monkey can do and make money and generate electricity for Negroes in the process!
1. Float an international tender to any firm that would collect garbage and recycle the same;
I stopped at (1) and then considered a different question: Why can't Kenyans, especially Nairobians, do it themselves? There is something terribly wrong when people are unable or unwilling to clean their living environment and instead choose to live in filth.
-
What is so hard about cleaning Nairobi? It is the easiest thing any monkey can do and make money and generate electricity for Negroes in the process!
1. Float an international tender to any firm that would collect garbage and recycle the same;
I stopped at (1) and then considered a different question: Why can't Kenyans, especially Nairobians, do it themselves? There is something terribly wrong when people are unable or unwilling to clean their living environment and instead choose to live in filth.
That's correct. I put it up there with floating an international tender for someone to come and wipe one's backside after doing number 2.
The reason why the Kideros will do just fine is because there is no price to pay for just sucking at it. It's a cultural thing. A big man is a big man. A destiny.
In this clip, some natives genuinely believed there is a loose nut in the the mzungu sweeper's head.
-
Perhaps you should have read it all. I can add that "International" does not at all lock out Kenyans. Nairobi has a valuable commodity namely garbage and need to get the best offer for its disposal.
The model I have in mind has no provisions for Nairobians doing it themselves. This is about mechanizing cleaning to cover a larger area faster and with high quality results. Obviously its Kenyans who will drive the vacuum cleaners and operate machinery.
1. Float an international tender to any firm that would collect garbage and recycle the same;
I stopped at (1) and then considered a different question: Why can't Kenyans, especially Nairobians, do it themselves? There is something terribly wrong when people are unable or unwilling to clean their living environment and instead choose to live in filth.
[/quote]
-
20yrs down and taxes will be significantly high, but now lets party.
-
only crazily incompetent govts and their agencies collect taxes and then start passing the buck back to the same taxpayers .... blah blah start with you
I stopped at (1) and then considered a different question: Why can't Kenyans, especially Nairobians, do it themselves? There is something terribly wrong when people are unable or unwilling to clean their living environment and instead choose to live in filth.
[/quote]
-
I had not seen that point. Asking Nairobians to do it themselves when you have already collected money from them is close to criminal. Karen Langata did obtain orders from a court to stop them from collecting taxes from residents. The Karengata association did instead collect the taxes, used some of them prudently and kept the receipts and the balance for every month. I don't know if they are now paying.
only crazily incompetent govts and their agencies collect taxes and then start passing the buck back to the same taxpayers .... blah blah start with you
I stopped at (1) and then considered a different question: Why can't Kenyans, especially Nairobians, do it themselves? There is something terribly wrong when people are unable or unwilling to clean their living environment and instead choose to live in filth.
[/quote]
-
only crazily incompetent govts and their agencies collect taxes and then start passing the buck back to the same taxpayers .... blah blah start with you
That is interesting. Presumably the government and agencies that collect taxes would, if they were competent, be employing people to do the job properly. And presumably those people would be Kenyans/Nairobians trained and equipped to do the job? Or did you have it mind that the bureaucrats themselves should come out of their offices and do the work? Here, where I live, we don't have a filth problem, and the people who do the collection and cleaning are also people who live in the city but employed do such work; nobody would dream of international tenders for such work.
-
as uhuru was riding in matatus Mutua was acting on machakos garbage ...... this is why we pay the scum bureaucrats top dollar
Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua on Wednesday suspended several city officials with immediate effect after visiting Machakos town and finding garbage dumps. - See more at: http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/alfred-mutua-irked-machakos-town-garbage-dumps-suspends-county-officials#sthash.ZXsWUEUz.dpuf
http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/alfred-mutua-irked-machakos-town-garbage-dumps-suspends-county-officials
https://www.facebook.com/MachakosGovernor
-
MoonKi
You can be smallish and rather frivolous. I think I have had it and now lets go.
I notice your near derogatory reference to "International tender". Looks like your problem is "International". Perhaps you want it limited to a national tender or better still - "tribal tender"? We know where similar "National" and "Tribal" tenders took the Kenya Railways or is it the Rift Valley Railways?
You should demand to know my reasons for asking for an international tender rather than resorting to mockery and innuendo. Better still come up with better ideas. I mean better than hiring a few poor people to colect your garbage and calling that a solution for the entire Nairobi. Many people are drowning under the weight of uncollected garbage - even though they have paid for the disposal of the same.
Of course I too have my garbage collected but do have to clean around my own compound not to mention inside. Who told you some "internationals" will come to clean your garbage because "locals" can't do it.
By advertising something internationally, it does not lock out locals or "non Internationals", so there is no reason for tears, weeping, cheap nationalism or mockery.
The objective of such a wide tender is to obtain the best deal. We have seen subterfuge at work with advertisements hidden from view all to go through the motions of fulfilling the legal requirements.
At worst Nairobians should continue to pay what is already collected by the county for water and sewage. At best Nairobians should see real gains and profit from their garbage. This can come in form of power generation (from wood and other combustible materials); Biogas; Recycling of plastics, metal, glass and soil. Some of the garbage can be sold. For example Britain exports tons of its garbage to Denmark and Sweden where it it used for heating. There is a market for it. There is money to make from garbage and Nairobians should benefit from it by sharing the profits with the garbage collecting firm. Need I go in to the environmental benefits of this arrangement? If done properly, Nairobi could "sell" carbon credits to polluters and make a real killing to ease the burden of tax and improve the infrastructure.
These things cannot be done by your two flea-beaten workers who clean after you. This is a complex solution to cover the entire Nairobi. Of course if you bothered to read what I wrote earlier (something you confessed to not reading at all), you would seen not just an outline of the garbage collection, recycling and cash and resource generation but plans for the daily cleaning of the city. In fact I mean washing of the roads and pavements.
Now let me remind you that right now as we speak, there is an army of persons employed to collect garbage. In fact those jobs have been shifting from parent to child even before independence. They are the ones I referred to as "broom leaning" rubble. There are also hundreds of ghost cleaners, earning money for work not done. Nairobi is not dirty because it has not employed enough cleaners. There more cleaners than are needed. Otherwise we would hear of such a shortage and send failed graduate police recruitment applicants over there.
What I suggested and have done it before, is that these human beings should be deployed elsewhere if they cannot be laid off. In their place, we should have machines. Big motorised vacuum cleaners. It is nothing new in Kenya. Road builders have some of them which they use to clean sweep their roads while under construction. By my estimate one machine can work the entire CBD in one night.
There is nowhere I have suggested that a company that secures the contract herd in foreigners to clean our garbage as you now insinuate rather cleverly. The country has laws on who can work. Even if it is a foreign company, it is Kenyans who will end up doing the job. May be a Kenyan company will outbid everybody, who knows? I would rather you expended your energy in questioning the one-sided mass migration of Indians to Kenya while no Kenyan is allowed to migrate to India. Advocate for bilateral agreement.
Lastly, feel free to float an international tender for the cleaning of your neighborhood. I hope there will be takers. I did not have in mind such simple work.
Perhaps the idea is too complex for you. You are comfortable with smaller local ideas.
That is interesting. Presumably the government and agencies that collect taxes would, if they were competent, be employing people to do the job properly. And presumably those people would be Kenyans/Nairobians trained and equipped to do the job? Or did you have it mind that the bureaucrats themselves should come out of their offices and do the work? Here, where I live, we don't have a filth problem, and the people who do the collection and cleaning are also people who live in the city but employed do such work; nobody would dream of international tenders for such work.
-
MoonKi
You can be smallish and rather frivolous. I think I have had it and now lets go.
Omollo:
You seem a bit unhappy. Please calm down. All I was trying to do was clarify that when I referred to Kenyans (especially Nairobians) doing the work---at whatever level---I simply meant people who live there (not necessarily the average man-in-the-street) and that it was unreasonable for you and your buddy to suggest a "criminal" mind, as in
I had not seen that point. Asking Nairobians to do it themselves when you have already collected money from them is close to criminal.
You note that
I mean better than hiring a few poor people to colect your garbage and calling that a solution for the entire Nairobi. Many people are drowning under the weight of uncollected garbage - even though they have paid for the disposal of the same.
The garbage won't be collecting itself; so we may assume that people will have to be hired to do it. My point is that (a) those people should be Kenyans, and (b) they should do a good job. There are cities in the world that are larger but cleaner than Nairobi, and they don't have such a problem with garbage; so I don't understand your point about how a "few poor people" (which was not my suggestion) will not work for "the entire Nairobi". In any case, and regardless of the worth of your idea, I don't see Nairobi hiring international garbage collectors; so we should look for another solution.
Who told you some "internationals" will come to clean your garbage because "locals" can't do it.
That was a suggestion from Omollo:
1. Float an international tender to any firm that would collect garbage and recycle the same;
If it can all be done by Kenyans, then what would be the point of the international tender?
You also add:
Now let me remind you that right now as we speak, there is an army of persons employed to collect garbage. In fact those jobs have been shifting from parent to child even before independence. They are the ones I referred to as "broom leaning" rubble. There are also hundreds of ghost cleaners, earning money for work not done. Nairobi is not dirty because it has not employed enough cleaners. There more cleaners than are needed. Otherwise we would hear of such a shortage and send failed graduate police recruitment applicants over there.
The problem then is to get those people to do the work they are paid to do. Perhaps that would require better equipment, better training, or more coercion. But I don't see how an international garbage-collection tender is necessarily the best solution. To my mind, the problem with laziness and low productivity is best solved at the source, not by outsourcing. If one goes with the "outsourcing" solution, then one might as well put out an international tender for the running of everything in Kenya; after all it is not just in garbage-collection that the above "personnel problems" arise. I believe that Kenyans can do the job--in whatever way you intend the "international" to work---and the real problem is to figure out how to get them to do it.
Perhaps the idea is too complex for you.
Perhaps. Certainly, my basic position here is a simple one: There is nothing hugely complicated about cleaning up Nairobi; all that is required is sufficient will and effort by the people who live there and their elected representatives. And if the former wish to blame the latter for the continuing piling-up of rubbish, then they should finally start electing a better lot; as it stands, some of the elected leaders (even senators and so on) would not be hired as garbage collectors elsewhere.
Yes, in some things I am comfortable with small, local ideas that actually work ... although "small, local" could be huge.
-
There is an al shabaab who told us that they used to lend billions to Mumias on condition that the company would hoard sugar for a few weeks creating an artificial shortage. The thugz would then release imported sugar into the market and make a killing. Al shabaab are Okoyus
-
Well, I am with Omollo on this one. We can complain until we are blue in the face that Kenyans are not like bazungu, but at the end of the day, we have to find solutions that work for us, not be constantly whining that other people manage to do it one particular way without problems. Especially if you are the governor and have only a short term, you must get creative. Which means you must know your environment, what obstacles you face and how to get around them to get work done, in this case, a clean, functional city with efficient delivery of basic services.
As for garbage, I used to hear there is a lot of money that goes into private hands over Nairobi garbage. The rumour back in the day at around 2007 was that Esther Passaris lost Embakasi to the Waititus because of the "threat" to move that Dandora dumpsite elsewhere. Very rich people don't want that. Why? At that time, word o the street was that some people made 200 million shillings monthly from that dumpsite. I have never known how people are rich off of garbage :o but if there is money to be made there, the city/county should look into making some of that money for itself.
-
Well, I am with Omollo on this one. We can complain until we are blue in the face that Kenyans are not like bazungu, but at the end of the day, we have to find solutions that work for us, not be constantly whining that other people manage to do it one particular way without problems. Especially if you are the governor and have only a short term, you must get creative. Which means you must know your environment, what obstacles you face and how to get around them to get work done, in this case, a clean, functional city with efficient delivery of basic services.
As for garbage, I used to hear there is a lot of money that goes into private hands over Nairobi garbage. The rumour back in the day at around 2007 was that Esther Passaris lost Embakasi to the Waititus because of the "threat" to move that Dandora dumpsite elsewhere. Very rich people don't want that. Why? At that time, word o the street was that some people made 200 million shillings monthly from that dumpsite. I have never known how people are rich off of garbage :o but if there is money to be made there, the city/county should look into making some of that money for itself.
-
Well, I am with Omollo on this one. We can complain until we are blue in the face that Kenyans are not like bazungu, but at the end of the day, we have to find solutions that work for us, not be constantly whining that other people manage to do it one particular way without problems. Especially if you are the governor and have only a short term, you must get creative. Which means you must know your environment, what obstacles you face and how to get around them to get work done, in this case, a clean, functional city with efficient delivery of basic services.
I'm pretty sure there is going to be no international tender for garbage collection in Nairobi. So sure, I am prepared to bet on it. Any takers? That means "solutions that work for us" will have to be something else.
Fortunately, there is a "creative" solution, and it happens to be exactly what people claimed I was suggesting to start with: the people---yes, the taxpayers who are owed services---can do it themselves. Complain and demand services? Absolutely. But clean up. To sit and say, "I've paid my taxes; so I will live in filth until Kidero does something" makes little sense.
Also it must not be assumed that any talk of people keeping their city clean necessarily means a reference to wazungu. We need to move beyond that type of mentality.
In Africa, folks in Rwanda manage to keep their city clean, and amazingly enough, the "taxpayers who are owned services" do a large part of the work:
"In Kigali City, Rwanda, the last Saturday of each month, is a compulsory day of cleaning, when all business comes to a stop in Kigali City, Rwanda. Everyone including the President partakes in cleaning the city ..."
"Keeping our streets clean, keeping our homesteads clean, ourselves clean, is not something we need to go out looking for resources. It is something we have within ourselves, why not start from that? It becomes a culture, it becomes a way of life."
- Paul Kagame, Rwandan President
"We cannot talk about the development of this country when we don't take care of the cleanliness."
- Rose Mukankomeje, Director, Rwanda Environmental Management Agency
http://www.sunwords.com/2011/06/12/why-is-kigali-so-clean-and-orderly/
https://openideo.com/challenge/vibrant-cities/inspiration/cleaning-day
-
Well, I am with Omollo on this one. We can complain until we are blue in the face that Kenyans are not like bazungu, but at the end of the day, we have to find solutions that work for us, not be constantly whining that other people manage to do it one particular way without problems. Especially if you are the governor and have only a short term, you must get creative. Which means you must know your environment, what obstacles you face and how to get around them to get work done, in this case, a clean, functional city with efficient delivery of basic services.
I'm pretty sure there is going to be no international tender for garbage collection in Nairobi. So sure, I am prepared to bet on it. Any takers? That means "solutions that work for us" will have to be something else.
Fortunately, there is a "creative" solution, and it happens to be exactly what people claimed I was suggesting to start with: the people---yes, the taxpayers who are owed services---can do it themselves. Complain and demand services? Absolutely. But clean up. To sit and say, "I've paid my taxes; so I will live in filth until Kidero does something" makes little sense.
Also it must not be assumed that any talk of people keeping their city clean necessarily means a reference to wazungu. We need to move beyond that type of mentality.
In Africa, folks in Rwanda manage to keep their city clean, and amazingly enough, the "taxpayers who are owned services" do a large part of the work:
"In Kigali City, Rwanda, the last Saturday of each month, is a compulsory day of cleaning, when all business comes to a stop in Kigali City, Rwanda. Everyone including the President partakes in cleaning the city ..."
"Keeping our streets clean, keeping our homesteads clean, ourselves clean, is not something we need to go out looking for resources. It is something we have within ourselves, why not start from that? It becomes a culture, it becomes a way of life."
- Paul Kagame, Rwandan President
"We cannot talk about the development of this country when we don't take care of the cleanliness."
- Rose Mukankomeje, Director, Rwanda Environmental Management Agency
http://www.sunwords.com/2011/06/12/why-is-kigali-so-clean-and-orderly/ (http://www.sunwords.com/2011/06/12/why-is-kigali-so-clean-and-orderly/)
https://openideo.com/challenge/vibrant-cities/inspiration/cleaning-day (https://openideo.com/challenge/vibrant-cities/inspiration/cleaning-day)
I can see where Omollo is coming from. A holistic solution with the honest recognition that the organizational capacity, inclination, discipline, integrity...what have you is not present in that local environment.
I also think it is a fantastic idea in the given circumstances. As fantastic as the notion, which I previously had, that Kenyans will not install an indicted suspect into the highest office.
-
I think we have a fundamental conceptual problem here.
People can be conscious of killing and even undertake communal cleaning on national scale. Does this any way contradict what I outlined? The answer is no. The level of cleansing that I have in mind and which has been effectuated in several countries and which two or three counties have in the works (one blocked by legal challenges) also relies on sensitizing people to participate in keeping their environment clean.
How?
They are sensitized to dump their garbage sensibly. Garbage bins and collecting paper usually plastic is given out so that the people place in the bins and remove and place aside if full before collection.
As they advance in knowledge their participation extends to source sorting where instead of one bin for all garbage, the users can sort their garbage before dumping it. They separate glass, metal, household waste from more "special waste" that may require specialized handling.
This is a much more useful than the mass picnics held in Kigali. It is more for publicity than of real value. For example they may still be collecting the garbage and then dumping it on the usual garbage mountains called dump sites one finds in African cities.
Simply put, that is the transfer of garbage from many places to one. It contributes zero to environmental renewal. It is the most dangerous thing one can do and over the years, the dumpsite may poison the underground water and return to each and every home that thought they had gotten rid of with devastating outcomes.
So while Moon Ki thinks he is doing a wonderful job "cleaning" his estate, he is in fact feeding the beast that would eventually return to his house through the pipes with a fury and take his kids, wife and himself. That is just how silly the failure to invest in modern garbage handling systems can be!
You may not know but Nairobians are paying triple for the collection of their garbage. From time immemorial, charges for garbage collection were tied to water supply. Every month, Nairobians pay for water and garbage. In addition, the Nairobi County instituted direct garbage collection levies. Kidero recently upped it to 500 per month per when launching another mafia garbage collector.
Now Moon Ki has made a bet that no international tender will ever be floated over garbage collection in Nairobi. I can't argue with that. I never said it would ever be. Mine is a proposal of ideas that work. It is upto Kidero and his government to pursue ideas that work. They cannot be forced. After all we live in a country where the government routinely awards tenders floated to get the best deal to the HIGHEST bidder and like Kimunya once said, the government insists "it is a good deal".
We have seen Kidero flagging off a new garbage collection company. Nothing is changing. These trucks will collect garbage in the usual places and dump in Dandora. The streets will remain dirty and Nairobians will continue to pay private collectors to relieve them of garbage.
Tax Payers?
Are you familiar with KARENGATA Association? They complained and got fed up. So they went to court and stopped Nairobi city Council from collecting any taxes from them until it could offer services. They undertook to collect the cash from members (lest NCC claim they are dodging taxes) and pay for the services and keep receipts and balance for an eventual settlement. I advice you to delve in to that case especially if you are going to insist taxpayers take action. You may want to know the mafia tactics employed by successive mayors to derail Karengata.
Reference to wazungu: I am more irked by MoonKi's knee jerk reaction to "international". There is no basis for sneering at it other than some form of xenophobia. I have explained that advertising internationally has no other purpose than to secure the best service and most benefits for Nairobians. After all most of the road tenders involving international donors are advertised "Internationally" even if local corruption ensures that "offshore" registered companies take over.
-
Omollo:
I will now raise the white flag on this one and give the folks of Nairobi my best wishes for a garbage-free future. How that will be achieved is far from clear, but perhaps your suggested solutions will end up being adopted. In the meantime the garbage is still piling up ... but people must not feed the beast.
-
Moon KI
Like I said, you have simply not understood anything of the idea I am floating. I was looking through your post to respond then I found at the end it is really not worth it, since you missed the initial point. I will respond selectively to some of the things you raise.
Do you know how companies operate across the borders? I believe Samsung and Google are operating in Kenya. I doubt that they came with bus loads of Koreans and Americans. I believe most of the employees are Kenyan. So if you expect an international company to bring in foreigners to collect garbage, then I really can't help you there.
What one hires is the expertise which can be transferred to locals over time. That is why any such contracts contain clear provisions for capacity building and a profit sharing ratio that that starts with the company getting most of the profits and ends years later with the city getting most.
So I have no idea what your objections are. Are you defending local jobs from foreigners? What jobs?
I think you are being naive to imagine that better training and equipment would change the way garbage is collected. It has been tried and has failed. Nairobi city council bought cleaning equipment that could replace 200 sweepers in CBD. The machinery remained parking until it was vandalised. Even if you train them and equip them, those workers will still have to dump the garbage in Dandora. One needs a recycling plant. A recycling plant is expensive and one needs a company that has the capital to invest in its construction. Time has gone past the use of open trucks to ferry garbage. There is need for complex machinery to collect, transport and process in transit some of the garbage. Clearly the thinking is still old fashioned and traditionalist. There is no room given for scientific and technological advances made in the field.
Garbage is a complex issue. If Moonki thinks it is just about will power and training, then he has a lot to learn about it. He is not alone in trying to apply simplistic and out dated ideas to a complex problem. It is this pedestrian approach to garbage in Nairobi that is responsible for the failure to embrace modern methods of Garbage handling. Just because the Beberu employed mamas with brooms to sweep the streets of nairobi when it had a population of 20 000 people, is no reason to continue doing it when it has a population of 5 milion.
-
(http://www.emofaces.com/en/smilies/s/surrendering-smile-animated-white-waving-flag.gif)
-
I think you should have defended your corner so we fully exhaust the issue. White flags these days lead to massacres. Nobody takes prisoners these days. Just as Iraqi Soldiers fighting the ISIS - They would rather exchange their American supplied weapons for their lives and only take a few pickups to run away. Those left behind are immediately killed "humanely" with a bullet to the back of the head.
-----deleted----