shocking end week of march

this week i have got a number of shocks that have left me speechless

first shock, i went to isich (i cant spell the correct name). the place where Kenyan Somalis ,Iraqi Somalis, al qaeda Somalis,American Somalis, Somali Somalis and just ordinary Somalis have turned into a trade haven. am told that they are like nakumatt, you need it, they have got it. in fact when my phone was stolen, in 2005, it was first traced to isich. here you can get a gun at only 1000 bob, they have some of the most advanced communications equipment which they use to communicate with outside world especially Canada. (am told Canada is the other leading Somali nation) at this place, there are even full time 24/7 brothels, the houses are paid almost a year in advance and the people are basically doing a roaring business almost in every sector. am also told that telkom have a special exchange in this parts and safaricoms biggest customer base (in terms of revenue) is isich. however i discovered that the road network in this 'country' is totally non existent, the mini buses just struggle slowly and meander around each other like snakes. i was told to watch the pocket keenly and also watch out for anyone looking suspicious. it appears that the people in isich are in another country as they have their laws, their currency replete with exchanges and all, they have their own telecommunication system or course in addition to the Kenya ones and so on. why does our government allow this to happen?

second shock, the media was full of reports of a group of thugs calling themselves mungiki who terrorize people and levy 100/= from every matatu plying certain routes. they also strip women in trousers and rape others on top of circumsicing them. i don't know why the media still dignifies these thugs by calling them a sect. the thugs now want 250 shillings everyday from every matatu ! thats a whoping 90,000 /= per year. for what? just for being a thug. in my vocabulary that is called robbery. even the govt does not take that in taxes. however what is more shocking is that the government of national unity, or the government of mwai wa kibaki is saying nothing , hearing nothing and doing nothing. (by the way how come we don't have a government of kenya these days?)

however before i could say the word shock, jimnah mbaru, a 'respected' investor in the Kenyan and African market circles comes up and sayts he market will get jittery in case ODM Kenya does not sambaratika! he explained that the market expects the party to disintegrate and that if it did not, the market may collapse. in other words he is saying that ODM unity is bad for the market. i cant even dignify that with a comment but what was more shocking was the fact that the chairman steered clear of the ills facing the NSE. he said nothing about the brokers who are stealing from investors and never mentioned or even suggested what needed to be done to them. he refused to comment on the credibility crisis that even the nation media group gave an editorial yesterday!

and by the way, is Mt. Elgon really in Kenya? it appears that as far as the GNU is concerned, the western boundaries of Kenya are in nakuru, looks like the New Kenya is just central province and Nairobi only

another shock? have you seen how mugabe is treating opposition members, and have you seen how the common mwananchi is suffering down there? and is there anything more shocking than the silence of African leaders including mbeki who is his next door neighbor?

and is the news about the government of Kenya looking to privatize telkom Kenya annoying or is it just me?

and curving out geothermal business from kengen after it was sold to the public, is that not a shocking robbery with violence? thats after they refused to make KPLC pay the correct fees to kengen. Kenyans were conned!

however on a better note, the index is slowly showing signs of recovery with most counters recording significant gains during the week. however the significant issues that have come up, need addressing. lawyer and legislator Paul Muite has taken it up and i just hope for the best.