Thursday, June 25, 2009

Of Ministers and University

A new bill is in the offing to force the president of the republic to appoint only men and woman of higher learning to the head ministries. A number of people are happy with this proposition but am just wondering, how will that work if there is no equal provision for the head of government and HOS to also have the degree?

Further when I read this news item, my mind was quickly taken back to my village and I remembered my good cousin Otieno. A simple young man of very modest education. Otieno only sat for class 8 after which he had to go to town (Nairobi) to look for work to help his siblings. Today Otieno who is much younger than me has already put up his own home, is married with 3 children and has a very stable family. Every time he comes home, teachers and local 'highly' educated individuals troupe to him for odd side jobs for a quick buck.

Then I also thought of Charity Ngilu who without a degree is quite a successful personality very principled and focused. in '97 she helped 15 men and women to see parliament some for the very first time in their lives. When she opted out of the party it died a natural death. There probably are many other examples but the bottom line is this: there are some life lessons that you don't get from the university and secondly university gives you a shortcut to knowledge but some street lessons are by far priceless and I hold that requiring a degree for ministers is not a very wise idea.

Further more in most professions mine included, industry certifications count for much more than a degree. For instance a person with CCNE or OCM certification is highly valued and their degree status will not even be considered. That's what I thought when I saw that one minister may be dropped even though he has CPA (K)!

Sunday, June 21, 2009

An Age of Convinience

The age we are in is often referred to as the information age and rightly so since today information is all you need to move anywhere. but information has become so much availble that it is nolonger really an age of information. Another thing that is more important in this age is convenience. I think we are currently living in an age of convinience. people want what they want but conviniently. Take phones for instance. who wants to keep on looking for keys to press to click and so on? People want touch phones with sensitive screens and shortcuts. And it doesn't matter the kind of phones the conveniences must be there.

Luckily all sorts of phones which are preferred by the majority are available with all these conveniences be they nokia touch phones or sumsung touch phones. What would you say to additional convinience of getting all this in all the colors you prefer, networks that you prefer and also in convinient monthly payments? When you add the free gifts that go with this purchase you get the absolute convininence on a variety of touch phones

Monday, June 15, 2009

The more they change ...

They say that the more things change the more they remain the same. But this statement may be exaggerated or maybe meant only for those who never look for the change or see the change. I have been reading a lot of comments about UKs budget proposal last week. I have also heard those comments or watched them. For starters the media stations were almost predictable in their reactions. KTN and group were almost expected to punch large holes into the thing. They did not disappoint. Another station Kiss Fm which has successfully converted into a book of lamentations also did us proud and went the pessimist way. they are these days good at telling us all the bad things that are happening in our country and why we can never be any better. am tired. just tired. Nation media as is charasteristic was middle ground and reserved but it was citizen which was full of optimism. In fact citizen has introduced a new refreshing segment for the weekend which talks a lot about wealth creation and who owns Kenya. its a very uplifting segment.

But what do i like about the UK budget? mostly the CDF. every time I think about it. CDF is a master piece and a silencer to those who always blames marginalization for the lack of development. granted it aint enough but like it is said in the bible, those who cant budget with 10 bob can also not budget with 100 bob. They are the people who always see the glass as half empty all the time as opposed to half full. in fact in Kenya there is a third group who say that the glass is too big else it could be full!

its all about making the most with what you have and so probably the whiners will whine for kingdom come and the optimists will prosper even in times of peril.

On another note, my catholic church is of late getting very high media attention for its dogma on celibacy and priesthood. they say priests need to marry so that they become sexually responsible. that argument makes me sick because it reduces the institution of marriage to a mere sexual union. there is more to marriage than sex and any one who gets married to have sex has lost the plot by a long shot and will not be faithful even if he were married!!!

Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Beating the Slump

What is the one thing you would urgently and willingly pay for during these hard economic times? For me that would be some decent piece of information on how to go against the tide and make some good money. But what if that information was available to you for free?! What if you had an information repository that gave you fast and reliable Wholesale news and even iced it with real good tips on Wholesale sources some tips of which are as hidden to the naked eye as a needle in a hay stack?!

Well it would be just the information you would want to grab and own. And with the fiber optic cable being launched this month by our good old president, the opportunities will be amazing. With super fast internet access and real time access to vast overseas markets for e-commerce, e-support (or is it i-support). ideas on Drop ship are for sure priceless.

Like they say success is made up of some good quality education but also the kind of gut feel know how that only matures with age which calls for time. But time is what you don't have especially if you must survive the slowest economic growth since the mad days of wars, coups and counter coups. That experience from traders and business people from all the five continents on Wholesale sources would be truly invaluable. Now imagine all this is all but a click away!