Author: jamaapoa
•Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Honorable members, distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentlemen: Thank you for giving me this platform to not only share my experience but also to share in yours.

As a Kenyan woman and a woman living with AIDS, I treasure the leadership, expertise and wisdom of you to bring this prayer forum.

My presence here is not so much on expertise but more an indication and a symbolic of strides of healing and reconciliation that have taken place in the last couple of years. And for that I am grateful.

My only strength here is in fact also captured in my identity; that I am a woman, and a woman with AIDS. I have spent nineteen years living with the AIDS virus and all my time is committed to giving hope to those who have also been found by the virus no matter how helpless and hopeless sometimes it may look.

Some of what I have learnt on the road to AIDS is painful; stigma and discrimination are brutal and universal. Hypocrisy mars every level of government response to AIDS by pandering stigma and moral judgemetalism or rather playing the deaf to critical issues affecting lives of those who are HIV-infected.

Our leaders who are also power brokers can respond more readily to international declarations and commitments more than they will respond to the orphaned child’s cry at home.

I recognize that as people living with AIDS – PLWAs – we are branded by others more than we define ourselves. We are not seasoned fighters who know how to battle societal judgments.

When our leaders, preachers, teachers, etc tell us that AIDS is a dirty illness belonging to dirty people, we don’t want to be identified as infected.

We fear our families’ rejection and our communities’ isolation. Our fears keep us from being tested, stigmatization block us from seeking treatment and ultimately condemn us to a slow, painful and inevitable death.

What we, PLWAs, need most and most urgently is the redemption of our status as human beings, we need leaders to champion our cause until we gather enough courage and strength to champion it ourselves. We are desperate for leadership that will define us as human beings, valued and worth no matter our HIV status.

We are ordinary people in need of extraordinary leadership. We need leadership that will influence workplace policies and insurance policies and other practices that discriminate us day in day out. Leadership that will put policies in place that will protect our rights as human beings. We are not asking for extra favours. We don’t ask for special treatments or special considerations.

We need the voice of the Minister, the Bishop, the priest, and the MP; voices that we have not heard in the past, we are now increasingly desperate to hear passionate senior policy voice demanding AIDS to be a priority, and a priority now.

We need leaders to shake off the aura of “victims” as if we are feeble and passive objects. We want you to become powerful ambassadors for compassion and healing. We need your leadership to campaign for our dignity as much as crusade for interventions. It is dignity that inspires our courage and emboldens our self-esteem.

Dignity raises our faces that were lowered in shame. Dignity straightens our backs when they have been broken by stigma. And dignity strengthens our character when we have been assaulted.

Your language matters. It can be used to lift us or to demean us and break us. It you leaders tell us that we are dirty – we feel unworthy. If you tell us that we are societal problems, we feel guilty. If you tell us we are fallen, evil, useless, then we have ability to be people at all. The language of our leaders defines us in ways we cannot define ourselves.

Until you people of stature and leadership step up to lead this, as people living with HIV and AIDS, we will struggle and stammer with issues of powerlessness and futility.

But you can reason: “me I don’t even comment on people living with AIDS” as you do. Believe me you have, because silence is as potent as speech. If you have the power to lift us up and heal us but say nothing about us, we know by your silence that we are not worthy. Silence as well as speech can build our hope or break our will; lead us to service to bring us to suicide.

I am trying to calculate the impact we would make if the leaders in this room, we committed ourselves to embrace service instead of denial; to nurture and care for others including one another rather than seeking refuge in undeserved silence. Believe me; we could equip an army of compassion and healing whose ambition would be war against stigma, discrimination, ignorance and illness. We have the capacity to do this; we have the knowledge; we have the power and we have the influence if only we will use it.

And in the end, we people living with AIDS, we shall remember not the stigma and discriminating practices from the enemy but the deafening silence of our leaders.

Thank you ladies and gentlemen and may you all have a great day.

This speech was given by asunta wagura, the executive director of Kenya Network of Women living with Aids (KENWA) during the national prayer breakfast held on may 27 2006. It was touching, moving, inspiring, hope instilling and encouraging.Thanks Asunta for allowing me to share it with my readers. I wish you God's grace, enablement and strength to carry on with the noble work you are doing amongst us. You have moved me into action and will be contacting you regarding the same.
Author: jamaapoa
•Monday, June 19, 2006
last weekend i decided to cool my head at the coast. apparently this season, coast is cooler and wetter than the capital. that defies not only the norm but also the maxim of the higher you go the cooler it becomes. unlike the times when ‘watu wa bara’ are harassed by the coastal climate, during this time the weather is fantastic. i went to the heart of kaloleni division and encountered one of the nine kayas or mji of wachonyi, the better subtribe of the mijikenda tribe which has nine subtribes. i was nowhere near civilization and i had to keep reminding myself that i am still in kenya. i think what i went through would rate highly in the survivor series. i will tackle one in this post, the others later.

i did experience a lot of interesting stuff but what baffled me most were the stories about witchcraft. this subtribe is the guru of these mystic games and some of the tales i heard could not be classified by my mind as anything near reality. however the locals hold them yours truly and their lives are guided and governed by the fear of the same. while their wagiriama cousins are busy seeking after the political kingdom, the wachonyi are content with their supernatural pursuits.

whenever i heard of the man-eaters of tsavo before, i would think of the lions that used to maul railway construction workers and traders in the early 1900s. now that will also be a passphrase for another kind of man-eaters; cannibals at the coast. i have always thought that in kenya we have only one cannibalistic grouping somewhere in the rift valley, maybe rumours, but there seems to be another one. in the heart of the subtribe is a grouping called ‘watu wa chama’. they are believed to have the real mizimu powers and a host of jinis at their beckon and call to terrorize any enemies. they believe in human sacrifice. human flesh is provided by new converts who sacrifice their closest relatives in order to join and sustain membership. the more human blood you provide the more you rise in the rank and file of the group. they have a huge appetite for more ‘developed villagers’ blood and the more you grow in wealth, the more you are required to sacrifice for protection. i was told that this is one of the reasons that make the area largely undeveloped.

once a target sacrifice dies of mysterious circumstances and is buried a ritual is carried in the evening of the burial to recover the body. senior members of the group approach the grave naked and in reverse gear chanting. they ‘knock’ on the grave and the body pops up, no exhuming! the body is later carried and hung inside a store which is strategically positioned above the fireplace in the way of the billowing smoke. smoke is a good preservative of meat.

usually the delicacy is eaten gradually with time as all and sundry enjoy a good serving of the local brew mnazi. mnazi is tapped skillfully from the coconut tree and later fermented. and here lies the trap for unsuspecting mnazi clients. the local mnazi brew den may not be serving chicken or goat meat but human flesh peddled as genuine meat. once an unsuspecting person takes that meat, you are already initiated to be a mtu wa chama. that same night, the jinis will visit you and require you to sacrifice someone close for you are already a member. for such, the jinis thirst for human blood is insatiable and they ask and ask and ask till you have given them your whole family. many locals are unable to handle the torture and they end up committing suicide.
Author: jamaapoa
•Friday, June 16, 2006
listening to the finance minister reading the budget yesterday a sense of thrill, hope and patriotism bubbled inside of me. beyond his eloquence, posture and cuteness lay strong communiqué of hope and goodwill for our beloved motherland. i was impressed and proud of a former chairman of a prominent institute i subscribe to (i.e. icpak), just as i am proud of michael waweru of the kenya revenue authority. it also reminded me that in our country we got thinkers; creative and innovative servants who are ready to think outside the box if there is political goodwill and commitment. the execution of those wonderful proposals is another issue altogether but what we had yesterday is a good step in the right direction.

good work amos: just like the biblical amos, you’ve become a prophet of hope and restoration as you lay the cornerstone of our building blocks for growth and prosperity. i pray you will not burst my bubble like the way your colleagues burst the narc dream and wiped from our skies the rainbow vision. i hope you were not fuelling my day dreams with all those great plans for infrastructural development. just like the cdf, latf and hiv constituency funds, i laud the kshs 11 million per constituency for building roads, the revamping of 210 village polytechnics, the introduction of turnover tax and the advent of infrastructure bonds in our capital markets. i wish it will not turn out that you helped me build castles in the air when your hawk-eyed political opponents unearth anglo-leasing financing shady deals when they scrutinize your budgetary provisions later. but listening to you last evening on NTV’s ‘on the spot’ with julie gichuru, i am convinced you mean and will act well and i believe you for now.

thank you for seeking to reward philanthropy and corporate social responsibility via making tax deductible expense of the same. i am sure the likes of safaricom, bamburi cement, athi river mining, shell, magadi soda, eabl and a host of other corporate giants are clapping, so are we noble good hearted kenyans. pushing kenya towards budget financing independence is a giant leap towards liberation from neo-colonialism. a host of other good things you said are worthwhile and if your government just does the roads comprehensively i can assure you of my vote in the coming elections regardless of what orange and kanu tells me. if you fail on this one the converse will be true no matter what else you do.

nevertheless, the increase of kshs 3.20 per litre on the fuel levy was too theoretical and the practical implications may surmount the convenience of scrapping road licenses in the short term. we, the common wananchi may suffer irredeemably. but if you make all those other niceties you uttered come to life, i will promise you one thing. i will more than gladly dig my pocket deeper through increased transport costs and incidental price increases related to higher fuel costs to finance the public kitty. this i will do, although i already give you 30 per cent of my income every month. woe unto me if you don’t bring to life your sweet words. for i will be a twice beaten, thrice shy disillusioned kenyan and i will dissociate from you and your ilk then.
Author: jamaapoa
•Wednesday, June 14, 2006
this year, there has been a number of initiatives to curb the rampant software piracy in kenya. the business software alliance and the computer revolution africa are spearhearding the campaign. several business organizations and other large institutions have been asked through media adverts to audit and submit a listing of the software in use in their offices. i am not sure about the level of compliance but a june 16th deadline for this reporting has already been set.

the major software been targeted include microsoft, symantec, veritas, f-secure, surfcontrol, gfi, sybari and adobe products. microsoft has directed its users to www.howtotell.com to verify the authenticity of their products. its just a matter of time before the campaign start targeting small and medium enterprises and finally personal and home users (if its possible to enforce compliance). i know a number of organisations which run pirated versions of the said products. i tried convincing one to buy genuine microsoft products a few years ago and they said its expensive. but to keep business going i had to install for them the cracked version of microsoft office 2003 and a host of other programs now under scrutiny. most of these companies don't want to hear about intellectual property or copyright laws. they care not about getting software upgrades, security patches or updates given to legitimate users. convincing them to run open source software is also herculian task.

in nairobi, you can get any software with a few thousand shillings. in my cd wallet, i have all versions of windows including server 2003, sql server, vb.net, norton products, acrobat writer et cetera, either pirated or cracked versions. my personal laptop and home pc run most of these products. does that make me a bad jamaa? its worse in the business world. i have to have these for those clients who are not in the mood to listen to my vibe on legitimate products, otherwise am out of business. maybe this anti-piracy campaigns will make us earn more genuinely. i hope they succeed.
Author: jamaapoa
•Monday, June 12, 2006
the matatu culture in kenya is one of the most unique forms of 'pop cultures' in its own right you can ever experience. last friday, i was made to reflect on the matatus by a small incident that happened at the global cinema roundabout, which has now being converted into a matatu terminus for most of the thika road routes.

three minibuses were jostling for space in a bid to get passengers first. the one i was in christened 'genge maniac' was reversing in order to depart since it was full and the other two were fighting for the now empty strategic space. such shoving requires good skills by the drivers as there is hardly any space to move. it was at this time that one of the empty matatus - chonga viazi - on reversing rammed onto genge maniac. no serious dent, but the driver of chonga viazi kept on reversing oblivious of the damage he was causing and in total disregard of the many side bangings by his touts. genge maniac driver just switched off the engine and waited for chonga viazi driver to finish his slamming business.

genge maniac driver showed no signs of anger, neither did he talk nor shout during the whole saga. he just got out and inspected the dent on his matatu. he then picked a rock and went towards chonga viazi. everyone expected fireworks and a fight to break out as genge maniac driver assumedly went for chonga viazi driver's jugular. no, he did not, instead he went and hit hard the front passenger side door of chonga viazi causing a more serious dent than the one in genge maniac. an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth as the legendary moses directed. or is it the law of the jungle? he then went back to genge maniac and drove off, content with his vengeance

i marvel at the logic and reasoning patterns of the matatu crew. i enjoy watching them and self-studying them. whilst a student in one of the city colleges some years back i got banned from a certain eastlands route where i resided. reason being that, during one evening rush hour, i made other passengers not to board another rickety matatu that took advantage of us during this time coz we had to queue and had no choice of selecting which matatu to board. you had to use the one at the front or the one available after queueing for more than an hour. the fact that it consistently broke down at the city stadium and you had to scramble for other matatus there notwithstanding.

not that i had the prowess to convince anyone not to board, i was just fed up with its breaking down since i had used it severally and the other tired queue partners took cue and refused to board. one kamjesh guy took it personally and banned me from using the matatus during the evening rush hour. i was thoroughly abused and told to go buy my own ride, and i promptly retorted that i was going right there and then to marshalls showroom for a peugeot 405 as i embarassingly walked away. kamjesh was the alter ego of mungiki and were as vicious as the mungikis. both gangs controlled most matatu routes and oftenly crashed in a battle for control of eastlands matatu termini. they died down with the matatu reform programme by one michuki, famous for rattling snakes statements. but they are now back and this time they mean business

i thought he was joking till i turned up the next evening. he was religiously there to enforce the edict. for the rest of the time i lived in eastlands, i had to rely on the train during the evening rush hour and walk the rest of the distance home. the train ride turned up to be much more convenient and cheaper except for the scrum, overcrowding, pickpocketing and the evening worship service complete with sadaka and testimonies in some cabins. well, that last part was not so bad. but if i got late and missed the seats or the javelins inside (i.e. standing on the passage and holding onto the rails on the roof for the rest of the journey) i had to do with hanging dangerously outside and be macho for the rest of the journey.

another incident happened at the junction of ronald ngala and tom mboya. i had boarded a number 15 matatu for langata. there is usually a lot of human traffic around that junction and very impatient matatu drivers. the driver of the matatu was angling for some space at the edge of the road pushing most of the pedestrians out of the road. he was so impatient that he had no time to honk for a man who was walking leisurely on the edge of the road. the driver said that the guy was proud and the next thing i saw was the man struggling to find his balance as he had already being pushed out of the road by the matatu driver using the side of the matatu. of course, the driver did not stop to stomach the hurl of abuses from agitated pedestrians. he was busy deying a stop order by a traffic policeman for 'jumping' the lights.
Author: jamaapoa
•Friday, June 09, 2006
if you can keep your head when all about you
are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
if you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
but make allowance for their doubting too,
if you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
or being hated, don't give way to hating,
and yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

if you can dream - and not make dreams your master,
if you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
if you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
and treat those two impostors just the same;
if you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
and stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

if you can make one heap of all your winnings
and risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
and lose, and start again at your beginnings
and never breath a word about your loss;
if you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
to serve your turn long after they are gone,
and so hold on when there is nothing in you
except the Will which says to them: "hold on!"

if you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
if all men count with you, but none too much,
if you can fill the unforgiving minute
with sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
and, which is more, you'll be a Man, my son!

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)

Author: jamaapoa
•Thursday, June 08, 2006
look to this day!
for it is life, the very life of life.
in its brief course
lie all the verities
and realities of your existence:
the bliss of growth
the glory of action
the splendor of beauty.

for yesterday is but a dream
and tomorrow is only a vision,
but today well lived
makes every yesterday
a dream of happiness
and every tomorrow
a vision of hope

look well, therefore, to this day!
such is the salutation to the dawn.

source:
How to stop worrying and start living by dale carnegie
Author: jamaapoa
•Saturday, June 03, 2006
today i would be jobless were it not for some last minute hasty telephone call to the human resource guy of the now insolvent uchumi supermarkets ltd. i was thinking with my heart, a gut instinct to call off the deal. thats close to two years ago. on thursday, the premier national supermarket chain closed its doors. at least, it was a mid-morning decision unlike the early evening one by former south african breweries subsdiary; castle breweries. east africa breweries limited, then kenya breweries limited took 100 percent shareholding from the south africans. at least some castle employees were later absorbed by eabl after being shocked when reporting to work, to find the gates closed even for senior managers. no one had a clue about the closure of castle breweries and it seems uchumi directors also held this last card very close to their chests.

uchumi's downfall was written all over the financial market walls, but optimistic kenyans decided to turn a blind eye to the warnings. the sacking of the over-ambitious managing director thairu was one of them followed by the exit of dj ck aka chris kirubi from the board chairmanship. before then, there was the fact that uchumi supermarkets ltd made most of its profits from its non-core business investment arm, the now defunct uchumi investments ltd. the over ambitious expansion strategy and the installation of the erp system which was poorly implemented were also heralds of what to come especially since they were financed out of working capital tying the much needed money to pay off suppliers, employees and other trade creditors. the exit of senior management within this period coupled with the layoffs that followed its first loss report were telling. apparently the erp system is among the best in kenya only rivalled by nation media group and bamburi cement. but it was poorly integrated and implemented and staff were poorly trained. its costs were unjustifiable.

last year, pricewaterhouse coopers fell short of disregarding the potent of the rights issue when they reported that the rights issue will not be successful. but an aggressive marketing campaign and the cajoling of uninformed investors by our financial market strategists made kenyans to give a lease of life to uchumi via the over kshs 1.3 billion rights money. most trade creditors refused to swap their debts with equity including the non-trade lender, the PTA bank which opted for a extending the loan repayment period. most of this money was used to pay off suppliers, to finance debt and an inconsistent, non-sggressive marketing campaign. the sale of assets which was supposed to raise close to a billion shillings attracted a paltry kshs 300m against a backdrop of legal issues as most of the property was attached as security for the loans. In the same year uchumi had issued a profit warning as required by regulations since their losses had nearly doubled to kshs 1.2 billion.

the exit of the government owned and previously majority shareholder ICDCI which had over 51 percent stake and goverment owned Kenya Wines Agency Limited which had over 20 percent showed what the thinking of strategic investors were over uchumi. these key firms did not take up their rights issue and continued to sell off their stake at uchumi even afterwards. by march this year ICDCI had completely bowed out of uchumi with kwal having less than 11 percent shareholding.

this year, there was increased interest in uchumi after it caught the eye of naushad merali the kenya version of warren buffet. but he quickly sold off his stake after he failed to get the board chairmanship, rather the number of director seats he wanted. it also saw the exit of the chairperson eddah gachukia who took over from dj ck less than two years ago. since then the share price has been sliding down the muddy hill. the consistency of losses, rising finance costs, low sales turnover, closing down of branches, failure of the franchise model to pay fast, rising competition from moneyed nakuru mattresses and tusker mattresses have been indications of a grim future for uchumi.

the poor business strategy in the wake of cutting throat competition from newbies such as nakumatt, tusker and ukwala contributed to its slow death. Their policy of having 80 percent stock from local supplies led to high costs to uchumi customers and at times lower quality as opposed to the competitor’s imported brands which coupled with tax evasion led to cost of goods been less at these alternatives.

rumours have been rife within the capital over the last three years of the impending doom at uchumi. ranging from the absurd to the obvious, they told more than they withheld. one of them is that during its recovery strategy uchumi failed to attract a strategic investor from south africa as earlier taunted. the entry of john mastertein smith from south africa served two purposes. first to be a scout for the south africans on the real financial position of uchumi and secondly to make it easier to close down with no hearty and hard feelings for kenyans. there was this one about dj ck's intention of running down uchumi to lower its market value in order to re-purchase it a throw away price.

shareholders will be the greatest losers as once the receiver manager moves in, the main interest will be on the lenders recouping their loans and if anything is to be left, the shareholders will share. but there is over kshs 1.2 billion asset deficit and the lenders are barely covered.

maybe the best way is to consider reopening it rather than liquidation. the 1.5 million shareholders could then be asked to be shopping at uchumi in order to make it a going concern once more. after all, they stand to loose their whole investment if the former retail giant is allowed to wind up.

but who is really to blame for this? is it the original board of dj ck or the subsequent ones for hyping up the recovery strategy? could the auditors have fully blown the whistle on the future of uchumi? or is it the capital market authorities who have failed to induce strict corporate governance within the listed firms? or the nse and brokerage fraternity for failing to curb insider trading at the stock exchange which gave a false impression of uchumi's true financial position? or is it the media-led campaign that saw shoppers shun uchumi's shelves?


Author: jamaapoa
•Thursday, June 01, 2006
dear kenyans, fellow government officials, honourable members of parliament, leader of the official opposition, members of the diplomatic missions and the international community at large, all protocols observed. it is with great pleasure that i address the nation on this great day in the calendar of our beloved country.

looking back it has been a long journey since we attained our internal self government rule. our formative years in the first five decades were characterized by poor economic policies, political exclusion, inequitable resource distribution and tribally allied institutions which energized corruption in major sectors of our economy. it is worth noting that during those times, our country did not degenerate to an ungovernable state and kenyans of good will thrived within and outside the country and made sure that the hope of a rejuvenated country never died. we salute the revolutionaries who over the years have held the falling pieces of our beloved nation together.

my fellow Kenyans, it is four years now since we the progressive professionals party (ppp) won the elections and formed a coalition government with our able partners the valiant vijana visionaries (vvv), the able africans abroad (aaa), business boost board (bbb) and the women will win (www) parties. we thank you for giving this coalition another mandate to pioneer the re-branding of Kenya as an economic hub for africa and a political success case for developing nations. we have mastered the art of constructive coalition building for the sake of developing our beloved country and are not bedevilled with the woes that hit the coalitions of yesteryears. it is a great lesson that mr & mrs wahenga taught our forefathers that ‘kidole kimoja haikiui chawa’ (one finger cannot kill a flea). indeed they left us a legacy that ‘umoja ni nguvu, utengano ni udhaifu’ (unity is strength, discord weakens) to which we have toed the line in our coalition.

we continue to uphold our policy of a lean government as well as a motivated, well remunerated and efficient civil service. this policy and competitively filling of all government appointments including cabinet positions have greatly enhanced the level of service delivery, professional ethics, accountability and efficiency of running the once rusty and callous government machinery. you all remember that even the position i hold was competitively filled as i took over from the www luminary with whom we were in the same coalition in the last political dispensation. we will continually revamp the interview board in charge of this noble concept and inject new and youthful talent as need arises. i am glad to report that the economic and political agenda has not changed and thank the www for laying the firm foundation on which we now build storeys upon storeys of prosperity for the enjoyment of every mwananchi in the republic.

allow me at the earliest opportunity to announce with great pride that we now have the patent rights to the hiv vaccine that have been successfully developed by our university research team. you are all aware that there have been great research advancements within this decade in the control, management and prevention of the hiv virus spread and kenya has been pioneering these efforts. i congratulate our university dons, lecturers and students who put their minds to such great course and to all the kenyans who participated in the trials. in a similar fashion to the way the government has been financing the anti retroviral therapy programme, which has seen many Kenyans get the therapy for free, the government will finance a nationwide immunisation programme of this new vaccine at no cost to the citizens.

the social work and medical fraternity sensitization campaigns on the spread of the virus have seen the infection rate drop to less than one percent within the last six years. aids related deaths have gone down tremendously and the society no longer stigmatises aids patients. we laud such great efforts by our fellow comrades. kenyans are also more responsible of their sexual conduct and have adhered to the abc concept of hiv transmission prevention to the letter. the government appreciates the stand the religious leaders have had for the last six years on the use of condoms. endorsing the use of condoms by the religious leaders has ensured that more kenyans are at less risk of contracting the virus. just like we eradicated the danger that malaria posed to our country through joint efforts, we are almost at the finishing line in winning the war against hiv.

the rise and rise of kenya within this decade can only be compared to the rise of china to an emergent super power status since the fall of the berlin wall. we continue to look up to this emerging super power and other asian tigers as the models of growth in our economy. our processed agricultural output exports and tourism from both the eastern and western world continue to be our leading exchange earners. indeed our policy of full processing of farm products before export i.e coffee, tea, fish, beef and other farm products have quadrupled the earnings to our farmers. the investments in the tourism sector with major campaigns on kenya as a tourist destination has seen the number of tourists rise to over 385 per cent more than what we had five years ago. the exploration of the concepts of domestic tourism and ecotourism has also contributed to the growth in this sector. we have reinvested 40 per cent of the tourism earnings in the improvement of the infrastructure, enhancement of security, cultural, forestry and wildlife conservation efforts as well as more tourism promotions. this year we are targeting our fellow african countries in a bid to increase the number of tourists visiting us from the african continent.

on the economy, we have had drastic changes in the manner in which government revenue is expensed that have led to redirection of revenue to profitable sectors. in addition to the national audit department, we have adopted hiring of renowned external auditor firms to independently examine the usage of government revenue. we have heavily subsidised our agricultural sector to enable farmers compete effectively in the global market as well as abolishing punitive taxes such as cess, council charges and roads levies in the agricultural zones. our coffee sector is now booming after we managed to sever links with the berlin cartels that have middle-manned our marketing efforts and we have regained our position of having the best coffee in the world used to blend other coffee from other producer countries.

we are aggressive in promoting our local products both at home and abroad. the sugar industry is second to none in the comesa region and the massive support of irrigation schemes has seen us regain the profitability of the rice and cotton industry. the construction industry is booming with the cement industry being the major beneficiary since we adopted cement as a major ingredient in the construction of our roads. this in turn has made the transport industry to be more gainful especially with the drilling of oil in the coast and northern eastern regions despite the threats we faced from our northern neighbours. our promotion of geothermal, biogas, molasses, solar and wind as alternative sources of energy has lowered greatly the cost of production in the manufacturing industry. our investments in the arid and semi arid areas through irrigation and infrastructural developments have greatly enhanced business prospects in these areas. if we are hit by a drought, we will comfortably feed all kenyans for a period of ten years without resorting to foreign aid.

kenya authoritatively intervened in the warring neighbours and brokered peace in somalia, zambia, zimbabwe, the recent insurgent in uganda and the greater lakes region. we are respected and have ultimately taken lead in the peace and security of the larger eastern africa. this has enabled us to cut down our defence budget by 75 percent and reallocated such immense funds to rural development. we have adequately trained rural project managers in project management skills to ensure that such funds are well utilised. we have achieved the millennium development goals and managed to repay all our loans to development partners 63 years before the stipulated time. comrades, we were heavily debt ridden but now we will be lenders, debtors no more.

we support somalia’s request to join the expansive eastern african federation. however, we are still opposed to the scrapping of individual nation’s republic status as suggested by tanzania who favours a seamless political federation. we ask our fellow federation partners and africa in whole to support kenya’s bid for the presidency of the five-year-old world political league. surely, we have come a long way taking the lead in world matters in the sub-saharan africa.

wakenya wazalendo, time will not allow me to talk about the successful digitization of all government institutions, the revolution in our telecommunication sector, the relocation of the capital to the more spacious and well designed for growth mukraal area, the development of the sports agenda right from the grassroots, the economic success in the north eastern regions, the successful review of our constitution that has stalled for the last 20 years and the advancements in the judicial process. others include the slum upgrading project, settling the squatters and the landless via a government buyout programme among other initiatives. the social programme catering for the less privileged in our society economically or otherwise is a great success and so far five developing countries are using our guidelines to implement such a policy. the social, political and economic empowerments of all these initiatives are evident for all to marvel at the power of efficient and accountable government. as your president with a ceo mandate, you can always access my jamaapoa blog and be up-to-date with various initiatives i am spearheading.

lastly, we at ppp coalition government accept the request by the hata tuzee tuko party (http) to send a representation to the coalition advisory committee. we continue to respect the opinions and views of our opposition colleagues at tuna kabila kalikali (tkk) party. however, we are not ready to incorporate their views in our decision making. We hope they never get to see the seat of power in this country again.

wananchi watukufu, as we commemorate this year’s madaraka day let us honour those who fought for our independence by not re-colonizing ourselves, fostering unity in diversity, responsibly governing ourselves and realising that the sky is not the limit. i love my beloved country, KENYA.

na hiyo, ni maendeleo…