It is Easter and there are no Christians in Kenya
Author: jamaapoa
•Thursday, March 20, 2008
Last Sunday was Palm Sunday. I traveled upcountry to join the local Christians there in celebration of...palm Sunday, I think. The city and its environs were full of same old same old processions. The Pentecostals ignored the day altogether and went on with their normal prosperity gospel. Aren't things back to normal? Tomorrow is Good Friday, ushering in the Easter weekend. It is rote. Kenya Christians will celebrate Easter in unchristian ways and move on to April. Life goes on.

Assuming 80 per cent of Kenyans are Christians, events that engulfed Kenya in December, January and February have left me wondering whether there are any Christians in Kenya or whether it is worth being one. Christians massacred Christians and burnt their homes and properties. Christians were burnt in a Christian church by fellow Christians.

Christians burnt 13 Christian churches in Kibera alone, and a further 400 Christian churches were burnt by Christians in the expansive Christian-rich Rift Valley. Christian leaders incited Christian supporters to rise up against their Christian neighbours, or looked the other way when they heard the plots against their fellow Christians. Christians are still burning and killing each other in Mt Elgon and Laikipia areas.

Yes, Christians cheated, stole and killed. They even cheated and rigged in the elections. They came up with justifications for their unchristian actions and plotted to cover up their misdeeds. Some even engaged in self-redemption tactics.

President Kibaki is a Catholic Christian and Prime Minister Raila is an Anglican Christian. These two Christians watched as fellow Christians killed each other, when they knew that their Christian words were enough to quell the violence. They are now both in power and have forgotten that their Christian countrymen are wallowing in the misery of IDP camps, refugees in their own Christian country.

The Christian spiritual leaders even vied for political posts. There is a bishop in parliament. She is not the first one; there have been others before her. They failed to make a Christian mark. Her three months in politics are a herald of things to come; no change. God had spoken to Bishop Muiru that he was the anointed one for the presidency. Kalonzo Musyoka was supposed to be a presidential product of a Christian prophecy. A miracle.

Oh ye Kenyan Christians, who has bewitched you?

Do we really have Christians in Kenya? I doubt. They all live in denial. They are ungodly Christians. Maybe the Christian religion cannot be sustained without the shedding and burning of human blood? There are no Christians in Kenya! If they are there, their Christian voices would have been heard and respected during the pre and post election unchristian crisis.

Now that there are no Christians in Kenya, how can there be Christian spiritual leaders in Kenya? In Kenya today, there is at least one cardinal, several archbishops, hundreds of bishops, thousands of reverends, tens of thousands of pastors and hundred of thousands of other fancy titles like apostles, deacons, fathers, brothers, sisters, and church elders. Yeah, titles devoid of Christian leadership and values.

In Kenya, the Easter Christian message is yet to change Kenya Christians’ unchristian hearts and minds. It is not worth being a Kenyan Christian, don't you think so?


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Nairobi Stock Exchange Needs Urgent Reforms
Author: jamaapoa
•Thursday, March 13, 2008
Following the receivership of Nyaga Stockbrokers, it is very clear that the NSE and its member firms are ripe for major structural and process reforms. A form of business process restructuring/reengineering should be done. This is solidified by the fact that a further four stockbrokers are said to be shaky and all this barely a year after the collapse of Francis Thuo Stockbrokers.

Before addressing the question of reforms, why should the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) and Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) act as joint receivers whenever a broker is in the red? Do they really act in the interest of the broker’s creditors? Where do they morally draw their mandate? Are they independent and non-partisan in the broker’s failures?

For example, the broker has a seat at the NSE and the CMA earns some percentage of broker’s commission to sustain its operations. The CMA earns license fees from the brokers. The NSE members are also in competition with the broker in the red yet they are expected to adjudicate in a competitor’s failure. Is it not more prudent to have a professional accountancy/management firm act as receiver manager in such cases?

How would Jimnah Mbaru be objective as NSE chairman when his firm Dyer and Blair will stand to gain from the transfer of clients from the fallen firm? Or James Wangunyu, NSE Vice Chairman and MD of Standard Investment Bank? It is a tall order to expect them to be objective.

NSE reforms that have been mentioned in the past include demutualizing the NSE thereby making it a public company, registration of more brokerage firms, more autonomy and power to the CMA, other stock and commodities exchange markets to be allowed to operate and instilling corporate governance at the NSE. Is there an internal audit department at the NSE and what is their role in interrogating the daily operations at the trading floor? Has there been an assessment of the controls within the trading environment, ATS and CDSC to prevent abuse of the processes and systems by the over-zealous and money-minded dealers?

Further, brokers should be required by law to publish independently audited financial accounts on a regular basis. The NSE should also publish its accounts regularly. Brokers should be encouraged to have an internal audit function whether in-house or outsourced and adoption of international accounting standards and other internal controls standards as well as issuance of standard back office system requirements. The old boys club needs to be broken to allow for more professional and ethical practitioners.

The CMA needs more Stella Kilonzos in their ranks up to the chairman level who are ready to instil discipline and order in the management of stock brokers without fear or favour. A strong CMA may be the best market oversight body after all, with all the legal backing to boot.

Hopefully, Ms Stella Kilonzo will be confirmed as CMA CEO, a position she has held in acting capacity since Dec 07. Nevertheless, her chances are slim. She may have rattled NSE hawks and they know how best to install a stooge at CMA. Especially when CMA starts issuing temporary trading licenses, pending compliance, at what used to be an obvious and unchallenged annual renewal routine.

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