Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Radio Jambo Converts


Radio Jambo is now a gospel station Seems like I didn't get the memo from Radio Africa Group. Tell, when did Radio Jambo, once touted as Kenya's home of sport and talk, get "saved"? I bumped into the station after many months hanging around Capital FM, XFM and Machoka's Roga Roga only to get a shock by the deeply religious reportoire of local and international gospel music on air.

Is it not a fallacy then that Kenyan's are mad about sports and English Premier League? Seems like that love will not pay the bills! So are we then officially a religious people? No chance in view of the crimes especially of a domestic nature that we witness on a daily basis.

I will keep an ear on the rest of the "new" Radio Jambo's programming for the rest of the week.  

Opportunities Begging For Takers


For some time now I have been contemplating a series of articles here of the various opportunities I see all around me that are just begging to be taken by individuals, companies, state agencies, leaders and so on. Why do I care, you may ask or why cant I take the opportunities myself? Well the truth of the matter is that I am a fountain of ideas, but unfortunately I don't have the courage or resources to implement them. The ideas are not all about making money, otherwise I would have cashed a long time ago. Most of them are just ideas that can save the state coffers a load of cash or make the life of citizens much better. Others are just plain common sense and you keep wondering just why didn't any one see them earlier.

You may wonder why I bother writing about it instead of taking the fight to the owners- the guys who are in positions where they can change things. Well, I have tried all that and more. I recall once when I made an appointment to see the then Mayor of Nairobi to discuss possible cost-free solutions to the perennial hawking problem in Nairobi. However after a long presentation, I realized he was not listening or did not see the opportunity therein. Of course my idea was not bought and we still have the problem. I have made formal and informal presentations to opinion shapers and implementers all over the place. I have written to the media via Letters to the Editors and opinion editors, some times I do get published and most of the others I am just ignored. Anyway, I am determined to share some of the opportunities that I see around my society just waiting for takers.

Please indulge me.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Been A While........

Seems like time just flies right past us.  I must admit that a statement I heard on radio today kind of woke me up- that we are just a month away from Christmas. Did we not just start this year the other day? Is it time to bid the year adios? So soon?

Anyways, it has been a rather hectic year for me both at a personal level as well as at the career level. As always there were numerous ups and downs too, but as always I believe what distinguishes one set from the other is attitude. I am always grateful when things are working out and when they are not, I make a point to learn at least one lesson from each unfortunate or unsuccessful episode that I encounter. It has not been different this year.

At another front, we are now bang in the centre of the silly political season when the whole country seems to lose her marbles. By the way, I have tried to stay away from making any political statements or commentaries in this forum or anywhere else apart from a very small circle of close friends who know me and where I am coming from. That circle is less than five people and even then, we hardly ever seem to agree or share any position. The reason is that my political views are radical and anti the Kenyan script where we are all supposed to take tribal, regional or religious sides.

Anyways, I will not change my position on desisting from sharing political statements just like I learnt that you should not discuss with strangers any of the following no go topics- sex, family, politics, religion and money! Really?  So what else is left to discuss, especially for Kenyans. The weather? I think if you take away politics and EPL from the diet of daily small talk  you will end up with a rather boring bunch of Kenyans.

I think the year 2012 has also been a rather tragic one for me because my mortality has been reaffirmed by the deaths of people close to me. I lost three close friends and at least another four or five acquaintances within the year. November has especially been bad because people of my age were seperated from the world of living and it just seemed so unfair. Why should people who seemed to have everything to live for just depart from our midst so fast and so unexpectedly. Nobody seems to fully explain the phenomena of life and death, but the lessons I take is that we need to live for the day.

Reminds me of an advert I saw the other day from a website for chain of hotels called Viceroy. It is simple but loaded. " Remember to Live" - life is hectic and may just get you lost in it that you may forget to live. How many times do we get so immersed in a work project, in office politics, in religion, in family affairs, in our neighbors, friends, that we forget to live our own lives . I know many people who devote so much of their time in the lives of their children,parents, siblings or friends that they seem content to put their own lives on pause. Their own needs can wait. Seems to me that we must be selfish if we want to lead well balanced, purposeful and meaningful lives.

Anyway, seeing that I have not been able to post anything in more than a month, I am glad that I have let off my rumblings about time, politics and living life. See you some time soon and remember to register as a voter soon so that you can exercise your democratic right to choose your rulers.