By NBM WRITER Just two days before the historical arrival of the Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on May 7 2014, the then cabinet secretary Devolution Anne Waiguru visited the National Youth Service headquarters at Ruaraka. On standby to receive her was then director-general of the institution, Japhther Kiplimo Rugut. The CS made several announcements. However, two among them stood out; the Chinese Premier would visit the institution’s headquarters on May 11. The second was a warning that those who did not measure up to her blueprint would be moved to either the Sports ministry or to the counties. Indeed, on…
Author: Editor
By Jolie Lanji Traditional African wedding ceremonies are one of the most beautiful events on the calendar. The jewellery, the bagpipes, the horns, the drums, the delicacies, the traditional brew and of course the beautiful bride & groom! The wedding ceremony is of great importance, because it symbolises the natural continuity of life. The introduction of Western Culture may have rendered a number of wedding practices barbaric such as the father spitting on the bride’s forehead as a blessing, female genital mutilation before marriage and the sacrifices to the ancestors before the ceremony to ensure they gave their blessings. One…
BY KEVIN GIKONYO Mr Bill Gates envisioned in 1999 that technology would revolutionize the world by getting services and information closer to the end user. The 15-point article depicting these technological evolutions is so precise today that some writers allude to it as a prophecy in its own paradigm. Gates denotes that “People will carry around small devices that will allow them to constantly stay in touch and do electronic business from wherever they are. They will be able to check the news, see flights they have booked, get information from financial markets, and do just about anything else on…
BY PETER WANYONYI There was a myth repeated across Kenya to young people back in the 1980s. If a young person asked where money came from, they were told that money was made in a secret factory by a man whose legs had been cut off so he wouldn’t escape with all the cash. Then, as now, the creation and printing of cash was perceived as a high-security affair, and for obvious reasons: once the banks created the cash using one or other method – typically by employing a variation of Fractional Reserve Banking – the government then authorised one…
By Nadrat Mazrui In computer networking, hacking is any technical effort to manipulate the normal behavior of network connections and connected systems. Cyber hacking and the breach of information systems security is emerging as one of the top risks to the business sector. A hacker is someone who seeks and exploits weaknesses in a computer system or computer network. The very definition of hacking is breaking onto a computer or computer network without permission. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons such as profit, protest, challenge, enjoyment, or to evaluate those weaknesses to assist in removing them. Anyone…
BY ANTONY MUTUNGA What has always come first for most Kenyans after completion of one’s first-degree course is hitting the job-searching route. This trend, with the emerging technologies that have indeed actualized the world as a global village, is however becoming decadent with young, innovative professionals setting up their income generating outfits once they step out of the comfort of the classroom. It is what Kevin Mwengei, a Bachelor of Commerce, Accounting, graduate from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) did on completion of his course in 2014. The 24-year old saw the gap that existed between the…
BY LANJI OUKO While dining out, the question on whether to have dessert or not is constantly the most trivial part of your meal! Cheesecake, chocolate fudge cake, banana split, cookies, apple pie & ice cream sundaes! Are calories just numbers? The thought of a treadmill or the face of your angry gym instructor unconsciously follows the guilty pleasure of indulging in a mouth-watering dessert! From small children to adults with sophisticated palates, dessert is a temptation quite often hard to resist. Who can resist the satisfying ingredients of cream, whole milk, sugar, peanut butter-filled wafers covered with fudge? Calories,…
Nairobi City County has identified 50,000 buildings that risk being demolished as a result of lack of construction approvals. They have given the developers a one-month notice to comply or face demolition. Many of the buildings that are constructed in Nairobi are not planned for, or regulated by City Hall as they do not have construction or building permits. Noncompliance is caused by several factors, key among them being: High levies charged by City Hall such as the EIA levy which has a floor of 0.1% of project cost and no ceiling as well as the construction cost permit which…
Kosta Kioleoglou It seems that the Real Estate Market’s dominance of the Kenyan economy is coming to an end. Unless big changes happen very soon, the property sector cannot sustain its status and definitely cannot continue growing. Kenya’s real estate market has gained fame within the last few years. Most Kenyans believe that “You cannot go wrong with Real Estate”. The market is considered to be creating amazing returns to investors. It is also considered to be one of the main contributors of the country’s GDP growth. I have been following up with the Real Estate Market of Kenya for…
BY ANTONY MUTUNGA The World Economic Forum annual meeting that was held in Davos, Switzerland in January 2016 was an eye opener on the crisis that is looming over the global economy. The delegates tackled various topics ranging from cyber crime to rise in technology but none was more important than the topic on the global economy with the focus on slow global economic growth. China, for example, is faced with its slowest rate of economic growth in over two decades. The Asian Tiger accounts for 15% of global output and the effects of its economy’s downturn will be reverberated around the world.…