BY MULEI MUTAVA MICHAEL Investors familiar with Wall Street lingo know the popular phrase, “Bulls make money, bears make money, pigs get slaughtered.” In effect, this phrase cautions against excessive greed and impatience in the market. Bulls make a kill when the market is on the rise while bears take their harvest when it’s on a decline. The success in both strategies is predicated on impeccable timing for jumping on and off the ship as it sets sail, the direction notwithstanding. A pig comes late to the party, stays long or misses it altogether whichever the case may be, and…
Author: NBM CORRESPONDENT
BY DAVID ONJILI Joe Kadenge comes from a golden generation of Kenyan players whose football brilliance was never rewarded by big money deals. Peter Dawo, Henry Motego, Maurice Ochieng, Abbas Magongo and Julius Owino, though not in his league and timeline, exemplify Kenya’s thankless football of previous year. Despite bringing both their clubs and the national soccer team glory they have nothing to show for as they live on the breadline. Those, like the legendary national team and AFC Leopards’ striker, Dr J.J. Masiga who have not tasted the pangs of squalor escaped poverty by the reward of their efforts…
BY FUAD ABDIRAHMAN Every evening in most parts of the country, the young, the not so young and the old flock the so call veve bases to indulge in a poison of their choice, Miraa (Khat), which they chew almost all night as they share stories and hallucinate. Miraa is a leave stimulant. It contains a chemical element known as cathinone, which is psychoactive and causes lack of sleep, brain confusion, mental breakdown and psychosis. Miraa has long-term effects that are physical, social, emotional and mental. It leads to bad breath, discolored teeth and in some extreme cases; miraa chewers…
A rapidly evolving new subspecies of the cryptosporidium parasite – a leading cause of diarrhoeal disease in children worldwide – has been revealed by scientists at the University of East Anglia. The study, published in Nature Microbiology, sheds new light on how this parasite has evolved the ability to spread more easily between people. Researchers sequenced and compared whole genomes from over 20 different cryptosporidium cases to find out more about the parasite and how it infects people. Their work will help public health interventions aimed at preventing the spread of the disease. The Cryptosporidium parasite is one of several microorganisms that cause diarrhoeal disease. It is…
BY CYNTHIA WAIRIMU Skin chafing happens when there is so much friction on the skin against skin or clothes, from which it tears, forms blisters, bleeds and becomes itchy and uncomfortable. The discomfort is worse when sweating. Often times, this happens if you work out a lot or are overweight. Chafing can happen to any body type. It can also be caused by straps such as bra straps and belts. With the sun shining bright these past couple of weeks, chafing is bound to happen. However, there are ways to fix this as well as prevent it. First , identify…
By TOM ODHIAMBO There has been talk of Kenya having borrowed beyond its ability to repay regularly over some time now. Commentators have castigated the Kenyatta II government for going on a ‘borrowing spree’ since it came to power. Most of these loans are apparently from China. Consequently conspiracy theorists argue that Kenya is basically mortgaged to China. But Kenya isn’t alone. Most African countries are now beholden to Beijing, where they run to annually to beg for ‘development’ loans, ostensibly to build ‘infrastructure’ – a word that mainly means roads in the African context. Well, China is definitely a…
Craig Coley never should have spent 39 years in prison. On this, everyone seems to agree. They also concur the 71-year-old should spend the rest of his life as a wealthy man. Simi Valley announced Saturday it would settle a federal lawsuit, giving Coley $21 million for his almost four decades of wrongful incarceration in the 1978 murders of Rhonda Wicht and her 4-year-old son, Donald. Thirty-nine years is the longest prison term overturned in California, the city says. “While no amount of money can make up for what happened to Mr. Coley, settling this case is the right thing…
BRCK, the Kenyan communications software and hardware company, has acquired Surf, a local internet service provider to become the second largest public Wi-Fi network in Africa. The acquisition is meant to help BRCK to gain more fixed Wi-Fi locations. According to Erik Hersman, BRCK CEO, the acquisition has the entire company very excited about the potential to be across multiple Kenyan cities and to continue growing their network quickly. “BRCK is rapidly expanding its network, so adding the Surf network and software assets to our company allows us to grow faster in fixed Wi-Fi locations,” he said. Following the acquisition,…
BY ALOIS MALUVU Managing risk in financial institutions has never been more complex. As cyber-attacks continue to evolve and increase in frequency and sophistication, cyber security has become a major area of attention and investment. Complying with the large number of global regulations that aim to combat money laundering and terrorist financing is also a challenge for the industry, both in terms of costs and resources. As a result, many global transaction banks have been reviewing and rationalising their relationships with banks in areas of perceived high risk. The phenomenon, known as de-risking, is driven primarily by concerns about anti-money…
Nexign, a Business Support System (BSS) and Internet of Things (IoT) platform provider, has announced new capabilities to its product portfolio that will empower communications service providers (CSPs) to build digital partnerships and collaborate more efficiently, with other industry players, on a global level. This will enable CSPs to create new business models, accelerate time-to-market (TTM) for new advanced products and services and reduce total cost of ownership (TCO) by up to 25%, all while improving the overall user experience. As a result, end-users will benefit from personalisation, optimisation and expanded service offerings from CSPs. “Ecosystems are at the heart…