Saturday 19 April 2014

7 SENSITIVE AREAS OF THE BODY WHERE EVERYONE LOVES TO BE KISSED ...

By Holly Riordan (All Womens Talk)


There are sensitive areas of the body that are perfect for kisses. You don't want to feel the same thing over and over, and risk getting bored of the repetition. You want to keep your love life alive, and to do that, you have to realize how many super sensitive areas of the body there are. Here are a few of the best places to be kissed:

1. NECK

You always hear people talk about how much they love neck kisses, and there's a good reason for it. If touched in the right way, neck kisses can be more sensual than anything else. It's one of the sensitive areas of the body that can make you swoon with a simple touch of the lips.

2. STOMACH

Your stomach and hips are more sensitive than you would think. Plus, it helps raise your confidence. If you're insecure about your weight, the kisses prove that he loves you just the way you are. If he likes your body, than what's stopping you from liking it as well?

3. CHEST

Chest kisses don't have to be provocative. Even when you're fully clothed, but have on a low-cut shirt, chest kisses are wonderful, because they're close to your heart. Of course, they're just as great the other way around, so don't forget to kiss your man all over. He'll love it as much as you do.

4. THIGHS

It goes without saying that this is a sensitive area. A trail of kisses up your legs is always exciting, because of the anticipation it entails. When you're with the person of your dreams, not much can go wrong. Everything is an adventure, and every kiss counts.

5. HANDS

A kiss on the back of the hand is a sweet gesture. It’s not sexual, so it shows how much someone cares. Usually this is done before any kissing on the lips takes place, to show how polite he is. Of course, he can still kiss your hand when you're an item. When you're out in public or not in the mood for making out, it's an adorable gesture.

6. UPPER BACK

If he's laying behind you in bed, while you're facing away, he can still find ways to kiss you. Getting kissed on the back is always sweet, especially when you're dozing off and it's unexpected. As you're falling asleep, it reminds you that you have someone that loves you, and would do anything for you.

7. LIPS

This one is obvious, but who doesn’t love to be kissed flush on the lips? They have the most nerve endings, which makes them super sensitive. Plus, there are so many different ways to spice up lip kisses. You can add tongue, bite a bit, and suck on them. The variety keeps it exciting, which is why no one can resist the perfect kiss. Even though it's the most common gesture, and the very first one that couples start out with, you should never underestimate the power of a kiss on the lips.

Kissing is an intimate act that can make you swoon, swear, and sweat. It is the best way to feel alive, while feeling like you're cared about. Where do you love to be kissed? Can you remember what the best kiss you ever received was?


Enough! No more unfair cash charges for Africans

Daily Nation; April 19, 2014 

Money transfer operators have been siphoning money from African migrant workers and diasporans with little comeback for years – but Western Union and Moneygram, who dominate around two-thirds of African pay-out locations, are finally finding themselves at the end of some cold, hard scrutiny

Africans working outwith the continent are hit with almost double the global money transfer fees when sending money home. Photo: File/Daily Nation

Africans working outwith the continent are hit with almost double the global money transfer fees when sending money home. 

Did you know that if you are a Ghanaian worker transferring money back to your family from your job in Nigeria, you could be paying a fee four times higher than a Mexican worker transferring money back to family from a job in the US?

While there are undoubtedly unofficial channels for sending money home, if Africans working outwith the continent are to send money home to family members the legal way, they get stung by almost double the average global money transfer fees.

These costs are effectively another way of enforcing arbitrary geographical divisions within Africa

 What’s more, remittances within Africa tend to be eroded even more – for example, migrant workers from Mozambique sending cash home to South Africa or Ghanaians sending money home from Nigeria typically face charges of over 20 per cent of the wired amount. These costs, although they may be partly the result of outward capital controls enforced by African governments, are effectively another way of enforcing arbitrary geographical divisions within Africa and preventing the pan-African economy from thriving.

Why have Africans in particular been so harshly penalised by these fees? One explanation is that because many people don’t have bank accounts, money transfer companies are often the only legit option despite the deep cut that they take. What’s more, these companies are often allowed to enforce exclusivity agreements – meaning that African banks and agents that use either Western Union or Moneygram are not allowed to use any other operators, keeping the market stitched up tight.

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The offices of Western Union in Monrovia, where many Liberians collect money transfers from relatives and friends. Photograph: Pewee Flomoku/AP

These absurdly high remittance fees are in the news right now because the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) has published a report highlighting the problem and pointing out that the loss of money in fees costs the African continent US$1.8 billion a year, which it says is “enough money to pay for the primary school education of 14 million children in the region”.

“There is no justification for the high charges incurred by African migrants. In an age of mobile banking, internet transfers and rapid technological innovation, no region should be paying charges at the levels reported for Africa,” the report says.

Previously the World Bank also spotlighted the issue, stating in a briefing earlier this month: “The average cost of remittances to sub-Saharan Africa has remained stubbornly high at around 12 per cent.”

Norman Chipakupaku, who organised an Africa-UK Scotland conference last month on remittances and fees, said that it discussed the fact that Africans in the diaspora were being charged an average of 12 per cent to transfer money compared to Latin America, at 4.4 per cent and Asia, at 6 per cent.

He said that the African diaspora in Scotland would keep working with partners and the African Union to put pressure on money transfer operators and African governments.

In countries such as Nigeria and Mali, remittances are more than 20 per cent of total imports. Nigeria, which was actually the fifth-highest recipient of remittances in the world in 2013, has been looking into the idea of diaspora bonds – the idea that diasporans invest in the development of their mother country. Whether diasporans feel that the development of their home countries is best done through lending funds to their governments, or whether they will prefer to stick to sending money to their community at a more local level is another question. But either way, the more money reaches Nigeria rather than money transfer operators, the better.

Transparency is also a major issue – few remittance senders have any idea of the charges that they pay through foreign currency conversion, and the ODI report is asking for full publication of these charges. This at least is already happening in the United States, where Moneygram (Texas, home of the Bush family) and Western Union (Colorado) are based, under new legislation.

African governments should revoke the exclusivity arrangements that bind banks and agents to individual money transfer operators

 ODI is also calling on African governments to revoke the exclusivity arrangements that bind banks and agents to individual money transfer operators, to allow more competition and allow new entrants into the market, potentially including homegrown African companies. This comes at the same time that Africa’s largest remittances service provider, Somali company Dahabshiil, has won a victory against UK bank Barclays, which was trying to shut down its 15-year-old accounts without time for it to make alternative arrangements.

Critics also say that the insistence of African governments that remittances should be made through high cost banks, where most Africans do not have accounts, is something that should change, suggesting instead microfinance institutions, which a much higher percentage of the population uses.

As one Zanzibari-Canadian family says: “We feel like there’s no other choice but to pay. How else do you send money? A bank wire takes forever compared to a money transfer company… and the people [we’re] sending money to don’t have bank accounts anyway. It’s frustrating to see special deals advertised for sending money to the Philippines or parts of Asia but never to Africa.”

Certainly, it seems crazy when many parts of Africa are leapfrogging Europe and America in the increasingly diverse and sophisticated use of mobile money, that Africans abroad are reduced to such basic, rip-off methods of getting funds back to their home countries.

Wednesday 16 April 2014

Black People are Less Intelligent, Says Dr. James Watson, Nobel Prize Winner and DNA Pioneer.

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Well, there you have it folks, irrefutable scientific proof of what we’ve secretly known all along. Black people are less intelligent than White people. This latest confirmation comes from no less an intellectual giant than Dr. James Watson, winner of the Nobel Prize in 1962 for his role in discovering the molecular structure of DNA. It looks like the guy who said stupidity is a genetic disease that should be cured should be his own first guinea pig.

Apparently, Dr. Watson said in an interview with the Sunday Times that he was “inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa” because “all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours—whereas all the testing says not really.” CNN online also reports:

In the newspaper interview, he said there was no reason to think that races which had grown up in separate geographical locations should have evolved identically. He went on to say that although he hoped everyone was equal, “people who have to deal with black employees find this not true.”

Dr. Watson, it seems, has a history of making insensitive and inflammatory comments. The online edition of Scientific American has compiled a list of Watson’s other foot-in-mouth utterances.

  • After showing images of women in bikinis and veiled muslim women, he suggested that there is a link between exposure to sunlight and libido. Then he said, “That’s why you have Latin lovers. You’ve never heard of an English lover. Only an English patient.”
  • After showing a picture of Kate Moss, he asserted that thin people are unhappy and therefore ambitious. “Whenever you interview fat people, you feel bad, because you know you’re not going to hire them.”
  • Fat people may also be more sexual, Watson asserted, because their bloodstreams contain higher levels of leptin.
  • “If you are really stupid, I would call that a disease. The lower 10 percent who really have difficulty, even in elementary school, what’s the cause of it? A lot of people would like to say, ‘Well, poverty, things like that.’ It probably isn’t. So I’d like to get rid of that, to help the lower 10 per cent.”

Like all prejudiced people, Dr. Watson tends to be well-rounded in his bigotry, as shown by a trail of sexist remarks. According to Charlotte Hunt-Grubbe, who worked for Watson in the late ’90s, he often found himself the target of feminists’ ire for insensitive statements he made about women’s appearance and personality. Hunt-Grubbe also writes that Watson was accused of using data gathered by Rosalind Frankin, a colleague and fellow researcher, without her knowledge and without sufficiently acknowledging the contribution of her data to his own discovery. By the time Watson and his male colleagues won the Nobel Prize, Franklin had already passed away from ovarian cancer. Lest this be passed off as a one-off incident, New Scientist publishes this Watson gem on their website: “People say it would be terrible if we made all girls pretty. I think it would be great.”

For a guy who is so critical of others, Dr. Watson sure has a lot of work to do on hisown personality and attitudes. I would write more but being from Africa, I’m clearly not intelligent enough to do so. Instead, I’ll just agree with my man Scooter when he says, “Less work on the DNA double helix and more work on the common sense gene.”

Saturday 12 April 2014

NAIROBI ON COURSE TO BECOME AFRICA’S SECOND TOP CITY

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NairobiCity

Kenya’s capital city, Nairobi, could soon overtake Cairo to become Africa’s second leading city after Johannesburg.

It may well be on course to joining an elite category of fast-growing and highly competitive global urban economic hotspots, according to the influential Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

The United Kingdom-based EIU predicts a rosy future for Nairobi in a study dubbed “Hot Spots: Benchmarking Global City Competitiveness”.

It says the city will be one of the fastest growing urban economies in the world in the coming decade and a magnet for investment. This is aided by a number of factors, most notably a skilled workforce and a relatively low cost of living.

The government’s own policy blueprint, Metro 2030, echoes this projection and aims to catalyse and manage the takeoff.

However, the ambition to transform Nairobi into a “world class African metropolis” in the next two decades could be imperiled, warn experts, unless sustainability is put at the heart of the strategy.

Accounting for nearly 60 per cent of Kenya’s GDP and nearly a half of the total labour force, it is the key engine for growth and prosperity.

But to remain competitive and consolidate the recent gains, the city needs a radical urban regeneration strategy to modernise and enhance the quality of its physical infrastructure, especially transport and telecommunication, deemed one of the poorest in the world.

In fact, the EIU rated Nairobi among the bottom 10 of 120 cities surveyed.

Recent major road construction and rehabilitation projects in the city as well as the switch to the new high-speed undersea fibre-optic cable, go a long way in addressing some of the major infrastructure challenges that have stymied investment and growth.

The other challenges awaiting Governor Evans Kidero and his county government are no less important.

The key priorities must be to address the rising insecurity; reduce the bloated county workforce; improve city governance and service delivery; actively discourage ethnic ghetto-isation, especially in volatile and impoverished districts; tackle graft and work with the National Environmental Management Authority (Nema) to craft innovative solutions to the emergent real threat of environmental degradation and pollution.

The overall goal must be to make Nairobi a better governed and a more egalitarian, greener and sustainable city so as to enhance its inhabitants’ quality of life.

This would require an ambitious but practical strategy that balances growth and sustainability.

Historical accident

There is a rich historical irony in the story of Nairobi’s humble origins and rapid transformation into a huge African metropolis and leading financial, diplomatic and information hub.

It grew as a tiny colonial outpost in 1899 – a temporary stopover for the Imperial British East Africa Railway Company. It was just one among an unremarkable constellation of tiny hamlets that grew around the great railroad.

If historians are right, it owed its birth to an accident of history rather than conscious design or grand imperial whimsy.

The uncanny gravity and instinct that impelled a group of colonial scouts a century ago to pitch tent on the edge of an “African swamp” was to prove prescient a century later and laid the foundation for Nairobi’s rise into one of Africa’s greatest cities.

Geography and climate made it conducive for habitation and commerce and underpinned its emergence as a political and administrative centre.

In an age when rail journeys were slow and tiring, it marked an ideal halfway spot to break the monotony and drudgery of the long passage to Uganda, for rest and recuperation and to stock up on supplies.

More important, the high altitude (1,795 meters above sea level) and mild climate made it un-ideal for the more acute and fatal strains of malaria.

Managing growth

Nairobi’s population is projected to hit the 8 million mark by the end of this decade, according to estimates by the Governor in a recent policy speech.

The physical expansion in the last two decades has been one of the most extensive of any city in sub-Saharan Africa. Many suggest it has reached its limits and is incapable of further spreading out.

This rapid horizontal contraction has created a vast and chaotic urban sprawl that has put severe strains on an already creaky county infrastructure and resulted in serious environmental degradation.

It also poses huge governance and service delivery challenges for the county government.

Part of this enlargement is “grey growth” – unauthorized and unregulated, as the Governor himself noted.

“Informal settlements” – a bureaucratic euphemism for slums – have burgeoned, especially in the eastern districts of the capital. Predatory developers continue to encroach on public utility land in shady property deals to construct shoddy and substandard residential and business buildings.

In a fiscal strategy paper unveiled in February, the Kidero administration acknowledged the problem and promised to draw up an Integrated Urban Development Master Plan to address them.

The plan is still in its infancy and short on details, but, nonetheless, it is a positive first step.

Curiously, one of the objective of the plan is the “regularization of unauthorized development”. This is confusing and perhaps sends the wrong signal to those bent on grabbing land.


China to put up Sh65bn ‘Dubai’ in Machakos

dubai-machakos

Chinese investors are planning to unveil a Sh65 billion city near Nairobi with skyscrapers and infrastructure that they say will match the splendour of Dubai.

The grand plan that involves at least 100 Asian investors is being fine-tuned ahead of an anticipated visit to Kenya by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang early next month; actual construction may begin later in the year.

The premier is also expected to tour Nigeria, Angola and Ethiopia in what is seen as an attempt to further strengthen the relationship between China and Africa.

The project to be developed on land in Athi River, Machakos County — about 30km from Nairobi — is styled as a Chinese-controlled economic zone that will host corporates from the Asian giant and serve as its hub for Eastern Africa.

A design by Chinese architects the Sunday Nation has seen proposes the building of at least 20 skyscrapers. Those familiar with the project say it is meant to match the glamour of Dubai and is also expected to be a shopping destination that stocks Chinese and other global products.

Representatives from some Chinese corporates involved were in Kenya last week and held talks with key stakeholders in government to lay strategy for the project.

Mr Qiu Yan of Multi-Win Holding Ltd said that once completed the project had the potential to create 200,000 jobs.

Mr Yan added that a conference planned later this month in Nairobi would attract more Chinese investors interested in the initiative that is expected to change the face of Athi River. Other key individuals involved include Mr Guo Dong and Prof Luo Ming.

Those behind the project known as Kenya-China Economic Zone are said to have acquired land from a flower company. However, we could not immediately establish how long the “new city” will take to complete. It is also unclear how it will coexist with the proposed Konza Techno City and Machakos City launched by Governor Alfred Mutua, proposed in the same area.

The Director of External Communications at State House, Mr Munyori Buku, said he was aware of the proposed project which would push the government’s plan to turn around the country’s economic prospects and help achieve Vision 2030.

“Such projects are a clear manifestation of the Jubilee administration’s plan to take the Vision 2030 to the next level,” Mr Buku said.

Officials at the Chinese embassy in Nairobi could not give details of the impending State visit or the proposed project.

Untold drama of Uhuru, Ruto first day in office

The Peopleuhuruto2

Kenyans may have wondered why, after he was declared President-elect on March 9, 2013, Uhuru Kenyatta started holding meetings at his residence, near State House, instead of the office at NSSF building that he had been using as deputy Prime Minister. In a reconstruction of the first days in office, The People has recapped episodes of drama and blunders that staggered the new leader and his deputy William Ruto, as they walked into sheer inexperience of the highest offices in the land.

Earlier in 2012, Uhuru had lost his Treasury office after he resigned as minister forFinance at the commencement of his case at the ICC and the government had allocated him an office at the NSSF building, previously set aside for immediate former First Lady Lucy Kibaki who had since stopped using it. Uhuru had been using the office during his presidential campaign. However, some unforeseen hiccups emerged which saw Uhuru asked to leave the NSSF office, apparently without retiring President Kibaki’s knowledge.

Uhuru’s party, TNA, had given Mary Wambui theticket to contest the Othaya parliamentary seat to the great displeasure of a highly placed official at then office of the President. It was well documented that Kibaki’s family was loath to the idea of Wambui vying under TNA. Uhuru had to “pay” for it with aneviction from the NSSF building office. Henceforth, though still the deputy Prime Minister, he would operate from his private residence.

When he became President elect, he continued working from home, awaiting the outcome of the Supreme Court election petition filed against him by rival Raila Odinga. Another practical demand of the new office would come early on the first Monday morning of their election, when Uhuru and Ruto were invited for a cup of tea with the out-going President Kibaki. With only a few hours in office and the issue of validity of their election headed for the courts, Uhuru and Ruto expected the State House meeting with Kibaki to be just a simple tete-a-tete. Not so for the out-going President.

“He appeared, by all body language, all set for a hand-over that very morning,” says a source in the Presidency who accompanied the two to State House. Kibaki addressed the two as “Bwana Rais and Bwana Makamu wa Rais” (President and Deputy President), according to the source and treated them with utmost respect. Said a State House source, “Kibaki’s words and body language painted a picture of a man ready to quit State House that very minute.” At the breakfast meeting, Kibaki would learn that Uhuru had been operating from home.

Kibaki directed immediately that an office space for the President-elect and his deputy be created at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC). All the same, the President-elect had to operate from his residence for a few days before the KICC office was secured. For President-elect Uhuru, the reality of the changed circumstances dawned on him at the Bomas of Kenya tallying centre immediately he was handed the IEBC certificate declaring him the winner of the presidential ballot in the afternoon of Saturday, March 9, 2013.

No sooner had he been declared President-elect than security men who had accompanied him to the Bomas venue were shoved aside by a new squad specifically trained for presidential security. Then came the moment for him and Ruto to go back to their respective vehicles for a short ride to the Catholic University grounds where the Jubilee team had set up its tallying centre. The President-elect and the deputy wouldn’t be allowed to ride in their personal vehiclesagain. There were new custom-made limousines to fit their new status.

Back at their private residences (Ruto’s in Karen) new security teams had taken over. But the KICC office turned out to be a nightmare for Uhuru and his deputy. “Lobbyists from all walks of life descended there in droves. Everybody who, for one reason or the other, felt they were owed a favour by the President-elect and his deputy thought it was pay-back time and came calling with or without appointment,” says the top State House based source. The source in the Presidency recalls: “Queues of people wishing to see the President-elect or his deputy would form from 5am in the morning and not end until well past 9pm in the evening. It was like a mad-house.”

Faced with near-paralysis because of the human traffic jam in their offices, the President-elect and his deputy came up with an ‘escape’ plan. They would find something to engage them down at the Coast. A programme was hurriedly put together for the two to “inspect” development projects, starting with the port of Mombasa. “That way, they were able to take a break from the intense activities of the lobbyists in the capital city,” says a presidential aide. In the meantime, the President-elect and his deputy got down to constituting their would-be Cabinet, even before they were sworn into office.

Uhuru and Ruto instructed a respective aide to come up with 40 names each, from which a Cabinet would be picked. Nancy Gitau, now a political adviser in the President’s office would do the picking for the President-elect, while Maryanne Keitany, now the chief of staff in the office of the deputy President, would do the job for the latter. At the end of the day, the President and his deputy had a list of 80 names from which to pick an 18 to 20 member Cabinet.

The painstaking detail of how they whittled down the list to just the sizeable number of interviewees they needed is known just by the two since, according to the source, at times they met for long hours without anyone one else apart from security aides. It was another clever move by the newly elected pair to shake off influence by lobbyists who ordinarily would be driven by other considerations other than qualifications when floating names for appointment. In the meantime, the Supreme Court had delivered its verdict and cleared way for Uhuru and Ruto to be sworn as President and deputy on April 9.

Then came the D-Day and the President-elect and his deputy faced a hitch that troubled the official inauguration committee. A church minister had requested that the President, his deputy and their spouses kneel down at the Kasarani stadium dais as he prayed for them. However, military protocol is such that an officer of senior rank cannot go down on their knees when junior officers are around and up standing. Yet here, the Commander-in-chief would be kneeling right in front junior officers participating in the inaugural parade.

Someone whispered to the bishop who would lead the prayers to just ambush everybody with the request for the President and his deputy to kneel down. Few people may have noticed sharp glances being exchanged between the protocol team and the military top brass as pillows were laid out to kneel on, but solemn requirement stood as protocol was broken.



Wednesday 9 April 2014

MATSANGA reveals the 10 NAMES of those who fixed UHURU and RUTO at ICC

MATSANGA reveals the 10 NAMES of those who fixed UHURU and RUTO at ICC

MATSANGA reveals the 11 NAMES of those who fixed UHURU and RUTO at ICC
By Andrew Gichuho

Tuesday April 8, 2014 – Celebrated Ugandan human rights activist, Dr David Matsanga, on Tuesday revealed the names of 11 Kenyan betrayers who fixed President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy, William Ruto, at the

International Criminal Court (ICC).
Speaking to a local FM station on Tuesday morning, Matsanga opened a can of worms by revealing the infamous list which comprises of members from the civil society and prominent opposition politicians.

Without fear or favour, Matsanga spilled the beans, backing his revelations with a list he saw at the ICC court headquarters at The Hague last month.

According to Matsanga, these are 11 Kenyan individuals who fixed Uhuru and Ruto at the ICC.
1. Ken Wafula
2. Maina Kiai
3. Professor Makau Mutua
4. Omar Hassan
5. Atsango Chesoni
6. Gladwell Otieno
7. Ndungu Wainaina
8. Martha Karua
9.Late Mutula Kilonzo
10. Florence Jaoko.

Regarding his personal fortune, Matsanga said he is worth Sh 300 million and has a house in London.

Monday 7 April 2014

A Lioness Killed A Baboon, But What She Did Next With The Baby Is So Shocking.

Photographer Evan Schiller and Lisa Holzwarth were on a game drive in northern Botswana when they encountered a massive group of thirty to forty chaotic baboons charging by them. 

It soon became clear that the baboons were startled by a few lions that were chasing them. The lions were roaring while the baboons were screaming. Everything was in complete disarray. 

Amazingly, the two photographers were able to capture a stunning interaction that happened in the midst of the mayhem.
A female baboon tried to make a run for it but unfortunately wasn't lucky. A lioness grabbed it immediately in her jaws.
Little did she know, a baby baboon, less than 1 month old, soon emerged from next to the mother's body.
Immediately, the scared baby baboon quickly tried to make an escape but it was too weak to climb far. The lioness was surprised and went over to find out what was happening.
Surprisingly, instead of going for the kill, the lioness began to play with the baby baboon.
She was both curious and gentle.
"The baby was showing signs of physical harm and fatigue from the whole ordeal. The lioness picked the baby up in her mouth-it was in agony watching the baby's ordeal-and I kept on turning off the video option on my camera because it was hard to record."
Surprisingly, the baby baboon responded. It soon began to hold on to the lioness' chest and even attempted to suckle.
Suddenly, two male lions arrived to the scene. The lioness immediately showed signs of aggression towards them. Was she defending the new baby she found?
All the while, the father baboon was watching everything from away and waiting for the right time to come for the save. As he descended from the tree, he would test the interest and responses of the lions each time to not draw sudden attention to himself.
He finally made the move and snatched the baby up at the first moment he could! Father baboon saves the day!
This story is impressive on so many levels from the lioness' gentleness with the baby baboon to the bravery of the father baboon. Or maybe it's the courage of the photographers who captured all this on camera!

Naivasha police bar student,20, from flying homemade aircraft

Monday, April 7th 2014 

Naivasha police bar student,20, from flying homemade aircraft
Members of the public watch Paul Karanja as he prepares for his maiden flight in Karagita air strip in Naivasha before police halted his adventure. (Photo:Anthony Gitonga/Standard)

By Antony Gitonga                            

Naivasha, Kenya: Efforts by a 20-year-old university student to fly a homemade plane in a Naivasha estate were Monday thwarted by police.

The administration police officers blocked Eric Paul Karanja from taking off in Karagita airstrip in an incident that had attracted over 500 people.

As early as 9am, residents of the sprawling Karagita and Mirera estates had camped by the dilapidated airstrip ready to view the maiden flight.

Armed with his plane which uses a motorcycle engine, Karanja’s dream of flying was nipped at the bud after the government officers termed the exercise illegal.

“Just as I was about to fly out some government officers moved in and ordered that I stop the exercise as it was dangerous and illegal,” said a heart-broken Karanja.

Despite the move, the Meru University student was optimistic that he could one day fly adding that he was committed to fulfilling his dream.

According to Karanja, the poor status of the runaway affected one of the wheels forcing them to rectify it.

Naivasha police bar student,20, from flying homemade aircraft
Paul Karanja works on the engine of his plane after security officers from Naivasha blocked the maiden flight from Karagita airstrip on security grounds. (Photo:Anthony Gitonga/Standard)

Naivasha OCPD Charles Kortok confirmed cancellation of the ‘flight’ saying that it was risky and against the law.

The police boss said that they had advised the student to seek authority from the civil body before taking to the air.

“The student was stopped from flying the plane until he gets the authority from the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority,” he said.

However, Karanja who is a part time teacher said he had written to the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority on the issue.

Karanja who is taking a degree in Computer Science said that his dream was to join the 43 Air school in South Africa so that he could be a full time pilot.

“My father has been very supportive in constructing this plane and I relied on local materials to bring it up,” he said.

A local leader Simon Wanyoike called on the government to take in such bright students and train them. 

“This bright mind would have been taken to an aviation school in other countries and we should seek ways to nurture such talent,” he said.

Sunday 6 April 2014

How Angolans get by in expensive Luanda

Angola's capital Luanda is the world’s most expensive city for expatriates, according to research bureau Mercer. Yet somewhere between 75% and 85% of its residents live in slums. How do Angolans get by with such skyrocketing prices?

Luanda Bay, Angola (Photo credit: Miguel Costa Photography)

Luanda Bay, Angola (Photo credit: Miguel Costa Photography)

A well-paid expat keen to empty his or her deep pockets has a vast array of choices in Angola’s bustling seaside capital. Probably Luanda’s most breathtaking asset is its huge horse-shoe shaped bay. It was transformed from a waterfront in disrepair to a promenade with manicured lawns, palm trees, flowers, benches and playgrounds at a cost of 135 million US dollars.

The expensive facelift came right before President Jose Eduardo dos Santos was re-elected this summer after 33 years in power. The waterfront leads on to the city’s peninsula (Ilha), dotted with glamorous clubs and restaurants boasting views of Luanda’s rapidly evolving skyline.

Angola is Africa's fifth-biggest and fastest-growing economy, and the continent’s second-largest oil producer after Nigeria.

Slums
Let’s assume our expat is a man. He may want to spend the night in Club Lookal’s new ‘Pescaderia’ [fish restaurant], where expats and rich Angolans easily spend over 150 US dollars a head. On his way there, he will encounter countless shiny four-wheel drives. He will also notice numerous potholes and slums. Slum dwellers will be right next door when he sits down to lobster and wine. That’s the easily visible flipside to Luanda’s glamour.

The next day, he might decide to go shopping. The small, luxury supermarket Casa dos Frescos will offer him imported goods he knows from home: French and Italian cheeses, iceberg lettuce ($11 USD a piece) and Brussels sprouts or mangetouts (13 USD for a handful). One box of Nespresso will set him back $14 USD, almost four times the European price.

If he has yet to find a decent rental home, he will probably spend a few weeks in a comfortable hotel that offers fast internet access, a restaurant and a gym. The current place to be is the new 5-star Epic Sana Hotel in the city centre, which offers single rooms, including breakfast, for $450 USD a night, $200 USD less than you would have spent two years ago at Hotel Tropico and therefore a fairly a good deal.

Luanda Sul

Luanda Sul

Home from home
To offer his children a safe and clean environment, he may decide to rent a house in one of Luanda’s new distant suburbs, Luanda Sul. A 3-bedroom house with garden in a guarded condominium will cost his oil company at least $12,000 per month. Another good deal. In 2008, the price would have been $23,000 USD. His children’s international school, $40,000 USD per child per year, will also be at his employers’ expense. It reportedly costs an average international company operating in Angola $1 million USD a year to settle an expat in Luanda.

To stay fit, you may opt for a 6-month gym membership at Hotel Tropico in the city centre, at $1,500 USD. For the fastest internet connection available – still a lot slower than in Europe, Asia or the US – he will pay up to 100 times more for his subscription than he would back home.

Despite all this, his stay will be worthwhile. With 130,000 Portuguese, 30,000 Brazilians, 230,000 Chinese and thousands more from elsewhere, you can safely state that Angola, and particularly Luanda, is an expat magnet. With a population of around 20 million, Angola is Africa’s fifth-biggest and fastest-growing economy, and the continent’s second-largest oil producer after Nigeria.

Since the end of Angola’s civil war [1975-2002], Chinese oil-backed credit lines – Angola is China’s No. 1 oil supplier – have fueled an impressive building and infrastructure boom. Angola’s 8% growth rate this year is lower than usual, but the country is expecting to return to double-digit growth rates in the foreseeable future while European markets decline. On top of that, Angola has a huge demand for skilled labor.

The have-nots
The large majority of Angolans, however, have not profited from Angola’s growth. According to economist Manual Rocha, around 2.5% of Angolans are (extremely) rich, and around 10% can be considered middle class. The rest struggle to make ends meet.

A musseque, Luanda (Photo credit: Curioso)

A musseque, Luanda (Photo credit: Curioso)

Single mother of four Maria Jose Fransisco (30) sells fruit and vegetables every day together with her female colleagues outside one of Luanda’s cheaper supermarkets, Martal. “Sometimes we earn something, sometimes we don’t,” Maria told This is Africa. “There are days when we make 10 or 15 dollars.” They sleep on a mattress, on the floor. “I pay $100 USD rent per month for one room.” “We buy our products far from here, in Viana,” Lucinda Domingo (23) adds. “Taking them and us here by candungeiro [minivan taxi] costs 10 dollars per person.”

A little further down the road, Victor Vieiras Alfonso Jose (28) and his friend sell cheap clothes outside, at the edge of a slum. He studies Engineering at a private university, paid by his parents. “I usually don’t work here,” he said. “I’m a candungueiro driver. Per month, I earn $100 USD.” Victor works from 5:30 till 18:00 and studies at night. There are very few jobs for people his age, his says. He rents a room in a slum for $80 USD per month, including water and electricity. “Per day, I spend more than $10 USD on food alone. Life is very difficult,” he said.

Facts and statistics
Angola ranks 148 out of 187 countries on the UN Development Index. More than a quarter of the population is officially unemployed. The official minimum wage, around $120 USD, is comparatively speaking extremely low. Especially given the fact that although inflation is decreasing rapidly, it still stands at 10%. Around 87% of urban Angolans live in shanty towns. In Luanda, “only” 1 in 12 live below the poverty line of around $47 USD per month (in rural areas, poverty reaches 58%). The question is what this poverty line means in a country where prices are up to 4 times as high as in Western Europe, and how on earth Luanda’s poor manage to get by.

The large majority of Angolans, however, have not profited from Angola’s growth

A brief look at costs and incomes may provide a clue. According to UNICEF, Luanda’s poor earn a monthly income of between $17 USD and $328 USD. The average Angolan, of course, does not shop at Casa dos Frescos. Around 87% of Angolans reportedly buy their groceries in the informal sector, but prices at local markets are also significantly higher than those in other sub-Saharan capital cities.

In Europe and the US, people spend between 10 and 15% of their income on food. In Angola’s urban areas, people have to spend a staggering 50% of their income on food, 12% on rent and 9% on water, electricity and gas. Four percent is spent on health and 5% on transport. Only 1% is spent on alcoholic drinks, tobacco and education. (Note: beer at $1 USD a can and cigarettes at $1.50 USD a packet are among the cheapest items you can get in Angola).

At Most ordinary people buy their food from the informal sector. Typical prices: Eggplant: $1 USD; four onions: $2; five or six small tomatoes: $; head of lettuce: $4 USD. Lunch in a cheap musseque eatery costs about $4.00 USD

Not all bad news
Despite the disappointing figures, not everything in Angola is bad news for the poor. Primary education, secondary education, basic healthcare and public universities are freely accessible, in principle. But public hospital services are rather limited, administrative school and university costs can be a heavy burden, and following a nighttime course costs $150 USD per month. Luanda’s poor often have to resort to local, private clinics and pharmacies scattered throughout town, including in the slum areas. And they aren’t cheap.

At these clinics, Angolans pay $80 to $150 USD for a simple malaria treatment, $200 to 300 USD for a complicated malaria treatment and about the same for the treatment of typhoid fever. Do these hospitals offer quality care? Perhaps the figures speak for themselves. Infant and maternal mortality rates are among the highest in the world, and average life expectancy at 51 still among the lowest even though Angola’s (official) 2% HIV prevalence rate is extremely low compared to its neighbouring countries.

Housing situations offers more clues. A rental home in a musseque [slum] in or near the city centre costs $250 to $300 USD, about the entire salary of a cleaner or guard. Houses in slums outside the city centre, where most of Luanda’s residents live, cost $150 to $200 USD a month. Some people in the musseques build and own their own stone house. To do that, they have to cough up $10,000 to $15,000 USD, which few can afford.

Driving prices up
Recent history, a lack of national agriculture and industry, a skewed housing market, oil and the role of image in Angolan society together form the answer to the question why Luanda is so expensive.

Luanda was once a thriving agricultural exporter and possesses some of the most fertile of African soils. But the independence war [1961-1974] and civil war [1975-2002] destroyed both its farms and infrastructure, and large parts of its countryside are still littered with land-mines. That means that almost everything has to be imported. There’s lots of red tape involved in these procedures and expensive bribes to speed them up at will, inflating prices further. Transparency International ranks Angola 168th out of 183 countries on its corruption perception index.

Expats never take long to find out that corruption and related monopolies are an important factor in Angola’s impressive price levels. The same goes for the poor. The candungueiros they use for transport are owned by [politically] well-connected Angolan businessmen, as do the lucrative – read: expensive – water trucks that come to people’s rescue when drought hits the capital. The business is too lucrative for those involved for them to want to improve the city’s running water supply, an anonymous embassy source told This is Africa.

Angola's president Jose Eduardo dos Santos. The billboard reads: "Distributing better". (Photo credit: Lula Ahrens)

Angola’s president Jose Eduardo dos Santos. The billboard reads: “Distributing better”. (Photo credit: Lula Ahrens)

Reconstruction
Angola’s economy is heavily dependent on oil. Oil production of almost 2 million barrels per day plus related activities constitute approximately 85% of Angolan GDP. (By comparison agriculture, while growing rapidly with a 13% growth forecast for 2012, accounts for just over 10% of GDP.) International oil companies have deep pockets, and their willingness to splash out pushes Luanda’s prices up further.

This mineral-rich, post-war country in reconstruction also offers smart or corrupt Angolan entrepreneurs plenty opportunities to get rich fast, due to high demand for goods and services and lack of competition. Luanda’s happy few look at brands, not prices, keeping them high up there. Only now that competition is on the rise are prices starting to drop.

A skewed housing market is another major factor in Luanda’s price levels. When the Portuguese left after Angolan independence in 1975, many of their homes were squatted by Angolans. An estimated 50% of home owners in Luanda never bought the house or apartment they live in. During Angola’s consequent civil war between the Russian and Cuban-supported MPLA and the American and South African-supported UNITA [1975-2002], many of the 4 million displaced Angolans fled the countryside for the relative safety of Luanda city. Most of them stayed. The capital now counts around 7 million residents, while it was originally built for around 250,000. Only recently has the building craze begun to take some strain off demand, lowering prices as a result.

No choice
According to both UNICEF and Mr Rocha, Angola’s chronic though improving inflation has disproportionately affected the poor. “People pay more than triple the amount for transport in candungueiros compared to 10 years ago,” Mr Rocha told This is Africa. He is not worried about the expats, as their already high salaries are constantly evaluated and adjusted. He even believes that one of the causes of Angola’s inflation are in fact expats’ high salaries. By contrast, “Life for Luanda’s poor population has become much more expensive over the last 10 years compared to their income.”

Expats with generous salary packages including free private education for their children, a four-wheel drive plus driver and two flights home per annum have little reason to complain about Luanda’s prices, and luckily not many of them do. For years up until 2012, Luanda used to be the number one most expensive city in the world. Prices are going down in some sectors thanks to reconstruction, increasing agricultural production, rising competition, new customs tariffs and decreasing red tape.

Besides, what an expat spends in Luanda is largely up to him or her. A hamburger can cost $23 USD at a posh hotel, or $5 to $7.50 USD in the street. A pair of shoes in a ‘posh’ boutique cost up to $350 USD, while lovely, good-quality new shoes sold in the street will only cost $25 USD. Exchange your Lookal Pescaderia dinner for one of the Ilha’s local, sometimes illegal, shabby-looking fish restaurants, and you will get simpler but arguably tastier seafood for one fifth of the price. The extremely basic but centrally located Hotel Globo, right next to the 5-star Epic Sana, offers rooms at an amazing $60 USD per night.

Luanda’s poor do not have these choices. They face an uphill battle every day to meet their most basic needs, and according to Mr Rocha their buying power deteriorates with inflation. Perhaps it is time for an annual report on the world’s most expensive cities for local have-nots.