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Post by omundu on Apr 19, 2012 22:54:22 GMT 3
The comments post double o's. Comment on the NSIS in jukwaa remind me of a saying (don't remember where I heard it) " when you throw a rock at a pack of wolves, the one that yelps the loudest is the one that has been hit"
Well, we all know that the NSIS inductees undergo rigorous training in matters intelligence, counter intelligence e.t.c we also know that they are still human, irregardless of the training they undergoa( the recent american secret service debacle with ladies of pleasure springs to mind). One of the key aspects in intelligence is "human nature" the more things change, the more they remain the same, and that is because human feelings have been the same since antiquity.
What am I getting at? We only judge best when we do in retrospect. All that jakaswanga may be hinting at is that that there is a kaleidoscope of factors (including human nature...like the pride of an organisation as a body) that is taken into focus when dealing with intelligence issues.
That said, I would hasten to add my own musings to jakaswangas and others: could it be that the nsis, as a matter of pride, as in "not on my watch" would not want to plunge the country into the abyss that would proceed an assassination of that nature? Could it be that, whole serving their paymasters interests, they actually still did their service to the country by using other channels to inform the public thus nipping the plot in the bud?
Intelligence services, like human nature, in only understood in different shades of grays and blacks.
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Post by omundu on Apr 12, 2012 14:57:16 GMT 3
Heeehehehe. Omwenga, Us Babukusu would call you mulamwa. And yes, my dad had to cross rivers, forests and many hills to take cows those sides.
On a serious matter, what Muda is doing is still being ingested in that neck of the woods. People are wondering whats going on. There is no logical explanation from Mudavadi about the heckling his associates have been making lately.
If he indeed moves to another party (people wonder) will he also ask them to go through the type of nomination process he has been championing in ODM ? Do those other parties even have nomination processes ? Even if those other parties agree to his way of nominating a candidate, will they change their constitution (go through the entire process) before the deadline for registration?
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Post by omundu on Apr 12, 2012 11:17:04 GMT 3
If what phil says is true, then i feel sad for Mudavadi, the man who hails two homesteads away from my Moms home. I am still compelled to wait longer before i make any judgements because i find it hard to believe that this omusakhulu would use such machiavelian tactics as an excuse to leave, or is indeed considering leaving (trust me, there are lots from his region who are wondering whats going on)
Its weird how the G7 are silent on this issue. They would have normally jumped on it to try and prove the "lack of democracy" in ODM. This reminds me of a saying a former lecturer of mine used to like; with a heavy Boer accent he used to quip " Meneer (thats Mr) so and so, remember, when you see a snake in the grass, be afraid. When you dont see a snake in the grass, be very afraid"
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Post by omundu on Mar 28, 2012 13:14:14 GMT 3
Nereah
Eugene is very likely to win his seat back as an MP but he is of little clout in greater bukusu politics. The wamalwa name is known but that was his brother and it is but a whisper in peoples lips. Anything louder than that, well, it could be blown with the wind.
That said, it is currently very tricky to lick a finger and point it in the air to judge where the political winds are blowing in Bukusu land.
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Post by omundu on Mar 26, 2012 16:30:49 GMT 3
Well put Roughrider...
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Post by omundu on Mar 9, 2012 13:04:02 GMT 3
Njugunajohn. You have a point but one tiny detail :
Obviously the US and any of its NATO affiliates are mightier than Iran in Military terms and the US alone would win any protracted war with Iran. The only problem is, at what cost. The cost to the world economy (e.g oil e.t.c) and in human life will not be acceptable to the US.
Secondly, the US has military bases in the region which can easily be attacked by Iran's medium range ballistic missiles (yeah, the ones they successfully tested recently). Iran supposedly supplies hezbollah, Hamas and other rebels in the region. What makes you think that they wouldnt use such forces in an unconventional war with either the US or Israel especially in making the straitz unpassable.
Irans medium range ballistic missiles have a range of over 2000 km which makes Israel very vulnerable. Israel knows that it cant go it alone and would need the support of the US. Obama has stated in no uncertain terms that the stick and carrot policy of dialogue and sanctions is the only viable strategy currently. Israel is left to stand alone and cannot go into the war without explicit support from the US.
The potential repercussions from Iran are more than just a bark and Israel (despite loudly beating the drums of war) knows it.
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Post by omundu on Feb 27, 2012 11:20:25 GMT 3
Dada Nereah, i am begining to think your man Santorum has no zenith in sillyness. :-) especially considering his recent comments regarding the Quran fiasco.
But i digress. We may be barking up the wrong tree by critisizing the GOP candidates. It is the Republican base voter that has gone berserk. The current Republican voter has gone extreme that even their god Reagan would be considered too liberal and would not even survive the current primaries.
It is the voters who boo a former US soldier after he is attacked by the candidates. The same voters cheer when Santorum opines that women belong in the home. I can spend the whole day here listing many other instances that show how the GOP supporters have gone extreme. That said, the candidates are just playing to the crowd in order to win votes. An example would be Romney saying that he is the most extreme conservative amongst the other candidates.
The GOP establishment in my opinion should not even bother trying to get a compromise candidate because he/she would also have to pander to the base inorder to win the nomination. The current GOP may be going through what the Democrats went through in the eighties, political wilderness.
They need a tabula rasa. But what will make them realise that their line of thinking is not conversant with middle America ? will it be a landslide defeat in this years elections?
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Post by omundu on Feb 14, 2012 15:40:51 GMT 3
There is a Kenyan by the name Daniel Adongo who was bought by Blue bulls (one of the biggest rugby franchises in South Africa) The youngster is causing shockwaves. He scored a hattrick in his debue for the Bulls, mpaka the boers are hoping he gets to play for the springboks. Wondering if he is of any relation to our Adongo here. www.thebulls.co.za/column.aspx?cid=105371
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Post by omundu on Feb 10, 2012 12:04:58 GMT 3
My only worry is that people are losing their lives. We can only get videos on youtube posted by concerned citizens because the international press has not been allowed in. You can only imagine what we havnt seen.
I saw a clip posted yesterday on CNN where one of the, should i call him freedom fighters, was lying on a makeshift hospital bed injured and pleading for international help. He sent a message to Assad saying that they will not give up.
The Government has been shelling Homs in preparation for a ground assault. Al jazeera says that the middle class is on Assads side because they do not know what type of leader will come in if he leaves. The better the devil you know attitude that has further complicated the situation.
Blinded by the fog of politics and regional interests, the world is failling to realize that people are dying (roughly more than fifty a day in this systematic cleansing), there is a lack of food and health services. Peoples homes have been shelled and they are sleeping in the streets. All this and there is no hope in the near future because the western worlds hands are tied and they can only expel Syrias ambassadors. The only hope i see in this is if roughly 30% of the Army (apparently thats the threshold for balance) joins the rebels side.
At least some foundation has been formed that is supplying much needed food and medicine to the needy through smuggling routes from lebanon, i just dont remember the name. I foresee a slide into civil war that may engulf not only Syria, but the entire region. After all the blood that has been spilled; Assad, Russia and China wont be able to just wish the situation away. There are case studies all over our history books.
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Post by omundu on Feb 8, 2012 12:07:30 GMT 3
Sema Bwana Kamale. The facts may go deeper than what you portend for Russia and China vetoing any UNSC resolutions. I came across an article that suggests why military intervention may be harder in Syria as opposed to what transpired in Libya; www.policymic.com/articles/2348/nato-intervention-will-harm-syria-and-regionThat said, i cant help but wonder why both Russia and China also vetoed a humanitarian (in my opinion) resolution condemning Syria's Government's human rights violations ? They also vetoed any other draft resolution put forward despite countless assurances that the draft resolution contains no provision for military action. The Russians and China then state that the problem in Syria can only be solved through dialogue although Al Thani (Arab league) noted that the Syrian Government failed to accept the leagues plan of action to end the bloodshed. What to do then ? Could the fact that Russia is a big trader in military arms with Syria (they just delivered military jets worth $500 million to Syria the other day) and the presence of Russia's strategic naval base there, also be a key factor in the stalemates we are witnessing?
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Post by omundu on Jan 30, 2012 13:02:36 GMT 3
Speaking of the Bushes in the picture above; a thought just crossed my mind. Isnt it funny how former president George Bush is an anti-thesis in the current GOP presidential debates. Says alot huh ?
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Post by omundu on Jan 30, 2012 12:49:07 GMT 3
Dada Nereah, you are welcome. Washington post has an article that fact checked Obama's SOTU address; www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/fact-checking-the-2012-state-of-the-union-speech/2012/01/25/gIQAa5CTPQ_blog.htmlWhat surprises me is the great lengths the "Rethurgs" would go to inorder to paint Obama as a bad president. Their comments border on insanity (It shows how much they loathe the guy) One republican presidential hopefull thanks the navy seals and says obama had nothing to do with the raid. Another asking obama why the USA is interfereing in a sovereign nation. Gingrich goes as far as suggesting that the raid was for political gain in an election year (kwani Newt would have waited mpaka 2013 to rescue the hostages?) My thinking is that the Somali raid coupled with the Osama one and a few other successes (Arab spring e.t.c) waters down Republicans arguement that Hussein is not decisive in foreign policy. Yaani, its plain and clear out there. He will just play the videos during his campaigns. The GOP have, (since Obamas innauguration) always stated that their country is going to the dogs and have blocked any of Obamas bills in congress, and with that mantra, in my opinion, they are walking straight into Obamas meat grinder. i will explain below. Obama has always insisted on both sides of the house working together. He has reached out to the right in his first three years lakini the GOP has always refused to come to the table. The problem was exercebated when tea party elements took over in 2010. The fillibustering reached its zenith mid last year during the debt crisis when the states lost its triple A rating. Obama was at an all time low, he even faced ridicule from the left because of his policy of reaching out to the right. In my opinion that was a watershed moment in his presidency because he started giving it back to the republicans (ala Ali, rumble in the jungle) He was more proactive, delivering his message straight to the citizens, more televised addresses and speeches and townhall meetings where he reiterated that congressional rebublicans are hindering progress for political reasons. With that approach, his message went straight to the populance (which is something republicans presidents traditionally do better than democratic ones) Now what did the Tea partiers do? They continued with their hardline approach not knowing that they are sawing off their own legs inorder to take care of a troubled toe. Fast foward to december 2011 during the tax extension debacle. The republicans were left with egg on their faces when they tried to fillibuster the extension bill. The public were outraged and some key republicans even stated that the Tea partiers were giving Obama an easy second term. Currently, the approval rating for congress is a paltry 18% and the way some republicans have reacted to the Orezos SOTU address, it seems they are not satisfied with a mere 18% approval rating. They want to break the record and go for single digits in approval ratings. How? you ask. Currently 91% percent of Americans approved the Orezos SOTU address but the Republicans are still playing their childish games promising to fillibuster most of the bills whilst offering nothing tangible in return. They are still stuck in their 2010 style of blocking whatever Obama proposes. They seem oblivious of the fact that Obama has changed tact and its to their detriment. That and the improving economy as Adongo puts it....
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Post by omundu on Jan 25, 2012 14:04:00 GMT 3
Obamas state of the union address last night was one of his best speaches ever, in my opinion. He touched on the improving economy and the fact that he inherited an economy that had haemorraged 6 million jobs in the six months before he took office and a further six million before his policies came into place. He aslo reiterated that last year saw an addition of jobs unprecedented since 2005. The speach, in my opinion gives us a sneak peak of the trajectory his campaign will be taking this year, and with the economy showing signs of recovery (touching wood) the republicans will be left with very little in the kitchen to fling at him, considering that the economy has been their biggest talking point in the "Obamas inability to lead" mantra. Link to the SOTU address. www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57365343-503544/obamas-state-of-the-union-address-full-text/
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Post by omundu on Dec 8, 2011 11:57:49 GMT 3
On point number four. M.U.F.C seems to be unravelling going to the end of 2011. They are even out of the champions league at the group stage.
I would care to add the Arab spring to your list. In my opinion, its an event who's repurcussions will be felt for decades to come. I wonder how historians will write about it. Will they trace its origins from the chap who burnt himself or will they trace it further back to Kenyas post election violence and beyond.
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Post by omundu on Dec 1, 2011 16:53:57 GMT 3
Now about regulating them, each profession in the Built Industry has an independent body that regulates professional practice. The architects in Kenya would fall under The Architectural Association of Kenya, the Qs's have their own e.t.c
They mainly deal with matters relating to professional practice but have no prosecution powers. They can only deregister someone as a practicing architect for example if he has been prosecuted by the courts or a separate independent body and found to have brought the profession into disrepute.
Now with Government, thats where politics comes in and gets even murkier. They do have a budget and allocated funds from treasury and yes the DPW gets audited annually i presume. But the auditor mostly checks the certificates of payments and extension of contracts and V.O's and sees that they are ok or has no clue because he is trained as an accountant and cannot inspect the building to see if it really was the exact amount spent.
DPW may even channel some funds from other key projects into the project they are eating. Now with a project spanning close to ten years you can imagine how murkier it gets in relation to Government yearly budgets e.t.c ( i am not an accountant so i would not really know on that).
In South Africa early this year, they uncovered a cartel of the biggest construction companies colluding in Tenders where they give each other turns to get specific tenders. The world cup stadiums and the Gautrain were found to have cost almost double the initial cost thanks to such manouvering. The Government acted quickly to plug the problem. The big five construction companies were implicated and were given a deadline to produce the projects where collusion and corruption has influenced tender awards and it seems that the problem is slowly abating. The minister of public works lost her job recently pending investigations into corruption amounting to Billions of Rands.
It is a Mafia industry i tell ya. Now you can imagine what goes on in Kenya given that there are way less "big" Construction companies than SA and impunity is akin to breathing. People think politicians easily steal by military procurement because of the secrecy due to national security interests. Trust me the built industry procurement problem may be bigger.
The DPW is not just involved in public construction projects but also renting and buying out buildings for government use. Look at all government facilities in a country like Kenya, we probably have a yearly budget for renovations of even small markets and bus ranks, government houses e.t.c There would probably be gnashing of teeth and tearing of sackcloth if the happenings at that department came out.
About the certification, It happens the world over that the local municipalities approve the plans and give the certification when construction is complete. This is to apparently prevent conflict of interests with the DPW and maybe other issues i havnt thought about. I have not seen anywhere in the world where an independent body certifies completion but its an interesting area i can try research on and try come up with suggestions, but i have a feeling its tied to the constitution.
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Post by omundu on Dec 1, 2011 13:18:49 GMT 3
Correction. Escalation is normally at a yearly 2.7% and not monthly as stated earlier. I am still not sure of the figures in kenya, but factors such as oil prices, inflation e.t.c are used to reach the percentage in escalation. That said, kenyas escalation in construction cost, could easily be much higher than the above stated percentage.
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Post by omundu on Dec 1, 2011 12:17:45 GMT 3
I will start by first explaining the process in such construction projects.
Before i do, just by first glance, the 1 billion shilling amount doesnt add up for a renovation project of that type (and i am speaking about the milimani courts) That is roughly ten million dollars which would be the cost for a new structure.
Judging from my experience in the industry, this whole shabang is a mangled web where no one person can do anything without the other knowing. The procurement officer may be the small fish.
In a public construction project that involves a government department, the procurement officer gives a recommendation and initiates a project. The process then immediately goes to the Department of Public Works. Public works then advertises in the dailies and Government gazzette for a professional team to undertake the process. The team is then chosen by DPW (in the Milimani case it was probably the architect, Qs, Civil and Electrical Engineer and probably Project Manager)
The team starts by doing a building audit accompanied by a preliminary Bill of Quantities produced by the QS to ascertain initial costs of the project. Once DPW is satisfied, the proffessional team produces technical drawings and BOQ's for tender. The tender is again advertised in the Government gazzete and local dailies then several contractors are chosen to apply and produce their bid amounts (note that they are not supposed to know the bid amount produced by the Qs)
This is ideally an open process where the Architect (if he is the lead consultant) recieves all the contractors bids and together with the Qs he starts allocating points based on various factors, key of which is the contractors bid amount (which ideally, should not be lower or exceed by more than 10%, the Qs's amount in the bill of quantities)
The contractor with the highest score then signs a building contract with DPW and produces a construction programme which has to be approved by the team and DPW. The site is then handed over to the Contractor and work commences.
Payments to the contractor are normally done monthly after the he submits a payment certificate to the Qs who together with the Architect inspect the site to ensure a certain milestone has been reached. They then make their changes (if any) to the payment certificate and submit it to the DPW for payment.
I have explained the above just to try get to the key areas where they are likely to pocket some cash;
- Initially the corruption comes at the tender stage; The whole team (Qs, architect, PM at DPW e.t.c) have to agree to inflate the tender amount. They then approach a suitable contractor , show him the inflated price and also the real price (this is normally done when vast amounts of money are to be stolen) The contractor bids with the inflated price and wins the contract because the other contractors will have bid at a price way lower than the 10% margin of the Qs's BOQ.
- During the construction process, the contractor (and trust me, they are normally the shrewdest of fellas) may claim for works he hasnt done or completed (ghost works). Again this has to involve the professional team and the DPW project manager.
- Escalation (normally calculated at a monthly 2.7% of the total construction amount ) I am not sure of Kenyas current figures but normally this is how much the construction costs escalate and is obviously affected by delays in a project. The contractor is meant to pay the costs if the delays accrued were from his fault but there are certain delays that the client pays for, e.g rains delaying work e.t.c. Here again the team has to be involved and cook up some deliberate delays and variation orders. In a project of the milimani magnitude where we initially had a construction programme of 5 years (which is still too long in my opinion) that ended up taking 8 years the costs to DPW were probably vast. Jijazie.
There are three stages of project completion. The second stage is where the client moves into the building and occupies it for at least five months. The local municipal council then inspects the building after an agreed period before issuing the final completion certificate. This is done to ensure the buidling remains sturdy after a period of use.Milimani courts falling apart after just months of use goes to show that the contractor used poor quality finishing material and workmanship just to make a quick buck. I am sure he had to provide a warranty of not less than a year while signing the contract, meaning he has to fix the problems at his own cost.
The whole story of trying to get a financial audit is just hogwash. The drawings are normally taken to the local municipality for approval before construction commences and anyone from the public can access them, look through them and appoint an investigating quantity surveyor to produce BOQ's using the drawings. The BOQ's produced can then be compared to the initial ones done by the project quantity surveyor. The investigating Qs can even acces DPW records to see the Variation orders and payment certificates then visit the site before producing a report.
I bet you, what he finds will implicate quite a number of people.
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Post by omundu on Oct 17, 2011 22:25:25 GMT 3
We have these 100 american troops sent to Uganda and barely a week later, the kenyan army decides to enter Somalia chasing after Al-shabaab....
Am i the only one smelling a rat here ama its just an active mind laden with conspiracy theories ?
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Post by omundu on Sept 28, 2011 19:26:31 GMT 3
Seeing that everyone is saying who they voted for...
I just voted Mrembo. I dont know why, maybe its the name and the avatar. And no, i am no way trying to flirt or use any empirical data.
Just voting with my instincts.
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Post by omundu on Sept 28, 2011 18:50:56 GMT 3
I would care to add my tribute by quoting the POTUS Obama :
" Focussing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain lack of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because its only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential"
Her demise has brought to the fore the impact she has had in the world that will be sourly missed. Especially when measured against the power hungry and money grabbing folks (the Biwotts, Rutos et-al) that she fought against.
Ideas and ideals wrapped in the clothe of good and unselfish intention eventually prevail.
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Post by omundu on Aug 30, 2011 22:19:07 GMT 3
Mugabe, bado asenali damu... But guys, two seasons ago, we were beating the likes of cheslea and liverpool with our reserve team. I believed in Wenger then when he said he is rebuilding , youth policy yada yada, but what happened to those youth that we had then? I will tell you, yes, wenger is good in spotting talent and moulding them but then when they are mature and moulded, we end up selling them for profit. hleb, toure, flamini, cesc, "cashley" cole nasri amongst a plethora of others left in the past two seasons at their peak. Recently we sold eboue (my man) and clichy (players who really didnt want to leave) with no intention of strengthening the defence.. Various former arsenal players have stated that they didnt leave just because of the money. They had various other reasons for leaving; wenger does not impose the winning spirit we had in the henry days, he just gives excuses for players lethargic perfomances (something ferguson would not do) in training he does not even consider defence as an area worthy of training tacticly (this from cole). We have all seen his tactical approach during games when he makes ridiculous changes. Even the recent game when our defence played high in the pitch leaving a chunk of space for kina rooney. Trust me, its the pressure from fans that led him into this last minute buys of that ching chong, the brazillian and the German international (and hopefully benayoun from chelsea) Even my grandmother who has lived 90% of her life in Bumula can realize that with all the major players leaving, the team seriously needs to consider replacing them with equally capable players and the need to realize that not in retrospect (after a thrashing, three red cards in three games e.t.c) We may get the new players but i believe a lot more needs to change. Wenger should stop living with his old ideas and adapt to the times. Awache kichwa ngumu aanze kusikiza watu. I wish Dein hadnt left coz of the politics, seems he is the only one wenger could listen to.
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Post by omundu on Aug 29, 2011 19:32:45 GMT 3
My worst ever . I can still picture manure fans bragging about this in years to come. I thin arsene wenger has become like one of those dictators who think they are indespensible. He is soo hard headed even when asked questions about buying players and his future at arsenal he offers no concrete explanation. He just says its too early in the season, he is not leaving nor buying more players. Supporting arsenal is like having a child who is addicted to drugs and there is nothing you do to change it.
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Post by omundu on Aug 5, 2011 21:54:39 GMT 3
Is the PM going to issue an explanation ? I guess we should at least form a facebook group or something that will pressurise the powers that be for at least an answer to our questions or some form of action from the PM.
I am starting to get really worried about the PM and this Moi era tactics. I am questioning my conscience about him.
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Post by omundu on Aug 3, 2011 17:02:55 GMT 3
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Post by omundu on May 2, 2011 20:34:01 GMT 3
nice one here; Ati Donald trump wants to see the death certificate. hahahaha
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