Huduma Bora...

Thika Road Mess. Blame GoK not the Chinese.

2012-01-22T11:21:00.000+03:00

I just read this story in today's Sunday Nation which highlights the fact that there is serious negligence in the traffic management and safety aspects of the Thika Highway construction project. The piece seems to point the finger of blame solely at the construction companies involved in the road building. I have a slightly different take:

I think the responsibility for this lies firmly with the Government of Kenya via the various government organs that are involved in design and implementation of this project (Ministry of Public Works, Kenya Highways Agency, Kenya Police etc).

It is the government's role to protect the interests of its citizens. As such I believe that as part of the Project Implementation contract:

- There should have been a very specific Project Implementation Plan that included a traffic management aspect complete with work dates, schedule of work, diversions needed to complete work, signage guidelines (number needed per occurrence, size, distance etc), police requirement (where traffic control is needed) etc
- There should be regular oversight to ensure that the contractor is complying with the guidelines spelled out in the plan.

Watching the progress of this project, it is evident that there is either no plan or there is no oversight (to ensure that the plan is being followed).

The planning and the oversight are both GoK responsibilities.

The "Meh" Motorshow

2011-09-11T22:45:00.000+03:00

I have to admit I found the Total Motorshow largely disappointing.

I will start with the positive. The smaller exhibitors by and large brought their A-game. They came to interact with visitors. They took this very seriously. Kudos to them. Chase Bank, Cheki, Unifilters, Stoic etc all seemed to have made a real effort.

Where the show was let down for me was by the main car dealers. I went there expecting to see everything the dealers had to offer, expecting to interact with knowledgeable, patient and enthusiastic staff. I wanted to see cars that would make me dream, speak to sales people whose passion and belief in their brands would make me a convert. I expected to experience grand stands & displays, each more awe inspiring than the last. Instead, for the most part, the message that the main dealers sent to me was a big "Meh".

Of course when the dealers look at me, they see a peasant who is probably unlikely to buy any of their cars any time soon. But for me, the motorshow is not about immediate sales. It is not necessarily about the chap who will see your car and walk into your showroom with a briefcase full of money the next Monday to buy his car. For me, the motorshow is about selling dreams. It is about converting a Premio driver into a Mercedes fanatic, making a Vitz driver ache for an Impreza, making an X-Trail driver crave a Prado. It is about making that peasant university student see, feel and experience the wondrous majesty of the Mercedes S600 V12 with it's heads up display, night vision camera, auto parking and whatever other bells and whistles the car may have. The student will not buy that car today, nor tomorrow. But the goal should be to plant that seed in him. "I must be a Mercedes man. I must have a showroom Mercedes". One day, he will get a job, buy a Vitz, get a promotion, buy a Premio, do well, buy a second hand C-Class. But if you are successful, he sees all those cars as mere stepping stones to his ultimate dream: getting his showroom Mercedes/BMW/Range Rover/whatever.

Instead, what message did our main dealers send with their limited, short staffed displays? "We don't care about you poor people. We have no need to wow you, woo you or impress you. You are mere spectators and we shall only put in the bare minimum to show you what we have because you are little more than pests to us. We wont hire extra temp staff, train them, infuse them with our passion so that they in turn infuse you with the same passion because put simply, you are not worth it."

On Saturday morning, BMW had one salesman. He was pretty much overwhelmed because BMW garnered loads of interest. Jaguar/Land Rover had one sales lady who was bored, disinterested and unenthusiastic as any sales person could possibly be. GM had a good display but something like two sales people (I stood at their stand for about five minutes and left without speaking to anyone). It seemed like the higher end the brand, the more snobbish the dealers were. So Toyota Kenya and Nissan were okay but Jaguar, Mercedes and BMW were horrible.

In hindsight, I realize I probably had unrealistically high expectations. I went to the motorshow to be wowed. Instead the most apt description of my experience is merely "Meh"

Car Valuation

2011-06-13T07:34:00.002+03:00

"What is the point of a valuation if it does not reflect the actual market value of the asset? I work with land and property; when we pay a valuer, we expect to get a fair reflection of the true market value of the property if it were to be sold on the open market. What do you mean this valuation is not the market value of my car? That is ridiculous! It is a scam! What is this value then? *pointing at valuation certificate* Who regulates this industry? What good is this piece of paper? It is worthless! It is toilet paper!"

This, almost verbatim, is what a client said to me when I told him that his AA Car Valuation was not really an accurate reflection of the market value of his car. I totally understood how he felt as it is exactly what I feel on the subject and I would struggle to state it better than he did.

Essentially, in Kenya, when you pay to have your car 'valued' (by the AA; Automobile Association of Kenya, Regent Valuers etc) what you get is a report that gives you a figure that is not in any way an indicator of the amount of money you would receive for your asset if it were to be disposed of on the open market.

Like my client, I find this ridiculous and scandalous. In my opinion, and I gather in many other people's opinions, a valuation is meaningless if it produces a value that is purely theoretical.

But this is not the only problem I have with our car valuations.

During a recent valuation, I asked whether factors like colour, OEM rims vs Aftermarket rims etc were factored in the valuation. I was told not really. I asked whether the full mechanical report included an assessment of whether the mileage indicated on the car's odometer seemed genuine.. "not really" the man responded "we take your word for it". As I have written in the past, faked mileage cars are the rule rather than the exception in Kenya.

I know that banks and insurance companies rely on valuations to decide on premiums payable and loan values. So I guess the whole industry is geared towards serving that function rather than to producing accurate reflections of market value of vehicles.

My advice to people who want to deduce the value of their car is: Do not bother with a valuation. It is a waste of time and money. You are better off doing a bit of amateur market research to see what the value of your car is.

Talking 'Bout A Revolution

2011-05-21T10:46:00.002+03:00

Our society has reached a point where fewer and fewer people bother to follow laws and rules. Just spend a day in Nairobi and you will see what I mean. Overlapping reins on most roads with even a little bit of traffic (overlapping is the Kenyan name for the phenomenon of overtaking traffic queues and cutting in close to the junction), pirated CD's and DVD's are being sold on every street corner, watch news and you will hear politicians threatening and inciting. Do business and you will realize that corruption, nepotism, cronyism, dishonesty and theft are rampant.

The question now arises: How do we change this state of affairs? How do we arrest this slide into lawless anarchy and change our society into one where decency, honesty and respect for law are the norm rather than the exception?

I have had a couple of short twitter conversations with Information and Communication PS Bitange Ndemo (@bantigito) where he says we need a "moral revolution". I unfortunately disagree with this point of view. Strongly.

Infact, I have said before that we need to design, implement and enforce systems that are not only effective when applied to the best set of hardworking, devoutly religious and honest people, but we need to design systems that stay effective when applied to bone lazy, dishonest, thieving miscreants.

The systems/rules/laws we produce must be efficient, effective, easy to understand AND carry a very big stick when not adhered to. This in my opinion is the only way that our society can change. Moral imperatives alone cannot and will not work.

The reason impunity has flourished is not because we are lacking or have ever lacked sufficient moral guidance, it is simply because we have lacked efficient and effective systems/laws. And mainly it is because even where laws and rules exist, we have lacked effective policing and enforcement.

- If the penalty for overlapping was one year in jail, and if this penalty was seen to be enforced with no exceptions, would there be any overlapping on our roads?

- If the penalty for overloading was taking the vehicle off the road for 3 months and suspending the driver's license for 3 months, would there be any overloading?

I firmly believe that effective and efficient systems, coupled with strong penalties and real enforcement would transform this society very quickly.

I therefore put forth that what we need first is not a moral revolution at all but rather an enforcement revolution.

Who Is To Blame?

2011-05-11T09:13:00.000+03:00

Problem Arises....

Person 1: It's your fault

Person 2: No! It's not my fault, it's your fault

Person 1: (tentatively) It's everybody's fault?

Person 2: Yes. Everybody is to blame.

Both: Everybody is to blame. So nobody is to blame. It's everybody's fault. It's nobody's fault. Yes. It just happened. Let's form a committee to oversee a taskforce to investigate this problem and identify exactly what went wrong....

No, I have not taken to writing satirical plays now. This is the impression that the recent fuel crisis gave me (Read Coldtusker's blog for detailed commentary of factors that caused the fuel crisis). I know CYOA (cover your own ...) is prevalent everywhere but we seem to have taken it to new extremes in this country. Problem management by those in positions of responsibility has become a game of "blame me, blame you, forget". I blame you, you blame me, we eventually figure out it was everybody's fault, hence it was nobody's fault and institute a long winded process to "get to the bottom of the matter". Nobody is ever responsible for anything that happens. Ever.

Think this phenomenon only manifests in the public/political sphere? Wrong. It is in our private sector too. Big time. Small example; I once gave instructions to someone at my bank. A few days later, I asked for a confirmation, I was then told that the instructions had not been carried out. The lady who'd served me the first time told me that apparently another lady (who I had never seen, spoken to, dealt with or even heard of up to this point) was the one who is in charge of executing the instruction and she had not done so. The first lady did not so much as apologize for not following up with her anonymous (to me) colleague. I guess she felt everybody was to blame, so nobody was to blame.

I hope this post doesn't cause any offense to anybody. But if it does, may I say in my defense that my friend....errr...Bob, yes Bob suggested I write it so he bears the most responsibility for it's publication. Actually we are both equally culpable. Infact, come to think of it neither of us can really be held personally responsible, he is a product of his environment & I of mine thus we just have to say our environments are to blame for causing any offense. We must conduct a thorough examination of our environments to deduce exactly what made him suggest that I write this post and what made me follow his suggestion. This may take some time but I will be sure to communicate results as soon as they are ready.

Swagger Jacking 101.

2011-04-21T16:37:00.002+03:00

The Urban dictionary defines swagger jacking as "stealing somebody else's ways, copying their swagger".

Look at the picture below.

Swagger Jacking?

The biscuit packet at the top of the 3 is McVitie's made by United Biscuits. The two below it are Manji and Britania, both made by FI Holdings House of Dawda.

Now I do not know whether the two entitites (United Biscuits and Dawda) are affiliated but either way I think that it is sad that Dawda have basically copied McVitie's brand identity. Is it really more beneficial for Dawda to market themselves as a McVitie's rip-off as opposed to create their own unique, tailor-made brand identity?

Motor Vehicle Transfer - KRA's Flawed Process

2011-03-27T19:42:00.001+03:00

I needed a vehicle transfer done recently. The KRA's Service Delivery Charter (here) states that it is my right as a customer to have KRA process and dispatch my motor vehicle transfer within 3 days. (see page 11 of the Charter)

So, my transfer was lodged on Friday 4th February 2011 at 4pm. Based on the guidelines spelt out in the charter, my registration document should have been dispatched by the 11th February.

The new registration document (in the name of the new owner..me) was printed on the 23rd February

Immediately after printing, the registration document was sent to the "mkubwa's" office for signing. (Every registration document must be signed by a senior officer in the Road Transport Department). Once the document is signed it is sent straight to dispatch - a step in the process that is not captured by the KRA system (thus it is not possible to establish the exact date that signing takes place).

28 days later, on the 22nd March 2011 the registration document was dispatched (i.e. posted) and spent a further two days in the Posta system before being received on the 25th March.

It took 42 days for transfer to be processed by KRA (if we start counting from 7th February, which was the working day after the application was lodged, and excluding the day of dispatch from KRA). 14 times longer than spelled out in the charter.

Alarmingly, 66.6% (28/42 days) of the time KRA took to process the logbook is spent between signing and dispatch. I assume (generously) that dispatch takes 2 days maximum. So I estimate that about 62% of the time KRA took to process the transfer was spent waiting for a signature.

Sadly, I know from experience that this sort of waiting period is not the exception but is the norm with vehicle transfers. There is always a long delay waiting for mkubwa to sign the logbook.

Some background: In 2008, KRA changed the registration documents that it issues for cars. The old registration document was a hand written piece of card with 3 columns (lots of writing on it including vehicle make, model, engine numbers, names and addresses of all previous owners, name and address of current owner etc...all hand written). The new registration document is a much simpler single sheet of computer printed paper. It captures all vehicle details and only lists current owners details but not those of previous owners. I assume, part of the reason for this change was to increase security (the new document has some security features) as well as to increase speed and efficiency.

I am sure logbook production (printing) is now a lot faster but the increase in efficiency achieved by having computer printed logbooks is undone by retaining the "must be signed by mkubwa" bottleneck. Surely the new logbook system should have been designed to incorporate an oversight system that does not require the big man to physically sign every single logbook?

The Driving "Test"..

2011-03-14T20:32:00.001+03:00

Last night, Julie Gichuru had a piece on Citizen TV news about road accident blackspots that included an interview with the Kenya Police Traffic Commandant. Link here.

One of her first questions to the commandant was something along the lines of "Mr Commandant, what can we do to improve the situation on our roads?...should all drivers just get retested since many got their licenses in somewhat dubious circumstances?"

The commandant's answer went something like "Julie let me tell you...I appeal to all Kenyans who did not get their licenses in the correct manner to voluntarily step forward and take the test again"

It is a shame Julie did not push that point further because that statement right there really outraged me. Here's why: According to the Kenya Police website, the Traffic Police Department (of which the commandant is the head) is charged with the responsibility (among many others) of: "Testing of Drivers and Issuances of certificates of competence".

What that means is once a person has done driving school, they go to the police for their driving test. Specifically they go to the traffic police. The traffic police headed by none other than...

Now let me recount what my testing experience was (albeit many many long years ago).

A huge group arrived at the police station at 8am. At about 8.30am the tests started. The test consists of two parts; theory and practical. Theory is where you enter a room (individually) and get asked about road signs before being told to move a toy car on a model street. Practical is where you would go out with a policeman and drive the car under his watch so he could judge your competence.

My theory was fairly straightforward. The policeman with a pointer would point to a sign on a board and I had to explain what the sign he had pointed to meant. Then he'd point to another sign etc etc..about five times. I think I got them all but he was moving so fast, I don't think he even listened for any answers. Then he asked me to move the toy car from point A to point B before turning away to talk to his colleague for most of the exercise. He only really saw the parking at the end bit of the exercise. Obviously as the only real witness of the event, I will say I was spot on with that part as well.

For the practical bit, a policeman would head out with groups of about 6-7 people, in a Datsun pickup, and test them individually. The test consisted of mainly starting the vehicle, moving forward a couple of metres, stopping the vehicle and pulling up the handbrake. In my group, one person was asked to do a hill start and a couple were asked to reverse the vehicle. All tests were done with all the other students sat in the back of the pickup as the driver was tested. No individual was in the driver's seat for longer than five minutes.

Now in my group, two people failed to even move the vehicle. They stalled again and again before being told to get out of the driver's seat by the policeman (a lot of dramatic shouting involved here.."Toka gari..toka kabisa..kumbafu!!" sort of thing). A couple managed to move the vehicle with lots of jerking after initially stalling. Only two of us were able to move the vehicle without any huge drama.

We then headed back to the police station and were told to come back for results in the afternoon.

Every single person who did the test in my group passed and therefore got a license.

So back to the traffic commandant...what annoyed me about his response is that he did not in any way take any sort of responsibility for the fact that a large proportion of drivers who "pass" driving tests and who have "passed" tests in the past can barely drive at all, nor did he indicate what has changed in the testing regime to ensure that nobody who is not fully competent to drive is ever given a license. Yes, fingers can be pointed at driving schools that do not seem to teach any driving whatsoever, but ultimately the fact is that if every single student who was not fit to drive failed his/her test, the driving schools would be forced to raise their standards. Thus in my view, the commandant needs to first and foremost restore the reputation of his testing service then he can ask us tosubmit ourselves for retesting.

A lax teaching and testing system is a big contributing factor to the problems we have on our roads and this aspect of road safety while not as glamorous for the media as alco-blows and grisly accidents needs to be highlighted much more.

Tamper Tantrum - The Imported Car

2011-03-12T10:33:00.004+03:00

In October 2010, I went to the auto bazaar at Jamhuri Park. I saw the car below being sold for Kshs. 2.4 million.

It is a 2003 Toyota Harrier MCU35. The vehicle was very clean. The mileage on the odometer was just under 40,000 km.

I then did what I think any person about to invest in a car should do: I noted the chassis number and JEVIC sticker number and went to check on the details of the car. Imagine my surprise to find that the car, as clean as it looked, was not a 40,000 km car at all but was actually a 176,000km car (as at the time it was shipped from Japan). The car had arrived here and it's odometer had been tampered with. (The check can be done on the JEVIC website if you have the vehicle VIN/chassis number and inspection sticker number, both of which should be displayed on the JEVIC sticker which is normally on the left hand side of the windscreen for all ex-UK and ex-Japan cars - see example of sticker from a different vehicle below; you can put in the details and see a copy of the JEVIC certificate for the vehicle).

Now I say "imagine my surprise" but the truth is, I was not surprised at all. I expected the car mileage to be doctored. This is because the vast majority of newly imported cars sold in this market are doctored. If I were to guess I would say something like 80-90%.

As a vehicle importer (who for the record has never and will never change a mileage on any car I import), this phenomenon greatly disturbs and angers me. It distorts the market and it gives all vehicle importers a bad name (including the few who do not engage in this practice). However today, I am focused more on the car buyer point of view.

As a car buyer (or a buyer of any item at all), it would offend me to feel that somebody was trying to cheat me. However most car buyers in Kenya are very blase about this form of getting conned that occurs everyday. We have now reached a situation where many car buyers automatically go looking for cars expecting that the mileage has been "adjusted" (Yes! That is the euphemism I have heard used most...so innocent and nice sounding) - yet confusingly insist on buying cars that are "low mileage".

It is usually very simple to do due diligence on any car from UK or Japan. You can simply ask to see a copy of the JEVIC certificate. As most cars are tampered with locally, the JEVIC certificate should have the actual mileage at the time of export. You can also take the chassis/VIN number and the JEVIC sticker number and check online. Usually when mileage is tampered, the mileage section on the sticker is rubbed out and sometimes it fades with time. But the sticker number (typed) never fades. Thus even if the mileage part has faded/been rubbed off, it is fairly simple to check sticker number, check VIN number and do the online check.

Taking, the example of the Harrier above, I estimate the car came in for about 1.7 - 1.9 million. It is being sold for 2.4 million. A genuine 40,000 km Harrier in the same colour, at the same time would probably be here for 2 - 2.1 million. You do the math.

Now as a customer, having the information about the genuine mileage of the car could be useful in one of two ways:
- I could be totally outraged, pass on buying the car and tell all my friends that the seller is not honest OR
- I may be a pragmatic deal-maker (which I believe most of us fancy ourselves as) and use that information as a bargaining chip to get a better deal.

Either way, I see no downside to having the true car information.

Do you?

The Week That Was..

2011-01-28T09:43:00.000+03:00

Technically this will cover two weeks as I didn't manage to do one last week.

The Tailor
I decided to get some shirts altered to fit my slim frame (there is a terrible shortage of slim fit shirts available in Kenya). I had gotten a recommendation for a tailor who does this well. I took my shirts to the guy..he is in a small room, shared with about 4-5 other tailors in an old building along Moi Avenue. The guy did a splendid job and offered to pick/drop my shirts in future if I was anywhere in town. I like this sort of service!

It occurs to me that many of our very small operators offer very good customer service (if you find the right people obviously). But, I think that it is easy for the one-man show to offer good service. The challenge arises when word gets out about your good service, your clientele increases and your business starts to grow. Then you start employing people; people who in many cases may not share your philosophy or vision. I find it a true mark of successful management when I do not need to know the owner/manager/supervisor to get great service. When I do not have to name drop in order to be taken seriously. When I do not have to be pushed to the head of a queue because I 'know someone' (and because efficiency is built in to the organization).

I had a conversation once with a very successful mogul. He was persuading me to try a service that one of his companies was offering at the time. I told him I would call him on Monday to arrange a test. He told me "Please call sales through the main switchboard then report to me what the experience is like". No wonder this fellow was a multi-millionaire! If the service experience is the excellent irrespective of whether 'mkubwa' asked the customer to call or whether the customer called through the trunk line, then isn't that one definition of successful management. In my opinion, managing is not about being able to offer every aspect of the perfect service yourself, managing is more about being able to design a system that functions perfectly and allows you to focus on growing/strategy etc.Which leads me to..

The Top Cop
I was arranging the sale of a car to somebody. One of the conditions for this deal to go ahead was that I had to have the car checked by CID to ensure it wasn't stolen. I was thus sent to an OC (Officer commanding..) of a certain division.

When I finally got to see the person in question, he was very friendly and very helpful and the inspection was done within 20 or so minutes (not by him personally obviously..he got a subordinate to do it). Add about 45 minutes waiting time and by police/GoK standards, it was fairly straightforward. However the whole while I was there, I could not help but wonder.. "Why do I need to see such a high ranking official for something so trivial?".

Simple answer as far as I can tell..the system is broken. Too often in Kenya..both in public and private sector, we have to talk to managers, supervisors etc for the most trivial matters. I think that if you are a manager/supervisor and you feel you are too often disturbed by people coming to you for trivial matters (which is the impression many give when you take your triviality to them), then you need to look in the mirror because you are the cause of the problem. Your job is to design a system that ensures your customer is served without ever feeling the need to refer to you.

(It turns out this (CID inspection) is not a service open to the general public but it was the only experience I had over the week that was convenient to make a point I feel is often missed in our go-to-the-big-man society)

The Coffee Houses
I am a fairly frequent patron of our various coffee houses. One thing that always occurs to me (oft-commented upon in quite a few blogs) is the tendency for service standards to slowly decrease the longer the coffee house is open.

This (in my opinion) is a clear management failing. I have heard the case some make about the standard of potential employees but I think that is a cop-out. If serious about service, coffee houses need to be very stringent on training and monitoring of staff. I wonder how many of them have training centres (or have entered into partnerships with catering schools) to train staff before they begin work. I know restaurant serving is looked at as very menial (and hence not much investment needs to go into it) but I think it is necessary to have at least 2-3 days of training/appraisal (off site) before a server ever even faces a customer.

New CRSP List January 2011

2011-01-27T09:57:00.000+03:00

KRA have released a new CRSP list this month. Find the link here.

This is the list that KRA use to calculate duty payable on vehicle imports so if you have any intention of importing a vehicle, be sure you check your duty payable BEFORE you start the process so as to avoid nasty surprises. There is a valuation template to use in conjunction with this list here. I always still advise that duty be confirmed with your clearing agent especially in cases where there are many entries for seemingly the same car.

You also need to be aware that the duty you pay does not depend solely upon the year of manufacture/registration of your vehicle but the month as well. This is very important and you can read a comprehensive write-up on this on the Motogari website.

Happy hunting.

The Week That Was

2011-01-15T09:31:00.000+03:00

The plan is for this to be a weekly post where I speak on experiences over the course of the week from a customer service and service delivery standpoint.

Safaricom
This week, I contacted Safaricom via twitter (@safaricomltd). I had a fairly simple, straightforward query. A couple of hours later, they phoned me with a response to my query. This has become the norm rather than the exception and after many months of complaints about Safaricom's use of twitter (they used to be aloof, impersonal and erratic with responses), they have really stepped their game up and are doing a great job of using twitter to engage with customers. I guess this stems from their CEO (@bobcollymore) leading from the front and also being quite active and responsive on twitter as well.

The Financial Services Provider (FSP)
This week, I have been in continued contact with a small FSP (who shall remain unnamed) with regards to a service that I was seeking. Now I officially engaged with this FSP on 21st December 2010. Formalities took long to complete due to the fact they closed from 24th December - 3rd January but we were done with all formalities by 4th January. Throughout the process, all communication from the FSP was that they were able to deliver within 48 hours (1-2 days) of completion of formalities. Sure enough on 4th January at 2pm, I was told that "this could be done as soon as this afternoon but will definitely be done by tomorrow". On the morning of 5th January, I call for progress and I get the told, "call us back in the afternoon" I call back in the afternoon and get told "please check with us tomorrow morning". 6th January, 7th January..same thing. Please note: all this time I was asking for honest estimates of when they would deliver but kept being told "by tomorrow". On 10th January, when I called, I was suddenly (and out of the blue) referred to a whole new party who would be handling my matter. 11th January, I was finally given a straight answer and told the process would take a further week. I decided to withdraw and seek alternative solutions.

I have to admit, this is one phenomenon that perplexes me. If it takes two weeks to deliver, why in heaven's name would you promise 2 days? What does this do for a company's chances of retaining the customer? I find that this is not really the exception but that this manner of conducting business seems fairly common place. Some seem to have this don't care attitude to deadlines/promised delivery dates; almost as if to say "it doesn't matter when we deliver as long as we do deliver eventually". As paying customers, why do we stand for this sort of nonsense?

Do you....

2011-01-10T12:04:00.003+03:00

1. Tell a client to come see you "at 2pm", only to be found "out at lunch" when s/he arrives at exactly 2pm?

2. Tell your client to "drop in anytime tomorrow" only to be told that you are "away on leave for the next two weeks"?

3. Also make no effort to handover the clients case to a colleague or to brief anyone as to progress made with particular client before you depart for leave?

4. Promise to deliver by a certain day/time, then fail to do so. Keep promising to deliver; "by noon tomorrow" when your client calls to follow up late in the day, then "by close of business" when s/he calls at noon, then "by noon tomorrow" when s/he calls late in the day...etc for the 5/7/10/12 days it takes you to actually deliver.

5. Suddenly introduce new names in conversations with the client that you were dealing with when YOUR client gets annoyed that things didn't go right? (eg "I know I am the one who took your TT order but Bob is the one who actually sends the TT's and he seems to have forgotten to do so in this case....Let me follow up with Bob and get back to you". Do you do this knowing full well that YOUR client has never heard of this Bob before, has never met him or dealt with him in any way prior to that moment?)

If your answer to any/all of these questions is "Yes", please share with me why you do so.

- Were you never trained otherwise?

- Was this part of your customer relationship training?

- Is this your attitude to all your customers or just the 'unimportant' ones?

- Do your bosses know that this is the practice within their organizations?

- Do they accept this as "normal"?

- Do you accept this as "normal" by your own personal standards?

Customers... Do these practices annoy/irritate/frustrate you too? Any others that I have overlooked?

Customer Service or Disservice?

2011-01-06T15:37:00.000+03:00

I have been trying to obtain a service from a certain service provider. I should add that the service is not free, no, I will be expected to be making payment for this service. I seem to be getting nowhere and just have to VENT!

Trying to get a hold of this company on phone has proved to be rocket science, what’s worse is that majority of the time, when you do get through you are on hold for so long that the line actually gets disconnected. While you are on hold you discover that the company is likely to be receiving numerous calls from other customers/consumers because the advise you get from the recorded message is to hold on because all the agents/customer service representatives are busy.

Ok so contacting them on phone is proving too complicated, so what is the next best option, an e-mail right? Wrong! E-mails go unresponded to 99% of the time.

The irony is that I have contacted several ‘individuals’ and all seem to be just as incapable of providing information or responding to queries. How is that? How can 100% of the people I have contacted be just as unhelpful as the first? Does the problem lie then with the people employed or the systems?

If companies have performance reviews of their staff, then the sales and customer service should be obliged to respond to queries and offer assistance to potential customers in timely and effective manner. That really is the main duty they were employed to provide. An alarmingly high number of employees I have encountered in Kenyan companies seem content to do the absolute, bare minimum and do not seem too bothered about ensuring that the customer gets the best possible experience from the company. In an ideal world (also known as a company with good Human Resource polices and strategies) the employees have a sense of belonging to the company so that they can actually effectively represent the company.

I hear there is a reality show known as ‘Undercover Boss’ where the owner or senior executive of a company works undercover within the same company to see how it is ran and of course identify the good employees and expose the ones causing more harm then good. I would prescribe this for a number of companies. Some customers have found a way of ensuring senior managers are aware of the workings of junior staff....by Cc'ing senior managers in e-mail correspondence. This often does the trick but it is a sign of poor management when the customer is forced to take it upon his/herself to ensure the manager is clued in to what is going on.

If management can't go ‘undercover’ to determine the rotten apple(s), then they may consider investing in their staff as they truly are ‘human RESOURCE’ and taking them for customer service classes with the aim of changing their attitude and inculcate in them customer oriented culture. Management should also put in place proper checks and balances to ensure that their staff is effective. This includes; performance appraisals, service delivery standards and benchmarks; customer service monitoring systems with the overall aim of providing great, timely and efficient customer service.

Customer service is a key determinant of one’s choice of company, service provider or product in a competitive market, so companies should urgently start giving this aspect of their businesses the attention it deserves.

New CRSP List released September 2010

2010-09-17T13:20:00.000+03:00

There is a new CRSP list (Current Retail Selling Price list) that has been released by KRA.

It can be found here.

This list is the starting point for calculating duty payable for vehicle imports into Kenya. Use it in association with this Duty Valuation Template to calculate the approximate duty payable on vehicle imports. It is always advisable to still confirm duty payable on your proposed import from KRA either directly or through your clearing agent before you proceed to buy your vehicle.

The Weighbridge Bust..

2010-09-09T21:57:00.003+03:00

Was just watching an NTV story about a Kenya Anti Corruption Commission bust on some corrupt officers at the Mombasa weighbridge (video here). Same old fare..corrupt officers manning the weighbridge taking bribes to let overloaded trucks through.

Once again this got me thinking about something that has become a recurring theme in my thoughts. The individuals taking part in corrupt activities have been arrested and will be replaced by more individuals. And I am willing to bet whatever is in my wallet today (about two thousand bob I believe) that the exact same corruption will resume almost immediately. Why? The system is broken...or rather.. the system that is in place relies upon the diligence, honesty and integrity of the individuals operating it.

Now what we need at the weighbridge (and numerous other public institutions systems) is a system that does not rely on individuals' qualities. I am not talking about robots and fairies or something that would cost a ga-zillion shillings to create. It is something that is relatively simple to do in many cases.

Take the weighbridge: First, you could make the road such that all trucks (vehicles over a certain width) are funneled to the weighbridge. Next ensure that all vehicles that drive on this path actually go over the weighbridge. Then have a camera system that activates everytime a vehicle drives over the weighbridge. This system can take a photo(s) of the truck (including number plate). Have the system print out two copies of the truck photo as well as weight or whatever details are required. One copy can remain with the truck (and be prominently displayed) while the other stays for records. You can even incorporate a system that sends the truck details to an offsite control centre or to forward points for verification. You can make it such that the system is never off or logs its on/off times or even needs supervisor input to be turned off (in case some cheeky scallywag decides to just switch it off for certain trucks). You can make it mandatory for all trucks to display their weighbridge printouts.

Now with this system, you will still have the same people operating it, but you take the space for corruption away from them.

In other words perhaps I am a cynic but what we need to do in Kenya is not design systems for the best set of hard working devoutly religious and honest people, but design systems that will remain efficient even when operated by a bunch of bone lazy thieves.

This is not to say that everyone is a bone lazy thief..quite the opposite actually. But there are those amongst us who deviate from the norm and when designing systems that is who you design for.

When you design your home security system, you do not design it to repel your relatives who will hoot at the gate, ring the bell or gently knock on the door. You design it to repel the deviant gang of robbers who will try to break down your door with a rock. When you buy a swanky new car, you dont install an alarm system to keep your friends out..you install one to keep the deviants out and to trace the car if the deviants do take it. What our systems design often seems to amount to is driving a swanky car to a rough part of town and leaving it with all doors and windows open with keys in the ignition and a shiny laptop in full view on the rear seat and hoping nothing happens. Hoping that the people who see the car are honest enough and decent enough not to steal the car or the laptop or both. Well we do not exist in that sort of utopia.

With this in mind, I think that we need to change focus in our "Fight Against Corruption". How much corruption stems from poor systems? I would say the majority of corruption we see would disappear with better systems. Perhaps we should marry the KACC and the Efficiency Monitoring Unit and really give the resultant organization power to go in to places, examine systems and processes, identify weak areas and recommend changes to ensure that systems do not rely on individuals qualities. Once we have redesigned systems, it becomes easier to see where the deviants are and root them out.

FPE: It's the System Stupid!

2010-02-08T16:37:00.006+03:00

Currently, there is a scandal raging in Kenya regarding Free Primary Education (FPE) program funds. Basically dishonest Ministry of Education officials have used certain bureaucratic tools (fake expense reports, fake receipts, fake workshops etc) to misappropriate funds.

Since the scandal came to light, there has been a lot of back and forth (along party lines) about whether the minister and PS in the education ministry should resign. Two basic arguments spring to my mind when I think of this matter.

On the one hand, if neither the minister nor the PS stole funds, then their responsibility is to ensure that the perpetrators of the theft are caught and dealt with and the loopholes that were exploited are closed so that there is no chance of repeat occurrences again.

On the other hand, this occurred under their watch. They are the men in charge of the ministry. It is the minister and more-so the PS whose job it is to manage the ministry. As such, is it not management's job to ensure that the systems and procedures in place are designed such that theft etc do not take place? Having failed to design (or oversee the design of) a system that does so can be considered a failure and as such they should quit.

This internal debate (the second point more than the first) has led me to feel like this issue (and many others) is being approached and dealt with all wrong.

Quite apart from the petty politicizing, playing to the gallery and grandstanding that we have been seeing; rather than media jumping on a high horse and MoE Minister & PS in turn being defensive and saying nothing more meaningful than "I will not resign", perhaps we need to be talking about systems, processes and procedures in place.

Assuming they personally did not steal, I would like to hear from the PS/Minister exactly what the system for dealing with funds is in his ministry as well as what processes and procedures are followed in the procurement process. I want to know how, where and why the system failed. I want to know what action he is taking or has taken to ensure that these loopholes are closed. If the PS and/or Minister have not got comprehensive answers to these questions, then I would like to see him/them fired. Simple.

My simple belief is this, we live and die by the system. A good system will be efficient but will also eliminate leeway for there to be system failures caused by individuals. Too often in Kenya, we get stuck pointing fingers at individuals but fail to realize that it is poorly designed & implemented systems that let us down the most. We do not live in a utopia where everyone is 100% honest. As such we must create systems that force honesty...by catching any dishonesty early and by ensuring that those responsible are brought to book quickly.

We need an appointment and performance appraisal system in place that picks the right candidates for jobs and accurately rates their performance in the management of our institutions. We need a system that does not in any way indulge non performance. From top to bottom.

Can we please start debating how to make this happen instead of forever focusing on petty politics and individuals?

Motor Vehicle Transfer - KRA

2010-01-22T11:15:00.003+03:00

Dear Sirs,

I am writing to you regarding the process in place for motor vehicle transfers. I undertook to process a transfer and the process was as follows:

1. Queue at counter 21 (or 22) to have application approved (This involves an officer leafing through documents provided to ensure they are in order then writing amount to be paid if they are so)

2. Queue at counter 23 to get an e-slip

3. Go to petrol station outside Times Towers to make 3 photocopies of the e-Slip

4. Go to NBK on 5^th Floor of Times Towers to pay the transfer fee

5. Return to Petrol station to make a photocopy of the payment slip

6. Take documents back to counter 23 (no need to queue this time) and leave them with officer.

On Tuesday 19^th January, the above process took me about one and a half hours to complete. I noted the following:

This is a 6- step process involving 3 different queues that could (and should!) be completed in one step, at one service window in 5 minutes. Due to the convoluted process in place, what should take 10, maybe 20 minutes (including queuing time) is stretched to take over an hour.

I would suggest any or all of the following measures be implemented to speed up the process to make it more efficient:

1. The approval and e-slip printing combined to one single step.

2. The e-slip is currently printed in landscape orientation in the middle of an A4 sheet. It probably takes up about half the paper in total. I suggest printing the same in portrait orientation and to reduce the size of the slip so that the same thing can be printed 3 (or 4) different times on the same page. This will allow customers to simply tear the different copies rather than have to leave the building altogether to get photocopies.

3. Payments can be done at the same time and place the documents are approved and e-slip printed. The current process turns the taxpayer into a defacto cash handler for KRA which is not efficient from a customer stand point.

If these steps were implemented, the process of lodging transfer documents would be much faster and easier for the taxpayer.

By creating efficient processes, KRA allows taxpayers to spend less time in queues and on fools errands and more time being productive. More productivity translates to higher earnings which in turn translates to more taxes being paid.

I thank you for your time.

Kind Regards

Is This Progress?

2010-01-19T12:16:00.003+03:00

Today, I made the bold decision to handle a motor vehicle transfer personally. I tend to be the type of person who tries to do everything personally at least once, just to have the experience of doing so and to know what goes on. I needed to be in town quite early so I figured that rather than send a messesnger, I would do this one myself.

The process is thus:

- Go to Counter 21 (or 22..don't remember which one) to get the application approved and be informed how much it will cost.

- Go to Counter 20 to get an e-slip printed out (this states the name of the seller, name and PIN details of new owner and the fee payable.

- Go get 3 copies of the e-slip. This is done at the NOCK petrol station beside Times Towers.

- Go to either the National Bank of Kenya (NBK) branch at Harambee Avenue or sub branch on 5th Floor of Times Towers to pay the fee. (I chose the latter)

- Make a copy of the deposit slip from NBK (at the NOCK petrol station).

- Drop the application back at Counter 20 Times Towers banking hall on the ground floor. (Thankfully you do not have to queue for this step, you just walk up to the counter and drop the application off).

In my opinion, a country (government) that has such a long, cumbersome process for such a simple transaction is just not serious about becoming developed.

That will strike some as an extreme statement but I think that the first step towards creating an enabling environment is to make the simple things....simple. Then tackle the complicated things. Times Towers banking hall (and numerous other government offices) are places where the simplest is turned into the most cumbersome and complicated.

Streamlining this process would require little to no money, just a real commitment to ensure that citizens get the best possible service. The presence of such cumbersome processes in 2010 points to a lack of this real commitment.

The Overtake

2010-01-06T09:00:00.004+03:00

Once again, more thoughts from my journey to/from Mombasa. This time: Overtaking.

The overtake maneuver on a single lane highway entails: Using the oncoming traffic lane to get past a slower moving vehicle(s) as quickly as possible, and in a manner that does not disrupt other road users (oncoming traffic & traffic going in your direction).

Now for most vehicles I have driven, the best way to do this (not scientific so please correct me where I am wrong) is to leave reasonable space between yourself and the slow moving vehicle you intend to overtake so as to ensure you can see round the vehicle(s), both to see if there is any traffic ahead of you (going in the same direction) or any traffic coming from the opposite direction (this includes oncoming traffic that is overtaking); then time your acceleration so that you carry enough momentum into the maneuver to overtake in the shortest possible time/distance. (You know your car, you know what pick it has, you know what speed it can manage etc etc..all these factors are in play every single time you overtake)

If there is oncoming traffic, leaving reasonable space between yourself and the vehicle you intend to overtake will allow you to see exactly how many vehicles are approaching and at what approximate speed (depending on the road layout obviously). In cases where the road gently curves left, it also allows you to look round the slow moving vehicle 'on the inside' to see what the situation is like ahead. In short, before you overtake, you must have a very clear picture of what lies ahead on both lanes within the approximate distance you will need to execute your overtake maneuver.

You must also have an idea of what vehicles are behind you and what their driving mannerisms might be (because you have been checking your rear view mirror and wing mirrors frequently..they aren't just for checking if your lips have spit lines!)

If there is a queue of vehicles ahead of you, courtesy dictates that you overtake the slowest moving vehicle in order..i.e. first goes first, last goes last, then overtake the next slowest and so on. If you happen to be driving a twin turbo V8 (i.e. if you are the fastest vehicle), don't rush out, let those ahead go first, you'll still catch and pass them later. Only pull out ahead of them if you see a space you can exploit that they may be unable to..but keep in mind that one of your principle aims is not to disrupt traffic in any way. If oncoming traffic has to even dab their brakes because of you, you have failed..you have executed your maneuver poorly.

The most common mistake that I see made is people who drive too close to the vehicle they intend to overtake; often a bus, lorry or even a smaller car with tinted windows (which limits line of sight through the car) then keep 'poking out' to 'peep' and see what oncoming traffic looks like. Doing this means that you not only do not develop a clear mental picture of the whole situation before you overtake, but you also do not leave yourself enough room to accelerate into the maneuver. Hence when you do pull out, it will take longer to overtake than it would have otherwise...leaving you in a more dangerous position than you need to be in. Too many times I saw people pull out, start accelerating late and find their vehicle did not have the momentum to make it past in time...and end up aborting their maneuver, wasting time and slowing traffic in cases when had they have done it right, 2 or even 3 cars could have comfortable overtaken the slow vehicle(s).

There are also those who overtake at blind corners or hills but these are just irresponsible people. I cringe anytime I see a fellow with his car full of family doing this. It is toying with life and you should never ever do it.

As I mentioned earlier, this is not scientific, these are just some of the methods I use as I believe they are they are the safest way to overtake (and quickest too!)..irrespective of how big or powerful your engine might be.

Let me know your thoughts and methods but whatever you do, always drive safe and responsibly and do not take unnecessary chances. The one time chance goes against you may be the last time it goes against you.

Traffic Mayhem on 5th January

2010-01-06T07:21:00.005+03:00

Yesterday, I needed to go to Westlands then to Woodley and back to Westlands. Traffic around the city was heavily congested..very much so in the Westlands area.

I believe two key factors contributed to this:

1. The matatu strike on Monday and Tuesday meant that virtually everyone who owned a car brought it out and used it for just about every trip they needed to make. (People often drive to work or to a parking lot then use public transport to commute into/out of town & run small errands)

2. The new years holiday fell on a weekend. As usual schools were opening on the first Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday of the year. Of significance this year is the fact that Monday 4th was also the first working day of the year. If the 1st is a Monday for example, schools would open on the 8th. Parents would have 2nd - 5th to do school shopping. This year, everyone rushed to do their school shopping on 4th and 5th January.

These two factors along with Kenyans' typical selfish driving habits combined to make traffic really bad all day on Monday and on Tuesday mid-morning and afternoon. However, the worst was to come on Tuesday evening.

HE the President returned to Nairobi from his annual holiday in Mombasa. Therefore, traffic had to be stopped to accommodate his motorcade. Now on the best of traffic days, the presidential motorcade causes a big disruption. On Tuesday evening, with traffic already very bad, the motorcade caused gridlock just about everywhere. It took me two and a half hours to get from The DO office on Waiyaki Way (by Safaricom Building) to Sarit Centre, a distance of maybe 2-3 kilometres.

Is this really acceptable? The president was flying into JKIA, the authorities knew what the traffic situation was. Would it have been so difficult to get a helicopter to ferry him from the airport to State House? Should this not now become standard procedure whenever possible for ferrying the president around town?

Mombasa - Nairobi Highway

2010-01-05T07:24:00.003+03:00

Happy New Year!

Drove down to Mombasa for new years. The new highway is almost all done now. There are still a couple of short diversions around Athi River but other than that, it is all new road.

Worryingly, on the drive back, I noticed that the stretches that were re-built first (between Mariakani and Voi) have started showing signs of developing potholes. There are actually two or three potholes already and certain stretches now have the tell-tale undulations (caused by lorries) that are a sure sign potholes are not far behind.

Sad.

By the time the Nairobi - Machakos stretch is fully done, the Mombasa - Voi stretch will need repairs. And as we all know, the quality of patchwork repairs done on our roads forever compromises the quality of the roads.

I am sure the road cannot be more than 5-6 years old. Is this the lifespan of our roads? Was the road built to sufficiently high standard to accommodate the traffic it carries?

I do not think it is sustainable to invest so heavily in roads that start falling apart in less than 10 years. Real concerted effort needs to be placed in ensuring no overloaded vehicles use our roads and roads are built to last for 10 even 20 or 30 years.

CRSP List...Published on KRA Website!

2009-12-14T09:38:00.002+03:00

KRA have finally taken the step of publishing their CRSP list on their website. Scroll to the bottom under 'Important Notices'.

This is a great step for transparency.

Does Inefficiency + Corruption = False Accomplishment & Under achievement?

2009-11-04T10:03:00.009+03:00

Last week, I received a rates bill from the Nairobi City Council that erroneously showed I had an amount outstanding despite the amount having been settled months ago.

On Friday, I duly went to City Hall to get the problem resolved. Having dealt with the same problem before, I took along copies of the paid rates receipt from earlier this year. Unfortunately I was told that the amount shown as outstanding was reflecting an unpaid amount from 2008 (despite the fact the exact same thing happened in 2008 and I took copies of paid receipts along with a letter to get the payment made last year reflected). I was therefore advised to bring copies of the payment receipts from last year (which I had foolishly not carried with me).

Yesterday (Tuesday), I took copies of all the payment reciepts, the officer I had dealt with looked them over and confirmed that my account should be at zero. He then directed me to Chief Accountant Rates to endorse the change and input it into the system. (Only the chief accountant and IC accountant in rates department can do this).

When I got to the accountants' offices, the IC accountant was out, the chief accountant was with somebody. I waited about 15-20 minutes for the chief accountant to finish with the person she was seeing. She promptly left. I waited another hour or so before first the IC accountant, then 5 minutes later the Chief accountant returned to their offices.

While I had been waiting, the secretary had suggested I leave the documents and check on the progress of the case in 3-5 days. I decided to wait. Once the IC accountant came back, he resolved the issue in about 5 minutes.

In total (if both Friday & Tuesday visits to City Hall are included), I spent close to 2 hours waiting around for something that cumulatively took 10 minutes to resolve. This is only the time spent in City Hall and does not include the time spent to get there.

Once the matter was resolved, I briefly felt a sense of accomplishment. I was briefly happy that I had managed to get the matter sorted out. But in reality what did I achieve? Very little. This is not something I should have been excited or happy to have done. The sense of accomplishment was derived from the unnecessary complication of what is a very simple process. I think of it as a false sense of accomplishment.

As an average Kenyan going about my day-to-day business, I realize that my life is filled with similar sorts of experiences. Very simple processes that are made to seem extremely complex and complicated which when navigated successfully, breed this false sense of accomplishment. It leads me to wonder:

Can/Does this state of affairs turn us into a nation of under achievers? A nation of perennially 'busy' yet fairly unproductive people? Are we already that? Does this translate to lack of ambition?

I have been very critical of government/civil service about a failure to tackle corruption and inefficiency..some feel unfairly so. But much of my frustration stems from the fact that I see a total failure to put real thought, real commitment and real effort into simplifying the simple processes for us wananchi. Infact I should say re-simplifying the simple processes.

It is my belief that one method of creating avenues for rent-seeking (corruption) is to make systems as complex, convoluted and inefficient as possible. The rent-seeker then offers their 'services' to 'navigate' through the system quickly.

It is my belief that if there was real commitment to fighting corruption, this avenue would be closed by examining the processes and procedures in place to ensure that the system operates at maximum efficiency at all times. This commitment would also manifest in desire to make these processes and procedures as clear and transparent as possible.

In most cases I see, this first step does not require much more than thought and leadership. Thought to examine the system and see where loopholes lie (unmanned work stations, convoluted/repetitive procedures etc) and leadership in closing those loopholes.

As a simple example, there should be a directive at City Hall that there must always be at least one person on duty and at their workstation who has the authority to endorse rates revisions. That way my 10 minute task can be completed in 10-15..maybe 20 minutes as opposed to the 90+ minutes it took yesterday.

By making processes as simple, quick and efficient as possible, we shorten the time it takes to carry out tasks which allows us to be more productive.

By simplifying the simple, we (theoretically) enhance our work ethic by raising the bar of what it takes for individuals to feel any sense of accomplishment. We may be a hard working people, but I would not say we are an especially productive/efficient people yet. That needs to change.

Letter to MG Waweru (KRA)

2009-10-22T16:51:00.003+03:00

RE: IMPORTED MOTOR VEHICLE DUTY AND TAXES CALCULATION

Dear Mr. Waweru,

Firstly, I would like to congratulate and thank you for all the good work that you have done and continue to do at KRA.

I am writing to you to seek your personal intervention in the matter of import duty and tax calculation for motor vehicles.

When one imports a motor vehicle, duty and taxes payable are calculated based upon the Current Retail Selling Price (CRSP) of the vehicle. Unfortunately, KRA does not make this information clear to importers at the outset. I have looked on the KRA website and found that the vast majority of references to Customs Value indicate CIF as the value that is used to calculate duty. I have looked at FAQ and there is only one solitary sentence here that states “The CIF is also deduced from the CRSP of the vehicle” with no further clarification of what methodology is used to do this. All other information about Customs Value, including that in the Customs Department FAQ section of the website dedicated to second hand motor vehicle import (here) refers solely to CIF as the value from which duty & taxes are calculated. Additionally, the CRSP list that KRA uses to compute duty is kept secret by KRA.

I write to you to seek your personal intervention in the following way:

To urge KRA to make ALL information (especially the full CRSP list) and methodologies relating to computation of import duties readily and easily available to the public: KRA has already taken the first step towards this by publicizing the Duty Calculation Template and making it available for free download on the site. I applaud this step and encourage KRA to go the whole way and publicize the CRSP list along with any other relevant methodologies that are used to arrive at duty figures. (For example I would suggest including another spreadsheet to enable customers to calculate how to pro rate their customs value based on engine size). I believe that KRA themselves use a series of spreadsheets to capture all this information. Why not make all this available to the public?

My reasons for making this plea are as follows:

1. Efficiency: By demystifying the duty calculation and making the process totally transparent to your customers, you empower us to offer a better service to our customers. If I as a vehicle importer have all the relevant information pertaining to duty calculation, I can quickly and easily create fairly accurate quotes for my customers. Sometimes I need to create duty quotes for potential clients of up to 20 vehicles. It becomes difficult to have to keep referring to KRA to get their estimate on each vehicle. It also wastes the time of the KRA agent. It would be immensely helpful if I (and others) could have all this information at my fingertips so that I could prepare my quotes in the shortest time possible. I would offer a better service, therefore attract more clients, import more vehicles and thereby pay more tax.

2. Eliminate Corruption: I firmly believe that in all processes, transparency helps to eliminate corruption. If it is very clear to a potential importer what import duty will be charged on his vehicle, the avenues for seeking to be corrupt are closed. I have heard of quite a few cases of people who have imported vehicles with one duty figure in mind (based on their CIF) only to be presented with a much higher figure (based on CRSP). The choices open to such a person are few especially if he does not have the extra cash for additional duty to hand. Some I have heard of have had to forfeit their investments and leave their vehicles in the port because they were unwilling/unable to pay kickbacks and were unable to raise the extra money before port charges made their undertaking unfeasible. I am sure many more take the option of paying somebody somewhere something small.

I have spoken to clearing agents, fellow importers and even people who are not directly involved with vehicle import and I have as yet not heard a single compelling reason for keeping the CRSP list and other information relevant to import duty calculations secret. I have written to KRA, called KRA, even been there in person asking the same thing: for the list to be publicized or for the reasons for sticking with this policy and all they are willing to say is that “Unfortunately the CRSP list is an internal document and cannot be publicized” or words to that effect.

I therefore seek your personal intervention to bring more transparency to the process or at least clarify what reason there is for all the secrecy that exists in this process.

It is my sincere hope that my correspondence does not cause any offence and will be taken as feedback that will contribute to a better KRA and by extension a better Kenya.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Kind Regards

It is not "the Media"..It is not "Politics"..It is not "Disrespect"...

2009-09-17T08:34:00.003+03:00

..it is a populace that is fed up of being treated as though we are less than, as though our thoughts, opinions and feelings do not matter or do not count. It is your bad management, flawed PR and poor strategy.

Everytime the president does something that causes friction (such as the Ringera reappointment or the Kivuitu reappointment), government supporters come out with the same arguments:

- The Media is to blame for the government being unpopular
- Its ODM and their politics that cause the government to be so unpopular
- Questioning the president is disrespectful/Kibz bashing is in Fashion

I tend to disagree with all three viewpoints.

The Media/Public Relations/Strategy
Yes indeed, as has been mentioned countless times in countless forums, the media is always seeking negativity to report on. Afterall, that's what sells. The trick therefore is TO MANAGE MEDIA RELATIONS not to sit whining and crying about biased media. It is not about returning to a dictatorship, it is about playing smart. This is one area in which the Kibaki administration has completely failed.

Any successful organization needs a smart PR strategy. Since 2003, I have watched as the Kibaki administration has stumbled from PR gaffe to PR gaffe, from crisis to crisis and from mistake to mistake. This cannot be blamed on media. This is a management failure.

ODM/Politics
Yes ODM play politics, dirty politics even. But, this is the nature of the sport that is politics. If you are in power and I want to get to where you are, I will try to discredit every single thing I can about everything you do.

Once again, a good, smart PR strategy takes care of this problem. The trick here is NOT TO GIVE YOUR OPPONENT ANY AMMUNITION TO USE AGAINST YOU. Nobody in their right minds can say Kibz & Co. have done this. Infact Kibz and Co have often seemed like ODM moles due to all the silly gaffes they keep making.

Sometimes this argument will also take the form of: "Well it's his ministers who do that and he's a hands off manager". Garbage. Even the most hands off manager is ultimately responsible for results. Public perception is a result. To ignore that aspect of the job would be grossly negligent. Same way people will say "Kibz cannot be responsible for individual's performance, he hires people and lets them get on with their jobs". Are you kidding me? Who is responsible for delivery if not the manager? Ultimately, the buck has to stop with the man at the top, it is he who appoints and therefore it is he who must demand performance.

Questioning the President is Disrespectful/Kibz bashing is in Fashion
Only sycophants would say that questioning the president is disrespectful. Who pays the president? He works for the Kenyan people, therefore we can question him about any issue that relates to the running of the country we hired him to steer ON OUR BEHALF.

Kibz bashing might be in fashion..but this is because of the flawed & ineffective PR strategy that Kibz has in place. Over the years, the government (starting right from the very top) has given the impression that it is not bothered about the views and opinions of Kenyans, that it is not bothered with being popular. Well in democracy, popularity is the currency of power. This is where strategy comes in. Kibz may be content being unpopular, inaccessible and arrogant towards Kenyans but at the end of the day, that will have repercussions. The repercussions of 2003-2007 were simple. A disputed election, meaning a coalition government..therefore meaning that exercise of powers is not as straightforward as Kibz might like it to be.

It is easy to blame politics, the media etc, but I would suggest that Kibs needs to look much closer to home to figure out exactly why he has many of the problems he faces today.

Ringera..KACC Credibility at Stake

2009-09-03T09:02:00.005+03:00

OK, so Kibaki went ahead and reappointed Ringera for a further 5 years, seemingly with no reference to anybody..not even the KACC Advisory Committee.

Now by all accounts, he is technically within his rights as president to do so. As I understand the current law, the KACC Advisory Board and parliament are only required to vet NEW appointments. It is not mandatory for there to be a vetting process for contract renewals.

Firstly; I find that a fairly sloppy piece of legislation. I'm no lawyer, but I equate writing laws to agreeing contracts. I have come to learn over the years that even though you may be on the best of terms with the other party, when you are drafting a contract ALWAYS take every possibility into consideration. NEVER rely on the goodwill of the other party. You never know what may happen in future. By drafting and passing a law that necessitates consultations for appointments but not for reappointments, parliament dropped the ball big time.

Secondly; and I believe far more importantly, the KACC is an organisation that needs to be seen to be credible. It is an organisation that needs to be seen to have procedures that are totally above board. It is in this respect that I feel the president has erred (as he did with the Electoral Commission appointments pre-election). By reappointing Ringera in the manner he has done, the president has eroded any credibility that KACC (and by extension the GoK fight against corruption) may have earned/regained from a more consultative appointment process. Kenyans had pretty much lost all hope in the KACC delivering under Ringera. By reappointing Ringera "because I can", the president has now made himself out to be somebody who condones corruption and is not in the least bit sincere about his oft stated "zero tolerance to corruption" policy.

As he did with the ECK, the president has effectively stripped yet another institution of any hope, faith, trust or confidence that the Kenyan public may have had in it.

As we saw with the post election violence, institutions that lack credibility can be a ticking time bomb and can easily be used by mischievous and devious individuals to cause chaos.

Kibaki has once again shown us that he does indeed wield all the power, but I fear he has chosen short term gain over long term benefit.

KRA CRSP (Scribd)

2009-08-27T12:15:00.002+03:00

Here is a link to the KRA Current Retail Selling Prices list that's used to calculate duty on motor vehicle imports into Kenya.

This is from April 2008, dont know how much its been updated since. I got it in January or February 2009.

There's a snafu on the BMW section but I'm told BMW CRSPs changed drastically with Bavaria Motors entry into the Kenyan market so probably best calling KRA for those.

I posted this because I find it stupid to keep the list a secret. KRA would have people believe that duty is charged based on CIF (cost, insurance, freight) of a vehicle to Mombasa. I have found that this is often a falsehood. I have also found that in many cases, duty calculated based on CIF is lower than that calculated using devalued CRSP, especially for newer vehicles.

To calculate duty, take the value of the vehicle you have in mind to import from the CRSP list and plug it into the Duty Valuation Template which is downloadable from KRA website here. The duty valuation template is pretty straightforward and shows what to key in based on age and type of vehicle. The spreadsheet should give you an idea of what your duty payable will be.

Where is Personal Responsibility in Kenya?

2009-08-06T18:29:00.003+03:00

Yesterday evening, I watched an interview with Samuel Kivuitu (ex-head of our discredited ECK). He was speaking about how Kibaki and Raila did not send him off with the respect and dignity he felt he deserved. At the same time, he also spoke about how he unfortunately fell ill prior to the elections and shady business may have been conducted by some of his commissioners who "took advantage of his ill health" and his inability to watch over them as he would have wanted to, to cause mischief with the electoral process.

WHAT?????????

Samuel Kivuitu seemingly takes no responsibility for any of the irregularities and the manner in which the election was managed (so poorly that it almost plunged the country into civil war). Infact, Samuel Kivuitu wants to be hailed as a hero despite all these things, afterall Samuel Kivuitu was sick and not able to properly do his job!

If Samuel Kivuitu was unable to properly carry out the work for which we, the taxpayers were offering him a healthy remuneration, then Samuel Kivuitu should have quit. As long as he stayed in the job, I do not care one bit if he was sick or his wife was sick or his mother died or whatever other sob story he wants to offer us...he has to do the job he is paid for..otherwise he has to step aside. To fail so miserably at his job, then stay in the media whinging about this, that and the other leaves a very very bad taste in my mouth.

But Kivuitu is not alone in suffering from this disease, Infact, I fear that the disease is becoming the norm rather than the exception in our society.

The disease in question is the refusal to accept the consequences of one's actions.

In modern day Kenya, nobody is ever at fault for anything, nobody ever takes responsibility for anything. Salesmen are ill-prepared, sullen and rude yet bemoan life when they don't make any sales, ministers act arrogant then bemoan the media when the media turns on them, retailers sell poor products then cry when customers stop coming... Everything is everyone else's fault. Nothing is 'my' fault.

Things go wrong in life, people make mistakes. What makes a person great is not living a mistake-free life, but rather how one reacts to the missteps they make.

Do you own your errors and misjudgements? Do you accept the consequences of your actions?

I believe most people would answer 'yes' but the sad truth in modern day Kenya is more likely than not a firm 'NO'.

Corruption: Disease or Symptom?

2009-08-02T15:13:00.004+03:00

We are always hearing about 'The Fight Against Corruption'. Every public sector office we go to these days is guaranteed to have at least two or three "Fight Corruption" or "Corruption is Evil" posters prominently displayed around the place. Any current affairs television talk show invariably talks about the subject. Wananchi complain that government is too corrupt, government retorts that corruption is a two way transaction and for every corrupt officer, there is a corrupt citizen willing to bribe to get ahead.

I appreciate that we should be talking about corruption and we should be working very hard to tackle corruption however I think that in most cases, corruption is just the last step in the chain of what afflicts us in this country. Corruption is in many ways a symptom of a couple of systemic problems which I believe if fixed would eliminate the majority of corruption.

1. Inefficiency
I once imported a certain car for sale. I followed all the procedures exactly as they are spelled out to get the car registered. Within a week of the car arriving in Nairobi, I had agreed the sale of the car on condition that I could show the prospective buyer the logbook of the car. The logbook took 5 weeks to arrive!! 5 weeks of chasing KRA, "kuja next week", "angalia Monday", "mwenye kusign akoinje" etc etc. Obviously I lost the sale. The prospective buyer got tired of waiting and bought another vehicle from somebody else that did have a logbook. It ended up taking me about 3 months to sell the vehicle. At a significantly lower price than I had agreed with the first buyer. Infact by the time the logbook arrived, car registrations had moved forward (from KBD to KBE) which further weakened my negotiating position.

For Kshs 2-3000, I could have had the logbook 'pushed' and had it within a week. My profit would have been higher and I would have been able to reinvest the funds to import another car. GoK would have collected more tax and I would have earned more for the period.

Inefficiency literally took money out of my pocket, food out of my stomach and funds away from the exchequer!

Given a choice between bribing and starving, the vast majority of human beings will pay a bribe everytime no matter how many "Corruption is Evil" posters are hanging about the place. Inefficiency is like a noose around the neck of any business that has to deal with GoK for its operations. It strangles the life out of businesses.

2. Secret/Complex/Convoluted Processes and Procedures, No accountability
Coupled with inefficiency, having overly, unnecessarily complex, convoluted and secret processes and procedures contributes greatly to allowing corruption to take place and thrive.

Suppose I knew the exact steps my logbook goes through before it is dispatched to me. Now, suppose I also knew which officer is in charge at every step of the way and knew how long each step is supposed to take. Suppose I was provided with the contacts of the officer whose duty it is to oversee the whole process..and his superior and their superior and so on right to the very top of the organisation. The knowledge would empower the public to know exactly how long the process will take and who to contact when things go wrong.

Currently any queries directed at public sector about items being processed yields vague explanations. I remember being told my new passport was ready, going over to Nyayo House and being told that whereas it was indeed ready "bado haijateremka".

In the absence of having systems and processes the public has maximum confidence in; and in light of the corruption problem we have, I believe that we need to radically simplify our processes and procedures AND publicize them.

Fighting corruption in isolation and trying to appeal to our sense of honour with emotional campaigns will not in itself get us any closer to eradicating the problem. We have to reform our systems and processes to ensure that wananchi understand the processes and are getting speedy and efficient service.

Let us carefully examine all our systems and processes, remove unnecessary steps, enable the public to access ALL relevant information about the process and I can all but guarantee there will be a significant fall in corruption.

Because officers have profited from corruption for so long, they are often going to be resistant to changes that enhance efficiency of the system (which would close their earning avenues). This means that the changes have to come from the top. It actually offends me when someone like MG Waweru (CG of KRA) says that 'the public is also at fault for corruption'. Technically it's true, but he needs to be looking at the systems and procedures in place at the organization he heads because his corrupt officer and I might be cogs in the wheel of corruption but the problem starts and ends with the system.

Corruption thrives in the dark, away from scrutiny and in complex, inefficient and convoluted systems. Once we eliminate its natural habitat, corruption will die.

Road Problems..Simple Solution

2009-07-31T08:08:00.002+03:00

I was watching Louis Otieno Live last week when they were in Mombasa talking about roads. The guests were the Mombasa Council town clerk (I forget his name), the roads assistant minister, Dr Machage, the Whitesands Hotel General Manager (I believe his name is Mohammed Hersi).

Truck drivers, truck owners and matatu drivers were also represented in the audience. As you'd expected, there was alot of back and forth about whose fault the poor road network is: Government blamed truckers (overloading) and truck drivers (agreeing to drive overloaded trucks), truckers blamed government (constructing poor roads), truck drivers blamed truck owners (threatening them with the sack if they refuse to drive overloaded vehicles) and government (cracking down on drivers who have no option but to drive trucks for fear of losing their jobs) etc etc.

The Whitesands GM, Mohammed Hersi then suggested something that made lots of sense to me:
Effecting a system of bans for vehicles that flout rules. Very simple and I think it would be very effective. It would work thus:
If a truck is found overloading or a matatu is found flouting rules, the vehicle is taken of the road for a given amount of time...say a week, two weeks, a month or whatever.
His argument was that as soon as it becomes clear that vehicles caught flouting rules are going to suffer a significant loss of income, owners and drivers will take a more active interest in ensuring rules are followed. "Hit rulebreakers where it hurts..their pockets".

The more I think about it, the more I believe that we do need to take this sort of approach. It would shift some of the responsibility for ensuring comnpliance away from police and over to owners of vehicles and by extension, the people they employ to operate their vehicles.

For some reason, this idea appeals to me even more than heavy fines. It just seems simpler; easier to understand & easier to institute. I think the fact that this particular punishment requires no input from the vehicle owner makes it attractive. Whereas someone may lack the funds to pay a fine immediately, a ban is lost income.

The Road that Corruption Built...

2009-07-14T14:21:00.013+03:00

This is Kigwa Road/Ridgeways Road in Ridgeways. Sometime in 2006 or 2007, the NCC tendered for the rehabilitation of this road, along with recarpeting of Garden Estate Road.

The tender was won by a company called Rawford Ltd (or Rawford Construction). Early last year, they started work on the road.

They stripped the little tarmac that remained from the original road (prior to this, the road had not been touched or maintained in any way for over 25 years..it was a mess.)

They then levelled the track and brought in stones for the construction of the new road. Then all work stopped.

Now I hear that Rawford construction was unable to complete work in time and after numerous delays was stripped of the contract and it is going to be re-tendered. I also hear that the company belongs to or is associated with somebody who is/was in the City Council.

As someone jokingly said after driving over the road recently: "If you drive on that track regularly, bits will start falling off your car."

This is one small effect of the corruption, cronyism and nepotism that exists in our institutions. The NCC failed to take care of this road for years and years. And when they finally did do something about it, they were incapable of getting it right first time.

Perhaps it is time we Nairobi residents demanded the right to fix our own roads in lieu of paying land rates (currently illegal I believe). I am sure we would do better.

The NCC has proven itself a total failure. Let them concentrate on painting zebra crossings under footbridges and placing traffic lights where they are never used.

Insania (Kenyan Roads)

2009-07-08T18:41:00.003+03:00

A return to the subject of our roads and drivers:

Overlapping: I believe this is a distinctly Kenyan term. I stand to be corrected but we have taken a word and conferred upon it our own meaning. I do not think that there is any other place on earth where the act of overtaking standing traffic and cutting traffic queues is referred to as overlapping..as I say, I stand to be corrected. Anyway, this phenomenon is really getting out of control. We desperately need to clamp down on it. The overlapping culture is a big contributing factor to the chaos and slow moving traffic we see on our roads.

The build quality of our roads is something that irks me greatly. I believe (again, correct me if I'm wrong) that Muranga Road was resurfaced sometime last year. If not, then I would say that it was definitely done within the last two years. Driving along the road today (on the stretch between Muthaiga roundabout and Pangani roundabout, I noticed that the road is already developing potholes. I keep saying that road building is the probably biggest scam perpetrated in Kenya. Roads should not wear out after 2 years. We have become accustomed to the 1-2 year road maintenance cycle in this country, so much so that we barely seem to notice let alone raise our voices when roads develop potholes so quickly. I believe we desperately need to start getting road building right. Too much money and too many man hours are wasted on road building for it to be an annual or bi-annual occurence.

We need an effective mechanical inspection system for vehicles. Driving into and out of town today, I encountered no fewer than three separate broken down vehicles that were blocking traffic. This is unacceptable in our situation. We have an overburdened road system, with too many cars vying for space. We cannot afford to have lanes of traffic blocked by poorly maintained vehicles breaking down. If we can't get inspection right, then we need to have a system in place that ensures stalled vehicles are moved almost immediately.

Police traffic control needs much better coordination and planning. Yes, the police help sometimes, but the adhoc nature of their operations means that they are as likely to help traffic flow as they are to hinder it. They also only selectively enforce road rules which encourages drivers to be indisciplined.

Traffic lights, zebra crossings and lanes need to be better thought out, better planned and better enforced. This week I noticed that the Uhuru Highway/Kenyatta Avenue roundabout lane designation (coming from Westlands) had been changed. The new designation (left lane for left turns only) makes no sense since the right lane is for right turns only (as far as I remember..unless it too was changed). That means that the expectation is that the three lanes after the roundabout will be fed by two lanes i.e. traffic going straight on Uhuru Highway is only supposed to occupy the two centre lanes into the roundabout. Ofcourse all Kenyans ignore lane designations anyway so what difference does it make right? Well if the lanes are so obviously stupid, it encourages people to act like they don't exist which creates disorder.

Placing Zebra Crossings below pedestrain foot bridges is just ridiculous. Nothing could be stupider than spending millions to construct a foot bridge (with the aim of preventing pedestrains from crossing the road and thereby allowing traffic to flow more freely) then painting a zebra crossing underneath the footbridge (to give pedestrians right of way to cross at the spot)...What is the footbridge for? Shade?!

Soon, if reports are to be believed, we are going to be moving from a roundabout system to a traffic light controlled crossroads system. Sounds brilliant..there is just one problem: The current down time of our traffic lights. I think that the failure rate of our traffic lights is way too high at present. As anyone who has tried crossing Gitanga Road to go from Kingara Road to James Gichuru Road will know, Kenyans do not have the temperament to cope with busy uncontrolled crossroads. They just grind traffic from all directions to a complete halt.

More to come...

Two-Way Communication

2009-07-07T07:18:00.003+03:00

I think that one initiative we need to start in this country is Ministers and PS's in every ministry having some sort of open day forum once a month. The aim of this would be for the minister/PS to report to the public what their ministry has done in that month, update us on what was done in the previous month and listen to the views & feedback of the public. In a sense show us that they are accountable to us and inform us how they are working for us, what challenges they are facing, how we can help etc

Everyday, I see/meet/hear very bright, passionate individuals who have many wonderful thoughts and suggestions on things that could be done to improve our existence. I think that those running our public institutions need to make a more concerted effort to connect with these people and tap into what they have to offer.

We had the Kenya We Want conference and we have the annual Public Service Open Days but I think that these sorts of events need to be much more frequent and need to be less about PR and more about finding solutions to the problems we face. We need frank, open discussions about all the problems that are afflicting us, we need our public servants to be visibly answerable to us and we need creative, innovative solutions made by us, for us.

I would also suggest using technology. Blogging, online ministry forums (think stockskenya but for ministries) etc. Even if that didn't happen, how about having letter writing competitions..encourage the public to write to ministries and publish the 10 or 20 best letters each month. Make the letters form part of the agenda for the next month so that at each monthly forum, we get status reports on steps taken to address the issues raised in the selected letters from the previous months.

We have to be imaginative about finding ways to accelerate our development. We need to find ways to get all the cleverest people working and thinking and contributing towards making this the country that it could (and should) be.

Is this Negativity?

2009-07-06T17:29:00.005+03:00

I have often been accused of being negative about all sorts of things. (Someone on twitter actually said I am "a typical Kenyan always hating on your own" and that I should be proud of what's ours; after all things could be worse (or something to that effect). The person who said this was responding to a statement I made about JKIA Airport (I think I said "it's a dark, dirty hole"....or words to that effect).

I am very critical of the Kibaki administration (I think that they have badly, badly underachieved), I criticize our roads (smooth & durable...it's not rocket science), I criticize service in banks & restaurants...etc etc.

Yes I criticize alot. I fear this may make me a seem to some like a doom and gloom person. Let me set the record straight. I am the biggest optimist imaginable, I genuinely believe that Kenya has got all the potential in the world....what irritates me; what I am critical of is when we do not fulfil that potential or worse still..when we do not even try to fulfil our potential.

Take the example of our airport; Yes, it is small and yes it is old. It is also dark, dingy, dirty, poorly planned and neglected. The first two problems require long term and (possibly) expensive solutions. Is it the same with the last five problems? I do not think so. Our small, old airport should be clean, well lit, well maintained, well laid out and well organized. To say that our airport should be a dump just because it is old and small is defeatist and insulting. Infact, precisely because our airport is old and small, we should make the most of what little space we have available, we should make sure that it is maintained well and kept looking spick and span.

My criticism of the Kibaki administration; yes they have done all sorts of things but ultimately, they have achieved a fraction of what they could and should have achieved had they gone in with any sort of ambition. The wave which swept them into power in 2002 meant that they had the goodwill of the people to really undertake real sustainable reforms in this country. For example; they should have reformed (radically!..not the token reforms we've seen) and streamlined the civil service. They should have radically reformed the judiciary. They did neither. They concentrated their energies on political bickering and instead of a streamlined and efficient civil service, we have the most bloated civil service ever...at a time when the country is going broke. Instead of an efficient justice system, we remain in a situation where even the simplest cases often take years to resolve. #Fail.

The point is, I judge us by a high standard. I think that we should be achieving much more, I think that we should be aiming higher and making less excuses.

Kenyans often seem to have this attitude that having an excuse for not achieving is somehow an acceptable substitute to actually achieving. How many times do people promise to deliver on something and instead hand you excuses?

There's a word for people who accept excuses in lieu of results. Losers. We need to get rid of this loser attitude if we are ever to get anywhere. I hate it when we settle for mediocrity and I speak out about it. If that makes me negative, then so be it.

The Uhuru Budget - Brief Take.

2009-06-15T11:34:00.003+03:00

Firstly (and most importantly); I think the devil will be in implementation.

I think it was good to limit vehicles but what system will be put in place for occasions when officials may need 4x4's?

I think that tax reduction is a much more sustainable means of raising living standards than subsidies. However I felt that reducing taxes on cotton while at the same time reducing tax on Mitumba may be contradictory. Tourist vehicles will now be duty free?...how will these be categorized? Afterall, I believe a large number of tourist vehicles are bought standard and modified locally. (I may be wrong on that)

Sending more funds to constituency level is a good move as it should (theoretically) aid development, spur the constituency economies and increase accountability. I hope the plan includes a system to protect from misappropriation of funds.

Ofcourse, I would have liked to see MPs and constitutional office holders' allowances taxed, and a greater effort at curbing runaway recurrent expenditure.

All in all, I asked for a different budget..and that's what I believe Uhuru delivered. This budget has now placed more onus on the citizens. We need to get out there and start working to exploit the opportunities that have been opened up for us.

"Pumbavu?".. maybe not....

2009-06-06T07:46:00.003+03:00

Once again, the president was making a speech on a National holiday and felt the need to refer to some of his citizens as "pumbavu" (fools). He was of the opinion that only somebody who is a pumbavu would wake up, plan to go to the event and heckle speeches.

Once again, I saw Wetangula and other ministers telling us that we "must respect our president/ministers/MPs."

Anytime somebody criticizes the president/prime minister/ministers/MPs in public, they are either referred to as disrespectful or dismissed as pumbavu.

I find that distasteful, disappointing, frustrating and worrying for this country.

Lazy leadership, greed, incompetence and failed policies have led this country to the brink of self destruction. We cannot even feed ourselves, the majority of our population lives in poverty, we have sky high unemployment..etc. We, the populace, face many problems and challenges.

Yet our leaders clearly send the message that they have no interest in hearing from us. They cocoon themselves behind bullet-proof glass and 10 foot high electric fences and when they do venture out of their enclaves of luxury and mingle with the common man, they expect us to fawn over them like they are delivering the commandments from the mountaintop.

The heckling and public criticism are a sign of desperation. People do not feel like their government is doing enough to enable them to make a living. Worse than that, people do not feel like they have any means of addressing their leaders about their problems. The common man does not feel like he has any means of honestly and frankly engaging with the people who are running the country. That would be fine if they were doing a great job, but the fact is they are not.

Our infrastructure is still rubbish, bureaucracy and public sector inefficiency are still choking the life out of our businesses and corruption is still like a parasite sucking the life blood out of the country. We are struggling through this...and our 'leaders' are busy fighting amongst themselves over tea and crumpets in 5-star hotels.

I will respect the MPs, ministers and president when they start running the country properly. When they stop wasting public resources, stop bickering over petty issues and get down to addressing the problems we face. I will respect them when they start engaging with us and stop hiding in their cars, houses, offices and behind bodyguards and banks of microphones.

Respect is earned and respect is a two way thing. I refuse to respect somebody just because he is old or has been in politics/government for a long time. I respect results and the fact is our government and politics have failed us thus far.

I have in the past suggested that each minister and PS should have periodic(weekly, maybe monthly) barazas/forums to hear from the public, talk one on one to the public and address issues that are raised.

The president should also do the same.

This would allow for a more constructive back and forth between the public and those entrusted with running government, and help government leaders better understand problems/issues that wananchi have. It would also go some way towards enabling wananchi to feel like their leaders are answerable to them.

On Second Thoughts...Are we a Failed State?

2009-05-31T15:21:00.003+03:00

Last week, I watched Mutula Kilonzo react furiously to the Alston report saying that Alston had overstepped his mandate by writing the things he did about Kenya's systems, police force and attorney general. He went on to emphatically assert that 'Kenya is not a failed state!'

Mutula's response is by no means unique. Anytime a foreigner says anything less than complimentary about Kenya, government types can be counted on to respond with similar arguments..."we are a sovereign country", "what business do foreigners have saying that about us" etc etc.

I agree that we are not Somalia. We are still one nation (just about), we have never had full scale civil war, we still have some form of government, we have not had any coups etc etc. We do not yet meet many of the criteria that may be used to define a 'failed state'.

BUT

Can we really be so convinced that we are a success state? I do not think so.

The success or failure of achievements is measured relative to the circumstances within which the achievements are made.

As a country, we have lived a fairly peaceful existence, we inherited fairly decent infrastructure, we have a relatively well educated workforce, we have a fair amount of natural and mineral resources and a good proportion of our land is fertile. We are also fairly strategically placed geographically within the continent.

In short, this country has great potential. Isn't success realizing (or surpassing) potential? Are we realizing our potential? Can we therefore really say that we are not currently failing? Can we honestly say that we are (and have been) making the most of what we have? Absolutely not! We have chronically underachieved. Therefore at this moment in time, we are a failure.

We need to acknowledge that and change our attitudes to reflect that fact and get down to the business of fixing the problem(s).

Rather than 'shooting the messenger' when outsiders talk about us, we should listen to what they say, pick the points that are important and set about fixing them. Whether or not Alston or Annan or Rannenberger et al over-step their mandates is immaterial to me.

What is material is whether any of the observations they make are valid. Is our police force corrupt? Is our police commisioner complicit in killings? Is our attorney general's office inept? What is being done/is going to be done to repair these problems? Those are the issues I believe our government should be addressing whenever they refer to utterances/reports etc.

We need to concentrate our energies on establishing our independence and sovereignity by fulfilling our potential not by posturing like peacocks when sooner or later we are going to be reduced to going begging to the same people for food aid because we cannot feed ourselves. We may disagree with how a message is delivered but we have to take it on the chin and deal with what the message is. After all, we find ourselves in this position due to an abject failure to become self sufficient in the first place.

It doesn't matter where a message comes from, if that message has any iota of validity, if the message can help us improve in any way, then we need to learn to quickly and quietly take what's relevant to us and apply it for the betterment of the country and her people.

When we have improved and become an effective, self sufficient country that is fulfilling its potential, then we can seek to redefine our engagement with our 'development partners'.

The T Spot, Savannah, Java....

2009-05-28T22:39:00.004+03:00

I just came from a meeting at the T Spot. The service we received was shocking!

A friend ordered a burger with fries and tea. His tea arrived AFTER his food. I ordered tea (after waiting for 20 minutes), I got a mochachino. Those are just two examples of what was an all round terrible experience at the place. Service was slow, sullen, rude and incompetent.

Prior to shifting our periodic meetings to the T-Spot, we used to meet at Savannah, Museum Hill. We moved because their service is also terrible and additionally they have a very limited menu that is often executed poorly.

I went to Java, Gigiri last week. Walked in, sat in the booth in the corner, turned on my computer and started working on something. I sat for 10 - 15 minutes without a single waiter approaching me. I eventually called one over and asked for what I wanted. She went off and never came back. I waited 10 more minutes before calling another waiter and making my order. I sat for half an hour in a restaurant with no waiter approaching me! It was not an especially busy time, the waiters were milling about chatting and joking amongst themselves.

Who trains the waiters in these places? It is all well and good investing millions to build a swanky looking place but the the same sort of thought and effort needs to go into ensuring that the customers experience is a good one. Equally important, the same thought and effort needs to go into maintaining standards. When I first visited each of these establishments, the service was excellent. Standards at each of them have gotten progressively worse.

And one last thing....the next time a waiter reaches over my food/drink I just might snap!

Restaurant managers....Smile, be polite, be quick, get orders correct first time and never....NEVER reach over the patrons dish. 5 simple rules that you should train your staff to live by.

Name change

2009-05-28T22:31:00.002+03:00

Hear ye hear ye...."Mystery Shopper" is no more. I will now be blogging as KW.

Reason?...I guess I just grew tired of the pseudonym. It seemed like a good idea at the time but the more I thought about it, the less I liked it. Hopefully this will be the last such change...

Rain. Our Gift.....Our Curse?

2009-05-27T18:13:00.003+03:00

Sometime ago, Alfred Mutua did something that I totally agreed with. (Ironically his superiors really tore him a new one for doing so). Just before the Cross Country championships were to be held in Mombasa, he toured the area, went on a little power trip and had contractors arrested for "doing shoddy work"

The contactors were doing the area roads and when Mutua toured the place, he found newly 'repaired' roads had already developed potholes. He (quite rightly I think) had the contractors arrested and I remember him asking whether there was no rain in other parts of the world since in many other places roads don't spontaneously disappear at the first hint of precipitation.

Well, as I write this, I am sitting in the dark due to one of the recently frequent power failures my neighbourhood has experienced since the start of the rainy season. I have heard the same complaint from numerous other people.

Kenya has an agriculture based economy. One that is almost entirely reliant on rainfall. When rains fail we face rising food prices, rising inflation and even starvation in certain areas.

However it would seem that as far as rain is concerned we are screwed if it fails, screwed if it falls. Because rain invariably means that our infrastructure falls apart. Roads that had been tarmaced develop potholes, electricity supply that had become relatively reliable suddenly becomes erratic.

So the arrival of rain means that the cost of transporting produce will rise, because when the roads fall apart, transporters will have to raise prices to pay for repairs. When the electricity supply becomes erratic, industries will either stop work or have to invest in generators. The net positives that come from rain outweigh the negatives but it seems like a two steps forward, one step back sort of scenario.

If we are ever to start on the path to real development, I think the first step has to be to break out of this cycle.

In this article, Sunny Bindra speaks about how peculiar it is that Kenyan roads are recarpeted so often and more importantly how peculiar it is that Kenyans think this is a good thing. I have previously written about how I think 'road building' just might be the biggest scam in Kenya and because we spend gazillions doing and redoing our roads.

We desperately need to build roads that last, so that we can funnel the funds being used to recarpet and re-recarpet our roads to other areas of development and to increasing our road network (which embarrassingly is basically what it was at independence). We need our electricity supply to be totally reliable so that we can go about being productive without having to invest in generators.

I realize I have not even mentioned flooding and it's effects in this post.....

My CSR

2009-05-24T12:57:00.005+03:00

Having been through what I have been through in my journey to become successfully self employed I have decided that I really would like to do the following someday (possibly as my version of CSR):

Start a not-for-profit One Stop Business Resource, Advisory and Mentorship Centre.

I would like it to be a place where anyone interested in entrepreneurship can go to learn about doing business, get help creating a feasible business plan, get help finding funding for their business idea and get mentorship and guidance to assist them get their business up and running.

It would also have regular educational talks and seminars from professionals, bankers and business people to educate participants about doing business, business finances and other aspects of business.

It would have close ties to banks, prospective investors and venture capitalists to help good ideas find funding.

Perhaps it could be set up to have a fund (donor, government and/or corporate funded) to underwrite any loan defaults.

Perhaps it could also be set up to receive some percentage of successful businesses earnings (from 'graduates') for some period in order to pay for its operations and a commitment from proprietors of successful businesses to stay involved and also mentor other aspiring entrepreneurs as well.

etc etc.

The general idea is to have a place where potential entrepreneurs can get

1. Information (about all aspects of doing business)
2. Financing
3. Mentorship & Support

all under one roof.

That will be my CSR.

Self Employment?...Why?

2009-05-24T08:51:00.004+03:00

Ever since I can remember, I have always wanted to start and build my own business as opposed to be employed. I was always advised that actually "it is better to work for 5-10 years THEN go into business for yourself if you still want to do so". The reason given for this is often that one needs to gain experience before they start a business. I was also told that starting a business is very difficult and it is hell finding capital and every mistake costs you money and so on and so forth.

I disagree with this notion for a few reasons:
Firstly; one of my reasons for wanting to be in business is I want to rely on myself. I want to build something that is going to sustain me and my family in comfort irrespective of economic situation and other external factors. I don't want my fortunes to be tied to the decisions that somebody else makes.

Secondly; I didn't do that well in school. Never have. I am average student at best. This does not in any way reflect how intelligent I am. I think that some people are just not made for this formal schooling thing. Sometimes I wish I skipped the whole uni thing and jumped into the business struggle straight out of high school. Ofcourse, despite not setting the halls of uni alight academically, that period was fantastic for me in terms of exposure and helping me to form many of my ideas. Ironically, I am a fantastic employee. Somehow, my competitive juices just start flowing when I am in a work environment.

Thirdly; I feel like the whole "work for sometime and start your business when you're more secure/have more experience/have more resources" thing is a myth. It may work out that way sometimes but that course also comes with its own speedbumps. I have watched people who have done that and still struggled for a couple of years to set up their businesses, I have seen 'experienced' people also often need a learning period after coming out of employment.

I in no way expected my chosen course to be easy. I am fully prepared to struggle, fail, fall and make mistakes, have periods of self doubt etc etc. But I think that the experience gained from taking this course will serve me well. My course is basically a wager that by the time I am 35 or 40, I will be further along the road to self sufficient success than the guy who worked for 10-15 years and decided to quite at 35 or 40. I guess only time will tell, but I'm glad I am in the driving seat.

Importantly, I also want to struggle now, while I am young and before I have a family to cater to. I want my learning curve to be over and done with by the time I have sons, daughters and a wife to look after. I would rather go through this struggle today than 10 years from now when any failure or mistake will affect not just me but others who rely on me and who look up to me to provide for them.

All the above arguments do not even factor in the practical reality that it is now harder than ever to get a good job in Kenya.

Anyway..coming up soon, I will talk about some of what I have seen in trying to go on this path and what I have decided will be my CSR when I do take hudumabora inc. to the bigtime (Actually this post started as that but I got carried away with background).

Name Game

2009-04-18T20:54:00.002+03:00

I need to start keeping note of names of all the customer facing staff I deal with. I am forever getting sent on wild goose chases due to wrong information but I rarely know the names of the people who bend me over. This must change now! I will know the names of all the incompetent morons who feed me wrong information and I will henceforth be putting them on blast in any and every way I can. I am sick to death of this sh**!!!

Emirates/KCB Offer - Mission Impossible

2009-04-18T19:56:00.004+03:00

On Wednesday 25th March I received an email from Loise Mucheru of KCB. It read as follows: (verbatim)

Use your KCB VISA / MasterCard and enjoy a 10% discount on every purchase of Emirate’s ticket: to London, Dubai, Istanbul, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Seoul. This special offer is on all bookings made before 19^th June 2009. Use your KCB card, the preferred card.

This was great news for me as I had a planned trip coming up and I just so happen to also have a KCB Mastercard.

On Tuesday 14th April, I started the booking process for the trip. I went online, checked fares etc then made my way to the Emirates offices at Anniversary Towers to book my ticket. My intention was to reserve the ticket and pay for it towards the end of the week. (I tend to prefer making reservations at the ticket offices because up until recently online reservations tended to cancel themselves after a day or so. I also prefer dealing with a real life person).

Anyway, the lady checks prices and the quote for my journey came up about 5 or 10% more expensive than the quote I had found on the airline website. This I was told was because there is a special online booking discount. I was advised to go book my itinerary online and choose the 'Pick ticket from local office' option, then return to the office when I was ready to make my payment. I mentioned to the lady (twice!) that I intended to pay using a KCB credit card to take advantage of the 10% discount offer. I asked her whether this only applied to online bookings or to ALL bookings. She informed me both times that it applies to all bookings. She assured me that it would be no problem whatsoever to pay at their offices and the discount would be applied irrespective.

I went online and did as instructed. Booked itinerary, seats, meal preferences and picked the 'collect tickets' option and was given until Sunday 19th April to pay for the ticket.

The only hurdle that paying by KCB credit card presented for me was that my credit limit would not cover the cost of the ticket. So on Friday (17th April), head off to my KCB branch (VM) and ask 3 different people whether if I paid more than was due on my credit card (i.e. paid the card into debit), I would have any problems. They said all said no. After I had deposited the money, I called KCB card centre to notify them of the payment I had made and again clarified that it was all good regarding payments. No hint of any trouble from that front either. No mention of any transaction limit.

So today I head over to Emirates offices to pay for my ticket and collect it. Guess what?..."THE 10% DISCOUNT ONLY APPLIES TO ONLINE PAYMENTS". I am advised to go online, make a fresh booking and then cancel the old booking afterwards. I go off and try to do so and my transaction keeps getting declined.

So I call KCB card centre and get told that my card has an online transaction limit...and that any request to increase that limit must be made in writing..on Monday!! Reason being no managers are present over the weekend who can authorise such a transaction. The only people working on Saturdays are the authorisations team who ironically cannot authorise my purchase.

At this moment (8.30pm, Saturday 18th) I have made about 10 phone calls to KCB Card Centre authorisations, sent 3 emails AND hand delivered a letter to them in Sarit to raise the limit and let me complete my transaction. I have to say they have been very helpful and have promised to try get someone in tomorrow morning to sort me out.

The people I blame for this..other than myself for leaving the whole thing so late (not really my fault though..my ticket booking was contingent on a payment I was waiting for that I only received on Friday) are Emirates ticketing and reservations staff.

They have screwed me good and proper by giving me totally wrong information again and again.

I will eventually get the problem sorted out and buy my discounted ticket and make my trip (maybe a day or two late)..but it has really been a big inconvenience and a very aggravating experience for me.

How to get Kenya's Obama Elected (A layman's view)

2009-04-13T08:24:00.004+03:00

In this post, I touted Edwin Macharia as Kenya's own potential Obama. It got me thinking...Assuming he was interested in gunning for the top job in 2012. How could he (or any other new face with presidential ambitions for that matter) go about it?

(Disclaimer: This is purely from a layman point of view..more experienced political minds can feel free to point out any deficiencies or better yet add on their ideas):

In no particular order:

1. Differentiation: He should totally differentiate himself from the current system. He should go out of his way to portray himself as coming from outside the system. He should be aiming to form his own political party and not join any of the existing ones. He should market his party as the youth vehicle.

2. Build a Good, Diverse Team: He should build a team of intelligent, ambitious, passionate people, preferably young (but not necessarily so). Countrywide. If possible as many of these people should also be fresh faces. He should recruit people who will really believe in him and his message and vision for the country. Ofcourse in a democracy you cant necessarily pick who will follow you but that is why it would be important to pick the right people to begin with.

3. Craft a strong issue based, national message, Sell the message: He has a good grasp of issues, policies and the effect they have on the populace at large. Together with his team, he can refine his ideas and craft them into something marketable to Kenyans from all corners of the country. Firstly he has to sell the vision to his team, make sure they are really on board, really believe in the message, then send out the team to start spreading that message. Each region will have the message tailor-made to appeal to them but by and large it will be a national message. Part of the remit of this will include educating the populace about what the effects of certain things are (bad policies, vote selling etc).

4. Go grassroots, stay on message: Have his team out there selling him at the grassroots. Make periodic visits to all areas to meet and connect with the people.

5. Use technology: To keep in contact with the team, to keep his finger on the pulse, to help get his message out there and for fundraising.

6. Start now....but start under the radar: Start building his team now. Start finding like minded individuals across the country, approach them, sell them his vision, get them onboard. Get them really believing and then get them out there slowly recruiting more like minded folks. The next year or two should be spent quietly building his team and network (people and funds). By mid 2011 or so, he should aim to have a strong national network and a good fundraising mechanism, ready for the beginning of active campaigning.

Some points are repetitive and I'm sure there's some things I've missed out but that's what I could think of off the top of my head.

In my view, the current environment in Kenya presents a good opportunity for a new face who can get out there and galvanise Kenyans (specifically the youth) around them. It's still early but if we have such an individual he/she needs to start planning and working towards it now.

Kenya's own Barack Obama?...

2009-04-10T09:03:00.006+03:00

This is Edwin Macharia (picture from amherst.edu). In 2007, he ran for the Kieni seat against Chris Murungaru and eventual winner Nemesyus Warugongo.

I have seen this guy on the 'Louis Otieno Live' tv show a few times, most recently last night and he never fails to impress me.

He's very smart, knowledgeable, articulate and seems to have clear ideas about how this country needs to move forward.

Mutahi Ngunyi speaking on Capital Talk last night made a sad yet valid point in reference to why we wind up with such bad political leaders. He said that "the problem we have in this country is that the men and women of good intention have no passion but those of bad intention have lots of passion".

Hearing Edwin speak, I would say that this is a young man of good intention who has plenty of passion.

I am glad losing in Kieni did not make him give up on politics because this is the sort of leader I think we really need to have in this country.

Do look out for this guy because I genuinely think that he could be Kenya's own Barack Obama.

Publicize ALL Public Works Contracts

2009-04-07T08:46:00.004+03:00

Every time I drive around and see a newly repaired road that has all but disintegrated at the first sign of precipitation, I find myself wondering what the design criteria for the road was, who was in charge of inspecting the construction works to ensure the road is built/repaired to the required standard, what was paid for the road building/repair etc.

I personally think that road building is the biggest scam in Kenya and has been for some time. I find the standard of road building poor. Roads often fall apart within one or two years. The standard of road repair is also abyssmal meaning that once the road gets potholes after its one year of service, the repairs that are done leave a terribly rutted and uneven surface. Roads are supposed to be smooth. How many of our roads fit that description?

I think that one measure that could be instituted to increase accountability with roads (and other public works projects) is to publicize the roads building and maintenance contracts. By publicize, I don't mean have a board hidden behind a tree with microscopic writing on it placed at some random location miles from where the actual work is to take place, I mean have full details of the contracts either put out in the press or better yet on the Ministries websites. The following could be included:

Cost of the project
Full Design Criteria
Time to Completion
Company undertaking Project
Reasons for company being awarded tender
Inspection methodology
Name of official incharge of inspection for the particular project
Penalties for failure to meet deadlines both for contactor as well as GoK
etc etc

For example, we the public should be made aware that Thika Road is being built by Con Struct Ltd at a cost of 2 billion over a timespan of 2 years with a handover date of xx/xx/20xx. We should be made aware that the contract includes building drainage and culverts and a layer of tarmac at least 5 inches thick with the road expected to have a lifespan of at least 20 years and that I.N Spector is in charge of inspecting the project to ensure that its being built to the correct spec, will conduct monthly inspections and for every month behind schedule the project is the contractor loses 10 million..etc etc....if the public is aware what our tax shillings are being used for, it would further incentivize GoK and contractors to ensure we get value for money.

I think that taking this approach may help towards ensuring that we finally start getting value for our tax money where public works projects are concerned.

Edit: The following two key points from Bankelele would also go some great way to adding to accountability:

- publish the names of all company directors' that are given government contracts. If a company does not perform it gets blacklisted, along with its directors
- reverse the Ndegwa commission rules and re-instate ban civil servants from engaging in private business

Inefficiency breeds Corruption - Kilindini Port

2009-03-25T10:14:00.009+03:00

I am sure it is not a new argument to put forth but I think that the majority of corruption in Kenya is largely due to inefficient/non transparent systems.

The corruption is merely a symptom of of the above illness.

I just cleared some items from the port of Mombasa. Due to a problem with KPA's computers about two or so weeks ago, Clearing Agents were unable to generate IDF's for about 10 days. (IDF stands for Import Declaration Form - the document that is used to inform Customs about the import..without one your goods cannot be processed through customs).

Because of this problem, no goods were cleared from the port for about a week or so. This obviously caused a backlog and meant that the goods I was having cleared not only sat in the port for 10 extra days but were delivered to me damaged. (I cannot prove the damage was actually sustained in Mombasa but as I personally delivered the goods to the ship on the other end, and my agent informs me that they were damaged when they were leaving the port, my suspicion is that they sustained the damage while sitting in the port).

I estimate that repairing the damage will cost me at least 70-80,000 Kshs.

Upon taking a look at the invoice from my clearing agent, I noticed some entries called 'incidentals'. Turns out this is just a euphemism for bribes. Seems that despite my goods sitting in port for 10 extra days, my agent still had to 'move' the process along otherwise my goods would have been there forever..incurring further costs in form of port charges etc and risking even further damage to my products.

If our port system was not only efficient but transparent, it would limit the leeway available for people to seek/demand bribes for offering services that they are paid to offer.

MP's Humbly Request Pay Rise

2009-03-19T08:56:00.002+03:00

The nerve!

'Mr Midiwo said given the current rate of inflation, since the last review, Sh1.5 million would be “the reasonable figure” that MPs should be taking home.'

'Mr Midiwo termed last year's budget proposal to have MPs’ allowances taxed as “mischievous and cheap politics” meant to set the public against the National Assembly.'

Coming at a time when GOK is admittedly broke and when millions of Kenyans are starving, this is really in bad taste.

Long Rains

2009-03-10T08:04:00.002+03:00

We've been warned.

From NTV News yesterday (sorry couldn't find the clip online):

The long rains are expected to start in the next two or so weeks. A few parts of the country will experience increased levels of rainfall (more than usual/expected) but most parts of the country will experience depressed levels of rainfall (less than usual/expected). Areas like Eastern, Central and North Eastern will fall in the latter category, with areas around Lake Victoria falling into the the former category.

Despite the depressed nature of the rainfall, meteorologists still expect some storms to occur so flood prone areas are at risk of experiencing flooding.

Advice from the meteorologists to farmers was to plant crops that will not require very much water and that mature fast so that we do not find ourselves in a drought situation later in the year.

This is a critical piece of information and should be placed top of everybody's agenda.

Our Agricultural Ministry should be going round passing this advice to farmers; so too our leaders.
Our disaster management authorities and local authorities in flood prone areas should be on the ground now taking measures to avoid catastrophic flooding and ensuring preparedness if such flooding does occur.
Our water authorities around the country should be putting measures in place to harvest water and should pass some tips to the populace to do the same. We as the populace should also get the ball rolling, lets start talking about it and discussing it. Let TV stations carry stories on it. We need to harvest and conserve whatever water we get in the form of these rains.
Local authorities should be unblocking drainages to ensure that road works done over the dry season are not immediately undone by the rains.
Individually we should also be buying our umbrellas, car wipers etc now rather than wait til the rain arrives and the prices are increased by 20-30% or more.

Those are just a few of the top of my head but the point is we have afford to be caught napping when these rains do come. We've been warned.

Originality and Creativity: Status...idle

2009-03-02T11:40:00.008+03:00

I don't understand why we have such bad and boring adverts aired on our local television stations. I sometimes wonder if this is depictive of the Kenya we have (as opposed to the Kenya we want). According to Mystery Shopper public institutions should be smart and creative (amongst other things) however, even private institutions sometimes fail to be smart and creative. I mean if an advert is supposed to influence or persuade someone - a potential customer to buy a certain product, then the ones I have been watching on TV are doing a dismal job. They are often so uncreative that I watch them thinking of how they can be improved. To this day I only have four adverts that I like; Sunlight bar soap (an old one that was aired years ago and is no longer being aired); the colorful Vuka-2 advert (the newest one for the Vuka product from Zain), the Auto Assured advert of a man removing a spec of dirt from one of his car tires with what seems to be his wife's tooth-brush and lastly; the Eveready Battery Advert, where a certain night watchman ties his torch (flash-light) on string which is hanging from a tree and leaves it on all night, hops onto his bicycle, goes to his home to sleep then goes back to the house he works at in the morning to ‘sign-out’ of work.

All sectors private or public, all industries small or big should think out the box and be innovative. This would improve competitiveness in the business environment and stop this current practice we see where new products seem to copy old existing ones in terms of branding, colours and even names. I guess their aim is to try and confuse people into buying the new product but I don't think this is a good marketing strategy. Examples? Blue Band margarine; a product by Unilever that has been in the market for many years, new entrant; Bidco’s Gold Band notice the word ‘band’? Need another example? How about Cadbury’s Drinking chocolate? New entrant; Raha; uses very similar packaging down to the colour! I am sure there are many more products that have fallen victim to this sad phenomenon. What’s that about??? Where is originality, creativity and innovation??? This is definitely not the Kenya I want.

"At Least We're not as Bad as......."

2009-02-22T21:53:00.011+03:00

Often when politicians in government and government employees like PS's are interviewed on corruption scandals, poor service delivery, inefficiency etc, they will say things like "even the west has scandals", "country 'a' (usually USA/UK/Germany or some other 'developed country') is just as bad/worse, "at least we are not as bad as country d (usually Somalia)" etc etc.

I find this argument counter productive at best; damaging and insulting at worst.

Rather than consoling ourselves with what is rubbish or average, we need to be benchmarking ourselves with what is the very best in the world. If our quest is truly to make this country great, we do not have the luxury of patting ourselves on the back because others have bigger scandals or worse roads or slower service provision.

The developed economies can absorb some corruption and they can absorb some inefficiency.

Our government needs to realize that ours cannot; that one shilling has far greater significance to Kenya and to a Kenyan than it does to the US or UK or Saudi Arabia and to their citizens.

Comparing us and our scandals/inefficiency to them and theirs is abit like me comparing losing a million of my shillings to Chris Kirubi losing a million of his. The loss of the million would cripple me financially, it would probably not even dent his bank balance.

So whereas CK can be extravagant, cavalier and don't care with his resources, I cannot afford to be the same with mine.

I think that each and every one of our Government departments/parastatals/councils and tax spending organizations should be looking at who is the best at doing what they do in the world and replicating or surpassing that for Kenyans.

Our vehicle registration department, for example, should not concern itself with how bad Italy's vehicle registration system is, but with which country's vehicle registration system is the best and how we in Kenya can copy, adapt and implement a system of our own that is either to that standard or better. I don't care if the registration department in question is in the US, Bahrain, Rwanda or Tibet.

Great people do not become great by being average..they out-hustle, out-think, out-try and out-fight average people. Similarly if we want our country to be great, then we are going to have to aim for much higher than average. I would like to see this reflected in the things our ministers/PS's and others say and do.

Uhuru Highway...again

2009-02-22T10:06:00.003+03:00

In this post, I expressed the hope that following the re-carpeting of Uhuru Highway, the contractors would smooth out the 'bumps' that have effectively been created at every junction where there is a height difference between the old and new layers of tarmac. To date this has not occurred.

I am sincerely hoping it won't be the case but I am increasingly starting to think that things are going to be left as they are. These bumps slow down traffic and create artificial bottlenecks. One thing we really, really do not need on our city centre roads is more bottlenecks.

My fingers are crossed that this will be addressed soon as it would be totally infuriating if having taken away one source of traffic jams by fixing the road, the powers that be introduce another in the form of these bottlenecks.

Mr/Ms Nairobi Driver.....

2009-02-21T08:51:00.007+03:00

Dear Kenyan,

You're driving towards the National Museum from town at rush hour. The route most would take is along Uhuru Highway - Museum Hill roundabout - Museum Hill. Yes?

Ofcourse there's plenty of traffic joining the Museum Hill roundabout..especially in the innermost lane. Infact the line in that lane is significantly longer and slower than the other two lanes.

Do you:

a) Join the queue and hope the police at the roundabout are helping rather than hurting traffic flow today or

b) Chuckle at all the losers queuing in a slow lane, zoom past and try to squeeze in at, or near the roundabout.

Those that would pick (b), I have this to say to you:

It is likely that you are amongst those who watch news/read newspapers and shake your head at how much our selfish/thieving leaders are ruining our country.

At some level Mr/Ms queue jumper, you are William Ruto/Yagnesh Devani or whoever you are lamenting about today...here's why:

What you do everyday at Museum Hill roundabout (and countless other roads across Nairobi) is advance your own selfish interests in a manner that is detrimental to the greater good of the society in which you exist.

The 'losers' in the queue are also tired/just want to get home/have kids to pick from school/meetings to attend/places to get to etc. They are also frustrated and fed up with our traffic, our police (who are as likely to worsen traffic flow as to make it better) and the 'other' drivers who behave like maniacs. But they queue anyway.

I'm sure you'll say its no big deal, that I'm making too much of it, that it does not harm anyone..but I beg to differ. You're actions slow down traffic flow and contribute to the congestion. It is in large part because of you and others like you that the innermost lane is so clogged and moving so slowly. I can guarantee you if nobody did what you chose to do, that queue would move much quicker and the vast majority of us would get where we are going a lot faster. Therefore my friend, what you are doing amounts to stealing our time...which means that you are stealing our money. But you don't care about that do you? You have places to go/things to do that are much more important than anything all the others have to do right?..Plus...you can get away with it.

Yagnesh, Ruto etc do the stuff you complain about because they KNOW they will get away with it. So ask yourself again as you zoom past the losers in the slow lane...if you KNEW you could get away with stealing 1 or 2, 4 or 8 billion from innocent Kenyan taxpayers...would you do it?

I am inclined to think that in many cases the answer would be 'yes' for many of you chronic 'petty' traffic offenders. You won't say it out loud but your actions on a daily basis say much more than your loud lamentations.

Therefore your complaint is less about the dishonesty and immorality that you see/hear about in news everyday and more about the fact that you have not had the opportunity that the Pattnis and Too's of this world have had.

You will probably find it extreme and offensive that I would draw such conclusions about you from such a small act but your small act is symptomatic of the ills you complain about in our society.

So, Dear Sir/Madam, please think carefully about your actions on the road and act in a way that not only benefits society, but will also, more importantly, convey whatever message you wish to give about the sort of person you really are.

Travel Post 1 - The airports

2009-02-19T17:36:00.003+03:00

After the great passport fiasco of 2008, the time came for me to strap on my parachute.

My itinerary was JKIA - DXB - LHR.

JKIA:
Its been said time and time and time again (often as you'll notice by Cold Tusker) that JKIA is a hole. It is. There's no other way to put it. It is dark, cramped, shabby and really quite dirty.

Yes..the airport is old and we either need an upgrade/expansion/renovation or a whole new airport but I personally do not think that we are making anywhere near the most of what we do have at the moment. For example, there is no reason whatsoever for the place to be so disgustingly dirty. The fixtures and fittings are of the very lowest quality and standard and are falling apart, the place is packed with many tiny shops that all seem to do the same 2 or 3 things....alcohol, perfumes, chocolates, curios (and often have no staff manning them), at arrivals passport control there were boxes and other crap spilling out of the some cupboard off to the side...I mean its just generally terribly shabby and tacky...there's a real low rent feel to the place....from the wobbly writing stand provided for filling in departure cards to the 'burglar proofing chic' look that seems to have been the design brief for the place. Its a sad and pathetic airport that conveys lack of care, planning or any sort of ambition.

DXB:
Oh my wow! One thing that you definitely cannot say about Dubai airport is that whoever it belongs to is lacking ambition. I did not think that the old terminal (Terminal 1) was anything to scoff at, but the new terminal (Terminal 3) is phenomenal..if only for its sheer size. I walked over to Terminal 1 and by comparison it now seems small, stuffy, crowded and very underwhelming. Of course with Dubai, there's often the impression that they have perfected the art of the super glossy veneer that hides a fairly average if not tacky underbelly (and there are hints of it when you peep into certain nooks and crannies) but all in all it is a very nice place to transit through.

The shops are huge, the staff are plentiful and super attentive and the selection of certain things (alcohol, fragrances to name a couple) is just confusing. Nice space, seemingly well thought out, well planned, well trained and ample staff and a feeling that all aspects within it work in tandem..ie..the airport management, airline management and duty free management.

LHR:
London Heathrow...my impressions...nice lights illuminating their Terminal 3 building (also has a nice exterior quadrangle) and crowded.... Badly crowded and quite cramped.

Its not as bad as JKIA in that the shops are pretty okay and presented well and it is not as (evidently) filthy but it also gives the impression of being an airport that is stretched to its very limits.

NTV news, KTN news

2009-02-19T10:05:00.004+03:00

To quote a Bernie Mac line......"I'm sick a' this sh**"...

During yesterdays NTV news bulletin at 9, I noticed two misspellings that should not have been there. They spelled Bonny Khalwale's name wrong when they were interviewing him (I think they interviewed a fellow called Khawalale or something) and they were talking about 'draw dawn' (rather than draw down) at the KPC in their oil shortage story.

I notice these sorts of very basic mistakes all the time on NTV news...especially with the written information that accompanies their stories or the stuff that scrolls at the bottom of the screen throughout the news bulletin. It always makes me wonder....who the hell is in charge of editing and ensuring that they transmit stuff that is at the very least grammatically correct? Is he/she Linus Gitahi's brother/wife? Why else would they even still have the job when its been shown that they are not doing it?

What is the hiring criteria for reporters, copy writers etc at our local stations? Do you just have to have two eyes, two hands and a voice? How else could someone like Larry..........................................................(pause)...................................................Madowo be a reporter? Who told the dude that pausing for a minute between his first and last names was cool, interesting, funny or clever? How does his boss allow it? Is it a private running joke at the station?

There are also often grammatical errors, nonsensical sentences, mispronounced words and the content and flow of many stories is quite poor.

And when and why did they start cutting to reporters on location....in their own offices!!!! Whats is the logic of having Rob Nagila provide the vocal for a story with all its various graphics and clips, then cut to him... standing in the NTV office, mic in hand to give us the story outro. If the story did not include a reporter reporting from a related location, why not just end the clip with dude saying his name..sight unseen?

As for the KTN news coverage, they also make the same basic mistakes, but what really gets my goat is their introduction to the news where they basically get on their soapbox for 2 minutes and tell us what they think/prescribe/recommend about goings on of the day/week/month. Why??!! I watch the news to see what's happening not to hear what the powers that be at KTN think about it. If they want to give us their opinion, they should create a whole different show...maybe call it 'KTN Thinks....' or something similar...or perhaps have an editorial segment after the news where they discuss the days news and their opinion on it. Why is the segment at the very top of the show? Do they think that their opinion about the day's news is more important than the actual news??

Strangely enough, I don't really watch much Citizen or K24 news despite my obvious irritation with the big boys news bulletins. Is their news coverage any better?

The Kenya We Want...The Kenya I Want....

2009-02-06T05:24:00.003+03:00

Smart, creative, progressive, honest and competent management of all public institutions and public resources.

I think if we had that, the rest would gradually fall into place.

Anything I've missed out or that should be added?

Month of Tragedies

2009-02-02T16:50:00.000+03:00

My condolences to all those who lost loved ones in the two recent tragedies.

We as Kenyans, individually and collectively need to take a long hard look at ourselves, what we are doing and where we are going.

It is heart-wrenching to see death, injury and destruction on such a scale but what makes it so much worse is the fact that both of these tragedies were ultimately totally avoidable.

Mama wrote a stirring post on this subject and I think every Kenyan should read and re-read it.

More later....

Government e-services

2009-01-09T20:05:00.002+03:00

The Government today launched a new service for tracking passport and ID applications via sms. Sounds like a step in the right direction and I hope it works well.

Motor Vehicle CRSP List (Current Retail Sale Price)

2009-01-06T12:49:00.004+03:00

Edit: I just re-read this post and realised that I did not properly explain what the CRSP is.

The CRSP is the list of vehicle values that KRA use to calculate duty payable on vehicle imports. It is basically the showroom price of a new vehicle as bought from a main dealer at the time of importing. When importing a car, KRA will usually calculate your duty payable as a percentage of the CRSP of the car.

Happy New Year.

The past few days have been filled with intense frustration trying to get hold of the current KRA CRSP list.

I called KRA who directed me to the Kenya International Freight and Warehousing Association..or KIFWA for short (apparently the list is given to KIFWA for onward circulation to clearing agents and KIFWA members). After much calling and a little running around, I managed to track KIFWA down (because the contact details they have in the directory are out of date). Anyway KIFWA claim not to have the CRSP or to have heard of it so they directed me back to KRA. I also tried to get the same through a clearing agent but had no luck (they sent me an outdated list).

I simply cannot for the life of me understand why something like that is kept secret/hidden. It is what is used to calculate duty payable on imported cars so common sense says that it should be available to all so that anyone can calculate their duty easily. It should be available as a download on the KRA website...afterall they already have the duty calculation template available for download. That way, I do not have to waste my time calling KRA everyday to get new vehicle prices and they can concentrate on serving more important functions.

Safaricom Data - Marked Improvement

2008-12-19T17:17:00.003+03:00

As a follow-on from this post, I have recently noticed a significant improvement in quality of Safaricom's data network.

Reception is now stronger than ever before and the constant disconnections I had earlier complained about seem to be gone.

Great stuff and long may it continue.

ECK

2008-12-11T16:57:00.002+03:00

The current saga with the ECK has totally shocked and outraged me. What does somebody have to do to be discredited in this country?

The ECK oversaw an election that brought this country to the brink of war. That is a fact...and that has to be a sackable offense.

As I see it, the ECK has two main responsibilities as relates to elections:

1) Conduct free and fair elections

2) Always be perceived to carry out 1) above.

The second responsibility is at least as important as the first. It is what builds the credibility of the institution. They totally, completely, catastrophically failed to fulfil the second function of their existence.

It should not even have been a matter of waiting to be sacked..these guys should have walked the day the peace agreement was signed AND they should have abdicated any right they had to any payments arising from this election.

There may be a case to be made for keeping or reassigning the staff but the mangement of the organisation (the commisioners) should slink away quietly and never ever even fathom the idea of holding any public positions ever again.

They are either negligent or incompetent and the very loud message all Kenyans should be sending out is that there is no room for negligence or incompetence in tax-payer funded positions.

Passport Control - 2

2008-12-07T10:37:00.003+03:00

Following on from this post, here is a list of my observations of the shortcomings in the passport collection system and suggestions to make it better.

1. Tracking Information: The online tracking system should be working. Even in the absence of that, absolutely under no circumstances whatsoever should somebody be told to go and collect their passport before it is actually ready to be handed over to them. Immigration should also insist that everyone who is going to collect their passport either checks online (when they fix the system) or calls in beforehand to ascertain whether the passport is actually ready. That way, you avoid having people making the trip and contributing to the congestion and confusion in the banking hall unnecessarily.

2. Crowd Control in Banking Hall: Sometimes, they have a guy posted at the main door, checking what people are going to do in the hall and turning away those that don't have receipts (this obviously tends to be around lunch-time when it becomes more important to reduce the rush). If you show this guy your receipt, he allows you in and points to Counter 13 as where you need to go. Unfortunately, Counter 13 has 3 workstations, which generate 3 queues. Only two of those stations deal with checking passport status. Immigration have provided no way whatsoever for somebody to know what queue is for what..except asking other people who are queuing...so its pretty easy to queue in the enquiries line, then have to re-queue to check your status.

To further compound this problem, quite a large percentage of the time, the workstations are left unmanned. This means that you end up with a situation where one queue moves while the other stands still or both don't move or the first stands still while the second moves.

I would suggest having two queues. One leading to the workstation on the extreme left of the three workstations at Counter 13 for General Enquiries and the other feeding to the other two workstations for passport status checking. The queues should be separated by these barrier things you find in banks and there should be signs above each workstation to inform customers where to go. (Ofcourse, if suggestions from point 1 above were in place, the 'check passport status queue could be done away with altogether). I would further suggest instituting a policy that workstations must be manned for at least 95% of the working day.

3. Convoluted System: Why queue to Counter 13 to check status, then queue for Counter 14 to hand over your receipt, then wait? Why not queue to Counter 13, hand over your receipt and wait for your passport to be delivered at Counter 14? That eliminates one queue and cuts down on confusion about the place.

4. Staff: The staff are rude, sullen and surly BUT I don't know that I could fully blame them(frontline staff that is). They are operating within a system that may as well have been designed by a child. Such is its unsuitability to the purpose that it serves. When I was walking around complaining, quite often the staff response was "We are doing the very best we can....Look at how many people we have to serve". What they don't seem to understand or realize is that a large percentage of the people crowding the hall are only there because the system is so very poorly designed and so utterly inefficient.

Mr. Karoki complained about going to get my passport personally BUT he only had to do so because the system that he oversees is totally useless so he ends up wasting time dealing with stupid minor things like going to collect one individuals passport instead of doing his job of ensuring efficiency. And that brings me to my main point...

5. Management: IMHO, these guys are either incompetent or indifferent. Either way, they should be sent packing.

It is they who design the system, train and deploy the staff and are responsible for customer satisfaction. From my experiences at this place over many days, they completely fail on all counts.

Like I said, the fact that the officer-in-charge was wasting time collecting my passport personally is a symptom of his failure to do his job. He should be ensuring that the system he runs fulfils its function so well that no silly little complaints/issues come his way and he can concentrate on his core function..oversight and ensuring service delivery.

I also think that every PS and minister should be forced to have their applications dealt with in the same manner as your ordinary mwananchi because I am positive that would quickly see the system cleaned up, streamlined and made more efficient. Part of this problem is that it seems 'Wakubwa" actually have no idea of the rot that exists in these sorts of departments...simply because they don't actually ever experience the paralysing inefficiency that characterizes operations in these departments.

None of the suggestions I had require that much monetary input. I mean, they have a huge screen TV in the hall..why not put it to some use; for example; to alert customers to proceed to Counter 14 to pick their passports? They could easily use the split screen function and have half the screen showing Citizen or whatever and the other scrolling the names of the ready for collection passports (rather than have some hoarse voiced fellow shouting names and nobody being able to hear what names he's shouting).

As far as I could see passport control is by no means short staffed...they often have many staff members milling about or standing chatting with each other...it is just horribly and criminally mismanaged.

If GOK is serious about development and improving service delivery, these are the first things that have to be drastically improved. They must design systems that allow/force the staff to be totally efficient. They must design systems that make best use of the resources we have.

That way, we don't waste time getting passports/licenses/logbooks etc and instead proceed with our productive activities to earn our living which we then pay taxes on, which they then use to build us to 'developed status'.

Passport Control Nairobi

2008-12-06T15:26:00.003+03:00

I recently applied for a replacement passport and was informed it would be ready after one week. I was given a receipt with a tracking number that I could use to track the progress of my application. The online facility for tracking wasn't working so I had to either phone or go to Nyayo House to check whether my passport was ready.

5 weeks, numerous visits and phonecalls later, I called up and was finally told that the passport was ready and I should go and collect it.

The Nyayo House banking hall where passport collection is done, has two counters. Counter 13(labelled "Enquiries") deals with general enquiries and checking of the passport status and counter 14 labelled "Collection of Ready Passports" is where you go to get your ready passport.

The process for collection is:

1. Present receipt at counter 13.

2. If passport is ready, retrieve receipt with newly written passport number and proceed to Counter 14. If not go home and try again in "a week" or "two weeks"

3. At Counter 14, hand over receipt.

4. Sit and wait for your name to be called out. (Big..nay..Mega screen TV provided for your entertainment..was tuned to Citizen TV on the day I was there..covering some KRA event)

5. Upon hearing your name..(over the din of all the people milling about in the hall), proceed back to counter 14 and collect your passport.

On the day I went, Steps 1-4 took about one and a half hours. I was pretty much fed up by the time I heard my name.

I proceeded to the counter to collect my passport and was met with the following (flippantly): "Hii yako haija teremka....angalia kesho".

I was gobsmacked.

Seriously??...Its not like I had just turned up out of the blue...I had actually phoned before I showed up and been told to come pick my passport. I had been through the process above (which by the way is the most retarded, convoluted system imaginable for the simple task of collecting a passport).....and a full non-productive morning later, I am just shooed away like beggar asking for 10 bob on the streets!

I was livid..stormed around complaining, asked to speak to officer-in-charge and was told he was in a meeting. So I left.

I phoned up in the afternoon and spoke to said officer-in-charge (Mr Karoki) and tried to relay the point that it is just not right to make somebody waste a full morning of their day only to not have their passport ready....he didn't seem too bothered by that point but instead told me to go the next morning and collect my passport from him personally (how nice of him to do me such a huge favour right? Big shot personally tending to my needs.). We agreed on mid-morning.

Next day turn up at 10am, he's not at his desk and there's a queue of about 6-7 people waiting for him. Wait in queue, he keeps coming and going, helps one or two people at a time then leaves. Eventually find myself at head of the queue at which point he has to rush of to do something. That was 11.30. At 12.30, his secretary tells me he's gone for lunch and that I should leave and come back at 2pm. I refuse. She mumbles to herself and leaves me alone. 10 minutes later, Mr Karoki comes back and personally goes to dispatch and gets me my passport...at 1pm.

BTW, while I was waiting for Karoki for 3 hours, I overheard his secretary talking to one of her pals about how Alfred Mutua's office called cos he needed his passport replaced and she had to direct him to 2nd floor because "huko ndiyo wakubwa wanafanyiwa".

I've left afew details out because I could be posting bout this til the new year but I hope the gist of my experience comes across.

Will post my observations and opinions at a later time.

Safaricom Data Uh..oh

2008-12-02T18:46:00.003+03:00

In my experience, the following is the normal usage experience with data networks in Kenya:

It starts out fine, works well for between 3-6 months then starts to slowly deteriorate until it reaches the point where I jump ship for the next package.

This was the case with Flashcom and Celtel Edge.

Having signed up with Safaricom 3 or so months ago and had 2 and abit months of trouble-free surfing, I have now noticed that little niggly problems starting to creep into the service.

It has now taken to disconnecting itself from the network pretty regularly and failing to connect sometimes.

So I'm wondering..is this the beginning of the end?

Update: Just keeps getting worse..disconnections keep getting more frequent...network just periodically keeps disappearing. I've never had great network reception but its always been largely stable. That reliability seems to have disappeared now. When are Yu kicking off again?

Kiambu Road

2008-11-28T14:09:00.004+03:00

Sticking to the roads theme:

Kiambu Road was rehabilitated awhile back. New layer of tarmac, slightly widened and little bumps along the side of the road. Unfortunately, they have failed to paint road markings on the road...or rather, they started painting them and stopped a short distance after Muthaiga Golf Club.

Why?

And on the subject of road markings....I have the impression that road markings painted in and around our City Centre fade away awfully quickly. I often wonder whether its a misconception or if its just poor quality paint.

New-huru Highway

2008-11-28T13:57:00.004+03:00

I am sincerely hoping that the work that has been taking place along Uhuru Highway does not 'end' before the 'bumps' (the height differences caused by the new layers of tarmac) at the junctions with other roads that were not redone are smoothed out and proper lane markings are painted on the road.

I say 'proper lane markings' because the last lane markings that were on the stretch of road from Museum Hill roundabout to Haile Selassie roundabout were a total disaster in my opinion. They were okay on the straight bits but got all messed up and confused at the roundabouts.

Some cats eyes and street lights would be great too.

Video worth a thousand words

2008-11-25T15:37:00.005+03:00

In this video, from Fareed Zakaria GPS, Thomas Friedman says something about the American motor companies going to beg congress for a bailout without any proper plan but rather doing what amounts to asking American taxpayers to bail them out "or we'll bleed to death on your steps".

It almost exactly sums up the sentiment I was trying to convey about Uchumi in the last post.

Uchumi Sarit

2008-11-24T15:21:00.007+03:00

There's something about Uchumi in Sarit Centre that just annoys and irritates me. I generally do my best to steer clear of the place but everytime I go in there, I seem to get irritated and irritable.

Thing is..I cant quite put a finger on exactly what it is that causes me to dislike the place so much.

It may have something to do with the fact that for such a large space..its really cramped and crowded. They have huge isles..so huge infact that they decided to place products in the middle of many of them thus rendering the walking areas quite narrow in places. For the record I also dread any trips to Nakumatt Ukay because its so cramped, stuffy, lightless and airless.

Maybe its an existing preconception I have from the bad old days that a trip to Uchumi was just a preamble to a trip to Nakumatt..simply because you never ever managed to find everything you would need at the Uchumi so you had to go someplace else to get what you missed out on. However this aspect of Uchumi has improved significantly oflate. I've also noticed that whereas Nakumatt tend to have full shelves, they often run out of products as well. If you're a Nakumatt shopper and you regularly buy Besbix 20kg dogfood for example, I can guarantee that you'll frequently find it's not available.

One thing I can definitely identify as irking me virtually every single time I go to Uchumi in Sarit is the staff...especially till staff. They look and act like they'd rather be waterboarding in Guantanamo Bay than be serving you. They are that slow and that sullen.

I always hated Nakumatt Thika Road and I avoid Nakumatt Ukay like the plague but they have the excuse of not having sufficient space. Uchumi Sarit has a nice big space that they still manage to turn into a small, dark, cramped area.

And maybe thats what it is about Uchumi...in recent times, its always been less than it could or should be. They managed to turn shopping there into some sort of act of charity..a woishe shop if you will. At some point their whole marketing strategy seemed to become: "We aren't as big, nice, polite or swanky as the competition, and you will never find all that you came for in our stores but pleeease just support us because deep down we're really nice."

I guess Uchumi represents alot of what is wrong with Kenyan business to me.....they stop aiming to be the best, give the best service at the best price and thereby see out their competitors..they instead rest on their laurels, become complacent and slow, take their customers for granted and then try to tug at our heart strings when bigger, better, hungrier, cleverer competition comes along.

Until Uchumi sharpen up and start aiming to be the very best at what they do, they will forever be one step behind the competition and we, their customers will forever be the ultimate losers.

M-Pesa

2008-11-21T12:01:00.000+03:00

I signed up for M-Pesa a couple of months back and I have to say...this is one hell of a service. It is absolutely awesome...truly innovative and a real (potential) lifestyle changer. Remember life before ATMs?...This service (and probably other similar ones to come) will have a significantly greater effect on our lives than ever ATMs did.

Two improvements that I would not minding seeing are:

1) Rock solid reliability. Since I signed up on the 29th September, I think there have been 3 days when the system has been down. I can't say whether this is representative of how its been all along, but I would say that with such a system, Safaricom need to ensure that there is virtually zero system downtime. This is because when it comes to accessing money, one needs to have absolute confidence that they will always be able to access their money whenever they need to. For example, if I load up my account when travelling upcountry in order to avoid having to carry a large sum of money around, I need to be totally sure that when I need to pay for fuel or accomodation etc, I will be able to access the money.

2) Secondly, I would love to see the banking sector embrace this service. I think that this service presents a great opportunity for mainstream banks to bring services closer to their customers. Imagine if you could deposit money into your bank account via M-Pesa...or make a withdrawals the same way. That would not only reduce the number of customers needing to go into banks, but I think that it would also mean that customers are able to pass more funds through their accounts. The 'unbanked' would also be able to operate accounts even where they are not located near branches. This could theoretically mean more savings, more people able to borrow (because the banks see their cashflows) and more businesses growing and expanding...therefore higher earnings for banks.

I have to admit I don't even know whether banking regulations etc would allow such services or whether there are plans already in the pipeline but I think companies in all sectors (not just banks) reallly need to assess how these and other innovations can benefit their businesses.

Just throw a bunch of technical sounding words together..in no particular order.

2008-11-21T08:05:00.000+03:00

Heard on Money Matters, NTV last night:

"DT Dobie has launched a new car into the Kenyan market...the Nissan Navarra, a pick-up brand with a 2.5 four litre cylinder and diesel turbo engine is a heavy duty howler that balances toughness and power".

"Help!...I'm underwater!!!!"

2008-11-20T18:19:00.000+03:00

Did you ever go swimming as a child and try to 'run' in the pool? Ever watched one of these movies that have underwater fight scenes? If so; you'll have noticed that everything that happens underwater happens much slower than it would out of the water. The punches, kicks and parries seem to happen in slow motion. All those who remember their high school physics will know that this is because water is a more viscous substance than air and hence causes greater resistance or drag to motion. (Ok..maybe my terminology isn't exactly accurate but I'm sure you get the idea).

It seems that some cheeky magician has been going round hypnotising tellers and customer service agents in Nairobi and convincing them that they exist in some sort of underwater world. They therefore move at a speed that suggests they are straining every sinew to fight the drag that is being caused by living and working in in a more viscous atmosphere than they are used to/designed for.

This has always been the case with our public sector offices..they have always seemed to work and move in slow motion but I also notice it quite often in the private sector.

Go try and buy a bankers cheque at just about any bank and see how long it takes (without factoring in the queueing time waiting for some other poor sod to buy a bankers cheque). If you're brave and have half a day to kill, go and order a TT.

I think alot of the blame for this lies with management and their failure to put fast and efficient systems in place (why is paying by credit card in Nakumatt such a cumbersome process for example?) or adequately train and motivate their staff.

But it seems like even when you look at Kenyans as individuals, majority of us just generally tend to be half assed and half hearted. How many times has an insurance salesman (or any other salesman for that matter) tried to sell you a product and not had all the information about the product at his fingertips? Is there any excuse for that?....where is personal initiative, competitive spirit etc. Do they exist in us or are we just a bunch of losers sitting on our asses, waiting for riches to magically manifest themselves and complaining when it doesn't happen?

The Queue Question

2008-11-08T07:41:00.000+03:00

This is not directly related to service but rather to one of the side effects of slow/inefficient service. The queue.

I have but one question for my fellow Kenyan man (women too in some cases):

Why oh why my Kenyan brother must you insist on standing so close to me that I can virtually taste what you ate for breakfast/drank last night?

Why?

Driving License Renewal

2008-11-08T07:15:00.000+03:00

I had to renew my driver's license this morning which meant a trip to the KRA Banking Hall in Times Towers.

Firstly, I have to say; the banking hall is a really great space. Its well designed(from this layman's point of view), very spacious and has many labelled (or label-able) service counters (32 on the ground level alone).

Unfortunately, any raised expectations that this aesthetically pleasing environment causes are quickly dashed by what occurs within.

Firstly, of the 32 aforementioned counters, 14 were unmanned or manned by staff who were not dealing with the public.

Upon walking into the hall, I asked for and was directed to the queue for driving license renewal. This is because the swanky labelling system that is in place is not really used as perhaps it could and should be. Many of the labels above counters are ambiguous or out of date. Some functions (like "Driving License Renewal") are not covered by the current signage. So virtually every single person who joined the queue behind me had to ask either a watchman or a fellow queuer(is 'queuer' even a word?) where they should go. FYI, for D/L renewals, you want the counters labelled "Free D/L", which I believe are 7 & 8.

Ofcourse, in keeping with the staffing policy highlighted above, only one of those counters was manned. By the time I was next in line to be served, I had been waiting for about 20 minutes...then the person manning the counter had to leave to get cash for her till. That took about 10 minutes.

The transaction itself took under two minutes.

I have to say that there has been alot of improvement to the Times Towers banking hall in recent times but this is still quite a long way short of how efficient this place could and should be.

Driving License renewal is probably one of the simplest tasks that they perform and it definitely should not take over half an hour to do on what was a rather slow day (there were only about 7 people ahead of me in the queue).

One thing I always wonder about places like this is what are their performance benchmarks? Stuff like how many customers should be served per hour, how long each transaction should take etc. What if these benchmarks were made public and displayed above each counter?

Hypothetically, based on the under 2 minutes that it took to process my D/L renewal, its not unreasonable to estimate that each window could serve 30 people per hour. KRA is open from 8-5 with a one hour lunch break. Assuming another hour for tea breaks, bathroom breaks etc (and thats frankly rather generous) meaning effectively a 7 hour workday, each service window should deal with 210 people daily at the very least.

Spread over a 9 hour day, 210 people daily is 23 people per hour. Assuming the 8 people served during the half hour I was there is representative, that's working at only 70% efficiency for the single window. If the fact that there should be two windows working is taken into consideration the figure drops to an alarming 35%. Is that really good enough?

Inaugural post

2008-10-30T04:45:00.000+03:00

Welcome to this new blog about all things "service" as experienced by an ordinary Kenyan trying to go about the business of going about his business.

Many times I have complained about various aspects of what I consider to be poor service. I have heard friends, relatives and acquaintances do the same. Often I give feedback (when I feel I receive poor service) but very rarely do I feel like the feedback is received, taken seriously or acted upon. Infact, complaints resolution often seems to be based on the principle of "get this person out of here as fast as possible". The process of giving feedback/making complaints about poor service often ends up being even more frustrating than the bad service itself.

So... as someone who feels rather strongly about the need for good service, I had two choices...pick up my shot gun and become some sort of good service vigilante or find some forum to air my grievances. Unfortunately (or fortunately as the case may be), I was born in Nairobi not South Carolina (therefore I neither own nor know how to operate a shotgun) so the first option was pretty much out of the question. Therefore I present Huduma Bora.

As Kenyans will know that is the first half of our Government's service delivery mantra, 'Huduma Bora ni Haki Yako', which translates to Good Service is Your Right. Better minds than me can go over the merits of having that as a mantra (is that the correct term anyway?), but good service really, genuinely is every citizens right..because put simply;...bad service takes money out of your pocket. Whether in form of lost time, opportunity costs or simply having to pay to 'grease the wheels' (bribe) so as not to incur bigger losses due to enduring poor service.

I think that good, efficient service is absolutely vital if this country is ever going to move forward. Good, efficient service is like the oil that lubricates the productivity engine. Without it, everything grinds to a halt...literally.

I will basically be posting any thoughts I have on any aspects of service...from public sector to private sector, seemingly important to seemingly insignificant. I will try to be concise, objective and offer up suggestions for solutions. I will try to ask questions and I hope that others will see this blog, take an interest, comment on posts and post their own experiences. Who knows..maybe this grows into something that positively affects the service that we Kenyans recieve. I hope that a few people who deal with service delivery will see this blog and will be able to offer us insight into why things may be the way they are from within. Whether all that happens or not..this is my small step.

If you read anything that you relate to or that you agree or disagree with, please leave comments.

Yours

Mystery Shopper