Nairobi News

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The People’s Champion May 19, 2014


Mere dressings. Nothing in this country works except tribalism and corruption and therefore Ms Alice Mukami says she is not enthusiastic about the news that new spy cameras will be set up in the city by December to fight crime. She points out that this won’t be the first time that residents will be asked to peg their increasing security concerns on the gadgets.

It happened with Governor Evans Kidero’s cameras that greatly served to further his publicity than catch criminals, she says. Ms Mukami adds that there is no reason to believe the new central Government funded cameras will succeed where Dr Kidero’s have failed. The biggest problem affecting security, she says has always been corruption encouraged by the lack of political will to uproot it. “Cameras are just mere dressings,” she says.

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Deal with this. For every one of the mind-blowing Sh23 billions declared by Safaricom as net profit, Mr Mutisya Mutinda says he can’t help but wonder how much of his money, deducted through the short code 22661 has contributed to the fat amount. Every day, he says, the code, among others has been sending him texts asking him to download songs in spite of the fact that he has never subscribed to the services.

“Every time I send a text telling whoever is running the services to stop, Sh10 is deducted from my account only to start the whole process again the next day,” he says. “This is no less than the company raiding my pocket and announcing to the public that it earned profit. The sad truth is that I am not alone. Why can’t the regulator, Communications Authority of Kenya deal with this?” he asks.

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Apply brains. With a police force whose officers were selected on the basis of how fast they could run, how tall they were and how many teeth they had, Mr Leonard Mutange says it’s no wonder the Inspector General of police David Kimaiyo thinks the antidote to terrorism is making sure that motorists don’t drive around in tinted windows.

The controversial directive by the police boss ordering the removal of the tints, he says has set his extortionist officers upon hapless motorists. “Can the police instead harness their energies towards intelligence gathering instead of acting like an extortionist syndicate?” he asks. “Maybe if they apply their brains instead of spending a lot of time seeking bribes we might stand a chance of stopping the next terror attack,” says Mr Mutange.

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No better than bullies. Ms Lorna Mutei says she is surprised by the ferocity of the verbal attack against a woman who claims Senator Mike Sonko sired two children with her and therefore demands a hefty sum for upkeep. The online attack, implying that she is a gold-digger, she says is a pointer to the low opinion that Nairobians have of women.

“The senator is yet to reply to the court case, but the majority of us have made up our minds that he is a victim of women who shamelessly use their children to squeeze money from men,” she says. Ms Mutei adds that it is shameful of social media users to gang up and attack the woman before the whole truth has come out. “Such people are no better than bullies,” she says.

Write to The People’s Champion at nnchampion@ke.nationmedia.com