The cutting edge

By THE WATCHMAN
Posted  Wednesday, March 30 2011 at 18:45

REPAIR THIS ROAD. The Zambezi-Kari road, a stretch of hardly five kilometres, is so dilapidated that it takes 30 minutes to cover it and yet there is never a traffic jam, moans Jane W. Following talk about a tender for the road’s repair, Jane says there was some hope, but there has been no sign of a contractor. Private cars and motor vehicles belonging to Kari, Kefri, Ketri and Kephis, all vital research institutes, continue to take a beating. “Can someone come to our aid before funds are returned to the Treasury?” she pleads.

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THEY'RE IN TRAINING. The people that Benedict Omija saw on Airport North Road in Nairobi were guards doing their physical training in full uniform, says G4S managing director John Wheater. He adds: “We run a training academy for our new security officers. During the training, all the recruits must be in full uniform. And they are not deployed until they are certified as having met our training requirements. We consider personal hygiene an important aspect and our training module adequately covers the subject.”

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I WANT TO PAY. A beneficiary of the Higher Education Loans Board, Isaac Kiplagat, cannot understand why its officials won’t assist him to start repaying his loan, which has been outstanding since he graduated in 2006, as his letters and emails have gone unanswered. “HELB lists Michael Mbotu and Alice Ayonga as my account relationship officer and supervisor respectively, yet none of them will reply to my emails. So, how am I expected to repay this loan?” His contact is ikiplagat@yahoo.com.

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WHAT'S WITH THE VAT? Linda Mwangi has issues with how KPLC charges its 12 per cent Value Added Tax (VAT). Says she: “I would have expected VAT to be charged on some standard measure, but when I look at my electricity bills over the past year, I see that it is sometimes levied only on the fixed charge of Sh240. At other times it’s on the fixed charge plus all other entries on the bill. My question is who, how and what determines how this is done.” Her account is 0226618 and her contact, linda@capstone.co.ke..

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THIS IS EXPLOITATION. Now working in Tanzania, Anthony Kamau, is quite unhappy about the high regional mobile telephone charges. In the spirit of the East African Community, he says, he had hoped that calls would be cheaper. “But Safaricom is now charging me to receive calls. To make a call to a fellow Safaricom subscriber in Kenya, I’m charged Sh28.50 a minute. To receive a call they charge the same. No wonder they make supernormal profits at our expense.” His contact is Tel. 0721419160 or anthonynk@yahoo.com.

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CURIOUS POPULARITY. Why the sudden interest in geography on the streets of Nairobi? poses a reader. He says he has noted many hawkers on the streets trying to persuade motorists to buy maps of Nairobi, Kenya, East Africa, Africa, and the world. “Why now? What is new about planet earth that we need to know? Is it about the scarcity of land? Surprisingly, the maps are appearing on the streets when geography has become one of the most unpopular subjects in high schools. Who can explain this paradox?”

Have an interesting day, won’t you!