The cutting edge

By  THE WATCHMAN
Posted  Tuesday, April 19 2011 at 18:17

Jobless crowd. The most bewildering thing about the homecoming rally for some of the Ocampo Six at Uhuru Park, after their appearance at The Hague was the large number of people on a working day, remarks Samuel Muthamia. He adds: “So, assuming that the majority in the crowd were jobless Kenyans, how come none of the politicians who spoke at the rally addressed their plight?” Samuel says he felt sad that the politicians were only interested in the fate of their own colleagues and not other Kenyans.

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Total ignorance. Of the many disgusting statements uttered at the rally, Maureen Mumbi says, the most ignorant was by one of the MPs who accompanied the suspects to The Hague, who told the crowd: “We took cars and buses from the courtroom to our hotels while (ICC prosecutor Ocampo rode a bicycle. Why should we respect such a person?” For his information, “in The Netherlands, people are given incentives to cycle to work rather than drive or ride in a motor vehicle in order to protect their environment”.

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Wake up, airtel. Lynn Tundo says the real difference between Airtel and Safaricom is that if one has a problem with the latter, one can call customer care and get an answer immediately. It’s not the same for Airtel, she declares, adding: “I phoned Airtel with two small queries on March 23, was given a reference number and, three weeks later, I got a very unsatisfactory reply to one of the questions. The other, which is more important, no one seems able to resolve! If Airtel is interested, my number is 0733723552.”

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. . . Telkom too. Telkom Orange’s network coverage at Gigiri, Nairobi, is poor and quite frustrating, says Terry who has an office in Warwick Centre. “Our business involves making numerous phone calls. We now use Safaricom to make calls but can’t receive or when we do, we constantly get disconnected. Their technicians have even visited our premises several times, but all we get are empty promises! They promised to improve the network but have done nothing since last year!” Terry’s contact is terrysamara@hotmail.com.

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Penalty too stiff. Those who have failed to attract the attention of the Higher Education Loans Board after getting loans to pay for their university education should count themselves lucky, says Felix Andeka. Felix repaid his loan for four years, before quitting his job. When he resumed payments after a few months, he was shocked to learn that the balance had shot up to Sh97,000 from Sh36,000 because of a penalty. “I feel discouraged. Why can’t they pursue with the same zeal those who have not paid?” His contact is andekaf@yahoo.com.

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Is there equality? One who has no illusions about the issue of gender equality despite the common talk and crusade in various quarters is Caroline Maina. She poses: “Is there equality?” While she would like to see men and women have equal opportunities, especially in employment, Caroline says the reality is that it is not happening. “I have noted, for instance, that the driver of almost every other government vehicle is a man. Even female MPs have male drivers.” Her contact is carshima2000@yahoo.com.

Have a gender sensitive day, won’t you!

E-mail: watchman@nation.co.ke or write to Watchman, POB 49010, Nairobi 00100. Fax 2213946.