Didn’t have time to catch up with all of the week’s news stories? Relax, follow Herbusiness summary and commentary of the most interesting things that made the news headlines in Kenya.
Married women
Married women in Kenya are now also eligibile to inherit from their parents’ estate. This is a blow to Customary norms, which presume daughters take away from the family by the nature of things. Justice Lucy Waithaka set the precedent with her ruling, over an inheritance case, in Nyeri. The wife of a deceased man had left out her married daughters from a share of their father’s estate. She said that she was left as administrator under such instructions. Unfortunately, this was not put in writing.
The ruling got backing from Maendeleo ya Wanawake and Federation of Women Lawyers in Kenya. According to the latter, the Bill of Rights trumps Customary Law. Conversely, Maendeleo ya Wanaume had an opinion too. Through the organization’s representative, Nderitu Njoja, they see a bigger plot undermining men. “Men have become the marginalized and are now being opressed by institutions through the law.” When will this dualism stop? When guys?
Embrace Women Building Bridges Kenya
This group by women politicians kept its promise of convening a meeting of women leaders. Reason? To give women a voice over the constitution amendment issue by coming up with their own propositions. And their proposals are something, good or bad depending on how you see things.
The group wants cabinet appointments split 50-50 on gender basis and the two-thirds rule extended to other presidential appointments. They also want a woman really close to the top seat. The arrangement? Introduce a Prime Minister slot plus two Deputies. With this, alongside the Presidency, ensure at least 2 of the positions are reserved for women. Oh god. Women are not a monolith guys. They tried this treatment with the Women’s Fund. Each woman has different interests like with men. People realize this, right?
Potato shortage
Here’s a business idea. Agricultural Cabinet Secretary, Mwangi Kiunjuri himself confirmed the huge gap in the potato sector. Seed production stands at 6,700 metric tonnes yet 30,000 metric tonnes are demanded in Kenya. The shortage has pushed prices up and Kenyans are, instead, resorting to import potatoes. Mr. Kiunjuri has promised far reaching changes to the sector soon. “There are a number of things that are not okay and this has led to the exploitation of farmers by brokers.”
VALUE ADDITION: PRODUCTS YOU CAN MAKE FROM POTATOES
Government will be ensuring farmers only use certified seeds, which will boost harvests. Also, there will be a standard measure for potatoes. No more overextending the sack or measuring by the bucket.
Nairobi CCTV cameras not working
I guess you are already aware of this state of things. It was estimated a while back that over half of the 42 surveillance cameras do not work. Should you read mischief though? Nairobi County says it cannot maintain these CCTV cameras because it’s not their responsibility. The project, yet to be handed over, falls to Nairobi Metropolitan Area Intergrated Urban Surveillance System body. The project is set back by payment issues with the Chinese contractor.
What do Kenyans do online?
They are not reading about entrepreneurship and good governance, sadly.
READ: 5 BETTER WAYS TO SPEND YOUR TIME ONLINE
Of the top 10 sites which us Kenyans visit, 7 of them have something to do with betting. This is amazing because internet penetration is at 84%, which is over 43 million people. The stats are found in the Digital Report 2019 by Hootsuite and We Are Social. You can also find interesting bits about general internet trends that could help your marketing affairs.
Mombasa BRT
Mombasa also wants to prove that it’s a big boy city with important problems like traffic congestion. What? That’s how it works. The County has launched a fact-finding mission, to last a year, for it’s Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) system. The County’s Transport Executive, Tawfiq Balala confirmed so. “The project will be part of the Governor’s legacy when he leaves office in 2022.” Eventually, Mombasa’s BRT will launch in set routes with 4 buses carrying 100 passengers each. They will have a dedicated lane and will reduce travel time to the CBD from 30 minutes, by matatu, to 7 minutes.
A good city rivalry isn’t a bad thing. It’s better than ethnic rivalry don’t you think? So, Mombasa could not help but point out that Nairobi’s BRT project is getting help from the National Government. They will pull it off on their own, they say.
M-Akiba
Everyone is so obsessed with investing. Either life is that hard or the future is that uncertain or the self-help industry needs to slow down. Anyway, here’s your chance. M-Akiba is coming back in March. It’s a 3-year bond targeting mobile money account holders. And you can invest as little as sh.3,000 and gain 10% of tax-free returns.
Mobile based infrastructure bond M-Akiba:
•Minimun investment Sh3,000
•Chanels; M-Pesa, Airtel money, PesaLink
•Partneship; @NSE_PLC, @cdsckenya
•Time; March 2019
•Target; Sh250 million pic.twitter.com/GSDT4bdM0X— Singh (@DumeSingh) January 31, 2019
The Government admitted that the previous attempt failed because of poor customer education, among other issues.
