South Sudan: End the Litany Of Broken Peace Deals

TWS|| Nicholas Waigwa

It is always encouraging to receive good news from South Sudan. I have had an opportunity to travel to the 7 of the 10 states of South Sudan. It goes without saying that much needs to be done to build this young country in almost everything, save for conflict.

Majority are in abject poverty in most areas of the vast East African Nation. Ethnic violence is a talk of the day in most villages, with small arms making peace and direct foreign investments.

The Juba Titanic

Roads are in their worst conditions with a near zero inter states tarmac link roads. It is very disturbing to read that South Sudan's public debt has increased from zero in 2011 to over US$4 billion in 2015.

With President Salva Kiir having accepted to sign the long awaited peace deal, South Sudan and her people must now accept to give peace a chance or perish in underdevelopment.

It is only through peace that South Sudanese and those who stand in solidarity with them can secure a chance to recapture the lost dignity and pave way for sustainable development.

South Sudan has a chance to seize this opportunity to join the rest of the world in the post-2015 development agenda.

It is never too late. World leaders including the South Sudan President Kiir will in September 2015 adopt a new set of sustainable development goals ‪#‎SDGs in New York.

The goals will inform the global development agenda for the coming 15 years. This will by all means present an opportunity for the leadership of South Sudan to give their country and her people the real fruits of freedom and independence.

Prosperity is possible in South Sudan. South Sudan can change the scripts from a conflict ravaged nation to a super successful and fast developing country in the world.

Peace loving south Sudanese and their friends want tranquility and prosperity. From Tonj to Wulu, Ikotos to Kapweta, Magwi to Maridi, Wau to Juba and indeed all over South Sudan....peace and visible development is all they want to see.

South Sudan_River Nile's Juba Bridge

It is time for President Salva Kiir, his supporters and Dr. Riek Machar, his supporters to end the litany of broken peace deals. It is time for the prime principals in the South Sudan’s leadership cream to make the true dreams of the gallant Anyanya 1, Anyanya II, and the most recent war for freedom martyrs and veterans come truly true. It is squarely in their hands to define the destiny of the newest nation in the world.

Proponents of the violent path to power or political violence may have their way at some given instances. That notwithstanding the cost of violence will always be high and most of the time leads to more complicated violence. It has done so in South Sudan and time to take a different path is now or never.

Let the latest signatures appended on the latest peace deal by President Kiir and Machar bring all the good things to South Sudan.

Time for South Sudan to end the litany of broken peace deals

Cecil’s Death: Lessons for Africa

TWS|| Nicholas Waigwa

Africa must draw lessons from Cecil’s murder as I have drawn super lessons from his holiness Pope Francis’ campaign against what he has called ‘ideological colonization.’ It is time we opened our eyes to the realities of ideological colonization if what President Obama sees as a continent ‘on the move’ is to move to the right direction or destruction.

Photo: Nicholas Waigwa

Cecil died because we (in Africa) have accepted to adore money at the expense of our heritage. Cecil’s death is an outcome of our assumed unquenchable thirst for bloody corruption money. We have issued licenses to kill self and our heritage in the name of chasing the foreign currency and investment.

We have created loopholes for people like Walter Palmer to travel all the way from America to Zimbabwe and elsewhere in Africa, to cold bloodedly kill the African heritage in the name of ‘legal’ trophy hunting.

Legalizing hunting has opened room for apologies such as the one coming from Palmer.  A statement linked to the suspect in the murder of Cecil explores the likely possibility of innocence based on an understanding that the killing of the lion might have happened within a legalized context. After all there is a legal way to taking away the life of an innocent wild animal.

Pic:OnlineSources

It would be naïve for any knowledgeable person of integrity to believe that the suspect in the murder of Cecil did not know the value of the lion and the attention it drew from far and wide. His motive must have been clear and with the murder of Cecil, the speed of the ‘Africa on the move’ to prosperity is on trial. A tourism sector in Zimbabwe is already in tears, thanks to an alleged $50000, which exchanged hands before Cecil’s painful dispatch to the world beyond.

As the story goes Cecil the lion was lured into the lifeless state. His monarch, which has little ones is now kingless, very vulnerable and exposed to uncertainty thanks to the destructive culture of placing money before reason and acceptance of the ‘ideological colonization’ script.

       

It is interesting how those tasked with protecting wildlife in Africa deal ruthlessly with local hunters found with a piece of game meat. We must be seen to treat criminals with equal measure in our global quest to deliver justice for the helpless wildlife entrusted to us by God.

Photo:Nicholas Waigwa

The lion breathed his last in unclear circumstances within which an American national with help from some locals were allegedly involved. Time to heed the recent “enough is enough” call by Mr. Obama on trends that undermine people’s prosperity and freedoms has come.

It goes without saying that President Obama is a strong force in the fight against that which undermines people’s prosperity including corruption. It is time he acted or triggered visible action to have Palmer punished if found guilty of having killed Cecil the LION illegally.

As Zimbabwe takes legal action against the locals linked to the killing of Cecil America should take the lead on the other hand to ensure that Dr. Palmer is held to account for allegedly using a bribe to secure access to the hunting activity that rendered Cecil lifeless.Cecil’s Death: Time to end the false ‘legal trophy hunting’ narrative

"Sexist" Learning Environment in Canadian Versities?

Transfer money from anywhere in the world to MPESA via Skrill

 

Garden to City Food Buying Solution

Listen to a song as your read on...

Garden to City Food Buying Solution

We are a food buying solution for residents in cities and major towns in Kenya. We buy food items directly from farmers and deliver to consumers at a convenient central pick up point.

The links existing between the producer and consumer unforgivingly exploit the farmer on one hand through dehumanizing dues for their farm produce and threatens the consumers’ on the other hand with exaggerated food prices. By bypassing the not only exploitative value chain we enhance access to quality food at reasonable prices and support rural economies.

Our strategy entails bringing consumers together in urban areas for a better together food buying solution. The approach grants us the potential to purchase in bulk from suppliers at fair prices and transfer the advantage to consumers. Our prices are far much below the trending retail prices in the local retail markets.

Benefits Sample

You may be asking yourself whether you stand to benefit from this solution or not. Our answer is simple – The benefits are enormous. We sample some for you because we would love to have you enjoy your meals bila stress.

• Your desire to buy food at substantially affordable prices is finally met
• You will contribute to the improvement of livelihood of families of hardworking farmers who produce the food you eat

• You will save a great deal of money off the grocery store prices

• Defined traceability of the food you eat

• You have access to high quality, fresh and healthy food
• For more information kindly write to gardentocity@gmail.com 
• Welcome to Your Fatherland Barack OBama!

The best way to shutter your child’s dreams

TWS||Nick Waigwa

You must have promised yourself at some point in life that you would never let your child or children go through the challenges you underwent as you were growing up. You have good dreams for your child and that your child has his or her dreams too. These dreams are real but their validity can only be validated by your hard work today and the choices you make towards making them a reality.
 

Recently,  my mentor told me that were it not for Lupita Nyong’o ‘s parents to have her go to schools that would make her dreams come true, she would not have probably earned her current global recognition.

Transformed Me on exam failure

As an alumni of the Nairobi based St. Marys School Msongari – well known for super performance both in academics and arts, Lupita Nyong’o is today living her dreams. You need not to be told that her parents are proud of her, and they are happy that their efforts are paying dividend. Most parents who plan for their children’s education enjoy the sweet fruits of their sacrifice.

For Lupita to have gone to St. Marys School and later overseas for further studies, her parents must have invested in a plan that facilitated both their dreams and their daughter’s come true.The last time I checked a dinner under the same roof with Lupita Nyong’o would cost you not less than KSH 10, 000 or $100. By the way it would cost you less than that a month for a couple of years to accumulate a fund for your child’s school fees needs.

St. Marys School Students at a Transformed Me workshop in May 2015

Costly Poor Planning 

A poor plan for your child’s school fees needs, is presumably the surest way to killing the dream you have for your child and that of your child as well. 

There are many ways to follow towards meeting your child’s educational needs, as there are plentiful of myths against the existing school fees funding strategies. The choice will always be yours. After all the child is yours. The path you chose today will determine how stress free or stressful the funding for your child’s education in future is going to be.

I can bet that most parents with children in high school and university today, are finding it difficult to raise funds to cater for their children’s school fees. Crossing the bridge when that time comes may work for a selected few. This unreliable notion has forced many parents to abandon the dreams they had for their children.

School Fees Plan

It is acknowledged in Holy Scriptures that most people die due to lack of knowledge. When knowledge is available, it is therefore those who opts to ignore it that risk death, and by the way, if you think education is expensive try ignorance.

Notwithstanding all the negatives that may have landed on your ears about the path to financing your child’s education and notwithstanding the bad experiences that you may have encountered previously with financial products, I shoulder the trouble to remind you or draw your attention to the School Fees Policy. The policy is one of the most convenient avenues to funding your child’s education stress free.

A child’s education and access to quality education is undeniably a top priority across the board. Quality education comes with costs and a funding plan such as the CIC Academia Policy helps a parent or guardian accumulate a fund for a child's future school fees needs.

The plan offers protection to a parent, protects a child’s future and shields the child’s dream from interruptions that may result from incapacitation or untimely death of a parent. Simply put, it gives both the parent and child a piece of mind.

Key Features

The CIC Academia Policy has a minimum policy term of 10 years and a maximum of 17 years. The premium term of a 10 year policy term is 7 years while that of a 17 year policy term is 14 years.

Let us say that your daughter or son is four years old, and you would like to accumulate a fund of about KSH 800, 000 ($8000) to pay secondary and college fees conveniently, the appropriate policy term I would advise you to take is 10/13.

You will receive your policy payouts on the 10^th,11^th 12^th and 13^th  year. Year 10^th ,11^th and 12^thpayouts are paid at 15% of the Anticipated Benefit. On the final year, the policy payout is 60% of your Anticipated Benefit.

A school Fees Policy is Very Possible!

For most readers 10 to 17 years may sound incompressible. Truth be told in 10 years today, a four year child will be 14.

Readers in Kenya where I reside, can recall that in year 2002 (by the way it sounds like just the other day), former President Mwai Kibaki became the third President of the Republic. He did his two 5-year terms, and in came the fourth President, Uhuru Kenyatta in 2013. 

He has already done 3years of his first term. That is how years fly. Very soon your 2 year old child will joining high school and your 9 year old will be going to university. What are you doing about it today?

Once again, it is all about the choices you make today and if I may add the voices you have chosen to listen to. The meaning you place on everything that comes your way, also counts. Your mind-set and your perspective, are also very instrumental in determining whether the dreams you have for your child and that of your child will ever come true. 

Food Buying alternative for the informed

The CIC Academia Policy for your child is no brainier for a loving and caring parent. A parent who is keen on ensuring that the dreams of his or her child are not shuttered or interrupted would seek to know more about this plan. A parent who appreciates that quality education is the best inheritance that a parent and guardian can bestow on their children,  would take this article seriously without much ado and take the necessary action.

For your information the Academia Policy is a tax free investment. Your final payout is not taxable. It grants you as a parent the access to a saving on taxable income. The government acknowledges the importance of this Academia policy and has given a relief of 15% of monthly premium. 

Premiums are constant throughout the the policy term, making it easy for you to plan your finances. I have no doubt that thus far you are seeing the bigger picture. I know that you are now serious than ever before about giving your child a better life experience. An experience that is not a replica of what you went through as you were growing up. .

Great! 

If you are passionate about starting to accumulate funds for your child's future education needs, and are keen about staying focused on this goal and remaining committed to the achievement of this goal, it is time you sought clarifications about the academia Policy. Remember the value of a financial decision that you would have made yesterday or now, can never be equated to the one you intend to make past today.

Feel free to call 0720594261 or drop me a mail at nickwaigwa@gmail.com

In my next post I will try to give you some highlights on how you can source money for this plan from your monthly budget....

At CIC Insurance Group Ltd we keep our word!

Efficient Online Payment System? Think Skrill

TWS||Nick Waigwa

 

Dori Friend begins the 10^th Chapter of her E-Book, “Where The Big Dogs Roam”, with the following quotes, “Image is Everything”, “First Impressions Matter”, and “Perception is Reality”. 

In the same chapter  Friend notes, “Reputation can make or break individuals and companies.”

Reputation! Reputation! This a component that is ignored by some individuals and companies in the world where I reside.

You care less about your reputation and that of others? You simply need not to continue reading this post. I advise that you read something else.

I usually brush shoulders with some people when I expose their inability to protect their reputation.I write here because I am driven by the need to help the subjects here manage their reputation positively. No hard feelings.

I can now comfortably proceed to a point that I have purposed to put across because we are on the same wavelength and we have agreed that this is about building reputation.

For nearly a year now, I have been trying to understand the network marketing or direct selling business, and how people generate revenue from online freelance jobs. 

I have discovered that for one to receive payments online, or effect such it is almost a MUST to subscribe to an Online Payment System.

Online Payment Systems such as Skrill, are often linked to a subscriber’s electronic payment card. The electronic payment system plays a bridge’s role between the online payment system and the recipient’s or sender’s bank account. 

This digital solution is not as easy as it may sound. There are challenges that may arise. My first experience with an Online Payment System was in the last quarter of 2014. 

After months of soul searching, I signed up for a network marketing business whose product is travel. I would still recommend that you invest your time trying to understand how the travel club operates. 

Thus far, I have used a WorldVentures’ E-wallet, PayPal and the Skrill. 

The Nakumatt Global MasterCard

The person who succeeded to pitch and convince me to consider the travel network marketing business was very helpful. She counseled that I secure a MasterCard, as it would facilitate smooth remittance of membership fees and receipt of payments via the travel club’s E-wallet.

It was easier for me to have the old Nakumatt Card replaced with a MasterCard solution. The Nakumatt Global MasterCard is what they gave me. It is linked to an account at the Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB). Whether Nakumatt does care about their reputation offline and online, is a story that their customer service and call center reps can narrate.

I tried effortlessly to understand why I could not access my cash in the Nakumatt Global MasterCard at some point. Not even my several visits to KCB customer service desk at KENCOM, Nairobi would get me a solution. 

I tried Nakumatt Nakumatt card centers along Moi Avenue, City Hall way and along the Thika road Super highway in vain.

INABILITY TO COPE WITH DISTRACTION A MAJOR CAUSE OF EXAM FAILURE

The Nakumatt staff could not resolve an inch the concerns I had. I am still waiting for a Nakumatt Global Call Center rep who promised to give me a call over three months ago. This is what I call ignorance on the importance of reputation in the 21^stcentury. 

I hope the Nakumatt will invest in upping their reputation management game. How I wish if I could access the little cash in the Nakumatt Global MasterCard with some interest or just a valid explanation as to what might have caused the hiccup, from a person who understands the system.

I hope the "the you need it, we've got it" does not  end up to literally mean they have everything including dysfunctional solutions. I know they can do better as they have always. In fact I hold high their reputation and that is why I have taken my quality time to put this staff online.Your good reputation should not be watered down by i simple challenge such as the one I have just highlighted.

PayPal Online Payment System

My next quick review is about PayPal. PayPal is very good. I admire their customer relations. I however had a problem accessing some cash that I had received as payment for an online voice talent job that I had completed. 

The job had been awarded through Odesk.com. By the way Odesk was recently re-branded to Upwork. The Upwork’s payment procedure is prompt. The only challenge for freelancers in Kenya who opt to receive dues via PayPal, is that they must be holders of Equity Bank accounts. 

I was compelled to transfer the cash from my PayPal account to a friend’s PayPal account. I received the cash after six months.  To avoid wasting time and money, make sure you have an Equity Bank account if you plan to use PayPal for your online transactions.

My suggestion to PayPal, diversify. Having services accessible to clients in Kenya through a single bank is very limiting. I know the Equity bank would love to control that market share but at the same time, I don’t think it would be harmful for other banks within Kenya to activate towards facilitating easy access to money that is wired to recipients in Kenya through PayPal.

The Skrill Online Payment System

Skrill is one Online Payment System that I would recommend to you if you are seriously interested in receiving or making payments online. 

When I discovered that part of the money that I had been paid for the assignment on upwork.com would take long to reach my pocket, I signed up for a Skrill account. 

The money got to my pocket in less than three days and there were no complications with linking up the Skrill account to my Visa Card and bank account. I like the skrill’s flexibility and speed.

Recently, I discovered that if you are in Kenya, you could link your Skrill account with a Safaricom MPESA account. This does make the work much easier. It is indeed another intrinsic reason why you should highly consider signing up for a Skrill Online Payment Solution now.

It is true that the digital revolution is taking the developing world by storm, but only those who are willing to move with the times are going to benefit from this revolution. 

Working with online solutions that have analogue tendencies would easily place one at the highest risk of missing the vessel to the land of success presented to us by technology advantage.

E&OE      

Modern Vs Traditional Food Buying

POST- 2015 Outcome Document’s Zero Draft has ‘many gaps on things that matter’, GCAP

Traditional Vs Modern Food Buying Solution

TWS|| Nick Waigwa

I recently I received both good and disturbing news. The good news is the confirmation of the pontiff’s visit to Kenya. The sad news is about how farm produce is going to waste in some parts of Kenya as the cost of food in cities and major towns continue to sky rocket.

I will be blogging about Pope Francis’ visit to Kenya in the coming days but for now I get to the bit about wastage of food at the expense of farmer’s livelihoods and the consumers food security.

As a farmer who knows what it takes to journey with a crop to its maturity, I must confess that the most painful experience is to see how buyers treat farmers with disdain and subject them to dehumanizing prices. In fact it is only in Kenya where the cost of farming inputs is never factored when the costing of farm produce is done. The reality of incurred costs get to life once the produce has reached the markets.

A couple of days ago, I gave my mother a call to find out how they were doing. Usually she would start with all the good staff then get to the negative ones. She was disappointed that her tomatoes did not fetch the money she had expected.

If I may quote her  “ sai nyanya huku zina pigwa mateke, Hata hakuna magari ya wanunuzi.” For the sake of those who don’t understand Swahili, what she meant is that tomatoes are going to waste and there are no buyers. Tomato is usually bought by investors from cities through brokers or middlemen who impose dehumanizing pric
es on farmers.

Disturbed by this reality I took time to visit a local retail market on mission to establish how much tomato is retailing at. I also sought to find out how much green maize and dry beans were retailing. My finding was mind boggling.

With all due respect to the value chain existing between the farmer and the consumer you will not require a financial analyst to tell you that something is wrong. There are two casualties in this exploitation the farmer on one side and the consumer on the other end.

A grade 1 tomato in the local market I visited is retailing at KSH 10, one comb of green maize is retailing at KSH 25 and Kg of the Yellow Bean as is commonly called is retailing at KSH 100.

According to those on the ground in areas where these items come from; a large crate of tomato is as I write retailing at between KSH 1500 to 2000. A person who understands the large crate I am talking about would agree with me that the crate carries over 200 tomatoes.

A comb of green maize in Loitokitok hardly goes beyond KSH 10. The last time I checked it was KSH 5. The buyers go for the best and if one is not careful they steal close to a quarter of the harvest. A kg of the “yellow bean” would hardly go beyond KSH40 but shoots to KSH100 once it gets to the city.

It is only a fool by choice who would not be able to see the level of exploitation. Farmers continue to suffer losses as consumers get exposed to food insecurity and malnutrition because of opportunistic investors who thrive on other people’s sweat. 

As the lady who sold a comb of green maize to me said, “anaye lima na anaye nunua hapa sokoni ndio wanaumia” she meant that those who suffer most are the farmers and the consumer. It is very hard to justify the disparity between the prices of food at the producers farm and the cost of the same once it reaches the market.

A friend from foreign country I chose not publish here once told me. ‘Kenyan are stupidly patient’ whether that is true or not, I have chosen not to be stupidly patient on this one. As an African leader, I am one by the way, I chose to heed St. John Paul the II's advice to African leaders when he visited Kenya in 1995. He told African leaders to ‘use all their wisdom’. You too are a leader and I have no doubt that you are going to put all your wisdom on duty.

The time to fully utilize that wisdom is now. If you are interested in having a positive influence on the rural economy and the livelihood of the farmers who produce the food you eat, this is the time to for us to say enough is enough.

This is the thing. I am inviting you join the Garden to City Food buying Solution. You will not only contribute to the welfare of the farmer and contribute to improving the rural economy but save a great deal of your money. Money that ends up in the pockets of exploitative markets at your expense and that of the farmer
.
Together, those who are pretty serious about what they eat and consider to join the club will enjoy the benefit of buying better directly at reasonable prices directly from the source. This solution is for a concerned person like me who knows that saving as little as 25 per day for 365 days is enough to buy a goat end of year party or sort  out back to school shopping in January.

If you are pretty serious about adjusting your food buying behavior this solution is for you. It is an alternative to the traditional way of bringing food to your kitchen. It is a baby who is promising to grow big and better as the membership grows.

Keep watching this space for more on the benefits and how we are going to go about it. Our affiliate program is attractive and you should just be in to benefit from the discount package that come with it.
Are you in? Send an email at gardentocity@gmail.com

Parents driving their Children Crazy?

Parents driving their Children Crazy?

Knowing that you have a responsibility to impart the necessary life skills in your child as a parent and understanding when you should actually start doing so are two different things. A parent in the 21^st Century has a lot to do and the parent child contact hours are consumed each day by the demands of work life and busyness.

Parents this days hardly give their children the desired attention. The expectation by parents that teachers in school will substitute them on some parenting responsibilities is an effort in futility. Teachers have much on their desk including their own children to look after.

Some of the parents we have interacted with in our Transformed Me programs, tell us that their children are driving them crazy. On the flip side, their children have also told us that parents are driving them crazy. Some even believe that their parents are ‘narrow minded’ and ‘old-fashioned’.

The 21st century child appears to be in a catch 22 situation and unaware of who is supposed to be guiding them as they navigate through life. Is it the house help, Teacher, family driver, church ministers, Internet? The parent is also lost and perceived as a stranger by children.

[Cardinal John Njue calls for Protection of the Dignity of the family]

At Transformed Me we know for a fact that parents have a key role to play in bringing up responsible children. We know that if parents play their parenting role responsibly children will live a more meaningful life.

They acknowledge that something is wrong and those who have benefited from our programs have always expressed the desire to learn. They want to know how they can maximize on the available time to make a positive impact in the lives of their children. Our Key message to them has been "it is not about quantity but the quality time they spend with their children" We have responded to this desire by organizing one to one sessions with parents; in schools, churches and through the media.

The demand for this information is real and overwhelming. To respond to this need, Transformed Me has produced audio CDs on Responsible parenting under the following titles.

1. Parenting in the 21^st Century
2. When and How to Teach Your Child Responsibility
3. Journeying with Your Child Through Adolescence
4. Teaching Your Child Decision Making Skills

These productions are a must to a parent who is interested in leaving behind a meaningful heritage. A parent who has the interest of their children at heart will definitely find this audio presentation resourceful and a friendly companion in his or her parenting journey. 

Get in touch with Catherine Kisasa Mothonde on 0722799261for your copy at KSH 250. 

Downloadable audio presentations will be available online in due course.