THE CUTTING EDGE-8-4-2019 – Daily Nation

REHASH OF PAST SPEECHES: President Uhuru Kenyatta’s recent State of the Nation address was rather disappointing, W. Kimariech says, accusing him of failing to read the mood of the nation in his much-awaited speech. Kimariech found the President’s statements on the need for unity and fixing the battered economy a mere rehash of past ones with no idea on concrete action to tackle the “runaway graft and huge debts threatening to bring down the country”. Kimariech poses: “How does he feel when chairing Cabinet meetings attended by people under investigation? I’m sure he knows that poses a serious threat to his legacy.” His contact is [email protected]

LICENCED TO DELAY: The National Transport and Safety Authority owes Jackie Tonui an explanation or, more precisely, an apology. Jackie applied for a driving licence on December 27 and was assured a notification would be sent to her through the e-Citizen portal. Well, nearly four months later, there has been none and visits to the NTSA office have yielded zero results. But what has annoyed her even more is seeing hundreds of uncollected licences there and dealing with unco-operative staff. “I’m frustrated by the inefficiency.” For the details, her contact is [email protected]

GHOST ARRESTS: Whenever a headcount of the employees in the civil service, parastatals or county governments is carried out, as happened recently in the National Police Service, Henry Ruhiu notes, there is always news of the unearthing of thousands of ghost workers, which is received with excitement that eventually dies down. However, what disturbs Henry is why there is never any word on the arrests of the masterminds behind the fraud in which hundreds of millions of shillings is shamelessly looted from the public coffers, as well as the beneficiaries from the scandals. His contact is [email protected]

ROUNDABOUT UNDER SIEGE: The landscaping at the Globe Cinema roundabout in Nairobi’s city centre that was done by the contractor who built Thika Superhighway is being shamelessly destroyed by some busybodies, moans Cornelius Oliko. This, he adds, began immediately after the highway was completed and the culprits are the matatu operators who have encroached on the space for parking. Of late, carwash bays have also mushroomed with the dirty used water flowing into the road, which, he fears, will definitely eventually destroy it. Cornelius suspects that “somebody is profiting from the whole thing”. His contact is [email protected]

FREEDOM TO CON: There are some things that really upset Jimmy Thumbi, and it’s because of the lack of effort to eliminate such wrongs once and for all. In Nairobi, especially in the city centre, nothing disgusts Jimmy like seeing the con card-playing crooks who operate in broad daylight on Ronald Ngala Street. There are also fake doctors calling people with all manner of ailments to go to their tents, and those in vans promising non-existent prizes and other winnings. “How come hawkers are chased away but these crooks continue their crooked business in the streets?” His contact is [email protected]

POWERS’ MELTING POT: The Chinese versus Japanese is how university don X.N. Iraki sees the recent development of Nairobi’s infrastructure. Says he: “Ngong Road is being built by the Japanese while the Chinese constructed Thika Road. We now have got a chance to compare and contrast the two economic powers from the East. If the US builds Mombasa Road, we will have the world’s three biggest economies building our infrastructure. What is attracting these nations here? Could it be oil? Could there be other opportunities that they see but we can’t?” His contact is [email protected]

Have a competitive day, won’t you!