Now this is news you dont want to hear

Kenya has a problem and we are all to blame for it..... we have cases of TB increasing at 20% annually in a country where 35% of the population has no access to a health center. And in case that wasn't grim enough for you or you are thinking, just 35%......... well that is about 10million Kenyan who have no access to health facilities.

Anyone who has been involved in the corporate CSR initiatives and those launched by NGO's will bear with me on this one as i proceed to heap a turn of hot coals on your heads. Everytime we see some big shot, or one of those corporates on the business pictorial they are talking about how we need to give back to society. To ensure that every individual gets a chance to enjoy their right to life.

and yet all this people and this includes churches will only have missions in places within their neighbourhood so to speak. let me paint you a pic just so that we have this clear

Turkana district which has a population of about 450000. People in the Turkana community dont own land it is held in trust for them by the Turkana county council, denying the community members a basic right; "the right to own property alone or in association with others."

atleast five divisions, areas in the districts do not have a single health facility.In these areas as off dec '06 large numbers were dying of measles, mumps, and scabies.

It is sad that in a country like kenya where so much money is beign spent by both government and private sector to earn them a positive image with the rest of the world we are denying fellow kenyans basic human rights.

Here are some interesting statistics; please think of this the next time you set out to organise a CSR event in your organisation.

At the height of the drought season 3.5 million people needed handouts out of these 89000 were pregnant women and more than 500000 were children under 5, 150 of whom needed emergency attention.

although malnutrition exists throughout kenya, highest prevalence has been found in north and north eastern kenya where more than 80000 children ages 6-59 months are acutely malnourished.

Only 25% of kenyan have access to a health facility within 8kms of their homes. Health expenditure by government in the rural areas is about 30% of government budget compared to 70% in urban areas (where only 20% of the population lives).

I could go on, but then you will stop reading this before i get to tell you this. we all can do something, the next time you as individual are complaining about not knowing what you can do for your country think about this, as a company executive, you are wondering what can we do this year that will show everyone we are socially responsible try getting out of the city; like really getting out.

Vestergaard Frandsen Announces Launch of Continent Wide Malaria Prevention Program in Kisumu, Kenya

At Risk Families To Receive PERMANETS During Regular Vaccination Visits


(CSRwire) NAIROBI, Kenya--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 8, 2006--Mikkel Vestergaard Frandsen, CEO, Vestergaard Frandsen, together with the Global Fund announced at a briefing today a massive malaria prevention program that will bring insecticide treated bed nets to thousands of at-risk families. The nets, which are financed through an $82 million grant from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, will be provided jointly with a range of other essential health interventions, including measles vaccinations, polio vaccinations (in select districts), vitamin A, and de-worming medicine.

Malaria accounts for roughly one-quarter of all deaths among children under the age of five in Kenya each year. The disease takes a considerable toll on the country's economy, causing the loss of an estimated 170 million productive working days each year. Currently, only six percent of pregnant women and young children sleep under a long-lasting insecticide-treated bed net -- a level the campaign aims to increase to more than 70 percent.

Nearly 34 organizations have partnered to implement this innovative program including the Measles Initiative, a partnership led by the American Red Cross, United Nations Foundation, World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The Kenya Red Cross will be working with the government and other partners to educate and mobilize communities.

"My company is in the business of saving lives," said Mikkel Vestergaard Frandsen, CEO, Vestergaard Frandsen. "Working with the Kenyan Ministry of Health, Global Fund and our esteemed partners in the international NGO community we will be bringing nearly 3.5 million life saving PERMANETS to at-risk families in Kenya. The profound effect our products can have on so many lives is humbling. In combination with the other essential health interventions provided, we are substantively improving the lives of millions of people who need help the most."

Reference: http://www.csrwire.com/synd/business-ethics/article.cgi/5919.html

Labour Rights Project: A Case for Corporate Social Responsibility

“The Company needs to be an ethical creature – an organism capable of both reaping profits and making the world a better place to live” by Robert Hass, Chairperson and CEO of Levi Strauss

With markets opening up all around the world and trade and investment flows reaching unprecedented levels, the Kenya Human Rights Commission recognizes the large role business plays in the lives of millions of people in rich and poor countries alike. The Kenya Human Rights Commission believes that if business is to be a positive influence in people's lives, it must be fundamentally ethical in its treatment of people especially as employees, and in regard to host communities and the environment. Currently, human rights abuses once committed primarily by repressive governments are increasingly carried out in the corporate interest.

As the Kenya Human Rights Commission, we appreciate that the protection of human rights is not traditionally considered a responsibility of corporations. Domestic and international laws of many states including Kenya fail to impose adequate human rights duties on corporations. Yet corporations, especially multinational corporations (MNCs), are very powerful entities in the current world order. Their impact on the well being of communities and individuals, including in terms of human rights, is evident wherever they operate. While there is considerable scope for that impact to be positive, corporate activity is often perceived to have had, and has had, a detrimental impact on human rights protection. Domestic laws are not adequate to control the human rights excesses of multinational corporations (MNCs). In most instances, some MNCs are more powerful economically and de facto politically, than a state it is operating in, particularly when that state is a developing nation which perceives that it needs foreign direct investment in order to achieve satisfactory levels of economic development.

Therefore, as human rights advocates begin to address corporate crime, they often do so in the absence of any serious government support. As a result, they are tempted to fall back on voluntary codes of conduct adopted by the corporations themselves. At best, this self-monitoring represents “enlightened self-interest” by companies looking for a stable investment climate and providing corporations with cover from public scrutiny making corporate agents rather dubious guarantors of human rights.

Whether voluntary codes of conduct advance human rights or are an intermediate step toward deeper change or just window dressing is a topic still hotly debated by human rights activists, labour groups and grassroots movements. As always, it ends up as a David and Goliath battle. Many favor some sort of international body that will monitor and regulate corporate activities around the world while others propose that what needs to happen is a redefinition of human rights as the fight for self-governance.

Reference: http://www.khrc.or.ke/subsubsection.asp?ID=5

Kenya: Tobacco advertising under fire

A News item from Business Respect, Issue Number 85, dated 25 Jul 2005

Tobacco advertising that aims to promote social messages has come under fire as a loophole being exploited for the advertising and promotion of tobacco.

Two recent advertisements in Kenya, placed by British American Tobacco, have led to accusations that the company was rendering the tobacco advertising ban ineffective. Under the regulations, companies can promote their corporate social responsibility activities so long as they don't seek to persuade people to smoke.

One of the adverts in question announced a competition and the second unveiled retail prices for the new Sportsman Light. The company defended the advertising, saying it was within the law of the land and did not seek to promote smoking.

Reference: http://www.mallenbaker.net/csr/CSRfiles/page.php?Story_ID=1477

How can Corporate Social Responsibility Deliver in Africa? Insights from Kenya and Zambia

I
t is now recognised that poverty
reduction and sustainable development
will not be achieved through government
action alone. Policy makers are paying
increasing attention to the potential
contribution of the private sector to
such policy objectives.
1
The concept
of corporate social responsibility (CSR)
is sometimes used as shorthand for
businesses’ contribution to sustainable
development. A number of core
development issues are already central
to the international CSR agenda.
They include labour standards, human
rights, education, health, child labour,
poverty reduction, conflict and
environmental impacts.
But what does this mean at the
national level, particularly in those
countries in which sustainable
development challenges appear most
intractable? Does CSR have resonance
among local stakeholders? This paper
describes key aspects of the emerging
CSR agenda in two countries in sub-
Saharan Africa – Kenya and Zambia –
in order to explore what it would take
to help unlock the potential private
sector contribution to sustainable
development in each country.

Reference: http://www.iied.org/SM/CR/documents/CSRinAfrica.pdf

Who's afraid of Alcoblow? Not Kenyan drinkers!

IT IS NOW official: Kenyans love their beer so much they are willing to risk arrest for it. In the Kenyan parliament last week, Finance Assistant Minister Peter Kenneth, talking about the discontinued Alcoblow breathalyser, caused laughter in the House when he said

"Contrary to the belief that the use of Alcoblow by police reduced beer consumption, the opposite was the case. The available statistics show that there was no drop in beer consumption as a result of the breathalyser."

Reference: http://www.nationmedia.com/eastafrican/09102006/Opinion/Opinion0910200611.htm

How racism kills Africa's plants

L. MUTHONI WANYEKI

The Germans know how to build cars. When the organisation I used to work for was getting a new office car, our choice - from the make to the colour - was primarily dictated by concerns about carjacking. A year later I was involved in a head-on collision, following which the car rolled. The car, a new Volkswagen Jetta, was written-off.

But I, amazingly, emerged unscathed thanks to its airbag and seatbelt. So I became a fervent advocate of German technology in a different sense than originally anticipated. A car bought for security from a carjacking perspective had provided safety in another way - and saved my life. Thus my emotional attachment to VW.

And my disappointment and irritation with the name it has chosen for its sports utility vehicle. How on earth did it decide that the name of a whole group of people is an appropriate name for a make of cars?

In the same tired old manner in which so many aspects of Africa are exoticised and romanticised - and then commercially exploited - the Touareg are now cars. The name, of course, is not-so-subliminally meant to evoke images of valiant crossings of the Sahara, with little or no water on hand.

I am sure the Masaai here, whose images are now used to sell almost anything to do with Kenya and East Africa, will empathise. If I were a Touareg, I would be lodging a claim to block to the use of the name. Or, at least, claiming a share of the profits from Touareg sales from VW.

It seems a frivolous point to make. But it is not. I had the privilege of hearing Awegechew Teshome, an Ethiopian scientist, speak to a gathering last week about the same issues - but in relation to Africa's plant genetic resources. He talked about the diversity of Africa's traditional food production systems, and the simplistic attempts to overlay large-scale, "modern" food production on them. Not all of Africa's ecosystems - on which the traditional systems were painstakingly built over time - take to synthetic inputs such as mass-produced fertilisers, chemicals and so on. Nor can they support mechanisation, particularly in the drylands.

Reference: http://www.nationmedia.com/eastafrican/09102006/Opinion/Opinion091020063.htm

Uganda won't violate gays' human rights, but..

BRIG (RTD) MATAYO KYALIGONZA

The recent condemnation of the Uganda government by Amnesty International over alleged incitement against same-sex relationships is inappropriate and in bad taste.

The report appearing in The EastAfrican (September 18-24), might be construed to mean that the government of Uganda encourages violation of human rights, an insinuation that could be grossly misleading.

The government of Uganda upholds the law and accords capital adherence to its implementation as provided for in the laws of our country. It is, therefore, erroneous for Amnesty International to allege that the government does not adhere to international laws on homosexuality.

It is true that Uganda has ratified the laws forbidding violation of human rights, but it is not true that the government has violated those laws when it comes to same-sex relationships. The government protects all citizens against any form of incitement and is not responsible for the alleged publication of names of alleged lesbians in one of the publications in our country – Red Pepper.

The freedom of the press is top on the agenda of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) government, although it is the government's responsibility to ensure that the freedom is not abused. Red Pepper is responsible for whatever it publishes, and the government cannot monitor and filter what is sold in the streets as that would be gagging the media, which the government is careful not to engage in.

Reference: http://www.nationmedia.com/eastafrican/09102006/Opinion/Opinion091020067.htm

Policy makers can save our natural resources

SCHOLARS, environmentalists and scientists have written about the quandary facing Uganda's natural resources.

Our lakes, especially Victoria and forests, like Mabira, which is currently facing a degazetting threat, serve as an immediate example of the how futile the conservation war is.

The government has degazetted a number of other forest reserves before like Towa, Banga and Namanve land that is now the home of Coca-Cola and the Butamira companies.

The threat facing natural resources is not only depressing but also a symptom of much bigger problems and questions that need to be answered by government decision makers.

The value and importance of our natural resources cannot be over emphasised; they are well known to the people of Uganda, rural and urban alike.

For example, the Buganda clan system, which has been in place since time immemorial, forest dwellers like the Ik in northern Uganda and the Batwa in the southwest have always exploited natural resources sustainably.

These natural resources were used by our forefathers for different purposes such as fishing, medicine or cultural rites and much of the heritage survived due to such traditional and historical attachments to nature.

Most of these users were not anywhere near being rocket scientists or legislators, but they were well aware of the dynamics and the importance of Mother Nature.

However, the value of natural resources continues to decrease as politicians and policy makers replace our richly varied ecosystems with development packages like manufacturing industries.

It is not reasonable to cherish development to such a level that it supersedes the value of a healthy environment.

Reference: http://www.nationmedia.com/eastafrican/09102006/Opinion/Opinion0910200612.htm

Emminent Kenyans to attend meet on environmental law

A delegation of emminent Kenyans is among world scholars attending a five-day International Conference on Environmental Law and use of natural resources that opens this week at a New York University.

The conference, organised by the International Union for the Conservation for Nature, brings together law scholars, environmentalists and businesses such as banks to discuss how best environmental laws can be applied in the use of natural resources.

Co-sponsored by Unep, the Commission for Environmental Co-operation and the World Bank, the meeting will also discuss how to promote the enforcement of environmental laws in different nations.

It opens at the Pace University School of Law on Monday, October 16.

Invited speakers include the Nobel Laureate, Prof Wangari Maathai, who will give the closing address.

The chairman of Barclays Bank Kenya, Francis Okello, will present a paper entitled The role of banks in promoting compliance with environmental laws in emerging economies: The Kenyan experience, while the chairman of the National Environmental Tribunal, Donald Kaniaru, will chair a discussion on Judicial Enforcement System.

Reference: http://www.nationmedia.com/eastafrican/current/News/Regional11.htm

East Africa faces severe drought

A new scientific report due to be presented at a climate change conference in Nairobi next month, warns that global warming is set to make severe drought across Africa even worse than had been predicted.

According to extracts from the report produced by the UK’s Met Office Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research, whole swathes of East Africa could be affected by chronic water shortages in the future, making the drought that afflicted the Rift Valley and other parts of East Africa last year a regular occurrence.

Extracts from the report were revealed in the Independent newspaper of October 5.

It said that drought is set to affect the lives of billions of people across half the land surface of the Earth in the coming century because of global warming.

Extreme levels of drought are set to make it impossible to farm in huge swathes of Africa and water shortages will make life even harder for poor pastoralist communities like the Turkana.

The findings are formulated by a supercomputer model based on climate change predictions.

Reference: http://www.nationmedia.com/eastafrican/current/News/Regional4.htm

940 projects in rural power plan

The Ministry of Energy has identified 940 projects to benefit from the rural electrification programme.

Each of the 210 constituencies would have at least one in line with the Government policy of boosting development in the rural areas, acting minister Henry Obwocha said.

But he neither said what criteria would be used, nor gave a breakdown of the distribution.

At the moment, most MPs have given priority to the programme in their constituency development fund allocations.

Reference: http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=2&newsid=83636

BAT stocks shed $48.6m as mart awaits talks on smoking ban

British American Tobacco (BAT) Kenya stocks have lost Ksh3.5 billion ($48.6 million) of their value since the government ban on public smoking was announced and almost immediately suspended late last month.

Immediately after the announcement of the ban, the company's share price at the Nairobi Stock Exchange fell to Ksh196 ($2.72) from Ksh200 ($2.77) per share.

However, later when the ban was lifted for 30 days through a High Court order in Nairobi, the share price bounced back to Ksh200 and the company's stock appeared set to recover some Ksh500 million ($6.9 million) that it had lost. However, last week the share price again plummeted sharply, to Ksh165 ($2.3) the lowest recorded over the past one year – meaning a total fall in the company's stock of Ksh3.5 billion ($48.6 million).

Reference: http://www.nationmedia.com/eastafrican/current/Business/biz12060614.htm

Media ethics team is named

The Media Council of Kenya has appointed eight officials to the committee on ethics and complaints.

They will tackle complaints from the public in connection with media conduct and professionalism.

The team, to be headed by veteran journalist Mitch Odero, comprises Prof Idha Salim, Mr Salim Lone, Mr Joe Kadhi, Mr Wachira Maina, Ms Asenath Odaga, Ms Muthoni Wanyeki and Ms Esther Kamweru.

Reference: http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=1&newsid=74406

500 jobs in tea industry under threat if machines introduced

Controversy over the introduction of tea harvesting machines resurfaced in Parliament with and an assistant minister admitting that 500 new jobs are under threat.

Agriculture assistant minister Kembi Gitura told Mr Charles Keter (Belgut, Kanu), that a special Sh20 million factory built by Finlay Company had been closed because of a stand-off over the machines.

Reference: http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=2&newsid=74799

'No more good money after bad': How board revolt sparked Uchumi collapse

At a board meeting 10 days before the closure was announced, directors called in to discuss a move to raise Ksh500 million ($6.94 million) from the market by private placement flatly refused to entertain the proposal. Shares worth $312,500 were sold a day before collapse.

Reference: http://www.nationmedia.com/eastafrican/current/News/Regional050620061.htm

Hope for smokers as courts stub out Charity ban

AFTER A FEW DAYS during which they literally went underground, Kenya's smokers were back to smoking with impunity on Wednesday evening

Reference: http://www.nationmedia.com/eastafrican/current/Opinion/LastWord05062006.htm

trash acres ......food for thought....

Hi Amos,must say I had forgotten about places like that but being in India kinda makes you change your perspective of things for me those people and places were always just that and they didnt affect me.......after all they dont live near me...

Now am in a country where the nice complex I live in is surrounded by a slum and you know the funniest thing is "some crazy, totall y fired Indians in delhi are selling houses with lawns to get into complexes like this, why? it secure and feels more like you belong somewhere"........that really got me thinking you know...

also the fact that here this people are not just in Kibera, kawangware, mathare.........no they are everywhere ........as you sit in a rick they are standign next to you on th ehighway.
Guys live on the street...next to huge office complexes...and it not frowned up, its like what can we do..

It amazing when you think of the socio-dynamics that exist in a place like that and what impact it would have on the place and people to have it cleaned up .....
and still the consideration of if we dont then what?

Turning acres of trash to clean heaps of cash

An ominous silence confronts us as we pick our way into the vast Nairobi dump site at Dandora.
The vintage Mercedes Benz saloon of guide Isaac Irungu couldn't be more out of place on this chilly morning and there is a strange stillness in the air.
Mean-looking marabou storks add to the grim picture. The birds are on a scavenging mission, occasionally moving close to each other as if to consult on the intrusion.
There must be dozens of curious eyes focused on us. People just do not stride into this place. We want to meet the people who eke a living out of these mountains of rubbish – and who painstakingly guard it.

Reference:http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=27&newsid=55560

Kenya says it will cancel oil firms' licences as fuel crisis worsens

The fuel crisis that has rocked the three East African countries for the past one week arising from the introduction of an advance tax payment system by the Kenya government is far from being resolved.
Energy Minister Simeon Nyachae appeared to fuel to the stalemate by threatening to cancel licences for oil companies that persisted in boycotting stocks from the Kenya Petroleum Refineries just hours after his efforts to reconcile the dealers and the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) came to nought.
The refineries general manager, Chris House, said the plant would close down temporarily as its storage capacity was full due to the oil companies' failure to move refined products for distribution, igniting a Ksh3 increase in pump prices around Nairobi.

Reference: http://www.nationmedia.com/eastafrican/current/News/Regional150820054.htm

Saccos step in to fill gap in savings left by banks

As major commercial banks abandon rural customers, savings and credit cooperative societies (Saccos) are filling in the gap.
The Saccos are operating retail banking services, commonly referred to as front office services accounts (Fosa).
With the liberalisation of financial sector in the 1990s, many banking institutions were forced to rationalise their operations, which included closing down some of their branches, mostly in rural areas.

Reference: http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=28&newsid=55141

Hospital on wheels

A giant truck has just rolled into a constituency in Nyanza Province with promises of a better life for the residents.
The residents of Rarieda Constituency welcoming the giant mobile clinic when it rolled into town last week.
It is 3pm on Friday August 12, 2005, and the usually sleepy Aram Market in Rarieda constituency is abuzz. The tiny market square that sits not far from the shores of Lake Victoria is jammed with hordes of curious residents. Everyone wants to catch a glimpse of the giant white truck and the two trailers behind it.

Reference: http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=29&newsid=55203

Pay us now, rail workers tell government

Kenya Railways workers in Kisumu yesterday demanded that their outstanding dues should be settled before the corporation is privatised through concessioning.
The workers said they needed their claims processed now , so they can prepare well for the transition period.
"We should not wait any more. We need our dues paid and done with forthwith because we don't want to linger in the uncertainty of the future once we are done," an emphatic worker identified only as Otieno stated.
The Government has disclosed that the bulk of the cash-strapped parastatal's 9,000 strong workforce will be redundant by December.

Reference: http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=3&newsid=55281

What Kenya’s top earners are paid

Kenya’s highest paid Chief Executive Officer earns Sh2.2 million a month on top of other lucrative non-cash benefit.
The figure does not include the lucrative pampering of the lords of the boardrooms with such incentives as free club membership and golf facilities, credit cards, chauffer, and airtime and telephone bills.
The amount is Sh200, 000 higher than what the country pays President Kibaki per month.

Reference: http://www.eastandard.net/hm_news/news.php?articleid=27507

Pull down sexy billboards - study

Researchers have finally found evidence for what good altar boys have known all along – erotic images make you go blind.

The effect is temporary and lasts just a moment, but the research has added to road-safety campaigners’ calls to ban sexy and other eye catching billboards – advertising near busy roads, in the hope of preventing accidents.

Reference: http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=30&newsid=55277

Enact law to stop human trafficking

The Government has been urged to put in place a law to curb human trafficking.

A workshop on human trafficking at a Nairobi hotel yesterday blamed the search for jobs for the increased number of people being sold from Africa.

Trafficking of people was a big challenge to the labour movement since people were pushed to become domestic or sex workers, said Mr Andrew Kailembo, the general secretary of the African regional office of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions.

Reference: http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=1&newsid=55308

Rural Marketing Training Course

By Tec Institute of Management
Date: 7th-9th July
Venue: St. Anna Guest House Kisumu
Cost: Ksh 17,400 per person (VAT Inclusive) Multiple booking discounted
Contact: TEC Training at obwana@tec.ac.ke
Daily Nation June 29, 2005

Africa adopts IT to protect its resources

Protection of intellectual property rights is at the centre of Kenya’s information and communication technology policy, the government said yesterday. Minister Raphael Tuju said Africa was the biggest loser of indigenous intellectual property because its indigenous knowledge was being constantly digitalized, privatized and shipped overseas. An estimated $43 billion worth of medicines from plants discovered by indigenous people was being sold abroad every year, Mr. Tuju said. Daily Nation June 29, 2005

Mwiraria censures profit-driven banks

Multinationals banks are “too expensive, bureaucratic and profit driven” The critism came from finance minister David Mwiraria, who yesterday said the banks were out of reach as more than 80% of Kenyans lacked access to banking. Most multinational banks had closed their rural branches and centered their activities in major towns, he said.
Using biblical inference, Mr Mwiraria said: “ It is easier for a (rich) man to pass through the eye of a needle, than for an ordinary Kenyan to get a loan from a multinational bank.” Daily Nation June 29, 2005

Ads ban unwise

As much as the government wants to help its youths, banning alcohol adverts on TV and billboards won’t help. The youth actually have their ways of getting drinks they want. Also, the ban of the adverts will lead to unemployment and loss of incomes to advertising and media companies and many other groups. After banning them, what about the matches in Kenya that are sponsored by the alcohol companies? The government should reconsider the matter and allow the adverts to continue. Fridah Nyamu, Meru, Kenya. Daily Nation June 29, 2005

Drink Responsibly, Live Responsibly

Tip of the week: “Alternate your drinks. This will reduce the amount you drink as well as keep you hydrated” Daily Nation, June 17, 2005

Fair play pledge on Adverts

The government yesterday pledged fair play in the implementation of rules on alcohol and cigarettes advertising. Afred Mutua said “We will give a balance between the economic benefits and the social impact when we come to a decision.
Daily Nation, June 17, 2005

Closing of bars close to Homes

Bars and Discos have been banned from urban residential areas. Internal security minister John Michuki yesterday ordered the provincial administration not to license the businesses and to mount a crackdown on owners. Daily Nation, June 16, 2005

FIRE Award

The financial reporting (FIRE) Award for excellence is a competition that seem to advance best case practices in corporate disclosure and governance. The award is promoted by the institute of certified public accountants, capital markets authority and Nairobi stock Exchange. More details can be acquired from Harrison Ng’ang’a at +254 20 8562011 or Harrison.nganga@icpak.com by Daily Nation, June 13, 2005

Textile firms get the nod on minimum wage

Textile manufacturers in the Export processing Zone saw two of their demands met by finance minister David Mwiraria. They wanted the government to cut the cost of ding business by reducing the minimum wage which forms the largest component in the industry. At present, Kenya’s average cost for unskilled workers is Kes 3420 pm while that of competitor suppliers china and India is Kes 2660. by Daily Nation, June 13, 2005

Energy Management Award

Electricity Regulatory Board executive chairman Metere Keriri presents 25 certificates to business media development institute chairman Ochieng Oloo. The certificates will go to the institutes’ members who participated in a recent workshop on Energy Management and its impacts on business hosted by GEF-KAM industrial Energy efficiency Project. By Daily Nation, June 13, 2005

KPLC Project’s effect on community

KPLC is installing three phase commercial power to a project in our area. The power lines pass through our plots. They brought us forms to sign and promised to compensate us later, without quantifying the damage meted on our crops and trees. Some installed cables pass over structures. By Isaac. By Daily Nation, June 13, 2005

When Power company lost case on employee safety.

John Joel Koskei Vs KPLC Ltd (2005)
Kenya Power and Lighting Company was sued by John Joel Koskei whom it had employed as a meter reader. On November 23, 1993, on the course of duty, he was involved in an accident along Nakuru-Njoro Road. He sued KPLC for negligence and breach of contract of his statutory tenure of employment. His Award is estimated at Kes 1,700,000. by Daily Nation, June 13, 2005

Introduction to CSR in Kenya

CSR is an acronym for Corporate Social Responsibility. CSR can be used interchageably to refer to as Corporate responsibility. Corporate Citizenship, Sustainability and Business Responsibility.

With the topic picking up in developing economies, there is a need for the CSR enthusiasts to have a forum where they discuss on issues affecting sustainability in Kenya.

Therefore, welcome to CSR in Kenya blog. Its my wish that you will find this blog educative and informative.