Encounter with Kenya Charity Sweepstake Con

Saturday last week I encountered a man who was at pains to rip me off some cash and valuables. These days whenever I'm done with my days business in town (Nairobi CBD and its environs), I have developed the habit of taking my time at the bus station before picking a matatu home. I do this most of the time because I learn a lot from the ‘boys’ who man the station and shout their voice hoarse calling for passengers. More reasons for spending time at the bus station is a story for another day. Not the ladies though.

I had taken a strategic position outside Tusky’s Supermarket; the one close to Afya Centre where some matatus plying south B and Lang’ata route at times park rather illegally. A middle aged man around forty years of age approached me. “Where can I find KCS House?” He asked with a deep Meru accent. Even before giving a response, he went ahead and produced a Charity Sweepstake ticket and confided in me that he had won 200k and he was due to collect his cash price from the Kenya Charity Sweep-stake main office.

I told him I didn’t know the place but I asked him to give me a few minutes to Google it. “You mean this phone can show you where that building is?” He asked rather surprised. He pulled out his phone from his pocket and asked me if his can also do the same. Being a slow day I took the pains and explained to him like a child how to connect his phone to the internet and how to browse.

Like a 'good Samaritan' I offered to take him to KCS House along Mama Ngina Street so that he does not get lost. As we were walking along the moi avenue, the man introduced himself as Murume. He went ahead to tell me he comes from Mau Meru and the far he’s been to Nairobi is Wilson Airport to deliver miraa for export. “I even don’t have an identification card,” he added. Consequently, he wanted me to help him claim the prize money. I asked him why then did he not come with a brother or a relative to Nairobi. “I don’t want my father to know that I have won this kind of money,” he responded.

He narrated how he almost got robbed off his ticket with some Taxi guy along Luthuli Avenue. Allegedly he was willing to give him 50k and top it up with 100k after claiming the prize money according to unwritten deal they had brokered. He demonstrated how he had struggled with the guys to save his ticket. He alleged to have asked for help from a policeman who was close by before the guys took off.

Murume forbid me from making or receiving phone calls because it will seem like I am trying to involve other parties. The greed in me made me obey. He did not even want us to walk to the KCS House using the shortest route I know. He made us walk from Kencom House to Parliament Road then back to Aga Khan Walk. I became rather uncomfortable walking with him around town because he was talking too loud trying to portray how naïve he is.

We walked in to several KCS Kiosks inquiring about the ticket which I felt was too unnecessary. He even bought a card and scratched and inquired from the vendor about the term and conditions for winning. He brought up the issue of us going to a place (I don’t know where) to sign a deal. I told him that we can do from the KCS lobby so that I do not run away with his cash. He seemed uncomfortable with that. I added that I cannot go with a stranger to some downtown place to make a deal.

“Aki saa hii nikapata mtu hata kama ako na 150k anipatie mimi ntampatia hii card, si hata mimi niliinunua 20bob” Murume uttered. Here we were at Taifa Street next to Re-insurance plaza. "I know no one with such an amount at the moment," I responded.

As we were walking towards Kencom house with my newly acquired 'friend', he uttered with excitement, “Si ndio ile KCS House!” I couldn't see it properly because of the trees next to the International House. I wondered how he saw that. As if some force were driving me, I crossed the road and walked towards the KCS House; went and stationed myself next to the entrance waiting for Murume. He was nowhere to be seen. 

I later learnt that this is a ongoing con scheme around town. Its more than a decade old. My money and phone survived. Thanks to the silent prayer I made that morning after a Citi Hoppa bus almost run me over.

Blame Not the System

Of late, the Kenya’s education system has come under attack from various quarters. They say that it concentrates more on theory than the practical aspect of it. A good number of writers and those aspiring to be find a field day in attacking the system which probably they went through.

It’s high time we be proud of our education system; critique it in the most constructive ways. Instead of predicting doom, we can focus on the pros in it. This will give hope to the youths and the future generation. The criticisms have now given people reasons not to advance in their education. For those who are in the system end up giving it little focus on the excuse that the system is inferior.

I can proudly say that the system is not inferior as the critics would like to make us believe. If I may ask what yard stick are they using to compare Kenya’s system? In order to come with reliable and proper conclusion we have to compare our system of education with another and make relevant adjustments. We must also remember that, nothing designed by man is perfect.

What ails Kenya at the moment is our attitude and culture as a nation. Companies are unwilling to give fresh graduates internship opportunities. None the less, those that do, expect fresh graduates to perform more of less the same as regular employees, amidst relevant orientation and training. Some even go ahead to give interns chores such as photocopying, serving tea among others. Our graduates need opportunity, inspiration and motivation to perform optimally.

Crazy Peter Prattles

So what is the mountain deal

about the minister’s ailing son

that she breaks boiling news?

How comes it was not whispered

when Tina’s hospital bed crawled with maggots

and her eyes oozed pus

because the doctors lacked gloves?

What about Kassajja’s only child

who died because the man with the key

to the oxygen room was on leave?

I have seen queues

of emaciated mothers clinging to

babies with translucent skins

faint in line

and the lioness of a nurse

commanding tersely

‘Get up or leave the line.’

Didn't I hear it rumored that

the man with the white mane

and black robes

whose mouth stores the justice of the land

ushered a rape case out of court

because the seven-year-old

failed to testify?

Anyway, I only remember these things

when I drink,

they are indeed tipsy explosions.

Shades of Life

I see happiness and sorrow

Success and failure

All as my partners in life

From moment to moment;

A day may start with brightness

Like the cloudless sunrise,

The eye of the mind then sees the day ahead

With hope and cheerfulness,

Every task I tackle to win

Every challenge I manoeuvre to overcome,

At the end of the day

I scream hurrah!

A bright day may turn gloomy

When all tricks fail

The eye of the mind then appears faint

Like trying to strike a snake

Armed with a stick

And a weak spotlight

In a moonless night

I struggle to succeed

But I am challenged

Like a blind boxer

Who can’t see his target

Then chance may put my target

To my advantage

And then I strike once

And finish the challenge

Again I scream hurrah!

A bright day may end without warning

When chance create an accident

To leave scattered pieces of flesh

All caused by chance

And no time allowed for manoeuvre

All the efforts of years are stopped

Without consultation

Chance again may save the body from death

But leave the person to suffer forever

As life returns

Hurrah may be said gradually

Day after day in crescendo

Culminating when all pain is gone

The eye of the mind

May see happiness or sorrow

Through those we love or live with;

We get entangled to each other

Like creeping plants in a forest

 Challenged to win happiness

But too entangled to part from each other

On a bright day we laugh together

But the eye of each mind

Is secretly poised against each other

Like an angered cobra

Waiting for the moment

To strike the fatal challenge;

Happiness may come to some

When the fatal blow succeeds

The mind then rejoices

When it sees the pain caused,

The eye of the mind

May be fuelled with impatience and jealousy

To scheme others into failure

So that happiness may come as they fail

Or happiness may come

To feel one is the only one;

What a strange partnership

In happiness and jealousy!

All minds have eyes

Which improve through learning

So learn to better the world

Others learn to destroy the world

And common to all efforts

We pursue happiness.

                                      By Everett Standa

Kenya's vision 2030 unattainable

The pronouncement by the Ministry of education that learning in all public primary schools will be interrupted come Thursday is uncalled for. As a country, how dare we waste a day of learning, oblivious of the compulsory recess come 28^th February to 11^th March, just to pave way for political parties’ nominations? This portrays Kenya as a country that value not education. If the trend goes on like this, then vision 2030 is inconceivable. Come to think of it, vision 2030 is meant for whom? Not that I am against setting goals but in this case, I beg to defer.

We have positioned Kenya as a country that thrives on hopes and dreams. That’s why a few people will sit and decide we need a vision. This by all standards, is an attempt by our leaders to keep the have-nots busy hoping for the best as they, the leaders, enjoy the fruits of the country. To be true to ourselves, visions without action are fantasies’ that make a man in trouble feel good for the moment. One is even left to wonder if developed nations had such departments to arrive at where they are. I doubt.

Why waste public resources to put up a division headed by a fully-fledged C.E.O? Yet we cannot even finance our annual budget without help from outside. Nonetheless, the government is busy importing goods that surpass our exports by far margins. On this, do we need a C.E.O to advise? To know that we are being duped, ask yourself how old you will be come 2030. Even the crop of leaders who set this plan, I doubt if they will be strong, if not dead to stand conviction on botched plans.

Of Gambling and Reward

Watching TV these days has turned into boring and annoying affair. Every station is flooded with mind-numbing commercials which run after every 10 minutes of normal programming. The trick has changed such that split screening has been introduced in this respect.

That aside; some companies conspire with media houses to cash in from never ending promotions, promising that you stand a chance of winning a set out prize. What these companies don’t tell us is who the true beneficiary of these promotions is.

The scheme of rewarding the so called customers or viewers is questionable. Why require me to send an SMS at premium rates for me to win? Why put loads of conditions, the ultimate one being, “the more SMS you send the higher your chances of winning”?

Let’s do some simple arithmetic here to find out my chances of winning in any competition. The number of mobile subscribers in Kenya is said to be approximately 25 million. Assuming company X run a promotion for a month, then give away one million shillings daily and five million grand draw.

What if five hundred thousand out of the 25 million subscribers send SMSes daily, my chances of winning will be one out of 500,000. In another scenario, assuming Company X does not let a participant win more than once, the likelihood of me winning rises to 30 out of 500,000. The probabilities of winning also increases with a decrease in number of SMSes received and decreases with an increase in the number of SMSes received. 

At the end of the promotion, what will company X get? Let us compute the amount before paying for publicity, taxes and charges by mobile companies among others. Using the numerical above, Company X will make 5 million and 12.5 million shillings per day on promotions run on radio and TV respectively.

Allow me to put this into perspective. A former employee of a leading radio station in Kenya revealed that the station made at least two million shillings per day from a promotion it ran. However, the station gave away five thousand shillings in each of its five show segments per day and five hundred thousand in the grand draw. The SMS were charged at Ksh.15 per SMS and the promotion run for 30 days. That was three years ago. What of now?

In that case, before participating in any promotions, do the math. Have a mathematical year.