Thursday, March 01, 2007

KENYAN POLITICS...
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Kenya's Stockbrokers have been reaping where they have not sown and the Nairobi Stock Exchange may cease to be market many small-scale had envisioned it to be. But J Ngugi says what is happening should not be surprising. The NSE board is dominated by the stock broking fraternity. The Capital Markets Authority, the regulator, is headed by Mr Edward Ntalami, a former broker whose firm was closed. They are regulators and players and you play by their rules!
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And remaining with matters brokerage. Is it true that a leading stockbroking house has set a minimum commission of Sh100 irrespective of the value of the transaction? Hasn’t the CMA set the commission at 2.1 per cent? Do brokers have a free hand on the amount they charge?
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A man from Hong Kong who is 107 years old knows the secret of his long life — sexual abstinence. The last time he had sex, he was 30. His wife died at that early age and he never went back to the rigours and shenanigans of marriage and matters of the heart and desire. But that also came with another health-boosting habit. He stopped smoking. For the 77 years he has been celibate, not even a cigarette has shaken his desire to live a long, long life.
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One of the responsibilities of the Lands minister is to sign Trust Deed Certificates. But since 2004, this has never been done. As a result, thousands of certificates have not been issued. Many charitable and religious organisations are registered as trusts and without certificates, they cannot operate appropriately. Though Cabinet minister Prof Kivutha Kibwana is just acting in the Lands docket, he had better start signing the trust deed certificates if he wants to ease his work. Otherwise, he will be running on the same spot.
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And finally...


Since Aids hit the world like a tornado more than two decades ago, there have been many false cures and overrated medicines. There was Prof Arthur Obel’s Pearl Omega and Dr Stone’s concoction. But these pale to insignificance if what is happening in Gambia is anything to go by. President Yahya Jammeh claims he can cure Aids! When a UN representative queried this, he was given the marching orders.