East Africa Economic Report

First flare up test at Hoima The French oil Major, Total S.A’s foray into East Africa’s oil exploration sector has run into headwinds. The foray itself brought tumult in the sector and the region. Farmed into Hoima Oil fields by Tullow Oil, Total SA soon began maneuvers to elbow out its hosts and take full control of the 1.7 billion barrel fields.  Tullow oil was the first oil explorer to find oil in Uganda in 2006. It farmed the oil Majors Total SA and the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) for 33 percent stake in Hoima Oil fields in Uganda.  Meanwhile, Tullow Oil together with its Canadian partner Africa Oil had discovered oil in Kenya’s Lokichar Basin. So Tullow planned to export its crude through the proposed Lamu Port in Kenya. For this both governments in Uganda and Kenya agreed to set up a special purposes vehicle to build an oil Pipeline through Kenya.  But then Total, secretly contracted a US company, Gulf Interstate, to do a feasibilit...

Kenya is revving for faster growth in the coming year, all things remaining the same, we can report. The country, whose growth is among the fastest in the continent, is expected to register slow growth in 2017 compared to 2016.  Last year, national wealth grew by a robust 5.8 percent but is expected to slow down to 5.0 percent or below. However, all fundamentals for a fast turnaround are in place: the short- rains have been adequate and well distributed, inflation has turned south and will continue to do so as food supply increases, oil prices still look low and the political climate is cooling off albeit with pockets of noise. The short run headwinds namely; the uncertainties arising from a prolonged electioneering is well behind us, the economic tremor caused by the invalidation of the presidential vote on September 1 st is also behind us. The tide is turning in favour of economic prosperity.  Prolonged drought since the second half of 2016 coupled with poor long r...

Supreme Court: Sealed RAO's career The Supreme Court of Kenya on Monday this week sealed Raila Odinga’s political fate. By upholding Uhuru Kenyatta’s re-election on October 26 th , it  paved the way for Kenya to go back to abnormal because Raila is done! Go back to abnormal? To many Kenyans normal is going back to their normal routine. That’s true. But one “normal” will be missing- regular disruptions by Raila Odinga and his surrogates. Odingaism is Kaput!  The old man, a very good mobilizer but a poor strategist brought this on himself.  He chose the wrong path to State House and has never learnt from his previous failures, probably because he believes his own lies. He created an impression of a national outlook in his party by surrounding himself with communities that do not have the numbers to take him to state house, unless he is running alone! That was a sure way to keep him in the opposition benches.  Politics is about numbers and persuasion. He ...

John Mbadi :A thief investigating himself?  Contrary to public pronouncements, Raila Odinga’s party, ODM is in the thick of the plunder of Kenya.A Lengthy investigation by this publication has established that there is a tag-team of corruption in Kenya.  The team comprises of wealthy businessmen, politicians, the media and some so-called activists. This is how it works: an official frustrates a businessman’s scheme to plunder Kenya; the miffed businessman concocts some scandal targeting the official in question, he hands the scandal to a an ODM politician or a miffed one too; the politician hands it to a friendly reporter who splashes the story, other politicians and activists pick up the cue and the chorus of condemnation begins. Since the businessmen tag along politicians in the schemes to plunder Kenya, the politician is also miffed because he also lost in the same deal. Waiguru: Hounded out by the  Corruption Tag- team The team, currently starring J...

The Puppet megalomaniac   The calls by NASA/NRM to boycott certain companies and their products is Jimmi Wanjigi’s revenge attack, we can report.  Raila Odinga is just the puppet, doing his master’s will while NASA members are pawns in game of greed for wealth and power. Raila shall only gain the droppings from their high table, warn international intelligence sources. Jimmi has sworn to bring  Kenyatta  down because he put Jubilee in office and Jubilee betrayed him by blocking his plundering ways.  In a tweet on his twitter handle he says: “Jubilee was my brainchild, laid out the blueprint and  filled it with the occupants all in my basement. And bring it down I will! Watch my pace!” Wanjigi, who made his wealth through shady deals during the Kibaki regime, cobbled together Jubilee Alliance from URP and TNA led by William Ruto and Uhuru Kenyatta, respectively in 2012, ahead of that year’s election. He had hoped that they would look the other sid...

RAO: Joshua leading flock to the wilderness The journey to Canaan has aborted! The river Jordan did not stop its waters and Joshua has aborted the trip and is leading his flock back to the wilderness. The aborted journey has left in its wake Orphans, shattered dreams, careers in jeopardy, anger and a potential scattering of the flock. That is perhaps how events of October 25th, 2017 can be described.   The winds that failed to stop the river Jordan was a rebellion by the Supreme Court of Kenya judges who refused to hear an application suspending yesterday’s election.  That rebellion saved Kenya from an artificial crisis created by the Court and the “Lawfare’’ brigade.  That Uhuru will then president in the next five years is fait accompli.  The brigade, itself desperate for a place in the government, is determined to do everything to achieve its goal. It must, for NASA signed itself into a trap.  It has a contract with Jimmi Wanjigi, who funded its P...

 President JW  A Raila win in Kenya’s presidential elections will be a win for Jimmi Richard Wanjigi, this Publication can confidently report. Raila will only be a vassal President, with real power lying with JW as they refer to him.  They will have no power for he has bought them and supported their campaigns. Jimmi has been plotting to bring down President Uhuru Kenyatta’s government since 2013 because the government has stood on his way to fleecing Kenyans. Wanjigi brought together the then competing opposition groups URP and TNA led by William Ruto and Uhuru Kenyatta, respectively in 2012, ahead of that year’s election.  His idea was to put in power a government that will look the other way as he plunders Kenya. Among his pet project that he hoped the new government will allow him to implement, was the US$ 9 billion Standard Gauge Railway and the US$ 600 million second runway and passenger terminal at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi. ...

 Roselyn kwamboka Akombe: A fugitive   Roselyn Akombe is a fugitive, running away from potential arrest and prosecution for treason, we can report. Anything else she attributes to her sudden departure from IEBC as a commissioner is hot air.  She fled the country on Monday, allegedly to go and oversee the Printing of ballot papers in Dubai, but the detoured to New York.  She was, and her handlers at NASA, were rattled by the Police raid in the House of NASA financier, Jimmy Wanjigi, at Muthaiga, in Nairobi. The Raid NASA feared, will find some sensitive documents stored in that house. The Documents were apparently so incriminating that even the NASA lawyer, James Orengo, who is the Commander of the “Lawfare brigade,” was rattled. Orengo, who was among the first to arrive at the Muthaiga 44, himself appeared shaken by the raid.  Meanwhile, Wanjigi holed himself in his palatial home refusing to let the Police in for a period of 72 hours forcing the co...

Raila: Kenya's great threat Raila Odinga, NASA leader and his surrogates, are Kenya’s greatest stability risk. He has earned this dubious distinction because he is; Capricious, deceptive, disruptive, malicious and destructive- all these adjectives rolled into one. His singular desire to be Kenya’s president at whatever cost has built in him a bitter and malicious man who, according to a Europe based intelligence network, “will not blink if Kenya burns if that is the price to be paid for him to get into the government”  An accomplished mobilizer, Raila excels in deception, misleading a lot of people to believe his lies.  Among these lies is that his win for the top seat in Kenya is always stolen through rigging.   The butt of his lies is always the electoral commission. In the three electoral cycles, he has destroyed three Commissions always accusing them of helping rig him out. And in his zeal to cover up his lies, he never hesitates to use extra-legal means...

The USCJ 's tweet When the Supreme Court of Kenya annulled the election of President Kenyatta three weeks ago, it was a precedent. It was hailed world-wide as a first in Africa, where a Supreme Court Judge had the temerity to invalidate the election of a sitting President.  However, the Chief Justice of the US supreme court has dismissed the ruling as Pedestal... judicial Activism When the President in a fit of anger dismissed the ruling as the “work of thugs promising to fix the Judiciary if re-elected, legal minds in Africa went for his Jugular, “lecturing” him on respect for institutions of governance and especially the judiciary. This is where the legal minds missed the point.  There was an ominous threat in the President’s use of the word wakora - Kiswahili for dishonest people. That word for any student of linguistics was an indication that the President knew more than he said.  While the world was cheering the decision of the Court, some in Ken...

Kenya’s economic growth this year, which was projected to hit 5.9 per cent, has slowed down. It is projected to slow to over 4.0 per cent. Kibera: Home of the wretched of the earth. Raila's constituency for 20 yrs The country was facing a slow-down in economic activity during the political campaigns, which slowdown eased after the results were announced, declaring President Kenyatta the winner.  However, the Ruling on September 1 st , took the country back on the roller coaster.  In a matter of hours, three hours to be precise, the Nairobi Stock Exchange’s capitalization shaved off Kshs 92 billion, and by the end of the second trading day, Monday September4th, the losses had climbed to Kshs 131billion.  In the forex market, the shilling which had been gaining since Uhuru was declared President, was also battered. It shred off 35 cents against the US dollar after the ruling.  It opened at 102/75 buying 102.95 selling Friday morning but slumped to 103....