By Njoroge Kinuthia

When our military entered Somalia last year, police urged the public to be alert and look out for suspicious characters.

That sparked an interesting debate on this forum with some readers even asking the police to describe how ‘suspicious characters’ look like.

But it seems even without police help, Kenyans have slowly learnt to identify these characters. A driver recently told PointBlank how a ‘suspicious character’ in the form of luggage, which had been left at a bus stop, was given a wide berth by passengers and drivers.

Grenade

A worshipper in the church which was attacked with a grenade on Sunday claims the attacker at one point left the church and returned wearing different clothes and shortly after the grenade exploded. Another suspicious character.

Had the hawk-eyed worshipper acted on his suspicions, perhaps, the attack could have been foiled. Meanwhile, social places should quickly acquire and use metal detectors on all their visitors. This way, we can stop some of these bloodthirsty attackers in their tracks.

………………….

KP should to shed light on client’s woes

Kenya Power customer Anthony K Mbote is a very angry man. He reports that the power company "turned off" his electricity (Account No. 2000579-02) on April 28, 2012, 11.03am and no one has bothered to put it on despite his numerous pleas. Mbote, who lives opposite Nairobi school, off Waiyaki Way, says it shocks him to see the streetlights on the road alight and yet Kenya Power insists the "main line is down".

"Who is fooling who?" he asks. PointBlank believes if anyone is being fooled here, it must be you, Mr Mbote.

He can be contacted on anthony.mbote@gmail.com.

……………………

Mr Micah Rotich is also mad at Kenya Power. He claims to have paid a deposit and was given a Stima Loan, to be repaid in instalments, for supply electricity (E24302011040245) to his premises in Kericho.

The agreement, he claims, was that he would be supplied with electricity before the payment of the first installment in January this year.

Unfortunately he is still in darkness. He wants Kenya Power MD, Mr Joseph Njoroge to shed some light on this matter. He can be contacted on 0734540536.

…………………

Genesis of ruined Ruai road woes

While thanking PointBlank for highlighting the deplorable state of Sewage Road, Mr Dick Makembu who has lived in Ruai, Embakasi since early 1990s says that the three-kilometre stretch once gleamed with asphalt.

The road, he reveals, was ruined during the expansion of City Council’s sewerage plant in the mid-1990s and the contractor failed to restore the ruined infrastructure as required by law.

"Over the next decade, all manner of materials, from soil to murram, would be thrown onto the road by residents keen on saving their vehicles from damage." In 2003, residents were told Latf had allocated Sh84m to pave the road but this never happened. "I’m not sure how many times funds were allocated and squandered, but I’m certain it’s been more than two election cycles," he says.

Bottomless pit

The road, he adds, typifies City Council’s ineptitude as it cannot "maintain proper infrastructure even to its own key destinations". But more than anything else, he sees the road as a bottomless pit into which millions of public funds have been sunk. Makembu wants nothing short of a probe by the anti-corruption agency.

…………………..

Why it’s May Day today

It’s Labour Day — the day that some call May Day. This is the day, explains Justin Osey, for workers to celebrate their economic and social achievements. But do Kenyan workers have anything to celebrate about? Osey recalls a time when the President would address Labour Day celebrations and announce a ‘reasonable’ salary increment for workers.

This rarely happens nowadays. Nevertheless, hardworking but hard-up workers always wish that this should happen.

"It may or may not happen", they tell each other. Perhaps this day is also called May Day because it an increment "may" or "may not" happen.

…………………

DON’T YOU FORGET

Has Njoka’s loud cry reached you, Dr Shaban?

In the recent past, Maendeleo Ya Wanaume Organisation chair Nderitu Njoka has been having a very hectic time. He has been running up and down attending to battered men. Cases of husband abuse, he has told us, are on the rise.

According to him, over one million men are assaulted by their wives every year. However, as we wrote in this column on January 16, Mr Njoka can’t achieve much because although he is willing, he lacks the wherewithal. In fact, he alleges discrimination by the Ministry of Gender which funds women empowerment via Maendeleo Ya Wanawake Organisation.

The Government, he has said more than one time, has refused to give Maendeleo ya Wanaume even a penny. Just why won’t Government fund Njoka, Dr Naomi Shaban, Minister for Gender?