By Njoroge Kinuthia
For the past 15 months, there has been a relentless stream of bad news from Syria. Government forces have been battling rebels who have been fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad from. So far, Amnesty International estimates that over 10,000 civilians have been killed in the conflict. Another human rights organisation, Syria Human Rights Monitor, says some 15,163 people have been killed since the revolt broke out in March 2012.
Most of the killings are being blamed on Government forces and their militias who have been accused of carrying out cold-blooded attacks on civilians.
Bloody march
Sadly, as Syria continues to burn, the global community is doing little to end the bloodletting. Sustained UN efforts have not yielded peace in Syria. On the other hand, world powers remain divided on how to end the violence, with China and Russia blocking tougher action against Assad. But as the world procrastinates, the merchants of death continue with their bloody march. It’s time for the world to speak in one voice against the evil in Syria and help end the fighting by all means possible.
...............
City Council blamed for the wrong stench
Just who is in charge of sewage disposal in the city? That is the question that has been bothering some residents of Umoja II estate, according to Ms Sheila Masila.
Since ‘a small estate’ behind Tumaini Primary School was constructed, Ms Masila alleges that those who reside near Umoja II terminus have never enjoyed fresh air.
“The owners of the plots channeled their sewer pipes to the drainage that is meant for storm water...the sewage now runs through the gutter issuing a very terrible odour.”
The residents, she says, petitioned the City Council but no action was taken. “If we sought assistance from the wrong office would someone please direct us to the right office,” she pleads.
From Kasarani estate, still in Nairobi, Lilo K also laments that the problem of sewage has run out of hand and rivulets of filth are everywhere. “Will the City Council ever make our lives easy by addressing the problem of sewage so that we can live in a clean and environment?”
It looks like Masila and Lilo, have been knocking the wrong door, haven’t they Eng Philip Gichuki, MD, Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company?.
..............
Why Jubilee’s client isn’t jubilant
On May 2, Mr Peter Ochieng and his family were robbed at gunpoint of their vehicle, a Toyota Wish and household goods.
The vehicle is yet to be traced by the police, but now Ochieng has suffered double trauma after insurance firm Jubilee chopped off Sh25,000 from the pre-theft insured value of the car without his consent.
The insurer then went ahead to calculate the excess on the vehicle based on the lower insured pre-theft value. Ochieng had been paying premiums based on the Sh900,000 which he listed as the vehicle’s insured value.
He says Jubilee and the broker Liason never questioned the figure, either verbally or in writing before accepting premiums and thus their variations are at the very least suspicious.
Explanation
Said Ochieng: “While I have no problem with the standard insurance practice of deducting excess when making settlements, it should be above board and any variations should be agreed upon with the payee before the insurer accepts premiums.
Nothing of the kind happened in my case and I find this baffling.” Ochieng wants a proper explanation from Jubilee and Liason.
..............
Your big news is no news for CNN
Did anyone notice, asks Gachiengo Gitau, the rather pedestrian coverage of our local tragedy in the Western media like CNN?
Gitau says the coverage made him wonder whether Kenya matters at all to the international community. “Very powerful Government figures die in a helicopter crash and we only get small commentaries running at the bottom of the screen, while the main news item being fed to the world is some rather unimportant news, at least to most Kenyans”.
This made him conclude that a crash involving a village leader in the US is more newsworthy than a president’s in Africa.
.............
DON’T YOU FORGET
Did Japan Embassy help GoldRock, Mr Takata?
On November 2 last year, M/s GoldRock International, a Nairobi-based company, wrote to PointBlank accusing the Japanese Embassy of doing little to help it recover nearly Sh2 million the firm suspected it had been robbed by Tetsu Yamauchi, a Japanese company. Tetsu Yamauchi was paid the money over one year ago to supply two vehicles to GoldRock, but this has never been done. The monies were paid to Tetsu Yamauchi through the Bank of Mitsubishi-Tokoyo UFJ Ltd
It was deposited to account number 7300748, Tajmi branch in September last year. GoldRock also asked the embassy to furnish Kenyans with a list of genuine and recognised used car exporters from Japan. Did you buy GoldRock’s suggestion or offer any help to the firm, Japanese Ambassador Toshihisa Takata?
