BY NJOROGE KINUTHIA
Time to think big after London’s golden error
Team GB flying high. Team Kenya flying low. That was an introductory item on BBC World Service news yesterday morning, after Kenyans suffered a humiliating defeat in men’s 1500m.
While Kenya was mourning Great Britain was celebrating its 20th gold, flying high and gloating about it.
Well, it is not over until the fat lady sings. PointBlank is still hopeful that Rudisha will rudisha smiles on our faces. But, seriously, something is amiss with Team Kenya. Our Beijing glory appears to have gone with the wind in London. What could the problem be?
discus
Whatever it is, we need to go back to the drawing board and give impetus our athletics. But even as we do that, we need to think about diversifying our participation. Surely, running is not the only sport we can excel in. We are ‘natural’ in many activities. Take discus for instance.All of us throw stones once in a while when angry. We are good boxers too. MP Mike Mbuvi once even boxed a stone wall. Any good reason why we can’t bag gold in these sports? None!
How to end Mombasa Road carnage
At least three things should be done to reduce the high incidence of crashes along Mombasa Road (Nairobi to Machakos), according to Mr Titus Muendo. A daily commuter on the highway, Muendo says there is need to erect road signs at all black spots on the road.
Secondly, he notes that while matatu drivers are not innocent, “truck drivers are the worst violators of the Highway Code” and police need to focus more on them. “Instead of traffic police checks on matatus and endless bribe-taking, police should spend their energy dealing with the truck drivers.”
Finally he suggests that the Kenya National Highways Authority consider putting up rumble strips at Sabaki just before Mombasa Cement, before and after the Athi River and Mto Mawe bridges.
More rumble strips should be erected at Small World, Lukenya turn-off and SBI area before Makutano junction.
These areas, he argues, deserve attention due to heightened human activity sparked by new homes and companies.
Muendo is confident that if his recommendations are adopted, the number of crashes on this stretch will fall drastically.
Moi Referral regains full health
It appears that doctors at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, which was recently in the news over its ill health, are doing an excellent job.
The hospital, which was suffering from the debilitating ‘maladministration syndrome’, is now in salubrious shape, but is also making feats that most other health institutions can only dream of.
Mr Alex Kegon is witness to the quick healing of the hospital. Kegon, who has been to the hospital several times over the year, says he was pleasantly surprised recently by the hospital’s transformation.
On March 3, his patient, was discharged in a record five minutes, besides receiving excellent treatment.
It isn’t hard to see why he was taken aback. “In March, it took us a whole six hours to get the interim invoices, another two to get the final invoice. We were released the next day, when everyone was extremely tired and fed up with the hospital’s way of working,” he reveals.
back to ICU
He adds: “The staff and management were very helpful, and it was hard to imagine that this was the same hospital that I knew.” Sadly, the hospital has been diagnosed with ‘wage discontent syndrome’. Lets hope that won’t send it back to ICU.
Long wait for TSC’s letter
The former teacher who complained yesterday about the failure by Teachers Service Commission to acknowledge his resignation with a letter is not alone. Mr Amosi Chilai Nyongesa (TSC No 425733) is also agonising. In December 2009, he wrote to TSC “giving them the mandatory period resignation required”. TSC, he says, went ahead and stopped his salary payments in February 2010. He has been waiting for an acknowledgement letter from TSC to no avail. “My request is that they write to me confirming my resignation since I am no longer with them.” He can be contacted on 0721250767.
DON’T YOU FORGET
Did Ufundi Sacco refund ex-members’ monies?
Mr John Bosire, a retired Ministry of Public Works employee, wrote to PointBlank a fortnight ago claiming that Ufundi Sacco had no intention of refunding him monies he contributed (in shares) over the years. Bosire said he had made numerous attempts to get his money from the sacco since 2006 in vain. His children, he added, had been sent away from school for lack of fees, but this did not bother Ufundi, even after he told them. They referred him to Mr Albert Oyoo, who is in charge of refunds, but he did not help. Also having a similar predicament was Ms Lucy Kimani, whose mother Joyce Kioko retired from Ministry of Public Works in 2000. Kimani said she had made numerous visits to Ufundi’s offices in search of her mother’s contributions in vain. Did Ufundi finally refund the monies?
