Nick Wadhams

More mission statements

Just back from two weeks spent communing with wildebeest in the Maasai Mara. And what should await? More mission statements, this time at the Yaya Center shopping mall (which, if it were ever fortunate enough to be the subject of a journalistic profile, would inevitably be described as "gleaming" and "bustling").

Yaya has a nice motto (Y Go Anywhere Else?). And now it is the proud owner of mission and vision statements, which have been hung up on large banners in Yaya's atrium. I don't know which comes first, the mission statement or the vision statement, but see below for photographic evidence.

I am not sure how I am given a great experience that adds value to my life when I buy a loaf of bread at the supermarket in Yaya. And I am still trying to figure out what it means to create a place of choice for your customers, your tenants and your people. But there you have it.

Not photographed are several other banners informing customers that Yaya's values consist of integrity and good service. 

Speaking of which, Yaya is owned by Nicholas Biwott, a Kenyan politician who has been barred from entering the United States and Britain because of corruption allegations. Biwott, one of Kenya's wealthiest men, has been linked to several major corruption scandals in recent years. Scotland Yard called him a "person of interest" in the assassination of Foreign Minister Robert Ouko in 1990. Yaya is believed to be named after Biwott's daughter.

Perhaps it's no coincidence: Biwott is also said to own of Kengele's Restaurant, also home to a very fine mission statement.

Drought in Kenya

Just visited the town of Kibwezi for a story about farmers growing crops for biofuels. Kibwezi has been in the middle of a drought for four years and its farmers have joined an experimental planting program for the jatropha tree _ often enticed by promises of great riches. Jatropha is a hardy weed that, if you believe the hype, is said to grow well in arid lands, with minimal "inputs," as the agronomics folks say (i.e. pest control, pruning, fertilizing, irrigation). Its seeds are harvested, shelled, and crushed for seedcake and oil.

I have a few stories coming out soon about jatropha in Kenya. One thing I'll say now is how impressed I was with the farmers. I kept asking whether they resented the people who came with big promises about jatropha, and they refused to rise to the bait. Here is a classic case of local people with few tools and no electricity who know far, far more about the best way to plant crops on their own land than the outsiders who come in and tell them what to do.

Some pictures:

Francisca

Boniface

Wellington

Joseph

Could it be? No.

Over the weekend, a document emerged purporting to show that Barack Obama was born in Mombasa, Kenya! There are so many inaccuracies about the "birth certificate" that it's obviously a fake. Most are explained here.

One more small reason. The document says the birth certificate was issued on August 5, a day after Obama was born. August 5, 1961 also happens to have been a Saturday. My humble experience with getting a birth certificate (which looks nothing like this one) was that government offices are generally closed on Saturdays and that it takes at least a week for hospitals to send birth announcements to the government office where a birth certificate is issued.

Gosh, conspiracy theories are fun. And I love how Kenya, a country we moved to three years ago because we thought it would just be a nice place to live while reporting on all the crap that happens in East Africa, seems to pop up in the news all the time. Thanks, prez (and post-election violence).

For comparison's sake, after the jump a Kenyan birth certificate which I can testify with first-hand knowledge was not forged. Things may have changed in 40 years, indeed, but it's a tad different.