Verrani

Are you proud of the governance in the world and your country or are you blind?

RACING TO ARMS

At the turn of every century, mankind has always been driven by a lurid drive for expansion. This is due to the nature of man's dark heart that is swimming in pool full of poison.

Man is a predator whose inborn instincts are to kill with a weapon. War and the instinct for territory has led to the great accomplishments of Western Man.

The Eastern Man is now feeling threatened and he seeks to fight the Western Man and his minions. The drumbeat that argues for war as a defining feature of the human condition has, if anything, increased in recent decades.

We bade goodbye to the cold war after the collapse of the Soviet Union only to be met by a much more catastrophic war that is almost giving way to another world war that will spill into a nuclear war.

The invasion of Ukraine by Russia sent a ripple of fear across NATO and this made them to rethink their strategic and military budgets.

Poland, the first casualty of WW2, has decided to ramp up its defense budget budget by around $22 billion which will total up to 4% of it's GDP. This is higher than any other NATO member has ever spent before the war.

Germany on the other hand set up around $100 billion of its budget to match NATO’s 2% of GDP requirement after constantly filibustering.

Europe, at large, is seeking to put up a European missile defense shield as the anti-missile used by Ukrainian troops has shown a 100% success rate on the battlefield.

The whole of Europe and world is adding more stockpiles of HIMARS, tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, drones, and UAVs to their storage in anticipation for something.

The war is giving blueprints on softer issues such as logistics, strategy and training and less on hardware as we had initially thought.

The training Ukraine received for the past 8 years from NATO is regarded a success since they've halted most of Russia's advancement to Bakhmut and surrounding regions.

China and Taiwan are also learning from the war especially if an amphibious landing is to be conducted by China's People Liberation Army (PLA).

Battlefronts are about to open but the players are yet to fully understand the systems in place. Each party is studying the other person's next move, assessing their own strength and waiting for the perfect time to strike.

For, if you neither now the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle!

Regulate your motivation each day and live a long life!

THE CASE OF BREAD AND CIRCUSES

The Roman emperors were politicians born ahead of their time because they knew how to handle unrest in their principalities. Often, they distracted the masses from socio-economic and political issues by keeping the masses entertained and distracted.

One Roman poet, Juvenal, a critic of the Roman empire, came up with this quote, "Give them bread and circuses, and they will never revolt." This is because they kept people happy and content, even though they were living in poverty and under a repressive government.

Over the past few months, Kenya has been experiencing a period of political and economic instability in recent months. The government has been accused of mismanagement of public funds, tribalism and high taxation. This has led to widespread discontent among the population, who are feeling increasingly frustrated and disillusioned with the current state of affairs.

In an attempt to quell the unrest, the government has resorted to a strategy of "bread and circuses." This involves providing the population with basic necessities, such as food donation drives in Nyanza, a new university funding model, more jobs abroad, and organized a number of social and sporting events, in an effort to keep people entertained.

However, many Kenyans are sceptical of the government's motives. They believe that the government is simply trying to buy their silence with temporary measures and are demanding more fundamental reforms, such as an end to corruption, tribalism and a more equitable distribution of resources.

The government's strategy of "bread and circuses" is a dangerous one. It may succeed in temporarily placating the population, but it will not address the underlying causes of discontent. In the long run, it is only likely to make things worse and can lead to a decline in productivity and economic growth.

Secondly, can lead to a decline in civic engagement and morality. People can become less motivated to participate in the political process and can lead to a government that is less responsive to the needs of the people thus lowering the overall quality of life.

The Roman circus is a reminder that entertainment and distraction can be used to control people. It is important to be aware of this and to be critical of the entertainment that we consume. The people of Kenya have the power to change their country and must not let themselves be distracted by bread and circuses!

Do we need 50 CAS in government or just better management of institutions?

THE ALL SEEING EYE

The Gorgon Stare is the United States Air Force (USAF) program for Wide-Area Motion Imagery (WAMI) which can observe city-sized and large areas with persistent 24 hour WAMI coverage. When attached to a military surveillance drone, it can simultaneously track 1,000 moving targets hence an entire city can be observed at any given point.

Equipped with a resolution of 1.8 billion pixels and a resolution that's 150 times more powerful than an iPhone, this can be a game changer especially in reconnaissance missions due to its unrelenting gaze.

Originally designed for counterinsurgency missions, the Gorgon Stare is evolving further for future fights. What took days, weeks or months of intelligence preparations can be reduced to a single mission. Currently, the Gorgon Stare is equipped on the MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle which was downed by a Russian Su-27 aircraft over the Black Sea.

The USAF considers the MQ-9 Reaper as an intelligence collection asset because of its unique capability to perform precision strikes and its ability to carry as many as 16 Hellfire missiles equivalent to the payload capacity of an Apache helicopter.

The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) has been rising over the past few years that in 2017, the number of drone pilots was more than that of airmen in the USAF. Reaper drones are mostly deployed to the Black Sea region by the US for surveillance capabilities.

At one point in 2021, the USAF was considering selling some older Reaper drones to Ukraine but concerns over transfer of sensitive technology and the danger that some would be shot down led to a freeze in those conversations.

When it comes to insurgency surveillance, only two drones can be required to keep Gorgon Stare aloft over contested areas since images collected over a 30 day period can be used to conduct after-action forensic analysis to determine how enemy operations have unfolded, where they hid and who interacted with them over the period.

When fighting the Talibans in Afghanistan, the Gorgon Stare was more reliable than any manned aircraft with an availability rate of 95% during its 10,000 hours of flight in theatre. With its electro-optical (daylight) sensors and infrared (night) cameras, synoptic versatility of the system and missile systems, the Gorgon Stare Increment 2 is so capable, it reduces the assets that must be dedicated to supporting tactical operations.

The benefits of the Gorgon Stare is that it's possible to tailor it for different missions or integrate it with other UAVs, capable of live imagery stream dissemination, integrated communications site for readiness, Agile Flight Paths to improve flexibility in a wide variety of operational scenarios and more than 100,000 hours of combat flight hours.

Now that Russia recovered the pieces of the US Reaper drones that they downed, what does that mean for the rest of the world? Does it mean only a handful of countries should be allowed to have such technologies?

Maandamano Monday

A Stone Thrown in Kondele is Dangerous Than a Teargas Canister Fired From State House. Discuss (20 marks)

What's good for the party is good for the state is a very dangerous ideology that Mao Zedong learnt the hard way.

We're heading there as a state and the reforms being made are only making the wheels move faster. Instead of focusing on the well-being of our nation, we're seeking to turn the nation into a one party state.

The cost of living has skyrocketed, 30 year old taxes are being reintroduced, the standards of living are going down, our foreign reserves have plummeted and our economy is taking a nosedive.

However, instead of addressing these issues, we're creating new positions, opening party offices, asking for people to shelve their parties and worse of it all selling our minerals and economical power to neocolonialist(s).

The only solution to this mediocrity we see each day is a two state solution where people have to learn about unity from scratch and build a united state. We have to defend ourselves as the proletariat against the bourgeoisie who are out to harm our nation for personal gain.

Civil war will be inevitable but that's how revolutions work, you have to shed blood to build an inheritance for your children. I am tired of living in a state where unity is exists when everyone is defending their person.

If this trend continues, anarchy takes over and state collapse will be witnessed. We need another French Revolution in this state. We need to have The Republic of Kenya and The Kenyan People's Republic.

May Your Sunday be Fruitful and Full of Blessings!

Just as there is no loss of basic energy in the universe, so no thought or action is without its effects, present or ultimate, seen or unseen, felt or unfelt. ” ― Norman Cousins

Think of this the next time you try hitting the streets protesting against China Square my fellow Kenyans

THE GOD-FATHER MERIT

One of the most famous scholars to ever walk the earth, Plato, in his book 'The Republic', talked about how it's in the interests of every individual to be just in an ethical and political context.

He goes further ahead and states that kings should be philosophers and philosophers should be kings as they possess a special level of knowledge, which is required to rule the Republic successfully.

When it comes to meritocracy, it alludes to the idea that an individual who has talent and puts in the hard work, will end up in a higher class while those who lack in talent and slack or will be relegated to the lower cadre of society. The idea of starting off in a clean state with boundless opportunities is mocked by Fredrick Engels.

Engels argues that the proletariat is bound to live under the monopoly of the bourgeois since the working man can only obtain what he needs from the ruling class/gate keepers whose wealth is protected by the state.

The proletariat is enslaved by the need for basic necessities and has no choice than to accept what's being offered lest they risk falling into debt.

Since resources are scarce in every state, the proletariat can choose to abandon this "equitable resource sharing agreement" with the bourgeoisie and look for other ways of creating their own wealth.

However, there's always another proletarian available to fill this gap hence a perpetual cycle of poverty among the masses. Upward mobility is curtailed at the lower levels of society, the working man has very little social capital, no power bargaining chip and risks losing his basic needs if he is to unite with others in seeking a better cause.

Education, was a tool that was to be used to gain upward mobility and showcase merit. This however, only exist to meet the interests of the bourgeoisie which is very little as children are brought up in a manner that furnishes them with skills necessary to remain in the same class and exploit the other classes.

The children of the working class are less educated and are unfamiliar with the "rules of the game". They are unaware of their options and are frustrated by bureaucracy but exhibit great potential when it comes to autonomy and problem solving.

Our societies are guided by the mantra of trusting people they know and this leads to class stratification and low cultural capital. Those privileged to be born with an inheritance lie to the masses that they became rich through national ability and hard work.

Therefore, meritocracy supposed the development of false class consciousness whilst class inequalities were being committed with the education system playing a key role.The gatekeepers practise discriminatory education policies, engage in socio-economic repression and to succeed, you'll have to be connected.

Thus, "There's nothing like a marketable course in Kenya, k**a huna god-father na connections utatiii..." ~ Jamal Marlow Rohosafi

PRESS RELEASE
STATEMENT BY AMB. UKUR YATANI ON CLAIMS OF COERCION BY CONTROLLER OF BUDGET

Allegations by the Controller of Budget that I exerted pressure on her to make “some payments” while serving as the Cabinet Secretary for The National Treasury, are false, malicious and actionable in law. Her submissions to parliament depicted my actions as Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury as designed to facilitate the theft of public funds.

This depiction is libelous and defamatory to my character and professional service to the public in many capacities. I have instructed my lawyers to study her utterances and advice on a law suit against her person.

I want to state four things regarding her submissions as a way of bringing truth and fact to bear on this matter.

1. Article 223 of the 2010 constitution empowers the Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury to authorize expenditures that have not been appropriated by Parliament, in certain situations, without the approval of Parliament. Once such funds are committed, Article 223 (2) provides that parliamentary approval is sought post-facto within a period of two months. This is a constitutional fact and practice. For the Controller of Budgets to suggest that I pressured her to authorize “some payments” without parliamentary approval is therefore calculated malice.

Using the same constitutional instruments at Article 223, the National Treasury recently sought the approval of expenditure amounting to Sh127.5 Billion for the national government through a supplementary budget that was passed last week. The expenditure was approved by the Controller of Budgets using the same constitutional provisions that applied to the said Ksh15 billion that I had approved and which she now says are irregular.

This begs the question: What makes this approval of Ksh15 billion ‘sneaky’ and that of the Sh127.5 billion before parliament and mostly under the current government legitimate? Yet they both used the same constitutional path. This suggests some form of targeted malice and selective application of her discretion to shield herself from the uncertainty of regime change.

2. Article 223(2) requires that any expenditure not appropriated by Parliament, but deemed necessary for the running of government can be incurred and approved by parliament post-facto. The said Ksh 15 billion was approved by parliament last week as part of the Ksh 127,5 Billion Supplementary Budget presented by the current CS Treasury on 31st January 2023. This was accented into law by H.E President Ruto on March 7th 2023.

If indeed the said Sh15 billion was approved with the intention of stealing public funds, why did it find its way into the current Supplementary Budget? The Controller of Budgets is completely briefed on this by virtue of her office. And that is why her submissions to parliament were ill-intent and bent on mudslinging the former administration. This can only be a case of classic cherry-picking.

3. The Controller of Budget insinuated that there was a rush to have these funds approved with the intention of stealing from the public. Yet the truth is that these funds were in respect of Fuel and Maize subsidies. This was to cushion families during the uncertain period of unprecedented high food and fuel prices occasioned by both external and internal environments.

The funds were also allocated to the construction of Lamu-Garissa and Garissa-Isiolo Roads. The contractors had abandoned work and needed their bills paid. This was a priority of a national security nature. Largely because of the security fragility of the spaces these roads are located and therefore the government had the responsibility to secure these spaces at all times.

The funds were also allocated to the construction of modern referral hospital facility for the Kenya’s Defence forces. This facility was recently opened by H.E President Dr. William Ruto. If indeed the said Ksh15 billion was stolen, how did the President commission this hospital?

If there is any doubt in the mind of the public regarding the said expenditure, I invite the constitutional office of the Office of Auditor General to securitize this expenditure. And I am confident that she will vindicate my actions.

4. Just to mention, immediately after the 2022 election, a request on behalf of the current Deputy President was presented to my office under the same article 223 for approval and disbursement of Ksh1.59 Billion for his office use. It included Ksh300 million for cars, and Ksh330 million for hospitality, a request that I did not grant in full but considered an amount of Kshs 500 Million due to the financial constraints we had at that time. This information like all others are in public domain and I have nothing to hide because of the nature of operations at the national treasury.

And the question it begs is this: Now that the Controller of Budgets works under a new administration, has she ‘weaponized’ her office to get back at those seen as a stumbling block to her? Is she doing politics through calculated malice and selective application of the constitutional procedure articulated at Article 223 of the constitution? This is the question the public jury should answer.

Conclusion. In authorizing the questioned expenditures all necessary provisions of Article 223 of the 2010 constitution were adhered to.

These expenditures and projects were exhaustively discussed and necessary approvals granted by the concerned internal organs of government including the Cabinet and the National security council, and appropriate communications made to the National treasury for actions. Approval of these expenditures were therefore not haphazard nor prerogative of the Cabinet secretary for the National Treasury.

It’s also important to mention that expenditures of public funds are incurred and accounted for to the relevant bodies including the Auditor-General by the principal secretaries, who are the Accounting Officers of the various ministries and departments and NOT by the National treasury or the Cabinet secretary for the National Treasury.

As an independent office, the Controller of Budget owes Kenyans an explanation as to why she released exchequer to the Accounting officers of ministries if in her view they were illegal, not forgetting that she gave her approvals in writing both to the National treasury and in her official communication to the National Assembly. Her appearance before a committee of parliament to contradict her earlier position shows about the caliber and her suitability for an important office like the one she’s holding.

Similarly, the purported coercion through WhatsApp messages was a selective devise. She should reveal to the public how many times I pressured her because she could not keep up with the speed of the then administration.


It’s clear that these malicious allegations and line of narratives are politically choreographed and designed to hurt innocent public servants due to change of regime, which unfortunately, will have a long term unhealthy effects of precipitating fear and inactions in future.

Finally, for records, Governments are perpetual entities, and respect and full protection of public servants while undertaking lawful discharge of their mandates remains the hallmark of a decent society.

Amb Ukur Yatani
FORMER CS/THE NATIONAL TREASURY

UP-BOTTOM ECONOMIC MODEL

In economics, contraction monetary policy is a macroeconomic tool that central banks, especially the Federal Reserve, use to combat inflation in the United States of America.

The goal of this tool is to reduce the pace of the economy by reducing the money supply or cashable funds circulating in the country's economy. It is very different from expansionary monetary policies which advocate for spending more on the economy.

When the economy is "overheating" and under stress, the Government and Central Bank can gauge the expected outcome and devise ways of reducing the inflation rate.

Since it's possible for a rise in demand to increase the prices of goods and services, the government can choose to engage in a few short-term activities that can reduce the inflation rate. Some of these activities include:

1. Raising the short-term interest rate on commercial loans - since interest rates are the primary monetary policy tool for the central bank, commercial banks that seek short-term loans from the central bank to meet their short-term liquidity shortages.

The central bank charges short-term interest loans in a bid to reduce the money supply and can opt to increase the cost of a short-term debt by increasing the short-term interest. This increase in interest rates would affect both consumers and businesses in the economy as banks would also like interests they charge their clients.

2. Expanding open market operations by selling securities - the central bank is involved in the selling and purchasing of government issued securities. The government can choose to reduce the money circulating in the economy by selling off large portions of its securities (bonds) to investors.

3. Raising the revenue requirements - lastly, commercial banks are required to hold a minimum amount of foreign reserves with the central bank and a bank's vault. A rise in the reserve amount would decrease money circulation in the economy.

Since the main goal of contractionary monetary policy is to reduce inflation and stabilize the economy, the problem is that it works too well. At the end of the day, the economy is able to stand up strong but at the following cost:

1. Economic stagnation - reduction of money in the economy leads to a halt of economic growth since most businesses and individuals reduce investments, capital expenditure and companies lay off workers as they reduce production.

2. Unemployment - The ugliest side of contractionary monetary policy is the unemployment that rears its ugly head to the economy. The economic slump leads to lower production as companies hire less workers and this leads to a rise in unemployment.

From the recent talk about how the economy has stabilized by President William Ruto, I tend to feel that the economy is quite far from a stable position. We are far from stable but the government wants MPs to approve the debt ceiling from 11 trillion to 17 trillion; 4 trillion more than our GDP.

I am not a pessimist but expect life to become harder because instead of focusing on building our economy after implementation of contractionary monetary policies, we are expanding our wage bill and creating more nonexistent positions for the Kenya Kwanza Government.

The more the Fed hikes the interest rate in the USA, the higher and more expensive life will become for the proletariat.

Glory Glory Man United as the reds go marching on! Congratulations Manchester United

Since it's a Thursday, let me throw it back 😄

Sorry for disappearing ladies and gentlemen... I am coming back with good content though!

Help a student to apply or share to reach a needy student !

Form One Scholarships Still Open In January 2023

Leaners should be
i. Needy & vulnerable
iii. Bright
iv. Sat for KCPE in 2022

1. Elimu Scholarship Programme 2023 Open For Application

https://lnkd.in/d-NBWkJG

2. Nairobi County Government Executive Scholarship For Needy And Bright Students

https://lnkd.in/dC6Tb34z

3. Jomo Kenyatta Foundation Announces Secondary School Scholarships For Form One Students

https://lnkd.in/djSXqDDF

4. Palmhouse Foundation – Secondary School Scholarships For Needy Students

https://lnkd.in/dRNRAPXb

5. Ministry Of Education Announces Scholarships For Form Ones 2023

https://lnkd.in/dQHHUnVJ

6. Scholarship Application for Form One 2023- KPC Foundation.

https://lnkd.in/duSBENUc

7. County Government 2023 Form One Scholarships

https://lnkd.in/dg7AT93g

8. NG-CDF Scholarships For 2023 Form One Students

https://lnkd.in/dg7AT93g

Elimu Scholarship Programme 2023 Open For Application - Opportunities For Young Kenyans The Ministry of Education through Equity Group Foundation and The Jomo Kenyatta Foundation is awarding Secondary School Elimu Scholarships in all 47 Counties (including informal settlements in fifteen (15) urban centres). This scholarship programme is for needy and vulnerable learners who attained 2...

THE COB - WEB

In economics, the Cobweb Theory states that the idea that price fluctuations can lead to fluctuations in supply which cause a cycle of rising and falling prices. It mostly relates to the agricultural sector where supply can vary due to various factors such as weather, cost of fertilizer, seeds.

The cobweb theory asserts that supply adjusts itself to changing conditions of demand which are manifested through price changes not instantaneously but after certain time period known as a lag.

Since most crops can be sown and reaped once or twice a year, violent fluctuations in prices and outputs are most likely to occur as the supply in farming is slow to adjust itself to changes in demand.

An increase in demand will at once result in a spiral rise in price, since in the short period there can be no increase in supply. This high price may make farmers increase their outputs to a greater degree than is justified by the increase in demand.

Consequently, when this increased supply comes to the market, there will be a sharp fall in price which may then result in a reduction in output in the next period to a greater extent again than is justified.

Maize production in Kenya has been on a downward spiral ever since COVID19 disrupted global supply links in 2020 - 2021 and the Russia-Ukraine conflict in early 2022 leading to an increase in the cost of fertilizer by up to 70%.

Our annual maize production is approximately 3,600 Metric Tonnes (MT) with imports totaling close to 2,600 MT to guarantee food security. The drought in 2017 forced Kenya to import a bulk of its maize and this forced the government to issue a duty waiver to encourage imports and increase the availability of maize to suffice close to 3 million hungry Kenyans.

This maize shortage we witnessed in 2017 drove prices up and led to more Kenyan farmers planting maize in 2018. This, coupled with duty-free imports, created an oversupply of maize in 2018, which resulted in maize prices dropping.

From February 2023, the Kenyan Government will import maize and rice from outside the country for a period of 6 months and this will ultimately lead to more farmers planting to earn more money in 2023. However, with the cobweb theory in play, that won't be the case as supply will exceed demand leading to a fall in prices and the cycle continues till the election year.

Lastly, the Kenyan government must focus on boosting and transforming agricultural productivity at the grassroots level to protec

The GOAT 🐐 has completed football

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