By Watchman

The report by Transparency International's local chapter on corruption in Kenya is fairly accurate, notes Wahome Thuku. But was rather surprised, says he, that none of the media and religious organisations notorious for graft was included in the index.

Contributing to the debate on whether we need the three British experts to help fight corruption, Mary Kaisa says: "It would be foolhardy of the Government to ignore the feelings of its real financiers, the taxpayers. It should reimburse the British anti-corruption team for the air tickets and send them packing. Their pay was not budgeted for and this is not an emergency. We have lived with corruption for a long time!"

With the hiring of the three experts to tackle endemic graft in Kenya, wouldn't it be a good idea for the Ministry of Education to introduce Corruption as a subject in the school curriculum? a reader poses. "Then in future, there would be no need to contract foreigners to deal with this menace."

The Nakuru Municipal Council, Ismail A. Shamasdin notes, has done well by removing hawkers who have been clogging the main streets, making it impossible for people to move around. He adds: "Can they now address the menace and bug of street boys and girls?" 

Sheba says she had lost faith in Telkom Kenya and was praying to God for its privatisation or for the licensing of a competitor until she spoke to Lawrence Otieno of Nairobi's Buru Buru exchange. "He sorted out in a record five minutes the problem of a disconnected phone which had taken three days. Kudos to Otieno! With a few more like you, Kenya will be prosperous."

Political observer Joe Otunga notes: "Is it not ironic and self-explanatory that the acronym for the Opposition Unity Talks going on now in response to the Kanu-National Development Party merger plan is 'OUT'? That is OUT of ideas, out of unity and, of course, out of the much-coveted Government! Ha!"

Posta's Mbaruku Vyakweli apologises to Dani Wali, whose money order (No 0944023) to Nambale, Busia, was not delivered late last year. He adds: "We wish to inform him that a fresh money order (MOA YY1305095), payable within 24 hours, was issued on January 24 and dispatched immediately after the previous order's loss was reported.

Sorry folks! says Pauline Kathambani of the Kenya Power and Lighting Company to the residents of Tulima Court, Buru Buru, Nairobi, who had an extended power supply failure recently. She says: "The power outage was due to an underground cable failure which took a little time to locate and rectify. The company regrets the inconvenience caused to the customers."

The new ugly buses competing with the Kenya Bus Services vehicles have turned the area around the Hilton Hotel into one messy and clogged section, moans Ndiritu W. The solution? "The City Council and the Traffic Police Department should ban all public service vehicles from the city centre just like the matatus," proposes Ndiritu.

Have an orderly day, won't you! 

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E-mail: watchman@nation.co.ke