Knut threatens to move to ILO over North Eastern teachers' standoff

The tussle between The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) and Teachers Service Commission (TSC) on North Eastern teachers has taken a new twist with KNUT warning to move to International Labour Centre. KNUT has indicated this in a press release sent to media houses.

“The teachers are ready to take this matter further to International Labour Centre for possible recourse if the TSC continues to intimidate and address labour issues through the media …” Read the statement.
KNUT secretary general Wilson Sossion said that instead of TSC looking for solutions to the teachers’ plight, it has resorted to intimidating them.

Sossion said that is not wise for TSC to cling to right to education for children stipulated under Article 53 of the Constitution without minding the teachers’ right to life. Mr. Sossion added that they will not relent in their bid of fighting for the rights of teachers.
“The affected teachers have sworn not to risk their lives but instead are ready to face the consequences. It is about their lives not their jobs. It is about their wish to see tomorrow alive not to earn.” The statement read in part.

KNUT acknowledged the right of children to education but advanced the need for security of teachers and their families in the North Eastern region.

“In as much as we appreciate and feel heart within our hearts, the plight of the children and their education, we also pause for a moment and share the grief, the emotional torture and life uncertainties these teachers and their families go through. It is time we fairly balance these compelling interests.” Read the statement

KNUT has urged the government to fully integrate the affected teachers in whatever action they have taken to ensure the security of the teachers.
This comes as leaders from North Eastern region led by Majority Leader in the National Assembly, Aden Duale intensified their call for sacking of teachers who have refused to get back to work in the region. In a function attended by the Deputy President William Ruto, Duale said he saw no reason for teachers to boycott working in that region yet there were over 500 non-Muslims civil servants already working in Garissa.

KNUT Bomet branch rebukes DP and Duale over sentiments

Meanwhile KNUT Bomet branch has condemned Aden Duale for what they termed as insulting the union’s national secretary general, Mr. Wilson Sossion. Addressing the media at the union’s offices in Boment, the branch’s executive secretary Joseph Malel Langat expressed their discontent with the sentiments made by the deputy president William Ruto and Aden Duale at a function in Mandera. Ruto had urged teachers who had declined to resume work to get back since the government was already taking the necessary security measures. Duale had rebuked Sossion for being puppet and unreasonable.
“I want to tell Sossion that he is no longer a leader but a puppet. I don’t see the reason why some teachers should not report to their places of work and yet over 500 non-Muslim teachers were busy in classes in Garissa County,” Duale said.

Malel vowed that if the deputy president does not come up with a better solution, they will withdraw their support for URP. The assistant executive secretary Paul Nyolei called upon the president to look into the issue so as to attain sanity.

‘’ We request President Uhuru Kenyatta who has come out to be respectful and concerned on teachers welfare to look into the plea of teachers and authorize TSC to instead employ taechers who are from that region,” Paul Nyolei said

KPCU rekindles hopes for coffee farmers’ Saccos

After coming out of receivership, Kenya planters’cooperative union (KPCU) is rejuvenating its activities to regain its earlier glory in the coffee milling and marketing industry. KPCU has already obtained its milling license and started milling coffee in November 2014. The deputy managing director Mrs. Jacinta Njogu said KPCU has put in place strategies aimed at ensuring the interests of coffee farmers, shareholders and the unions are well catered for. She said they are doing all in their capacity to establish themselves back to the industry.

“From the time we come out of receivership we started by establishing ourselves back into the coffee sector by obtaining our milling license and looking for other partners in the sector. We are also working on a faovourable cash model that will enhance payment of farmers for the coffee they supply,” Mrs. Njogu said

Coffee farmers who were members of KPCU receive this as good news since they will now get value for their coffee. In the previous years after KPCU was put into receivership, most farmers had decided to resort to alternative crops for income while some went ahead to cut down the coffee plants. Mrs. Njogu said they have come up with modalities to motivate and help coffee farmers produce more of the crop.
“We have put in place measures to help coffee farmers acquire farm inputs and extension services in order to boost output. We are currently making payments for coffee beans supplied within two weeks. Apart from motivating the farmers the payment period also helps us clear our debts with the farmers in good time,” said Mrs. Njogu

KPCU faces stiff competition in the coffee milling and marketing sector but Mrs. Njogu says that they have strategies in place to ensure they sail through despite the competition.
“Currently there are about 18 other milling firms that pose competition but we plan to fight off the competition by providing exemplary services and returns to the coffee farmers saccos and also produce the desired quality of coffee,” Njogu said.

KCPU plans to exploit other possibilities of doing contract farming with the coffee farmers to ensure they secure a large number of farmers from their competitors. Njogu also said they are looking into the possibilities of getting new places where coffee can be grown to boost the amount being supplied to the union.

KPCU headquarters in Niarobi. Photo by Ronald Agak
Kenya planters cooperative union is not running these strategies in isolation but have incorporated all the stakeholders to improve on the current situation of the coffee industry. Mrs. Njogu said they are closely working with the government through the ministry of Agriculture, the county governments, farmers’ cooperative societies and other players in coffee sector to rejuvenate the coffee sector in the economy.

“KPCU cannot make it alone in the coffee sector and therefore it is working with all the stakeholders in the sector. Every player has a responsibility to undertake to rejuvenate the coffee sector that has been shrinking. Working together will enable all the players in the coffee sector to attain their dreams,” Njogu added.

Mrs. Njogu called upon Coffee Directorate to formulate policies and regulations that are not counter-productive. She added that the policies and regulations should b be fully implemented to enable the players in the coffee industry carry out their activities productively.
Mrs. Njogu said they are very keen in ensuring KPCU does not run into debts again. After being lifted out of receivership, KPCU has a great task of ensuring transparency in its financial dealings to escape falling back into a similar situation.

KPCU was placed under receivership in October 2009 over a Sh700 million debt and its operations taken over by Consultancy firm, Deloitte on behalf of the debenture holder, the Kenya Commercial Bank. In November 2013, KPCU and KCB made an out of court arrangement to lift the company from receivership and agreed on how to repay its debts it owed the bank, a move that gave hopes to over 700,000 coffee farmers who are shareholders.

Safaricom, Airtel sign Sh10.5bn deal to acquire yuMobile assets

 By RAMENYA GIBENDI
Sunday, August 31, 2014

Kenya’s Big Three mobile operators finally put pen to paper on a deal that will see yuMobile exit the scene, selling its assets to Safaricom and Airtel.

The Sh10.5 billion transaction was concluded on Saturday.

“Essar… today announced the signing of binding agreements with Safaricom and Airtel for sale of its telecom business in Kenya for approximately $120 million (Sh10.5 billion),” a statement by Essar Telecommunications Kenya Ltd said.

In the deal expected to be concluded in the last quarter of this year, Safaricom will take over yuMobile’s network, IT and office infrastructure while Airtel will acquire the company’s subscribers.

REGULATOR'S APPROVAL

“The transaction has received approval from the Communication Authority (CA), subject to all parties involved in the deal meeting certain pre-conditions.

The transaction will now be filed with the Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) for approval,” the statement further read.

Close to 90 per cent of yuMobile’s employees will be absorbed by Safaricom and Airtel.

yuMobile made an entry in Kenya in 2007-2008, after an investment by Essar of India and local partners.

Commenting on the exit, Firdhose Coovadia, board member of Essar Capital, said: “We also believe that the transaction with Safaricom and Airtel will provide for much-needed consolidation in the Kenyan mobile telecommunications market and provide customers with fewer mobile operators, better equipped to enhance service delivery and greater product offerings.”

The divestment of yuMobile represents Essar’s second significant portfolio exit in the past few months, following the sale in July of its US-based outsourcing company, Aegis US, to Teleperformance, for $610 million (about Sh52 billion).

The sale of yuMobile is expected to change the dynamics of the telecommunication industry, putting Orange under increased pressure as the top two tighten their grip on the market.

Successfully migrated, Airtel will see its market control hit 25 per cent, while Safaricom will benefit from additional infrastructure, which it needs to improve its quality of service.

The news also comes at a time when competition is heating up in the industry, with the expected entry of several companies in mobile phone business.

Kenya Airways, Tangaza Pesa, Zioncell and Equity Bank’s Finserve Africa Ltd are expected to roll out mobile phone services soon, targeting specific groups.

10 steps to a successful social media campaign

By EVELYNE MUSAMBI
Daily Nation,
Thursday, August 28, 2014

At a time when almost every organisation has a presence online, either via websites or different social media platforms, the greatest concern is how to ensure brands are successful and visible online.

Jack Ndung’u the Chief Executive at Internet Exposure Limited has the following simple points to consider while establishing a presence online for a brand.
 

1. Do Thorough Research

Research is the very first step. Know your business, your industry and how best to handle it on social media. Check what other successful businesses in your industry are doing to be successful and maintain high visibility on social media.

Further, get to know your potential audience and what they discuss online. The more you understand these things, the better the position your business will be at nailing social media success.
 

2. Define Clear Measurable Goals

For your business to be successful in social media, define realistic goals based on the outcome of your research.

Make your goals very specific in terms of numbers. It is easier to follow through a goal to "reach a hundred people a day" than "reach as many people as possible a day" because you have something to work towards.

Further, these goals should specifically cover the number of posts you will put up on social media, days/time, how many people you are hoping to reach, how many times you are hoping to reach each of these people and the engagement you expect to get.

Engagement can be comments, Retweets, Likes, Favorites, Shares, link clicks and any other such action taken on your content.
 

3. Understand the Channels

Social media has very many channels nowadays and each of them is different in its own way.

Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Vine, Google+ and Pinterest are among social networks that attract sizeable interest in Kenya.

However, people behave differently on each social network. For example, people are much friendlier and more engaging on Instagram than most other networks. People are more vocal about issues on twitter - and more irritable.

People are (as expected) very professional on LinkedIn. Facebook takes the cake for its being the most conversational network and so on.

Understanding each network and how it works will allow you to decide which network works best for your business and which tone to prepare your content in. Also, desist from the temptation to be everywhere if it makes no business sense.

The biggest mistake most businesses make is trying to do too much across too many social networks without measuring the Return on Investment.
 

4. Create content in advance

A content strategy is important on social media as it helps you define early enough what you will be telling your audience.

Creating a content strategy and a content calendar for a week or a month is recommended because it allows you to tell a story about your brand in a way that is easy to follow. If it doesn't make sense to you, chances are it won’t make sense to anyone else.

The content calendar with posts that go out each day (including the time) will allow you to review the content and ensure it tells your brand/business narrative the way you want it to be told and in a way that benefits the business.

Creating content in advance also guarantees continuity and consistency. Instead of worrying what you will put up each day, take an hour or two each week and create content for that week.
 

5. Schedule Your Content

Scheduling posts beforehand has various advantages:

a) You get to preview you content without any pressure. That way you can spot mistakes and avoid bloopers that we see businesses having on social media every day.

b) You eliminate the pressure of having to remember to put up content. This ensures consistency in your content flow and brand narrative.

c) You have more time to engage with your audience and monitor performance of your social media assets. Considering you are not creating content on the fly, you will have more time to monitor the performance of the posts and respond to your audience.

There are tools that also help you to schedule this content in advance like Tweetdeck, Buffer or Facebook's own native scheduling functions.

To counter the diminished human element that comes with automation, set push notifications for new interactions on your phone for faster response times. If this is not possible, you can check for any new interactions in predefined times like once every hour - or shorter depending on the number of engagements you get per hour.
 

6. Make your content interesting and engaging

Social media is mostly an avenue for people to let loose. That is where they go when they are not working so desist from looking too serious as much as possible.

Strike a balance between being professional and being intriguing. By being intriguing, your audience becomes more responsive.

Avoid overselling your business but instead, aim at having meaningful conversation with your audience to get them to respond to you. Simple tips to evoke responses from your audience include;

a) Asking open ended questions tha do not need a yes or no answer.

b) Tie in your content with real time events. Many brands have perfected the art of jumping into "hot" topics because users are more bound to engage with content that is in rhythm with current events.

c) Tag influential users in content that may resonate well with them. Usually, these users will either Retweet or respond if the content resonated with them well enough which in turn gives you a lot of free visibility.

d) Freebies. Everyone loves free things. If you have anything to give to the audience, engage them in trivia or other fun way to decide a winner and you will in turn get a lot of engagement.
 

7. Use quality images and visuals

It is a well known fact that content is accompanied by images gets way better engagement on social media than content without. Therefore ensure you have good quality visuals for your content.

Also, ensure you visuals are either square or landscape - never portrait unless it is absolutely unavoidable. Most popular social networks like Facebook, twitter and Instagram display either square or landscape images (wider than they are long) and only parts of portrait images thus the reason why they are discouraged.

In your images, ensure your business/brand logo is clearly visible but avoid the temptation of adding too much text to visuals. Only use about 20% of the surface of the image for text.
 

8. Be Ready To Spend
The biggest mistake businesses make about social media is thinking that you can easily grow your visibility and audience for free. The second biggest mistake is thinking it costs a lot of money. Neither is necessarily true.

To reach more people and build your visibility, you have to be ready to spend and the good news is - it does not cost that much.

Facebook specifically allows you to reach more people using your posts for as little as $1 per post. Therefore with anything from a few hundreds to hundreds of thousands, you can increase your social media reach depending on your financial ability.
 

9. Monitor, Monitor, Monitor

If you want your business/brand to be successful on social media, monitoring and analysis is one of the most important factors to put on your to do list.

It gives you a true picture of how you are performing against your set goals and allows you to notice what kind of content works best for you. It also helps you understand the best performing times for your posts, best days, best audience groups to target and best interests to use to target your audience.

It also ensures you are on top of your game by making daily analysis of how well you have achieved your daily goals and also helps you change your plans if something is not working.

There are many ways to monitor your performance on social media using free and paid tools which you can easily get from your favorite search engine.

The key metrics to pay particular attention to are number of people reached, number of times these people have been reached (impressions), engagement rate (Calculated as (engagements/total reach)x100) ) and time/day for each metric. Also check performance of businesses/brands similar to yours to see how you match up.
 

10. Seek Professional Advice

There are many organizations/individuals that have vast knowledge of social media who can help you achieve your social media success goals.

Present your problem to them and ask for their professional advice and opinion on how you can achieve you social media goals for your business/brand.

It will save you a lot of time and even money by pointing you in the right direction or holding your hand own to ensure you learn the ropes as you implement the solutions until you are able to walk on your own.

Nameless at it again but in Luganda

 Kenya’s pioneer urban music star hits the studio but this time in a very Unique way. Did you know that Nameless knew how to speak Luganda.

watch Butterfly By Nameless and get how beautiful he did the Luganda song