Wanjiku Unlimited

• Adios Kenyan Fifty Cents Coin

  Posted: August 25, 2008, 4:32 pm by Shiko-Msa

  When did you last use a Kenyan 50 cent coin? Nay, when did you last see a Kenyan 50 cent coin? Chances are not any time in the recent past. Like the 5 cent, 10 cents and many other denominations of coins before it, the little coin is slowly getting edged out of use. Only this one is not being officially taken off circulation by Central Bank but by market forces.

  According the Central Bank the 50 cent coin is still legal tender which every Kenyan is obliged to accept and use if given. But the situation on the ground is quite different. It’s use has all but ground to a halt. From small scale vegetable vendors to shopkeepers nobody wants anything to do with the coin that just a few years back could mean the difference between affording or not affording something. Just recently there was a complaint by Tusky’s customers that the supermarket was issuing too many worthless 50 cents coins as change. The customers in turn have nowhere to take them.

  When many of us were growing up, there was such a thing as 10 cents. The big copper coin that could get you 2 sweets each costing 5 cents. Then there was the smaller 5 cents coin. Even big retail shops and supermarkets incorporated in their pricing. You could get an item for say, Kshs 29.95 or Kshs 39.15. Not any more. For current generations it sounds like ancient history.

  It’s not by choice that people are shunning the little coin. It’s the cost of living that of late is raising by the day. The shilling still has some life although it is not as important as it was in yesteryears. That’s how come somebody can sell something worth 99 bob and not bother to give you a bob. And you don’t bother to follow it up either.

  Here’s a site where you can see the history of Kenyan Coins.

  Related Article: Is Your Money Safe In The Bank?

• Big Brother Africa III

  Posted: August 25, 2008, 4:22 pm by Shiko-Msa

  [bigbrotherafrica3.blogspot.com]

• Naivasha Vampire Godfrey Matheri

  Posted: August 25, 2008, 4:17 pm by Shiko-Msa

  Kenya cannot claim to be any holier than the next country as far as crime is concerned. Car thefts, muggings, bank robberies and home break-ins are so much in the news we are almost getting used to them. The removal and sale of human parts is not new either. These bizarre incidences have been around since the early 90s. But there’s a new breed of sick minds on the loose. Guys who rape, torture, kill and even drink blood just for the thrill of it. The kind we read about in True Detective magazines and Anne Rule novels. Or watch on Crime and Investigations Networks. Now we have our very own - the late Simon Matheri and the Naivasha vampire Godfrey Matheri among others.

  For now let’s look at Matheri the vampire. In his defense he says that he delivers the human blood to a local Bishop - Jeremiah Pallangyo of New Hope for all Nations. But the victims tell a different story. He drinks it. He taps it into a cup, then transfers it into a flask and sips it in intervals. It would probably not be strange if indeed the bishop asked for blood. There are enough cults doing the rounds and Naivasha for some reason seems to have more than it’s fair share of them. But before his implicating the Bishop is taken seriously, Matheri should have a thorough psychiatric examination in the hands of qualified doctors because chances are he’s mentally sick and could very easily be lying. That guy is not stable. Raping and keeping the victims’ underpants as trophies cannot possibly be what the Bishop ordered. That must be for his own twisted pleasure. His kind is well described in many criminal profiling books.

  Looking at the whole saga from the victims eyes, it’s difficult to fathom the absolute terror that they go through. One look at Matheri even on TV is enough to send shivers down the spines of viewers. Ho does look scary. Seeing him up close siphoning blood? I would not wish such a thing even on my worst enemy. Like the young victim who says he drew blood and when one vein ran out he cut a different vein and drew more until he filled a cup! My heart goes out to the young woman and I hope she will be able to undergo intensive counseling to rid her mind of the trauma.

  Now for the residents of Kihoto. They seem to know the guy and what has been going on quite well. He has been in and out of police custody several times. How come he survived to spread his terror for so long. And the police, I’m no detective but I thought crime scenes are usually sealed off for fine tooth combing. But here the police demolished the house. They probably buried some crucial clues that might have helped further in the investigations.

  One shudders to even think of such a guy in our overcrowded prisons. We have all sorts of criminals in there but nobody wants to be sharing a room with a vampire. He could just get thirsty at night.

Blah blah blah

Fish cakes

Alas a fish cake.

Yet more fish cakes

Guess what ... yeah ... fish cakes.

The end of the fish cakes