Is this justice....?

2011-12-22T10:38:00.003+03:00

While I am out of town, I found out that my friend's father, with whom I've left my duplicate post box key, still could not open my box nearly a month after I had paid my rent because it was sealed, yesterday.

The box was sealed last month on the 21st of November 2011 just because I forgot to pay my box rental within the 21 days. I was late by just a day in making this hefty payment at which point I rang up two senior 'officials' of Mombasa's POSTA to make certain that my box was unsealed, but it seems that while our POSTA, like every other so-called 'service' provider is very lax (this is a mild word), in providing their services, they are super efficient when it comes to cutting off these questionable services.

On the dot of 21 days, my box was sealed! But, even after making immediate payment AND informing 2 of its very senior 'officials' of this, they had not bothered to unseal my box till I followed this up with POSTA from half way across the country by making countless calls for them to take action, yesterday.

During my last call, I was informed of the fact that POSTA was supposed to be on strike, did I not know? But, since I had made the payment a whole month before this questionable strike, it was interesting to observe to my POSTA official that the box should have been unsealed immediately that payment was received by them. Instead, they did not.

And the interesting thing about all this is that it is just my friend's father's word against POSTA's. I would prefer to believe my friend's father since I know from previous bitter experiences that our POSTA works (if it ever does), anything but efficiently.

These people have gone of strike - but the kind of services they offer (at least in Mombasa), leaves a lot to be desired. Since the beginning of the year they have lost 3 very important letters of mine from my family in the USA. Then, since people who send you registered mail don't necessarily inform you about this, our POSTA nearly misplaced one of my registered mail, also. All because, somebody out in Nairobi 'forgot' to key in the registered mail number which resulted in nobody being able to follow it on the Internet including Mombasa's POSTA! The only information they had was that it had left it's original port at a particular date. After that nothing could be traced of it.

Mercifully, it was finally found at Mombasa's POSTA nearly a week after it had actually arrived! How does such an organization really justify it's current strike? And how dare they, considering they are as inefficient as the rest of this country's so-called 'service' providers? By increasing their pay, I personally don't think they will change their work ethic.

The only thing they are interested in is MONEY! This country literally worships it. They have no humanity in them - not a jot!

The flooring at Nakumatt Nyali Mall

2011-11-01T20:07:00.000+03:00

I, and several others have noticed that the new floor tiling that is being done at the above mall/s, while quite attractive, are very impractical for walking on by the general public. This is especially so of the very shiny border tiles which are highly slippery when wet or sandy.

The sandy bit we've discovered yesterday, when some of the tiles were still not put in place and there was sand around them. Several members of the public slipped and nearly lost their balance, but, thankfully, did not fall. We would like to know who would take responsibility of such an eventuality when somebody slips and falls and gets injured? Would the company doing this work accept responsibility?

I ask this because, after I had slipped and nearly fell (I'm also disabled), I asked various senior staff at Nakumatt about whom to contact and they gave me Mr. Talasam Mohamed's business card whom I rang immediately giving my name and telling him what had happened. His response was quite unbelievable.

He claimed that the public would just have to be careful when walking on those tiles as his company cannot 'undo' the tiling and make it fit for walking by all people - young, old, fit and unfit. This, I find is a very insensitive response to a very legitimate complaint.

Then, there is the general observation of our various building constructions whose plans are passed by our Town Planning Dept. at our Council. Do ANY of these people give a moment's thought to the disabled people's plight and how the various members of the public with varying degrees of disabilities, are going to deal with the buildings whose plans they so thoughtlessly pass?

In the same way, this company which is doing the flooring of these malls, I don't think gave even a moment's thought to the fact that these tiles are quite impractical to walk on when wet, etc. And since they insist on carrying on with their work as is, I would like to know, if they will also bear the consequences of a person getting injured as a result? In other places of the world they have to or they would be sued.

When, I mentioned this to Mr. Talasam Mohamed, it did not bother him in the least and so, I told him that I would write this letter/email and send him a copy of it, too, to which he whole-heartedly agreed. I hope and pray that he will pass it on to the others in his company who are, I believe, more mature and responsible about these issues.

The saga of the burnt transformer

2011-11-01T19:59:00.000+03:00

I have just found out from some of my neighbours whose houses are near this transformer that we, in this estate (Umoja), are going to be 'powerless' comes tomorrow morning at 8.30 am.

Now, this story has its beginnings sometime last week when we had one of our frequent and highly irritating and frustrating power outages early in the morning at around 7.00 am. Of course, Kenya Power (Weakness), hardly EVER answers their emergency lines and so it takes quite a while to rouse somebody in authority to deal with the latest outage. It took me at least 15 minutes to get such a person to take action.

Then, there's the matter of their emergency offices being all the way across town in Mbaraki from where their trucks and men have to come which includes crossing the one and only access to the North Coast, Nyali Bridge. At that time of the morning there are traffic snarl-ups there and so, this so-called emergency crew would take at least the better part of an hour to make it's way across this bridge and to any area in the North Mainland.

Well, on that day, there was supposed to be a problem around Nakumatt Cinemax and the 'official' working on it called me around mid-morning to ask if I had got my power back to which I replied, 'No!' He was very surprised with this answer as they had restored power and could not understand why we in this estate were still 'powerless'.

So, he decided to investigate and finally found that the transformer in the estate had just blown (my neighbours tell me that there was a big bang!), and there had even been flames. Of course, this meant that while the rest of the area had power, we were going to be without and this 'official' would not commit himself as to when it would be restored. The only thing he could tell me was that the matter was no longer in his jurisdiction and that he had informed his boss about it and it would be taken care of.

Well, I saw one of their cars coming in not long after and people working on the offending transformer. But, they left around lunch time and I never saw them working on the thing after, though, I found out today that they came back later in the afternoon and did something more and we got our power back, thankfully, after 4.00 pm.

Now, to come back to tomorrow. If we had a whole day's outage last week thanks to the burnt transformer and we believed that the work was done, why is it that without notice to us, the residents, is Kenya Power going to make us suffer (in this extreme heat), another 'powerless' day? What is it that they did last week? Or didn't do, for that matter?

And come to think of it, why did the transformer blow just as the power was being restored around Nakumatt Cinemax? Was it due to a power surge? Can somebody qualified enough out there investigate this, please? Why is Kenya Power making us suffer from these constant outages which result in a lot of damage? This outage has also not been advertized, yet it is going to (according to them), take 8 long hours of outage, i.e. we are supposed to get back our power at 5.00 pm and there is a big IF to this statement.

Can somebody at Kenya Power please, answer the above questions?

2011-09-16T21:38:00.000+03:00

The lights have gone off just after 9.00 pm and calling ANY number of our 3rd class power company is an exercise in futility and frustration. Their so-called emergency numbers are ironically NOT being answered which just goes to show that this company has no regard for any emergency situation.

We could be burning in a building, etc., thanks to their useless 'service', but, NOTHING will move them. They would most likely arrive when everything had become ashes and lots of people lost their lives for all they care. This definitely is NOT A CARING outfit.

As I've mentioned before, we have had it with Kenya Power.....

Re: Continuous outages...

2011-09-14T19:03:00.000+03:00

Early this morning the power went off at about 6.45 am. Calling any of the Kenya Power (Weakness), numbers was, also an exercise in futility as nobody, including their so-called emergency numbers, were responding.

Finally after over half an hour, I managed to get through to a Mr. Chama who told me to wait for 30 minutes for them to diagnose the problem. 30 minutes came and went and when I tried calling Mr. Chama, again, he refused to answer the phone though, at times, it had an engaged tone. So, while he was using the phone, he was not answering mine. Is it because, he had no valid answer to my various questions which he knew, he would be inundated with? The same applies to all of the others, too, of course.

Since most of these people know me personally, they avoid talking to me like the plague! This means that they have no valid answer or reason for these numerous outages that we keep suffering from. And by pretending that their answers are akin to breaking an oath of the magnitude of National Security, they are not endearing themselves to those whom they purport to 'serve' - the long suffering Kenyan Public.

This latest outage ended at 9.30 am which is just 15 minutes short of being 3 hours!

A friend who owns a laundry in my neighbourhood also called me after having got thoroughly frustrated trying to get hold of these unaccountable and unethical people and she too, was of the same mind as I. That it's high time we took some drastic action like giving Kenya Power legal notice to either give us proper 'service' or else..... As I've said before, we are getting VERY FED UP with the way this and other 'service' providers work and it's time that they were taught a lesson in being efficient and accountable and answerable for what they claim to do. After all, we pay through our noses for their 'services' and in the case of power, due to their current behaviour, our umpteen electrical devices including those that are supposed to protect them (Sollatek), all start packing up leading us to waste more money than save, in trying to get them either fixed or replaced. So, we're soon going to give them the 'surprise' of their lives by asking them to account for the way they work and compensate us for the damages incurred, i.e. legal action as they do in other more 'civilized' countries.

They had better get used to this if our officialdom is planning to make us industrialized by 2030. That's how those countries became that way - by being very efficient and accountable and ethical. Unfortunately, the gang at Kenya Power (Weakness), is anything but that.

Raziya

On 9/13/2011 9:37 AM, Raziya wrote:

'Morning!

Last night, starting just after sunset and before 7.00 pm, we had our first outage which lasted for nearly an hour. The next started at around 8.30 pm and carried on for longer and Eng. Mbaluka, as always likes to be very obscure with the reasons for the outages. I personally think he's trying to cover up for their (Kenya Power - Weakness?!), inability to deal with these problems in an effective and permanent manner. He NEVER wants to give the reasons for these outages and fluctuations. I wonder why, if the above is NOT the reason?

In fact, this company is aiding and abetting insecurity in this town due to the frequent outages, especially at nights.

The latest one was a short one this morning and while it lasted for seconds, it still has the capacity to do damage to our electrical devices.

Drastic action is called for by the residents, now, since we're getting very FED UP with this everyday issue.

Re: An invitation to experience garbage burning....

2011-09-12T14:51:00.000+03:00

Subsequent to my two emails to NEMA and other officialdom, again, last Saturday (see below), I got the following response from one of my recipients who is a doctor. I think, that and my emails speak for themselves....

Yet, nothing is being done. Why?

Raziya

On 9/11/2011 8:16 AM, Dr Juzar Hooker wrote:

This is such a serious matter with disastrous consequences for our health, affecting so many of us so much of the time, that on this kind of smoke and noise pollution, on our roads, around our our homes and in our neighbourhoods, there should be serious action taken to assist Raziya and her neighbours as well as so many of us in similar situations. Smoking lorries and vehicles are another big preventable cause of pollution (we had one in front of us yesterday for much of the way), as is noise.

Dr Juzar Hooker
Consulting Neurologist

Rooms 401/2, Doctors Plaza, Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi
Phone +254 20 3744256/7, 3662769
Telefax +254 20 3744257
E-mail: juzar.hooker@aku.edu, jhooker@africaonline.co.ke

P O Box 19396 – 00202 KNH, Nairobi, Kenya

Incompetent 'service'

2011-09-12T14:23:00.000+03:00

Starting again, from Sat/Sun night when we had at least 2 to 3 outages in Nyali, Sunday started with another outage early in the morning when power was restored around 7.15 am. When I had rung the Engineer in-charge, Mr. Mbaluka, at no point had he given even an inkling of what else was to come in about an hour's time. Not everybody buys daily newspapers these days and therefore it would be much better if KPLC (re-branded but not changed it's work ethic in the least, to Kenya Power), would send SMSes to it's customers like they do for other things.

When at about 8.30 am, the power went off, yet again, I called the above mentioned gentleman and was told (and he had a gleeful sound to his voice), that, 'sorry, they were having a so-called 'scheduled and advertized' outage for the whole day'. I asked him why it had gone earlier than the usual 9.00 am and got the reply that, 'In fact we're late. It should have gone off at 7.00 am!'. So, my next question and observation was, if that meant that power would be restored earlier than the usual 5.00 pm. To which he replied, 'Let me see, if I can restore it earlier....'

After this, I and the rest of my neighbours thought that he would keep his word.

But, comes 5.00 pm and then 6.00 pm, there was still no sign of normalcy. This necessitated another call to Eng. Mbaluka. Many rings later, he finally answered and told me to give them another hour. One of my elderly neighbours, called me to find out if I knew when and why we were still in darkness and I passed on to him what I'd been told by Eng. Mbaluka.

Well, 7.00 pm came and went in total darkness, but, still nothing. Some of us were by then running out of battery life on our phones, too and trying to preserve whatever was left in case of emergencies. Around 8.45 pm I got a call from another neighbour wondering what was up and observing that everything in the fridge was getting defrosted and spoiled and who would be responsible for that expensive damage. I suggested to him and this applies to everybody who receive my emails - we should collectively hold Kenya Power (KPLC), responsible for spoilage, damage to health and equipment, henceforth. Since they have claimed that by re-branding their company, they are also going to be more accountable to their subscribers, then, they should be ready to face the consequences of their shoddy 'service'.

Now, you must be wondering why people were calling me to find out about the power. The reason is that they receive these missives of mine and figure that I might have some kind of inside knowledge.

Finally, the last time I called Eng. Mbaluka just before 9.00 pm, he sounded harried and told me to give them yet another hour. This was nearly 3 hours from the last time he had told me this same thing!

Because I could not sleep very well, I found that we suddenly had illumination at 11.45 pm, but, it didn't last for very long and we were thrown into darkness, again. This happened at least 4 to 5 times in the remainder of the night with awful fluctuations and at about 4.45 am the lights came on again. This time, they have stayed that way, Alhamdulillah.

But, we still haven't had an apology or an explanation for the over 15 hours of total blackout and subsequently and under cover of night, the continuous outages and fluctuations. We demand both an explanation and compensation for the damage that has resulted due to this latest fiasco.

Re: An invitation to experience garbage burning....

2011-09-10T20:44:00.000+03:00

The above invitation has been ignored by the NEMA - both the local Mombasa branch and their head offices in Nairobi. Not only this, but, none of them have even acknowledged my email forget about replying it.

They seem to be under the impression that by doing this the problem will go away, i.e. 'die a natural death'. Well, it won't!

Unfortunately, for NEMA and most of our officialdom like the Mombasa Municipal Council who are in-charge of collecting garbage and disposing off it in an environmentally friendly manner, are ignoring these very issues and doing NOTHING about it. I suppose, they haven't heard about global warming, climate change, etc., as yet. If they haven't then I suggest that they get off their backsides and start educating themselves and start implementing their own laws and by-laws regarding the burning of garbage.

These miscreants who burn the garbage in my neighbourhood in an empty plot next to our estate are known by NEMA, but, they are taking no action against them. There is also another interesting part in this. Despite, there being a number of kiosks near this plot, not one person knows WHO set the garbage on fire. Being typical non-interfering Kenyans they are like the 3 monkeys - See no Evil, Hear no Evil, Speak no Evil and my addition to this would be 'Do Nothing'. Why, one wonders....?! Does the plot owner have 'connections' with someone who is in turn also 'connected'? And in this country such things always boil down to politics. So, who is really responsible for this non-action?

And the interesting part of all this is that, this thug who owns the plot, knows exactly when to do the burning. It is always done under cover of darkness, or like this morning, on a weekend, when s/he knows that not one person in 'officialdom' (NEMA), will want to take action at a time when they are off. Because, when I could not get any response to my repeated calls to Mr. Ben Wemali who is in-charge of this out here, I decided to call NEMA's Nairobi offices around mid-morning when our whole building and part of the estate were enveloped in such dense smoke that we could not see the buildings across the road or even the traffic on it! The answer I finally got after calling various numbers of their Nairobi office, is that none of the officials were on duty as it was a Saturday. And that I should call about this on Monday.

Now, for these people's information, unlike them, the crooks in our midst, know exactly when to break the law and get away with it. Choose a weekend or after hours on a weekday when all of these officials will be very averse to following up on a live lead.

Therefore, it is not surprising that we have such impudent people in our midst.

On 7/27/2011 2:18 PM, Raziya wrote:

'Afternoon!

I would like to invite every NEMA representative who can make it even from Nairobi, the Municipal Council's Environment department and the Public Health one, too, to my place at a time when garbage is being burned in the neighbourhood. This, so that they will experience first hand the consequences of their inactivity in stopping this disgusting practice.

It would also help, if they, in the meantime, try and imagine what it is like for the residents of parts of our estate who have to on a daily basis, inhale this acrid smoke with minimum of ventilation in our houses and when some of us are suffering from colds and horrible bronchitis like coughs, too. Maybe, we should take the 3 mentioned above outfits to task, officially, for letting our complaints fall on deaf and uncaring ears.

Oh, but I forgot - that our Municipal Council has scant regard for the rule of law or respect for it and it seems that NEMA is also following in it's lawless footsteps.

Despite having talked to umpteen numbers of NEMA officials both in their Nairobi head office and locally, NOTHING is being done about the issue and the garbage burners in our midst are insolently doing this every single day anytime of the day or night! Of late, it's been happening during the lunch hour.

So, could you all please, accept my invitation to experience what it feels like to inhale garbage burning right outside your living quarters? And it will be a special 'treat' if some of you are suffering from a bout of cold, 'flu and coughs, too! Let's see how you like it. Not to mention the muck that will dirty the house/s just after you've cleaned up.

Today changes with Orange...... REALLY?

2011-08-27T16:04:00.000+03:00

The above mentioned 'new face' of Orange Telkom is NOT new, i.e. they are as inefficient and unaccountable as ever and like KPLC which became Kenya Power - nothing has changed regarding either of these two companies. Ironically, both have connections to our bloated and equally unaccountable government.

I discovered on Thursday that despite having invested in an Orange 3G modem late last year, their new product, D-Link Wi-Fi, if one wants to invest in it, makes no concessions for people who already have a 3G modem. The package comes with one. So, my question to 'new' Orange is, 'What does one do with the one that one already has? What a waste of money in this day of trying economic times! After all, it is the same kind of modem that this product comes with, so why should one buy another.

The insensitive staff at the Orange shop in Nyali flippantly told me to give it away to somebody as though the 3000/- (less 1/-), I paid for it, grew on trees! And even these (the real trees), are being decimated by environment unfriendly Kenyans.

Will the 'new' Orange please, come up with a solution to the above mentioned dilemma of it's customers, please? Otherwise, they will give the impression to the public that they are out to make a fast and dishonest buck.

Revisiting the ASK Showground racket and it's possible solutions...

2011-08-27T15:56:00.001+03:00

The above it about to take place next week smack on our (Muslim's), day of Eid, i.e. Wednesday. Now, from what I have been told about the forwarded date is so that Muslims can attend. This is fine and as Muslims we appreciate this consideration, but, what we (the Nyali residents who live in the environs of this Showground), have an objection to is the vibrating racket that emanates from this ground ALL of the days that it is on including all through the night!

Last year, the management of the Showground had scant regarding for the neighbourhood not even for NEMA's officials who repeatedly visited there to get these people to reduce their noise.

It would seem that impunity and insolence in this country knows no bounds! All the same, I am including one of my emails from last year that I wrote with possible solutions and we hope and pray that this time round SOMEBODY out there will take heed to our pleas.

We DO NOT want to have sleepless and restless nights starting mid next week - PLEASE!!!!!

Raziya

On 8/17/2010 12:02 PM, Raziya wrote:

'Morning!

After having suffered sleepless nights for nearly a whole week thanks to the ASK Showground maddening racket, I have several suggestions from the various residents (victims), and myself to this annual problem in the middle of a mainly residential area.

There are also some observations included.

1.    Since this is an agricultural show (basically), why include deafening and 24 hours of music into it? In other words exclude the music.

2.    If, it is not possible to do this, then, enforce a decibel level which is acceptable to the mainly residential neighbourhood. Or, have these offenders build themselves a soundproofed enclosed space.

3.    And if even this is not enforceable and possible, then, move the whole outfit out of this neighbourhood and take it to a less populated place which is not within hearing distance of any populated place. For now, this racket can be heard for miles/kilometers away from the source e.g. the Island of Mombasa proper which is right across from English point and can even be heard in Tudor, etc. At the North Mainland, it can be heard very far, too.

Now, for the observations....

Is our Town Planning Dept. in working order? If so, are they not aware that for people to live peaceful and productive lives, they should not be mixing various things together. Like heavy commercial businesses, night-clubs/bars, etc., within a residential area?

This Show ground is a very offending case in point as well as a shipping office that has been allowed to set up shop round the corner from where I live called Sea Bulk and which attracts huge articulated traffic which is not meant for this side lane and are highly noisy and an obstruction to traffic, too. Reporting this to the Traffic Police has not resulted in any action. Maybe, the owners have 'connections'...?

RE the Showground noisy madness which NEMA was aware of from day one, but, were completely helpless in dealing with. This, I was briefly told was because the Showground management was not at all cooperative. In the process we had to put up with their racket way into the very early hours of Monday morning despite the Show itself having ended on Sunday. Why? Is NEMA without sharp enough teeth? Or were they trying not to tread on some 'interesting' toes by being 'diplomatic'?

So, can the Town Planners start putting their collective heads together and come up with a viable solution, please?

Waiting...,
Raziya

No reply or response....

2011-08-27T15:33:00.000+03:00

'Morning!

Since 8.30 am this morning the power suddenly went off and when the newly named Kenya Power (formerly Kenya Weakness & Darkness and it's attitude is still the same!), officials were called they at first said it was coming back in 10 minutes. Then, when nearly 20 minutes had passed with no sign of 'life', I called again and was told that he would call me in 5 minutes.

This was nearly 2 hours ago and despite calling the same numbers which now are not being answered or are busy, the power is still not back and there's no explanation as to why it has suddenly gone off messing us up, yet again!

By changing it's name KPLC has definitely NOT changed it's service provision or anything else for that matter. So, why bother?

Are they EVER going to explain themselves and their shoddy 'services' to their consumers? In this country insolence is a way of life for 'service' providers and they take their clients for granted. Are we going to be spending the rest of the day and probably part of the night in darkness? And why did the power suddenly go off without any warning?

An invitation to experience garbage burning....

2011-07-27T14:43:00.000+03:00

I would like to invite every NEMA representative who can make it even from Nairobi, the Municipal Council's Environment department and the Public Health one, too, to my place at a time when garbage is being burned in the neighbourhood. This, so that they will experience first hand the consequences of their inactivity in stopping this disgusting practice.

It would also help, if they, in the meantime, try and imagine what it is like for the residents of parts of our estate who have to on a daily basis, inhale this acrid smoke with minimum of ventilation in our houses and when some of us are suffering from colds and horrible bronchitis like coughs, too. Maybe, we should take the 3 mentioned above outfits to task, officially, for letting our complaints fall on deaf and uncaring ears.

Oh, but I forgot - that our Municipal Council has scant regard for the rule of law or respect for it and it seems that NEMA is also following in it's lawless footsteps.

Despite having talked to umpteen numbers of NEMA officials both in their Nairobi head office and locally, NOTHING is being done about the issue and the garbage burners in our midst are insolently doing this every single day anytime of the day or night! Of late, it's been happening during the lunch hour.

So, could you all please, accept my invitation to experience what it feels like to inhale garbage burning right outside your living quarters? And it will be a special 'treat' if some of you are suffering from a bout of cold, 'flu and coughs, too! Let's see how you like it. Not to mention the muck that will dirty the house/s just after you've cleaned up.

Re: Burning garbage... and the forthcoming ASK Showground racket

2011-07-09T21:55:00.000+03:00

Since, my email of yesterday and my talk on the phone with Mr. Wemali, I've had very little encouraging news to report regarding NEMA's action on this matter.

In fact, when I could not get either Mr. Wemali or Mr. Bakari Mangale to take action on the matter, I was compelled to call NEMA's head office in Nairobi. I was finally put through to a Mr. Reagan Awino who in turn gave me the Provincial Director's cell phone number and email address. When I called him, I found that he was on leave but, he smsed me a Mr. Shimba's number.

The final outcome of all these calls was that, nothing could be done today till Mr. Shimba consults with Mr. Bakari tomorrow. In fact, Mr. Shimba did scant little when I had called him the first time earlier in the afternoon, it seems. It was when, I called him again around sunset when clouds of smoke started emanating from the same plot and enveloping the whole area, that I was told that we in this neighbourhood would have to spend another night inhaling this obnoxious air. I was and am thoroughly disgusted with the way NEMA works..... or rather it does not, in fact. My parting sentence to Mr. Shimba was that I would pass out IF NEMA would do it's work effectively and promptly hung up!

Btw, I think I know what might have miffed Mr. Shimba off. When I requested that they (NEMA), should also, while there's ample time, to look into the forthcoming ASK Show in August and the racket that the residents of Nyali and part of the Island of Mombasa are unwillingly treated to every year. This year, it will also be Ramadhan, then. He was not in the least sympathetic and told me that they have every right to do this since it's a National event. Doesn't matter that there is a NEMA law against noise which says that it should not be heard beyond a distance of 30 metres. This ASK Showground racket is heard for kilometres around!

I have now requested some other people to take up this challenge and I hope and pray that they will be more successful and we, in this neighbourhood, will not have to inhale muck which is highly dangerous to our health.

Burning garbage...

2011-07-06T22:26:00.000+03:00

As I write this, most of our estate is enveloped in smoke since 7.15 pm and it is still going on!

I have tried calling Mr. Ben Wemali of NEMA, and when he finally answered, I was told that they are going to do something about it tomorrow. So, till then we spend most of tonight inhaling acrid smoke.

NEMA had, we thought, put a stop to this regular practice last year, but, it would seem that the owner of the plot has gone back to burning what his people dump in that empty plot next to our estate. And since, I took pictures of what they do in the daytime, last year and 'shared' them with the media among others, he/she has taken to setting fire to the collected garbage under cover of darkness.

Of course, our useless Council is also to blame since they do not collect garbage on a regular basis and Mombasa has now got itself the reputation of being one of the dirtiest and stinking 'cities' in the entire country! Starting from the Airport (imagine this from the tourist point of view), as we cross the Makupa Causeway, among the first things that one notices is the traffic chaos, and then a stench assailing our olfactory senses. This comes courtesy of Kibarani.

Heading further afield into town or after crossing the Nyali bridge, people encounter another 'interim' dump site this time courtesy of our Council, on the Mombasa/Malindi road. Again, there is also the chaotic traffic which is also highly noisy.

I'm sure our foreign visitors think that this place looks like a proper banana republic of their imagination. Where anything goes and no applicable law is apparent to them.

If our officialdom has no care about the residents and the kind of lives they are compelled to live, shouldn't they at least be thinking of the fact that Coast Province, in particular Mombasa is a great tourist attraction? And therefore, clean it up physically and also it's act?

I am wondering if NEMA and it's representative in the form of Mr. Ben Wemali will keep his promise of dealing with the latest environmental 'enemy', that I have reported. They should also inform the public on how to deal with uncollected garbage without setting it on fire.

Living conditions of Kenyans

2011-07-04T09:13:00.000+03:00

A couple of weekends ago, Mwenda Njoka wrote a comment in the Weekend Star which really hit the nail on the proverbial head regarding residential areas and their deliberate and insensitive downgrading by our various Local Authorities all over the country, though his comments were only dealing with Nairobi and environs.

Unfortunately, this 'disease' of converting residential areas into commercial ones is an on going exercise by ALL local authorities countrywide. This results in the following...

1.    There are no quiet and peaceful areas anymore anywhere. Since commercializing an area means that everything and anything can and is allowed to sprout in the name of commerce in the middle of residential areas.

2.    This means that the infrastructure leading to residential areas, like roads, which were never meant for heavy commercial traffic, suffer the results of this. We get awful pot-holes which the road maintenance 'authorities' are very averse to fixing as soon as they are messed up.

3.    There is no regulation on the noise levels created by all of the above since everybody uses these so-called residential areas for everything under the sun. For example, tuk tuks and matatus and even some private cars, play loud and earsplitting levels of music at all hours of the day and night. Heavy commercial vehicles encroach and rev with resultant exhaust fumes pervading our houses nearly all the time.

4.    The mushrooming of sky scrapper buildings without any specific planning everywhere means that huge trucks carrying building materials are continuously plying our 'delicate' side roads degrading them. This also means, due to no planning, that these buildings block the light and air, etc., of others next to them. One would think that our town planners would make sure that things are planned in such a way in this day of environmental awareness that people can use the maximum of natural light and if structures are prefabricated, these heavy commercial vehicles supplying building materials would be to a minimum. Not to mention that houses, etc., would be more cost effective for the builder and the buyer, as well as environment friendly. But, do our policy makers even give a moments thought to such issues?

5.    We need lots of green open spaces for various reasons among which are places for children to play. Most of our residential areas and estates have none. Why?

6.    Instead, we have livestock sprinkled all over town and residential areas causing terrible traffic jams and questionable health issues.

7.    There is no enforcement of the amount of noise that can be allowed at anytime anywhere, including residential areas. Therefore, when the average Kenyan goes home expecting peace and quiet and to be able to relax, there is no such thing, as s/he is inundated by noise, air-pollution, etc. Even the children who need this peace and quiet more than anybody else to study, find none. And those are our future. Despite there being laws regarding noise and air pollution, NEMA rarely enforces this, even after such things are reported to them. Why?

8.    Since roads are not maintained and upgraded, all road users; yes, even pedestrians (who are in the majority), suffer the consequences, especially during the rainy season. When, we suffer some injury or damage to our person and vehicles, our road maintenance 'authorities' are never taken to task by being sued for damages. In this day of unbelievable expenses and despite paying road and fuel levy, very few roads are fixed or maintained. If anybody wants examples, please, contact me and I will show them 'live' examples. As I've mentioned countless times previously, Coast Province has a 'shortage' of any new roads built since independence and even the ones that are still there are not maintained in a timely manner. Only up-country roads are made and maintained. Why? We urgently need new roads down here, too, since Mombasa has been given a 'city' status ages ago, but, it is only in name. We also pay taxes, remember, by the millions every single day via road and fuel levy. Use it to give us better roads, please.

Re: Smoky neighbourhoods...

2011-06-12T12:25:00.000+03:00

I just hope that the matter of burning garbage in my cousin's neighbourhood will be as expeditiously dealt with as a similar one that I had been experiencing last year in my own, in Mombasa, by NEMA.

This burning usually takes place under cover of darkness so that the miscreants will not be seen and known and identified. These people never give a thought to what their smoke does to the people living and/or working around. They are also highly ignorant and moronic people who practice this method of dealing with overflowing garbage with little regard for the environment, either. Of course, our various local authorities are equally to blame as they do not collect garbage efficiently and regularly for this NOT to happen. Why?

In Mombasa, our Council has a novel method of dealing with overflowing garbage and uncut grass. They let loose a few herds of livestock in the form of cows and goats who 'efficiently' go about toppling garbage cans and unmown grass all free of charge. Yes, these animals cause traffic jams, etc., but Mombasa residents have to deal with narrow roads, tuk tuks, matatus, mkokotenis, etc., anyway, so a few herds of livestock who are in the 'employ' of our local government can also be 'tolerated' since they are helping our Council try and keep the place 'clean'!!! It hardly ever works and we have informed our Council of this many times, but, who listens in that 'headquarters' of 'change'?

Best wishes with prayers,
Raziya

On 6/4/2011 12:11 AM, Dr Juzar Hooker wrote:

I write to you in desperation as my neighbours burn rubbish in their plots with impunity, often at night, resulting in severe distress to us, a veritable health hazard, a public nuisance, and environmental pollution. This is occurring off Eldama Ravine Road on an almost daily basis, in spite of requests to stop. I am sure NEMA would be interested in taking some long awaited action.

Dr Juzar Hooker
Consulting Neurologist

Rooms 401/2, Doctors Plaza, Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi
Phone +254 20 3744256/7, 3662769
Telefax +254 20 3744257
E-mail: juzar.hooker@aku.edu, jhooker@africaonline.co.ke

P O Box 19396 – 00202 KNH, Nairobi, Kenya

Our pathetic road network....

2011-05-27T10:57:00.000+03:00

When it rains anywhere in our country, one of the first 'infrastructure' to suffer the consequences are our limited and questionable road network. While up-country roads are getting some attention from the various 'fixers', Coast Province and especially Mombasa (city?!), has not had a singe new road built to accommodate the rapid increase in traffic. In fact, nobody pays much attention to even maintaining what already exists!

Only when the damage to the road reaches a disastrous level will some short fix be applied. One of these short fixes is that a gang of Municipal workers arrive to supposedly 'clean' and 'unblock' the drains and then, sometimes a truck load of stones and other debris is brought to the scene of a huge pothole and emptied there. Of course, this just makes the problem worse because promptly that the next time we get a deluge in the form of rain, all that will quickly flow away and literally go down the same drain that had recently been 'unblocked' and the whole process will repeat itself and continue ad infinitum!!!

Everyday, since the rains started, I watch with sympathy all the road users outside our estate gate and the problems that the broken road and huge potholes create for everybody. The poor pedestrians, young and old, able and disabled have a truly hard time wading through all that water of various depth. Then, come the small saloon cars which are so low that at times the water goes into the cars through the doors and/or the engines. The 'owners' of our estate then compound problems by dumping huge stones into the potholes without thinking about the effect these will have on cars and the tyres. They are very big and sharp.

Then, despite this being a residential area, a shipping company has been allowed to open their offices next to our estate (Sea Bulk), which attracts all kinds of heavy vehicles which our already damaged road network cannot stand and they further damage the road.

Add to this, the countless water tankers that come and go along this road including entering our estate to deliver much needed water. Why? Because, our Water Board and Company are not providing the residents with much needed piped water. In fact, there is a huge commercial well/borehole at the turn-off from the main Nyali Road to our estate where lots of tankers are constantly filling up and the people to whom the borehole belongs do a booming business everyday supplying countless Mombasa residents with water. These, of course, due to the constant watery condition at that part of the road, is very damaged and nothing is done about it.

Why isn't there some kind of restriction regarding the traffic that is allowed onto certain roads leading to residential areas? Since, indiscriminate vehicles use this road, it is like living in an industrial area rather than a residential one. These buses, trucks, trailers, etc., are also allowed to hoot at all kinds of hours and rev to their hearts content.

About one and a half weeks ago, I called Eng. Munene who is in-charge of Urban Roads in Mombasa and he was good enough to come and see me and he experienced first hand the pathetic condition of the road outside our estate gate. It seems that while the Ministry of Works is supposed to build our roads, they still have to rely on our questionable and incompetent Council for the drainage along the roads. This, of course, creates a lot of problems since they have nothing planned which they can give to the various engineers who will fix our roads, in the way of drainage. Whatever was there in the first place built by the British, has already been made useless when making town roads was under our Council. They just resurfaced our roads without fixing the drainage and hence, we continue to suffer from awful roads everytime the rainy season starts and the 'drains' get blocked which in turn makes water collect which in turn damages our limited roads!!!

They (the Council), have been so incompetent and unprofessional when 'resurfacing' roads that they don't even raise the drainage covers to the same level as the roads so that people and cars don't lend in them.

Since we pay an arm and a leg every time we buy petrol in the form of road levy, etc., why are Mombasa roads not maintained and upgraded and more built to deal with the increasing traffic? Our government is literally collecting millions EVERY SINGLE DAY from just Coast Province residents in this manner so why isn't this money put back into fixing, maintaining and making new roads here? There is not a single new road built in Mombasa since independence.

And who is responsible for the damage and inconvenience these roads cause to people and vehicles? In any other 'civilized' countries the government and/or the Council is sued for damages. But, in our country where there is no accountability and justice, this is an unheard of thing, unfortunately. This is very disgusting.

Re: Our inhuman POSTA!

2011-05-19T21:43:00.000+03:00

'Evening!

I can tell from your response that you have not read my email properly. Didn't you read that whole paragraph below (I'm highlighting it for your benefit), where I've also explained how it would not be at all practical for me to keep changing box numbers everytime I move. And appreciated the fact that for a whole year, my mail had been forwarded to Mkomani at no extra cost?

While you (POSTA), is not responsible for traffic jams, it is expected that it would be more sensitive to people's problems - both financial and otherwise. And regarding postal services, you might listen, but, you do very little about solving those problems. If you remember, I was sitting right in your office on the day that my much awaited registered letter is stamped to have arrived at the GPO, but, when on leaving your office, I checked my mailbox, there was no notification there nor did your Head Postmaster, Mr. Ahmed, inform me of this while he too, was in your office. Instead, neither you nor I could even follow on the Internet what happened to this mail after it was put in the mailbag on the 27th of April 2011. In fact, when I finally asked you about the anomaly of the date of arrival, 4th May 2011 and the time it took for the notification to enter my box (10th May 2011), you found it quite difficult to explain. You told me, finally, that somebody in Nairobi had forgotten to swipe this number into the machine and hence, we could not follow it after the 27th of April 2011. When I asked you what you do to negligent people like these, you told me that you sacked them! I wonder if that actually happened.....?

So, with such postal 'services' what do you expect a user of your 'services' to do?

And please, after re-reading all of my email below, please think about what I've requested, again. Oh, btw, you make me sound like I consider myself a saint, but, again, if you re-read that email below, you'll find that I have admitted that I was really angry, frustrated and tired yesterday by the time I finally managed to see the supervisor.

Why does the mention and comparison of other postal services worldwide and that despite them delivering mail at your doorstep, they don't charge for that service, bother you so much since that is the first point you have made in your reply?

In fact, I am not asking for a free service, but, a considerate and understanding one since I already pay a very high rental on my box at the GPO and I don't even get so much mail in comparison which is why it shouldn't be such a bother for POSTA to redirect my mail to Mkomani. Please, re-read that highlighted bit, also. about why I cannot get a box at Mkomani, too.

You really don't sound like a person who is capable of understanding or sympathizing with another's problems and you, like many of your colleagues keep demanding that rules are rules without giving thought to anything else.

I would, again suggest, that you re-read what I have actually written without being in haste with your reply, next time.

Raziya

PS: Btw, my name is Raziya NOT Riya!

On 5/19/2011 6:45 PM, rpmcoast@posta.co.ke wrote:

Thanks Riya for your letter of complaint. I want to inform you that PCK does not offer free service. Am also wondering why you not mentioning that despite this fact we have been redirecting your mails at no extra cost for one whole year! Yesterday i informed you that there was mail for you in your box after you had made an inquiry and the next thing I heard from you telling me is that you were stuck in the jum and you were cursing posta! Does posta controll the flow of traffic? Then you came to the post office and made alot of noise at the counters. That type of behavior is not good. If you have a problem we have always listened. We advised you to transfer your box to mkomani where you stay and you have refused that your box has to remain at the mombasa gpo.This refusal implies that you want to be coming to gpo. Also note that there is nothing in record that you made any requests a part from writing so may e-mails coplaining about posta.   Please I would like to advise you that if you have any comlaints about the postal services we offer then direct them to us in writing and in a civil manner rather than coming to posta and screaming all over. We are ready to serve you better but these services must be within the reguations.

'Afternoon!

Our postal 'services' are not only thoroughly inefficient and highly expensive, but, I've just discovered, they are completely inhuman, too. The only thing that dictates their shoddy services is MONEY!!!! Nothing else besides for they can't even understand a person's many problems and not only refuse to help, but, the only thing they want one to do in these expensive, difficult and trying times is just pay them extra for any little request that one might ask of them. As mentioned previously, POSTA has lost at least two of my letters since the beginning of the year and they have no explanation for this other than the reason that they were forwarding my mail to the Mkomani post office. Since I've moved in that area last year, the then, head post master, Mr. Khator, had been good enough to grant me this facility at no cost because getting a box in Mkomani would be a needless expense. For one, I would have to inform countless people of my change of address and since I'm retired/unemployed, disabled and hardly go into town, a needless and extra expense. Also, he knows about the disease that I suffer from and it's not always convenient for me to make my way all the way into town just for a couple of mail. Anyway, GPO is the one that sorts the mail and then delivers the relevant mail to the various post offices even all the way to Malindi. Therefore, just including my couple of mails once in a while, one would understand, is not such a big issue. Also, I'm already paying an exorbitant rental for my small box at the GPO which one would think would cover any expense, if there was any, in forwarding my less than 10 mails a month to the Mkomani branch. Well, since I made 'noise' about my missing mail (and this was not necessarily because the mail was being sent to Mkomani as my missing mail issues go back many years even when l lived in town), this year, suddenly everybody has started blaming the fact that I get my mail at Mkomani, as one of the reasons. This is NOT true! Also, when I went to see the Regional Manager two weeks ago regarding my current registered mail (from India), on the 4th of May 2011 and the attitude of his Head post master, Mr. Ahmed, I was told that it was 'illegal' for my mail to be forwarded in this manner to Mkomani and that it should be stopped forthwith! He was not ready to listen to any argument on WHY it was going to be totally inconvenient, expensive and frustrating to go all the way into the town centre to get my mail. The only thing they have done is allowed me to park in their 'yard'. Yesterday, I crossed the Nyali bridge and if it wasn't for having to go all the way to the GPO, I would have saved myself countless amount of time and money if I hadn't had to go there. In fact, I wasted a lot of time getting through our horrible Mombasa traffic and then accessing the GPO's 'yard' was another time consuming exercise since the lane between Bima Towers and GPO has been closed off (one can only get up to the GPO 'yard'). There were already 3 vehicles there going in opposite directions! It took nearly half an hour before this snarl up was sorted out and I managed to park in the 'yard'. When I tried to open my box, it wouldn't do so, so I had to walk some more from one counter to another trying to get the supervisor. Of course, by this time I was thoroughly frustrated and very angry for it was the 2nd time in two weeks that this post box key would not open my box. By the time the Supervisor showed up, I was getting late and was quite tired of all this mess and inconveniences that our POSTA is the cause of and he was good enough to get my mail for me (had to wait some more....), and told me that the lock would need to be changed and that I should give them my two keys and they would do the needful and also apologized for this, thank God. I tried calling Mr. Khator this morning but they have been in meetings since yesterday, it seems and one wonders what they discuss at these forums - probably how to fleece the renters as much as possible - for when I finally managed to talk to him over the lunch hour, this previously kind and understanding head post master has become like his superior and only talks about changing my box and/or charging me a whole rent of a box for me to be able to get my mail at Mkomani! Why should I pay the equivalent of two mailboxes when I don't get enough mail in the one box to justify that rental? I cannot understand this needless expense as it's not as if POSTA was going to be making a special trip to Mkomani to deliver my mail IF any. My mail would be coming with the rest of the Mkomani mail. And even if I was to cancel the town mailbox and get one at Mkomani, what will happen if I again move back into town? Btw, I have just been asking people who come from other countries where they get their mail delivered at home about how much they pay for that service. I was told that they don't pay anything! How strange that the majority of the countries of the world deliver mail to the addresses instead of shoving them into postal boxes where the renters have to pick it up, and yet, this service is free. Very interesting, indeed. And even if they are paying for this, it would be thoroughly worth it, I think. So, isn't POSTA out to make a fast buck at the expense of their users? And they even consider it illegal to just forward a couple of mail to a branch neighbourhood post office? I wonder what would happen if a person got totally incapacitated and could not to go to pick up their mail from any of our questionable post offices? Oh, and if they are thinking of the answer that we should send somebody to do this for us, then, I have a further question - what if they were alone (like I am), and didn't have somebody to do this for them? Do our various 'service' providers ever think along these lines? In the current scenario, there is the needless expense and inconveniencing somebody to the point of irritation and frustration. Raziya

Our inhuman POSTA!

2011-05-19T21:38:00.000+03:00

Our postal 'services' are not only thoroughly inefficient and highly expensive, but, I've just discovered, they are completely inhuman, too.

The only thing that dictates their shoddy services is MONEY!!!! Nothing else besides for they can't even understand a person's many problems and not only refuse to help, but, the only thing they want one to do in these expensive, difficult and trying times is just pay them extra for any little request that one might ask of them.

As mentioned previously, POSTA has lost at least two of my letters since the beginning of the year and they have no explanation for this other than the reason that they were forwarding my mail to the Mkomani post office. Since I've moved in that area last year, the then, head post master, Mr. Khator, had been good enough to grant me this facility at no cost because getting a box in Mkomani would be a needless expense. For one, I would have to inform countless people of my change of address and since I'm retired/unemployed, disabled and hardly go into town, a needless and extra expense. Also, he knows about the disease that I suffer from and it's not always convenient for me to make my way all the way into town just for a couple of mail. Anyway, GPO is the one that sorts the mail and then delivers the relevant mail to the various post offices even all the way to Malindi.

Therefore, just including my couple of mails once in a while, one would understand, is not such a big issue. Also, I'm already paying an exorbitant rental for my small box at the GPO which one would think would cover any expense, if there was any, in forwarding my less than 10 mails a month to the Mkomani branch.

Well, since I made 'noise' about my missing mail (and this was not necessarily because the mail was being sent to Mkomani as my missing mail issues go back many years even when l lived in town), this year, suddenly everybody has started blaming the fact that I get my mail at Mkomani, as one of the reasons. This is NOT true! Also, when I went to see the Regional Manager two weeks ago regarding my current registered mail (from India), on the 4th of May 2011 and the attitude of his Head post master, Mr. Ahmed, I was told that it was 'illegal' for my mail to be forwarded in this manner to Mkomani and that it should be stopped forthwith! He was not ready to listen to any argument on WHY it was going to be totally inconvenient, expensive and frustrating to go all the way into the town centre to get my mail. The only thing they have done is allowed me to park in their 'yard'.

Yesterday, I crossed the Nyali bridge and if it wasn't for having to go all the way to the GPO, I would have saved myself countless amount of time and money if I hadn't had to go there. In fact, I wasted a lot of time getting through our horrible Mombasa traffic and then accessing the GPO's 'yard' was another time consuming exercise since the lane between Bima Towers and GPO has been closed off (one can only get up to the GPO 'yard'). There were already 3 vehicles there going in opposite directions! It took nearly half an hour before this snarl up was sorted out and I managed to park in the 'yard'.

When I tried to open my box, it wouldn't do so, so I had to walk some more from one counter to another trying to get the supervisor. Of course, by this time I was thoroughly frustrated and very angry for it was the 2nd time in two weeks that this post box key would not open my box.

By the time the Supervisor showed up, I was getting late and was quite tired of all this mess and inconveniences that our POSTA is the cause of and he was good enough to get my mail for me (had to wait some more....), and told me that the lock would need to be changed and that I should give them my two keys and they would do the needful and also apologized for this, thank God.

I tried calling Mr. Khator this morning but they have been in meetings since yesterday, it seems and one wonders what they discuss at these forums - probably how to fleece the renters as much as possible - for when I finally managed to talk to him over the lunch hour, this previously kind and understanding head post master has become like his superior and only talks about changing my box and/or charging me a whole rent of a box for me to be able to get my mail at Mkomani!

Why should I pay the equivalent of two mailboxes when I don't get enough mail in the one box to justify that rental? I cannot understand this needless expense as it's not as if POSTA was going to be making a special trip to Mkomani to deliver my mail IF any. My mail would be coming with the rest of the Mkomani mail. And even if I was to cancel the town mailbox and get one at Mkomani, what will happen if I again move back into town?

Btw, I have just been asking people who come from other countries where they get their mail delivered at home about how much they pay for that service. I was told that they don't pay anything! How strange that the majority of the countries of the world deliver mail to the addresses instead of shoving them into postal boxes where the renters have to pick it up, and yet, this service is free. Very interesting, indeed. And even if they are paying for this, it would be thoroughly worth it, I think.

So, isn't POSTA out of make a fast buck at the expense of their users? And they even consider it illegal to just forward a couple of mail to a branch neighbourhood post office? I wonder what would happen if a person got totally incapacitated and could not to go to pick up their mail from any of our questionable post offices? Oh, and if they are thinking of the answer that we should send somebody to do this for us, then, I have a further question - what if they were alone (like I am), and didn't have somebody to do this for them? Do our various 'service' providers ever think along these lines? In the current scenario, there is the needless expense and inconveniencing somebody to the point of irritation and frustration.

96th, 97th, 98th, 99th, 100th, 101st,...... outages

2011-05-03T19:36:00.001+03:00

Since the rains started, the number of outages in Nyali have increased. One wonders why...

In fact, when KPLC's 3 staff members attended our NCRRA meeting early this year, they promised that these outages would soon be a thing of the past and we even believed them, because for a while they did reduce.

But, now that the rains have started, and like everything else in this banana republic, all infrastructure somehow collapses, including an uninterrupted power supply. In fact, KPLC blames everything but it's questionable work.

For some reason, these excuses of a tree falling on their lines, a signboard touching their lines and short circuiting their lines, etc., have become a very common excuse and we are tired of hearing these recycled excuses. The reason being that it's strange that these same things don't happen so often during the dry spell. How come?

Btw, we the public are equally to blame, for we cut trees left, right and centre with complete abandon (especially in Coast province), put up buildings all over the place with no plan or thought about the neighbourhood and the various services it will require. In face, a while ago, a reporter friend of mine made a very interesting comment about Kenyans having a 'fear' of any green open space. As soon as they see one, they are out to buy and build on it and to hell with playing and recreational areas for the public. And that's where the tree cutting also comes in. Most of these people can't seem to stand a tree which is minding it's own business and giving cool shade to boot!

So, with all these 'interesting' crackpots among us, the KPLC has ample excuses for their power failures.

In fact, since morning we have had 3 - first was early in the morning which lasted nearly an hour, then, there was a fluctuation around 9.30 am and just now at 6.30 pm we had another outage of over half an hour. We are getting very tired of our various electrical equipment packing up on us. I think it's high time we took KPLC to task for the damages, don't you?

Nobody available.....

2011-05-02T15:45:00.002+03:00

Of course, I will not be able to send this till such a time that I can go online with the Orange 3G modem.

Since the rains started, the couple of weeks of relief, regarding the signal on the modem where I stay which had improved, has gone back to being the way it was previously. We truly live in a typical banana republic as officialdom is NEVER available even if and when they claim that they will be during the holidays.

All of the people whom I have been trying to call are either not answering the phones or they have switched them off! In the meantime, my emails are accumulating.

Despite having told the various employees of Orange about their SMS balance enquiry number that it does not work and getting an assurance that they will do something about that, too, NOTHING has been done and we use their modem (when it works), in a fog. We have absolutely no idea how much balance still remains after every session of going online.

Why are the various 'service' providers in this country so irresponsible regarding their work. Have they no work ethic? They are some of the most infuriating people on earth!

When will something be done about the above mentioned modem problems?

Re: constantly missing and lost mail

2011-04-30T23:31:00.001+03:00

I am very disappointed with your response and disgusted, too. The people who write to me using your POSTA's horrible 'services', don't necessarily let me know in advance that they are sending me something by snail mail. It's when they have already sent something on it's way that they tell me by email to expect a post and what might be it's contents. Hence, I can't and wouldn't want them to go through a totally unnecessary expense of requesting them to send whatever it is that they send, using Registered mail.

This demand by you (POSTA), is totally unwarranted and uncalled for and just proves my point that POSTA in Mombasa is a completely 3rd class, or even lower, operation. Of course, if POSTA is going to reimburse me for the cost of the registered mail just so that they can fix responsibility for wayward mail, I'm quite willing to try and ask my various known and unknown correspondents to use the registered facility. Why is it so difficult to reign in your own incompetent workers? You should know them better since POSTA hires them.

Regarding your second point of picking my mail from my box at GPO. This is highly inconvenient for me as I do not come into town very often and not as far as the GPO (hardly). The traffic and the parking is insane. But, how may I ask is this inconveniencing me going to help you in monitoring your horrible and very inhumane staff, may I know?

Because, of this nonsense, I was told to pick up a registered mail from the GPO yesterday. So, let me relate my misadventures while trying to do this very simple exercise.

First, please keep in mind that I am middle aged and disabled with multiple disabilities which you and your various minions seem to prefer to ignore. Since there is no parking easily available at the front or side of the GPO, I am constantly told to use the parking at the Parcels office and then ask the various staff of GPO there to call the head postmaster (whoever that is), to come to my aid. This I did and fortunately for me, yesterday, there was accompanying me a young very pregnant lady with two small children, who is herself not feeling too well and has been told by her Dr. to keep movements to a minimum. Alas, for her it was not to be! Because, when I went into the parcels/EMS office I asked a man behind the EMS counter to please call a Mr. Ahmad (the postmistress at Mkomani had told me to get him), from the GPO. This man was not at all in a hurry to do anything and told us to have a seat and wait till he finds the time to do so. He seemed to be completely oblivious of the fact that we might also be in a hurry and didn't want to have a 'picnic' with small kids in the waiting area, either. Finally, after asking him a number of times to please hurry or use one of the phones to achieve his purpose, he left to go into the bowels of GPO and disappeared for a fairly long time.

So, I decided to call Mkomani post office and ask the post mistress to please do something about this and she in turn asked me to give my phone to the cashier of EMS. They had quite a lengthy conversation (at my expense), after which the illusive Mr. Ahmad finally materialized.

What happened next, as far as I am concerned, was totally unwarranted and an exercise by POSTA to deliberately frustrate and annoy a client. Because this Mr. Ahmad first asked me to accompany him to the main GPO (as though we didn't know our way), then changed his mind when I told him why it was necessary to personally be there to pick up my registered mail since I can't walk for long distances at times and on uneven surfaces. At this point he asked me for my ID which I gave to him. Then he asked us to wait at the same EMS place for his return.

Well, he did return but after nearly 20 minutes, but, only with a blue card (I had not had time to pick up my registered mail card - pink - from Mkomani the day before or in the morning, either, but was told that as long as I gave my box number and name with ID, I would be given my registered mail), and no mail. He asked me to sign the thing, returned my ID and told me that I would HAVE to accompany him to the GPO myself to be handed over my registered mail. Since, I wasn't in a condition to walk all the way to the GPO registered mail office, he agreed to let the young lady accompanying me go with him instead to be given my mail.

Now, why and since when does the GPO have this rule of having to physically 'see' the person to whom the registered mail belongs? I thought that anybody whom I trust can go with my ID to collect my registered mail for me. I am now quite sure of what my brother told me - that somebody at POSTA is victimizing me deliberately.

I observed another revelation when I studied the envelope that carried my mail. I noticed that it had been posted from Bangalore, India on the 6th of April 2011 and reached Mombasa on the 13th of April 2011, yet, the registered mail card, though dated 13/4/2011, arrived at Mkomani post office on the 28th April 2011, a whole 2 weeks later. Despite it being a registered mail?!!!!

So, when POSTA tells me to ask my correspondents to register their mail to me, it does not justify it's reasoning for even Registered mail can get lost - especially mine. In fact, I was not even expecting this particular mail from India. It's just by good fortune that it was registered, but, since I was not expecting it I would not even have known about it if POSTA had, like quite a lot of my other mail, 'lost' it. At least, they seemed to be very averse to part with it even when I personally tried to go and pick it up at GPO.

About renting a box at Mkomani - even if one was available, it would be completely impractical for me to change box numbers after all these years. People whom I can't even remember know and keep in touch with me using the present one.

Please, do not try to pass the buck. I know that even if I had a box at Mkomani, it is still GPO which sorts mail for all the other post offices around. So the problem of lost, misplaced and other misadventures of our mail will still continue. The daft sorters are still the same old semi and illiterate, incompetent persons at your GPO! Do something about that instead on inconveniencing your renters to do this, that and the other, please.

Very disgusted with your 'services',
Raziya

On 4/28/2011 12:39 PM, hpmrmombasa@posta.co.ke wrote:

Dear Razia, We are sorry for the inconvinience occassioned to you. To help us serve you better, kindly assit as follows:- 1. Advice the people who send you correspondence to register them, this will enable us trace your correspondence and fix responsibility. 2.Pick your mail from your box at Mombasa GPO,this will enable us to monitor our staff closely. 3.Rent a box at Mkomani.  Striving to serve you better.  Mariam.I.Ali

Constantly missing and lost mail....

2011-04-19T16:58:00.001+03:00

There is a problem with our Mombasa GPO's sorting office. The people populating that office are either semi- or illiterate or half blind or under the influence of questionable substances! Due to them, I have lost at least 2 letters since the beginning of this year from the USA.

The latest one was posted from there on the 4th of April 2011 and it still has not reached Mombasa. Unfortunately, I am not the only person who pays a hefty rental every year to Posta, only to have my numerous mails either misplaced or disappearing altogether. There are countless others out there who have a similar problem with our POSTA.

Since my last missing mail from the USA, POSTA's officialdom asked me to tell my brother to send his mail by registered post so they could track it. But, to do this will cost my brother $15 which we can ill afford. So, is this some kind of blackmail that if we don't do POSTA's bidding, they will constantly lose our mail if it is sent by normal channels?

There are also irresponsible members of the public who, when they get a letter in their boxes which does not belong to them, simply throw it away or carry it around for days before re-posting the thing (hence, the sometimes soiled condition of our mail), finally. From this point on, POSTA's sorting staff, start the whole process and IF we're lucky, we finally get our long lost mail or if they are under any one of the mental conditions mentioned in the first paragraph, the letter will be lost forever, never to be seen or heard of again!

I've had such things happen to my letters over the years and now it is even more easy to know the fate of them. I know that my brother posted the letter on the 4th of April 2011 because he emailed me about it. And since it takes 10 days for mail from the USA to get here (one gets the feeling that it either hitch-hikes or walks), this period is now over but, I still haven't got my mail.

Why do I constantly have these missing mail problems despite, as I've been told, that my box is under investigations? So, if this is the case, it can't be my box suddenly swallowing my mail, but, it has to be the sorters......, I think. Can POSTA please employ responsible and educated people there?

And how is POSTA going to deal with this latest missing mail issue short of demanding the we use their registered and expensive 'service'? The pain and headache that they cause has to be experienced to be believed.

Get your act together, POSTA!

Lots of frustration ......

2011-04-16T12:54:00.001+03:00

As I write this, I'm holding on to my landline phone with Orange Nairobi, trying to get my Orange modem loaded. The reason I had to call their Nairobi offices was because NONE of their Mombasa employees whose numbers I have are answering their phones!

The sms confirmations, etc., that one has to go through to load a bundle and activate it is also not working - countrywide.

When Orange finally did something about the modem signal problem near my place and I can now use their modem, the smses for loading and confirming don't seem to work in a reliable fashion.

Why aren't the Mombasa employees of Orange Telkom picking up their phones? After all it is Saturday and when I first started calling them it was before lunchtime. It took two calls to their Nairobi offices and over an hour before a guy called Paul finally solved and activated my bundle.

Some of their employees, whenever I call them, tell me to call 100 or 121. These hardly ever get answered and when they do, it's an automated voice which tells you to press this, that and the other number to get various 'services'. Now, I'm a hearing impaired person and would like to deal with a human on the other end whom I can request to repeat what s/he, just said in case I didn't understand. How can I ask a machine to do this? Why isn't Orange Telkom a handicapped friendly company, especially since they are into communications?

They should be the first ones to take such a disability seriously. There are many people out there who have similar problems like mine. I am not the only one, though, I might be the only one who is the most vocal about it.

Please, get your act together, Orange Telkom.

Is Orange Telkom operating with justice?

2011-04-13T14:51:00.001+03:00

Since the beginning of February, I've been having connecting issues with the Orange livebox and despite having been assured of the many days that I've been offline (not being able to connect to the Internet), since the beginning of the second week of February 2011, I still have not got my rebate from them. Why?

Also, I would have used their modem, if I had a signal where I live, but, despite having complained about that, nothing has been done about that, either. In the process, the over 270 Mb that I had on it expired. So, who is to blame for this? And will I get a rebate for this, too?

Orange Telkom does not consider such things important enough to address and their Regional Manager, Mr. Munene, just told me that it was just one of these things that we have to put up with where 'technology' is concerned! Is it really that, or the incompetence of Orange Telkom?

For now, I am having second thoughts about re-subscribing to my 'livebox' and am writing this using their modem at their Nyali Orange shop since I don't have a signal to be able to use this at home. So, I had to lug my laptop to their offices to be able to deal with a lot of emails at my own cost and had to pay a further 150/- to buy the minimum bundle of a 100 Megabytes. That is when I found out that my previous over 270 Mb had been 'swallowed'.

For this company's information, I would have used this modem when I could not go online with the livebox, but due to it's own incompetence and don't care attitude, I can and could not, yet, the customer has to pay for and suffer the consequences of this. Why?

Probably, Mr. Munene, thinks in terms of a few hundred shillings as 'nothing', but, that is not the case for the majority of Kenyans for his information. If they give a 'service' than it has to be an accountable and honest one.

And how long is Orange Telkom going to take in giving me a rebate for all the time that I've been unable to go online using the livebox? And when will and if ever, is the signal near my place, going to improve?