The Accountant May-June-2016

JOURNAL OF THE INSTITUTE OF CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS OF KENYA 

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MAY - JUNE 2016 

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SUSTAINABILITY 

PLANNING 

THE POWER 

OF CHARISMA 

15 Invaluable 

Interview 

Questions 

THE FUTURE 

OF AUDIT 

The 

INTERNAL 

AUDITOR 

From watch dog to partner

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

32 

ECONOMY 

Interest Rates: The 

Regulators Dilemma 

70 

PEN OFF 

Effective business 

reporting processes 

44 

HEALTH 

Is laughter the 

best medicine 

31 

GOVERNANCE 

Questions for the 

higher education 

sector 

26 

COVER STORY 

The internal auditor 

www.icpak.com 

Members of the Council 

Chairman 

FCPA Fernandes Barasa 

Vice Chairman 

FCPA Julius Mwatu 

Chief Executive 

CPA Dr. Patrick Ngumi 

(PhD) 

Council Members 

FCPA Pius Nduatih 

CPA Wycliffe Shamiah 

CPA Geofrey Malombe 

CPA Obare Nyaega 

CPA Rose Mwaura 

CPA Susan Oyatsi 

Ms. Damaris Kimosop 

CPA June Kivinda 

CPA Samuel Okello 

Head of Publication/Editor 

Mbugua Njoroge 

stanley.mbugua@icpak.com 

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Ideation Marketing 

info@ideationmarketing.co.ke 

Tel: +254 719 650 423 

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The Accountant is published every 2 months by the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya. Views expressed in the journal do not necessarily reflect those of the institute, authors 

firms or employers. Reproduction of any article in this journal without permission is prohibited. The editor reserves the right to use, edit or shorten articles for accuracy, space and relevance. 

MAY - JUNE 2016 1

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2 MAY - JUNE 2016

EDITORIAL 

“Internal Audit Key to 

Organizational Growth” 

The internal audit role 

comes into focus once again. The internal 

audit role within the work place has for 

many years been viewed as a policing role 

meant, to instill intimidation and fear 

within the very institutions it seeks to 

serve. 

Effective partnering among other 

things requires the ability to spot and share 

best practices; and Chief Audit Executives 

actually emphasize that the objective of 

effective or “good” partnering is to ensure 

the best outcomes for the business. 

Inspiring partners to adopt best 

practices requires change-management 

skills. One of the myths many try to dispel 

is that internal audit is a “police function”. 

It is argued that in reality, the best auditors 

are those who create a rapport with audit 

customers. Breaking down this stereotype 

is so important that most internal audit 

groups actively encourage clients to think 

of internal audit as a coach, not a cop. In 

this in depth feature which is our cover 

story, the writer, an internal auditor, 

explains to us how an audit team or an 

institution can change the ‘watch dog 

only’ phenomenon to the ‘effective partner’ 

phenomenon. She discusses in great detail, 

managing the expectations of the 

profession, as well as resistance 

to change, intimidation 

threat, resource constraints, an 

unsupportive audit committee 

and little or no teamwork. It is 

an interesting peace. 

In our workplace segment, 

we discuss growth beyond the 

glass ceiling; you work hard at making 

your business successful. You put in 

extraordinary hours, sacrifice time with 

your family and friends and forget what 

it feels like to be completely care-free, yet 

you still seem to have hit a ceiling. And 

even when sales are better than they used 

to be, you still can’t see where your money 

is. Every month is a hassle to settle bills 

and pay your employees. There is always 

just enough to get your business to the 

next month. The author says there comes a 

time when you will have to make decisions 

that remove you from your comfort zone. 

These decisions come from some common 

issues that affect growing business. He 

talks about management, equity, research 

and development in an easy to grasp style 

that will put a lot of things into perspective 

for you. 

One of our writers is convinced that 

that there are several questions begging 

for answers in the higher education sector. 

He notes that the Kenyan public is a 

lucky people. He says this is true if you 

consider the number of higher education 

institutions scattered across the country 

today. This is also true when you compare it 

to a few years earlier when the situation was 

wanting. We have 33 public universities, 

campuses and their constituent colleges all 

put together. On the other hand, we have 

over 37 private universities, campuses and 

their constituent colleges. In short we have 

over 70 university campuses in Kenya. This 

is no mean feat. It is a great achievement. 

He recalls that a few years ago, the 

government was at pains to overcome the 

challenge of providing opportunities 

to qualified candidates. Today we 

can proudly thank key players 

including the government 

in conjunction with faith 

based organizations, 

entrepreneurs and 

professional bodies. With these many 

campuses we can say that education 

is available. The question that begs for 

answers is the issue of quality at optimal 

cost. Read more about this under 

governance. 

A couple of years ago, the International 

Federation of Accountants published an 

International Good Practice Guidance 

entitled “Principles for Effective Business 

Reporting Processes”. We are all involved 

in one way or another in ensuring that 

the organization we work for or audit 

produces effective reports. What does 

the guidance say about this “process”? 

The guidance lays down eleven principles 

to ensure effective reporting processes 

in organizations: these principles do 

not prescribe a specific approach, but 

highlight a number of areas for specific 

consideration when implementing 

reporting processes. As is logical, the basis 

of the process is a commitment to effective 

reporting processes: the onus is on senior 

management to assume leadership for 

high-quality reports through effective 

reporting processes. Read more about 

effective business reporting processes in 

the pen off. 

In health, we talk about laughter as 

the best medicine, we discuss world water 

day in our environment segment and 

the future of audit in financial reporting 

and assurance. We also bring you mouth 

watering recipes plus all your regular 

features. 

Mbugua Njoroge 

Editor 


Financial reporting and assurance 

By FCPA Jim McFie, a Fellow of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya 

THE FUTURE 

OF THE AUDIT 

The international audit firm 

Grant Thornton and the 

Association of Chartered 

Certified Accountants 

discussed “The future of the 

audit” at a series of roundtables in China, 

the European Union, Singapore, South 

Africa, the United Arab Emirates, the 

United Kingdom and Ukraine. These 

locations were chosen to cover a range 

of business environments with differing 

characteristics. The conclusions of the 

discussions have recently been published 

and make interesting reading: my own 

position in relation to the audit is 

radically different to many of the opinions 

expressed – but time and space prevent me 

from laying out my own view. 

The report points out that the world 

is changing. The 2008 financial crisis 

emphasized the extent to which financial 

systems are connected globally; however, 

it is important to remember that Kenya’s 

exposure to the causes of this crisis were 

limited; having said that, it did have an 

effect on the tourism industry in Kenya, 

and when one discusses the consequences 

of a downturn in tourism with business 

persons in many other industries, one 

understands the interconnectedness 

between tourism and the rest of 

the economy in Kenya. Worldwide 

interconnectedness brings greater 

prosperity, but also greater concentrations 

of systemic risk. Policymakers are still 

responding to both the economic fallout 

from the 2008 crisis and the public outcry 

for regulatory changes – I wonder if there 

really was a ‘public outcry’ – there were 

demonstrations in New York – but those 

in the US who could have done something 

about the causes of the crisis, did nothing 

– they practiced impunity to a degree that 

is known only in the US. Because the 

crisis led to a lack of public trust, it is not 

surprising that the audit is expected to be 

a major part of the solution. In practice, to 

achieve this, audit and auditors will need 

to change to be able to respond to the 

challenges of this more inter-connected 

world and greater public expectations. 

The environment for professional 

accountants is changing: research has 

identified global connectivity, smart 

machines and new media as drivers that 

are likely to influence the global need 

for accountants over the next decade. 

Forty three million Americans now use 

software to file their income tax returns 

(a complicated process in the US); those 

persons no longer use the services of tax 

accountants. Change is something people 

are generally uncomfortable with: the 

“new” is unknown – uncertainty becomes 

predominant. Where there is change, 

there is greater demand for assurance in 

general and audit in particular, and for 

audit and assurance to be provided in new 

ways that make use of new technologies. 

Novel funding models may require novel 

assurance services. Stakeholders expect 

auditors to exploit new ways of working 

to drive efficiencies so that reporting 

timetables can be shortened while 

continuing to improve audit quality. 

Expectations are changing: investors like 

the ‘binary’ audit report in which the 

auditor must either commit to a ‘clean’ 

opinion or qualify the accounts. In general, 

however, users also want more contextual 

information to be provided, to explain the 

process whereby the auditors reached their 

opinion and the challenges they faced and 

overcame along the way. Although auditor 

reporting is changing, there is some 

frustration that it is not changing further, 

and more quickly. Users want more 

disclosure from companies, particularly 

of non-financial information, such as that 

on sustainability, and forward-looking 

information. Users also want assurance 

that this information is being disclosed 

fairly and accurately. 

In response to these changes, auditors 

themselves need to change. They have to 

put more emphasis on how well the audit 

is done, with heightened focus on risk, 

professional skepticism and audit quality. 

Auditing standards are being enhanced 

to address some of these new challenges. 

Although changes to standards have 

begun to enhance confidence in the audit 

for larger companies, they have introduced 

additional complexity for smaller entity 

audits. In response, some countries have 

exempted the smallest companies from 

the obligation to have an audit. The idea 

that an audit is a single, universal service 

that is the same for all types of entities 

anywhere in the world is probably going 

to change. 

In countries where the audit is less 

developed, the view is clear: the audit is an 

enabler of economic growth. It underpins 

market confidence, reduces the cost of 

capital and transaction costs, boosts capital 

flows and serves as a cornerstone for the 

business environment. The feedback from 

the roundtables is that the audit is vital 

for engendering trust in business. As a 



result, building capability in audit is a key 

priority for countries seeking sustainable 

economic growth. This view is reinforced 

by the World Bank’s continuing support 

for its ROSC (Reports on the Observance 

of Standards & Codes) initiative, 

which promotes the financial statement 

audit in accordance with international 

standards. In these countries, the audit is a 

comparatively recent offer, with providers 

of finance primarily interested in financial 

information about a company and little 

else. There is currently limited interest in 

other assurance services to complement 

the audit, let alone alternative assurance 

offerings that might replace it. These 

countries see the future of the audit as 

being about building consistent quality and 

making the audit process more efficient 

for companies, users and auditors. The 

audit might be increasing in popularity, or 

demand for the audit might outstrip supply. 

Alternatively, the auditing profession 

might be relatively small, making use 

of expertise from other countries, or 

be in the early stages of moving from 

national to international standards. The 

quality of audits might be inconsistent, 

or there might be relatively few firms 

capable of auditing banks, utilities or the 

public sector. A clear message from the 

roundtables was the need for users to get 

‘as much as possible’ from the audit. Users 

wanted a standard audit of the historical 

financial statements and they wanted it 

done well. Equally important was the need 

to build user confidence in the auditing 

profession and develop its scale, before 

thinking about adding extra services: such 

markets are not ‘ready’ for more than the 

‘plain vanilla’ audit. 

While the requirement for the 

mandatory audit is being removed 

from ever-bigger companies in Europe, 

developing countries want to invest in 

their accountancy professions to build the 

infrastructure necessary for supporting 

enhanced business growth. While there 

are those that believe developing countries 

will follow the same development path as 

developed countries, possibly later than 

them, others argue that audit development 

will be influenced by other factors, such as 

the nature of the accountancy profession, 

property rights, political and social factors, 

and others. 

In developed markets, the audit has 

typically been mandatory for a long 

time. In such countries, there may have 

been moves to exempt businesses of 

certain types or sizes from the audit 

requirement. Companies may have more 

skilled finance teams, producing more 

trustworthy financial information than 

those in developing countries. Providers 

of finance may receive regular, reliable 

financial updates as a matter of course, so 

that for them the annual audit report is 

seen as ‘old news’ and merely confirmatory. 

Additionally, they may receive a regular, rich 

and varied range of information about the 

business, which is essential for investment 

decisions but is not financial and not part 

of the audit. In these developed countries, 

the audit is seen as a critical bedrock for 

larger companies, but with little additional 

value other than confirmation of what 

is already understood about a business. 

For companies that are neither large nor 

publicly traded, significant questions 

are being asked about whether the audit 

report is useful. If the audit report is not 

useful, should it be scrapped and replaced? 

This threat to the relevance of the audit 

is recognized by standard setters, which 

have responded by expanding the external 

audit report for public interest entities. 

A couple of remarks about the audit in 

Singapore were: ‘Audit providers should 

listen carefully to users, and understand 

who the users are, what information they 

use, and what they use it for’; and ‘The 

next generation of investors may want 

different information’. Where roundtable 

participants cast doubt on the continuing 

usefulness of the audit report, the common 

misgivings were: ‘The report is addressed 

only to shareholders’; ‘The report is 

issued months after the period end and 

mostly covers only historical financial 

information’; ‘The report is a standardized 

product with limited reference to 

particular user needs’. Auditors need to 

really reflect on these statements: each 

statement is a threat, in that it challenges 

the relevance of audit; at the same time, 

it is an opportunity, to the extent that 

the profession can respond to it. Reports 

could be prepared covering information 

of use to other users. Reports could be 

prepared more quickly and over a wider 

range of information than present reports, 

including non-financial and contextual 

information. Reports could be prepared 

that are tailored for particular user needs. 

Practitioners will wish to ensure that their 

liability is proportionate to any payment 

they receive for such services. Traditionally, 

payment and liability have been barriers 

to reform. A discussant in South Africa 

stated: ‘We should be asking, not just what 

the user wants from the audit, but what 

they want to use it for’. 

The International Auditing and 

Assurance Standards Board has introduced 

expanded auditor reporting requirements 

for audits of listed companies, similar to 

those already in effect in the UK. Early 

feedback from the UK has been positive, 

although enthusiasm may wane if audit 

reports do not continue to evolve. 

Another key driver for change is 

legislative and regulatory intervention. 

For example, in the European Union, 

legislators are requiring auditors to do 

more, beyond the traditional scope of 



The major challenge – and the key success factor – is to 

transform the audit from the old function into a business 

partnership concept’. The overwhelming feeling is that both the 

traditional audit and the traditional auditor need to respond 

more promptly to change if they are to remain fit for purpose. 

the historical financial statement audit, 

for listed company audits. Once these 

additional services have been streamlined, 

demand for them may grow elsewhere in 

the world, and beyond the listed company 

sector. 

Although the amount of information 

included in and alongside the annual 

accounts has increased substantially, the 

audit itself has stayed much the same. 

The idea that audits need to become more 

adaptable has attracted broad consensus. 

Not everyone is interested in every single 

piece of company information; but nearly 

every single piece of company information 

is of interest to someone, even while some 

argue that the core information essential to 

understanding the drivers of performance 

may not be captured by current financial 

reporting. 

Nonetheless, rather than try to scale 

an audit down to the lowest common 

denominator – in other words, financial 

information – the modern audit should, 

in the words of a participant from China, 

‘find a way to meet the differentiated needs 

of report users’; another in the EU pointed 

out that: ‘institutional banks as providers 

of finance have a different use of audited 

information than do equity investors’; a 

third in Singapore added: ‘the audit has 

a future, but the audit profession must be 

prepared to change, at times significantly, 

to meet user needs’. 

In the UAE, the issue of conflicting 

objectives was highlighted: ‘there is a 

big mismatch between what the market 

wants, what the investor wants, what the 

companies who want to list want and 

what the regulator allows’. One approach 

would be to put the audit user first; as 

one participant commented: ‘surely, 

auditors should be listening to them and 

giving them the product that they want’. 

Certainly, there is a need to engage more 

with end-users to understand where audit 

falls short of their expectations, as there 

is clear demand for ‘more specialized, 

detailed and differentiated audit services’. 

Examples given included: ‘assurance on the 

authenticity of the company’s business’; 

‘how a particular business model works’; 

‘authenticity of supply-chain financial 

transactions’; and ‘the supply-chain closedloop 

process, which might fall outside the 

scope of pure financial audit’; ‘the social 

return on investment by diversity credits’ 

and ‘a company’s culture, and the quality of 

a company’s reporting function’. 

There were calls for auditors to reevaluate 

their value proposition to endusers. 

Investors want increased dialogue: 

‘we want to hear about early warning 

signals’. There was also a sense that auditors 

‘hold a lot of information of the audited 

entity which is very useful to investors’ 

decision-making’, whereas this knowledge 

and experience could be used to ‘offer 

more services than merely making simple 

reports’. For example, one way for auditors 

‘to meet expectations from the stakeholders, 

especially from business owners is for the 

auditors to partner them, to provide them 

the value addition: how they make better 

profits, and how they could have better 

risk assessment internally and externally’. 

This would require the auditor ‘to really 

understand the business and to get buy-in 

from management, to make meaningful 

comments in the audit report.’ Although 

investors are clear that they want ‘more’, 

they are less clear as to what this means 

in practice, not least because different users 

have different needs and wants. 

There was recognition, in all the 

locations where the roundtables were 

held, that the business world is probably 

developing too fast for the audit 

community to catch up if it operates in a 

vacuum. The digital age is changing what it 

means to be an employer, a company, even 

a nation; and participants were concerned 

that these generational changes are not 

being addressed. ‘There has been so much 

innovation in other industries, but audit 

has not followed,’ observed one participant 

in the UK. For some, audit change should 

be ‘driven by the investor community’ 

while others said the best way to develop 

audit would be to ‘let business drive 

innovation’. ‘Innovation needs to come 

from the profession not the regulator, 

but someone needs to pull it together for 

consistency across markets; firms need to 

drive it forward’. Concerns surfaced that 

change was occurring too slowly, that 

audits are too reactive, and that too much 

emphasis is placed on compliance rather 

than value. ‘The major challenge – and the 

key success factor – is to transform the 

audit from the old function into a business 

partnership concept’. One respondent 

asked whether ‘we need to see more 

corporate collapses to usher in change?’ 

Another said that auditors need to 

‘evolve or die’. The overwhelming feeling 

is that both the traditional audit and the 

traditional auditor need to respond more 

promptly to change if they are to remain 

fit for purpose. This poses a challenge for 

auditors: how to meet the needs of users 

without compromising the independence 

that is at the heart of auditors’ professional 

standards. 

Everyone involved in the accounting 

profession needs to think about the 

changes that are necessary to change the 

audit. In Holland, continuous audits occur 

in real time as transactions occur: software 

has been developed to enable computers 

to do the work that was once the exclusive 

reserve of well trained humans: while it 

may take some time for the rest of the 

world to catch up with this, that is the 

way the audit process is going to be taken 

over by machines. My advice to young 

auditors is to become computer experts – 

computers will certainly take our jobs away 

– so become people who can write audit 

software. 



MANAGEMENT 

By Kellen Kiambati, kellenkiambati@gmail.com 

Photo by Ben Sklar/Fortune 

George Edward “Big George” Foreman, is an 

American former professional boxer 

MARKET 

TURBULENCE 

Globalization, technical 

progress and more crossindustry 

competition are 

making the markets more 

turbulent. The ability 

to quickly gain a competitive edge is 

becoming a key success factor. Effective 

strategic business management is therefore 

more relevant than ever. Uncertainty is 

the defining characteristic of any boxing 

match. Fighters and trainers can study 

the tapes of past fights or select sparring 

partners who simulate an opponent’s style, 

but they cannot predict a blow-by-blow 

chronology of a fight, foresee spikes in 

confidence, foretell the errant punch that 

splits an eyebrow, or anticipate a wily foe’s 

deliberate shift in tactics. Uncertainty is 

also the defining characteristic of business 

competition today. Competing in volatile 

markets can feel a lot like entering the ring 

against George Foreman in his prime— 

or, even worse, like stumbling into a bar 

room brawl. The punches come from all 

directions, include a steady barrage of body 

blows and periodic haymakers, and are 

thrown by a rotating cast of characters who 

swing bottles and bar stools as well as fists. 

Conceptual frameworks for strategy 

formulation and strategy choice are 

running out of steam today. They are losing 

a great deal of relevance within rapidly and 

radically changing environments. Decades 

of largely positive, fairly stable and 

reasonably consistent growth in output 

and trade is giving way to a widespread 

decline in economic activity and the retreat 

of trade across the globe. Capital markets 

that were only recently characterized by 

easy credit, massive leveraged buyouts and 

a thriving private equity industry have 

been rudely disrupted by the powerful 

forces of economic instability. This 

change in fundamentals is leading to the 

search for more compatible models for 

strategy analysis, formulation, choice and 

implementation. 

At this point it is important to recall 

strategic behaviour. It is the process of 

formulating and expressing strategic 

choices. Systemic strategic behaviour is 

behaviour that expresses strategic choices 

that are congruent with structural business 

conditions. It rests on two fundamental, 

turbulence-prone forces: the capital 

resource base, and the competency profile 

of the organization. Capital resource base 

is a configuration of corporate capital 

resources, i.e., tangible capital assets, 

intangible capital assets and potential 

capital assets. Competencies, on the other 

hand, are demonstrations of exceptional, 

value-added performance. Capital markets 

have played a fundamental role in driving 

corporate investment and divestment 

decisions. Deregulation, structured finance, 

leveraged investment and the like have left 

a deep mark on corporate strategies. The 

resultant convulsions are well documented 


MANAGEMENT 

Looping this 

discussion to 

organizational agility, 

it is worth noting 

that organizational 

agility is a company’s 

ability to consistently 

identify and capture 

business opportunities 

more quickly than its 

rivals do. There are 

three distinct forms of 

agility: operational, 

portfolio, and strategic. 

and the future will, more likely than not, 

bear a structural impact of what we have 

witnessed. The role and impact may even 

go beyond past and present experience if 

one is to go by current projections. Key 

indicators point to: 

• A substantial prospective increase in 

capital supply 

• A measurable decline in equity 

investments 

• A tendency towards corporate capital 

hoarding 

• Symptoms of a balance-sheet recession 

• A revival of risk-laden structured 

finance 

• A key global role for the Chinese 

capital market 

Competencies demonstrated, and 

continue to demonstrate, volatility as 

well. For example:- 

• Measurable increase in industry 

concentration in competency rooted 

mergers, acquisitions and divestment 

• Change in an R&D focus 

and spending 

• Brand volatility 

Looping this discussion 

to organizational agility, 

it is worth noting that 

organizational agility 

is a company’s ability 

to consistently identify 

and capture business 

opportunities more quickly 

than its rivals do. There 

are three distinct forms 

of agility: operational, 

portfolio, and strategic. 

Operational agility 

The first kind of agility 

is a company’s capacity, 

within a focused business 

model, to find and seize 

opportunities to improve 

operations and processes. 

These opportunities need 

not be sexy. Cost reductions, 

quality improvements, or 

refinements to distribution 

processes can be just as 

valuable as introducing new 

products and services. 

Portfolio agility 

The second type of agility 

is the ability to quickly and 

effectively shift resources, 

including cash, talent, and 

managerial attention, out 

of less-promising units and into moreattractive 

ones. Reallocation of resources 

to faster-growing segments within a 

company’s portfolio of businesses is the 

largest single driver of revenue growth. 

Although the conventional wisdom holds 

that diversified conglomerates destroy 

shareholder value. 

Strategic agility 

Business opportunities are not distributed 

evenly over time. Rather, firms typically 

face a steady flow of small opportunities, 

intermittent midsize ones, and periodic 

golden opportunities to create significant 

value quickly. The ability to spot and 

decisively seize the last kind of opportunity, 

the game changers, is the essence of 

strategic agility. Such opportunities usually 

entail rapidly scaling up a new business, 

aggressively entering a new market, betting 

heavily on a new technology, or making 

significant investments in capacity. The 

agility to make a big bet quickly does not, 

of course, guarantee that the gamble will 

pay off. However, companies that avoid big 

bets altogether risk falling behind more 

aggressive competitors. 

Having considered agility, it is critical 

to understand the concept of end game. 

An end game is a process where the 

organization seeks an end to operations 

as it has always performed them. There 

are different types of end games. There are 

volatile end games or end games where 

falling sales and excess capacity could 

induce fierce price warfare and an ultimate 

exit. There are also niche end games, where 

splintered market shares within a declining 

industry are regrouped to provide an 

extension of the product or the industry 

life cycle. Choice of an end-game strategy 

depends on whether the structure of the 

industry supports a hospitable, potentially 

profitable decline phase or not. End-game 

strategies emerge when the company has 

lost the roots of business continuity. Those 

could relate to a competitive advantage or a 

financial performance requisite. Neither a 

capital assets base or competencies strategy 

could sustain this continuity. Prospects 

of recovery are dim or nonexistent. The 

choice is then between: 

• Niche strategy 

• Quick divestment or harvest strategy 

A shift to a niche is essentially a 

mobilization of the leftover market share 

and technologies and the consolidation 

of those in one operating unit. Quick 

divestment is a termination of operations 

based on a sense of urgency and a search 

for a quick conversion of remaining assets 

into liquidity. Kodak is a case in point. 

The past few years have witnessed the 

end of an era. A couple of year’s largely 

positive, fairly stable and reasonably 

consistent growth in output and trade 

are giving way to harsher environments. 

Capital markets have convulsed, 

economies have contracted and a massive 

process of global economic restructuring 

is under way. As a result, conceptual 

and operational frameworks for strategy 

formulation and strategy choice ran out of 

steam. The search is on for more compatible 

models for strategy analysis, formulation, 

choice and implementation. The “SSAM” 

or “Systemic Strategy Analysis Model” 

could provide the ideal vehicle. In my next 

article in the next magazine issues I will 

discuss Systemic Strategy Analysis Model. 

Please don’t miss out. 


MANAGEMENT 

By Newton Kibiru, newton.kibiru@ke.gt.com, Photo: The staffing stream 

GROWTH 

BEYOND THE 

GLASS CEILING 


MANAGEMENT 

What limits your growth? 

1. A lack of internal controls 

2. High operating costs 

3. Compliance issues in payroll/tax/ 

company law 

4. Inability to attract and retain top 

talent 

5. High cost of capital 

6. Conflicting visions with other 

shareholders 

7. A lack of the right partners to 

facilitate your growth e.g. 

investors with the distribution 

network for your product 

You work hard at making 

your business successful. 

You put in extraordinary 

hours, sacrifice time with 

your family and friends and 

forget what it feels like to be completely 

care-free. Why then, do you seem to 

have hit a ceiling? 

Sales are better than they used to be, 

yet you still can’t see where your money 

is. You seem to be on survival mode. 

Every month is a hassle to settle bills and 

pay your employees. There is always just 

enough to get your business to the next 

month. 

There is a point in your business’ life 

cycle beyond which you cannot operate 

in isolation in terms of ideas, partners and 

innovation. Identifying when you have 

reached this glass ceiling is important if 

you are to grow your business to heights 

that you have never imagined. 

Once your business is at a certain 

level of development, it needs a shot in 

the arm to get it to the next level. As a 

business owner, it is important for you to 

know your limitations. The combination 

of your knowledge, education and 

creativity will serve you well – but only 

for a while. 

There comes a time when you need 

to make decisions that will kick you out 

of your comfort zone. These decisions 

come from some common issues that 

affect growing businesses. You should be 

in a position that allows you to anticipate 

them. 

Management 

It makes sense to have an independent 

management team. Managers who 

have been competitively recruited from 

outside the organization are an asset that 

should not be taken for granted. There 

is always that temptation to hire from 

within your direct circle of friends and 

family. While this is understandable, it 

may inhibit your growth. 

An independent management team 

also allows you to be objective when 

dealing with employee issues. Your 

objectivity in acting on performance 

appraisals and dealing with misconduct 

will be under scrutiny from your 

employees. They are motivated to stay 

and are more productive when your 

decisions are seen to be just. 

Equity 

Selling a stake in your business to a more 

experienced or connected private equity 

investor is a smart move. They are called 

“sharks” but beyond the sharp teeth and 

tough exterior, Private Equity and Angel 

investors can make a difference to your 

organization. Aside from allowing you 

to access affordable capital, they also 

bring in their expertise and possibly, a 

powerful network of partners. 

Selling a stake to long time employees 

or those in management positions makes 

sense. It’s a great motivating tool and 

saves you some cash. Employees who 

are also owners in your business will not 

feel compelled to ask for a raise every 

now and then. As shareholders, their 

performance determines the dividend 

that they should expect at the end of the 

year. 

Smaller organizations should 

consider following this route in order 

to attract and retain top talent at 

management level – without breaking 

the bank. You need the best people in 

order for you to grow. 

Research and development 

Letting someone else take charge of 

the creative department allows for the 

infusion of new ideas. When you hold 

the monopoly on ideas you set the stage 

for stagnation. As all business owners 

discover after operating for a while, their 

operating environment changes with 

regular frequency. 

The idea is not to have a monopoly in 

innovation. New ideas are the lifeblood 

of any organization. Even if your 

business sells plain, old, boring paper, 

there is a point beyond which you cannot 

rely on your own ideas to grow it. 

Growth decisions are money 

decisions and we understand that your 

business needs a partner who can drive 

your growth into new markets; as well as 

establish you further in markets where 

you already have a presence; and in such 

a way that is low on cost and high on 

return. 

You need to answer the question, 

“What limits your growth?” This then 

starts a conversation on choosing the 

right partner to align with. A partner 

who understands the complexity of how 

different businesses operate and the 

variety of issues and risk that they face. 

Prepare yourself for growth. 

Newton Kibiru is a Business Development 

Assistant at Grant Thornton Kenya 


BUSINESS PRACTICE AND DEVELOPMENT 

By Wasilwa Miriongi, wmiriongi@gmail.com, Photo: downtrend 

DOES OUTSOURCING 

DEBT COLLECTION 

LEAD TO LOSS OF 

CUSTOMERS? 

Whenever I have sought 

to be engaged as an 

external debt collector 

for the prospective 

customers, I have 

encountered questions which allude 

to losing control over customers. Such 

question are; aren’t you going to harass our 

customers? Some even claim to respect 



their customers very much not to hand 

them over to third parties. 

Being a credit professional, I 

understand all their fears, only that they 

seem not to know that a customer is not 

a customer unless they have paid and 

also today’s good customer can turn to be 

tomorrow’s defaulter no matter the size of 

the company. 

Of course blaming customers for 

non-payment may be the easiest for any 

company to do, but actually, that should 

not be the case where you have a well 

defined credit policy. Credit Managers 

always say “A sale is not a sale unless it is 

paid for” 

It is not difficult to know that Bad 

debts can be crippling to a business of any 

size in today’s volatile market. Chasing 

debts can be difficult and sometimes an 

impossible job for any credit department. 

Sure, taking a proactive credit management 

approach especially having a credit policy 

in place will help you avoid many problems 

associated with late payment. 

Unfortunately, it is inevitable that at 

some point you will run into a client that 

is facing bankruptcy or simply refuses to 

pay an invoice due a dispute or cash flow 

problems. In these situations, it is necessary 

to identify these troubled accounts quickly 

and to escalate them to a debt collection 

professional, sooner rather than later. 

Just like the Bible says every man is 

a potential sinner, every business large 

or small as long as they use credit as 

one of their tools of trade, will have a 

collection issue. Despite their best efforts, 

some accounts will fall in arrears. Some 

customers simply will not pay. And, like 

a rusted bolt, they are just not going to 

budge. So they reach out for a tool with 

added torque to get things moving an 

outside collection agency will do. 

One company that I approached for 

debt collection put it bluntly that that they 

do not have external debt collectors, yet 

my own internal research told me they are 

owed millions of shillings. 

“I am afraid to outsource my potential 

bad debt because I do not want to lose 

control over my customers.” quotes like 

these are so common in business circles 

that I am compelled to comment that is 

purely based on believe systems rather 

than prudent debt management. It may 

also be obvious that the role of third party 

collection agencies if not known to many 

businesses or the criteria to hire debt 

collectors laid down in this case. 

Well, do not be afraid. With a good 

collection agency or law firm you won’t 

lose control. In fact you will enjoy the 

following, 

• strengthen your existing credit 

department; 

• save time, money and resources; 

• uphold your positive reputation and 

maintain your business relationships; 

• Improve your cash flow and reduce 

your DSO reduce and bad debt writeoffs. 

• Meet supply deadlines hence customer 

satisfaction 

Strengthen your existing 

credit department 

Engaging a debt collection professional 

shows your customers that you are serious 

about default with little intention of 

writing it off. Therefore, your customers 

will be less inclined to test the boundaries 

and make sure you are paid on time when 

they know there are negative consequences 

in the first place. 

And by introducing a third party into 

the collection process, it will make those 

clients who are ignoring your attempts at 

collection, sit up and listen. A competent 

debt collection professional apply a lot 

more continuous pressure to your clients 

to retrieve your debt because getting you 

paid is their sole job. 

Save time, money and 

resources 

Not only are invoices that remain unpaid at 

90 days cash could prove a major difference 

to your cash flow, its recovery will no doubt 

be consuming a great amount of your time 

and resource, which in turn detracts from 

your newer debts. 

Simply put, it’s wiser for you to spend 

your time and effort growing your business 

than chasing a customer who won’t pay 

their bill. The same goes for your credit 

department, outsourcing delinquent debt 

allows them to concentrate on increasing 

the collection calls to your more recent 

receivables. The more contact you have 

with your clients the earlier they will pay 

and therefore, reduce the amount of debts 

you refer onto your debt collection agency 

in the first place. 

Uphold your positive 

reputation and maintain your 

business relationships 

Organization’s customer relationships 

are the future of your business and the 

last thing you want is for your reputation 

and relationships to suffer as a result of 

bad debt. It’s all too easy to take someone 

owing you money personally and to say 

something you regret in the heat of the 

moment. 

By distancing yourself from the 

collection process, you are able to maintain 

your relationship with the client and do 

business in the future (obviously it would 

be a good idea to renegotiate your terms 

or ask for payment upfront rather than 

extending credit again to a client you had 

to chase for payment). 

Collection agencies are also up to date 

with compliance and legal issues associated 

with debt collection, meaning you avoid 

any potential conflicts. 

Improve your cash flow and 

reduce your bad debt writeoffs 

With debts outstanding you may struggle 

to pay your own creditors or purchase 

needed supplies. 

Meeting supply deadlines 

In line with cash flow sometimes when you 

lack the cash flow for products the supply 

to your customers gets delayed. Improving 

collections through Third parties will 

definitely make easier the job of supplying. 

Debt collection professionals are the 

experts and they have resources that 

get you paid that you don’t. They can 

view credit reports in real time to assess 

how collectible an account is. They will 

conduct skip tracing and utilize private 

investigators to find your debtors and 

hidden assets. In addition to possessing 

collection techniques and technologies — 

all to assist them recover your money. 

If you chose a debt collection professional 

that is also a law center or has links with 

law firms, they have the ability to take legal 

action, if necessary, as well. 

Of course choosing a reputable firm is 

important. However, there is much more 

than reputation to think about. You need 

a firm that fits your corporate culture 

and provides the kind of relationship you 

consider important while you find out 

whether they understand your expectations 

and will partner with you to help you meet 

your goals. 

You won’t be afraid; will you? 



By CPA Maroa Julius Mwita, julius maroas@gmail.com, Photo: Mindflash 

SUSTAINABILITY 

PLANNING 

‘’THE HIDDEN TRUTH 

WE CAN’T AVOID’’ 

Sustainability according to 

Centers for Disease Control 

and Prevention (CDC) refers 

to your effort and what part of 

it should be sustained whereas 

Khan (December, 2000) sustainability 

refers to the ability of the projects to 

maintain its operations, services and 

benefits during its projected life time. 

A Sustainability plan refers to a road 

map for achieving long term goals and 

document strategies to continue the 

program, activities and partnership. 

In the current world we have seen 

a tremendous shift from manual to 

automated or ICT based operations where 

most businesses, state corporations and 

private sectors are faced with risks ranging 

from operational to financial risks and the 

businesses have to do all that it necessitates 

to mitigate against the risks or die for life. 

It is important to appreciate the fact that 

sustainability planning is key for any 

business survival whether government 

owned or private owned and whether notfor 

profit organizations (NGO) due to the 

following reasons; 

1. Improves on the reputation of the 

businesses 

2. Helps businesses identify alternative 

source of funding. 

3. Reduces cost of doing business since 

businesses with sustainable business plans. 

4. Promotes staff engagement and 

retention 

5. Help business tap in growing markets 

6. Sustainable plans acts as a bargaining 

tool to the government or private sectors 

in terms of wooing investors. 

Leaving the advantages aside, sustainability 

planning should be done more even with 

County governments at large as the rate of 

dependency ratio of County governments 

to National government in terms of its 

survival is totally high same applies to non- 



governmental organizations that majorly 

depend on donor funds. My question 

today is, if the National government 

would let it go for counties to stand on 

their own will they manage? 2) If donors 

stop funding projects in Kenya such HIV/ 

AIDS, infrastructure, agriculture etc will 

the organizations in Kenya collapse? 3) If 

Kenya does not receive funds from World 

Bank, International Monetary Fund 

(IMF) etc, will Kenya still remain strong 

and fulfill some of its citizen’s needs? 

The above simple but tricky questions 

can be answered if we understand how 

good it is to do sustainable plans. A good 

sustainable plan should be able to sell itself 

and should cater for all areas to include 

Social, Environmental and Financial 

aspects. In achieving sustainability there 

are 8 critical elements for its success 

namely; 

1. Vision- A clear vision should be 

developed in advance that clearly shows 

that there is need for business continuity 

and this should be followed by clear 

objectives. 

2. Result orientation- This involves 

stakeholders support and demonstrating 

program success through measurable 

results (establishing indicators and 

measurable performance). 

3. Strategic Financing Orientation- 

This involves identification of resources 

needed to sustain an activity and it calls 

for strategies to bring resources together to 

achieve its goals. 

4. Adapting changing conditions- The 

managers and chief executive officers of 

various entities should always learn to 

adapt to changes by becoming flexible 

in order to adjust to changing social, 

economic, and political trends. Making 

these adjustments also allows initiatives to 

identify and overcome any external threats 

that could obstruct program continuance. 

5. Broad base of community support- 

Achieving a broad base of community 

support means determining who within 

the community loves an initiative and 

trust me if you have a great support in 

your area of operations other fiscal and 

non fiscal support will follow. This is 

important mostly for Non-governmental 

Organizations (NGO) 

6. Key champions- This involves rallying 

leaders and other stakeholders from 

government and the private sectors who 

are committed to an initiative vision and 

are willing to use their power and prestige 

to generate support for the program to 

ensure continuity. 

7. Strong internal systems- The 

government, private entities and other 

business leaders should ensure they 

develop strong internal control systems 

such as fiscal management, accounting 

information, personnel system and 

government structures that will enable an 

initiative to work effectively and effectively. 

8. Sustainability plan- This enables 

managers clarify where they want their 

initiative to be in future. 

After understanding all the above 

elements and incorporating them in 

building sustainable plans, the following 

is a brief guideline on how to develop a 

sustainable plan 

(Sustainable planning process) 

Step 1: Understand sustainability 

Step 2: Assess current state 

Step 3: Identify priorities 

Step 4: Create a vision of sustainability 

Step 5: Set goals and develop metrics 

Step 6: Develop an implementation plan 

In the recent past we have also heard of 

businesses coming early and leaving early, 

others coming late and leaving early while 

others come early and leave late what is the 

main idea behind coming early and leaving 

late or not leaving ? To me I attribute this 

to having an effective sustainability plan 

that makes businesses prosper despite 

high level of taxation, international 

barriers, stiff competition, changes in 

dollar rate, Political instabilities etc. Most 

organizations or businesses do not need to 

have stressful nights because of withdrawal 

of donors or business partners as long as 

they have a selling sustainability plan. One 

of the key directors of Elizabeth Glaser 

Pediatric Aids Foundation (EGPAF 

Kenya chapter) Mr. Peter MacOdida, 

always asked us ‘’ If our doors as donors 

are closed today, will you be able to sustain 

yourself minus us? To many it sounded a 

simple joke but a few they took it seriously 

and when the contract ended in July 2014 

many organizations languished in the eyes 

of dilemma of what next. 

I urge all business leaders, government 

institutions and private sectors to rethink 

the importance of having a sustainable 

plan to support the proverb ‘’ Unyasi 

mmoja ukitoka kwenye nyumba Haivuji. 

Businesses with clear sustainability plans 

will always endure the future softly despite 

the challenges. 

THEREFORE, in doing sustainability 

planning or resource base plan we should 

understand that sustainability planning 

involves more than just finding the fund to 

keep your programs and organization alive. 

It should address issues like volunteers, 

program partners, collaborators as well 

as cultivating effective leaders and key 

champions. 

Sustainability planning should also 

be done by an individual when making 

investment decisions by not putting all 

eggs in one basket and if sustainability 

planning is not important why do we have 

life insurance cover does it mean there’s 

life after death? 

Incorporating sustainability into 

strategic plan represents a new challenge 

and therefore ensures to pick the right 

people, build on the past by discussing 

similar initiatives and assess readiness. 

I would encourage businesses, 

government institutions and other sectors 

without sustainable plans to take some 

time bearing in mind the Economic 

factors, Social factors and Environmental 

factors and develop one and this can be first 

achieved through use of a questionnaire in 

order to understand their operation and 

status before making a sustainable plan 

as the future is uncertain and the business 

environment is not promising at all. A 

good example is the initiation of manual 

cars, automatic cars and currently electric 

cars same applies to electronics etc and this 

pose the question ‘’ Which way now’’ and 

all entities including financial institutions 

should ask themselves this simple question 

‘’are we safe as at now without a sustainable 

plan?’’ 


FINANCE AND INVESTMENT 

Part3 

By Wasilwa Miriongi, wmiriongi@gmail.com 

MULTI-LEVEL 

MARKETING 

A REAL BUSINESS 

FOR 21 ST CENTURY 

Now you have read the 

previous issues and are 

willing to make up your 

mind to delve into Network 

Marketing. One quote I have 

liked goes “ When you meet someone 

better than yourself, turn your thoughts 

to becoming his equal, when you meet 

someone not as good as you are, look 

within and examine yourself …retire 

into yourself as much as possible. 

Associate with people who are 

likely to improve you. Welcome 

those whom you are capable 

of improving. The process is a 

mutual one. People learn as 

they teach.” Pepe Minambo in 

his book Be inspired before 

you expire 

Why most peoples’ 

perception about 

Network marketing 

has come from the 

category of people 

who are not as good 

and as they peddle 

the myths. A number 

of people have believed 

them. You are aware bad 

News sells good news doesn’t 

that is why the media has more 

bad news than good news. 

You have to be inspired to 

soldier on with life as described by 

Pepe, An inspired person is someone 

with an open and daring mind that 

is not afraid to walk the lonely 

path of invention and innovation. 

This kind of a mind aspires to 

“The richest people in the world 

look for an build networks; 

everyone else looks for work.” - 

Rober T. Kiyosaki 

venture the uncharted frontiers of 

new possibilities. Do we really exhibit 

these characteristics, if the answer is 

no and it is because of the way our 

mind is wired. Network marketing 

requires your understanding of these 

issues. 

Maybe we need to understand the 

power of a network. One day I 

was watching television and 

what amazed me is the 

chief from Nakuru 

who has stemmed 

crime by mere 

networking 

with residents. 

He has come 

up with a system 

of relaying 

information via 

Social media with 

a very high degree 

of success. Over 

time he uses the 

same networks to 

lending a helping 

hand in case of 

distress. This is 

the power of 

Network 

in Practice. 

You may have 

also looked at the 

hunting Habits 

of a spider and a 

lizard. The lizard 

runs around 

looking for the 

insects they 


feed on while a spider has just to make a 

web then wait for the insects to be trapped 

and feeds at its own convenience. What 

I am building is the power of a network. 

Robert Kiyosaki summarizes in this 

quote “Wealthy people look for and build 

Networks, while other people just look 

for work” the choice is yours you can be 

among the wealthy people or other people. 

By building a network you enjoy 

the foregoing assets resulting from a 

networked business;- 

• A real world of business education. 

When I did my degree and completed 

my professional exams I thought I had 

mastered enough but no way, network 

Marketing has taught me otherwise. 

Continuous learning is the key to success 

• Profitable path to personal 

development. Look at the minimal 

investment and the fact that a number of 

people are working for you at no cost. 

• A circle of friends who share your 

dream and values. As the quote goes “if 

you move about with six broke persons you 

are the seventh one. Of course if you have 

very motivated friends at reach you have 

no reason why you cannot succeed 

• A duplicable fully scalable business. 

The duplicity concept means once you 

recruit your success lines and they do what 

you do. Generally your earnings will go up. 

• The power of your own network. Take 

example of the chief in Nakuru and how he 

is using Social Media to improve security 

and the end result is he is achieving 

tremendous success in his work. 

• Incomparable leadership skills acquired 

through training and leading success lines. 

Which is acquired through self-learning 

and interactions you must note that 

successful people are leaders in their own 

right. 

• Mechanism for genuine wealth 

creation. In my wealth creation class I 

have been taught to Use the lower primary 

school concept BODMAS. Most people 

receive an income then divide and subtract 

and wait for the next pay cheque, will 

this person be wealthy the answer is NO! 

why because wealth is created through 

the Addition and Multiplication part of 

BODMAS 

• Big Dreams and the capacity to live 

them. Whenever you mention large 

sums of money like a Million shillings 

quite a number of people will think it’s 

a scam or you are jiving. You had better 

get used to extraordinary incomes that 

givers extraordinary habits and not regular 

incomes that result in regular habits hence 

fulfilling your dreams 

As a matter of fact, I STRONGLY 

encourage you to join a Network 

Marketing company for it has become 

a profession that has created more 

millionaires than any other profession in 

history. In other words, you have a 60% 

chance of becoming a MILLIONAIRE in 

a network marketing business than you do 

in a JOB. 

But before getting involved in a Network 

Marketing company you need to look at 

seven key things. And they are: 

1. Age of the Company: Make sure you 

join a company which has lasted more 

than five years. Statistics show that 90% of 

all start-up companies fail in the first five 

years in business. Statistics also show that 

90% of the remaining 10% also fail in the 

next five years in business. This also applies 

to all Network Marketing companies. If it 

has lasted more than ten years it is even a 

better choice. 

2. Credibility of the Company: What 

do other “Credible” sources talk about the 

company? Who has the company worked 

with? What has the company given to 

society? And many more. You need to 

work with a company which you can trust. 

A company which you have 100% faith 

in. Otherwise you might find yourself 

being trapped in an illegal business (like 

pyramids schemes) which might get you 

into trouble. 

3. Size and Growth of the Company: 

The size and growth of the company 

gives you an idea of the level of success 

the company has achieved. Where are 

the offices operating? How many offices 

do they have? In how many countries? 

How many independent representatives/ 

distributors are working with the 

company? That’s all important. But an 

even more important question to ask is 

how fast the company growing. Growth is 

more important than the size. There are 

companies which have been in business 

since 1970’s and they have 7,000,000 

Independent distributors and there are 

companies which have started in the late 

90”s and they have 6,000,000 Independent 

distributors. Now which company should 

you get involved in? Off course the second 

company has proven that it’s growing in 

a rapid pace. That means more money is 



being generated in the second company 

than the first company. So it is obviously 

a smart decision to get involved with the 

2nd company. 

4. Products: All legal Network 

Marketing companies offer products or 

services to the market place. If a company 

doesn’t, then it’s not a real business but a 

pyramid schemes which are illegal in most 

countries. For a company which promotes 

products, make sure their products are of 

value and have high global demand in the 

market place. The niche markets which 

have shown tremendous success with the 

top Network Marketing companies are: 

a- Health and Wellness Products (80% 

of all Network Marketing Companies) b- 

Telecommunication services c- Vacationed. 

Gold and Silver numismatics and jewelry 

(It is a growing trend)e. Education 

(Self-improvement, Financial education, 

marketing - a growing trend) To make 

sure your investment is worthwhile make 

sure you join a Network Marketing 

company which has positioned themselves 

into the above niches. 

5. Compensation Plan: You are into 

Network Marketing to make money. 

Period! If you want to get into Network 

Marketing only because of the product(s), 

then this message is not for you. “Always 

join a company that pays good money!” So 

how do you know if a company pays a lot of 

money or little money? Simple. Just look at 

three main things; 1. How many people do 

you need to recruit in your opportunity to 

earn a certain amount of money? Compare 

that with different companies and you 

will know which company pays better.2. 

What is the highest commission you can 

earn for selling a single product? For some 

Daria M. BrezinskiPh.D; 

practicing psychologist and former 

marketing director for a multi-level 

marketing magazine 

companies it can go to lets say Sh.2, 000. 

For others, like the one I’m involved in you 

can earn up to sh.1000 (and that’s just for 

the direct commission). 3. How fast can 

you return your money? 

6. Training: It is said that the best 

business training is found in a Network 

Marketing Company. This is true but not 

always the case. Most Network Marketing 

companies especially in Kenya train you 

to become a sales person; selling their 

products. What you need is a company 

that develops and coaches you to become 

an entrepreneur. Learning the necessary 

skills to be able build a Seven-Figure (in 

Shillings) business empire. 

7. Technology: In Networking Marketing 

you have an opportunity to expand your 

business in a global market. You have 

a chance of becoming an international 

businessman/woman. It’s a BIG advantage 

if you get involved in a company that has 

a platform for you to expand your business 

in the international market without a 

hassle. I highly recommend a company 

with an e-commerce platform rather than 

the traditional door to door type where 

you physically distribute the products. 

Daria M. Brezinski Ph.D, a practicing 

psychologist and former marketing director 

for a multi-level marketing magazine, 

echoes these sentiments. “Many people 

don’t realize that multi-level marketing 

companies are successful because they 

help people satisfy a number of important 

human needs, including feeling significant, 

having connections, learning something 

new, and making a difference. I have 

heard people in network marketing say 

again and again, ‘I’m doing this because 

I’m meeting amazing people… making so 

many connections … and I feel so good 

about myself.’” 

In order for you to be really successful 

in network marketing, it is important to 

understand why you should even bother. 

The truth is that it takes time, effort and 

energy to build a business. Most people are 

quite comfortable with where they are, so 

why bother? 

You may be in a comfort zone without 

your knowledge; experts say insanity 

is about doing things year in year out 

expecting different results. For example 

earning the same amount from January 

to December expecting to better your life, 

No way! You need to move from Comfort 

Zone to zone of brilliance or current zone. 

This requires your decision; and if you 

want personal developmental education, a 

desired circle of friends and a 21st Century 

model business then you have to make 

such a decision and network marketing 

could provide just that. 

“Many people don’t realize that multi-level marketing 

companies are successful because they help people 

satisfy a number of important human needs, including 

feeling significant, having connections, learning 

something new, and making a difference. I have 

heard people in network marketing say again and 

again, ‘I’m doing this because I’m meeting amazing 

people … making so many connections … and I feel so 

good about myself.” Daria M. Brezinski 


ICPAK 

PREMIER EVENTS 

2016 

C-Suite Seminar 

28th - 30th 

September 2016 

Singapore 

Continental Board 

Accountability 

Seminar 

6th - 8th July 2016 

Livingstone, Zambia 

Annual Chapter 

Seminar 

5th - 7th 

October 2016 

London, United 

Kingdom 

Executive Seminar 

22nd - 25th 

November 2016 

Kuala Lumpur, 

Malaysia 

For more information or enquiries please call 

Tel: +254 (0) 20 2304226, 2304227 

Mobile: +254 (0) 727 531006 / 

0733856262 / 0721 469796/ 0721469169 

Email: makokha.wanjala@icpak.com or 

visit www.icpak.com. For Exhibitions 

and Sponsorships, please get in touch with 

CPA Makokha Wanjala on the above lines or email.


By CPA Simon Peter Ole Nkeri 

DEVELOPING 

SPECIAL 

ECONOMIC ZONES 

THROUGH PPPs 

As a recap, a PPP is generally 

regarded as a long ¬term 

agreement between a 

government entity and a 

private company for the 

provision of a public service. The private 

company receives a revenue stream 

from government budget allocations, 

from user charges, or a combination of 

sources dependent on the availability 

and quality of the contracted service. The 

private company must generally make an 

investment in the venture. In addition 

to, or in lieu of, budgetary allocations or 

annuity payments, the government may 

make further contributions, (in terms 

land, letters of support, rights of ways, 

or guarantees) At the end of the PPP 

contract, the assets normally reverts to 

government ownership with the PPP 

Act, 2013, specifying a timeline of no 

more than Thirty (30) years, unless the 

Cabinet Secretary responsible for Finance 

allows a longer justifiable duration. Most 

PPPs would therefore be done on a Build 

Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis as 

opposed Build Operate and Own (BOO) 

basis. In statutory terms, PPPs can 

variedly be defined as; (i) “… Contractual 

arrangements between a government and 

private party for the provision of assets 

and the delivery of services that have 

traditionally been provided by the public 

sector”; or, (ii)“……a cooperative venture 

between the public and private sectors, 

This is 

the FIRST portion 

of a TWO SERIES set of 

Articles aimed at creating awareness 

and sensitizing members of ICPAK, while 

attempting to generate debate on how Special 

Economic Zones (SEZs), as one of the key Vision 

2030 Flagship Projects, can be developed through 

Public Private Partnerships (PPPs). In this First 

article, we look at the definitive terms as provided for in 

the relevant legislations and attempt to create a linkage 

that would justify why SEZs could be designated and 

developed through PPPs. In the Second Article, we 

shall do a comparative analysis between Special 

Economic Zones and Export Promotion Zones 

(EPZs) as well as a SWOT analysis for 

Special Economic Zones. 

built on the expertise of each partner, 

that best meets clearly defined public 

needs through the appropriate allocation 

of risks”; Which involves, (iii) “a sharing 

of risk, responsibility and reward; And is 

(iv)…. “Undertaken in those circumstances 

when there is Value for Money benefit to 

the taxpayers.” or arrangements that are 

of a (v) Hybrid nature depending on the 

government’s objectives. The government 

should be committed to delivering 

infrastructure and services in a way that 

provides value for money consistent with 

the public interest and should always 

consider all options including PPPs 

before launching a public procurement 

or Government to Government 

arrangements for infrastructure. Ideology 



should be down played – the issue is 

efficiency and effectiveness in delivery of 

public services that for successful PPPs. 

It is herein opined that Special Economic 

Zones can, and ought to be, developed 

through PPPs. 

Vision 2030 is Government of Kenya’s 

development blue print aimed at leading 

the country towards middle-income status 

and providing a high quality life to its 

citizens by the year 2030. It was launched 

in June 2008 by the Government of Kenya 

with a view of laying down the roadmap to 

Kenya’s long-term economic development 

that transcends any individual or successive 

government. Vision 2030 is anchored on 

three key pillars: the economic pillar, the 

social pillar and the political pillar, each of 

which has flagship projects to spearhead 

Kenya’s economic development to reach a 

GDP growth rate of 10%. 

Pillars of Vision 2030 

Economic Pillar 

To maintain a sustained 

economic growth rate of 10% 

p.a. over the next 25 years 

Areas of focus 

• Tourism 

• Agriculture 

• Wholesale and retail 

• Manufacturing 

• Business process off shoring 

• Financial services 

Social Pillar 

A just and cohesive society 

enjoying equitable social 

development in a clean 

and secure environment 

• Education and training 

• Health sector 

• Water and sanitation 

• The environment 

• Housing and urbanization 

• Gender, youth, vulnerable 

groups 

• Equity and poverty 

elimination 

Political Pillar 

An issue-based, peoplecentered, 

result-oriented 

and accountable democratic 

republic 

• Rule of law 

• Electoral and political 

processes 

• Democracy and public 

service delivery 

• Transparency & 

accountability 

• Security, peace-building and 

conflict management 

Special Economic Zones are of the key Vision 2030 Flagship projects 

Kenya’s Export 

Processing Zone 

(EPZ) 



Legislative Provisions for Special 

Economic Zones (herein after shortened 

to SEZ) 

Section 4 of the SEZ Act describes what 

Special Economic Zones are:- 

1) A special economic zone shall be 

a designated geographical area where 

business enabling policies, integrated land 

uses and sector-appropriate on-site and 

off-site infrastructure and utilities shall 

be provided, or which has the potential to 

be developed, whether on a public, private 

or public-private partnership (PPP) basis, 

where any goods introduced and specified 

services provided are regarded, in so far as 

import duties and taxes are concerned, as 

being outside the customs territory and 

wherein the benefits provided under the 

Act apply. 

2) Any public land declared as a special 

economic zone shall not be alienated for 

private use except to special economic 

zone developers, operators or enterprises 

or other bodies established within a special 

economic zone. 

3) An area declared as a special economic 

zone may be designated as a single sector 

or multiple sector SEZ, and may include, 

but not limited to: 

(a) free trade zones; 

(b) industrial parks; 

© free ports; 

(d) information communication 

technology parks; 

(e) science and technology parks; 

(f ) agricultural zones; 

(g) tourist and recreational zones; 

(h) business service parks; and 

(i) livestock zones. 

For ease of reference, the above modes 

or areas of special economic zones are 

exclusively defined in the Interpretation 

Section of the Special Economic Zones, 

2015 as published as a special issue of the 

Kenya Gazette Supplement No. 157 (Acts 

No. 16) and dated 15th September, 2015. 

In addition, and of specific interest to this 

discussion, is an enumeration of the rights 

that the SEZ developers, and enterprises 

(all also defined in the SEZ Act) shall enjoy. 

Rights of Special Economic Zone 

Developers 

Section 33 (1) of the SEZ Act stipulates 

the rights of a SEZ developer or operator 

to be the following; 

1) A special economic zone developer 

shall have the right to: 

Lamu Port 

Construction activities for various facilities at Lamu Port site are 

ongoing with progress for Lamu Port Building and Port Police and 

security facilities having achieved a completion rate of 95 Per Cent. 

(a) act or appoint a SEZ operator 

to undertake management and 

administration of the special economic 

zone on its behalf subject to subsections 

(2), (3) and (4) of section 33 of the Act, 

section 28 (b) and such other licensing 

requirements as may be prescribed; 

(b) lease, sub-lease or sell land or 

buildings to licensed special economic 

zone operators and enterprises, and 

charge rent or fees for other services that 

may be provided; 

(c) acquire, dispose or transfer special 

economic zone lands or other assets; 

(d) develop, operate and service special 

economic zone lands and other assets in 

conformity with applicable law and its 

license; 

(e) provide utilities and other services in 

the special economic zone, in accordance 

with its license, and to charge fees for 

such services; 

(f ) provide utilities and other services 

outside the special economic zone in 

conformity with applicable law; 

(g) enjoy the benefits that may accrue 

under the provisions of the SEZ Act; 

(h) enter into contracts with private third 

parties for the development, operation, 

and servicing of special economic zone 

lands and other assets, including on-site 

and off-site infrastructure; 

(i) enter and freely participate in 

international financial markets, without 

any legal impediments or restrictions, 

to obtain funds, credits, guarantees and 

other financial resources; and 

(j) advertise and promote the special 

economic zone for which it holds a 

licence to potential investors and service 

providers. 

Rights of Special Economic Zone 

Enterprises 

Section 34 of the SEZ Act identifies 

the following rights that relate to SEZ 

Enterprises; 

1) A licensed special economic zone 

enterprise shall enjoy: 

(a) the full protection of its property rights 

against all risks of nationalization or 

expropriation; 

(b) the right to fully repatriate all capital 

and profits, without any foreign exchange 

impediments; 

(c) the right of protection of industrial and 

intellectual property rights, in particular 

patents, copyrights, business names, 

industrial designs, technical processes and 

trademarks; 

(d) the right to admit into the special 

economic zone for which it is licensed, 

to export and sell in the customs territory 

all classes or kinds of goods and services 

in accordance with the custom laws of the 

East African Community; 

(e) the right to transact and carry on 

business with a non special economic zone 

developer and/or enterprise; 

(f ) the right to contract with any other 

enterprise, to buy, sell, lease, sub-let or 

otherwise exercise, special economic zone 

subject to the provisions of the East African 

Community Customs Management Act 

and applicable regulations in respect of 

the activities of such enterprise within the 

special economic zone; 

(g) the right to determine the prices of 

any of its goods or services sold inside or 

outside the SEZ for which it is licensed; 

(h) the benefits in the national context 

of an open, free, competitive investment 

environment including the right to freely 

engage with the special economic zone 

for which it is licensed in any business, 

trade, manufacturing or service activity not 

prohibited by SEZ Act; 

(i) all other rights and benefits granted 

to licensed special economic zones 

enterprises under the SEZ Act. 

We herewith attempt to create a linkage 

between the SEZ act and the PPP Act by 

enumerating some of the key sections of the 

PPP Act that the SEZ developers, operators 

and enterprises could take advantage of 

in circumstances it has been determined 

that the Special Economic Zones shall be 

designated and developed through the PPP 

Act as provided for under Section 4 of the 

SEZ Act. 

To be continued in next issue. 


WHERE WOMEN 

ACCOUNTANTS BELONG! 

Our Vision: To be a globally recognized women 

accountants’ association. 

Our Mission: Building capacity among women 

accountants to enable them access opportunities. 

WHY AWAK: 

• An avenue of professional growth and development 

• Knowledge, information and inspiration 

• Accords Networking opportunities 

• Placement for Jobs and internships for women 

Accountants 

• Enhances Mentorship and Support for the girl-child 

• Earn CPD Hours from affordable events and trainings 

HOW TO BE A MEMBER: 

Requirements for full membership:- 

• Final KASNEB Certificate/Result Slip 

• One Passport Size photo 

• Copy of your National ID 

• Registration fees of Kshs. 500 

• Annual subscription fees of Kshs.3,000 

Requirements for Associate membership:- 

• CPA 2 KASNEB Certificate/Result Slip 

• One Passport Size Photo 

• Copy of your National ID 

• Registration fees of Kshs. 500 

• Annual subscription fees of Kshs. 1,500 

www.awak.co.ke 

“Association of Women Accountants of Kenya-AWAK” 

@AWAK2016 

For more information and guidance on application, 

MAY - JUNE 2016 23 

call 0720 016 556 or email awak@awak.co.ke

GOVERNANCE 

Compiled by CPA Hilda Mawanda, awak@awak.co.ke 

LADIES LEADERSHIP 

& ACCOUNTABILITY 

CONFERENCE 2016 

Delegates with Amb. Dr. Amina 

Mohammed, Cabinet Secretary (centre) 

There is always a first time for 

everything! And this was a 

first for AWAK – to organise 

the 1st Ladies Leadership & 

Accountability Conference 

2016. AWAK is determined to make this 

event an annual event and with this start 

the sky is indeed the limit 

AWAK is the Association of Women 

Accountants of Kenya- AWAK;a 

non-political and non-profit making 

professional women accountants’ 

organization – that was registered in 1994 

under the Societies Act. Our vision is to be 

a globally recognized women accountant’s 

organization, and our mission is to build 

capacity among women accountants 

to enable them access opportunities. 

Currently membership stands at 350 

women and we aim to grow this to 2000 

by end of 2019. AWAK is governed by a 

Board that is elected from the membership 

and Secretariat that runs the day to day 

affairs. 

The Conference was organised with the 

realisation that the 21st Century has had 

significant focus on the gender agenda with 

governments across the globe persistently 

placing a high priority on achieving gender 

equality and empowering women and 

girls. Despite the focus, women continue 

to face enormous challenges as they try to 

engage in leadership and accountability 

efforts in a world where breakthrough 

technologies, demographic shifts and 

political transformations have far-reaching 

societal and economic 

consequences. 

One of the key 

agendas of the Post 

2015 UN sustainable 

development Goals is to 

ensure women’s full and 

effective participation 

and equal opportunities 

for leadership at all levels 

of decision-making 

in political, economic, 

and public life. This is 

important especially 

because women possess 

distinct qualities such as 

behavioural adaptability, 

intercultural competency; 

cultural, emotional and social intelligence 

that endear them to be agents and 

architects of change. As such they need 

to take up their rightful position and offer 

alternative leadership that transcends the 

boarders of race, class, gender and nation 

and lead Kenya to greater heights. 

As Kenya continues to take up 

this challenge and ensure the full 

AWAK Board With Amb. 

Dr. Amina Mohammed, 

CBS, CAV 


GOVERNANCE 

Hon. Justice 

Njoki Ndung’u, 

EBS, CBS 

Judge, Supreme 

Court of Kenya 

implementation of the two-thirds gender 

rule and other affirmative action measures, 

women need to be prepared and be ready 

to take up the challenges. The country 

now more than ever needed a people 

who will stand and show alternative form 

of leadership; leadership that enhances 

accountability and societal values. This 

is thus the essence of this conference; to 

prepare women to champion and foster 

leadership and accountability in Kenya. 

The conference aimed to 

a) Prepare the women as architects 

and champions of leadership and 

accountability in Kenya by exploring 

the challenges, experiences, visions and 

achievements that continue to shape 

women leadership in the country and in 

the region. 

b) Explore the emerging trends in 

business and entrepreneurship and present 

opportunities to women. The dynamics 

of technology and an ever changing 

global market calls for; re-branding, reengineering 

and perpetual re-orienting, 

hence a total consolidation of all gains to 

suit the day. 

Eighty-five (85) women from all over 

Kenya attended the conference. They came 

from private and public sector, across all 

ages and the sessions were energised, fun 

and inspiring. 

The Governor of Mombasa County 

Hon Ali Hassan Joho opened the 

conference – whose speech was read by 

CPA Ahmed Farah his Economic Advisor. 

He welcomed the participants and wished 

them fruitful deliberations, and thanked 

AWAK for choosing Mombasa County 

to host the conference. CPA Jennifer 

Kamande Chairperson of AWAK then 

welcomes participants to the inaugural 

conference. 

Hon Justice Njoki Ndungu – Judge of 

the Supreme Court of Kenya in sharing 

her experience about being an active 

political party member & a nominated 

MP challenged professionals to document 

stories about the gains made and the 

loops they have had to be crossed so that 

the younger generation can learn from 

this experience. That the glass ceiling 

is still there but much thinner than 50 

years earlier and we have the women to 

thank for that so we should acknowledge 

and appreciate their contribution to the 

profession. AWAK members were also 

introduced to FCPA Charity Muya who 

was the first lady to become a certified 

Accountant in Kenya in April 1976 

Cabinet Secretary Amb. Amina 

Mohamed (in charge of Foreign affairs) 

in addressing the conference on the 

Visionary Leader, encouraged participants 

that professionals need to make an impact 

in their work. For instance in her ministry 

the ratio of women to men is 47/53 and 

with time, the ministry will achieve 50/50. 

She said her biggest advantage in being 

effective was that she rose within the 

system. 

Amb. Dr. 

Amina 

Mohammed, 

CBS, CAV 

CS, Foreign 

Affairs 

Madam Sarah Serem – Chair of the 

Salary and Remunerations Commission 

(SRC) known for her firm approach to 

dealing with issues – gave interesting 

insights on Growing Your Value. Her 

message was clear – that one needs to be 

a person of unwavering principles since 

more often than not, these principles 

will be brought to test and people need 

to know the kind of professional they are 

dealing with. 

Madam Susan Mudhune – a career 

banker and member of several Boards 

including one time being Chair of Kenya 

Commercial Bank shared her insights on 

women’s role in development and wealth 

creation. 

Dr Bertha Kaimenyi a campaigner for 

Balanced Living challenged the conference 

to always consider the very important 

things in life before making professional 

choices – because ultimately, money and 

fame are not as important as family. That 

90% of our happiness comes from our 

family, our health and our attitude and 

10% from career – yet we spend more time 

in developing career than in what gives 

us more happiness – food for thought 

indeed!! 

Other speakers touched on the issue 

of mentorship and coaching and on the 

business opportunities available to women 

from government. Participants were 

also given room to pitch & market the 

businesses they run! 

The conference was an excellent forum 

to network with professionals from all over 

Kenya and this was crowned at a dinner 

event where there was a memorable mix 

of good food and music!! The conference 

ended with a visit to Tumaini Children’s 

home to inspire and share some motherly 

love with the little ones! Their teacher 

challenged them that even girls can 

understand mathematics (given all the 

lady accountants present!!) 

AWAK is very pleased to report that 

the conference evaluation showed that 

participants thought the speakers were 

excellent choices and indicated that their 

expectations were met! Indeed a standard 

of excellence has been set - AWAK 

therefore can conclude that the event was 

a resounding success and we look forward 

to more opportunities to engage and grow 

together as professionals – just as our 

motto reads Uplifting Our World. 

AWAK appreciates the women of 

excellence who accepted our invite and 

graced the event as speakers to share their 

invaluable experience for other women 

to tap into – united we stand! We would 

also wish to express sincere gratitude to 

ICPAK, Manu Chandaria and KASNEB 

for their support towards this conference. 

Look out for the next conference in 2017!! 

Financial ManagementSpecialist 

(non-profit sector), www.awak.co.ke 

@AWAK2016 


COVER STORY 

By CPA Mercy Bukania,Internal auditor, 

marceybukania@gmail.com 

Photos: Independent Audit Limited | Cartoons, 

iso 22000 resource center 

THE INTERNAL 

AUDITOR 

From watch dog to partner 


COVER STORY 

Re-defining the Role of the 

Internal Auditor 

The internal audit role within the work 

place has for many years been viewed as a 

policing role meant, to instill intimidation 

and fear within the very institutions it 

seeks to serve. 

According to Richard Chambers and 

Paul McDonald (The Institute of internal 

auditors), “Partnership” represents another 

broad term that Chief Audit Executives 

prize, and they seem eager to distill the 

concept into more tangible descriptions 

and examples. 

Effective partnering (and Chief Audit 

Executives emphasize that the objective of 

effective or “good” partnering is to ensure 

the best outcomes for the business) also 

requires the ability to spot and share best 

practices. Inspiring partners to adopt best 

practices requires change-management 

skills. 

One of the myths he regularly tries 

to dispel is that internal audit is a “police 

function”. He argues that in reality, the best 

auditors are those who create a rapport 

with audit customers. Breaking down 

this stereotype is so important that most 

internal audit groups actively encourage 

clients to think of internal audit as a coach, 

not a cop. 

How would an audit team 

change the “watchdog only” 

phenomenon to the “effective 

partner” phenomenon? 

During my short stint as an assistant 

internal auditor, our new member to 

the audit team, Caroline was recruited 

as, the Internal Audit manager of our 

company. She had been working with a 

multinational company for many years 

and had just landed the new job with the 

company. As anyone can imagine, this 

was a very exciting moment for her. Our 

boss, the Director of Internal audit, a very 

experienced auditor himself, was equally 

excited to get such an experienced and 

qualified member of staff on his audit team. 

He had been working hard to expand his 

audit team of five auditors to ten auditors. 

Indeed, he was eager to induct Caroline 

into her new role to enable her undertake 

her tasks effectively. 

Caroline expected to receive the 

same high level of support that had been 

accorded to her in her previous company, 

and by her new team as well. 

After a week in her new workplace, 

she began undertaking the end-of-year 

Inventory audit. This involved visiting 

the Inventory section of the company to 

perform audit tests and record findings. On 

the material day, she got a hostile welcome 

from the Inventory manager, who until 

then had been quite friendly. “Welcome, 

Caroline” she said, albeit half-heartedly. 

Caroline further took note of the awkward 

silence that suddenly engulfed the ever 

noisy section of the company. 

The staff at the Inventory section 

immediately fixed their eyes to their laptop 

screens and started typing furiously as 

if they expected a bonus for their output 

in the next hour. As she walked through 

the section with the inventory manager, 

Caroline could hear murmurs from behind 

her, at one point a voice asked, loud enough 

for her to hear, “What do these auditors 

want from us now? We’re kind of busy….” 

Nevertheless, Caroline who had a passion 

for her work had a job to do and she 

proceeded with conducting the audit as 

was expected of her. She knew the exercise 

was essential. The Company had been 

experiencing a massive decline in income 

and if the trend continued, there was a 

major risk of collapse. 

The audit report summary was finally 

ready, and among the key findings were 

poor maintenance of the company’s 

inventory, theft of inventory from the 

inventory section among other notable 

findings. 

As was practice in the company, 

management implemented the 

recommendations of the audit report, 

this included the change of the inventory 

maintenance practices by the inventory 

section and strong internal control and 

governance measures to safeguard the loss 

of the expensive inventory among other 

recommendations. 

In spite of the obvious distrust and 

reluctance to cooperate by staff members 

of the inventory section, Caroline’s 

determination to conduct the audit of 

the inventory section had contributed 

effectively to the streamlining of 

operations in the inventory section and in 

the next financial year, the management 

was elated to report a significant increase 

in sales which signified a major turnaround 

for the company’s growth. This to me is an 

example of how an auditor can overcome 

the challenges of being perceived as a 

watchdog only to being perceived as 

an effective partner whom a company 

can partner with to achieve corporate 

objectives. In summary, I would say It’s 


COVER STORY 

this simple; Despite any criticism, whether 

positive or negative, pick yourself up, dust 

yourself and do what you know how to 

do best. Remember, the end result of the 

entire process is what will determine your 

mark as an effective partner. 

How can an institution 

change the “watchdog only” 

phenomenon to the “effective 

partner” phenomenon? 

• Involve the auditor in your activities 

and treat the auditor as a key partner who 

can enable you meet your objectives. Of 

course some would argue that this may be 

difficult as some auditors are somewhat 

“unapproachable”. I would say this to those 

with this mindset; “Failure isn’t fatal, but 

failure to change might be” – John Wooden 

• Appreciate the work done by the audit 

team before, during and after the audit. 

I understand that this may be equally 

difficult especially if there was a recent 

audit report placing your department 

in the hot spot. But remember, you 

were employed to that position to play 

an important role which is to steer the 

institution or company. This cannot be 

done in isolation, it requires team work. 

Always remember this; “The strength of 

the team is each individual member. The 

strength of each member is the team.” 

--Phil Jackson 

• On those networking platforms, 

highlight how your audit team has 

supported your team and enabled your 

company achieve certain objectives. 

Again, this is another hard task to do 

given the headaches that auditors may 

have given you all year round until 

you missed that much anticipated 

holiday. Remember, one of the ways to 

healthy living is not only to appreciate 

other people but an attribute of great 

leadership. Appreciating the work of 

those you like and dislike has more pros 

than cons. 

• Give all forms of support to the 

audit team.The audit team has a job 

to do just like you and your team does 

so therefore just as you would require 

support, so does the audit team. Imagine 

lacking the support to perform your job? 

What impact would this have on you as 

an employee and your company? Even 

the good book says in Hebrews 10:24; 

And let us consider how to stir up one 

another to love and good works. 

• Develop and continuously improve 

interpersonal relationships with the 

audit team. These relationships could go 

a long way in saving your company from 

collapse and eventually maintaining the 

job that you enjoy doing. One may wonder 

what for? Is it not the sales team that 

develops the best strategies to increase 

sales? Or is it not the Finance team that 

sources for funds for the sustainability of 

this company? Or do you remember those 

auditors who gave company X a clean bill 

of health and the company still collapsed; 

similar to the events in the Enron scandal? 

Well, I would say this, no institution is 

perfect but interpersonal relationships 

between teams can prevent serious 

problems from occurring or recurring. 

Should I consider a career 

change to internal audit? 

You may have heard a statement like, 

“Internal auditing has got to be the worst 

profession in the world”- 

According to me, and many outside 

the profession may agree that this is not 

a cliché, it is true, it is not the easiest 

profession in the world but I can tell 

you this, it is very rewarding to see your 

team’s recommendations for improvement 

create value addition to the operations of 

the company. Don’t beat yourself too hard 

because as an auditor, you basically report 

things as they are or as they have happened, 

just like news reporters do. The use of the 

information received is however entirely 

up to the recipient of such information; 

however it is also important to deliver that 

information to the recipient in the most 

effective way. 

The statement; “Internal auditing has 

got to be the worst profession in the world” 

could be translated to “Internal auditing 

has got to be the coolest profession in 


COVER STORY 

In summary, I would say It’s this simple; Despite any 

criticism, whether positive or negative, pick yourself up, 

dust yourself and do what you know how to do best. 

Remember, the end result of the entire process is what 

will determine your mark as an effective partner. 

the world” but this requires a careful 

balance in managing the expectations that 

come with the profession. In my view, 

these expectations if effectively managed 

can play a crucial role in translating the 

profession from the worst profession in the 

world perception to the coolest profession 

in the world perception. 

Managing the expectations of 

the profession 

• Resistance to change. Let’s be honest, 

nobody will like change especially if 

the change works against their plans to 

succeed. Audit recommendations may 

require your company to implement 

various changes which may not be 

everybody’s cup of tea. While making 

such recommendations, ensure they are 

well balanced to minimize resistance to 

the changes proposed. 

• Intimidation threat. This is common 

especially where senior members of 

management have vested interests in 

the company and want to interfere 

with your team’s independence and 

objectivity. In such a scenario, evaluate 

each activity that gives rise to a threat 

and develop and implement a plan 

based on your professional judgment 

on how to counter each threat. If for 

example, the management wants to 

alter the disciplinary procedure of the 

Human resource policy of the company 

to be more punitive than corrective, 

the audit team should attend these 

review meetings and interact closely 

with the service provider responsible 

for review of the policy. This may deter 

the management from altering the 

document. 

Attend continuous professional 

development programs to gain insights 

into the ever changing mindset of the 

management. 

• Resource constraints. This may 

occur if the company values allocation 

of resources to other sections of the 

company instead of your audit team. 

Should this arise, think of innovative 

ways to conduct your activities with 

resources already within your reach. If 

your company policy allows it, you may 

also wish to consult the heads of various 

sections for assistance by requesting them 

to share any excess resources currently 

not in use by them. 

• An unsupportive audit committee. 

One may wonder, does this really happen, 

I mean isn’t every audit committee 

supposed to support the auditor? I would 

say it does happen especially where the 

members have vested interests in the 

company and you seem to be a bottleneck 

to their interests. Where this happens, 

express your concerns to the Chairman of 

the board. REMEMBER these are also 

your bosses and you will therefore need 

them to be supportive in order to perform 

your role effectively. 

• Little or no teamwork. This may occur 

especially in institutions which do not 

support their audit teams because quite 

frankly they may not see the need to give 

them support. A clear strategic approach 

on how to deal with the problem during 

audit planning would minimize the 

problem. The audit team can obtain 

team support from other sections of the 

company by simply getting involved in 

the activities of the other sections of the 

company. What this means is that, those 

activities that may require an extra pair 

of hands by the other sections of the 

company but do not interfere with your 

independence and objectivity can be done 

by the audit team to support a particular 

section. If the company for example 

conducts a cleaning up exercise as a CSR 

activity, your team should get involved to 

support the CSR team .This is my view 

of a simple way of offering your support 

that could go a long way in your team 

receiving equivalent support. 


GOVERNANCE 

By CPA Mutuku Frederick Ukongo, ukongofrederick@yahoo.com 

Photo: PPS 

QUESTIONS 

FOR THE 

HIGHER 

EDUCATION 

SECTOR 

Education Cabinet Secretary, Fred Matiang’i 

The Kenyan public is a lucky 

people. This is true if you 

consider the number of 

higher education institutions 

scattered across the country 

today. This is true compared to a few years 

earlier when the situation was wanting. 

We have 33 Public Universities, campuses 

and their constituent colleges all put 

together. On the other hand, we have over 

37 private universities, campuses and their 

constituent colleges. In short we have over 

70 university campuses in Kenya. This is 

no mean feat. It is a great achievement, a 

few years ago; the government was at pains 

to overcome the challenge of providing 

opportunities to qualified candidates. 

Today we can proudly say thank you to key 

players, the government in conjunction 

with faith based organizations, 

entrepreneurs and professional bodies 

(such as ICPAK) among others. The role 

of faith based organizations in education 

cannot be gainsaid. Close to 30 % of the 

University campuses in Kenya are faith 

based. If we consider the faith based as a 

percentage of the total private Universities 

the number stands at slightly about 55%. 

This is a huge contribution by the faith 

based organizations. This goes a long way 

to show what faith based organizations 

in collaboration with government can 

achieve. 

Quality at optimal cost 

With these many campuses we can 

proudly say that education is available. 

The question that begs for answers is 

the issue of quality at optimal cost. The 

Commission for University Education 

(CUE) is tasked with the issue of quality 

but I seek to add them another task of 

optimal cost. The important question to 

answer is the one on sustainability. Who 

will we be able to create a cost effective 

sustainable university? Is CUE able to 

ensure quality and if yes is it able to 

maintain it at the least cost possible? On 

the issue of quality, the other question is; 

does CUE have the necessary capacity 

to deliver? Furthermore does it have the 

free hand to operate without government 

influence? Recently CUE dared to act by 

ordering some University campuses closed 

etc, but what happened immediately? As 

is the norm in Kenya, some people felt 

they were unfairly targeted and then the 

usual old song followed. If it is not the 

government getting in the way of the 

commission, it is a court process. This 

cannot be allowed to continue, since it 

impacts on quality. 

The universities on their on their 

part have continued to expand rapidly, 

majority with the sole purpose of netting 

in more income. It’s a good thing, “taking 

education to the people”. The question 

that begs for answers, though, is can this 

be sustained? I believe this expansion 

has a limit. Might the managers of these 

universities be ignorant of this fact? One 

thing is certain; the inherent cost in these 

satellite campuses. We have numerous 

operational expenses among other 

administrative. If not well handled, these 

said costs could cripple a university. In 

actual sense we could name a few that are 

suffering but let’s spare them. But the few 

coins are short lived because competition 

will soon copy you. The cake is then shared 

amongst two, three, four or even more 

institutions 

Universities need to be strategic in 

their expansion. Any expansion should 


GOVERNANCE 

be supported by informed feasibility 

study, at least if it has to be brick and 

mortar expansion, but the question that 

needs answers is: why should it be brick 

and mortar when technology is here 

with us? Why not adopt and integrate 

ICT in every aspect of learning? Open 

and Distance learning is encouraged by 

CUE. The task is maybe to educate the 

citizens of the importance of ICT based 

learning. The nature of humankind is the 

state of inertia and resisting change even 

when it is against all odds. A number of 

universities have launched their open and 

distance platforms. This is a plus for them; 

however we may need to carry out a study 

to measure the uptake and the experience 

of the clients. This would inform ways 

of enticing more people to embrace this 

smart way of acquiring know-how. I bet 

open and distance learning is most efficient 

and effective way by universities to offer 

optimal quality education. This makes the 

work of CUE even easier, managing digital 

entities in a digital space. 

Experience has shown that universities 

are not the best businesses per se; they do 

not make a lot of money for the owners. 

They are a service to humanity. However, 

by utilizing ICT as a delivery mode the 

owners may start smiling all the way to 

the bank. This is because ICT makes it less 

costly to run a campus. It is sad to note 

the closure or planned closure of the only 

University that wanted to explore open 

and distance learning purely as delivery 

mode. 

We know the big question is the cost 

of setting up an open and distance learning 

online platform, but I presume this should 

not be a big deal after all Universities are 

burning billions acquiring buildings. If 

not acquiring then they are sinking money 

paying lease rentals. 

The cost of running a campus is huge 

and I believe it can be greatly reduced. 

CUE can play a major role in this. It is sad 

that recently they did the opposite; they 

introduced new charges and in addition 

hiked the existing charges. Are they 

justified in doing that? The answer is out 

there but I disagree due to the following 

reasons: 

1. Every levy directed to Universities 

will be borne by the parents/guardians 

and sponsors of the learners. This makes 

education expensive and therefore 

affordable to just a few people. CUE; 

though their mandate is to monitor 

and ensure quality, I feel this quality 

should also be tied to a cost. That cost 

should be the optimal cost. If running 

Universities is made less expensive this 

will trickle down to the learners. In 

turn we will have many more people 

accessing higher education. 

2. The playing ground is not uniform; 

public universities are favored as 

compared to private universities. 

Public universities are government 

projects and therefore enjoy subsidies 

and receive government sponsored 

students from the placement body 

Kenya Colleges Central Placement 

Services (KCCUPS) with this biased 

environment quality cannot and will 

not be achieved. To make matters 

worse the charges are uniform across 

the board. Private universities suffer 

a deficiency called low student 

numbers while public universities are 

overflowing with students. CUE has 

the mandate to monitor both private 

and public universities unlike before 

when public universities would govern 

themselves. Therefore it should ensure 

sanity is restored in these higher 

learning institutions. 

CUE can make education affordable 

by looking at the delivery of some quality 

issues. For instance it requires universities 

to employ subject leaders in each subject 

area in a course. It may be an easy or an 

uphill task depending on which side of 

the divide you are in. Subject leadership 

is important but when the issue of cost 

comes in, CUE may need to consider 

allowing Universities to share these leaders. 

Recently it was revealed that PhD holders 

in the country are far below the required 

number. I believe sharing the subject 

leaders between universities will ease the 

University of Nairobi 

shortage and reduce the cost. Cost sharing 

is an aspect that should be encouraged. 

Experience has shown that the major bill 

for a university is the wage bill. A deliberate 

move can be undertaken to bring down this 

cost and achieve sustainability. I am not a 

prophet of doom but I predict that soon 

campuses will be closing down because 

of lack of students. This, however, can be 

avoided with a deliberate move to create 

sustainability. Why don’t we encourage 

collaborations in all aspects of running our 

universities? 

The cut throat competition is a 

nightmare for many university managers. 

Well may be mostly in private sector. 

CUE can play a great role in ensuring 

universities do not compete to their 

death-beds. Strategic partnerships rather 

than unhealthy competition should be 

cultivated. How do you explain more 

than 20 university campuses in the 

same city most of them less than 100 m 

apart? To make matters worse, offering 

the same courses. May be somebody will 

tell me they are creating employment 

and opportunities. On the face value I 

would agree but these hopes are like the 

famous building with foundation in sand. 

The key thing is sustainability; it cannot 

come about by opening satellite campuses 

in every nook and cranny. It can only be 

achieved by strategic partnerships. 

Like businesses that are worth the 

name, a business should give something 

back to investors. Universities are not an 

exception to this rule either, however, this 

can only be possible by ensuring cost is 

drastically reduced. All stakeholders need 

to put their thoughts together so we can 

have sustainable, quality and affordable 

higher education. 


ECONOMY 

By CPA Makokha Wanjala, makokha.wanjala@icpak.com, Photos: mygov, kenyanwallstreet 

INTEREST RATES 

regulators’ 

dilemma 

The high interest rates that 

prevail in the market have 

prompted the legislative arm 

of government to seek for 

regulation of interest rates. 

This is the latest of several past attempts 

to control interest rates in the market, the 

previous attempts having failed for one 

reason or another starting from the famous 

Donde Act of 2000. 

The issue at hand is the high interest 

margins enjoyed by the banking industry, 

arising from low interest rates on deposits 

and high interest rates charge on loans. 

The latest Central bank monthly economic 

review for October, 2015 shows the interest 

margins, also referred to as the spread, at 

8.83 percent, with average lending rate 

of 16.37 percent and average deposit rate 

of 7.54 percent. The report also shows 

that the spread has made a slight decline 

over the year, with a high of 9.36 percent 

recorded in October, 2014. 

Despite the apparent decline of the 

interest margins, the savings deposit rates 

have remained painstakingly low, with an 

average of 1.68 percent in October, 2015 


ECONOMY 

Central Bank 

of Kenya 

Governor 

Dr Patrick 

Njoroge 

and consistently below 2% over the year. 

At the same period, time deposits- over 

3 months deposit rates-remained at an 

attractive rate of 10.38 percent, with an 

average of about 10% over the year. 

A closer look at the rates will show 

that for the retail clients, SMEs and 

individuals that may not have time 

deposits, the interest margins are in reality 

over 15%. This is because their savings 

accounts attract very low rates and the 

lending rates are above the average. 

Kenya continues to record savings 

levels that are significantly lower than its 

peers, averaging 13-14% of GDP while 

the average in Africa is 17%. Whereas 

there are several reasons for the low 

levels of savings, the interest rates offered 

by the banking industry are clearly not 

an incentive to save. And yet savings 

is a key path to prosperity as has been 

demonstrated by East Asia countries 

that record savings levels of more than 30 

percent of GDP. 

The Banking (Amendment) Bill, 2015 

therefore seeks to solve the problem of 

low interest paid to depositors and high 

interest charged on loans. It caps the 

interest chargeable on loans to 4% of 

the base rate set by the Central Bank. 

This means with the current CBK rate 

of 11.5%, the maximum rate charged on 

loans would be 15.5%. 

Only time will tell whether or not the 

bill will succeed this time round, although 

there is consensus from the Central Bank 

and consumers that the prevailing 

level of interest rates are a barrier 

to economic growth and prosperity 

that the country is seeking. At the 

core of the past failed attempts is 

the fact that free market calls for 

allowing market forces, and not 

regulation, to determine pricing. 

The assumption here is that a free 

market will allow competition and 

competitive forces of demand and 

supply will set the right pricing. 

Although the current structure 

of the financial industry fosters 

some level of competition, it is far 

from being perfectly competitive. 

In fact, even with 43 operating 

banks, six large banks control 

49.88% of the market, effectively 

converting the competitive 

structure to what is referred to as 

an oligopoly. The tendency is for 

the group of six to dominate the 

market and set the standards, significantly 

diluting the impact of competitive market 

forces. And this is where the regulatory 

authority comes in; intervening to ensure 

that the oligopoly does not act in a manner 

that hinders growth and prosperity in the 

economy. 

While the Central Bank governor 

has expressed his discomfort with the 

high interest rates, and has pointed to the 

possibility of abuse of market dominance, 

it is clear that more needs to be done to 

reign in the high interest rates. 

Technological advancement and the 

operation of credit reference bureaus in 

the recent past has increased efficiency in 

the banking industry, reducing operating 

costs and risk of bad and doubtful debts. 

Ideally, some of the gains from these 

developments would be passed on to the 

market through reduced interest rates. The 

fact that interest rates remain high means 

that most of the gains have not passed 

on to the consumer, but have instead 

been retained by the industry. The puzzle 

therefore remains how to achieve a fairer 

sharing of the gains. 

The introduction of the Kenya Banks 

Reference Rate-KBRR-that provides a 

uniform lending rate across the banking 

sector was one of the regulators attempt 

at achieving lower interest rates. Banks 

are expected to offer loans at a premium 

to KBRR, with the premium determined 

by the risk profile of the client at a formula 

of KBRR+ “K”; where K is determined 

by the credit worthiness of the client. 

Furthermore, to be an effective tool, the 

“K”, once established, should not vary 

unless the loan is renegotiated. Any 

changes in the market would have to 

be reflected within the KBRR, which 

is revised by the CBK every six months. 

The Central Bank of Kenya needs to 

assure itself that this formula is correct in 

application across the banking industry as 

part of its regulatory compliance work. 

The dilemma facing the industry regulator 

is real. Controlling interest rates is hardly 

the progressive way to go in a world that 

has embraced free market. However, in 

the pursuit of a free market, economic 

maturity is a necessary prerequisite; 

arguably, the Kenyan banking industry is 

yet to achieve this. 

If regulation and moral persuasion has 

not yielded the desired results, perhaps 

control may be the answer. The regulator 

may have to choose the lesser evil. 


LIFESTYLE 

By The Accountant Correspondent 

TOYOTA KENYA 

LAUNCHES NEW 

LOOK 2016 RAV 4 TO 

THE KENYAN MARKET 

Kenya’s leading automobile car 

retailer Toyota Kenya today 

launched the fourth Toyota 

RAV 4 into the Kenyan 

market. The fourth generation 

RAV 4 has enhanced features making the 

user experience more enjoyable. 

The launch of the fourth generation 

RAV4 comes at a time when the Kenyan 

market is inclining towards the purchase 

of new cars as compared to what has 

previously been the trend with imported 

pre-used cars. This is following the excise 

Duty ACT, 2015, presented by Treasury 

Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich that 

saw the introduction of levies of as high 

as Sh200 000 on some classes of imported 

second-hand vehicles. 

Setting new benchmarks in exterior 

and interior styling and features, the 

fourth generation RAV 4 is a combination 

of power, driver comfort, world-class 

performance, fuel efficiency, superior 

technology, safety features, with spacious 

rear seat and a large cargo space. 

The new Rav4 is available in 4 variants 

to cater for various customer needs in the 

Kenyan market. The variants are 2.0L 4x2 

CVT High and Standard Grades, 2.0L 

4x4 and 2.5L 4x4 CVT High Grade. The 

retail selling price starting from USD 

38,302 exclusive of VAT. 

“The all-new 2016 RAV4 as you 

have will all see here today captures the 

spirit of freedom that began with the 

original RAV4, yet breaks new ground in 

refinement, practicality and technology. It 

is Bold stylish and a uniquely commanding 

presence distinguishing Rav4 from any 

SUV the world has seen. ” Said Toyota 

Kenya managing director Mr. Sachio 

Yotsukura during the launch of the RAV 4. 


LIFESTYLE 

Toyota Kenya MD, Mr. Sachio 

Yotsukura launches the new model 

Rav 4 at their showroom. 

The launch of Toyota RAV 4 4th generation 

shows Toyota’s continued efforts towards 

changing the SUV landscape in Kenya , 

based on increasing customer demand for 

new SUV’s, boasting better technology and 

increased driver comfort. The RAV 4 is the 

first vehicle to be sold in Kenya under the 

cross-over SUV category and has been in 

the market for over 20 years. 

The new RAV4 is an innovative model 

generation rewriting the rules of style, 

embodying sophistication and strength - 

a dynamism that adapts to the changing 

pace of life. It has a redefined and rebuilt 

concept as “Strong Athlete” powerful, 

energetic, and reliable vehicle. It captures 

the spirit of freedom that began with the 

original RAV4, yet breaks new ground in 

refinement, practicality and technology. 

With expressive styling and a roomy, 

comfortable interior, RAV4 is decidedly 

refined, but with agile handling and allweather 

capability. The 2016 Rav4 is 

available in nine colors, Super White, 

White Pearl, Silver Metallic, Gray Metallic, 

Black Mica, Red Mica Metallic, Bronze 

mica Metallic, Dark Brown Metallic, and 

Orange Metallic. 

Toyata Kenya Chairman AMB. 

DENNIS AWORI opined, “What we can 

promise our Rav 4 customers is a consistent 

enjoyable and stable driving along with all 

–round practicality of its compact size.” 


WORK PLACE 

By Kennedy Mohochi, mohochi@gmail.com, Photo: hellobeautiful 

Invaluable 

Interview 

Questions to 

help you recruit 

a top notch 

Sales person 

For growth or survival all 

companies need to sell their 

products or services. Yet for 

many business and for many HR 

practitioners filling and hiring a 

sales person is most challenging. We know 

that selling is not a natural to many yet it 

is the only activity that positively imparts 

the bottom line of any company. Building 

a strong sales organization is the lifeblood 

of any organization and Job no 1 for any 

Manager or CEO. 

To compound the problem, many 

people join the sales profession for the 

wrong reasons. After a while they practically 

discover that they are a mis-fit in sales, 

can’t hit their quotas, handle rejection, 

or they are either too disorganized, too 

aggressive, or not aggressive enough in 

field of sales. Sales positions range from 

Entry-level where selling may be the old 

fashion way of pounding the pavement, 

to “solution selling” or “industrial selling” 

with long sales cycles. 

The next time you’re interviewing for a 

sales rep position, use these sales interview 

questions to find the people who are the 

best fit for your organization. The answers 

will reveal your candidate’s strengths, 

weaknesses, preferences, and aspirations. 

After hearing the responses, decide on 

whether or not the person jibes with your 

vision of the open position. 

The 15 Best Sales 

Interview Questions 

1) Please introduce yourself? 

Introductions directly impact the first and 

the last impression of any sales person or 

the organization they represent. Many 

a times, a sales person will have a short 

period - in an “elevator” environment to 

nail an appointment, or close a sale. The 


WORK PLACE 

ideal “elevator pitch introduction” should 

not be long winded, be very crisp, short, 

memorable and delivered in under 90 

seconds. 

2) What has been your highest 

achievement as a sales person? 

A Killer sales person is a highly 

accomplished go getter and proud of 

his accomplishments. The answer to this 

question will provide your insight into the 

candidates drive and motivations. 

3) What motivates you and why did 

you get into sales? 

Again, Drive, Drive, Drive… 

commission, while perhaps part 

of the motivation is not a great 

answer to this question. Sales is 

about organizational fit and team 

work. Money, achievement, helping 

customers, being #1 -- there are 

a lot of potential answers to this 

question. What makes a good 

answer vs. a bad one depends largely 

on your company culture. For 

instance, if teamwork is paramount 

within your sales team, a candidate 

driven by internal competition 

might be mis-fit. 

4) Who are you most 

comfortable selling to and 

why? 

Listen for whether they answer with 

a description of an ideal buyer, or a 

particular demographic with no tiein 

to the buying process. Depending 

on your product or service, the 

second type of response might pose 

a problem. 

5) How do you keep up to date 

on your customers? 

Even if the target market of their 

last job is different from the one 

they’re interviewing for, the answer 

will show you their ability to find 

and keep up to date with relevant 

trade publications and blogs. 

6) Explain something to me. 

While technically not a question, 

it’s important to assess whether the 

candidate has a helpful demeanor, 

can think on their feet and “can sell 

sand to an Arab”. 

7) As a sales person what 

is worse: failing to meet your 

target or disappointing a customer? 

Depending on your company’s goals, 

either answer could be the right one. But 

beware of reps who will prioritize quota 

over truly giving customers what they 

need -- or withholding from them what 

they don’t. 

8) Give me three adjectives a former 

client would use to describe you? 

Listen for synonyms of “helpful,” as 

a consultative approach is becoming 

increasingly important in modern sales. 

9) How do you keep a smile on your 

face during a hard day? 

Appraise the person’s attitude towards 

rejection. Do they need time to shake off 

an unpleasant conversation? Or do they 

bounce back immediately? 

10) In your last position, how much 

time did you spend cultivating 

customer relationships vs. hunting 

for new clients, and why? 

Certain companies and roles call for 

people better at farming or hunting, but 

look out for a person who performs one of 

these tasks to the exclusion of the other. 

Both are vital to selling well. 

11) How do you handle customer 

rejections or objections? 

Preparing to deal with objections instead 

of winging it is critical. Listen for 

evidence of a process. 

12) Have you ever inquired from 

a customer why you lost a deal? 

And what did you learn from that 

experience? 

Following up on deals to learn how to do 

better next time -- win or lose -- boosts 

the odds of winning in the future. A 

salesperson who takes the time to learn 

from both their successes and their 

failures will likely be a valuable addition 

to your team. 

13) What role does social media play 

in your selling process? 

Social selling is becoming more important 

in all industries. If the candidate has not 

used social channels to research prospects 

or look for leads in the past, make sure 

they have a willingness to learn. 

14) Have you ever turned a prospect 

away? If so, why? 

Selling to everyone and anyone -- even 

if a salesperson knows it’s not in the 

prospect’s best interest -- is a recipe for 

disaster. Make sure your candidate is 

comfortable with turning business away if 

the potential customer isn’t a good fit. 

15) If you were hired today, what 

would you do in your first month? 

The answer doesn’t have to blow you away 

but will uncover if your candidate has the 

passion, zeal, and is a go-getter who is 

fired, motivated and ready to concur the 

world. 


PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT 

By Anne Njagi, Photo: magic4walls 

MONITORING AND 

EVALUATION 

THE FISH PROJECT 

According to Wikipedia 

dictionary, Monitoring 

and Evaluation (M&E) 

is a process that helps in 

improving performance and 

achieving results. Its goal is to improve 

current and future management of outputs, 

outcomes and impact. It is mainly used 

to assess the performance of projects by 

institutions and programmes set up by 

governments and organizations amongst 

others. It establishes links between the 

past, present and future actions. 

MONITORING is a continuous 

internal management activity that ensures 

project/program implementations and 

ongoing operations are on track while 

EVALUATION is an internal or external 

activity that assess whether a project or 

program is achieving its intended objective. 

A story is told of three expatriates from 

a developed country their mission was 

to identify a poverty reduction project in 

one of the semi-arid areas. They landed at 

Kathugu a small community in Eastern 

Kenya. Coming from a fish eating nation, 


PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT 

they had no difficulty identifying protein 

deficiency among the malnourished from 

the natives. They therefore decided to 

embark on an innovative project of fish 

growing. 

The government did not have a problem 

with this project as their (expatriate’s) 

country was to finance the entire 

project with only little non-monetary 

contribution from the community. At the 

local level, the Assistant Chief compelled 

the locals to prepare two fish ponds. The 

fingerlings were brought and a watchman 

was employed. 

After one year, the expatriates, two men 

and one woman went on overseas leave 

and left a watchman in charge. Shortly 

afterwards, the locals met and persuaded 

the watchman to allow them to sell the 

fish from the “mzungu project” so as to buy 

“food” for themselves and their families. 

The main food which the community in 

Kathugu was accustomed to was cassava. 

After three nights of persuasion at the 

local bar, the watchman agreed to the sale 

of fish. Middlemen from a fish-eating 

community more than one hundred 

kilometers away purchased all the fish at a 

‘throw-away’ price. They made a lucrative 

business out of the project back in their 

community. 

Upon return, the expatriates were 

horrified to find the fish ponds drained of 

all water and the watchman gone without 

a trace. They thought this was a dream 

and had no idea what explanation they 

were going to give the project sponsors. 

The shortcomings were quite clear. The 

expatriates neither carried out a feasibility 

study on project location, the community’s 

type of foods, nor consulted the local 

people for sensitization and benefits of the 

project. No wonder the locals referred to 

the initiative as the ‘’mzungu project”. The 

project failed dismally. Why? There was 

no sensitization to the community on the 

project’s benefit to ensure ownership and 

sustainability. They (expatriates) did not 

perform any Monitoring and Evaluation 

(M&E) on the project. For any project to 

be successful and to manage for impact, the 

function of M&E must prevail and should 

be done at every stage. These include:- 

i) Relevance 

To continuously establish if the right thing 

is being done in terms of improving the 

situation at hand. 

ii) Effectiveness 

Ensure there is a work-plan and ascertain 

that what is being done is the best way 

to maximize impact. Ensure objective is 

clearly stipulated prior to project start. 

iii) Efficiency 

It is critical to ask the question of whether 

resources are being used in the best possible 

way and what should be done differently 

to improve implementation and thereby 

maximize impact at a sustainable cost. 

iv) Impact 

To critically check to what extent the 

project has contributed towards achieving 

the objective, identify gaps and how to 

address them. 

v) Sustainability 

This is establishing if there will there 

be continued positive impact when the 

project is complete and if the process can 

be replicated elsewhere. 

M&E is part of every single person’s 

job from the lowest to the highest level. 

Monitoring is a daily and spontaneous 

activity. Developing work-plans in addition 

to monthly and quarterly reporting is 

non-negotiable if business has to be 

conducted effectively. Management must 

continuously know what is happening in 

all departments. Successes and challenges 

must also be documented and ways to 

address challenges discussed and agreed. 

In the M&E Fundamentals a selfguided 

mini course, Nina Frankel and 

Anastasia Gage advise on one rule of 

thumb where 5-10% of a project should be 

allocated to M&E. 

For clarity of M&E functions and tasks, 

it is critical to have a strategy and define 

the M&E responsibility of implementers 

and all stakeholders. Management must 

also ensure that staff with right skills are 

recruited and detailed/well cut out job 

descriptions in place for each member 

of staff for coordinated input. There 

should also be clear levels of authority to 

M&E related staff. Most importantly, 

management must create a culture of trust. 

What should management 

therefore do? 

Provide project staff with a conducive 

working environment, involve them in 

discussions, allow them to make decisions 

and trust that their opinions and input will 

be useful. Leaders must challenge staff to 

ensure that they remain focused but must 

provide support. It is also important to 

share constructive feedback. 

M&E is not a substitute for good 

project management. M&E can only be as 

good as the quality of overall management. 

It is indispensable for good management. 

M&E staff need information in their 

desire to create a learning environment. 

Inadequate M&E has negative 

consequences that include among other 

things limited ability to correct operations 

and strategy leading to sub-optimal impact 

on project goals and non performance. 

The overall result is lack of accountability 

in terms of stated goals and therefore 

difficult to justify existence. 

M&E provide information for dayto-day 

decisions in the ever changing 

contexts of projects. There is also 

provision of early warning of problems 

and processes that need corrective actions 

as well as help empower stakeholders by 

creating opportunities for them to reflect 

on directions thus help in improvement. 

M&E builds understanding and capacity 

amongst those involved in the project and 

stimulates learning to achieve success. 

M&E must be linked to the overall 

objective and the project strategy. The 

plan of what will be achieved and how 

it will be achieved is the starting point 

for implementation and setting systems. 

A critical path and work-breakdown 

structure is key. 

Monitoring and Evaluation is important 

because of the following reasons:- 

• Allowing actors to learn from each 

other’s experiences, building on expertise 

and knowledge 

• Generating reports that contribute to 

transparency and accountability, and allow 

for lessons to be shared easily 

• Revealing mistakes and offering paths 

for learning and improvements 

• Provision of means for agencies seeking 

to learn from their experiences and to 

incorporate them into policy and practice 

• Providing a way to assess the crucial 

link between implementers beneficiaries 

on the ground and management 

• Retention and development of 

institutional memory 

• Provision of a more robust basis for 

raising funds and influencing policy 

Monitoring is mainly done by people 

directly involved in implementation 

of project while Evaluation is best 

conducted by an independent outsider 

for impartiality in consulting with project 

staff. The essence is to help management 

or decision makers understand how and 

to what extent a program has met the set 

objectives. 


OPINION 

By FCPA Fernandes Barasa 

Chairman, Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya 

Photos: Independent, collinsmopaoblog 

capping of 

interest rates 

needs deeper 

consideration 

The setting of interest rates is a 

main function of a country’s 

central bank. By raising or 

lowering short term interest 

rates, or the cost of money, 

central banks aim to affect the amount 

spent and borrowed by businesses and 

consumers. 

As a consumer, higher interest rate 

influences your mortgages, equity loans, 

credit cards and other borrowing initiatives. 

As an investor, the impact of higher 

interest rates depends on what types of 

investments you venture into. This affects 

access to credit which is considered to be a 

main pillar to economic development. 

There is currently a heated debate both 

in and outside Parliament on the effect of 

the Banking (Amendment) Bill 2015 to 

the economy. The Banking Amendment 

Bill as structured is aimed at providing a 

mechanism for regulation of banks and 

financial institutions’ interest rates through 

the introduction of ceilings. The Bill 

proposes to put a cap on the rate of interest 

charged for loans and to fix the minimum 

rate of interest that such institutions must 

pay on deposits held. 

The Bill further seeks to amend section 

33A of the Banking Act by introducing 

a new section which provides for interest 

ceilings, warning to the borrowers 

and sanctions to banks and financial 

institutions providing interest rates higher 

than those prescribed by the law. 

The issue of capping interest rates is 

not new to Kenya. In the year 2000, the 

Donde Bill tried to address the issue of 

interest rates but did not get much support 

from stakeholders including banks. Last 

year, there were fresh attempts to cap 

bank interest rates through the proposed 

amendments to the Finance Bill 2015. 

However, this did not go through. Equally, 

the Central Bank of Kenya (Amendment) 

Bill 2015 sought to amend Section 36 

of the CBK Act to compel banks and 

microfinance lenders to cap borrowing 


OPINION 

rates at five percentage points above the 

central bank lending rate. 

Such laws designed to prevent the 

taking of “excessive” interest, have long 

been the subject of debate and controversy. 

While supporters of such legislation claim 

that such controls protect consumers 

from abusive lending practices and enable 

them to obtain loans at reasonable rates, 

their opponents argue that they work to 

consumers’ disadvantage by distorting 

financial markets. According to a World 

Bank report dated October 2014, at 

least 76 countries around the world use 

some form of interest caps on alls. In 

Sub Saharan Africa, interest rates on 

credit are capped in 24 countries. The 

Central Bank of 

Kenya Governor 

Dr Patrick Njoroge 

main reason for capping those rates was 

to protect consumers from high interest 

rates, to increase access to finance and to 

make loans affordable. The World Bank 

paper posits that such scenario has varying 

effects including withdrawal of financial 

institutions from the poor or from specific 

segments of the market. 

The global financial crisis of 2008 

reopened the discussion on interest rates 

caps as an instrument for consumer 

protection. As such countries such as El 

Salvador, Zambia and Japan introduced 

new interest rate caps in loans after the 

financial crisis. 

Supporters of interest rates capping 

point out three main advantages of such 

initiatives. To start with, interest rates caps 

can be used to support a specific sector of 

the economy where a market failure exists 

or where there is need for more financial 

resources. Such market failures often 

result from information asymmetries and 

the inability of financial institutions to 

differentiate between risky and safe clients. 

Secondly, interest rate caps can be used to 

protect consumers from exploitation by 

guaranteeing access to credit at reasonable 

rates. They also protect the public interest 

by ensuring a fair and reasonable interest 

rate on loans. Lastly, it has been argued 

out that because the prices charged for 

access to credit can be capricious and 

anticompetitive and therefore be higher 

than the true cost of lending, setting a 

lower cap on interest would 

provide a conducive environment 

for lenders to operate. 

On contrary, critics point out a 

number of drawbacks related to 

interest rate caps. According to a 

paper, Effects of Usury Laws, by 

Oren Rigbi interest rate caps may 

affect credit markets through 

numerous channels; First, 

higher caps make lending to 

higher risk borrowers profitable 

by extending credit to some 

borrowers who were previously 

denied it. Second, because the 

riskiness of a loan depends on its 

size, and not just on the identity 

of the borrower, higher caps may 

cause a given borrower to request 

a larger loan. Third, higher caps 

may increase the probability 

that borrowers default on loans, 

particularly if the caps were 

preventing borrowers from 

agreeing to loan terms they could 

not manage financially. 

In the United States of America, the 

base rate of interest is set quarterly by 

the Federal Reserve Bank. Because of 

good business ethics and strong consumer 

protection institutions, the banks are more 

disciplined and are inclined to behave as 

if they are being capped. In the United 

Kingdom, the base rate is set by the 

Monetary Policy Committee quarterly 

in line with other economic conditions 

prevailing at the time. The Banks as in the 

case of USA have good business ethics and 

therefore tend to set the rates they charge 

to borrowers very much in line with the 

base rate. 

Based on these arguments and lessons 

from other jurisdictions, it would be good 

for Parliament and other stakeholders to 

consider the pros and cons of price controls 

in any sector, and especially the interest 

rates since it is at the core of Kenya’s 

monetary policy. For instance, one of the 

benefits if this Bill is the amendment to 

section 31 of the Act to ensure that before 

granting a loan to a borrower, a bank or 

financial institution shall disclose all the 

charges and terms relating to the loan. 

As we explore this route, let’s 

also consider marrying it with other 

alternatives such as price transparency, 

consumer literacy, improve consumer 

protection frameworks and availing of 

credit information to the public and 

potential borrowers. 


INSPIRATION 

Oprah 

Winfrey 

By Angela Mutiso, cananews@gmail.com, Photo: enstarz 

THE POWER OF 

CHARISMA 

Charisma is a good attribute that many people would like to 

possess. It is described as a commanding personal feature 

that certain people have to draw and impress people. 

In an in depth feature titled 7 ways to 

cultivate charisma, Emily Holland 

says Charisma is often described 

as that “something special,” the 

“x-factor,” or even simply having “it,” 

we can typically point to charisma when 

we see it but find it challenging to put into 

words. Charismatic people are certainly 

likable but their influence runs much 

deeper. Often described as lighting up any 

room they enter, charismatic people exude 

importance and appear to be of a special 

breed. Interestingly, they have the ability 

to make those who come into contact 

with them feel important and special as 

well. 

Holland states that Bill Clinton, 

Oprah Winfrey, and John F. Kennedy Jr. 

have all been referred to as charismatic—a 

quality they used to positively influence 

others. But you don’t have to be a famous 

leader to possess it. Most of us can think 

of people in our own lives who seem to 

ooze charm. It’s undoubtedly a powerful 

quality, but what exactly do we mean when 

we describe people as such? Talking about 

the benefits of charisma, Holland says: 

As it turns out, psychologists have been 

trying to answer this question for decades. 

According to the American Psychological 

Association, charisma was first defined 

as a “gift of grace” in the 19th century 

by sociologist, Max Weber. Research 

conducted since those early days suggest 

that charisma is a set of skills—both social 

and emotional—one possesses, either 

innately or through learned behavior, 

rather than a single key trait. 

So why does it matter if we possess 

charisma anyway? She poses. Essentially 

it boils down to cultivating more genuine, 

trusting relationships. By allowing 

ourselves to be more transparent to those 

around us, we are opening the door to 

deeper connections. These connections 

not only benefit our personal relationships, 

but also have a positive impact on all areas 

of our life, including work. 

Wikipedia poses; have you ever 

noticed how some people have the ability 

to captivate absolutely anyone? No matter 

what they look like or how much money 

they have, these people can just walk into 

a room and instantly be the center of 

attention. When they leave, people want 

to emulate them. That’s charisma — a sort 

of magnetism that inspires confidence 

and adoration. Like beauty, luck, and 

social position, charisma can open many 

doors in life. However, while these other 

qualities may be difficult to attain, anyone 

can be more charismatic. Just follow these 

easy tips to learn how…excerpts 


INSPIRATION 

Appear confident 

Charisma isn’t the same thing as confidence, 

but appearing confident can make you 

more charismatic because your confidence 

will put others at ease and inspire faith 

in your abilities. If people see you as a 

confident person, they will naturally want 

to be around you. Confident people are 

generally positive because they love who 

they are and what they do. Don’t start off a 

conversation by criticizing another person, 

place, or political figure. Instead, focus on 

the things you love, which will engage 

people and make them want to be around 

you. If you come off sounding like you hate 

everything that comes your way, they will 

want to keep away from you. Speaking 

with confidence doesn’t mean talking more 

than everyone else, or louder than everyone 

else. Say something important and say it 

with conviction. Speak at a relaxed pace 

and speak clearly. Vary your tone, rhythm, 

volume, and pitch to emphasize your most 

important words and to keep your speech 

interesting. If you don’t feel confident 

on the inside, work on emphasizing your 

good qualities, addressing your flaws, 

and improving your appearance to show 

that your looks matter to you. Having a 

confident voice, clothes, and body language 

can make you appear confident. Your body 

language can say a lot about how you feel 

about yourself, and can help you seem more 

approachable to others. 

Good body language 

The wrong body language can make you 

look shy or indecisive, so it’s important to 

move in a way that shows you’re confident, 

engaged, and alive. A charismatic 

person stands tall and walks with steady, 

determined strides. They walk into a room 

of strangers with pride, ready to embrace 

a new opportunity. They also gesture with 

their hands instead of crossing them 

over their chest. Remember that nothing 

conveys confidence like good posture. 

Stand or sit up straight, but not rigidly. 

When you meet someone, give a firm 

handshake and look the other person in 

the eye. Display positive body language 

while you’re talking to someone or even 

when you’re just waiting around. Sit facing 

the person or people you’re talking to, 

uncross your legs and arms, and keep your 

hands away from your face. Look at ease, 

and don’t fidget or convey nervousness. If 

you’re passionate about something, do your 

gestures communicate this? When you look 

at the mirror, what are your eyes doing? 

How about your hands? Could someone 

know what emotion you’re trying to convey 

even if they couldn’t hear you? If a person 

is more reserved, you shouldn’t gesture too 

wildly. Look people in the eye when you’re 

talking to them. Don’t stare them down, 

but don’t glance around the room or look 

everywhere but at them. Engage them with 

your eyes, not just your voice. Don’t check 

your phone, your watch, or look around for 

other people to talk to because you won’t 

appear engaged. 

Be anyone’s equal 

Smile fully when you greet someone. Your 

smile should say that you’re excited about 

getting to know them. No matter whom 

you’re talking to, you should always try to 

charm that person and make them feel like 

the only person in the world. Additionally, 

you should be able to talk to anyone about 

any topic, and be a good and attentive 

listener. Be anyone’s equal; if you’re talking 

to a potential employer, a group of wealthy 

donors, a child, a stranger, or an attractive 

guy or girl. Be respectful of other people, 

but respect them as equals, and expect 

that they will accept you as such. Show an 

interest in people’s lives. Without being 

nosy, ask people questions about their lives, 

their background, or their opinions on 

certain matters. Make them feel that what 

they’ve done matters, and that you value 

their thoughts. Listen actively when others 

speak. Give someone your full attention 

when they are speaking to you. Nod in 

agreement or make brief interjections to 

assure the person that you are listening and 

you’re interested in what they have to say; 

make the person feel connected to you. 

Remember people’s names. 

Complement people freely but honestly, 

and accept compliments graciously and 

without any fuss. Remember that being 

charismatic isn’t the same as pleasing 

people. Charismatic people don’t care 

about what others think. They are just 

totally charming and charismatic on their 

own. If you learn to joke about yourself, 

people will be charmed at how confident 

you are and will be more comfortable 

around you. Learn to joke around with a 

variety of people. You should be attuned to 

the sense of humor of the person or group 

of people you’re talking to. When you’re 

with a new person, be conservative at first. 

You don’t want to risk offending or turning 

a person off with an inappropriate joke. 

Value quality over quantity, and focus on 

making just a few jokes over the course of a 

conversation. 

Have s sense of humor 

Learn to tease people. If you’re comfortable 

with someone and are already on your way 

to charming them, you can learn to joke 

around by teasing that person a little bit. 

To be truly charismatic, you need to be 

able to not only impress, charm, and listen 

to a group of people, but you should be a 

person who is good at engaging others and 

always has something interesting to say, so 

people will naturally gravitate toward you. 

Be versatile. A truly charismatic person 

should be able to speak to a variety of 

people about a variety of topics. You should 

be well-read, read the newspaper every 

day, and have a variety of interests, such as 

foreign languages or modern “art”, so you 

can discuss these topics with anyone. 

You can work on being well-rounded and 

knowing a little bit about politics, history, 

science, and literature, so you can tailor 

the conversation to the individual you’re 

speaking to. 

Think before you speak. Try to make 

every word count, and think about how 

you’re going to phrase something before 

you open your mouth. If you don’t have 

something important to say, remain silent. 

It may seem surprising, but limiting the 

amount you talk will make what you have 

to say more interesting. Get in touch with 

your emotions. Research has shown that 

people who are generally believed to be 

charismatic feel emotions strongly, and 

they are also able to relate to what others 

are feeling. Don’t be afraid to feel anger, 

pain, sadness, or elation, and don’t be 

afraid to communicate your emotions in an 

appropriate manner. 

Relax 

People tend to hide thoughts and feelings 

from each other without any bad intentions, 

but everyone warms up to someone who is 

totally honest without being awkward or 

weird. If you can communicate honestly 

and help people open up, you’ll be on your 

way to being charming. Don’t however 

say anything that will make people feel 

uncomfortable or want to back away from 

you. Be honest. 

Wikipedia says further that developing 

charisma is an art. These general steps can 

help you be more charismatic, but your 

charisma must come from within you and 

must reflect you as an individual or it will 

appear fake. Fortunately, everyone has the 

ability to be charismatic, and it simply needs 

to be coaxed out. Practice and take note of 

what works and what needs improvement. 

Success requires more than charisma. If 

you don’t have the skills or dedication to 

do what you set out to do, you will most 

likely fall short. Develop communication 

and leadership skills with others who have 

similar interests. 


HEALTH 

By Angela Mutiso, cananews@gmail.com, Photo: bmia 

IS LAUGHTER THE 

BEST MEDICINE? 

Laugh and the world laughs 

with you! 

John was in a tight spot. He had upset 

many people in his office; so on this day, 

no one at the work place was interested 

in his company. Despite this however, 

John managed a prolonged laughter and 

declared he was laughing at himself for 

creating such an untenable situation. “It’s 

my fault that no one wants to talk to me” 

John declared piteously as everyone in the 

room joined in the laughter, lightening an 

otherwise edgy situation. 

Did you know that laughter can 


HEALTH 

cut tense situations, and make you feel 

upbeat even when you are not? We laugh 

when we are happy, when we are amused, 

when tickled, when enjoying a lively 

conversation and even when angry. But 

laughter also has several benefits. Such as 

boosting relationships, easing teamwork 

and averting arguments, making friends 

and averting stress. So, whether a person 

is trying to cope with a terminal illness or 

just trying to manage depression, stress or 

disappointment, laughter therapy can be a 

significant enhancement to their life. 

Emotional states 

Laughter is described as a physical 

reaction in humans and some other 

species of primate, consisting typically 

of rhythmical, often audible contractions 

of the diaphragm and other parts of the 

respiratory system. It is a response to certain 

external or internal stimuli. Laughter can 

arise from such activities as being tickled 

or from humorous stories or thoughts. 

Most commonly, it is a visual expression 

of a number of positive emotional states, 

such as joy, mirth, happiness, relief, and so 

on. On some occasions, however, it may be 

caused by contrary emotional states such as 

embarrassment, apology, or confusion such 

as nervous laughter or courtesy laugh. Age, 

gender, education, language, and culture 

are all factors that determine whether 

a person will experience laughter in a 

given situation (Wikipedia). Common 

causes for laughter are sensations of joy 

and humor; however, other situations may 

cause laughter as well. Wiki says a general 

theory that explains laughter is called the 

relief theory. Sigmund Freud summarized 

it in his theory that laughter releases 

tension and “psychic energy”. This theory is 

one of the justifications of the beliefs that 

laughter is beneficial for one’s health. This 

theory explains why laughter can be used 

as a coping mechanism when one is angry, 

upset or sad. 

It points out that philosopher John 

Morreall theorizes that human laughter 

may have its biological origins as a kind of 

shared expression of relief at the passing of 

danger. Friedrich Nietzsche, by contrast, 

suggested laughter to be a reaction to the 

sense of existential and mortality that only 

humans feel. It has also been determined 

that eyes moisten during laughter as a reflex 

from the tear glands. Laughter is not always 

a pleasant experience and is associated with 

several negative phenomena. Wikipedia 

explains that excessive laughter can lead to 

cataplexy, and unpleasant laughter spells, 

excessive elation, and fits of laughter can all 

be considered negative aspects of laughter. 

Excessive elation is a common symptom 

associated with manic-depressive 

psychoses and mania/hypomania. 

Laughter has been used as a therapeutic 

tool for many years because it is a natural 

form of medicine. 

Laughter is available to 

everyone 

Laughter is available to everyone and it 

provides benefits to a person’s physical, 

emotional, and social well being. Some 

of the benefits of using laughter therapy 

are that it can relieve stress and relax the 

whole body. It can also boost the immune 

system and release endorphins to relieve 

pain additionally, laughter can help prevent 

heart disease by increasing blood flow and 

improving the function of blood vessels. 

Some of the emotional benefits include 

diminishing anxiety or fear, improving 

overall mood, and adding joy to one’s life. 

Laughter is also known to reduce allergic 

reactions in a preliminary study related to 

dust mite allergy sufferers. 

Meanwhile, webmd asks: Feeling 

rundown? Try laughing more. It says 

some researchers think laughter just 

might be the best medicine, helping you 

feel better and putting that spring back in 

your step. “I believe that if people can get 

more laughter in their lives, they are a lot 

better off,” says Steve Wilson, MA, CSP, 

a psychologist and laugh therapist. “They 

might be healthier too.” 

Yet researchers aren’t sure if it’s actually 

the act of laughing that makes people feel 

better. A good sense of humor, a positive 

attitude, and the support of friends and 

family might play a role, too. 

What happens when we laugh? 

Briefly, webmd says in a feature labeled: 

Laughter Therapy: What Happens When 

We Laugh? that we change physiologically 

when we laugh. We stretch muscles 

throughout our face and body, our pulse 

and blood pressure go up, and we breathe 

faster, sending more oxygen to our tissues. 

People who believe in the benefits of 

laughter say it can be like a mild workout 

and may offer some of the same advantages 

as a workout. 

“The effects of laughter and exercise are 

very similar,” says Wilson. “Combining 

laughter and movement, like waving your 

arms, is a great way to boost your heart 

rate” 


HEALTH 

One pioneer in laughter research, 

William Fry, claimed it took ten minutes 

on a rowing machine for his heart rate 

to reach the level it would after just one 

minute of hearty laughter. 

Meanwhile, Tamara Lechna writing in 

chopra.com gives six reasons why laughter 

is the best medicine. She asks: Have you 

ever been in a tense or difficult situation 

when you suddenly burst into a fit of 

giggles? Or feel a release or rejuvenated 

after watching a side-splittingly funny 

movie? It turns out there’s some scientific 

veracity behind the old adage “laughter 

is the best medicine.” She goes on to say 

that “Laughter activates the body’s natural 

relaxation response. It’s like internal 

jogging, providing a good massage to 

all internal organs while also toning 

abdominal muscles,” says Dr.Gulshan 

Sethi head of cardiothoracic surgery at 

the Tucson Medical Center and faculty 

at the University of Arizona’s Center 

for Integrative Medicine. Perhaps that’s 

why Deepak Chopra says the healthiest 

response to life is laughter. Studies have 

found that laughter can have healing 

properties; and it’s contagious. 

Here are six reasons why you should start 

laughing today. Excerpts… 

The discovery of mirror neurons—what 

causes you to smile when someone smiles 

at you—gives credence to the belief that 

laughter is contagious. When you’re 

feeling down finding friends to laugh 

with can help your brain trigger its own 

laughter response and foster closeness, 

both of which contribute to your sense 

of well-being. Laughter reduces the 

stress response, laughter boosts immunity, 

increases resilience, combats depression, 

relieves pain, boosts immunity, and 

Increases resilience as the ability to 

acknowledge mistakes without becoming 

angry or frustrated plays an important 

role in developing resilience. Laughing 

at mistakes allows us to recognize that 

making errors is a part of being human. 

Laughter helps us to cope 

Laughter combats depression; because by 

being a witness to our situation rather than 

allowing ourselves to feel the victim we can 

find the humor in it and see with fresh eyes. 

Even forced laughter releases a cocktail of 

hormones that can start to improve your 

mood. Also, People who are laughing don’t 

experience less pain; however they report 

being less bothered by the pain they do 

experience. It’s not about changing pain 

levels. The amount of pain remains the 

same, but your perceived pain levels reduce 

and your belief that you can cope increases. 

Laughter by itself isn’t the solution but it 

can help a person overcome discomfort. 

You can also make humor a priority 

by reading a funny book, 

watching a comedy, or 

listening to your favorite 

comedian. Share laughter 

with friends. Spend more 

time with people who 

have fun. Practice laughter 

yoga which Dr. Sethi 

practices and teaches on 

occasion. Remember that 

life is funny. The ability to 

laugh at yourself makes 

you attractive to others and 

can help relieve your own 

stress. Focus on finding the 

laughable moments in your 

day, and then tell a friend 

your funny story as a way 

to increase the power of 

laughter by sharing. 

Know what isn’t funny. 

Laughing at the expense 

of others isn’t funny. Be 

discerning about your 

humor by laughing with— 

not at—people. Your 

ability to laugh can be 

cultivated with practice so 

start by prioritizing fun. 

Find occasion to be silly. 

Remember laughter, like 

smiling, is never depleted 

when you share it. Spend time 

with people who make you 

laugh, remember it can help 

you cope with very difficult 

situations and get rid of 

loneliness. Long term effects 

of laughter according to 

huffintonpost.com, include, 

improving your immune 

system, relieving pain, brings 

personal satisfaction, improves 

your mood and sense humor. 

It is important to know what 

is funny and what isn’t and to 

look out for things that really 

make you laugh. It notes. 

Finally, if you are 

addressing an audience, and 

you are feeling somewhat 

tense, remember humor will 

break the ice. That opening 

line is the most strategic moment for you. 

If you do this often you will realize that 

you and your audience will become active 

and remain attentive as long as you keep 

thrilling them and exciting each other 

with witty anecdotes. 

Health Tips 

• Bran- created fiber is an 

insoluble substance that forms 

strengthening tissue of plants. It 

is not digested because it is not 

affected by the acids or alkalies 

of digestive processes but passes 

through the alimentary tract 

wit little change. In so doing, 

bran-created fiber sweeps the 

intestinal tract clean. The key 

to its health building properties 

lies in the rate of passage time of 

ingested food. Fiber increases this 

rate of passage time of ingested 

food. Fiber increases this rate. 

This is most important to your 

health…The Book of Bran- Carlson 

Wade. 

• A systolic blood pressure 

(the upper or first number in a 

blood pressure reading) below 

130 and diastolic pressure (the 

lower or second number in a 

blood pressure reading) below 

80 are considered normal. 

National recommendations advise 

doctors to treat blood pressure 

when it goes over 140/90. Such 

treatment can include weight 

loss, stress management, targeted 

nutritionals, and/or blood 

pressure-lowering drugs. - Lower 

your blood pressure in eight 

weeks – Stephen T Sinatra and Jan 

Sinatra. 

• Experts agree that lifelong 

intake of adequate calcium is your 

best hedge against osteoporosis. 


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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 

By CPA Derrick Majani, majani35@gmail.com, Photos: top ten socialmedia 

INFORMATION 

ETHICS 

IT can be molded or shaped. The term 

“shape” has its origin in an old English 

word “scieppan,” which means 

create. We, as professionals, create 

numerous objects by shaping IT. A 

broad definition of objects, in this sense, 

could include software, infrastructure, an 

application or a network of computers. 

As creators of these objects, we are moral 

agents of the objects. The thought of moral 

agency is important here because as moral 

agents who create these objects, the values 

of our choice—what is right and what is 

wrong—will be inherited by the object 

itself. Creating a robot means creating the 

object (robot) with certain characteristics, 

moral or otherwise, in it. And, when we 

accept the notion that our creations inherit 

our value judgments, it’s important for us 

to also accept the role we play as moral 

agents—in making permanent the values 

we choose, through the created objects. 

As moral agents, our duty is to be wellinformed—that 

is, to seek as much valuable 

information as feasible to do the right 

thing. As producers and communicators 

of information, we need to, within our 

constraints and opportunities, be morally 

right. For example, we are accountable 

for the faithful representation of our 


INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 

output, we should be free from plagiarism, 

and we should be transparent in our 

communication. Independent of our roles 

as users or producers of information, our 

moral evaluations affect the informational 

environment (or space). For example, 

privacy and confidentiality of personal 

information and democracy in access to 

information are part of our broader role in 

the information space. 

When considering information ethics, 

we should take into account all three roles. 

Any consideration of only one of these is 

micro ethics; according to Floridi, what we 

need is an all-encompassing macro ethics. 

J. H. Moor suggests that with rapid 

developments in technology, a new 

approach to ethics is required. He argues 

that the “logical malleability” of computers 

led to the so-called policy vacuums that 

analysis is required up front. Collectively, 

these factors will help reduce the policy 

gaps, and, over time, the number of ethical 

fallouts surfacing from objects of new 

technology would-be fewer and of a lessdamaging 

variety. 

Vision of Ethics as an Ongoing 

Dynamic Activity In light of the rapid 

change in technology, any assessment 

of ethical dimensions of information is 

a frozen picture. Any change over time 

can bring new ethical implications for us 

to identify, sort out and address. Relying 

on a one-time exercise, no matter how 

robust, would not prevent ethical missteps. 

Therefore, changes should be identified, 

documented and analyzed not just from 

a micro perspective (as in its impaction 

privacy of customer data), but rather more 

in the spirit of bridging the policy gap that 

Sophisticated Ethical Analysis 

Up Front 

Consider web application security. 

J. Hanny suggests that a successful 

application security program will be fully 

integrated within the system development 

life cycle (SDLC). A. D.Sanders asserts: 

“Consider security in every SDLC phase, 

from requirements gathering to operations 

and disposal, and threat model every 

software feature.” In contrast, it seems 

that we are not accustomed to integrating 

ethical analysis in information we produce, 

communicate or use. Perhaps the time for 

this paradigm shift is now approaching…if 

we wish to avoid a crisis. 

Finally, the question: Who is responsible 

to fill the policy vacuums? It is a difficult 

question to address; however, one can 

surmise that the earlier the information 

J. Hanny suggests that a successful application 

security program will be fully integrated within the 

system development life cycle (SDLC). A. D.Sanders 

asserts: “Consider security in every SDLC phase, from 

requirements gathering to operations and disposal, 

and threat model every software feature.” 

require careful analysis to fill. He extends 

the argument to all kinds of technologies 

to suggest policy vacuums, for example, 

to the malleability of life (genetic 

technology), material (nanotechnology) 

and mind (neuro technology). By nature, 

policy vacuums suggest “fighting fires” 

as the molded technology is embedded 

into a business model (e.g., Face book) 

or a strategic informational object (e.g., a 

search engine) prematurely in relation to 

ethics. Thus, the approach to solving ethical 

dilemmas would be reactive rather than 

proactive, and this may produce surprises 

leading to frustrations and costly cleanups. 

According to Moor, a three-fold approach 

is necessary to bridge gaps created by the 

policy vacuum. First, the vision of ethics 

as an ongoing and dynamic activity, not 

a post mortem, is essential. Second, much 

more collaboration is required at the 

design stage among ethicists, scientists and 

others. Third, a more sophisticated ethical 

the change creates. The purpose would be 

to not just capture an instance of a possible 

ethical compromise, but to identify and 

correct the systemic attributes that could 

potentially trigger ethical missteps. 

Collaboration at the Design 

Stage 

The earlier in the value chain we address 

the conflict, the better the design of 

informational objects. Therefore, instead 

of just getting the feedback on what went 

wrong, the tactic would be to anticipate 

possible ethical vulnerabilities and address 

them even before the information object is 

created. 

This critical change in perspective 

should be implemented by engaging a 

collaborative group of professionals. The 

information technologist alone may not be 

able to broaden the inquiry to several other 

dimensions, including ethics. 

object is in the development cycle, the 

wider the accountability. For example, 

the policy vacuums in researching the 

technology could be a community effort, 

for example, by the Electronic Frontier 

Foundation. Policy vacuums at the 

product-development or use level are likely 

to be the responsibility of the enterprise. 

A cohesive effort on all fronts by the 

community of organizations could lead 

to best practices, benchmarks and even 

accreditation standards in the arena of 

information ethics. 

To quote cybernetics guru Norbert 

Wiener, “[T]he future offers very little 

hope for those who expect that our new 

mechanical slaves will offer us a world in 

which we may rest from thinking.” 

The writer is a member of ICPAK student 

and youth affairs sub-committee 

Internal Auditor Bandari Sacco Ltd Msa 


ENVIRONMENT 

By Staff Writer, Photo: Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate/ unmikonline 

MARKING 

WORLD 

WATER DAY 

2016 


ENVIRONMENT 

Water and Jobs 

Whenever the world celebrates the World 

Water Day, everyone is expected to take a 

moment to think of water and understand 

what it means to them, how they use it and 

preserve it. 

This year’s World Water Day, marked the 

24th annual observance of UN World 

Water Day. The World Water Day report 

(WWDR) 2016, titled “Water and 

Jobs”, was launched during the official 

celebrations to mark it. The launch of the 

World Water Development Report 2016 

was actually at the core of the celebrations. 

The theme of the Report has been aligned 

with the one of the World Water Day, that 

this year is Water and Jobs. During the 

event the main findings of the WWDR 

2016 was revealed to the audience and to 

the mass media. World Water Day is a 

yearly event celebrated on March 22. The 

day focuses attention on the importance 

of freshwater and advocates for the 

sustainable management of freshwater 

resources. The special launch took place 

on Thursday, March 22, 2016 between 9 

to 3pm. 

A report from United Nations 

Educational and Scientific and Cultural 

Organization -UNESCO gives the 

following message from Ms Irina Bokova, 

Director-General of UNESCO on the 

occasion of World Water Day; 2016 

Between 1990 and 2010, 2.3 billion people 

gained access to improved drinking water 

sources. This is positive, but not enough. 

More than 700 million people still do not 

have access to clean and safe water for a 

healthy life. The 2016 United Nations 

World Water Development Report 

estimates that some 2 billion people 

require access to improved sanitation, with 

girls and women especially disadvantaged. 

Many developing countries are in water 

stress hotspots, and likely to be hit hardest 

by climate change. At the same time, 

demand for water is soaring, especially in 

emerging economies where agriculture, 

industry, and cities are developing at a fast 

pace. 

The stakes are high. Water is 

fundamental to life. It is vital for more 

inclusive and sustainable development. 

This is why water stands at the heart of 

the new 2030 Agenda for Sustainable 

Development. Water is highlighted in 

Goal 6 on ensuring the availability and 

sustainable management of water and 

sanitation, and important for the success 

of all other objectives – including for 

advancing the prospect of decent work 

for all, the focus of the 2016 World Water 

Development Report. 

Water is vital for agriculture, industry, 

transport and the production of energy 

and is an engine for economic growth. It 

generates and sustains jobs worldwide, 

but attaining the development goals will 

not just be a matter of adequate resources 

of water as a raw material. Water quality 

and sanitation remains essential in 

providing a decent livelihood. Of the 2.3 

million work-related deaths every year, 17 

percent can be linked to communicable 

diseases and unsafe drinking water. This 

is why safe drinking water and sanitation 

at the workplace must become priorities 

everywhere. 

Meeting the challenge of creating 

and preserving decent jobs in the face of 

climate change and water scarcity will 

require far greater investments in science, 

technology and innovation. The evidence 

shows that investing in water infrastructure 

and services can have high returns for both 

economic development and job creation. 

It is important that these investments are 

planned with all relevant sectors, including 

agriculture, energy and industry, to ensure 

they produce the best outcomes for all. 

Lead United Nations agency for water 

sciences and education, UNESCO is 

working all-out to these ends. This starts 

with the International Hydrological 

Programme and its network of National 

Committees, Centres and Chairs. The 

UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water 

Education has trained thousands of water 

scientists and engineers from developing 

Water is vital for agriculture, industry, transport and 

the production of energy and is an engine for economic 

growth. It generates and sustains jobs worldwide, but 

attaining the development goals will not just be a matter 

of adequate resources of water as a raw material. 


ENVIRONMENT 

countries since 2003. Our World Water 

Assessment Programme provides 

Governments and the international 

community with cutting edge and policyrelevant 

information on freshwater 

resources worldwide and is pioneering 

new techniques in gender-sensitive water 

monitoring. All of this will be vital in 

taking the 2030 Agenda to fruition. 

Moving forward requires action across 

the field -- by Governments, by civil 

society and by the private sector. The 

challenges we face from climate change, 

water scarcity and the displacement 

of low-skilled workers are enormous. 

But promoting high-quality jobs, while 

preserving the environment and ensuring 

sustainable water management will help 

to eradicate poverty, promote growth and 

craft a future of decent work for all. This 

is - UNESCO’s message today. (Ms Irina 

Bokova) 

Facts and figures 

No water, no jobs 

• Three out of four jobs that make up 

the entire global workforce are waterdependent. 

• The farming, fisheries, and forestry 

sectors alone, which are among the 

most heavily water-dependent, 

employ nearly one billion people. 

Better water, better jobs, better lives 

• Access to safe and reliable water 

supply and sanitation services at home, 

school and the workplace is critical 

to maintaining a healthy, educated and 

productive workforce. 

• Inadequate water, sanitation and 

hygiene are associated with global 

economic losses of US$260 billion 

every year, largely related to lost time 

and productivity 

Investing in water is investing in jobs 

• From its extraction to its return to the 

environment, via numerous uses, water 

is a key factor in the creation of jobs. 

• A study found that in poor countries 

with better access to improved water 

and sanitation services, the annual 

economic growth rate reached 3.7%, 

while those without similar access to 

improved services had an annual 

growth of just 0.1%. 

The water-job relationship in a changing 

world 

• Climatechange exacerbates the threats 

to water availability and will inevitably 

lead to the loss of jobs in certain 

sectors. 

• The transition to a greener economy and 

the emergence of green technologies 

can generate positive shifts in 

employment and create opportunities 

for decent jobs – (UNESCO) 

All facts and figures 

What is the significance of 

World Water Day? 

This day was first formally proposed in 

Agenda 21 of the 1992 United Nations 

Conference on Environment and 

Development in Rio de Janeiro. In 1993, 

the first World Water Day was designated 

by the United Nations General Assembly 

and United Nations General Assembly 

since each year focuses on a different issue. 

The UN and its member nations 

devote this day to implementing UN 

recommendations and promoting concrete 

activities within their countries regarding 

the world’s water resources. Additionally, a 

number of nongovernmental organizations 

promoting clean water and sustainable 

aquatic habitats have used World Water 

Day as a time to focus attention on the 

critical issues of our era. Events such 

as theatrical and musical celebrations, 

educational events, and campaigns to raise 

money for access to clean and affordable 

water are held worldwide on World Water 

Day, or on convenient dates close to 

March 22 (Wikipedia). 

Best World Water Day 2016 

quotes and slogans: from 


ENVIRONMENT 

indguru.com 

• By means of water, we give life to 

everything. 

• I gave my heart to the mountains the 

minute I stood beside this river with its 

spray in my face and watched it thunder 

into foam, smooth to green glass over 

sunken rocks, shatter to foam again. I 

was fascinated by how it sped by and yet 

was always there; its roar shook both the 

earth and me –Wallace Stegner 

• A river is more than an amenity, it is 

a treasure — Justice Oliver Wendell 

Holmes 

• In the world there is nothing more 

submissive and weak than water. Yet for 

attacking that which is hard and strong 

nothing can surpass it — Lao Tzu 

• Only a fool tests the depth of the water 

with both feet — African Proverb 

• A little water clears us of this deed – 

Shakespeare 

• Thousands have lived without love, not 

one without water — W.H. Auden 

• The wars of the twenty-first century 

will be fought over water — Ismail 

Serageldin 

• A river seems a magic thing. A magic, 

moving, living part of the very earth itself 

— Laura Gilpin 

• As different streams having different 

sources all mingle their waters in the sea, 

so different tendencies, various though 

they appear, crooked or straight, all lead 

to God — Swami Vivekananda 

• Rain is a blessing when it falls gently on 

parched fields, turning the earth green, 

causing the birds to sing — Donald 

Worster 

On this World Water Day, you must 

know about the fact about water and 

people suffering due to lack of water; 

More than 840,000 people die from water 

related diseases each year. It translates to 

2,300 deaths per day. About 750 million 

people do not have access to clear water, 

which is approximately 1 in every 9 people. 

82% of people who don’t have access to 

improved water live in rural areas. Women 

and children spend 140 million hours 

collecting fresh water every day. World 

water day’s main symbol is the shape of a 

water drop in the UN’s color blue. 

Indguru.com notes that on this 

day, they hoped for change 

in human thinking on 

saving water. “Save 

the Water” to save 

the world from 

water scarcity and water poverty. It states 

that people should get awareness about 

saving water. “We hope our information 

encourages you; join hands together to 

fight against water pollution and awareness 

over people.” 

So, what are you doing to preserve 

water? Play your part in your own little 

way and have a cleaner environment and a 

richer world. 


MEMORABLE QUOTES 

“Now I say, ‘me I’m Kenyan, me”. 

Safaricom Boss Bob Collymore on 

his wedding day; He is quoted as 

imitating the unusual Kenyan way of 

speaking. DN 

“We have made significant progress 

since 2013. However cynical one 

might be, it is impossible not to 

see that our landscape is surely 

transforming”. 

Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta; 

made these remarks as he marked 

his third year in office. He also said 

he had tightened the noose on lazy 

public servants. DN 

“It is above Sh500 million but it has 

no effect on our operations. If it did 

you will already have heard it from 

our customers. The bank appeared 

very stable and we were shocked. 

People are really suffering out here.” 

Sport Pesa representative; expressing 

his views on the effect of the collapse 

of Chase bank on Sport Pesa 

“The notion that we’re going to 

track every Western Union bit of 

money that’s being sent to Mexico 

— you know, good luck with 

that; Then we’ve got the issue of 

the implications for the Mexican 

economy, which, in turn, if it’s 

collapsing, actually sends more 

immigrants north because they can’t 

find jobs back in Mexico.” 

US President Barack President 

Obama dismissing Donald Trump’s 

proposal to force Mexico to pay 

for a border wall as “half-baked” 

and counterproductive he said the 

Republican frontrunner’s “wackier” 

foreign policy ideas were hurting 

the United States abroad. Obama, 

speaking to reporters in the White 

House briefing room, said that 

doing so could cause “enormous” 

damage to Mexico’s economy, which 

depends on those transfers, usually 

known as remittances. The proposal 

is also “impractical,” he said. 

“Trump’s plan “is just one more 

example of something that is not 

thought through and is primarily put 

forward for political consumption”. 

World leaders “don’t expect halfbaked 

notions coming out of the 

White House. We can’t afford that,” 

“I am getting questions constantly 

from foreign leaders about some 

of the wackier suggestions that are 

being made.” 

President Obama said. 

“Please self-inspect and delete all 

content related to the ‘Panama 

Papers’ leak,” 

According to China Digital Times, 

website run by the University of 

California, Berkeley; Chinese 

censors have stepped up their 

censorship of websites, ordering all 

content related to the Panama Papers 

to be scrubbed as new revelations 

emerged of how relatives of some of 

the country’s top leaders had used 

secretive offshore companies to store 

their wealth. China’s foreign ministry 

had already dismissed some reports 

of the Panama Papers on Tuesday 

as “groundless accusations”… The 

guardian 

“These are methods of storing 

assets and money that are really 

for the super, super rich. From that 

perspective I think there is a fear and 

a sensitivity among Communist party 

leaders that this exposes the degree 

to which the political and economic 

elite are so closely intertwined and 

so far above your average citizen in 

terms of wealth.” 

A China specialist from the Freedom 

House advocacy group; she said 

the intense censorship operation 

under way reflected Beijing’s fears 

that disclosures about the wealth of 

its political elite could spark public 

anger or even fuel opposition to Xi 

from within the party itself. 

“It is one thing to alert acquaintances 

about matters that are truthful and 

factual, but we shall not allow 

persons that are driven by malicious 

considerations to peddle falsehoods 

to mislead members of the public.” 

A statement made after police started 

a crackdown on social media users it 

said were spreading false information 

about Chase Bank after it was shut 

down. 

“I wish that the issue of succession 

be settled well before I leave office 

to avoid conflict or constitutional crisis 

when the country goes to election in 

2017.” 

Chief Justice, Willy Mutunga; said this 

while explaining why he is leaving 

office early 

“Controllers see the world as a pretty 

serious place and often have difficulty 

with relaxing and just enjoying life. 

They just can’t let go. Much of their 

energy is spent trying to keep others 

in line with their own expectations 

of what is good, right and needed. 

Often in their obsession to make sure 

everything goes right (their concept 

of right), controllers set unrealistic 

expectations for themselves and 

others.”…..Dr. Kevin Leman and 

Randy Carlson 

“Remember, it’s not only the questions 

you ask, but the questions you fail 

to ask, that shape your destiny.”… 

Anthony Robbins 

“Beliefs have the power to create 

and the power to destroy.” Anthony 

Robbins 

“One of the most effective tools you 

can ever use to teach and motivate 

is a sincere compliment – with the 

emphasis on sincere. The more sincere 

the compliment, the more effective it 

will be. Unfortunately, too many of us 

pass out those sincere compliments as 

if each one were skin off our backs. 

Or as if we had a limited supply 

which we were saving.” Zig Ziglar 


TID BITS 

Chase Bank closure 

It has been reported that bookmakers, 

Sport Pesa and the Law Society of 

Kenya as well as thousands of groups 

were some of the bodies whose billions 

were locked in Chase Bank after it was 

closed. It is further reported that after 

news spread that the bank was in trouble, 

some customers dashed to withdraw 

Sh8 billion in one day, sinking the 

bank into a major financial crisis. LSK 

President Isaac Okero reportedly said 

in a statement that LSK had taken the 

diligence of inquiring from the Chase 

Bank management which assured it that 

news of instability were alarmist. Chase 

bank is said to have established a big base 

of small investment groups. 

The Man Who Hijacked the EgyptAir Plane 

The hijacking of an EgyptAir plane recently was not the action of a man blinded 

by love but “a very dangerous” person prone to acts of domestic violence and drug 

abuse, his Cypriot ex-wife has said. Speaking for the first time since her former 

husband donned a fake suicide belt and forced a flight to be diverted to Cyprus the 

woman who unwittingly emerged as a central figure in the dramatic standoff said 

her marriage to Seif Eldin Mustafa had been “a black period” in her life marked by 

domestic abuse. “Most of the media painted a picture of romance in which a man was 

trying to reach out to his estranged wife,” Marina Paraschou told Cyprus’s leading 

daily, Phileleftheros. “But that couldn’t be further from the truth and they would have 

a different opinion if they knew what he was really like. It was a very black period, full 

of threats, beating, to reunite with his estranged family. All 62 passengers and crew 

were ultimately released during a nail biting, six-hour siege. Source- The guardian 

Safaricom Boss says… I Do! 

Safaricom Chief Executive Bob 

Collymore recently married his 

partner, Ms Wambui Kamiru. The 

ceremony which was for invited 

guests only, took place at a private 

residence in Nairobi. The theme 

colors were purple and white. The 

Groom has been the Chief Executive 

of the popular service provider 

Safaricom since 2010, while the bride 

is said to be the founder of The Art 

Space. Collymore wore a white linen 

collarless suit while the bride was 

dressed in a dashing white dress. The 

couple reported to have been seen 

together at many events before the 

wedding, was beaming with joy at a 

ceremony that was attended by a mix 

of remarkable people. The popular 

Collymore who says he feels like a 

Kenyan, is said to have been born in 

Guyana and lived in the UK. He was 

awarded an MBS in Kenya in 2012. 

Ghana’s visa relaxation a vote of faith in Africa 

Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama has announced that from June, the West 

African country would abide by an African Union (AU) directive to ease intra-African visa 

policies by granting all African visitors visas on arrival at Ghana’s borders. The move has been 

widely lauded as a milestone in the journey towards economic and social integration across 

the continent. It is also an indication of shifting attitudes about freedom of movement within 

Africa, as visa openness — like the liberalization of air travel before it — starts to be viewed 

as a signal of how serious AU member states are about doing business with one another. The 

issue of unhindered travel across the continent has long been a bugbear for travelers who 

face higher bars to entry into their fellow African countries than they do when travelling to 

Europe, North America and the Middle East. Source BD Live 

The stories above were suggested by Africa.com you can follow the sources to read more. 


BOOK REVIEW 

Reviewed by Angela Mutiso, cananews@gmail.com 

Title: Power Friending: Demystifying 

Social Media to Grow Your Business 

Author: Amber MacArthur 

Category: Growing your Business 

Publisher: Portfolio Publishing 

(June 10, 2010) 

Amber understands how 

important it is for all of us, 

both as individuals and as 

businesses, to be able to use 

social media to connect with 

people in ways that are real and authentic. 

I think she’s a leader in this space.”… 

-Tony Robbins - world-renowned speaker 

and entrepreneur. 

Much has been written about online 

business. But in this book, we get a 

new perspective. Making friends online 

should be more meaningful; you should 

get the right connections, engage useful 

people, and gain from these associations. 

You can apply the same principles you 

do when you are in an actual and useful 

relationship with someone. That way, you 

can gain their trust and have a sustained, 

reliable connection. The author of this 

book, Amber MacArthur, has been in this 

business for a while; she has interacted 

with big organizations, and respected 

entrepreneurs and had useful experience 

which she brings you in this informative 

book. You get to know how through social 

media, you can interact with forceful 

and confident people without deceiving 

yourselves. 

Amazon says of Amber: 

She may be a tech-savvy webpreneur, 

the popular host of TV shows and video 

podcasts, and an in-demand consultant 

and speaker, but if you ask Amber Mac 

about her strategy for success, she’ll tell 

you she’s just trying to be a good friend. 

When it comes to social media-whether 

it’s Facebook or Twitter or the latest video 

blog-the tools evolve quickly, the rules 

change rapidly, and the technology feels 

more and more complex. But making social 

media work for your company doesn’t have 

to be complicated or expensive. In this 

compact yet thorough guide, Mac shows 

you how to effectively harness the online 

world to grow your business. 

The secret: think of your audience 

as your friends and then treat them that 

way. The Power Friending approach is all 

about developing real relationships based 

on mutual respect and support. While you 

may never meet some of your online friends 

face-to-face, they still expect you to follow 

the established norms of friendship: be 

authentic, reach out, listen. And don’t lie to 

your friends. These same rules apply when 

building a strong brand online. Whether 

you’re a blogger, a small company, a wellknown 

global enterprise, or an aspiring 

queen of the Internet, Mac shows how to 

make the most of social networking tools, 

including: 

-Targeting the right networks 

-Feeding and seeding a community 

-Authentically engaging with customers 

and fans 

-Managing your online friendships on a 

daily basis and on a budget 

This isn’t a book of abstract theories or 

complicated strategies. Mac writes from 

personal experience: she built a huge fan 

base through social networking. She also 

draws on real-life and up-to-date examples 

to give you the information you really 

need in order to establish and maintain 

credibility and meaningful relationships 

online… 

Top Customer Reviews 

“Amber is one of those rare people who 

actually lives this social movement, and I 

don’t know about you, but I like listening 

to people who live it more than people 

who read about it.” 

-Gary Vaynerchuk, WineLibrary.TV, 

author of Crush It! 

“Social media is here to stay, and Amber 

Mac’s Power Friending is the ultimate 

guide for all those looking to understand 

(and profit) from our highly connected 

future.” 

-Jeremy Gutsche, chief trend hunter 

at TrendHunter.com and author of 

Exploiting Chaos 

“It pays to have friends in high places, 

and Amber is in a very high place in social 

media. She might not be your friend, but 

her book is as good as it gets.” 

-Guy Kawasaki, cofounder of Alltop. 

About the Author: Amber Mac is 

a new media journalist, speaker, and 

consultant. She is the cofounder of the 

web agency MGImedia.ca and the host 

of Webnation, Girls Gone Geek on 

Xbox LIVE, net@night on the TWiT.tv 

network, and commandN.tv. Amber Mac 

is also a columnist for Yahoo!, MSN, and 

American Express and has worked with 

Tony Robbins, Discovery Channel and 

Microsoft. She lives in Toronto. 

This book is available at Amazon.com 


ICPAK 

UNIVERSITY 

Scholarship 

HELP OTHERS REACH THEIR PEAK! 

The Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK) will award merit based 

scholarships that would enable bright young students from financially disadvantaged families 

to pursue their dreams. ICPAK plans to sponsor 3 scholars every year to enjoy a full 4-year 

university education in the field of Accounting and Finance. 

Appeal: You can support the Scholarship Fund by making a donation or adopting a scholar. To 

donate or adopt a scholar please log on to our website www.icpak.com

INSTITUTE NEWS 

By FCPA Fernandes Barasa, National Chairman, ICPAK 

CORPORATE 

GOVERNANCE OF 

PUBLIC INTEREST 

ENTITIES IN KENYA 

Abuse of banking processes causing concern 

The Institute of Certified 

Public Accountants of Kenya 

(ICPAK) notes with concern 

the events unfolding in the 

banking sector. Abuse of various 

banking processes is causing problems 

in the troubled banks. We would like to 

commend the Central Bank of Kenya 

for the steps it has taken to streamline 

Kenya’s banking sector and strengthening 

the culture of corporate governance and 

accountability in these Institutions. Various 

existing financial laws in Kenya underline 

the essence of corporate governance in all 

sectors of the economy. 

The Kenyan Companies Act is very 

clear the duties and responsibilities of 

the Board of Directors of any company, 

whether a bank or otherwise. Amongst 

the various duties and responsibilities, the 

Board of Directors is responsible for: 

• Preparing financial statements which 

FCPA Fernandes Barasa 

National Chairman, 

ICPAK (right) and ICPAK 

Chief Executive, CPA Dr. 

Patrick Ngumi (PhD) 

give a true and fair view of the state of 

financial affairs of the company; 

• Maintaining proper books of account 

that disclose with accuracy the financial 

position of the company; 

• Safeguarding the assets of the company; 

• Designing and implementing suitable 

internal controls to prevent and detect 

fraud and other financial misreporting; 

and 

• Providing the auditors and regulators 

all the necessary information and 

explanations with unrestricted access 

to the underlying financial records and 

documentation to allow them perform 

their work. 

Annually, the Directors of each 

company formally acknowledge such 

responsibility within the annual report 

through the ‘Statement of Directors 

Responsibilities’. The Companies Act 

also refers to the entire board and each 

of its members as the primary custodian 

of the above responsibilities. It does not 

distinguish between executive and nonexecutive 

directors and certainly does not 

permit delegation of this responsibility to 

management. 

Specifically, in respect of banks, the 

Prudential Guidelines (PG) issued under 

the Banking Act imposes various specific 

responsibilities on the Board of Directors, 

some of which as drawn from PG02 on 

Corporate Governance are as follows: 

• Section 3.3 indicates that the Board 

has overall responsibility for the bank, 

including strategy, risk strategy, corporate 

governance and corporate values. The 

Board is also responsible for oversight of 

senior management 

• Section 3.3.7 further expounds that 

it is the duty of Board of Directors to 

define duties of management and appoint 

such competent persons and dispense 

undesirable staff 

• Sec 3.3.8 Board is required to regularly 

review policies, process and controls 

with senior management and/or internal 

control functions (including internal audit, 

risk management and compliance) 

• Sec 3.5.2 (ii) – the Board Audit 

Committee appointed by the Board and 

comprising some of the Board Members 

is to provide independent oversight of 

the institutions financial reporting and 

internal control system, ensure checks and 

balances are in place to take appropriate 

regular remedial action 

• Sec 3.12 – the Board should be 


INSTITUTE NEWS 

responsible for IT governance, a 

framework that supports effective and 

efficient management of IT resources. 

The Guideline clearly directs that the IT 

governance is the responsibility of the 

board 

CBK/PG/13 - Guideline on 

enforcement of banking laws and 

regulations provides that where an 

institution contravenes any of the 

provisions of the Banking Act, the CBK 

could impose conditions including joint 

and several liabilities of Directors and 

officers to indemnify the institution 

against any loss arising in respect of 

reckless and fraudulent advances or loans. 

Various other regulations exist that 

elaborate the role of the Board of Directors 

– including the regulations issued by 

the Capital Markets Authority that are 

particularly relevant to institutions that 

have issued securities to the public. These 

regulations include the need for prompt 

dissemination of information to investors 

including adverse events and profit 

warnings. 

Therefore, whilst it is very common 

to put the spotlight on the role of various 

regulators and the external auditors, the 

primary responsibility for fair presentation 

of the financial results is that of the Board 

of Directors. 

In every company, agency theory 

provide for existence of shareholders 

who appoint external auditors to provide 

reasonable assurance on the financial 

performance and results of directors 

stewardship. 

Contrary to common belief, financial 

statements of an institution are not 

prepared by and owned by auditors 

– auditors simply audit the financial 

statements as prepared by the Board 

of Directors in accordance with the 

International Standards on Auditing. 

Such procedures at best only provide 

reasonable and not absolute assurance on 

the financial statements - a fact that is 

clearly stated on the auditor’s report. 

It is also common misconception that 

the role of the external statutory auditor 

is the same, or in fact more elaborate 

than internal audit or a forensic audit. It 

is worth to appreciate that external audit 

is just that – external – it is not part of 

internal control and not a substitute 

therefore for good corporate governance. 

At best, external auditors spend a limited 

number of days or weeks focused on 

key financial information and financial 

statement presentation. It is not designed 

like a forensic audit that seeks to validate 

the authenticity of every single transaction. 

Neither is it designed as internal audit 

which seeks to critically review compliance 

with internal policies and procedures and 

regulatory requirements. 

International Standards on Auditing 

(ISAs) make very clear that the external 

statutory auditor is not responsible for 

the prevention and detection of fraud. 

ISAs explicitly state that “owing to the 

inherent limitations of an audit, there is 

an unavoidable risk that some material 

misstatements of the financial statements 

may not be detected even though the 

audit is properly planned and performed”. 

The ISAs further elaborate that such a 

limitation is even more significant where 

such fraud and deliberate misreporting is 

perpetrated by senior management as part 

of a sophisticated fraud scheme, where 

collusion is rife and there are deliberate 

misrepresentations to the auditor. Whilst 

ISAs do require specific procedures to be 

performed by the auditor to give him/ 

her the best possible chance of detecting 

such fraud and misreporting, they also 

recognise the distinction and limitation in 

scope when compared to a forensic audit 

and state that “Unless the auditor has 

reason to believe the contrary, the auditor 

may accept records and documents as 

genuine. 

The Institute also takes note that 

the Central Bank via letter dated 11 

November 2015, to external auditors of 

commercial banks, expanded the scope 

of auditors to assess the IT environment 

of commercial banks and issue a report of 

findings to the Central Bank of Kenya. 

The institute believe that this initiative has 

contributed to increased scope of work for 

auditors hence the findings in the recent 

past and believe that these measures 

will go a long way in strengthening the 

banking sector’s internal controls while 

also enhancing the supervisory role of 

CBK and effectiveness of statutory and IT 

audits, if implemented fully coupled with 

sound corporate governance practices by 

the boards of directors. 

Conclusion 

Based on these facts, ICPAK: 

1. Strongly condemns the abuse of 

corporate governance guidelines by 

some directors of commercial banks 

that have been put under receivership or 

misappropriated assets. Their fast tracked 

prosecution and recovery of amounts 

advanced to them irregularly is highly 

supported. 

2. Recommend that, due to the fast 

moving innovations in the financial 

services sector, the supervisory role of the 

Central Bank of Kenya should continue to 

be enhanced. 

3. Supports speedy trial of all fraudulent 

and corrupt bank officials, Directors and 

Employees, who continue to taint the 

image of the Kenyan financial services 

sector. 

4. Special audits should be conducted on 

all Public Interest Entities (PIEs) where 

doubts have been cast on their governance 

and mode of operations. 

5. All regulators of Public Interest 

Entities should enhance their whistle 

blowing mechanisms in order to effectively 

flash out fraudulent practices before they 

become detrimental to the economy. 

The Institute will seek to enhance the 

collaborative efforts with other regulators 

to promote financial accountability and 

good governance practices. 

6. The Companies Act 2015, has codified 

the duties and responsibilities of directors 

with the objective of enhancing corporate 

governance. We appeal to the office of the 

Attorney General to move with speed 

and gazette phase II regulations which 

provides significant reforms on financial 

reporting and increases the penalties 

for non-compliance so as to punish 

such directors and officers who promote 

accounting fraud. 

7. ICPAK will continue to take action on 

members of the Institute who are involved 

in perpetrating fraudulent practices while 

it is highly recommended that employers 

engage regulated Professional Accountants 

who are members of the Institute. ICPAK 

is revising its laws in order to expand the 

repercussions of its members purported to 

be involved in professional misconducts. 


PERSONALITY PROFILE 

Interviewed by Angela Mutiso, cananews@gmail.com 

SERVICE TO 

OTHERS, 

SERVICE 

TO GOD 

CPA Swaly Jitendra Trikamdas 

has kept a full diary in his 

mind that just about dates 

back to the date of his birth 

in India in 1945. His father’s 

name Trikamdas means servant of God 

and Jitendra is a person with controlled 

desires; he has tried as best he can to live 

by these virtues. Swaly’s life history is 

fascinating. Actually, as he narrates it, you 

cannot help but admire his sharp power of 

observation, his love for his work his rich 

experience, and deep religious devotion. 

An early qualification as a chartered 

accountant in Bombay India in 1974 

and arrival in Kenya soon afterwards, 

made him one of the most sought after 

accountants in Kenya at the time. Big 

clients hunted for him and most have 

retained his services to date. They have 

in addition introduced him to several 

other notable organizations. He is the 

proprietor of Swaly and Company, a firm 

he set up in 1975 and has diligently ran 

for 41 years. His clientele is diverse; they 

are from France, Turkey, Germany, Asia, 

and Britain among others. “I work with 

devotion; not just for money “explains 

Swaly humbly. His competence and 

confidence are priceless and are endearing 

factors in his daily interactions. 

His forefathers were marine engineers 

and used to manufacture dhows. This 

was 100 years ago; the Swaly family was 

responsible for Royal Finance control. 

The family got this (royal) title because 

his grandfather used to manage the Royal 

Finance in Zanzibar; to date this family 

still has some high monuments in 

Zanzibar. In 1954 OAU promulgated 

Jungbar and Tanganyika and 

they made a treaty. Kenya was a 

British colony and Tanzania was 

a German region. 

Swaly has two sons; 

Jeegar is an engineer in 

England while Devanshu 

a CPA, works for an 

accounting firm in 

America. He recalls 

happily the time Devenshu 

obtained the highest 

marks in an accountancy 

paper in the world while 

he was in Kenya; and by so 

doing, raised Kenya’s profile. 

His name was published in 

several American magazines. 

In 2007, Swaly survived a 

major set back, and looks 

back with appreciation at the 

assistance he got from his family 

and friends during a difficult 

spell. He became sick due to 

Swaly Jitendra Trikamdas 

extreme distress he suffered as a result 

of some family issues. During this 

period, he was in bad shape and was 

bed ridden for three and a half years. 

He suffered a neuron ailment and had 

to be treated in America, India and 

England. By God’s grace he recovered 

but still dreads thinking of what he 

went through then. “It is something I 

prefer to forget, but cannot” he exclaims 

despondently. He recovered in 2010, 

and went about clearing the mess that 

had inevitably been created during his 

absence. He concedes that without his 

family’s unceasing encouragement and 

nurturing, his recuperation would have 

been difficult if not impossible. His 

gratitude to them is endless. He put these 

unfortunate events behind him and in 

2012 (after 38 years) joined college to do 

an MBA which he finished at Sunderland 

University in the UK. He intends to do 

his doctorate in Tax; “only By the Grace 

of God” he adds solicitously. 

Swaly’s life continues to be fast paced; 

guests consistently pop in and out of his 

office through out the day. He would like to 


PERSONALITY PROFILE 

You need to be devoted, hardworking, reliable 

and honest. Be systematic, methodical and 

innovative. You must have a sense of belonging. 

slow down and is putting measures in place 

to continue his practice even while he is not 

in the office full time. After completing 

his B.com in Ranchi University in Bihar 

(India), in 1970, he went to Bombay and 

studied institute of chartered accountants 

in India. He followed his uncle in Kenya 

in 1974 then went back to India for one 

and a half years to marry his beloved wife 

in 1976, came back in 1978 and became 

a CPA in 1979. He registered at the 

accountants board (RAB). Between 1981 

and 1982, he was selected as one of the 

lecturers to teach accountancy and tax law 

at Nairobi University. His specialty is Audit 

and Tax. Swaly’s Uncle S.P Negandhi also 

an accountant, came to Kenya in 1956 and 

worked for Standard Chartered Bank for 

12 years. He had another uncle who came 

to Kenya in 1937. Below are excerpts from 

our interview: 

Why do you want to do your 

PHD now? 

In 2014, I finished my MBA; now I want 

to do my PHD because I know that the 

pursuit of knowledge is the noblest activity 

as per our scriptures. There is no age limit 

when you are in pursuit of knowledge. I 

have lived my life and my philosophy is; 

to share my knowledge, and give back to 

society. I came empty handed and I want 

to go empty handed, but in the process I 

intend to return to the world what it has 

given me. 

What do you think of 

accounting in Kenya today? 

It is one of the most wonderful because 

of the IFRSs. ICPAK has become an 

international and competitive institute. 

Kenya is ranked number two after South 

Africa. And as a professional accountancy 

education country, Kenya has maintained 

its prominence in East and Southern Africa. 

Kenya is doing enough in the accountancy 

field, but with time, whatever changes are 

coming, we should adopt them. Come to 

think of it, the East African community 

was of equal ranking, but over the years, 

Kenya has emerged as a top financial, 

educational and manufacturing hub. It has 

come out as a very bright country in the 

East African Community. I feel Kenya has 

enjoyed a very favorable liking by Western 

countries; a pet child of Britain, Europe 

and North America. 

What advise for nascent 

accountants? 

My advice to young accountants is like any 

other profession; you need to be devoted, 

hardworking, reliable and honest. Be 

systematic, methodical and innovative. You 

must have a sense of belonging. Look at it 

this way, if I am your doctor, I should keep 

you free from disease. Every professional 

should have a welfare mind and keep his 

patient free from disease. 

Swaly loves literature. He reads Gita, the 

Bible, and lots of humorous publications. 

He also enjoys biographies of great 

successful people. “My parents inculcated 

in me a lot of culture. My father was 

a social worker; that inspired me. As a 

legacy, I believe the accounting profession 

should always prosper and be useful to the 

economic development of a country. 

What are the highlights of your life? 

I wanted to simplify accounting for our 

younger generation to develop their 

interest in accounting and learn it with 

ease. It happened that during this time, I 

got a lot of students on attachment from 

various universities in Kenya and I trained 

them. Some of them today have very high 

profile positions in Kenya. From 1978 

when I became a CPA, I ensured that I 

served actively for the next 10 years in a 

number of sub committees of ICPAK. I 

was a member of the editorial committee 

for the Accountant Journal at some point; 

I was also in the education committee and 

the professional committee at different 

times. 

As a royal family, we were taught that if by 

the Grace of God you gain a skill, use it for 

the benefit of mankind; even today I am an 

honorary auditor for a number of churches, 

temples and Gurudwaras. I have been a 

social worker from my childhood. I love to 

teach and I love to share my experiences. 

I also love to travel; I have visited many 

countries in the world with my wife and 

those have been some of my best moments 

and a great reward for my work. 

Milestones 

• 1945- FCPA Swaly Jitendra 

Trikamdas is born; attends Gujarat 

Kutch Primary School in India 

• 1970 -graduates with B.Com Honours 

• 1974-completesChartered 

Accountants course in Bombay, India 

• 1976- Marries Ragini 

• 1978-1998 – He served M/s G.M. 

Kariuki and Partners; a legendary 

accountancy firm of independent era 

where he served some of the eminent 

personalities like Dr. Munyu Waiyaki 

Kenya’s first foreign minister, Mr. Jackson 

Kamau Chege Kenya’s 1st education 

secretory, Mr. Jackson Angaine Kenya’s 

forst land minister and many patriot 

dignities of independent Kenya. 

• 1979- Became CPA 

• 1981-1982-Lectured Accounting, 

Audit and Taxation at Nairobi 

University 

• 1984- Appointed first auditor of 

Mugoya construction 

• 1987 – became CPS 

• 1987 to date Private Practice 

• 1996 – He had represented Kenya at 

the International Religious 

Conference in Durban S.A and 

had prestigious privilege to lunch with 

His Excellency Nelson Mandela who 

inaugurated the event. 

• 2012 – became member of Kenya 

Management Institute (KIM) also 

became member of institute of 

Directors Kenya (IOD) 

• 2014 – He was honored as one of 

the oldest practicing Indian Chartered 

accountants since early seventies by 

the president of the Indian Institute 

of Charted accountants on his visit to 

Kenya. 

• Hopes to do his doctorate in Tax 


TRAVEL 

By Staff Writer, 

Photos: Panari Hotel Nyahururu 

SIGHTS AND 

SOUNDS OF 

NYAHURURU 


TRAVEL 

Nature and animal lovers will 

be glad to know that new 

hotels are springing up in 

Nyahururu, where they can 

appreciate nature and watch 

an array of animals most of the day. 

We visited Panari Hotels Managing 

Director Mr. Patrick Marekia and asked 

him what is trending in our tourism 

industry and why they chose to build a 

hotel in Nyahururu. The Panari MD is 

well versed with tourism, having been 

the National Chair of Domestic Tourism 

Council of Kenya. He has also been in the 

hotel industry for over forty years. 

Mr. Marekia led a team which carried 

out a study on tourism in the 80s and 

discovered that most Kenyans did not go 

for holidays because they did not have 

propensity to travel. Accordingly, they got 

hotels to come up with rates which most 

Kenyans could afford (and dubbed it the 

residents’ rates). It was difficult to convince 

locals to pay for travel and accommodation 

and see the diversity in Kenya. The Council 

negotiated for reduced transport cost, 

accommodation and entrance charges to 

game parks. With these incentives, the 

locals gradually started to tour their own 

country. This was in mid 1980s. 

Mr. Marekia says today we have a 

ballooning middle class ready to spend 

money and go for holidays regularly. In 

addition, there are international visitors 

from traditional and emerging markets 

who want to explore their world. 

Fortunately Kenya is endowed with a rich 

menu of tourist attractions and becomes 

a destination of choice for many a visitor 

planning a holiday abroad. Mr. Marekia 

says he is pleased that tourism is getting 

added support and resources from the 

government. Several measures and 

incentives have been put in place to ensure 

that the tourism industry in Kenya is robust 

and diverse. He stresses that the state has 

reduced visa and aircraft landing fees to 

make the destination more affordable. The 

Government agenda on infrastructure, be 

it rail, road, air and telecommunication, 

not to mention enhanced security 

measures, are all positive ingredients to 


TRAVEL 

The 20 acre Panari resort Nyahururu grounds 

is a striking place in a peaceful setting. The 100 

bedroom hotel is situated along the Nyahururu – 

Nyeri road next to the world famous Thomson’s 

Falls. The hotel plans to host conferences, 

meetings and seminars in its four conference 

rooms with total capacity of 450 persons. 

grow the tourism sector. The advancement 

in tourism growth was recently confirmed 

by tourism Cabinet Secretary Mr. Najib 

Balala who declared that tourism looks up 

to a growth of 20% in the near future. 

Mr. Marekia notes with concern that 

tourism business tends to slow down with 

every election. He advances that this need 

not be the case if all Kenyans choose to 

become agents of peace. We must never 

again be the laughing stock of the civilized 

world. Tourists must feel spellbound to visit 

Kenya not only for sun, beach and bush, 

but also to see our sports men and women, 

our athletes, cultural diversity, agricultural 

exploits etc. They must never again be 

afraid to visit our country due to our local 

disagreements and wasteful skirmishes. If 

these measures are in place, tourism will 

thrive all the time and all Kenyans will 

benefit. Kenyans must protect and nurture 

our wildlife, our environment and our 

communities jealously, not just for tourism 

but more importantly for posterity. We 

need to clean our cities and our villages; 

we need to have discipline on our roads. 

Our drivers must respect other road users. 

Those who drive inside our national parks 

must respect the wildlife and stop driving 

off-road for the sake of the animals 

comfort and peace. 

He believes that if road and rail networks 

are properly designed and guarded, 

drives will be a great experience and 

there will be less human/animal conflict. 

Mr Marekia advocates for investors in 


TRAVEL 

tourism industries to be allowed to enjoy 

tax holidays as an incentive for business 

investment. This will see an increase in the 

growth of tourism infrastructure as well as 

other support industries which in turn, will 

absorb many unemployed youth; both as 

employees and as basic entrepreneurs. 

Panari Hotel in Nairobi which Mr. 

Marekia heads has been diligently run 

for ten years. Their latest addition, the 

In fact, for many people, vacationing in 

Nyahururu is like a therapy and Panari 

resort is a permanent game changer for 

Nyahururu and Laikipia County. There are 

several spectacular sights within easy reach. 

You can enjoy the countryside through the 

Marmanet forest. At the hotel, there is 

plenty to do if you want to be busy. Apart 

from having two scenic restaurants and a 

well stocked bar at your disposal, you can 

resort. Panari resort has brought hospitality 

services to the eight Counties surrounding 

Laikipia not to forget the dynamics 

expected out of the LAPSET development. 

Mr. Marekia promises to deliver first 

class services to all guests and assures them 

of good wine and dine experience. He 

explains that Nyahururu is rich with fresh 

farm produce and the resort is buying these 

exclusively from the farming community of 

Panari resort Nyahururu has just opened 

its doors of hospitality to the public. The 

20 acre Panari resort Nyahururu grounds 

is a striking place in a peaceful setting. 

The 100 bedroom hotel is situated along 

the Nyahururu – Nyeri road next to the 

world famous Thomson’s Falls. The hotel 

plans to host conferences, meetings and 

seminars in its four conference rooms with 

total capacity of 450 persons. The indoor 

heated swimming pool is complemented by 

a state of the art gym, aerobic studio, sauna, 

steam bath and spar treatment facilities. 

view the Thomson falls from the comfort 

of your room balcony, you can also view 

hippos’ pools and indulge in bird watching. 

Children have not been forgotten as they 

will delight in the fine kids’ play area. 

Mr. Marekia explains that the location of 

the resort was a significant consideration to 

develop Panari resort. Nyahururu is served 

by four major roads from Maralal, Nairobi, 

Naivasha, Nakuru and Nyeri. Furthermore, 

Laikipia County in which Panari resort 

is situated, is surrounded by 8 counties 

which will no doubt generate traffic to the 

Nyahururu. 

Concerns have been raised on the 

degradation of the environment in the 

process of building the resort. “I would like 

to confirm that we have commenced the 

rehabilitation of the site and so far, over 300 

tree seedlings have been planted. Our aim 

is to plant double the number of the trees 

we found on the site.” He pledges. 

Mr. Marekia is encouraging Kenyans to 

visit tourist sites and know their country; 

where magnificent hotels and locations 

continue to give them value for money. 


ACCOUNTANTS Puzzle 

By CPA Derrick Majani 

Break the ICE! 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 

Answers for March-April 2016 Issue 

9 10 12 

13 14 15 

8 

1 1 C p 2A K 3U 4I 5C P 6A 

S C 7P U N I S H S 

I C T F 8P S 

S 9L O G O O 10F I R E 

U 11A D O R E L T 

12B N A M O 

13.C A S T T 14A U 15D I T 

R A 16E A T I 

16 17 18 19 

20 21 

22 23 24 

A 17N O W 18I P S A 19S 

20S e T 21C E O T U 

A N A 22E G 23G 

24O 

25B N R 

26D O W N L O 27A D 28H C P 29A A 

D U I E L T 

30S K Y P E 31m A L E 32L i E 

25 26 27 28 29 

30 31 32 33 

34 

35 36 

37 38 

39 40 41 42 43 44 

45 46 47 48 

49 50 

Across 

1. Boundaries or entries to new experiences 

5. A fellow of the institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya 

9. MAC rival 

10. Defraud 

12. ____ stamp 

14. a part of the Internet accessed through a graphical user interface 

16. Theoretical model 

19. free from all charges or deductions 

20. Information systems, for short 

21. Key executive, for short 

22. is a numeric scale used to specify the acidity or basicity of an 

aqueous solution 

24. Personal Assistant 

26. Synonymous with standard motoring practices in Kenya-AA 

28. Try to win over 

30. The essential asset of any auditor 

34. Chinese food cooking additive-mi 

35. International Integrated Reporting Council 

36. A temporary state of mind or feeling. 

37. Communication system that transfers data between computers-bus 

39. Tanzania 

41. All in place 

43. An abbreviation for Old English.-OE 

45. an indefinite and very long period of time 

47. tribute to someone who has died 

49. Also called an external bond 

50. Tier-layer 

Down 

1. Trainee Accountant Practical Experience Framework 

2. A place in which a person bathes 

3. Operating 

4. Modern means of ID 

6. A defensive strategy against a takeover bid involving selling off 

attractive part of a company. 

7. On the plus side of a ledger 

8. Means of hacking attack-vector 

11. Produced, introduced, or discovered recently 

13. A compartmental drawer for cash, and it totals, displays and 

records amount of each sale. 

15. A container which typically resembles a square 

17. Abbreviation for rest in peace 

18. University affiliated to ICPAK 

23. Urban transport 

25. Important certification offered by ICAEW 

27. The official Web site of AOL Instant Messenger-aim 

29. Diffusion 

31. International Financial Reporting Standards 

32. Restricted or circumscribed 

33. Finance abbreviation, up to this point of the year 

37. Tooth colour (technologically speaking)-Blue 

38. Motherless calf in a range herd of cattle 

40. an establishment that maintains a collection of wild animals 

42. Soup to nuts-all 

44. An organ for seeing- eye 

46. “note well” 

48. A fictional planet that lies at the center of the DC Comics universe 

Find your answers in the next issue 


FCPA Wycliffe 

Oparanya, 

Kakamega 

Governor 

CPA Philip Kinisu, 

Chairman of 

the Ethics and 

Anti-Corruption 

Commission 

FCPA Dr. Martin Luke 

Oduor-Otieno. 

ICPAK Chairman 

(1997-1999) 

FCPA Billow 

Kerrow, 

Senator, 

Mandera 

County 

FCPA Michael 

Waweru, 

Former KRA 

Commissioner 

General 

FCPA Mrs. 

Agnes 

Odhiambo, 

Controller of 

Budget 

ICPAK walked with them in their careers. Don’t walk alone! Take 

advantage and save up to 50% on membership registration 

before 31st May 2016. Contact us on +254 20 230 42 26/7, 

memberservices@icpak.com or log on to www.icpak.com 

BECOME AN 

ICPAK 

MEMBER 


ACCOUNTABLE RECIPES 

By Sharon Gatonye, Sgatonye@outlook.com, Ash Studio: Food+Photography 

Marinated 

Tomatoes 

on Toast 

A quick delicious snack that takes 

Tomatoes sandwich to a next level. 

Marinated Tomatoes on Toast 

Ingredients 

250g Baby Tomatoes, halved and 

Quartered 

50g Olive Oil 

25g Balsamic Vinegar 

Season with Black pepper and Salt 

1 loaf of Rye Bread, Sliced and toasted 

100g Cream Cheese 

50g Salad leaves 

Method 

Place the tomatoes into a bowl. 

Drizzle over olive oil and Balsamic 

vinegar over the tomatoes. 

Season well. Allow to Marinate for 10-15 

min. 

Spread a generous filling of cream 

cheese on toast, a spoonful of tomatoes 

and top it off with salad leaves. 

Serve and enjoy. 


ACCOUNTABLE RECIPES 

Roast Lamb shoulder 

with Crushed Potatoes 

1 leg of Lamb, 750-1kg (optional 

ask the butcher to trim the knee off) 

Salt and pepper 

1 tbsp (15ml) butter at room 

temperature 

1 tbsp (15 ml) olive oil 

10 Potatoes, cuded and boiled 

1 bulb of garlic 

1 handful green olive ,stoned 

A sprig of rosemary 

For the herd crust: 

salt and pepper to taste 

2 cloves of garlic,peeled and 

crushed 

60 g fresh flat leaf parsley, roughly 

chopped 

30 g thyme leaves 

Leaves of 1 rosemary stalk, 

chopped 

Preheat the oven to 200ºC. Remove 

all unwanted fat from the lamb, 

and score* the fat side of the meat. 

Season the lamb with salt and 

pepper. 

Heat butter and olive oil in a heavy 

saucepan over medium heat. When 

the olive oil and butter mixture 

starts foaming, sear the lamb for 

2-5 minutes on each side until it 

has a good brown colour. Remove 

the meat from the pan and keep 

aside. 

For the herb crust, break the bread 

into large chunks and place in a 

food processor and blitz to make 

fine breadcrumbs. Add the garlic 

and herbs and process for about 10- 

15 min to form a fine mixture. 

Mix the Butter, salt and pepper 

together. Brush the whole rack of 

lamb with the seasoned butter. 

Pour the breadcrumb mixture onto 

a plate, place the lamb on top and 

press the breadcrumbs onto the 

meat. The seasoned butter almost 

acts a glue. 

Place the meat in the oven for 

about 30 minute. The time in the 

oven will depend on the thickness 

of the meat and how you prefer the 

meat to be done. The best way to 

serve rack of lamb is medium rare. 

It should be nice and pink in the 

middle. 

Remove from oven, and let it rest 

for 8-10 minutes before serving. 


PEN OFF 

By FCPA Jim McFie, a Fellow of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya 

EFFECTIVE 

BUSINESS 

REPORTING 

PROCESSES 

A 

couple of years ago, the 

International Federation 

of Accountants published 

an International Good 

Practice Guidance entitled 

“Principles for Effective Business 

Reporting Processes”. We are all involved 

in one way or another in ensuring that the 

organization we work for or audit produces 

effective reports. What does the guidance 

say about this “process”? 

The guidance lays down eleven 

principles to ensure effective reporting 

processes in organizations: these principles 

do not prescribe a specific approach, but 

highlight a number of areas for specific 

consideration when implementing 

reporting processes. 

As is logical, the basis of the process 

is a commitment to effective reporting 

processes: the onus is on senior 

management to assume leadership for 

high-quality reports through effective 

reporting processes. The governing body 

must demonstrate commitment to high 

quality reports and provide strategic 

input into, and oversight over, the 

organization’s reporting processes. The 

governing body is the group of persons 

with primary responsibility for overseeing 

the strategic direction of the entity and the 

accountability of the entity, e.g., a board 

of directors: this includes overseeing the 

financial reporting process. Governing 

bodies can be made up of independent and 

non-independent directors and can have 

various sub-committees, such as an audit 

committee, a remuneration committee or 

an ethics committee. In some entities in 

some jurisdictions, the governing body 

may include management personnel, 

for example, executive members of a 

governance board of a private or public 

sector entity, or an owner-manager. In some 

cases, the governing body is responsible for 

approving the entity’s financial statements: 

in other cases management has this 

responsibility. In most large organizations, 

there can be multiple organizational 

levels, each with specific authority and 

responsibility for governance. The term 

governing body is used for both the 

governing body at the top (the board of 

directors or the board of trustees) and 

the lower-level governing bodies. Senior 

management should ensure that the 

organization has the reporting processes 

and controls needed to deliver high-quality 

business reports that meet stakeholders’ 

needs and regulatory reporting criteria. 

Programs should be in place to ensure 

that the governing body understands 

the information being reported by the 

organization and is able to monitor that 

there are appropriate controls to ensure 

all material information is disclosed. 

The governing body should demonstrate 

integrity and transparency with respect 

to effective reporting processes and the 

quality of reported information, and 

expect the same from all others involved in 

the reporting process. The governing body 

also should ensure that the organization’s 

governance and compensation practices 

are consistent with the provision of highquality 

reports. The governing body should 

consider including reporting quality in the 

organization’s objectives to ensure that 

senior management is committed to highquality 

reports and that effective reporting 

processes are adequately embedded in the 

organization. The governing body should 

provide feedback to senior management 

on what information it needs to carry 

out its fiduciary duties and how reports 

should be presented to avoid information 

overload and time wasted preparing and 

reading unnecessary information. 

If the commitment is present, we need 

to determine roles and responsibilities: the 

organization must determine the various 

roles, responsibilities, and consequential 

capabilities in the reporting process, 

appoint the appropriate personnel, and 

coordinate collaboration among those 


PEN OFF 

IFAC President Olivia Kirtley discusses 

progress of accounting profession 

with Prime Minister Hon. Ranil 

Wickremesinghe in Sri Lanka 

involved in the reporting process.There 

are several main responsibilities for the 

organization’s reporting processes. The 

governing body should provide ethical 

and strategic leadership with respect to, 

and assume overall stewardship for, the 

organization’s reporting processes. It also 

should ensure that senior management has 

effectively undertaken its responsibilities 

relating to the organization’s reporting 

processes, for example, ensuring that the 

appropriate reporting policies are adopted. 

The governing body also has overall 

responsibility for approving all business 

reports before they are issued to external 

stakeholders. The audit committee, in those 

organizations where relevant, on behalf of 

the governing body, should oversee the 

organization’s financial reporting and 

reporting processes. It also should ensure 

that business reports are in accordance 

with policies, standards and regulations. 

Therefore, it should meet with senior 

management and auditors and report 

regularly to the governing body. Senior 

management should design, implement, 

maintain and monitor the organization’s 

reporting processes and systems, and 

regularly report on their effectiveness to 

the governing body. Senior management 

also should be explicitly responsible 

for the timely delivery, provision and 

preparation of the required high-quality 

reports. Professional accountants in 

business involved in their organizations’ 

reporting activities should be committed 

to the integrity and to the effectiveness of 

reporting processes, and to providing useful 

business reports. Their responsibilities 

normally would extend to implementing 

changes to financial and other reporting 

standards.Communications/investor 

relations staff should support the 

governing body and senior management in 

communicating the position, performance, 

outlooks and strategy of the organization 

with the various internal and external 

stakeholders. In addition, communications/ 

investor relations staff should reach out to 

stakeholders to establish their information 

needs. IT personnel should ensure the 

availability, integrity and security of the 

organization’s information and reporting 

systems and data.Internal and external 

auditors should play an important 

role in monitoring and evaluating the 

reporting processes and systems and could 

provide assuranceon their effectiveness 

to the governing body, often through 

the audit committee where applicable. 

The organization should encourage its 

internal and external stakeholders, being 

the primary users of business reports, to 

identify the information they need to make 

informed decisions on behalf of or about 

the organization, and to provide feedback 

as to the usefulness of the reports they are 

receiving. Without this information, those 

responsible for the provision of business 


PEN OFF 

Like anything in this life, the reporting process must be planned 

and controlled: the organization must develop and implement an 

effective planning and control cycle for its reporting processes in 

the context of and in alignment with its wider planning and control 

cycles. Stakeholders must be engaged with: the organization must 

regularly engage with its internal and external stakeholders and 

understand their information needs with regard to past, present 

and future activities and the results of these activities. 

reports are ill-informed regarding what to 

report or how to improve their reporting 

processes (see Principle D, Engaging 

Stakeholders). 

Internal and external subject matter experts 

can support the organization’s reporting 

processes in various roles. However, these 

experts should not be given responsibility 

for the quality of the reported information 

or the effectiveness of the reporting 

processes in the organization. 

B.2 Professional behavior and adequate 

capabilities should be required for all 

participants in the reporting processes. 

The organization should establish 

experience requirements for positions 

in the reporting process. Additionally, it 

should establish training requirements to 

keep capabilities in this area up-to-date. 

B.3 Operations staff and line management 

who can provide more in-depth 

explanations of the operating and similar 

activities in the organization should 

be involved in the reporting process 

to ensure that preparers of reports are 

well connected to operations and truly 

understand the inner workings of the 

organization. Likewise, preparers of 

reports can help operations staff and line 

management understand and interpret the 

draft financial results and other reporting 

information, which can support the timely 

detection of errors or anomalies. 

B.4 Managers across the organization 

should have sufficient understanding of 

the operation of the reporting processes 

and systems, as well as the related risks 

and controls, relevant to their area of 

responsibility in order to assume their 

reporting responsibilities. They should 

also be capable of analyzing the draft 

information and providing feedback 

before the information goes to the 

governing body or becomes public. 

B.5 In smaller and mid-sized 

organizations, professional accountants 

in business often fulfill several of the 

roles and responsibilities in the reporting 

process. While they specialize in finance, 

accounting, and reporting activities, they 

usually also serve as an integral part of 

the management team and are engaged in 

maintaining investor or creditor relations, 

monitoring compliance with the legal or 

regulatory reporting aspects of business 

reporting, and evaluating and improving 

the organization’s information and 

reporting systems, including the related 

internal controls.5 

Like anything in this life, the reporting 

process must be planned and controlled: 

the organization must develop and 

implement an effective planning and 

control cycle for its reporting processes in 

the context of and in alignment with its 

wider planning and control cycles. 

Stakeholders must be engaged with: 

the organization must regularly engage 

with its internal and external stakeholders 

and understand their information needs 

with regard to past, present and future 

activities and the results of these activities. 

The reporting content must be defined: 

based on the outcomes of its stakeholder 

engagement and taking cost-benefit 

considerations into account, the 

organization must define the content to 

be included in its reports and decide on 

the audience, layout and timing of its 

reports. 

Appropriate frameworks and standards 

must be selected: the organization must 

have a process in place to ensure that the 

most appropriate reporting frameworks 

and standards are selected and that the 

requirements of those frameworks and 

standards are aligned with stakeholder 

information needs. 

Reporting processes must be 

determined: the organization must 

determine what information needs to 

be captured, processed, analyzed and 

reported, and how to organize the 

information processes and related systems 

for effective reporting. 

Reporting technology must be used 

appropriately: the organization must 

identify, analyze, and select appropriate 

communications tools and decide how to 

optimize distribution of the organization’s 

reporting information via the various 

communications channels. 

Analyzing and interpreting reported 

information: the organization must ensure 

that reported information is sufficiently 

analyzed and interpreted before it 

is provided to internal and external 

stakeholders. 

Obtaining assurance and providing for 

accountability: when obtaining internal 

or external assurance is not a matter 

of compliance, the organization must 

consider voluntary internal or external 

assurance on its reports and reporting 

processes. 

Reporting processes must be evaluated 

and improved: the organization must 

regularly evaluate its reporting processes 

and systems to identify and carry out 

further improvements required for 

enhancing reporting effectiveness. 

These eleven principles form 

mutually reinforcing elements in a 

cycle of continuous improvement of 

organizational reporting processes, not 

necessarily in a fixed order. 


COMPLEX 

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Structure 

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Please contact Lloyd Masika Property Agents and Valuers 

Tel: 0722 481 504, 0733 597 050

The Accountant May-June-2016

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