It is now over 2 weeks that the Parklands/Highridge area has seen any water coming through the taps, yet, other places are getting water, though, in an erratic manner. This is reminiscent of the whole country and its many water delivery outfits. None of these people are consistent and reliable when it comes to water delivery 'services'.
And the irony of the area mentioned above is that, there is a water tank still overflowing with the precious fluid right next door at the former Highridge Teacher's Training College. While the people living right next 'door' to this offending overflowing tank, are going without a drop of water for weeks on end.
The Nairobi Water Company even has the temerity to send their offensive phantom water bills and their goons to disconnect water meters of people who have not had water for ages, thanks to their incompetence.
Why is it that some areas of Nairobi get water all the time, i.e. are not prone to their water rationing while other areas like the one mentioned above hardly get any water. Do these people have anything called planning in their 'working horizons'?!
One wonders if there is planning of ANY KIND applicable to this incompetent, bloated and corrupt government. The only thing they are capable of 'planning' is how to tax the public for their own selfish ends!
We sure live in the most trying and unjust times in this country. As mentioned umpteen times previously, there's no law or justice here any longer.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
The costs of 'dressing'!
Going to the Aga Khan Hospital's Casualty Dept., for a change of dressing for a wound or operation site can cost nothing less than 750/- and most times it's much more than that as I found out to my detriment this afternoon.
As soon as one reports at the reception, you're given a number for when the cashier will call it out. At this point, you're required to pay a standard charge of 750/- for which the receipt says 'dressing-casualty'.
After this, one is required to wait till your name is called out. That's what happened with me just a few hours ago. The only reason I needed to go for this was because of a surgery I'd gone through yesterday barely 24 hours ago and the tapes that had been put on the site had got wet and needed replacing.
When my name was called out I followed the male nurse(?), into the cubicle for this purpose. There on the side table was a closed brown paper bag which I was to discover held the accoutrements for cleaning wounds, operation sites, etc. The nurse opened this bag even before looking at what I required and what a waste it turned out to be, because the only thing required to be done in my case was to replace that wet tape. He realized this immediately that I showed him my operation site, but, since he'd opened the bag, he put a little saline fluid into a crucible, added some Betadine(?) and proceeded to dip some wool held with forceps into this liquid and wiped the area after removing the tape.Then, he disappeared for a few minutes and came back with the replacement tapes. He said that there was no need to do anything else as everything was fine (and no wonder since it is hardly 24 hours since my operation even as I write this), and nothing else needed to be done.
The whole thing was over in less than 5 minutes and I was ready to go, when, I was stopped by the nurse and told to pay further for the tapes that he had used. This was a complete surprise and nobody had warned me that I was going to be making further payments other than the one I'd already made in the name of 'dressing'. So, I ended up paying a further 300/- for this and the receipt reads 'opsite post operative'. What is the difference between that and 'dressing'?
And if they were going to charge me for this, why charge me 750/-, earlier? Or vice versa? I got very angry at this additional charge and told the girl there that I thought of this as a complete rip off. She in turn, hid behind the statement that this was standard procedure. Whatever that means? I've discovered that these two words 'standard procedures' are used to hide a multitude of unanswerable questions that people like me ask of officialdom. In fact, they will keep repeating this statement over and over again like stuck records!
Before, I started writing this email (and for whose email addresses I had to search the Internet), I decided to ring the casualty dept of the hospital and ask to speak to the person in charge. When I eventually managed to talk to her, she defended their practices and there was not a trace of remorse from her that I had ended paying over a 1000/- for a simple change of tapes. I also told her that I was writing this email and told me to go ahead which is what I'm doing.
So, everybody BEWARE, of these hidden costs of 'dressing' your wounds or 'opsite post operative'. Better make sure before you pay anything or you might get fleeced. In which case, you'd better have lots of money on you to pay for your oversight.
As soon as one reports at the reception, you're given a number for when the cashier will call it out. At this point, you're required to pay a standard charge of 750/- for which the receipt says 'dressing-casualty'.
After this, one is required to wait till your name is called out. That's what happened with me just a few hours ago. The only reason I needed to go for this was because of a surgery I'd gone through yesterday barely 24 hours ago and the tapes that had been put on the site had got wet and needed replacing.
When my name was called out I followed the male nurse(?), into the cubicle for this purpose. There on the side table was a closed brown paper bag which I was to discover held the accoutrements for cleaning wounds, operation sites, etc. The nurse opened this bag even before looking at what I required and what a waste it turned out to be, because the only thing required to be done in my case was to replace that wet tape. He realized this immediately that I showed him my operation site, but, since he'd opened the bag, he put a little saline fluid into a crucible, added some Betadine(?) and proceeded to dip some wool held with forceps into this liquid and wiped the area after removing the tape.Then, he disappeared for a few minutes and came back with the replacement tapes. He said that there was no need to do anything else as everything was fine (and no wonder since it is hardly 24 hours since my operation even as I write this), and nothing else needed to be done.
The whole thing was over in less than 5 minutes and I was ready to go, when, I was stopped by the nurse and told to pay further for the tapes that he had used. This was a complete surprise and nobody had warned me that I was going to be making further payments other than the one I'd already made in the name of 'dressing'. So, I ended up paying a further 300/- for this and the receipt reads 'opsite post operative'. What is the difference between that and 'dressing'?
And if they were going to charge me for this, why charge me 750/-, earlier? Or vice versa? I got very angry at this additional charge and told the girl there that I thought of this as a complete rip off. She in turn, hid behind the statement that this was standard procedure. Whatever that means? I've discovered that these two words 'standard procedures' are used to hide a multitude of unanswerable questions that people like me ask of officialdom. In fact, they will keep repeating this statement over and over again like stuck records!
Before, I started writing this email (and for whose email addresses I had to search the Internet), I decided to ring the casualty dept of the hospital and ask to speak to the person in charge. When I eventually managed to talk to her, she defended their practices and there was not a trace of remorse from her that I had ended paying over a 1000/- for a simple change of tapes. I also told her that I was writing this email and told me to go ahead which is what I'm doing.
So, everybody BEWARE, of these hidden costs of 'dressing' your wounds or 'opsite post operative'. Better make sure before you pay anything or you might get fleeced. In which case, you'd better have lots of money on you to pay for your oversight.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Nairobi's worsening water situation
I don't know what the problem is with the various ministries in charge of vital services like water. They never seem to deliver these 'services' predictably and consistently.
For example, the Nairobi Water Company a while ago publicized the timings and areas about how, when and where they are going to be supplying water. They never kept their word despite them having given this in the media. One would sympathize and even cooperate with their rationing IF, they would keep their word about days and timings, but, the residents get very frustrated and angry when they don't keep these.
The Parklands/Highridge area and it's immediate environs, haven't had water for over a week with no explanation forthcoming from these so-called 'service' providers. It would seem that they only get off their lazy and incompetent backsides when they receive my nasty emails and for a while water comes through, but, they, like Kenyans in general have extremely short memories and they soon forget to supply us with this vital fluid. This time they have really messed us up since the Muslims who live here are having their Eid holiday and after a whole month of fasting, we now have to do without water, still!
Why at this time? One wonders if this is not a planned thing in order to frustrate us.
And why is it that certain other areas like Westlands never misses water? Are their sources of water different from ours?
The people in charge of delivering these 'services' still seem to be living on another planet where they think that their incompetence is going to go unnoticed. They forget that we are living in the 21st Century where the mode of communication is much faster than their slow thinking brains and we can now know within seconds about what is going on where.
So, I would like to welcome them to the 21st Century and request them to get their act together pronto and supply us with water with immediate effect. Otherwise, they'd better not send us phantom bills for their phantom water. It would be like adding salt to a festering wound.
On second thoughts, are the water tankers who provide both 'fresh' and borehole water in cahoots with the various official water providers? That is, maybe, they (water company and 'friends') are getting a hefty cut from these water tanker owners....?
For example, the Nairobi Water Company a while ago publicized the timings and areas about how, when and where they are going to be supplying water. They never kept their word despite them having given this in the media. One would sympathize and even cooperate with their rationing IF, they would keep their word about days and timings, but, the residents get very frustrated and angry when they don't keep these.
The Parklands/Highridge area and it's immediate environs, haven't had water for over a week with no explanation forthcoming from these so-called 'service' providers. It would seem that they only get off their lazy and incompetent backsides when they receive my nasty emails and for a while water comes through, but, they, like Kenyans in general have extremely short memories and they soon forget to supply us with this vital fluid. This time they have really messed us up since the Muslims who live here are having their Eid holiday and after a whole month of fasting, we now have to do without water, still!
Why at this time? One wonders if this is not a planned thing in order to frustrate us.
And why is it that certain other areas like Westlands never misses water? Are their sources of water different from ours?
The people in charge of delivering these 'services' still seem to be living on another planet where they think that their incompetence is going to go unnoticed. They forget that we are living in the 21st Century where the mode of communication is much faster than their slow thinking brains and we can now know within seconds about what is going on where.
So, I would like to welcome them to the 21st Century and request them to get their act together pronto and supply us with water with immediate effect. Otherwise, they'd better not send us phantom bills for their phantom water. It would be like adding salt to a festering wound.
On second thoughts, are the water tankers who provide both 'fresh' and borehole water in cahoots with the various official water providers? That is, maybe, they (water company and 'friends') are getting a hefty cut from these water tanker owners....?
Friday, August 21, 2009
A/c No 2399078-02 & the ongoing power rationing
My cousin's place (at the above account number), suffers from the 'scheduled' power cuts on Tuesdays, Thursdays and recently Saturday was added recently to the usual 2 days of rationing. All this is highly inconvenient, but, in this country, this is not a problem for the various service providers. In fact, they couldn't care less!
This morning, we suddenly lost power, again. This would be the second day running. Therefore, we rang the emergency to ask why this was so as it was not the scheduled day of 'rationing'. The emergency, when they answered, could not explain why we were having an outage. So, we rang some other numbers but all of them went un-answered except for one and when she was told of our predicament, said that we should ring emergency. When we told her that we had already done that and that they could not give us an explanation and that was the reason we were ringing her. She promptly told us that the number we were ringing was her private one and cut us off. That number had been given to me by one of her colleagues in Mombasa.
Soon after being rebuffed by her, we got our power back and one wonders how long this awful and unpredictable power rationing is going to go on for.
Yesterday, another friend of mine who has the same days of rationing as my cousin but lives on Sports Road, never had the power go off the entire day. It was quite a boon for her, but, she was very insecure about it all the same - that the thing would go off anytime since the power guys don't have any strict timing that they adhere, to.
Oh yes, they say, for cosmetic purposes, the it will go from 6.00 am to 6.00 pm, but they do not always stick to those timings.
Every 'service' provider in this country announces one thing and practices something else altogether. No wonder we do not take them seriously.
This morning, we suddenly lost power, again. This would be the second day running. Therefore, we rang the emergency to ask why this was so as it was not the scheduled day of 'rationing'. The emergency, when they answered, could not explain why we were having an outage. So, we rang some other numbers but all of them went un-answered except for one and when she was told of our predicament, said that we should ring emergency. When we told her that we had already done that and that they could not give us an explanation and that was the reason we were ringing her. She promptly told us that the number we were ringing was her private one and cut us off. That number had been given to me by one of her colleagues in Mombasa.
Soon after being rebuffed by her, we got our power back and one wonders how long this awful and unpredictable power rationing is going to go on for.
Yesterday, another friend of mine who has the same days of rationing as my cousin but lives on Sports Road, never had the power go off the entire day. It was quite a boon for her, but, she was very insecure about it all the same - that the thing would go off anytime since the power guys don't have any strict timing that they adhere, to.
Oh yes, they say, for cosmetic purposes, the it will go from 6.00 am to 6.00 pm, but they do not always stick to those timings.
Every 'service' provider in this country announces one thing and practices something else altogether. No wonder we do not take them seriously.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
RE: Your Ref: KACC/INV. 6/10/ Vol.III/ (102) AND NOW (113) - 21190 - RE: NOISE POLLUTION - ATTN: P.M MWANGI 'ndc' (K)
I've been in receipt of a response to my email regarding this issue since the beginning of August, telling me that I should contact the PPO and the NEMA offices for intervention regarding the persistent and continuous noise and subsequent harassment by the neighbours.
This email is an answer to the latest missive ( Ref.-113), from KACC. Since I last wrote, I've been inundated by noise nearly every other day thanks to there being a wedding season in Coast Province which usually happens every year just before Ramadhan. Add to this, the religious noises that we have to put up with everyday from both the Muslims and the Christians. Life assumes an intolerable agony and despite sending these emails to the NEMA, NOBODY is doing anything about these issues.
In fact, the latest noise and by extension harassment issue is on going as I write this and it involves Councillor Kushe who is also a neighbour. If the officer at KACC will notice, this particular email has also been sent to the Ministry of Local Government under whom this Council Estate falls as well as the 'complaints' section (email) of the Kenya Police. This later, while I got it from their Web page, always bounces. One wonders, why?
And despite calling numerous senior police officers when the noise is on going, results in absolutely nothing. Therefore, one thinks in terms of corruption which is definitely supposed to be dealt with by KACC. It is this last response from our so-called cops, that results in me writing these emails. Their attitude smacks of corruption!
Since yesterday evening, Councillor Kushe's place has been celebrating his daughter's wedding in the most offensive (to the neighbours), way. They have been having loud music playing the whole night and despite trying to first talk to them to reduce the volume, which resulted in them ignoring my calls. I then, tried calling the various officers including a senior officer, Mr. Lumumba, to please take some action as I could not sleep. Nothing doing! They all claimed that they were sending somebody, but, nobody came.
These offensive people only stopped in the morning at around 5.15 am when the call to morning prayer was given. Immediately, the prayer was over at around 5.45 am, some kids with a drum started drumming with complete impunity and disregard for the neighbours who had not slept the whole night, thanks to them and were trying to get some shut eye, for a couple of hours to be able to function for the rest of the day without feeling like zombies. They paid no attention to my pleas, and in fact, have been setting off the car alarm and ringing my doorbell and then running away. It's still going on....
Is there ever going to be any action taken or is the buck going to be continued to be passed along, where, nothing gets done?
As soon as cops in this country hear a politicians name, they are very averse to doing anything to stop whatever misdemeanor that one is complaining about. Why? Are our 3rd class politicians above the law? If this is the case, then, it's the only country where it is so.
This email is an answer to the latest missive ( Ref.-113), from KACC. Since I last wrote, I've been inundated by noise nearly every other day thanks to there being a wedding season in Coast Province which usually happens every year just before Ramadhan. Add to this, the religious noises that we have to put up with everyday from both the Muslims and the Christians. Life assumes an intolerable agony and despite sending these emails to the NEMA, NOBODY is doing anything about these issues.
In fact, the latest noise and by extension harassment issue is on going as I write this and it involves Councillor Kushe who is also a neighbour. If the officer at KACC will notice, this particular email has also been sent to the Ministry of Local Government under whom this Council Estate falls as well as the 'complaints' section (email) of the Kenya Police. This later, while I got it from their Web page, always bounces. One wonders, why?
And despite calling numerous senior police officers when the noise is on going, results in absolutely nothing. Therefore, one thinks in terms of corruption which is definitely supposed to be dealt with by KACC. It is this last response from our so-called cops, that results in me writing these emails. Their attitude smacks of corruption!
Since yesterday evening, Councillor Kushe's place has been celebrating his daughter's wedding in the most offensive (to the neighbours), way. They have been having loud music playing the whole night and despite trying to first talk to them to reduce the volume, which resulted in them ignoring my calls. I then, tried calling the various officers including a senior officer, Mr. Lumumba, to please take some action as I could not sleep. Nothing doing! They all claimed that they were sending somebody, but, nobody came.
These offensive people only stopped in the morning at around 5.15 am when the call to morning prayer was given. Immediately, the prayer was over at around 5.45 am, some kids with a drum started drumming with complete impunity and disregard for the neighbours who had not slept the whole night, thanks to them and were trying to get some shut eye, for a couple of hours to be able to function for the rest of the day without feeling like zombies. They paid no attention to my pleas, and in fact, have been setting off the car alarm and ringing my doorbell and then running away. It's still going on....
Is there ever going to be any action taken or is the buck going to be continued to be passed along, where, nothing gets done?
As soon as cops in this country hear a politicians name, they are very averse to doing anything to stop whatever misdemeanor that one is complaining about. Why? Are our 3rd class politicians above the law? If this is the case, then, it's the only country where it is so.
Strange rationing in Nairobi
As mentioned before, I have family and friends in Nairobi who send me frantic messages about the water situation there.
Since my last email on 6th August regarding this issue, the Parklands/Highridge area suddenly started getting water, but, now the Nairobi Water Company has resumed it's sleepy state and gone into never-never land, again, for they have been without water for the past 3 to 4 days.
Can they please stick to a strict rationing? Meaning that when they say that a certain area is going to get water from this time to this time and on a particular day/s, the residents there really do get the water which applies to everywhere in this country?
We can all sympathize with the fact that we're all suffering from a limited water supply, but, if managed properly, these umpteen outfits which have sprouted up like mushrooms all over the country, can effectively manage our scant water resources. But, of course, like everything else in this lawless country none of these outfits are accountable and work without the proverbial sword of Damocles hanging over their heads.
So, will this email have any positive effect on the Nairobi Water Company? Yet to be seen....
I'll know about this from my various contacts, Insha'Allah, as well as when I come there, soon, to spend the holy month of Ramadhan. I just hope and pray that they (the Water companies), are not going to collude together during this month to deprive us of this much needed and life giving resource.
Since my last email on 6th August regarding this issue, the Parklands/Highridge area suddenly started getting water, but, now the Nairobi Water Company has resumed it's sleepy state and gone into never-never land, again, for they have been without water for the past 3 to 4 days.
Can they please stick to a strict rationing? Meaning that when they say that a certain area is going to get water from this time to this time and on a particular day/s, the residents there really do get the water which applies to everywhere in this country?
We can all sympathize with the fact that we're all suffering from a limited water supply, but, if managed properly, these umpteen outfits which have sprouted up like mushrooms all over the country, can effectively manage our scant water resources. But, of course, like everything else in this lawless country none of these outfits are accountable and work without the proverbial sword of Damocles hanging over their heads.
So, will this email have any positive effect on the Nairobi Water Company? Yet to be seen....
I'll know about this from my various contacts, Insha'Allah, as well as when I come there, soon, to spend the holy month of Ramadhan. I just hope and pray that they (the Water companies), are not going to collude together during this month to deprive us of this much needed and life giving resource.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Nairobi's water situation....
Since I have family in Nairobi, I get to know a lot about the horrors they have to go through to avail water for themselves as well as pay their phantom water bills which arrive in their post boxes every month without fail....., unlike the water they are charging the residents, for.
It has now been MONTHS since they are having to buy water, yet, some places in Nairobi are overflowing with the precious stuff. One example being the ex-Highridge Teacher's Training College in the Highridge/Parklands area.
While the whole area goes without water, this 'college's' water tank is overflowing! How come, nobody has done anything about it? And is the neighbourhood paying for all this water going to waste, instead of for themselves, thanks to the incompetence of the Nairobi Water Company....? Do they have an explanation for this?
Btw, Ramadhan is nearly round the corner and are the Muslims who live in this neighbourhood going to do without water 24 hours..., not just in the daytime?
It has now been MONTHS since they are having to buy water, yet, some places in Nairobi are overflowing with the precious stuff. One example being the ex-Highridge Teacher's Training College in the Highridge/Parklands area.
While the whole area goes without water, this 'college's' water tank is overflowing! How come, nobody has done anything about it? And is the neighbourhood paying for all this water going to waste, instead of for themselves, thanks to the incompetence of the Nairobi Water Company....? Do they have an explanation for this?
Btw, Ramadhan is nearly round the corner and are the Muslims who live in this neighbourhood going to do without water 24 hours..., not just in the daytime?
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