Social Engineering.

A few weeks ago, my friend told me that he had been robbed of a substantial amount of money, his phone and some other documents by unknown people he met in Nairobi. He says that he was walking along one of the crowded Nairobi streets, minding his won business, as permitted by the Nairobi City Council. He was then approached by a first person who familiarly greeted him and proceeded to *shake* his hand.The first person looked strange to him, but asked him if he could not remember him. He proceeded to *remind* him that they had met at his home area somewhere in Yatta.He even mentioned the name of a family member of my friend.He even asked my friend if he was going to pay his college fee,which surprisingly he was going to do.

Another second person then joined the first person, and the first person proceeded to introduce my friend to the second person as an old friend.The second friend then suggested they go for a cup of tea. my friend doesn't remember what happened after that, but ended up minus his personal effects.

I thought that my friend might have been under the influence of alcohol and that the story was a cock and bull story, until today.

Talking about today, I was walking along the streets of Thika, doing what is permitted by the Municipal Council of Thika.Someone, x, abruptly said hi to me. I said hi back, a 'who-the-F*(okay, who-the-hell)' look. He *shook* hands with me, and proceeded to *remind* me that we had met back home, and that he was a friend to my brother, who he proceeded to name(yeah, real name). He then asked me "how is college, is it Ruiru, or Juja?" I told him that it is fine and that I was actually in JKUAT(I am not there for the record). A second person, y, then approached him, and person x introduced me to person y. person y then suggested that we go take a cup of tea, but I declined saying that I was in a hurry.

Later in the day, I came across person x and y along a different part of the same main street in Thika, and again, they insisted that we go for a cup of tea, or they buy me sugar. again I declined.

If you think mine is a cock and bull story, suit yourself, coz it is not. Be afraid.

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Beers in Kenya: A sober opinion

I have had a short beer swigging stint in my life. It has however been long enough for me to share my opinions of Kenyan beer. Interestingly, over the course of sharing such opinions with other drunkards connoisseurs, I have found that we all have different views as to what beer is the best, which one makes you too drunk, or which one gives a free, extra hangover for every hangover you get from it.

For starters, like everyone else, I discovered that beer isn’t as sweet as it looks like in those adverts that show golden barley swaying in breezes, happy men smiling and toasting chilled, foaming glasses of beer as a deep voice does some narration in the background.

Beer is bitter! Now, it turns out beer is intentionally made bitter. See, beer shares the same ingredients as bread. The major difference is that bread isn't fermented. Bread is sweet, so why isn't beer sweet?

Kenyan products: The art of punishing your consumer

Peanut butter used to taste so good, but you could not afford it on the pocket money that you got back in school. A few years later, you have your first real job and your first "disposable" income. You buy your first real tub of peanut butter , probably the first in your life. You feel proud that Dominion peanut butter is manufactured in Ruiru, a town that you visited in your campus days to withdraw your pocket money , it was the nearest bank ATM to your campus. This was before Equity bank became a mainstream bank and decided to open an ATM in your campus, and before M-Pesa meant that you could withdraw your pocket money next to the kibanda where you had your one meal of the day.

The peanut butter though is a far cry form the peanut butter you remember. It does not taste that good, and turns into some sort of stone barely before you are a third way through the jar. The stone is not a kind that you learned about in your Geography classes though.

Dejectedly, you decide not …

EuroTrip: Party in Mallorca

This post is the last in these series of my first EuroTrip. You can click here to read my previous post on my real experience in Madrid. https://blog.denniskioko.com/2020/01/eurotrip-madrid-in-2-days-it-has-its.html

I was headed to the airport, en route to my final destination - Mallorca pronounced as Majorca (with a Y in place of the J). The island of Mallorca had ended up in my itinerary by accident. When exploring cheap flights between Madrid and Munich - my starting point, it appeared that all flights went through Mallorca. It, therefore, made sense to have a stopover at the island.

Again, the Madrid airport is packed during summer and it would be a good idea not to have any check-in luggage for a European stop unless you love queueing in long and winding queues. The Air Norwegian flight between Madrid and Mallorca was hassle free and comes highly recommended.

The bitter story of the downfall of Mumias Sugar company

Have you heard the bitter story of Mumias Sugar?

Regarded by many as Kenya's most successful sugar miller, Mumias Sugar Company was a disaster waiting to happen.

Many pointed out how Mumias Sugar Company was a fortress in the wreck that is Kenya's sugar industry, only unaware that it was just a matter of time. As the old wise men said, "Ukiona cha mwenzako cha nyolewa, tia chako maji".

The proverb means that if you see your neighbour's head getting shaved, your head will soon be undergoing the same - you'd therefore better wet your head for a smoother shave, otherwise you will be forced to undergo a painful, dry, shave.

But what ails Kenya's sugar industry?

The Kenya sugar industry is under legal siege. The typical Kenyan issue of coming up with laws to tackle a problem is evident here.

Many of Kenya's sugar factories are owned by the government, and have slowly declined under mismanagement and corruption. The appointing of political cronies and trib…

Orange River Cellars Wines - Kenya's New Sweet and Dry Wines

There's a new panty remover wine brand in town.

It's from down in South Africa. In some of our geography classes, they taught of the Orange River down in South Africa. If you remember of such a lesson, it might have touched on the VanDerKloof dam on the river, or it's source from the Drakensberg mountains. I'm not sure though, whether they mentioned of the agriculture of the region, which apparently might contribute to your weekend activities.

There have been a host of South African wines, ranging from the boxed Namaquas (Namaqua is a place in South Africa, now you know) to the Mara's (yeah, it's a South African wine) to African's Five Chenin Blanc, which is among my favourite in Kenya.

Making its way into the market is the Orange River Cellars brand of wines. The group has a range of wines including boxed reds, boxed whites and probably the only boxed rose (pronounced rosay for wines) wine I have seen in this market.

Executives from the firm tell me that th…

Dennis Kioko

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