A Nairobian's Perspective !

21 November, 2009

World Cup South Africa 2010 Qualified Teams

Call it football ,call it soccer...the drum beats of Africa are now rolling inviting their neighbors to come witness the peak of African hospitality, the diversity and richness of African culture and the resilience of the African continent in next years football World Cup matches to be held in South Africa in 2010 !

In its eighty years history , this will be the first time Africa is hosting the event since its inception since 1930 making it of much significance to the content. African bloggers,vloggers ,podcasters... etc will take the opportunity to present a different picture of the continent to the World especially since western media always capitalize on the wars, poverty ,diseases conflicts,negative politics that encumber part of the continent.The perception of Africa will be changed to a great extent by the event that will feature 32 world national soccer teams.This blog takes the lead in this venture.Intense preparations are ongoing in South Africa to handle the volume of fans,security risks,accommodation, logistics etc that accompany hosting the event.

The teams that have qualified for next years football world cup include (Source FIFA website) by region are:

Africa

South Africa (RSA) HOSTS

Asia

Europe

North,Central America and Caribbean

Oceania

New Zealand (NZL)

South America

Match tickets for for the 64 matches that will be plaid can be purchased online from the FIFA website.It is important to note that the match tickets for the South Africa football World cup are being sold in phases with he first two phases already finished.The third phase will begin on Saturday December 5 , 2009.The price ranges for the tickets range from US Dollars $ 20(for persons on wheelchair ) to Dollars 2,100 to watch the finals.

All eyes are now turned to the Final draw that will take place on 4th December, 2009 at the Cape Town International Conference Centre(CTICC) 7 P.M South African time which will see the 32 qualifying teams lumped into 8 groups.The event will be beamed live to millions of anticipating viewers worldwide.From then forth fixtures will be known, opponents identified and intense preparations at team levels will begin.

The World Cup trophy which is the ultimate prize for the event is already within the continent but it's a shame sometimes to see how humans glorify and idolize the object(i know im hurting many feelings here).Its just a cup although it may elicit intense emotions but it remains just a cup, a lifeless object with no definite power to help those who overly adore or worship it .However without doubt this is one tournament that keeps its exhilarated fans on their feet constantly.The games affect work attendance, families, friendships etc to a near fatal extent sometimes.Notwithstanding the World will be watching South Africa World Cup 2010.The countdown begins.

Website Templates at ContentMixi

Contentmixi website has crafted 'the ultimate online digital market' where users can purchase the following products:

SEO Optimized Website Templates
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Customized full websites
Joomla Templates
Wordpress Themes
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PSD Templates
Logos
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Animations

The site also features free website templates for freebie lovers . The site proprietors were really ingenuous in coming up with the idea o selling diverse digital items online in a one stop shop.I find the idea pretty captivating and the site is worth a visit.The banners at the site are also intriguing.Samples are as here below:

19 November, 2009

IZEA Launches InpostlInks Website

The Leading Social Media Marketing Network company with a global presence and boasting over 250,000 bloggers membership IZEA inc will launch Inpostlinks website on Friday 20 November, 2009. The move will come with bold new changes in their Payperpost website by merging version 3 of Payperpost and version 4 of the same.

The new Inpostlinks website will not require bloggers to write sponsored reviews or to endorse a product but to simply insert/integrate links on their website or on web post and earn on a Pay Per Click(PPC) basis.The bold new changes in IZEA 's Payperpost and Inpostlinks websites is aimed at optimizing the value and online experiences for both advertisers(Advertise On Blogs ) and bloggers.Inpostlinks will feature link only opportunities.

Why all the changes? according to the press release:

Thousands of bloggers worldwide have had the opportunity to make money online through IZEA inc's websites by simply writing blog posts from home.It is hoped that the new changes will continue to positively contribute to the development of e-commerce and the realization of a truly global economy online. To sign up:

Transparency International Corruption Perception Index 2009

Amidst a surging global economy, rising environmental challenges,poverty and food crisis ,corruption continues to pervade most human societies.This is revealed in the annual global corruption and country indices report prepared by Transparency international. The 2009 Transparency international Corruption Index released on Tuesday in Berlin,Germany indicates " that no region of the world is immune to the perils of corruption".

As usual this blog has always taken an interest in the corruption index and makes it a point to discuss the report on annual basis. In this years Corruption Index Kenya has improved with a point from 2008 where its corruption perception index was placed at 2.1 to 2.2 in 2009.Indicating that there has been some relative improvement. The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) is used in measuring the perceived level of public-sector corruption in 180 countries and territories around the world. The CPI is a "survey of surveys", based on 13 different expert and business surveys.The survey involved a random sampling of 3500 households between April and May 2009.

It is good to note that among public institutions that have drastically improved include the Kenya Ports Authorities and Private Universities. New entrants include the Ministry of Public Works, the National Hospital Insurance Fund(NHIF),the National Social Security Fund(NSSF) and the Teachers Service Commission. This revelation leaves many Kenyans worried as such institutions directly relate to their preset and future well being.The top 20 most corrupt institutions in East Africa(i.e Kenya Uganda and Tanzania) according to the report by rank were:

1.Kenya Police
2.Tanzania Police
3.Ministry of Defence-Kenya
4.Judiciary/Courts-Tanzania
5.Uganda Police
6.Immigration-Tanzania
7.Uganda Revenue Authority
8.Judiciary-Kenya
9.Uganda Public Service
10.Ministry of Defence-Uganda
11.Ministry of Public Works-Kenya
12.Northern Uganda Social Action Fund-Uganda
13.Ministry of Lands-Kenya
14.Judiciary-Uganda
15.Nairobi City Council-Kenya
16.Ministry of Labour-Kenya
17.TANAPA-Tanzania Mombasa City Council-Kenya
19.Mulago Hospital-Uganda
20.Umeme-Uganda

Interestingly 90% of those surveyed in Kenya ranked Kenya as being between corrupt and extremely corrupt indicating why the fight against corruption should receive serious concerns for all of us.Since in essence corruption is carried out by individuals.As a lot Kenyans were seen as pessimistic as to whether corruption would decline in the next coming year.

In Africa Botswana is placed a the least corrupt Country at 5.6 points followed by South Africa at 4.7 and and Namibia 4.5. In East Africa Ethiopia is perceived as the Least corrupt in the Transparency internationals report followed by Tanzania. Sudan and Somalia are almost placed in the same margin which is quite an indictment.You can download the East Africa Bribery Index report(PDF)at the following link EABI LINK

17 November, 2009

Harmonized Draft Constitution(Kenya) 2009 Download

You can now be able to read the Harmonized Draft Constitution 2009 submitted by the Committee of Experts.The draft was released to the public and the media at launch held at the Kenya International Conference Center, plenary hall this morning.Unfortunately the download link for the Kenyan Draft Constitution website at www.coekenya.go.ke is not functioning at the moment probably due to the massive number of visits from interested persons.Kenyans are invited to read the draft,debate on it and make their submissions to the Committee of Experts.

However an alternate down load site is the CapitalFm News site if you want to download the draft constitution faster.Advertise On Blogs

16 November, 2009

Mars Group Kenya Website Upgrade

The public and anti corruption watchdog Mars Group Kenya has relaunched/upgraded its website to an all new template that is pleasant to look at and quite user friendly. The new Mars Group website has an appealing interface that will feature among other things a column dubbed "MarsTv" which will have multi media clips of news and pertinent information of concern to the watchdog's objectives.This blog takes the opportunity to unveil the all new look Mars Group Kenya website screenshot as shown hereunder and invites you to visit the domain.

The anti corruption watchdog is run by among other people the former Transparency International Executive Director Mwalimu Mati now turned activist. Kudos to the developer and webmaster. The site has featured as a worthy resource in the fight against corruption, accountability and governance and has been previously dubbed by this blog as "Kenya's online ombudsman".