₦airaland Forum

Nairobi’s tourism circuit attracts six top hotel investors

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Nairobi’s status as a conference and business travel hub has attracted six new top-end hotels, promising to add 800 beds to the circuit that has been grappling with limited capacity.

Hemingways Collection, SAMCO Holdings, Simba Group, Rezidor Group of Hotels, and the Red Cross are some of the investors who are putting up new properties that would add at least 800 beds into the market.

The new hotels are looking to cash in on the growth in the tourism that has led to an increased demand for bed capacity in the city, mainly driven by conference and business.

“The demand is high in Nairobi,” said Mr Mike Macharia, the chief executive of Kenya Association of Hotel Keepers and Caterers. “The increased capacity is welcomed, especially in the three to five star qualities.”

Investors in the sector are targeting conference and business travellers as well as leisure tourists who come into the country via Nairobi on their way to other tourist destinations.

Nairobi has become a major hub in the region connected by international airlines. Multinationals have in the past couple of years shown interest in the city setting up offices in Nairobi, raising its profile as a major business destination.

Business travel accounts for about 20 per cent of all arrivals in the country, second to leisure, which contributes 55 per cent.

Kenya Tourist Board statistics show the number of visitors increased by 32 per cent to 549,083 in the first-half of the year.

Earnings grew by 32 per cent during this period to Sh40.5 billion.

This year is expected to be the best for the sector despite the current security fears that has seen an international conference cancelled.

The new facilities are expected to increase competition in the market, even though players say there is enough demand to sustain the new properties. The current occupancy hotel rate in the city ranges between 60 and 80 per cent, said Mr Macharia.

“Nairobi still has room for more.”

The EKA Hotels, by SAMCO Holdings, will put into the market 170 rooms in February 2012 and four conference rooms.

The property, which is betting on its location on Mombasa Road to attract business, seeks to tap local conference market and business travellers.

“Demand is increasing as the city grows,” he told the Business Daily at the hotel’s construction site.

The Belgium based Rezidor Hotel Group is expected to open the five star Radisson Blu in Upper Hill early 2013, according to its website. The hotel, which is owned by Elgon Road Development, will put in the market about 240 rooms.

Rezidor this year signed an agreement with AMS Hotels to build a 126-bed boutique hotel in Westlands.

The Park Inn by Raddison is expected to open its doors towards the end of 2013.

“Our business is managing hotels.

In line with our strategy over the past 10 years, we have completely divested ourselves of real estate and own no properties,” said Mr Andrew McLachlan, the Rezidor’s business development vice president for Africa and Indian Ocean Islands, earlier in the year.

Hemingways Collection, whose property in Karen is expected to open in August next year, and will add 45 luxury suites in the market.

The company, which owns other luxury properties across the country, is looking to add the city unit to its circuit.

Stream of income

In 2008, the Red Cross opened up Red Court Hotel to boost its stream of income and is looking at opening a second unit, The Boma, in the next few of months. The property will have 148 beds.

Simba Group, which is expanding its business into the hospitality industry, is set to invest no less than Sh2 billion in a five-star flagship property of about 200 rooms.

The hotel, on Chiromo Road, is expected to open in the first quarter of next year.

Currently, the key players in the city’s hotel industry are Intercontinental Hotel, Fairmont Norfolk Hotel, Nairobi Serena Hotel, Hilton Hotel, Safari Park Hotel, Windsor, Laico Regency, Sarova Stanley, Holiday Inn, Nairobi Safari Club, Sarova Panafric and Panari Hotel. With the newer ones: Tribe, Sankara, Ole Sereni, and Crowne Plaza already recording growth in business.

if it weren't for the names I would have thought this was NBO.
Very close resemblance.

The French link in the Somali war: Sarkozy extends sphere of influence in Anglophone Africa
https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/image/view/-/1264374/medRes/306507/-/maxw/600/-/2f47ja/-/PHW03_FRANCE-_0127_11.jpg

What is French President Nicolas Sarkozy up to in Africa?

This is the question analysts are asking following the announcement by Paris last week that it would ferry supplies to Kenyan troops fighting Islamist militias in Somalia.

The French recently stepped up operations against Al Qaeda in North Africa after French citizens were kidnapped by the jihadists.

This year alone, France has led military interventions in Libya and Ivory Coast, being the first country to recognise the Libyan rebels and to launch air strikes against the late Muammar Gaddafi’s forces.

However, France’s visible role in supporting Kenya’s military action against Al Shabaab is a significant departure, signalling the country’s ambition to expand its sphere of influence to the greater East and Horn of Africa region.

Last month, French oil multinational Total announced it had acquired stakes in key blocks off the coast of Lamu, strengthening a comeback by giant firms eyeing opportunities in Kenya’s oil exploration business.

Speculation is rife that France, like the other Nato allies who helped overthrow Gaddafi, will be expecting payback from Libya’s new regime in the form of lucrative business contracts and in reconstructing the country.

It is also said to be keen on preserving lucrative oil deals made under the former regime.

Meanwhile, African Intelligence, a continental news service, reported in April that Paris was in negotiations with Nairobi to sell it the La Rieuse series of patrol boats, for the Kenyan navy to use to fight piracy on the waters of the Indian Ocean.

“This boat became surplus to requirements after the restructuring of the French armed forces. The contract has not yet been signed, but the French ambassador to Nairobi Etiene de Poncins accompanied by embassy defence attaché Colonel Henri Leblanc met the Kenyan Minister for Defence on March 16 to push the matter forward,” the news service reported.

To further fuel the thinking that Mr Sarkozy is keen to increase France’s sphere of influence in Africa and especially in East Africa, more Paris based multinationals are setting up shop in the region and his government has increased funding to key development projects.

Paris, not content with Francophone Africa, has been aggressively spreading its activities to English-speaking countries, with South Africa and Kenya the primary targets.

Over the past five years, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and recently Rwanda have been recipients of French investments, especially in the energy sector, while trade has surged and France has entered into a host of military agreements, defence pacts and bases around the continent.

Sarkozy’s address to the 16th African Union Summit in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa on January 30 this year was unequivocal about France’s future engagement with Africa. “We’re not as far apart as is believed. Yes, there was colonisation, yes, there are disagreements, but today, geography brings us together. If we want to control migration flows and combat terrorism, we must help you succeed in your economic development. France is convinced of this reality,” said Mr Sarkozy.+

Statistics show trade between Kenya and France grew by at least 10 per cent, with official development body Agence Française de Developpement giving the country $124 million –– 27 per cent of all development aid last year.

French companies such as France Telecom and oil major Total are already major players in the Kenyan economy.

According to the Economic Survey 2010, the value of exports from Kenya to France rose to $49.9 million in 2009, from $45 million in 2006, while imports surged to $186.5 million from $124.5 million during the same period.

“While most of the world’s leading economies such as the US, Britain and China have been diversifying their interests in East Africa, France has recently come on board and Paris seems to have renewed its push to strengthen ties with the region,” said Prof Macharia Munene, who teaches international relations at the United States International University, Nairobi.
In April, the French government through the Agence Francaise de Developpement offered Nairobi a concessional loan of 56 million euros ($78.96 million) to be used to procure two geothermal drilling rigs and prepare a national power generation and transmission master plan.

The agency has provided similar funding to Uganda and Tanzania for investment in renewable energy under its regional technical assistance programme.

Meanwhile, three years after Kigali severed diplomatic ties with France, the Rwandan embassy in Paris was officially reopened in March. Last month, Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame visited Paris in what was largely seen as a fence-mending mission with France.

In November 2006, the Cabinet had decided to cut diplomatic ties with France when French judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere issued arrest warrants against nine Rwandan officials.

In May, the French development agency said it planned to double its financial commitment to Tanzania to $150 million from the current $70 million annually.

Okay I hear you sarkozy.

While following the kenyan case at the hague I came across an interesting article.
The composition of Nato and ICC defeats this cause. ICC depends on donor funds from member countries (France,Germany,Italy,UK just to mention a few key NATO members)to survive.

The ICC advocates are already worried that Donors will deprive it of sufficient funding next year.
The court proposed a budget increase of 13.6% over 2011. Now even before the proposal was made the key donors (nato members) were issuing calls for zero growth in the court's budget.
That alone undermines the effectiveness of the court and curtail its ability to respond to situations where crimes were committed.

If the vocal proponents of zero growth are the NATO members themselves then what makes this lawyer assume that the ICC would be more than glad to take on the libyan/ghaddafi case if they are not given financial support?

The Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC) convenor head W.Pace accused Nato key members of hypocrisy noting that the countries were adamant supporters of getting the ICC involved in libya which puts a strain on its budget and workload.
He said that the reluctance of NATO members to give more money to the ICC does not square with those countries willingness to fund the war.Goverments treat military intervention costs but they refuse to pay for peace building and preventing crimes.

A good eg is the confirmation of charges for the rwandan rebel. The ICC registry said it lacked enough resources to process 470 applications for victims to participate.
Kenyan case >same story affecting 2000 witnesses. If the resource issue is not resolved everything remains on paper.

The Assembly of states parties' president christian,said the court has contigency funds which could be tapped in response to the libyan situation .But there's a legal requirement that the fund should not fall below 7million euros.
It would need to be replenished.

Now this is one defeated case before it even starts. Why should ICC bite the arm that feeds it? Even if it had enough funds and assuming that nato was a 'member country' would they waste it prosecuting their biggest donor and end up jeopardising the cordial relationship they have? sounds weird.
lemmie assume further that they are willing to take on 'nato'.what would be so hard with nato crediting ICC's  depleted accounts and getting away with whatever they are being prosecuted for?

A lost case already

strange.

WHAT NEXT FOR A LIBERATED SOMALIA?

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For over two decades, the international community has chosen piecemeal tactics to deal with Somalia. Kenya has tacitly played along, diligently attending the almost monthly international meetings on Somalia and numerous peace negotiations.

One almost loses track of the various agreements signed by Somalis to end violence, all named after Africa’s cities where they have taken place – Sodere Agreement, Cairo Agreement, Addis Ababa Agreement, Arta Agreement, Nairobi Conference, Djibouti Agreement, Kampala Accord – just to name a few, yet peace has proven elusive.

In a marked departure from its history, instead of hosting another Somalia Conference, Kenya was this month forced to make the difficult decision of deploying its troops to Somalia to defend its national security. This historical decision will remain a milestone. Operation Linda Nchi has so far received national applause. Kenyans are fed up by what they see as perceptions from the Al Shabaab of Kenya’s military incapacity to respond even to direct attacks in its hinterland.

With an economy that depends on tourism, Al Shabaab made the wrong decision in targeting tourists in Lamu, and humanitarian workers in Dadaab. Kenyan military personnel have frequently been killed or harmed in Al Shabaab ambushes.

I believe that the international community has given a covert nod to Kenya’s efforts. The Igad Council of Ministers held an extraordinary meeting on October 21 and adopted a communiquÈ expressing support for the Kenya’s operation.

Somalia needs to be pressured to do what any government does – to govern. President Sheikh Sharif needs to rid himself of the Al Sheikh extremists around him that are making it difficult for him to bring real reconciliation to Somalia. He must rise up to be a statesman and bridge clan differences. PM Abdiweli Mohamed Ali has stated clear priorities for his government; it is now time to deliver. As Kenya engages in Somalia, we must be aware that this engagement preemptively includes insurgency, counterinsurgency, and propaganda.

We must be steadfast and clear in our strategic objectives and provide an exit strategy. This may include a three-pronged approach.

Firstly, we must proceed on the military front by suffocating the Al Shabaab from Kismayu to Mogadishu. Secondly, we must endeavor to implement the proposals of the UN Secretary General, Igad and the African Union on counter-piracy efforts. Thirdly, Kenya must realise that logistical support is needed urgently to sustain and consolidate current gains, including in the region of south central Somalia and a liberated Kismayu port. Peace and security must be a priority for the population to feel secure.

Tanzania backs Kenya on war against Al Shabaab

Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete has supported Kenya’s decision to invoke Article 51 of the United Nations Charter to defend its economic and security interests against Al Shaabab insurgents.

President Kikwete said Kenya is justified in taking action against the militants who have blatantly violated its territorial integrity through escalated cross-border raids.

He pledged his country’s commitment to support efforts by Kenya, Igad, East African Community, African Union and the international community to stabilise the entire Horn of Africa.

The Tanzanian leader, who is in Perth, Australia, for the Commonwealth Heads of Government summit, was speaking when he paid a courtesy call on President Kibaki at his hotel.

The Tanzanian leader, at the same time, joined other world leaders in calling for tougher action against piracy in the Indian Ocean, which increases the costs of international trade.

Earlier, at a forum on Indian Ocean Piracy held on the sidelines of the summit, participants observed that piracy is rife off the coast of Somalia, and is spreading to other regions around Africa.

The leaders noted that pirates attacked a record number of ships worldwide in the first nine months of this year, but are taking off with fewer vessels due to better policing.

http://www.standardmedia.co.ke

Inside Al-Shabaab network in Kenya

Hundreds of Kenyan youth have been recruited into Al Shabaab over the last six years in a process that has complicated efforts to tackle extremism in the region and which the government is now urgently seeking to reverse
How Al Shabaab came to enlist so many Kenyans is described in vivid terms by a leaked US cable seen by the Sunday Nation, which detailed the activities of a network of recruiters who exploited youth unemployment and the lure of easy money to net hundreds of young men.

The cable dated July 6, 2009 titled, “A Portrait of Al Shabaab Recruitment in Kenya,” named Eastleigh, North Eastern Province and Isiolo as some of the areas where Kenyans were enrolled to the militia group in their dozens.
Some limited recruitment also occurred in Dadaab refugee camp. Mombasa has also been named as a recruitment hub.
Kenya’s proximity to Somalia was cited as one of the reasons the country was a fruitful source for recruiting young men to join the extremist group.

The other reasons are Kenya’s sizeable population of ethnic Somalis.It noted that Kenya’s ethnic Somali population suffers from lower levels of development and education than other Kenyans.

“Idle, unemployed youth are at particular risk. The continuing legacy of the Shifta wars in the 1960s, certainly a contributing factor to Kenyan Somalis’ lower level of development, also leaves them feeling like outsiders in their country of birth,” the cable said.
According to the US cable, one of the biggest drivers of Al Shabaab recruitment was the entry into Kenya of radical Islamists from the Gulf states.

“These Wahhabist clerics may have direct links with radical mosques in Eastleigh, and may be acting as recruitment agents for extremist groups in Somalia,” it said.
The cable said that as the battle in Somalia became more clan-based and Somalis increasingly joined clan-based militias instead of Al-Shabaab, the militia has increasingly seen the need to recruit foreign fighters.

what is the hague/ocampo case all about?
The live proceedings are over.

^^ very tempting indeed.Damn my sleep is gone already.Am almost getting convinced. With all his survival tricks there's a possibility.
But hes dead. '_{please tell me he is not}. I d rather he appears b4 the ICC if this is true.

Push to take Kismayu ‘is on course
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A Kenya Army jeep at the Ishakani border point in Kiunga as it heads for the battlefront in Somalia on October 27, 2011.

Another town falls to Kenyan military

An Al-Shabaab training centre in Burgabo, a village deep within southern Somalia, was bombed and captured by Kenya’s and Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government forces
The Thursday evening operation came hours after the troops killed nine Al-Shabaab militants during an ambush at Anole in which two Kenyan soldiers were injured.

Sources within the military and security agencies told the Nation that the number of casualties was not immediately established.

The training centre was bombed several times before ground troops moved in to secure the area and set up base, ready for onward march.

According to an anonymous source, Burgabo was the third Al-Shabaab training centre to have come under the forces air strikes.

Conquering this town was a key objective of the Kenyan forces as it would serve as a launching pad for an onslaught on the port city of Kismayu, which is the hub of the terror group’s activities.

Kismayu is a smugglers’ haven and the revenues from it have funded terror groups and the warlords who have kept Somalia at war for 20 years

Okay we continue praying for you.

US denies Al-Shabaab role

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The United States has denied involvement in the ongoing operation against Somalia's Al-Shabaab terror group.

US ambassador to Kenya Major General (rtd) Scott Gration said Friday his country was only assisting Kenya in ensuring internal stability.

“We don’t have military operation outside the border of Kenya,” the envoy said during a news conference at the Department of Defence headquarters.

Mr Gration who once served as an instructor at Kenya Airforce denied reports that the US was assisting Kenya in the operation against Al-Shabaab.

“We have been providing our assistance in an overt way through the Kenya Navy, Army and Air Force for long time and we will continue. We are not in Somalia. Our support is through equipment,” the ambassador said.

He said the US was ready to give Kenya more equipment if it wants.

There can be no dialogue with terrorists without a cause

There is really nothing for Kenya to negotiate with the Al Shabaab. Nobody negotiates with a shadowy terrorist movement that has no cause,

The Al Shabaab gangsters have constituted themselves as a youth movement that is ostensibly fighting the enemies of Islam. At the same time, they claim that they wish to liberate the failed State of Somalia against foreigners. They do not recognise the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia. They accuse it to be a puppet regime installed by the African Union (AU) and Nato. They think that they have a mission to overthrow the TFG and cast out the Ugandan and Burundi AU peacekeepers.

The more than 14,000 strongman Al Shabaab is a hotchpotch of youth from a wide range of nationalities. If one of their missions is to liberate Somalia from foreigners, then the logic of their mission kills itself. The irony is stark. How do foreigners liberate a foreign country against foreigners?

But at no time has Kenya pretended to be liberating Somalia from Al Shabaab. Each sovereign power has the duty to contain its criminal elements and lock them up where they ought to be. In the event that these thugs are uncontained and do the sort of things Al Shabaab has been doing in Kenya, then Kenya must defend herself. If the defence means Kenyan troops have crossed into Somalia, so be it.

But it does not end there. The Al Shabaab are not the kind of gangsters who run away and leave you alone, when subdued. They will try to regroup and to find new safe havens. They will return. Without stable government in Somalia, Kenya must secure areas freed from Al Shabaab, until such a time that there is a local Government that can contain Al Shabaab.

Meanwhile there can be no dialogue with these gangsters. For how did we wrong them, in the first place? What issue are we to negotiate with them? Foreigners bombed us at the Norfolk Hotel on New Year’s Eve in 1980. They bombed us again in August 1998 and in 1992. We had done nothing. They now think our country is a plaything for international terrorists. They kill our people like flies and kidnap our visitors at will. They hijack ships in our waters and bomb us as they did again this week. This is despite our hospitality to Somali refugees for the past two decades. It has got to stop. No nation, no matter how weak, should accept this kind of aggression.

If ever there was a time to demonstrate national solidarity and patriotism, it is now. We cannot separate ourselves from our Government and from our country. We cannot second-guess our troops and ask such asinine questions such as whether they are equal to the task. When your country wages war against terrorists, you do well to know that you are at war. These thugs do not know the difference between the military and civilians. To them, civilians are not only military targets; they are also battlegrounds and weapons of war.

With or without our troops engaging the terrorists, they will kill you in the streets. So long as you are Kenyan, you are part of this war.

sexsinners:
i think your jealous that my dad owns a church and yours dont.

don`t hate, appreciate.

JC.

@ sexkillz

street without church?? is it a religious state? cz everything has some religious touch.
I know this pastor called Wale from there. He came to my country with so much hype. I still remember his beautiful wife with those youruba dresses and headgear.Opened his church next to where ours was. We used to call it GT. for glory tarbanacle.
Then he started offering tea/snacks in btwn service to entice the youth. He succeeded and a number of young fellows flocked his church.
Before long sex scandals started.It was soo bad he fled the country an went to the neighbouring country and repeated the same.He was banned from setting foot there again.That was the last I heard of him.
Another one came with annointing oil/deliverance teachings. He dint last long. People got fed up and called it a cult.I remeber it being featured in the media.
The only standing church is one winners chapel and tarbanacle something by a nigerian woman.

I am a christian but when people don't want to use their heads well,work hard or think logically they resort to prayers as an easy way,forgeting that[b] faith without works is dead.[/b]

, situation.

is this a fickle and ijeoma case or what?
she can keep praying and hoping for change if she refuses to address it squarely.
When he brings home a disease then she will act. I would be more scared of contracting a strange disease than dealing with a baby.

you decide what you want it to be.

I bet you cant beat the society.It still carries the upper hand. so define ur own success and believe God to help you get a partner who will help you manage it.
By doing so,you move from great to greater. A great woman is like a strong post. A weak one will leave you dry.
So a great man needs a great woman not just a woman.

Claus:
However, I won't go as far as saying that a male is not a man unless he's married.

To the society then >> show me a succesful man and I will show you the married guy who abuses,terrorises & murders his family.
Hes married after all society.He undertook responsibility cz hes man enough.So don't say he's not successful.

I understand what wislet is saying.I like the fact that she makes it clear its a society's mentality.
Success should encompass everything including marriage. When society uses marriage as a measure of success it leaves so many holes.

The correct phrase is Behind every Great man there is a[b] Great[/b] woman.

Why did they eliminate the 'great woman'
If it was started by feminists then it's not directed at Mothers but the better halves.
Also know that some men become successful without the support of their mothers. Esp if they lacked the motherly love.
What motivates them to become successful is the cruelty they suffered in the hands of their mothers or girlfriends

So behind every successful man is himself. you determine your own success.Not anybody else.They only offer moral support.

I really like the trailer. well done

kasiem:
i dont naively capitulate to that fallacy '1plus 1 equals to 1', cos illuminated the rudiment of marriage by stating that women should be submissive to their husbands, which means that they should see themselves as being lower in front their husbands. So, by your assertion, we can posit that maids and masters are of the same echelon? Or how can a wife be one with her hubby when the scripture stated that she be a lower folk in the marriage setting?

Dude kasiem,halo!English came by ship. I speak what one 'babe' calls 'bicycle english'.
Can you humbly communicate instead of speaking?
anyway your interpretation of that scripture is wrong. It doesnt mean women are lesser individuals,Shes a helpmate.
That is somebody by your side not below/lower in rank or anything.
Go read about a virtuous woman.

ok k.I will not miscontrue the confabulation as a derogatory innuendo.

this is wht i had in mind tht made me miscontrue.
wife is part of you.when u spend on her you are spending on urself. like investing in what u own. how much you spend depends on how much you love yourself.
girlfriend is on the waiting line. kind of standby. you dont own her yet so whatever you invest in her is a voluntary risk and is also determined at times by what you want to get out of her.could yield profit or loss.

you can spend much or less on gf but still lose her.you can spend much or less on wife but never lose her.
who is cheaper? neither cz my only comparison is in the 'keeps'.

ok. now that you've spoken. Below is your defination of the women in men's lives.

wife = indellible or long term liability,
girlfriend =  transient problem.

what if you change that description to start with? No lady wants to be thought of as a 'problem' or liability cz shes supposed to be your partner or helpmate not a leech. Then you talk about maintaining both as if they are lifeless furniture awaiting polishing ever now and then.
mindset bro please.

Start by forgiving. Don't block your blessings cz of a person. Release them from your heart and once its free the healing process will begin.
You will know its over when you don't feel bitter or revengeful about the person.
At that point open your heart to love again.Meet people.go places,look great and allow yourself to be loved.
You will feel reborn when you meet a nice guy that loves you.

My small advise is this.Never use anything or another person to fill a gap cz they wont last.Fix the broken heart first before you allow another person in there.
cheers.

A nice guy once told me 'any feeling you harbour for your ex is a sign that you have not got over him'
Instead of revenge use the time to build and develop urself. Leave vengeance to God.

never had a female boss. Never had a bad male boss either.

very funny comments.Cant stop laughing.