Anyway, a short tale:
I was out shopping for fruits & veggies & I saw a sign "One dozen bananas for 40/- Stall #57" in huge letters on the other side of the market. It was crowded so I went to the nearest stall & asked for 12 bananas. The saleslady (Mama Mboga/Matunda/Ndizi) wraps them up & asks for 70/-...
Me: GASP! What??? They are only 40/- at Stall#57... You are ripping me off!!! Huff! Puff!
[Calm] Saleslady: I also sell one dozen bananas for 40/-. When I don't have any.
So I go go over to Stall #57... Lo & behold... there are NO bananas for sale! So I return to the original banana stand & quietly fork over 70/-
[George Bluth Sr: There's always money in the Banana Stand]
So what was the above tale about?
Well... National Oil Company of Kenya (NOCK) claims to be a saviour for Kenyans.
NOCK: "...would have seen the diesel reach Mombasa at $13.44 per tonne above prevailing crude prices..."
Note the 'would have' because lo & behold, NOCK will NOT fill the tender they won & crowed about!
NOCK: Delays are normal. Kwani? The delivery date of 19 Feb 2011 was merely a suggested date. We are a proud Kenyan firm that believes 100% in Kenya Standard Time.
Bottomline: Kenyans will pay $34/tonne for delivery. 3 weeks late. When crude is priced at $120 vs $98/bbl. Yep, we got snookered. Again. At least 22%
6 comments:
National Oil lacks the mien and the expertise to compete in the Kenyan oil industry. They are Kenyan alright, but it the only oil major with no export market and no local distribution network, they rely on third partied for the latter.
The African timer is a big deal, hands down. We loose more loosing time but hey! These companies don't care one bit. The commodity is a need for people even if it goes up, the people will still buy. So what do they care. As you can see with the example of the banana, when demand is more and the supply is less, they make more money.
a wise person once said " the govt. has no business doing business "
[George Bluth Sr: There's always money in the Banana Stand]
Wink wink.
Excellent reference. There is a guy who knew what he was doing.
@SackoS - Agreed. NOCK should have teamed up with an experienced player & learnt the ropes. Or there is more to the story.
LOL @GenEggHead [It will cost us more since world crude prices have risen $20/bbl since Jan 2010]
Ntwiga - Loved the show! No laugh track made it even funnier..
Anon - True then. True now.
That banana tale, how did you conceive that. NOCK will go ahead and say it did well going with the fact that it was their first time, but we all know how Government run business goes, there is a handclasp somewhere and maybe just maybe let me speculate they have reserves which they want to finish off at the current high price prevailing... just maybe..
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