Monday, July 4, 2016 THE-STAR.CO.KE 14

Boost for rural households as REA inks Sh6.4bn power connection agreements

!e Rural Electrification Authority has signed a $63.465 million (Sh6.42billion) loan from a consortium of financiers, boosting the authority’s efforts to enhance electricity supply in rural areas. !e funds are from Arab Bank for Economic Development, Abu Dhabi Bank for Development, Saudi Fund for Development, OPEC Fund for Development and the Kenyan government. REA plans to spend the cash on electrification projects in 16 counties, targeting 591 public facilities and 35,460 households in five regions. !ey include Nyanza-Western, North Rift, South Rift, Mount Kenya-upper Eastern and lower Eastern-Coast. “!e project is expected to start this financial year,” REA said in a statement.

FUNDING

TOUGH RULES

TV, radio stations to be fined for repeat offences, says CA

The vote to leave the European Union (Brexit) produced a political and a financial shock-wave.British Prime Minister David Cameron (who was expected

on a state visit here in Nairobi) tendered his resignation. British politician Boris Johnson whom many felt was using the Brexit blade to stab his way to number 10, and who preferred to spend his Saturday playing cricket on the Althorn estate of Earl Spencer, rather than take charge, essentially spontaneously combusted in front of not only his country-folk but the whole world. !ere will surely be more political twists and turns – but the point is that the United Kingdom is a robust democracy, and political volatility which has flown off the charts will ebb.!e Blairites used the Brexit confusion to attack the leader of the Labour Party who is also the opposition leader, Jeremy Corbyn, whom they feel is a clear and present danger as he is allegedly prepared to call for an investigation into former Prime Minister Tony Blair for alleged war crimes during the Iraq War, according to reports. What is also now apparent is that while the ticket said this was a vote to stay in or leave the EU, votes were not cast on the issue at hand. !e remainers were always fighting a 40-year old tide where politicians had coached the electorate that the European Union was an evil and intrusive construct. Independence Party leader Nigel Farage’s poster of hoards of black and brown immigrants tipped the balance, I am sure. In the 1984 primaries in the United States, former vice president (1977–81) Walter Mondale asked American diplomat and politician Gary Hart: “Where’s the beef?” And one cannot help feeling this merry band of Brexiteers had gotten themselves stuck in a time-warp like Nigel Farage who said at the European Parliament: “You all laughed at me.. You are not laughing now.” No one is laughing now but everyone is asking: “Where is the plan?Where’s the beef?’” I listened to the Bank of England Governor Mark Carney on !ursday, and I thought to myself: How strange it is that the sanest, most intelligent voice in the United Kingdom in these matters has turned out to be Carney and he is a Canadian!

!e pound closed the week at 1.3255 versus the dollar (multiply by 101 to get the shilling pound cross rate) not far off a 31-year low. For now the pound drifts lower. Carney has already placed a rate cut and more QE on the table. !e pound is the “shock-absorber”. However, at some point the whole world is going to pile in and for medium to long-term accounts, they are probably looking to scale in already. Ten-year Gilt yields hit a record low last week of 0.88 per cent. Richard Britten-Long, the founder of St Paul’s Property Trust (which is seeking to list at the Nairobi Securities Exchange) said: “Now that the pound is outside the EU, it might well eventually morph into the Swiss franc.” Now that’s a thought."e author is a financial analyst www.rich.co.ke

THE STAR COMMENTALY KHAN SATCHU

Brexit political and financial shockwaves

Communications Authority of Kenya director-general Francis Wangusi (centre) addresses the press on the coming into force of the programming code. He is with acting director consumer and public Affairs Christopher Wambua (left), and director multimedia services Leo Boruett. Broadcasters had until last "ursday to comply with the new rule /COURTESYBroadcasters risk to be fined between

Sh500,000 and 0.2 per cent of their gross annual turnover for violating new code

Free-to-air television and radio sta-tions flouting the Broadcasting Code for the first time may only be cau-tioned, the regulator has said. Com-munications Authority will, however, levy hefty penalties, including revo-cation of licences, for repeat offenders.

"e CA says it will not be punishing broadcasters every time they contra-vene rules under the code published in April 2015 and gazetted in December. "e new regulations took effect on July 1 after the lapse of a six-month grace period.

“Sometimes, we will be giving warnings and where we find that the broadcaster is consistently contraven-

and talk shows for content – have met the 40 per cent local content rule, only national broadcaster KBC with 42 per cent local content is safe among the 64 licensed TV houses.

TV stations, most of which are struggling due to thin advertising reve-nues, have blamed overreliance on for-eign programmes on costly production costs for local content, but the regula-tor holds a different view.

“Most of the programmes being purchased from outside are cheaper because they have been watched sev-eral times and the intellectual property rights for some of those products may have expired,” Wangusi said. “We are discouraging that because it is not go-ing to help us to promote the film pro-duction industry in Kenya.”

"e authority, he said, is in talks with the Kenya Film Commission on a pos-sible incentive package for production houses. “It might be a little bit expen-sive to begin with,” the CA chief said. Ten of the 64 TV stations have jointly applied for a self-regulating code un-der Media Owners Association.

CONSTANT MUNDA@mundaconstant

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ing, that’s when we will levy penal-ties,” director-general Francis Wangu-si said.

Broadcasters are staring at a heavy fine of between Sh500,000 and 0.2 per cent of their gross annual turnover for not meeting at least 40 per cent local content in their programming and air-ing adult-rated content between 5am and 10pm.

Advertisements should also not eat up more than 10 minutes during a 30-minute newscast – a rule un-successfully opposed by broadcasters who argued they generate most of their revenues during this time, and that news-gathering was their most expensive programming. News pro-grammes do not, however, constitute local content under the code.

Wangusi said while most radio sta-tions – which largely ride on music

Rural Electrification Authority chair Simon Gicharu (right) assists workers in Kisauni to erect one of the power posts to connect Digirikani Primary School on April 4 /JOHN CHESOLI

British Prime Minister David Cameron /REUTERS