@jaggernaut,

The Standard story is a bit exaggerated. I have lived and worked here for the past six years and the perception i have is a bit different.

there have been so many cases of kenyans doing work then end up not being paid. a friend was stranded there for a while.

@tinker,

My perception of this place is a lawless jungle where the expectation for order is purely an alien. One has to understand the environment and make the best out of it. In my assessment, there are several categories of people in this place I) expatriates sent here by big corporates( Kcb,Equity,uap, etc) and INGOS working here. This category is on purely work basis and mostly catered for in terms of housing and security by their employers. 2) Business people. They range from hospitality, service etc. The law here is an ass and anything that can go wrong puts people in problems. Any trade disputes are normally resolved by brute force and mostly the locals have an upper hand. Worst is it is a requirement to have a local partner to register a company. Your guess is as good as mine just in case a dispute involves a local and a foreigner. 3) Hustlers. This are the common people either is small biasharas and services like taxi drivers, kinyozi,MJengo etc. life for them is hard but returns are normally 3 times better than Kenya.

Returns here are good but the mistake people make is to reinvest here. In post conflict states like sudan best strategy is to repatriate profits and invest elsewhere . Alternatively spread the risk by investing as a group rather than as individuals. This is what most Ethiopians and their cousins the Eritrians do hence they own almost 80% of hotels as groups

@ Ali Baba.

Welcome back to SS. We say here once you taste the Nile waters you wil always come back.

Finally keep away from local girls. Disputes over women can be fatal.

@Gathige..
I totally agree with you especially your closing remarks.

GATHIGE:>>I have tasted the Nile waters,but I'm not coming back.I have several other civilized nations which are ready to become home to my capital.Putting your eggs in wild,wild west is not the way to go.The first day I arrived there(SS),I almost ran into trouble after a shoot-out occurred near where we had sat eating dinner~~~those uncivilized police officers arrived with such bravado and demanded that we produce the guns.Come on,I had just arrived and here I was in hot soup~~~~No,SS,not for me.

A modest house (3 bed roomed )goes for 10,000 USD per month and one have to pay atleast 6 months in advance.
A decent meal in middle class joint (Spice n Herbs) goes for 32 SSP..approx 9USD
two Oranges in the market sells @ 1USD in SS Marikiti (Konyokonyo) ....Just to throw one more spanner into the work.

i worked in juba, rumbek and yambio towns for 9 months, and i must confess that kenyan hustlers in the diaspora live like dogs regardless of wherever they are (us, asia, europe, etc).

but kenyans are always kenyans, they never listen nor learn.

otherwise, the most civilised people in ss are found in yambio, western equitoria state, since they dont feel, look, speak and agree with those lawless murderous nilotes. I have much respect for the Bazande (bantus, btw) who are browner than even taitas of kenya.

they have hosted and treated congolese and bagandas like brother. life in yambio is so free that there is a kenyan (kikuyu) mechanic there who is married to their girl. in yambio, u can walk at 10pm on the road drunk and don't care abt been harassed since u r a foreigner (they will not even notice unless u r dark and tall).

another kenyan killed in a s.s. jail by ss police. the man had been accused of damaging a camera worth 480,000/-.

ntv late night news of 4 sept. 2012 and youtube.

sure, media could give us a more total picture. otherwise they could be making aspiring/possible investors grow very heavy cold feet when, perhaps the locals do not fair any better.