Iran president comes to Kenya for business

• Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visits Kenya this week to meet President Kibaki. There might be raised eyebrows, but it’s all about trade,

The September season when the UN General Assembly convenes in New York is the time when there is the biggest concentration of heads of state at one particular place.

Behind the scenes of the formal speeches at the Assembly, substantial business is conducted between and among various delegations in their hotel suites.

The notion that the high-level mingling at such events is a casual affair and that invitations for state visits are bandied about in a haze of wine and easy camaraderie is, apparently, quite far from reality.

“Those who think we should not court Iran because she has a quarrel with so-and-so are taking us back to very old and foolish vestiges of thinking,” said Mr Mwangi in a recent interview.