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23:50 Solar Powered Parking Attendants…
» Me, Life & Everything Rendezvous: 0850hrs Prolixity: Prickly Mood: Bemused Whereabouts: Work Track: United in This is Why I am Hot, MIMS Someone at the town hall decided that the number of cars he counted on the streets was not tallying with the daily collections and insisted on replacing parking attendants who complained that the sun had declared a fatwa on them and paying [...]
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21:29
Opening doors
» Kenya Imagine It is clear that the time has come for us to stop taking Kenya for granted, that instead we must make a passionate and compelling case for it.
We now have to argue ourselves and our compatriots into the idea of Kenya; to persuade ourselves of, and to think about, more deeply and with more clarity than we have ever had to summon before, the merits of this nebulous entity that we call home.We now have to fight for it; the honeymoon, such as it was, is over. Before we do that, we had better know what we are talking about. It is important to remember that no identity is fixed, no way of being oneself immortalised in stone. Every morning, when we wake up, each one of us has to remember who we are, and act accordingly, gathering our recollection of self from memories, and dreams, from half-forgotten quarrels and recollections of things overheard, from our yearnings and loves and dislikes. We piece these little shards of reflected, refracted and remembered things together again every morning, to become ourselves.
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Obama woos 20,000 Minnesotans
» Kenya Imagine The race for the Democratic Party's ticket at the next American presidential elections is assured a place in history. In this normally conservative country, there will for a first time be either a woman or an African-American on the party ticket.
Illinois Senator Barrack Obama is that African-American, and he has taken the country by storm, forming a coalition for change that cuts right across America's social fabric. This weekend, ahead of the Super Tuesday block of caucuses and primaries the Senator was campaigning in Minnesotta where a large community of Kenyans abroad live. He was received with rapturous applause (not in the least by the Kenyan contingent) and with such passionate adulation that it was not always clear who was the spectacle the tall thin man who could soon become the most powerful man in the world or his supporters, crying, cheering and worshipping in his presence.
Read more here.
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14:55
cms + offline edition, anyone?
» Kikuyumoja's realm I am currently looking for a suitable Content Management System (CMS) for a website which is able to create an offline version of all pages to be run directly from a CD or DVD.
The only working solution I can currently think of is something where you’d have a (virtual) local server running which then provides the dynamics for an attached database, but I was hoping that maybe someone out there knows a better solution, maybe something where a script creates static versions of each page and then copies them into a folder (~ cron job every night).
Joomla? Drupal? Typo3? Anyone?
Any help is appreciated! Thx.
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14:41
Kibaki: Experienced Hand for Supremacists
» You Missed This 
The home guards are back with a vengeance albeit in disguise. Pretenders to freedom struggle have all their lethal fangs out sucking the blood of Kenyans in their quest for superlative emasculation and domination. If you ever thought that the home guards snatched independence goodies from the mouth of real Kenyan freedom fighters well, you better revise your history and think HARD again.
Just like the home guards shared among themselves Kenya’s wealth at independence, Kibaki and his cronies are hell bent on riding on the back of all Kenyans who shed their blood for the second and subsequent liberations. Around Kibaki are a bunch of tribal supremacists who will stop at nothing to entrench their selfish interest on Kenyans.
Behind the present political meltdown lie these supremacists headed by one John Kimendero Michuki. To fool Kenyans, Kibaki has cleverly relocated this colonial chief to an ‘obscure’ ministry where he can call the shots incognito. Meanwhile the blue-eyed lady Karua (the brains behind the throne) is left to intellectually sanitize the rot and bloodbath.
Just like the home guards stole independence from Kenyans, the supremacists have taken off with our hard-won freedom and justice. Kenyatta rode and broke the back of true freedom fighters. Well, Kibaki has not disappointed in perfecting the art of STEALING the trophy from Kenya’s mouth. His stealing of last year’s election was a culmination of DECEPTION EXTRAORDINAIRE that has left Kenyans wondering what devil transformed the hitherto General coward aka fence sitter into such a hardliner.
Decoys for rape
Well, the true face of Kibaki lies in his history. He learned highhandedness first hand from Jomo with all his attendant thieving ways. He completed the initiation with surrounding himself with supremacists who can only dole out small favours to others by allowing them to populate the land mass with no right WHATSOEVER to leadership.
If Kibaki was a good student of Kenyatta’s divisive and destructive politics, then he superlatively excelled in Moi’s shamelessness of use-and-damp. Make no mistake Emilio is a brilliant guy who knows exactly what he is doing and where he is headed. The tribal cult around him is nothing but a convenient decoy to make Kenyans serve him with generous benefits of doubt. Just imagine what a marvelous and irreplaceable asset mother nature gave him and his handlers in the name of Lucy. Aggressive, abbrassive, spot on and hands on, no hangers, no holds barred. Convinient irritant to Kibaki's apologists.
Kibaki’s cleverly crafted decoy of 6% economic growth has been exposed for what it is. This was a preface to massage our national ego as the principals rape us to the last drop of blood both economically and politically. The leash has snapped and the kite is floating rudderless in the sky.
Don't delude yourself even for a second into believing that anything meaningful will come out of the talks chaired by Kofi Annan. At the risk of being branded a pessimist (realist) I dare say that Kibaki already knew the outcome even before the talks started in the first place. Who is fooling who and for how long?
Granted, the world is not fair and was never designed to be so. But there comes a time when you cannot fool all the people all the time. Kenyans know what they want and they are ready to pay the ultimate price for it with their lives. No amount of brute force can reverse the course to JUSTICE.
The government’s monopoly on violence will only succeed in postponing BUT NEVER extinguish Kenya’s quest for a dawn to new era that is premised on EQUALITY and EQUITY. Nothing is as difficult, nay impossible, as trying to impose your leadership on a determined and unwilling populace. Magnificent castles are always built from ruins by determined hands, we shall overcome. POLITICO-ECONOMIC JUSTICE, no less.
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9:33
Black History Month on the Eve of the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election
» Marian's Blog It's Black History Month, folks. Today, renegade though it may be to some, my focus is on the peculiarities I'm observing in this 2008 U.S. presidential election season. I'll begin with a fact that may not be obvious to some... -
9:33
Black History Month on the Eve of the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election
» Marian's Blog It's Black History Month, folks. Today, renegade though it may be to some, my focus is on the peculiarities I'm observing in this 2008 U.S. presidential election season. I'll begin with a fact that may not be obvious to some...
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9:16
Regional Interests and Kenyan Stability
» african bullets & honey With all respect to the Kofi Annan mediation effort, perhaps it is time that the region’s leaders visited Nairobi as a group and insisted on some movement toward a political settlement. In the same way that the Lusaka and Arusha peace agreements, aimed at Congo and Burundi respectively, were crafted from tough negotiations led [...]
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Sunday Doodles: Shun Laziness at the Workplace
» You Missed This As I was reading The Bible sometime this week my eyes fell on a verse that set my heart pumping hard. My lips went dry as I tried to ruminate over what I had just read.
The words in Proverbs 18:9 were very clear in my mind:
"He who is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys."
(Slack means not willing to work; lazy; not work well; slothful)
These are the very words in the verse that I read. (My aim is not to preach here but to give you insights of how we should conduct ourselves at the workplace to maximize what we have worked for so hard).
The words hit me like a thunderbolt. Why? Well, I have been guilty of being slack in my work sometimes. I know you have too. The writing on the wall is clear: if you are lazy or slothful then there is no difference between you and a person who destroys or wastes.
The more we 'encourage' ourselves to be slack and lazy by camouflaging this stark reality in well-meaning words and clichés such as 'relaxing', 'all work with no play makes Jack a dull boy', and 'entertainment' then we're distancing ourselves from the brass tacks of the game. Therefore, the first high wind that comes will destroy our ship. A ship that has, maybe, taken years of toil and moil to build.
People who are slack will generally find that they have so much time on their hands to do other things but the work they ought to plan for and do. They are time wasters. We must never forget that time is one of the most priceless things that all people possess in equal measure. What sets people apart is how they utilize the time they have.
How do you use your time? How do you use your working time? Do you steal time from your employer? (This gives laziness a 'legal' hold on us). Do you always give flimsy reasons for not achieving what is expected of you? If so, outline the reasons and try to find out why you give those reasons. You'll be surprised at how some of these reasons are puerile.
Our vision is clear in our minds. We want to achieve a higher high and sharpen our unique 'stocks-in-trade'. But we've got to set things in clear perspective before we think of anything else.
We should learn how to manage the time at our disposal and make sure that we measure work output against the backdrop of the time we've used to do it. This way we'll curb time wastage and be on our way to better workplace performance.
As a bottom-line, when work is a pleasure, life is a joy! When work is duty, life is slavery. (If you are reading this on stolen time, please get ways and means of compensating for the stolen time – I am serious!)
Wanna speak to Ritch? Drop him a line at thisEmail Address.
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8:01
Black history month: cartoonists
» Black Looks When we think of the history of Black people in the African Diaspora, cartoonists and graphic novelists rarely come to mind so here I thought I would mention a two Black artists, one cartoonist Morrie Turner and the other graphic novelist, Lance Tooks, who have made significant contributions to their profession. Starting with [...]
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5:01
Women’s Memorandum to the Mediation Team
» Eyes on Kenya The following text is a statement by the Kenyan Women’s Consultation Group on the Current Crisis in Kenya. For more than two weeks Kenyan women from several Organizations met and discussed the current crisis and approaches to end it. Action Aid International, Vital Voices, UNIFEM, Nairobi Peace Initiative and Urgent Action Fund-Africa facilitated the consultations. The statement was presented to the international mediation team including, Kofi Annan, Graça Machel and Benjamin Mkapa at Serena Hotel Nairobi on January 25, 2008.
The statement has been published before, for example at Pambazuka News.
Since we think it is a very valuable statement, we have decided to quote it in full length:
Women’s Memorandum to the Mediation Team
Serena Hotel, Nairobi, January 25, 2008
Kenyan Women’s Consultation Group on the Current Crisis in Kenya (2008-01-29)
Your Excellency Kofi Annan
Your Excellency Graça Machel
Your Excellency Benjamin MkapaWe thank Your Excellencies for the opportunity to address this forum. We make this presentation on behalf of Kenyan women who have been meeting in Nairobi over the last two weeks. Action Aid International, Vital Voices, UNIFEM, Nairobi Peace Initiative and Urgent Action Fund-Africa have facilitated the consultations. A committee of 11 women present here, represents the larger group.
Kenyan women assert their rights as citizens of this country to participate in all political processes and initiatives that seek to find solutions to the crisis that currently that our beloved motherland faces. We are mindful of our special responsibilities in all the spheres of nation building including truth & justice seeking, peacebuilding and reconciliation. We embrace all our diversities as we collectively seek solutions. We acknowledge that in the resolution of the current conflict, there has to be ‘give and take’ from both sides of the political divide. We assert that as citizens we must take responsibility for resolving and transforming the conflict and the inclusion and participation of civic groups, including women’s groups at the community level is critical to the success of efforts to resolve the conflict.
The important role of women’s participation in the prevention and resolution of conflicts is reaffirmed in The Constitutive Act of the African Union, The AU’s Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality, The Protocol to the African Charter on the Rights of women in Africa, The African Charter on the Rights and welfare often Child, and by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325. The resolution stresses the importance of women’s equal participation and involvement in all efforts for the maintenance and promotion of peace and security, and the need to increase their role in decision –making with regard to conflict prevention.
The UN Resolution 1325 further calls on all actors involved, when negotiating and implementing peace agreements, to adopt a gender perspective, including, inter alia
a) The special needs of women and girls during repatriation and resettlement and for rehabilitation, reintegration and post conflict reconstruction.
b) Measures that support local women’s peace initiatives and indigenous processes for conflict resolution, and that involve women in all of the implementation mechanisms of the peace process.
c) Measures that ensure the protection of and respect for human rights of women and girls, particularly as they relate to the constitution, the electoral system, the police and the judiciary;
All these instruments recognise the centrality of women to the development of democracy and democratic institutions and the importance of their participation at every level, and in every process. Women are central actors and ‘right holders’ in any process that addresses sustainable development, security and human rights. During this crisis, Kenyan women have been at the forefront in community peace building and mediation efforts in the North Rift and other areas.
(c) by Gado
Is there a conflict? What are The Facts?
A political crisis has engulfed the country following the announcement of presidential results on December 30, 2007.There are allegations of a flawed tallying process by the electoral commission , hence the dispute as to who the actual winner of the presidential vote was. As a consequence, violent conflict broke out in many parts of Kenya from December 30, 2008 and continues to this day. This conflict is expressed in the following ways:
1. Spontaneous and organised demonstrations against the ECK and the government.
2. Killings that have so far claimed the lives of over 700 Kenyans. These killings are by a) extra judicial executions by the police of targeted communities and demonstrators. b) Militia executions, torture and mutilations of civilians targeted at particular ethnic communities (these include forced circumcisions & castrations) and c) by ordinary citizens
3. Criminal conduct by citizens looting, burning and destruction of private and public property.
4. Increased sexual violence against women and children.
5. Suspension of constitutional freedoms including the freedom of conscience, assembly and worship.
6. Violation on the rights of the media and right to information by a ban on media broadcasting of live events.
7. Ethnic and politically instigated evictions of populations of certain communities from their properties resulting in large numbers of internally displaced Kenyans ( approximately 260,000)
8. Ethnically instigated employment displacement of workers in certain regions (tea peckers in Kericho) and eviction rental properties.
This situation has resulted in:
- A breakdown in the rule of law and a lack of confidence in institutions of law and order.
- Breakdown of social relationships and trust among Kenyan Communities and an exacerbation of existing ethnic tensions.
- Human insecurity (including food insecurity).
- Continued systematic and widespread violation of human rights and a lack of respect for the sanctity of life.
- Proliferation of propaganda by all parties including the state and an increase in hate media on all media (FM stations -in particular vernacular FM stations, print, electronic and new media -text messaging, email, internet) that demonises particular communities.
(more…)
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4:57
This is the house that hate built
» Mshairi This is the house that hate built This is the rock That lay in the house that hate built. This is the boy That threw the rock That lay in the house that hate built. This is the machete That killed the boy That threw the rock That lay in the house that hate built. This is the man That used the machete That killed the boy That [...]
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The pantry
» Black Looks Everything’s done now. Cake is in the oven… the table set. Nothing to do but undo my lace-wear now, let it gain the floor to silk the base of my statue. I turn and hold a shelf, itself holding jars of fruit we bottled last summer when the kids were at camp and we had the house to ourselves, unlike [...]