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23:54
Anuang'a & Masai Vocal Dance group at Alliance Française Thursday, 6th March 2008
» Kenyanpoet Anuang'a & Masai Vocal Dance group at Alliance Française Thursday, 6th March 2008
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10:50
Raising Yousuf amongst the bombs - a Palestinian women’s story
» Black Looks The Gaza Genocide via La Chola We celebrated Yousuf’s fourth birthday today. We ate cake. And we counted the bodies. We sang happy birthday. And my mother sobbed. We watched the fighter jets roar voraciously on our television screen, pounding street after street; then heard a train screech outside, and shuddered. Yousuf tore open his [...]
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9:30
Raila Gets Motorcade And State Security
» You Missed This 
A presidential motorcade of Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe: As of this morning ODM leader and Prime Minister designate Raila Odinga started enjoying full state security and a motorcade.
All signs on the ground are that everything is moving at breakneck speed towards the consummation of the historical gentleman's agreement made last Thursday.
Already Raila has given a hint that the new grand coalition government will be in place within 2 weeks. This morning both President Kibaki and Hon Raila Odinga held a lengthy meeting whose main agenda was to ensure that everything goes smoothly. It seems that parliament will pass the necessary laws in record time. Somebody who believes that this blogger is still a print media journalist emphasized that in my next article I should announce to all legislators that whoever dares to oppose the landmark bills will "earn a curse from all Kenyans." This is of course an exaggeration but an accurate portrayal of the mood of the vast majority of Kenyans on the ground.
But even more fascinating was the fact that the GSU Recce division moved to Raila's Karen home in the early hours of this morning and set up camp. This is the unit that usually takes care of presidential security and the presidential motorcade. So even before the bill that will make Raila the second Prime Minister in the history of Kenya is passed, it seems that everything is being put in place well in advance. Raila now has motorcade and state security.
But you would have to be very naive to imagine that Odinga's enemies have all evaporated into thin air. Far from it. A case in point is the now infamous photo of the ODM leader relaxing in Mombasa. Terrible timing and the idea was obviously to discredit and portray the wrong image and to cause animosity at a time when Kenyans have passed through such great difficulties. Nobody will remember that poor Raila has hardly had a rest since the campaigns because immediately after that, the post election crisis kept him very much occupied. Surely he deserves a day or two away from the public limelight, relaxing at the Coast after such a trying time? The man is human you know.
So, what was the motive of the Daily Nation in carrying such a photograph?
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8:12 Will The Kalenjiin Militia Morph into something else?
» Kenyanentrepreneur.com Here is a short (30 minute) documentary about the genesis and growth of the violence. It is somewhat outdated because it was made before this “peace” deal was signed, but the stories from the people caught up in it are still interesting (especially the claim by a Kikuyu woman in the rift valley who [...]
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6:34
Raila - please show the way...
» Rants, Raves & Reviews Sigh... for a country that is wallowing in poverty... I mean most of the citizens... the first order of business is to provide Raila with limos, palaces & the such...
Shouldn't Raila move to a (nice) house in Kibera that would attract infrastructure, reliable electricity supply, security, etc to an area that needs it?
I think Raila should share the trappings of power & move into the Kibera area. I expect the presence of GSU will deter some criminals around Raila's house. The people power will protect Raila as well.
Sigh... Raila, please do the right thing.
On a positive note, Kisumu is likely to get a boost if the power-sharing agreement runs its course...
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4:44
CCP Meeting Update Feb 29
» Kenyan Pundit NOTES BY LINDA The meeting began by recognising the historical moment arrived at yesterday with the signing of the mediated peace deal through the assistance of the Kenya National Dialogue and reconciliation Team headed by H.E. Koffi Annan. The meeting focused on the views of the Members towards the peace deal, urging them to discuss [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "CCP Meeting Update Feb 29", url: "http://www.kenyanpundit.com/?p=466" });
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2:34
The romance of scars and scabs
» Kenya Imagine I'm not a fan of anything classified even remotely as romantic: not in the traditional sense and most certainly not in any interpretation given reference to under modern thought and meaning. I don't read the books or listen to the music and it's more than once that I've dozed through a movie which presented an usually persistent exchange of oral fluid. ver mind my particular aversion to chocolate and the fact that flowers can have me in bed for a week as the result of an allergic reaction. Cheesy violin music and intense looks that last up to twenty minutes at a time could only be irritating to someone such as myself who's entire CD collection is introduced by song titles like "If you don't love me, lie to me." and "Heartbreak Hotel".
Read more from L. Akitelek Papakemus here. -
Why Obama must win the nomination
» Kenya Imagine I am not one for hype. I do not even have a Facebook account, so you know how quickly I wrote off Barrack Obama's chances of winning the American Presidency. It did not help either that he was chummy with Kenya 's opposition leader Raila Odinga. I was not the only one who'd written him off it seems. Many Kenyans, even we tribal people, who will vote anyone we share the slightest 'blood' bond with, had already given up on him. We were immensely proud, a brave effort, he would make a good showing, but it would be best if he gave up and accepted that America was not ready for a black President. Maybe try for number two while he learned the ropes, made a few friends and got some experience. Over in the United States, the black people came out in large numbers, speaking against him, he was not black enough, his blackness was foreign, Kenyan, not African-American and he knew nothing of the stigma of slavery or of segregation.
Read more from Stephen Wanyama here.
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Helldoret
» Kenya Imagine A Kenyan city, famed for its runners, its mushrooms and its cookies, the breadbasket, the bullet factory, blankets and an airport came to global attention and will live forever; for something entirely different.
Read more from Wilson Wahome here.
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1:05
Kutwa Tuesday
» bankelele West to East: Following Bank of Africa (2004) and Ecobank (taking over EABS), West African’ leading bank, United Bank of Africa (UBA) is making an entry to East Africa starting with Uganda and have also applied for a license to bank in Kenya.
Venture Capita Fund: From the East African Development Bank (EADB) is now operational, with small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in East Africa are eligible for funding.
Uchumi’s turnaround : Uchumi have finally published their financial results of the receivership period from 2006 to 2008. The turnaround has been remarkable and in the half year ending December 2007, they surpassed full year sales from 2006 (year of collapse). Still, the current ratio is still poor (less than 1), but that’s about three times better than it was when the company sunk.
The company lost 751 million in June 06, which improved the first year of receivership to a loss of 257m in 07 – and are on track to make a profit in 2008 – while operating fewer stores. It’s probably too soon to be re-listed (there would only be sellers, no buyers) and a dividend would not be likely for 5 years as the company still has an accumulated loss (negative reserves) of about 1 billion shillings ($15 million)
peeves two things irritate me though at Uchumi (i) their cashiers never have any shilling coins and insist on giving out sweets in lieu of change (ii) Cashiers’ who take advantage of my not having a u-card to top up their accounts with points I pay for.
Insurer collapses: Invesco assurance finaly goes under. The company which insured many matatu’s is now under statutory management and can’t make any policy payments or sign up new business. And when the history of the company is written, one paragraph must address why almost every insurance company (including Invesco) decided to put up an expensive office building in the Upper Hill area of Nairobi, far away from their core clientele.
Kenya Re profits: How much did Kenya Re earn in 2007? An interesting discussion at stockskenya.
Diaspora dollars: How much do Kenya’s abroad remit to the country (through official channels)? CBK reports $54 million in January 2008 and teh country is on track for an increase from the $573 million sent in 2007.
Dollar launderer: A Nation report cites US concern about money laundering in Kenya which has weak laws regarding the crime. The State Department report notes the difficulty as Kenya is a hub that mixes regional trade with exports to East & Central Africa, donor aid & NGO’s (managing over U.S. $1 billion annually), remittances from expatriate Kenyans estimated at $680-780 million annually, and Eastleigh Estate which handles unofficial remittances by the Somalia Diaspora. Also, though banks maintain records of transactions over U.S. $100,000 and international transfers over U.S. $50,000 (and report them to the CBK) they fear customer reactions to such release of information – and thsi was hammered home by a November 2007 court award that ordered Barclays Bank to pay a customer 400,000 shillings ($5,700) for providing customer details to the British High Commission.
New boards
- The Kenya college of communication and technology (KCCT) board now has Michael Joseph, Nick Nesbitt, Naushad Merali and Paul Kukubo to guide some relevance in communications training.
- The Resettlement fund (for election victims) has retired archbishop Ndingi, former minister Akaranga, and retired athlete Kipchoge Keino on board.
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Happy birthday, Miriam Makeba!
» Black Looks Miriam Zenzi Makeba was born in Johannesburg in 1932. Her mother was a Swazi sangoma and her father, who died when she was six, was a Xhosa. Her professional career began in the 1950s with the Manhattan Brothers, before she formed her own group, The Skylarks, singing a blend of jazz and traditional melodies of [...]
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ODM’s Deadly International Media Spin Machine
» You Missed This 
Go to Google or any search engine and do any search you wish to on the disputed general elections of last year. You will quickly note that the International media seems to be very ODM-friendly. I can assure you that that is no accident. Somebody worked very hard to make that happen.
Now let us not be naïve to start jumping to conclusions here. It is true that the December 2007 general elections were stolen. Ask most 3 or 4 year old Kenyan children and they will tell you so. We all saw it happening live on Television. However the International community didn’t, not really. Many of them were not really paying attention and at least one super power that has since done a 180 degree turn, assisted in that rigging exercise that horribly went wrong. Actually most of the world’s attention at that time was focused on Pakistan where former Prime Minister Mrs Bhutto had just been assassinated.
So when trouble broke out in Kenya, they wanted to know what really happened. The reality in this harsh media dominated world we live in today is that reality is not as important as perception (although the two are related as we shall see later in this post). So it is terribly important that your story is told. And that is the work of spin experts. I personally prefer to call them spin artistes.
The difference between reputable spin artists like ODM’s Salim Lone and a spin quack like Dr Alfred Mutua is one very simple thing. There are those who believe that they can spin anything and there are those who know that to be successful in the long term, it is important that you spin only the truth. You remember the famous president John F. Kennedy quote that ends with; you can’t fool all the people all the time? In fact fake spin doctors like Dr Mutua have always ended up being a liability to their employers.
The other difference is that reputable PR experts (if you prefer to call them that) are noble and will not hesitate to make personal sacrifices. Salim Lone’s life was threatened by somebody a few weeks ago and he would have given the world his story and attracted all the limelight and media attention to himself. But at what price? The attention would have effectively been shifted away from his client. So, because he was able to deal with the problem of his personal security, he was determined that the attention of the media remains focused on ODM at a very crucial time leading up to the signing of the historic peace deal last Thursday. It is this kind of character trait that wins the trust of journalists who are crucial allies in any spin effort. In sharp contrast police commissioner Maj Gen Hussein Ali is of the view that...
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