Opposition claims early lead...
Delayed results...
Riot police in the streets...
Sounds just like Kenya...
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23:24
Mugabe plans a 'Kenya' on Zimbabweans...
» Rants, Raves & Reviews -
Lean vs Clean
» Rants, Raves & Reviews ODM wants a 'LEAN' cabinet.
PNU wants a 'CLEAN' cabinet.
I agree with both sides... coz I want a LEAN & CLEAN cabinet.
Will PNU & ODM listen to me? -
Kenyan Politicians...
» Rants, Raves & Reviews From the Daily Nation of 31 March 2008
Story by RASNA WARAH
Publication Date: 3/31/2008I DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOU, BUT I am getting rather fed up of seeing our politicians revert to the bad old days of showing off their power through symbols of wealth, such as armoured cars, golfing jaunts and corteges of security personnel (who have a tendency to fly out of moving cars in a show of bravado).
It is almost as if they are completely unaware that thousands of women and children are still living in deplorable camps around the country and that almost the entire country is in a state of depression.
Frankly, most Kenyans don’t care if their politicians drive the latest Mercedes 500S or an old, beaten-up Toyota pick-up.
In fact, given that inequality has been cited as one of the root causes of the recent violence, it appears odd that the leading proponents of equity and justice should now become such blatantly conspicuous consumers of luxury goods.
Perhaps this is not so surprising. As Kalundi Serumaga, a Ugandan film producer who lived as a refugee in Kenya in the 1980s, has said, Kenya has a unique capacity to “normalise the abnormal”.
How else can we explain the fact that a country where half the population cannot afford to eat more than one meal a day is one of the biggest client bases of the Daimler-Benz corporation?
Or that people with an acre of land are killed for their property while those holding on to thousands of acres are not only left alone, but elected to Parliament?
I have yet to hear a politician speak about passing a Bill to cut politicians’ salaries – a sore point with many Kenyans – or talking about the reforms that need to be accelerated now that we have a coalition government.
All we have heard since February 28 is speculation about who might get which ministerial post and whether each tribe will be represented.
Talk about de-ethnicising Kenya has already been forgotten: our politicians, from both sides of the divide, have ensured that ethnicity remains the main criterion for a Government post.
In other more developed countries, it is not unusual to see heads of state mingling with ordinary folk or even using public transport.( I was stunned recently to see a photo of Gordon Brown using the London Underground.)
This is not to say that politicians don’t deserve security or a relatively comfortable standard of living; the point is, these luxuries should be commensurate with a country’s GDP.
So instead of having 100 security officers following them around, why do these leaders not settle for say, 10? Why do they act as if they are running some kind of superpower?
AFRICAN LEADERS HAVE NO HANG-ups about hogging taxpayers’ money at the expense of their own populations, the majority of whom are poor.
They face no moral dilemmas as they squander their nations’ wealth to make their own lives more comfortable, or to build self-glorifying monuments.
This culture of self-aggrandisement has become an epidemic on the continent. Remember Mobutu Sese Seko who built himself eleven “palaces” while his people starved? Or how about the unforgettable Jean-Bedel Bokassa who declared himself “Emperor” of the Central African Republic, and then spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on a coronation ceremony?
Is it not a shame that the poorest region in the world has produced some of the most extravagant leaders?
When a country goes through a revolution, one of the first things the revolution’s leaders do is to institute reforms immediately in order to capitalise on the changed mood in the country.
For instance, when Fidel Castro took over Cuba from the gluttonous General Fulgencio Batista in 1959, the first thing he did was to institute rural land reforms and to make access to health and education the birthright of every Cuban.
Whether or not his policies were the right ones is debatable, but through these reforms, Castro managed to gain the loyalty and support of millions of Cubans who were living in grinding poverty.
Apart from the implementation of free primary education, no significant reforms took place after Kenya’s 2002 revolution.
The moment and the goodwill of Kenyans were wasted as politicians jostled for power or consolidated their personal or political interests.
The 2008 revolution, if I may call it that, has also left a bitter taste in the mouths of many Kenyans, who expected to see genuine commitment among leaders to address historical injustices and to bring about greater equity.
This may still happen, but the momentum is probably already lost, as it was in 2002.
What Kenyans don’t want to see is the establishment of dozens of lengthy, money draining commissions of inquiry, as was done in 2003, which will serve only to gloss over – and bury – some of the more painful truths about how this country has been governed in the last 40 years.
Ms Warah is an editor with the UN. The views expressed here are her own and do not necessarily reflect those of the United Nations. (grasp@nbi.ispkenya.com)
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20:40 Fighting Hunger, One Village at a Time
» AfriGadget The Universal Nut Sheller (UNS) is part of the Full Belly Project. It’s really an amazing story about a device that has had a direct impact on a number of African countries. The story goes that Jock Brandis, an American inventor, was on a trip to Mali and saw some women who had been shelling peanuts leaving them with bleeding hands. This spurred him on to create a device that would help end hunger.
(Watch a video of a pedal-powered one in action)
How does it work?
The process works by centrifugal force and friction. The Universal Nut Sheller is basically a concrete cone within a cone, open at the top and bottom, with the interior cone being solid. The interior cone, or rotor, rotates on a shaft and has an attached handle (Note: only one moving part!). The user turns the handle around fast enough to spin the nuts to the outside through centrifugal force. The nuts fall between the surfaces and are rolled and squeezed, allowing the nuts and shells to fall through to the bottom. This mix of nuts and shells is then winnowed out, the old fashioned way.
Reach and Impact
According to the Full Belly Project, this machine is being used in 12 African nations, including; Mali, Uganda, Malawi, DRC, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leon, Sudan and Zambia.The nut sheller is being used to shell more than just peanuts. As new villages take up the device, they turn it towards their own diverse nut shelling needs, such as jatropha, neem nuts, shea nuts or coffee.
Most importantly, he Universal Nut Sheller costs about $50-75 dollars to make, depending on the price of local materials, and will serve the needs of a village of 200 to 1000 people.
Like two past projects that we’ve highlighted on AfriGadget, this one is encouraging. Both the recently profiled see-saw power machine (possibly), and the KickStart pumps are based on the belief that sustainable economic growth comes through empowering local entrepreneurs to start, or extend, their businesses. In fact, the plans for the UNS are free and downloadable.
(Via Kaushal)
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18:21
Really, now, why is Africa poor?
» Black Looks Nice excuses do you have more concocted for the next 100 years or so? I mean its been over 50 years and using the same excuse does not attract pity anymore. I mean take the case of India for example, their population alone is greater than that of the African continent, colonized for more than [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Really, now, why is Africa poor?", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/03/really_now_why_is_africa_poor.html" });
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17:41
Political Semantics of Lean and Clean Cabinet
» You Missed This The national anxiety following failure to name a cabinet in the last week continues to produce interesting speculations. While ODM thought that it was pedalling MV moral in demanding LEAN cabinet, ingenious PNU is wondering why truncate C. PNU have thrown spanner into the works by counter-demanding a CLEAN cabinet.
No price for guessing whom PNU has their political guns blazing at. Trust Kenyan politicians to win with all letter permutations in service of expediency. They are simply playing clever deluding themselves that we ordinary mortals cannot see through their cheap schemes.
You cannot have your political cake and eat it. While ODM calculates to stealthily win the moral ground on numbers, PNU knows which card to knock for a guaranteed fall out in the opposite camp. In the process we remain the pawn shouting ourselves hoarse at their antics with the IDPs stopping harsh elements of the weather in their tattered tents. We are truly a man-eat-man society bereft of neither human feelings nor national priority.
Political jokers and forked lips
Ours is a country teaming with calculating politicians who speak with both sides of their mouths to give objective impressions than thinly masks their selfish intentions. If its not tribal balance clothed in politically correct term of face of Kenya, they readily revert to selective affirmative action. The so-called youth are no better. They have learnt fast when to use the tag for expediency too like when Ms Cecily Mbarire and her ilk want to call attention to their relevance in the
political pecking order.
Our shameless leaders take us for a mass of dunderheads. Annan had deal directly with Kibaki and Raila to get results after kicking out political gatekeepers. So who does Mutula Kilonzo thinks he is fooling by suggesting that the same mistrusting mediation team has the capacity to form a cabinet?
Kenya has degenerated into a country led by political jokers. The ensuing theatre of absurd leaves the abrasive and straight-talking COTU boss Francis Atwoli looking like an angel. He has promised to have the so-called two principals agree on a cabinet in less than three hours. His mediation offer will predictably be treated with utter contempt.
Kenya's key leaders are permanently held hostage by sectarian interests. These evil forces continuously pull in different direction and none of them is meant to benefit the country or its people. A nation whose leaders perennially fail to agree on anything is a geographical entity precariously held by threads of mistrust that will definitely snap at the slightest opportunity. It is simply a matter of when and not if. -
Confusion Within ODM As Ruto Calls For Fresh Elections
» You Missed This There has never been as much tension as what has been witnessed within inner ODM circles this weekend. Actually tension and lots of confusion.
The clearest sign was the fact that for the first time William Ruto seemed to sing a very different song from that of his boss Raila Odinga.
Raila spoke in Nairobi yesterday and told legislators at a meeting that Kenyans should be patient and give both him and the President a little more time to resolve the current impasse over the naming of the coalition cabinet.
Ruto speaking in Eldoret sounded extremely impatient and said bluntly that if PNU did not want to share government then they should say so early enough and prepare themselves for another general election. This statement has already caused a lot of discomfort from the Safaricom-government-inner circle-IPO-busy PNU lot.
Still, some very disturbing reports reaching me indicate that there is deep division within ODM that has been triggered off by the issue of Safaricom shares. For now the prominent names said to be still backing Raila to the hilt on his decision to ask Kenyans to buy Safaricom shares after all promising that irregularities will be sorted out later, was Hon Musalia Mudavadi and Hon Dalmas Otieno.
Prof Anyang Nyong’o and virtually all other party big wigs are deeply disturbed by the double speak that has been coming from the party over the last few days. Probably the greatest embarrassment was the fact that ODM announced mass action to protest the sale of Safaricom shares one day and then the very next day Raila Odinga himself came out and said the very opposite thing, asking Kenyans to buy.
Many ODM activists have tried to explain away this strange behavior but the truth is that no explanation will wash. More so when there is so much “Asian presence” within ODM high circles at the moment. The clear sign is that some people are chasing business deals which naturally deeply annoys some ODM members who understand the expectations that the public are placing on this political party in most of the country and especially in six of the eight provinces in the country.
Impeccable sources also tell me now that the situation in relation to foreign powers has turned out to be very fluid indeed. While the Americans are smiling and still promising Raila sweet nothings, the truth is that they are no longer with the ODM leader and there is even talk now of Colin Bruce, the disgraced World Bank country leader returning to Nairobi.
By the way in his remarks Ruto also warned against arrests over the post election skirmishes demanding justice for all rather than the selective justice we have always seen in Kenya. He wondered why those who threw stones should be arrested when those who shot and killed Kenyans are going Scot free.
The whole political situation at the moment is way too fluid and things should become clearer I the coming week. As always I will keep you posted guys, but it is not looking good at all…
Another Fascinating article spotted by Kumekucha
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12:38
For the Ladies: Stop Complaining
» The Displaced African Ladies, I love you, I adore you and God made you more beautiful than the roof of Sistine Chapel. In addition to that, some of you have genuine reasons to complain, after all, a lot of the time, men are well (no offence fellas) useless really. Just selfish users who don’t bring much to your life. HOWEVER, for the love of all that is peaceful and pure: please stop complaining so much.
Aah Stories from Puppy Love
I remember when I was a wee tyke I once met this girl and we began talking on the phone. Now at the time I had the smoothness and the subtlety of a wrecking ball so I barreled along until eventually she rejected me with, “You are so immature.” I was a teenager, so…….anyway……Years later, I began to reflect on what we talked about whenever we were on the phone and it went a little something like this:
Cue the Narcissism
I love chocolate. One time I was walking and eating some caramel, with some nuts and mint, Cadbury oh-my-goodness-it-was-just-melting-in-my-mouth-chocolate and this boy came to talk to me. I told him psssshhhh, I don’t talk to boys when I’m eating chocolate.
One time I was talking to my friend and this boy interrupted us to talk to me and I was like (three guesses) pssshhh, you can’t interrupt me when I am talking to my friends.
And Then These Delightful Creatures Grow Up to Become Women
Just to be clear, I did not make the above dialogue up. Now that I am older, I realized that a lot of the conversations I have with women are opportunities for women to complain:
You will never guess the stressful day I had, the people at work/ the lecturers did/this tramp did……..(30 minute complaint session)
X person is such a (insert expletive here), they did………..(30 minute monologue).
You will never believe the (expletive) that tried to hit on me today, he actually tried (latest technique that playas and pick up artists are trying), the loser he…..(30 minute soliloquy)
It’s Just Me!
I don’t know if I am alone on this one, but I honestly don’t want to take 30 minutes to learn what you don’t like about the world and it’s current state. Instead I would love to take those 30 minutes and:
a) Find out what you like. What turns you on about this life so I can give you more of it.
b) What you like that I like: We will definitely do more and have more of that.
c) Solving your problems. You know what happens when you have a problem?A solution
But That’s How Women Are…..
I know that a lot of you are saying…….
“But that’s how women are. We work through our problems by ranting and raving about them, meditating on them and having a cry about them. We start the venting on you, not for your benefit, but for ours because we know once the vent is over, whether or not a solution has been reached, we will feel better.”
Here’s Where I am Coming From
Well that’s fair enough. I know there will be those times when you just need a friend/lover/brother/cousin/basically a man to just listen to you and try to understand and empathize with where you are coming from.
Please understand, there will be days when it will be too much and your unleashing of stress will have the melodic timbre of nails being drawn across a chalk board. At times, empathize with me and I will empathize with you.
Understand that:
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I never burden you with a problem unless I am thinking through the solution with you at the same time.
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I exist and do my best to make you the happiest and best person I think you can be.
So understand that many a time I will look at it as nothing but needless whining that can be solved. But that doesn’t mean I don’t love you. That doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate the fact that you trust me enough to share your inner most turmoil. I’m just sharing some of my turmoil with you.
As a Great Western Poet Once Said say xoxoxo,
Let’s make love and not complain today,
Mwangi
NB: To see the levels of exasperation that this can lead to -from someone who is a much better listener than I (and is a woman) please check out Shiroh’s post on people who ask for advice but don’t act on it.
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Quick Links
» Black Looks The UN decides Water is NOT a basic right. The Harper government can declare victory after a United Nations meeting rejected calls for water to be recognized as a basic human right. Instead, a special resolution proposed by Germany and Spain at the UN human rights council was stripped of references that recognized access to water [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Quick Links", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/03/quick_links-8.html" });
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8:20
Failed Leadership
» Kenya Imagine Something is clearly wrong with our leaders. First, they plunge contemporary Kenya into the worst crisis it has faced with their never ending battle for power. Now they are convincing us that they should have 44 out of the current 220 ministers. That makes 20% of the government’s National Assembly. Just how much do we need ministers? We have operated with only 17 in the last 3 months noone even noticed! The only people required to run ministries are the Permanent Secretaries. Ministries should, in fact, be consolidated not split.
More from Wanjiru Kamau here.
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My Zimbabwe Diary
» Kenya Imagine An electoral candidate's bulletin of events and happenings pertaining to Ward 7, Harare where he is running for office as a councillor. Michael Laban, a former councillor, is contesting for the Ward 7 (Avondale, Alex Park, Strathaven, KG6 Barracks, etc.) seat in the Harare City Council. Read more here.
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Quick Links Photos
» Black Looks Queuing to vote via Bearded Man Kids against war Nigeria’s most beautiful - can you guess the winner? Padlocked fences via The Road to the Horizon Extra Tags: Zimbabwe Burundi Nigeria SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Quick Links Photos", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/03/quick_links_photos.html" });
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