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16:56
From: Black Looks
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Leigh Raiford of CODEZ interviews revolutionary Black artist, Emory Douglas.
–For those of us born in the seventies, the post-soul generation, the artwork of Emory Douglas, Minister of Culture of the Black Panther Party (1967-1979) and Revolutionary Artist (4Life), is wedged deep in our political unconscious. Our revolutionary imaginings have been fueled by Douglas’s powerful thick-lined [...]
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14:16
From: Black Looks
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Two important pieces from the LGBT community in Uganda are published in the Monitor online (thanks Bazungu Bucks)
Why police are not arresting homos
Our leading gay organisations have registered at least 160 members in various places around the country despite the provisions of the criminal Penal Code Act that out law homosexual acts.
The organisations are: [...]
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13:50
From: The Benin Epilogue Part I: Africa-Ready for Business
Read This Entry & More At The Benin Epilogue Part I: Africa-Ready for Business
Recently I did an interview with an entrepreneur from Cameroon with a law practice. In fact he is the same gentleman that I mentioned in an earlier post- here.  One thing that I really enjoyed about this interview is that we did it on the phone, so it felt like a more natural flow than the email interviews. I am now going to have to do one by web chat-that is the only thing besides phone (skype included) or in person interviews that might be more convenient or fluid to post. Here is an excerpt of the interview with Mr. Tiku, by the way: African Path: So Mr. Tiku, why is this topic of immigration something that looms so heavily in the minds of our nation's (The USA) African immigrants and why should attention be given to this topic?
Mr. Tiku: Well Benin, right now 2 out of 5 immigrants in the US either have a problem with their visa status or know someone who does.
Wow, Mr. Tiku, those numbers seem to convey that this issue is very serious. Now does this mean that immigrants from Africa are in the same predicament as those from Latin America or is there a difference?
Latin American countries in South, Central America, and Mexico are in a slightly different position, because they can easily get into the United States through Mexico which shares the largest boarder with the United States. This unique situation explains the reason why by far the greatest numbers of immigrants both legal and undocumented are from that area. On the other hand, when we talk about African immigrants, because there is no shared or common border with the United States, almost all African immigrants that are in America were came here with some type of a visa. However, most often these visas expire thus making them illegal.
I see, Mr. Tiku and if I remember correctly there was a new law that the President, Mr. George W Bush tried to pass that could have resolved this problem. But that law did not make it past U.S. Congress. Many folks from different parts of Africa have asked me whether I thought such a law, if passed, would benefit immigrants from Africa or if it would be more targeted to the immigrants from Latin America. What do you think about this Mr. Tiku?
If we go strictly by the numbers (the number of Hispanics in America), Hispanic immigrants stand to benefit a lot by this type of legislation. However, had the law passed it would have applied universally to all immigrants within the United States, so it would have helped immigrants of all national origins. Right now Congress is pre-occupied with the upcoming elections (that might be one reason that the bill failed to become a law). So although the bill failed, it is likely that after the 08' elections it might be presented to Congress again. Also, something I'd like to mention is that in US Politics this immigration topic has become large and at times very divisive with strong opinions on either side. The immigration issue has replaced affirmative action, Rowe Vs Wade, and abortion law as the new hot button issue.
Before I close, let me say that Mr. Tiku is an attorney, but he is also an entrepreneur who employs three and also had a similar practice in Cameroon, which also provided jobs. Anyway, I hope that after reading the full article that will have been further enlightened. Of course, I love your comments. But, if you can't comment at this particular time- but would like to let us know that you were here; please sign and View my guestbookTags: entrepreneur, cameroon, law, legal, immigration, African migrant
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12:15
From: Cock And Bull
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When I took this photo and posted the image here for the first time last year, I thought that it was very ambitious for this little man to stand in the place of the owner of the birthday cake. And I thought that the 3 year old boy could not wait to grow up to have his 13th birthday.
Today I was shocked to learn that this little boy passed away on the first day of this month, through a freak accident. He fell into a hole in the ground and drowned.
My first thought was how devastated his parents must be, considering that he was their first child. And I imagined that at this time, there is nothing that anyone would say to make them understand why it had to be their son. And once again, the question of why innocent children have to die comes into mind. And through the lack of a satisfactory answer, I can only say that God has His reasons that we do not understand.
One thing is clear in my mind though. That we should never pass an opportunity to do good, for the time that we have to do that is limited. Each according to his or her ability should do whatever that they can while they still have the time, for that time slowly ebbs out of our lives. Say a kind word to another for you never know how long they will be around to appreciate that simple action.
Tonight, I pray that the parents - Mr. & Mrs. Maine Thige -, family and friends of little Louise Thige keep their Hope, Faith, Peace and Love alive always. Amen.
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10:00
From: You Missed This
Read This Entry & More At You Missed This
archiveThe Kenyatta administration clearly did the most damage in dividing the country along tribal lines and destroying all the national unity that had been achieved in the run up to independence. The historical evidence is there for all to see. Did you know that for instance that President Kibaki used to represent a Nairobi constituency in parliament? I believe it was what we know today as Makadara constituency. Tom Mboya also represented a Nairobi constituency. The manner in which the Kenyatta kitchen cabinet/mafia destroyed his political base in Nairobi, along tribal lines, made many Nairobi politicians at the time very nervous and many opted for the safety of their tribal seats back in the rural area. Mwai Kibaki was just one of them. This single factor had a major effect in ensuring that tribal politics was forever entrenched in Kenya. It is interesting that people like Njoroge Mungai stuck to Nairobi constituencies, although his situation was unique in that Nairobi's Dagoretti constituency is part of the greater Kiambu district where Mungai and the entire kitchen cabinet hailed from. So technically-speaking it was a rural seat and probably still is when you compare it to all the other parliamentary seats in Nairobi. It was this kind of politics, pioneered by President Kenyatta's inner circle that destroyed situations like what had been witnessed in 1957 when during the first elections in Kenya... Read more
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9:58
From: You Missed This
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archiveIf what the son of Tom Mboya said in his statement first released in this blog yesterday is true (heavily quoting evidence gathered by David Goldsworthy in his book Tom Mboya: The Man Kenya Wanted To Forget, then it means that a person involved with the murder (and probably a suspect) of Tom Mboya was the chief prosecutor in a case to try the man who pulled the trigger on the gun that felled this Kenyan hero. Now that is justice for you, Kenyan-style. Read full statement by Lucas Mboya.
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9:57
From: You Missed This
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archiveMany Kenyan voters who are now fairly familiar with mobile phones (many of them are more complex to operate than a simple email address) have no idea how most of their respected elected leaders operate with the most important communication and information tool of this century—the Internet. This is what happens in some of your cabinet minister's offices. Minister walks into the office (usually at 3pm or 4pm after a long leisurely 5 course lunch at some hotel at the expense of the tax payer of course) and secretary hands him a print out of an email that has arrived for his attention. Minister writes down reply in long hand in broken English and the sort of grammar that a Standard Two pupil would correct. Hands over the scrap of paper to his overworked secretary who types in the message in some semblance of the English language and opens the minister's email account and sends back the reply. Secretary checks if the Minister has received any new mail. Sees a cheeky email from a "young woman admirer" from K-street. Makes her day as she reads it slowly savoring every detail and wonders whether it is worth the risk forwarding... Read more
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9:54
From: You Missed This
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archiveI am a voracious reader despite my rather hectic schedule. Currently I am reading the much acclaimed David Halberstam book; The Reckoning (published in 1986) which details the war between Detroit's Ford Motor Company and Japan's Nissan. Throughout my career as a jua kali entrepreneur cum writer, I have tried to model a lot of what I have done while closely studying the life of Henry Ford, the man who changed the world forever with his mass-produced cars. So the guy is no stranger to me. However in my reading today I came across some telling statistics about the man that I would like to share with you. The main reason behind Ford's wealth that transformed a penniless kid starting out with less than a dollar in his pocket to a multi-millionaire was the Model T Ford and the modern concept of mass production. Ford ended up selling 15,456,868 units of the Model T. When he started manufacturing, it took him 12 and a half hours to produce one unit of the car. His ambition was to produce one car every minute, a goal that he managed to achieve after 12 years. By 1925 he was producing one car every 10 seconds. My point is that whatever the human brain sets out to achieve it can achieve. What has been occupying my brain a lot for a number years now is... Read more
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9:38
From: Black Looks
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We hear this phrase frequently, used almost as a principle. I have never heard anyone question it. But, thinking of the underlying assumptions and of their possible consequences, we must seriously question it. It involves the typical freedom defended by liberalism as a political philosophy.
With the fall of the socialism that truly existed were [...]
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9:22
From: Cock And Bull
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Weddings are supposed to be happy occasions. But for a reason, they are not always such for some of the people who attend. I cannot point out quite what it is in a wedding that makes a person feel bland and lonely, especially when one is supposed to be happy for a friend or relative. At some point, one even feels outright depressed and the carefully selected outfit seems very plain. One feels unattractive, feels inadequate while interacting with people he or she has not seen in a long time, and even sweats a bit at the armpits. That makes a person even more uncomfortable since it requires one not to be too animated, so as not to expose the sweat stain.
This reminds me of the flies that often appear whenever there is a fresh kill. Apart from the common housefly, there is another kind of fly that is much bigger and more colorful. The common housefly might easily feel intimidated by the other fly since apart from making a louder buzz when it flies, its colors seem to shimmer between a luminescent blue and a dazzling bottle green depending on which angle you look at it. You cannot really blame a common house fly since the only magic about its dark colors is their dullness.
Perhaps the only thing that the common housefly might not know is that the colorful fly resides in the dankness of the pit latrine and only comes out when attracted by the scent of blood. In the heat of envy for the bigger fly, the common housefly disregards its own blessings of being able to live in the light, enjoying fresh air, sampling the taste on the plate of the master of the house.
In the face of people who seem more magnificent than we are, let us not forgets ourselves for the sake of strangers. For we do not know where they are coming from, and neither do we know where they are going. Let us remember to count our blessings, for they are much more that we might know.
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9:19
From: Cock And Bull
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It was interesting to hear someone suggest that the government should arrest the self proclaimed prophet who recently predicted that an earthquake will soon devastate the city of Nairobi. This was the second time he was appearing on TV. As a matter of fact, he had come out to confirm that the few tremors that had thrown many Kenyans into a great funk a few weeks ago were nothing compared to what is on the way. And once again, he gave the antidote of preventing the big earthquake from happening; turn away from sexual immorality – especially in the church leadership.
The church leaders came out to condemn the self proclaimed prophet, saying that only God can decide when an earthquake will strike. That was interesting considering that some of those church leaders often appear on television prophesying great prosperity for their church congregation and for the viewers who support their weekly programmes through generous donations. I do not remember any one of them promising to look into the issue of sexual immorality in his or her church.
I suppose the sexual debate is not about to stop. Whenever I walk into town and see the crowds of people jostling for space like great schools of fish swimming against each other in a tiny ocean, I often remember that each one of them is alive as a result of a sexual union. So, we can be sure that for any one person we see, two other people had sex. The fact is that people have always had sex, are having sex, and will continue to have sex with or without catastrophes. Perhaps the only reason why we do not have earthquakes each day is because the world is round; the forces of one group having sex in one part of the world is counterbalanced by the group having sex on the opposite side of the globe.
The desire to have sex is naturally built into every person as a means to propagate the species. In fact, the sexual urge is a primitive survival mechanism that affects not only human beings, but most other organisms in the animal kingdom. The urge is made delieberately strong, memorable and delicious so as to make it impossible to resist. That is why even making couples promise to remain faithful to each other in church can never be a remedy to men and women wanting to duplicate themselves at every opportunity available.
If Nairobi were to simultaneously experience an earthquake, fire, flood, and a plague of giant rats that feed on humans, the only way to ensure that our species survives is by making sure that so many of us exist that at the end of the ordeal, a few will remain. Ironically, the only way to build the numbers would be to continue to have sex. And sometimes I imagine that when the prophet announces the earthquake, a Kenya somewhere will switch off the television and run to attempt to make another baby…just in case.
I suppose that which has refuse for me to say it so far is that, despite the fact that we are equipped with the primitive urge for sex, we are also equipped with an equally strong faculty for doing that which we know is right. And everybody has also been given the instructions about what is right and what is wrong. As a result, an earthquake does not have to come for you or I to do the right thing. It also does not mean that since there is no earthquake today, we cannot choose the right thing. Always, let us choose what we know is right. Always.
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9:18
From: Cock And Bull
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Looking at local politicians campaigning before the national elections to be held at the end of this year, one would not fail to realize brilliant individuals who would serve the people very well if they were part of the next government. About half of those individuals will end up in the government while the remaining half will end up in the opposition. And then we will have another five years of accusations and counter accusations amongst these two groups before the next round of national elections. And the energy that goes into this kind of politicking is incredible: remarkable strategies and top of class analysis developed to discredit in addition to incalculable resources spent to undermine. All this is at the expense of national development, and the implementation of the agenda that voted the leaders into the government and into the opposition. Incidentally, the opposition often forgets that it is part of the system. By not voting them into the government of the day, the people give those politicians the role of the opposition.
Watching a political scene can sometimes seem like watching an individual with a brain split into two. While the body is waiting for a decision to be made, the two parts of the brain are arguing about who is right, and who is wrong. Imagine a body stranded outside a toilet with one part of the brain telling it to go in and relieve itself, while the other part tells it not to go until an explanation has been made about why too much spicy food was consumed in a past meal. While the 2 parts of the brain argue, the stomach rumbles until it can take it no longer. The result is that the body will make a big mess just outside the toilet. Unfortunately, the body will continue standing in its own stinking mess since the two parts of the brain will start a new argument about who is responsible for the mess, and forget to tell the body what to do next. Perhaps many days later, the body will still be standing there, caked in dried diarrhea as the two parts of the brain argue. That is how stagnation can happen to a very capable Nation. But then perhaps the politicians would not care so much about this messy situation since it has already been unanimously accepted that politics is a dirty game.
When one thinks about it, national leadership is no much different from personal leadership. When a person decides to hit the gym and get into shape within two months, he or she never considers that just a few days into the fitness regime, an opposing power will come in and start making the implementation of the two months goal difficult. Within two weeks, the negative part of the mind might have convinced the person that losing weight is impossible, so why even bother taking punishment in the gym? That happens a lot, doesn’t it?
I suppose the challenge in any kind of leadership, be it political, social, religious or even personal is to attempt to harmonize the working of the two opposing sides. As these two sides work together, they will no longer need to sabotage each other’s efforts and much more overall benefit will be realized. After all, a glance at the larger picture just confirms that we are all in the same team.
When the body is fit, the whole self is healthy – including the negative part that opposed the gym workout. Increased security in the country makes it safe for the person in the government, as well as the person in the opposition, right? Why should religious leaders attack one another when they are all in the business of delivering people to God?
God Himself has demonstrated time and time again that we are in the same team. We are all human beings. And so when He makes rain, it falls on the compound of the righteous and the sinner, the man and the woman, the Christian and Muslim, Black and White.
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5:38
From: bankelele
Read This Entry & More At bankelele
For the first time in many years, I'm likely to miss the Kenya Airways (KQ) Annual General meeting to be held later this month – as I sold all my shares earlier this year. It's a shame because attending one was inspiration for this site and the company's AGM's have been among the most colorful to attend. From backroom drama played out before the public, to who’s whos' appealing for votes to join the board - next to activists, to inane questions, KQ has had it all. KQ has always had a large customer base and so has had to tweak their AGM model each year for improvement – and that has served as a model for all the recent (over-subscribed) IPO companies like Kengen, Scangroup, Eveready and now Kenya Re to emulate. This year KQ has moved from Bomas of Kenya which seemed to be a natural home for the event with it’s ample parking, large screening area far from venue where KQ would hand out packed lunch boxes and t-shirt at entrance (some shareholders would turn back at that point having achieved their target for the day), large auditorium (where some would eat right away), huge TV screen and even had a second spillover hall for other shareholders if the main hall got full. This year's will be at Kasarani gym (not stadium) Anyway in the buildup to the event, what is the company saying? - It carried 2.6 million passengers last year, but profits were down 15% due to increased competition and reduced aircraft utilization - Turnover was up in all four geographic segments (Kenya, Africa, Mid East & Asia, Europe), but operating profit down slightly on all four (also they canceled Turkey route last week). 69% growth in Asia, 17% in Africa - Aeropolitics; They are appealing to the government of Kenya to grant visas denied to West African country nationals – warning that those countries could retaliate in granting KQ routes, or those passengers may choose other more hospitable airline/countries. - Double taxation: They are also lamenting that they are paying income tax in most African and Asian (except china) countries – while they also have to pay income tax in Kenya (Other airlines were able to force Uganda to stop this taxation last month) - KQ has 4,154 employees and all jobs will be applied for online from this year - Buy & hold shareholders: of the company's 73,000 shareholders, only 23,000 (32%) have immobilized their shares (enabling them to trade). Appeal for writers Any reader here, going for the event can please send in a report? Here are other (2005, 2006) KQ AGM reports to prepare with. Other happenings - Free newspapers: According to the NYPost, the New York Times is going to end its Times Select (subscription only) model for it's star columnists/Op-Ed pages. And when you combine that with Rupert Murdoch’s plan to make WSJ site free, what does that portend for other subscription based online newspapers and sites? Saving our roads: The government is cracking down to remove overloaded lorries from the roads by reducing axle sizes from four to three (or requiring the last axles on a trailer to also be a steering one). The move will effectively limit cargo capacity to fewer than 30 tones, down from the current situation where some trailers with 4-axles have been carrying up to 60 tons of the road. Good start to get road survival back on on track. But this automatically forces fleet owners to double their fleet size (and increases traffic on the roads) Broke law : The Nation had a great story this week about lawyers quitting private practice to take up jobs with the government or corporate sector. Meanwhile a prominent law partnership has broken up Jobs- Cartoonists at the Nation. Apply to quickdraw@nation.co.ke - KCB: relationship managers - asset finance, relationship managers - SME’s. Apply by 24/8 to recruitment@kcb.co.ke.
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