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21:50
From: Kenya Imagine
Read This Entry & More At Kenya Imagine
In reading Nanjala Nyabola's article of yesterday, I have found myself appalled at the myths that pass for truth in Kenyan discourse, and especially that such myths proceed to become the basis upon which political decisions and alliances are made. Take for example the account on President Jomo Kenyatta and the opening of the New Nyanza Hospital in Kisumu. It is true that Kenyatta's bodyguards opened fire on crowds, but this was only after the crowd at the rally heckled and threw stones at him. The security forces certainly overreacted, but it is inappropriate and misleading to suggest that the victims were shot because they were Luo; the violence broke out because hotheads at the rally attacked first, because the bodyguard had reason to believe that its employer was in danger. This has clear implications for this year's riots as well, especially with politicians claiming that the police are aiming to kill members of certain tribes. Read more from Daniel Waweru here.
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21:50
From: Kenya Imagine
Read This Entry & More At Kenya Imagine
If you read the newspapers, magazines or anything on the internet, listen to the radio, watch television, or take note of the chatter in the markets, at fireplaces in remote villages across the land, weddings or funerals one thing does come out clearly. Kenyans across the country are horrified by the wave of extremism death and destruction that has visited their country. There is no point in blaming one person, or the last government, or the one before for our present state. The seeds that led to this uproar predate these governments and go back 50, 70 even 100 years. Essentially, the root causes of this violence are not as significant as what this violence points at, the fact that Kenyans finally feel that they have the first roots of what it takes to be a representative democracy- to try their hand at majority rule, not the will of the few. Read more from David Obura here.
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19:50
From: Kikuyumoja's realm
Read This Entry & More At Kikuyumoja's realm
In Zeiten, in denen es Anderen schlecht geht und persönliches Leid mit solch einer Lethargie etragen wird, einfach deswegen weil es keinen anderen Weg gibt - in diesen Zeiten muss man das Leben so genießen wie es kommt.
Und nichts mag da sympathischer daherkommen als mein österreichischer Vermieter, der mich spontan um 12 Uhr nachts noch auf einen schönen französischen Cognac Fine, mit Poire (~ Williams Birne) verfeinert, einlädt. Ein schöner, 30jähriger Cognac, der so richtig mild und ölig, aber auch sehr süß im Mund zergeht und ich mir im Kopf schon ein Rezept ausmale, wo er auf einem schönen Flan Pudding und mit einem Hauch von guter Schokolade, die Spitze des Genusses andeutet.
Essen ist hierzulande viel zu unterbewertet, und gutes Essen sowieso. Selbst in Kenia, wo meiner Meinung nach ein Paradoxon in Sachen “einheimischer Küche” herrscht, werden die wenigen bekannten Gerichte mit Liebe zubereitet. Es mag vielleicht auch ein bißchen seltsam klingen, aber meine größte Verwunderung nach all den Jahren in Kenia und den Erfahrungen dort, habe ich mich letztes Jahr (wieder) vor allem über die beschränkte Auswahl an Gerichten gewundert. Und das obwohl es in Kenia so eine reichhaltige Landwirtschaft gibt, die nach guten Maßstäben produziert! Allein der Unterschied zwischen der reichhaltigen Küche der Swahili Kultur an der Küste und der GEMA (Gikuyu Embu Meru..) Fraktion im Landesinneren verwundert mich immer noch bis heute. Als ich letztes Jahr in Embu war, hatte ich darüber ja mehrfach gebloggt und mich ausgelassen, wieso auf der einen Seite dieses “Stadtleben” in so vielen Varianten kopiert wird, auf der anderen Seite aber beim Essen die Standardgerichte bevorzugt werden. Dies ist auch keine Frage des Einkommens oder des Wohnortes, sondern der Einstellung und der Bereitschaft, gutes Essen als Genuss zu sehen.
Allein - es besteht keine Nachfrage. Noch nicht.
Zum Cognac gab es übrigens noch schönen Tafelspitz aus ganz zartem Rindfleisch und großen Gemüsestücken.
Eine Konditorei in Nairobi mit gutem, richtig gutem Kuchen und feinem Café - wäre das keine gute Geschäftsidee? Wer Nairobi kennt, wird dies nur bestätigen wollen - siehe Java House & Co..
Bei all der Trauer um die “post election violence” und einer fraglichen Entwicklung, die vielleicht aus europäischer Sicht immer mehr in Richtung des widerstandslosen Chinas abwandert, darf man nicht vergessen, dass Kenia in diesen Tagen das nachholt, was zum Wohle des “Fortschritts” in über 40 Jahren kenianischer Republik unter den Teppich gekehrt oder nur für Wahlkampfzwecke missbraucht wurde: die Auseinandersetzung mit der eigenen Identität in einer neuen Weltordnung. Vom Konflikt betroffen sind aber die richtig Armen - und das ist genau der Knackpunkt: die Menschen werden für Ideologien missbraucht, die in der heutigen Welt nicht mehr Bestand haben.
Ich wünsche mir für Kenia ein friedliches Miteinander, in dem diese Euphorie des Vorwahlkampfes (”auch Deine Stimme zählt”) den Ruck in die Gesellschaft bringt, den man für positive Veränderungen braucht. Von einer Regierung, und das hat wohl jetzt jeder verstanden, kann man bestenfalls nur das Abstecken legislativer Rahmenbedingungen erwarten.
Ach, und besseren Kuchen in Nairobi - den wünsche ich mir auch! :-)
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18:50
From: You Missed This
Read This Entry & More At You Missed This
 After rebuffing the mediation mission of OAU Chairman and Ghanaian President, John Kufuor, the so called PNU government now seem hell bent on ensuring that the efforts of his nominated peace-broker Koffi Annan does not see the light of day. Yesterday as the thriller was going on in parliament, breaking news flashed on TV screens to announce that Koffi Annan has postponed his trip to Kenya after "suffering a serious bout of flu." Other rumours contend that Mr. Annan fainted as he was boarding an aircraft to bring him to Kenya at Kotoka International Airport in Accra and had to be rushed to hospital. None of these two incidents have been reported in mainstream Ghanaian press or elsewhere. Surprisingly, nothing has been said of the status of his two other eminent persons, Mrs. Graca Machel-Mandela and former Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa who were to accompany Annan to the mediation talks. Mr Annan's sudden illness came only a day after John Michuki, while handing over the internal security docket to incoming minister George Saitoti, arrogantly questioned Annan's visit to Kenya terming it unnecessary. Ever since Mr. Kivuiti tragically plunged this country into unprecedented chaos by declaring Kibaki president and later adding fuel by confessing that he, as ECK Chairman, did not know who won the presidency, it has become clear that the PNU government is not keen on mediation or negotiations with ODM and it does not value the lives of Kenyan citizens. While everyone else is concerned about violence, needless deaths and flawed elections, PNU seem to be saying - everything is alright. What nonsense I say! It is also clearly emerging that the PNU is deluding itself that it is a democratically government that is fully in charge of the country and that the ODM should be the official opposition party. The PNU government largely undermined the Kufuor mission from the outset, with prematurely appointed government ministers repeatedly saying no mediation was needed since there was no problem in the country. All the while - live media broadcasting is " banned" and political rallies " outlawed" - Kenyans are not only needlessly dying. Kenyans are undergoing untold suffering in their hundreds of thousands. In addition to this, several former African heads of state have been given a cold-shoulder by the PNU government and nobody knows quite what happened to the efforts of Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu. The concerns of international community have been openly rebuffed leading to threats of imposing economic sanctions by all major donors. Is there any guilt or self-respect in government? Dont these Kenyan lives have any value? On the other hand, ODM has been seen to be committed to all mediation processes and had even dropped all pre-conditions, including suspension of mass action rallies, in order to facilitate the negotiation with PNU in a peaceful atmosphere. According to ODM, "it is patently obvious that we do not have a partner to negotiate with." Where does this leave helpless civilians?
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17:49
From: Black Looks
Read This Entry & More At Black Looks
NABUUR is an online volunteering site that connects people in the Global South with volunteers who support small scale projects in towns and villages. I was browsing through the site when I clicked on Kenya and discovered messages sent by members either through email or by SMS to their supporting volunteers. It is [...]
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17:17
From: Rants, Raves & Reviews
Read This Entry & More At Rants, Raves & Reviews
Courts getting closer to people, says CJ
Story by NATION Correspondent
Publication Date: 1/17/2008 | | The Chief Justice Wednesday urged a construction firm to speed up the new Malindi court project saying the delay was denying people justice. Mr Evan Gicheru said the Sh285 million project was behind schedule and should be ready by July. He said the completion of the new court premises countrywide would bring justice closer to the people. “We want to arrive at an ultimate level where the furthest court of law from any Kenyan is four kilometres,” he said. The CJ addressed a staff meeting at the Malindi old court chambers before visiting the multi-million new court site with the resident magistrate Mr Joshua Kiarie. On the Lamu court that was scheduled to end several years ago, Mr Gicheru said there were no funds to complete it. The CJ also urged Kenyans to resolve disputes through the courts instead of using street demonstrations or violence. “My message to Kenyans is this... Don’t use machetes. Use the legal system, which is efficient and reliable,” he said. WTF...? Lest I get sued... I shall keep quiet. Or is it that I am at a loss for words? Or is it that I can feel the bile rising? Please let me know what you think...
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15:53
From: You Missed This
Read This Entry & More At You Missed This
 Not exactly whistle blowing but contradicting Ali.By KATY POWNALL KISUMU, Kenya (AP) — The police chief in this opposition stronghold said she ordered her officers to fire on a rioting crowd, saying she was forced to because police were overwhelmed during protests over disputed elections. The comments from Grace Kaindi, in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, were the first to acknowledge police fired on crowds. Previously, police had denied shooting anyone in the turmoil. "It was an extreme situation and there was no other way to control them," Kaindi said of the Dec. 29 clash in Kisumu. "I gave the order to open fire myself when I heard that my officers were being overwhelmed. If we had not killed them, things would have got very bad." The toll, according to hospital records: 44 shot dead, 143 wounded. Kaindi said one police officer was hurt by a rock hurled from the crowd. Human rights workers say Kisumu, 200 miles northwest of Nairobi, suffered the worst police brutality because it is a stronghold of opposition leader Raila Odinga, who accuses President Mwai Kibaki of stealing the Dec. 27 election. International and local observers say the vote count was deeply flawed. The acknowledged use of deadly force by police was likely to further inflame protesters who believe they are fighting a government that does not represent them, adding to the volatile mix of grievances in a conflict that has political and ethnic overtones. Clashes have pitted members of Kibaki's Kikuyu people against Odinga's Luo and other groups; most of those shot in Kisumu were Luo. The Dec. 29 clash came a day before the election results were announced. As it became clear Kibaki was going to claim victory, people in Kisumu armed with clubs and stones broke into stores, looted and set them ablaze, according to reporters at the scene. Protesters set up roadblocks of burning tires and stoned police, the reporters said, giving wildly varying accounts of the numbers of police and protesters. "We tried tear gas, but it didn't calm them," Kaindi said. "Police felt their lives were in danger because there were very few of them, so they opened fire and controlled the situation." She would not say how many officers or rioters were at the scene. The U.S.-based rights group Human Rights Watch said in a weekend statement that police were behind dozens of killings and that they fired on both looters and opposition protesters under an unofficial "shoot-to-kill" policy. Human Rights Watch said even people who did not attend rallies were shot, hit by police gunfire on the fringes of protests. Police spokesman Eric Kiraithe denied the Human Rights Watch accusations, saying officers have "acted strictly within the laws of this country." At a news conference Sunday, national Police Commissioner Hussein Ali insisted, "We have not shot anyone." Of the 612 deaths government officials have attributed to election violence, 53 were in Kisumu; hospital records show 44 of those were killed by police bullets. Kaindi's comments came Tuesday, a day before a new round of protests called by Odinga, who has ignored pleas from church leaders and others to cancel the demonstrations that have fueled much of the violence. Kaindi said her officers would not again fire on protesters, but on Wednesday police in Kisumu let loose volleys of rifle fire into the air over rock-throwing demonstrators. One of them, Dickson Oruk, said he saw the body of a man, apparently shot in the head, lying on the ground near three men who each had been shot in the chest. Kaindi said she had no regrets about her Dec. 29 order to fire, charging all those shot were "looters and thieves." On that day, Robert Owino, a 21-year-old mechanic, said he was walking home from work when he was shot in the chest. "I'm very angry about what has happened because I am innocent," he said from his hospital bed. "So many people were shot and, like me, they were doing nothing wrong." Hospital records seen by the AP show 44 of 53 bodies taken to its morgue after the Dec. 29 riots had bullet wounds. Fifty-nine people were admitted with gunshot wounds; 84 others were treated as outpatients for minor wounds. Seven of the 53 were burned to death and two apparently were beaten to death with "blunt objects," the records show. Nurses at the run-down hospital said the beds soon filled and they treated patients in the corridors. Many people bled to death for lack of blood for transfusions, nurses said. The Rev. Charles Oloo K'Ochiel, a Roman Catholic priest who collated an independent tally of those shot from visits to the hospital and its morgue, told the AP he counted 68 dead and 56 wounded. "When you go into a hospital ward and see that 95 percent of the patients are victims of bullet wounds, you have to wonder if the police were brought here to bring peace or to shoot every human being that comes their way," he said. All those with bullet wounds were from Odinga's Luo tribe, the priest said. Victims burned and beaten to death were assumed to be Kikuyus, he said. One body had eight bullet wounds, according to Oloo K'Ochiel. "This is Raila's place," the priest said. "The police have been overzealous, fearing that people will react more violently to the election fraud than in other places." In Kisumu, shattered windows and the blackened, twisted remains of cars, shops and gas stations testify to the anger of the city's residents. Brad Onyango does not deny participating in the violence. "We didn't want to hurt anyone, that wasn't our aim. We didn't have guns. Our aim was to show the world that we are angry and tired of this government and its corruption," the bus driver said. George Odhiambo, a student who said he was caught up in the chaos, accuses the police of acting out of "pure malice and they opened fire on anyone." Onyango accused police of stealing after breaking into shops with their rifles. Oloo K'Ochiel, the priest, said he also saw police stealing from shops. Chief Kaindi denied her officers were looting. Associated Press Writer Michelle Faul in Nairobi contributed to this report.
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15:16
From: Kenyan Pundit
Read This Entry & More At Kenyan Pundit
DIARY BY MX
1. i have been in kenya since early september 2007. i am finding it a tad bit intellectually dishonest when people here express shock at the aftermath of saturday bloody saturday (december 29th, 2007). i find their expressions a bit rich in that the one thing i quickly realized when i [...]
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15:10
From: Kenyan Pundit
Read This Entry & More At Kenyan Pundit
BY DAUD
The more things change, the more the stay the same.
My take on the situation will be short.I found this interesting video on you tube. It was on Tom Mboya’s death. I am struck by the differences
and the similarities to the situation today.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NghXDf2tZo
Most striking, is the much bandied about and simplistic ‘Luo vs Kikuyu’ Kenyan [...]
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14:53
From: The Displaced African
Read This Entry & More At The Displaced African
Part seven of the 10 things I wish I knew before leaving Africa
From Wikipedia encyclopedia: Jungle fever- a slang term for interracial relations
It was my last week in Kenya and I was just about to be shipped off to Australia. There I was, casually sauntering through Carnivore trying to convince older women that I still wasn’t being breast fed. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a friend of mine, drunker than a depressed brewery worker, come staggering down. He staggered directly to me, plopped his hand on my shoulder and delivered a monologue that I will probably never forger until the day I die. I paraphrase:
(more…)
 Social Bookmarking
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13:56
From: White African
Read This Entry & More At White African
[This is one of my longer posts, so here is a brief synopsis, followed by some more detailed thoughts and ideas:
Countries like Kenya, in times of crisis, aren’t necessarily closed for tourism. There are often many great, safe places to go on holiday. How could technology be used to create ways for possible tourists to find current, honest and credible information about a location before they cancel their trip due to inflated news stories that make you think a whole country is burning?]
Tourism in the Balance
I just got off the phone with someone who is heavily invested in the East African tourism market. As would be expected in times of unrest, tourists are canceling their flights, hotel rooms and safaris in Kenya. The long-term repercussions of the current crisis will hurt this $900 million industry badly. CNN recently did an article on just this, stating:
Conservationists in parks such as the Masai Mara say they rely on tourism to keep the parks up and running. But even though no violence has been reported in the parks, and no tourists have been killed in the violence, tourists are still too scared to come to Kenya, officials say.
 So things are looking bleak in Kenya, but the same types of things happen elsewhere in Africa whenever there is civil unrest, natural disasters or some other type of crisis. The international news sends back just these images, that might only be affecting small pockets of the country, and an industry is ruined for 2-3 years.
Challenges Beget Opportunities
So, as with every challenge, there lies an opportunity - many times with a technology component that will help counter the “bad news only” media. In this particular case, we know that some parts of Kenya are in rough shape, and that no one should go there who doesn’t have to. However, we also know that much of the country is safe and not likely to see any type of disturbance.
If I were to create a strategy for how Kenya can better show the world how things are in the tourism industry, I would start by creating an accessible flow of hyper-local information. You see, tourists need to know that the travel to their destination will be uneventful, and that their safari will still be fun and without fear of any domestic disturbances.
The low barriers to getting a website online make that a particularly attractive option, and likely a key component of any strategy. I would also consider employing a couple contributors on the ground in Kenya that would be able to go from location to location and report truthfully on why, or why not, to go there. They could upload videos, pictures and interviews of people on vacation.
While we’re at it, we might as well provide a map-based view of the country that showcases the most recent news, good and bad areas to go, reviews and submissions by tourists about each hotel, game park and tour operator. Basically, it has a lot of the components you would find on TripAdvisor, IgoUgo, TravBuddy or any other macro-travel guide, except that this would have up-to-date hyper-local information that only people on the ground there could provide.
A Video
An interview with Dr. Achieng Managing Director of the Kenya Tourism Board. It provides another perspective on the issue, especially how it affects everyday Kenyans. Alos, he covers the challenge it faces and opportunity provided by the crisis:
 
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13:25
From: You Missed This
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 Emuhaya MP-elect Kenneth Marende (right) is sworn is as Speaker of the 10th Parliament by National Assembly Clerk Samuel Ndindiri after he defeated Mr Francis Kaparo by 105 votes to 101 during third round of balloting. Photo/PETERSON GITHAIGA (NMG) The newly elected speaker of the national assembly Hon Kenneth Marende last night survived a baptism of fire. Or so it seems? Close political observers who have followed Marende's political career since his days as an advocate to an Rainbow/LDP activist and finally as rookie NARC MP for Emuhaya in the 9th parliament agree that Marende has what can be called smooth political career. This is mostly attributed to two facts. The first is that Marende publicly shunned spirited attempts by Kijana Wamalwa and Musikari Kombo to lure him to FORD-K when the party was being touted as the party to unite all Luhya's after Musalia Mudavadi re-defected back to KANU. Marende's second luck seem to stem from another angle. His close relationship with Musalia Mudavadi who incidently enjoys even closer relations with ODM kingpin Raila Odinga have also worked in Marende's favour. The questions that quickly comes to mind is: Why did the ODM pentagon back the nomination of Marende, already an MP-elect, as Speaker ahead of other worthy and highly experienced candidates who had also expressed an interest within ODM like Martin Shikuku and Oloo Aringo? In a national assembly where close numbers will determine the direction of most business, it is telling that ODM sacrificed one of their own, and a rookie at that, to be elected Speaker of the house and in the process automatically relinquish his parliamentary seat. Indeed, Speaker Marende did not participate in the voting of Farah Maalim (also nominated by ODM) as Deputy Speaker, which means ODM have already lost one vote. As thrilling events unraveled in parliament late into this morning, another critical unanswered question that kept coming up was that what (if any) agreement did the ODM pentagon have with the new Speaker? The answer may be found in an interview ODM pentagon member Najib Balala had with foreign media a day before the Speaker's election. Balala said: "With PNU 'controlling' the executive and judiciary arms of government, the ODM will 'control' the legislative arm and use it to reclaim what was stolen from the people of Kenya." As if to confirm this, the new Speaker himself in his inaugural speech indicated that "parliament must be taken back to the people." Does the Balala's prophecy spell doom for PNU and its affiliates now that the Speaker and his deputy originate from ODM stables? Incidentally, Balala swore his allegiance to the presidency (urais in swahili) rather than the president (rais). Raila on the other hand, swore his allegiance to "the country of Kenya." It took the Speaker's ruling to stop the PNU further embarrassment from a barrage of loaded Points of Order by lawyers Orengo, Namwamba and Nyongo as regards the "open" secret balloting as well as the oath of allegiance. Opinion is divided but the entire PNU side led by Kalonzo Musyoka all seemed content hiding behind the wits (skirt?) of Gichugu MP Martha Karua. At one point, President Mwai Kibaki seemed ready to give up and walk out of the chambers after enduring a barrage of scathing attacks from Orengo, Namwamba, Ruto and Nyongo. It took several comforting handshakes from ministers Karua, Michuki and Wetangula for Kibaki to recover his composure. At one point, before the election of the speaker, Kalonzo said: "We cannot participate in a flawed process in front of international media. Proceedings should be adjourned altogether." Nyongo retorted: "You (Kalonzo) accepted being a Vice-President in a flawed process. Stop being involved in contradictions. Be clear in your mind!" What a blast! It took Kalonzo at least four hours to recover and stand up to "empty" talk on another point of order. Empty because he had attempted to lecture the house on the need to uphold "traditions" but then again Nyongo silenced poor Kalonzo by asking where he was when the former president and MP for Othaya did not "respect tradition" when appointing ECK commissioners in total disregard to IPPG agreements of 1997! Luckily for Kalonzo, Martha Karua was always coming to the rescue of the Leader of Government Business. Kenya's parliament is in for interesting times. Meanwhile ODM's press conference this morning will give the general direction which the party will embark on. Watch this space!
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11:57
From: You Missed This
Read This Entry & More At You Missed This
  How do you contain a revolt you have unwittingly help create? Or better still, how do you stop a monster you have propped up gobbling you up? Kibaki’s prescription for Kenya’s present political problem amounts to offering a placebo to cure a malignant cancer. And hell hath no furry than a citizenry scorned. It takes wheels of steel to weather a political storm especially a self-minted one under influence from cronies with selfish interests to protect. What was crafted to look like a Kikuyu-Luo conflict has gained a life of its own and the resultant ogre will no doubt not spare her creators. Brinkmanship and bravado exhibited by Kibaki’s henchmen is only succeeding in fuelling the inferno. His apologists may spin all the much they care by painting Raila red with sin (rightly or otherwise) but the buck stops with Kibaki, period. Kenya is in flames fuelled by blood and only Kibaki has his hands on the fire extinguisher. Will he press? Your guess is as good as mine. It is the height unparalleled naivety and selfishness to jump into a political bed without any pretence to the requisite foreplay. No amount of washy-washing or pussyfooting will wash. Desperate situations call for desperate measures. All the political unions hurriedly crafted to prop up ILLEGITIMATE regime is a killer slap on the collective cheeks of Kenyans. You can launder and sanitize illegitimacy but the smell of illegality wont vanish, never. It is obtusely insensitive to assault our ears with songs on economic loss and call for peace without acknowledging the root cause of the present political fraud. The stolen elections are REAL and the resulting sustained pain has galvanised Kenyans to rise up in revolt against a tyrannical government. Disgusted Kenyans won’t listen until they reclaim their country back. Yapping about ruined economy is to play a stuck record. With the present level of tension founded on disgust, it does not matter what the news media say. The pain is both personal and communal. The regime’s apologist can transform their cheap escapist sermons into kites and fly them since they have the whole sky for free. The Rwanda genocide that they shamelessly bandy around was not instigated in a vacuum. Smart thieves and tyres When Kenya’s history is written, Kibaki will take more than a chapter. And it won’t be rosy. His contempt of Kenyans in stealing their votes is both evil and unforgivable. Mwai Kibaki has not only concocted KENYA’S GENOCIDE RECIPE, but he is busy serving it oblivious of hundreds of necks being severed. Even the devil in his schemes would have better strategies. Revolutions are driven by widespread pain, suffering and disgust besides leaving trails of (human) collateral its wake. Kenya belongs to all of us and the supremacists would better relocate. There is no free lunch and change is priceless. Already close to 1000 Kenyans have paid the ultimate price with their lives. It must have been the height of FOLLY to imagine that Kenyans will retreat to their hovels after a flawed election. SCOUNDRELS! Smart thieves steal but they remain alive to the fact that tyre-necklace (or its derivatives) is an apt reward for their profession. Kenyans demand unadulterated justice. Nothing more nothing less. No matter how long it takes, it will and must be realized. Blood is only useful in our veins and not flooding the streets.
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11:03
From: Me, Life & Everything
Read This Entry & More At Me, Life & Everything
Rendezvous: 2003hrs
Prolixity: Short
Mood: Excited
Whereabouts: Home
Track: Miss You Much, Janet Jackson
Previous related post here.
I had been getting rather impatient and restless that there had not been an upgrade to the DD-WRT software for my prized Linksys WRT-54GL but my unease was relieved to learn that a new update was ready for download. So this evening i [...]
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8:50
From: Memories, Sentiments, Rants and Raves
Read This Entry & More At Memories, Sentiments, Rants and Raves
From epoems.org
I want an infusion of your knowledge
I want to converse with you from moon to moon
I want to know what your desires are
I want to understand your listening
I want to eat your calmness
I want to hum in the key of your music
I want to feel the folds of your clothing
I want to know how things are joined together for you and how set apart
I want to taste the inside of your shell
I want to see how Fibonacci works for you
I want to hold with tenderness your secret tragedies
I want to make you realise what you didn’t know you knew
I want to move you to tears
I want you to be glad of the tears I move you to
I want you to give me the courage to be unreasonable
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8:17
From: Kenyanentrepreneur.com
Read This Entry & More At Kenyanentrepreneur.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVi6v1pCeVg
James Orengo should become a law school professor. He seems to have a knack for esoteric legal minutae that is often disconnected from the practical realities of the real world. On the first day of parliament he’s trying to argue (in 5 minutes) really dense constitutional issues. Watching him and the other lawyers (Karua & [...]
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7:38
From: Eyes on Kenya
Read This Entry & More At Eyes on Kenya
While Cassandra foresaw the fall and destruction of the city of Troy (she warned the Trojans about the Trojan Horse, the death of Agamemnon and her own demise), she was unable to do anything to forestall these tragedies…No one believed her. They thought she was running mad.
And like Cassandra, 4 years ago, Nationmedia’s Mutahi Ngunyi foresaw the events leading upto 2007 general elections and beyond. If only we would have listened…
Sunday Nation, Dec 2003
Why our second liberation is yet to be completed
By MUTAHI NGUNYI
This week I want to give a suggestion to President Mwai Kibaki: He should fire his speechwriter! If we lived in a ”banana republic,” these people would have actually been charged with sabotage. What they gave the President to read on Jamhuri Day was flat and shoddy. In fact, his speech on this day sounded like recycled material from the Madaraka Day and Kenyatta Day addresses. And what is worrying is that his speechwriters did not even seem to notice the repetitions. The question we should ask here is why?The answer to this is simple: Maybe they also slept through the speeches! The long and short of things is therefore that someone is being negligent.
Let us now turn to the fact that the President has finally put his portrait on our currency. In my view, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. In fact, there would be nothing wrong if he put a family portrait on one of the currency notes.
What we must understand here is that President Kibaki is a human being. He has urges and excesses. To deny him some things is therefore ridiculous. It is like placing a pot full of honey in front of a little boy and expecting him not to dip his finger into the stuff! In other words, our new President is cuddling in the warmth and comfort of the institutions that shaped former President Daniel arap Moi. And, if this is the case, why should we be surprised if he ”hatched” into a dictator?
What we have witnessed in the last one year is the degeneration of President Kibaki from a reformer to a ”Toad King”. This process begins with the President becoming insensitive. At this point, he breaks one pledge after another without feeling a thing. And, as he does this, the question in his mind is: Where can you take me? In the case of the MoU for instance, we took him nowhere. The begrudged politicians yapped until the cows came home. Now the President has put his portrait on our currency and we will take him nowhere. The general attitude here is this: If you do not like it, you can sit on a pin!
Numbing his sense to popular voices will definitely degenerate into a state of paranoia. At this point, the President will make one blunder after another. And instead of correcting his mistakes, he will increase his speed in the direction of the wrong. This is where former President Moi was when he introduced ”Project Uhuru” to the country. The crowds booed him, his loyal followers in Kanu abandoned him and even his own people questioned his wisdom. But the more we rejected his ”project”, the more determined he became. There is a lesson for President Kibaki here. He is increasingly becoming like Mr Moi during the 2002 elections. He is not yet paranoid, but his insensitivity could develop into ”political blindness”. Who knows how low he will have sunk by the 2007 elections? And this is what worries me.
The prediction
Consider a hypothetical situation here. What would happen if President Kibaki decided to run for re-election in 2007 and lost? Would he and his men have the grace to hand over power peacefully? From the way they have behaved in the last one year, I doubt it. And where would that leave the country? At the risk of sounding crazy, I want to suggest the following: If we thought that Mr. Moi would plunge the country into civil strife, he proved us wrong. Narc is the party to plunge the country into civil strife. You just have to listen to the FM stations and the call-in television programmes to see a pattern. From the name of the caller, you can almost predict what they will say and what side of the divide they will take. In a disputed election, such polarity would certainly take ugly proportions.
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5:14
From: Black Looks
Read This Entry & More At Black Looks
Kenyan Pundit publishes a moving piece by Mariposa in which she relates the intolerance of the Kenyan people towards her sexuality with the ethnic intolerance towards each other.
I left Kenya when i was 24 years, 10 month and some days old. With me were two suitcases stuffed with books and unsuitable clothing for the [...]
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5:06
From: You Missed This
Read This Entry & More At You Missed This
 Demonstrations planned for 30 cities and towns across Kenya by ODM to protest last month's FLAWED elections are on. True to expectation, the police have backed their refusal to allow the same by not only terming the demos "inappropriate" but firing shots at demonstrators. While electing Hon Kenneth Marende House Speaker yesterday was expected to take off some political heat and tension off Kenya's warring parties, the fires appear to have been given a new lease of life. Speaker Marende has told the BBC that the ODM had the constitutional right to begin three days of protests against the election of President Mwai Kibaki. We aren't out of political woods yet. Not only have we lost more than 600 Kenyans and displaced a tidy fraction of a million but our scoundrels for politicians appear to be all smiles in this absurd drama. No free lunch With live bullets fired above demonstrators in Kisumu and skirmishes in Mombasa and Eldoret, yesterday's theatrics may have provided the perfect rehearsal for the gloomy times ahead. But as Bob Marley aptly captured it 'YOU CAN FOOL SOME PEOPLE SOMETIME BUT NOT ALL THE PEOPLE ALL THE TIME'. Perpetrators of December 27 elections grossly underestimated the collective intelligence of Kenyans. Scare mongering and insensitivity while mouthing and abusing Rwanda genocide won't wash. Kenyans must emancipate themselves from these scoundrels once and for all. Apologists may spin all the much they care but Kenya will never be the same unless the root cause of present tension is squarely addressed. You can dress the festering wound as immaculately as you can with exotic bandages but if you loathe amputation then you better seek treatment first. Justice, period.
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0:21
From: Kenya Imagine
Read This Entry & More At Kenya Imagine
I was watching CNN this morning and I heard Monita Rajpal talking about the 3 larges tribes in Kenya, the Kikuyu, Luhaya and the Luo. My mother was bemused, I was livid. The reason being that I know how many people watch CNN and while under normal circumstances I would just let something like that slide, today, in the context of all the things that are happening in Kenya I was just completely furious. Read more from Nanjala Nyabola here.
Read the complete article at
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