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22:46
From: Rants, Raves & Reviews
Read This Entry & More At Rants, Raves & Reviews
BAT released excellent results for FY2007. They are introducing new 10-stick packaging ahead of the Anti-tobacco legislation. BTW, BAT recorded the highest PAT in its history even with the pending Anti-Tobacco legislation & ad-hoc by-laws by many municipalities. P.S. I do not smoke. I think it is a nasty habit. But as an investment... sigh... I struggle... should buy shares I or not? Co-op Bank plans an IPO in 3Q 2008... yes, the bank that went through a rough patch after the US Embassy bombings in Nairobi is now immensely profitable as agricultural fortunes improve for farmers. My gut feeling is that Co-op Bank needs to clean up their books before the IPO. There are many co-ops & saccos who are in poor shape. The government guarantees & write-offs promised to coffee farmers, etc has definitely bolstered Co-op Bank's balance sheet quality. They want to raise KShs 5bn to bolster the balance sheet. I like the focus of growth of branches & ATMs. Co-op banks expects PBT to hit KShs 3.5bn during 2008. Not bad! KCB plans a Rights Issue to raise KShs 5bn in 2Q 2008. It will probably be after the SafCon OFS is completed. No-one wants to go head to head with SafCon... Expansion into E.Africa is on the books. Olympia Capital is back in the news after a lengthy period of silence after raising KShs 420mn (gross) during its Rights Issue in 3Q 2007. OCC (its 51% subsidiary based in Botswana) is back in the acquisitions game. The SA acquisition of a complementary player in the building sector is expected to close in 2-3 weeks. OCC's largest division is Plush of SA. OCHL's results are expected by 31 may 2008. The recent fall in price to 11.50 makes it rather attractive considering the Rights were at 14/- just 6 months ago. Chase Bank owns a broker. Smart purchase back in the day. Suddenly, the bank itself is in play! BTW, Gachui of TransCentury owns shares in the bank. Well... that means, TC could wind up owning a bank & a broker... BIDCO wants more farmers to grow sunflowers for their Oil plant in Eldoret. I hope Kenyan farmers take up the challenge to reduce dependence on imported cooking oils. There is also demand for cotton seeds for their oil. I think BIDCO will be the next huge firm to go public by 2010. Essar is making big bets in Kenya. One of them is through Econet & there is the refinery. They are not easy pickings with the Kenyan government hamstringing Econet & the refinery deal. Good luck to them. I do hope Econet can lower the costs of calling in Kenya. Sasini's coffee shops seem to doing well. Sasini raised 600mn last year to fund expansion. Well,,, good luck to them! I am not a huge fan of Merali firms since they generally perform poorly but Sasini may buck the trend with high coffee prices. Well... the above is certainly a break from the gloomy stuff of the past few weeks...
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18:17
From: Words Much Like Poetry
Read This Entry & More At Words Much Like Poetry
i think on intimates,
friends who are well remembered in study,
and wistful longings begin to nag at my spirit,
they displace the usual lines etched upon my face,
amounting it to a solemn landscape of woe
for the solitude we wear close to our hearts,
solitude that much resembles cavaliers chain mail and suit of armor
in the way it weighs upon the form
and sinks us deep into the quagmire loneliness.
i think on the way my intimates and i,
on those ever rarer occasions of desperation
for that which is much needed but singularly found,
stretch out to one another
arms that tremble from the exhaustion of carrying our individual hindrances
and touch fingers, in reassuring manner,
across the erstwhile distance of our parallel lives.
i think on the events that shaped us
and that which drives us even now,
the seeds of our aspirations which we have sown
and seek to make fruitful,
tending them in the way of gardeners as they begin to grow,
nurturing them as they begin to bloom.
in each tender bud,
i see the prospective for greatness
that lies with the realization of our goals
and i weep for the endless universe of possibilities that was secured us
by those willing to trade blessed life for equality and freedom.
now, we can be as the empires and the conquerors,
the poets and the playwrights,
the sculptors and the painters,
the inventors and the explorers,
we can be as ill-forgotten as they,
a mighty root in our tree of known kindred
and not merely a withering branch.
but i wonder still if i have the right of it,
or if perhaps i seek nothing more than a method of explaining away
my demented longing for the immortality which comes of great feats
and lasts us through the ages,
kept alive by those descended of us,
by those who speak of us until time immemorial.
Dedicated firstly to my cousin and secondly to all those who have taken hold of places in my heart and refuse to let go.
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16:52
From: More to Life
Read This Entry & More At More to Life
Barack Obama gave the speech of a lifetime on race. He had to. He was left with no choice but to address America after remarks by his friend and pastor left America feeling inflamed. I wasn't one of those inflamed. I have attended church regularly in the US since Sept 11, 2001 and never been to a black preacher's church. However, those sentiments of Reverend Wright are not unique to Wright. They are basically conventional wisdom amongst many many pastors of all races and creeds. My overall assessment is that Barack Obama was handed this opportunity by his naysayers, by an idle media as elections go through what should have been a downtime period and by a fickle society, this proven by the poll results that came out yesterday. As we approach Easter, I address people, reactions, call for blood, and the roles we play in everyday life. Jesus was crucified on a cross because the crowds were baying for his blood. A crowd so incensed by the reigning religious elite. An elite group that was incensed at the audacity of Jesus. How dare Jesus claim to be the messiah and attack them for the way they run the church? Recall Jerusalem was crowded as the annual festival where they all brought sacrifices, the best of their lambs, was taking place. Keeping this short, Jesus did two things that influenced his ultimate crucifixion. He went to the temple in Jerusalem, drove the religious elite out for turning the temple into a den of thieves and raised a dead Lazarus, his best friend, four days into decay. There was euphoria, spreading like wildfire over the miracle of raising Lazarus, couple this with the scene Jesus created at the temple, add the huge crowds as all of Israel was demanded to be in Jerusalem then and there, you now know why the religious elite was incensed. What I don't understand is how they turned a crowd that had been chanting "Hosanna" as Jesus walked on by on a donkey, to one that yelled back "Barabbas", over Jesus given a choice of whom to set free. The irony is that the elite who Jesus kicked out of the temple were stealing from the very crowds that finally crucified Jesus. That what he yelled at them for was the fact that they were deeming people's perfectly acceptable lambs as imperfect, taking those, selling them lambs and then selling the lambs they took from these other families to the families that came behind them. They had turned a most intimate process of worship into a business with no care for even the really poor who would spend everything they had to purchase a lamb worthy of sacrifice. It's the way people are influenced, have been through history into ignoring the facts that they were so aware of from having visually and mentally experienced them, and become puppets of people with their own personal agendas. It's crazy how people who know what both white and black people say behind closed doors would pretend to be so shocked about Rev, Wright's utterances. A man who stands in a pulpit in a black church said there were injustices to the black from the whites, OMG!!! shocker! I know I'm oversimplifying the issue, my point being it's sensational but not situational. That it has become this situational, is not surprising to me, just further testimony into the insanely huge amount of weakness that is human beings in as parts of a crowd. That fact that makes the few people who can see the truth as crowds start baying for blood, often innocent and with knowledge of that fact having been tucked away into the corners people's minds, perhaps so that they are all saying the same thing; that difference, so rare and yet so necessary. That common sense so lacking across medias all over the world, that weakness that has caused the death of so many, that constant revolving door that is so wondrous for its abundance despite its constant abundance of poor results. The crowds at Calvary. A situation we find ourselves in everyday. Whenever we are in a position to decide something about anything, and are part of a huge crowd, physically present or otherwise; it's that opportunity we have to shout "Jesus" instead of "Barabbas"; based on what we know not what we are being told we know, that truly determines what kinds of people we really are. Recall however, that in Jesus' situation, this outcome was predetermined. But also remember that the greatest good came from people's inability to just do right, to stand for truth. In that sense, truth always wins. and imagine the guilt and shame of those who had yelled Barabbas as the news of Jesus and his resurrection spread. And the torture many might have endured in the hands of a common criminal such as Barabbas, simply because they chose to set him free. So as Barack does the right thing by refusing to denounce his reverend over petty politics, I gratefully watch him make what I believe to be the right call on this issue. If it costs him the election, so be it. We are after all our brother's keepers. And for a country that boasts free speech, utterances and opinions like Rev. Wright's, though controversial, are shared by so many from all races, that it would be ludicrous to agree that he was that crazy. I understand the need to denounce the speeches especially where they sound racist. But I as a normal thinking person, looking at Barack as a mixed American, raised by white relatives and struggling to find an identity within his prescribed race could never ask that he denounce the man who led him to understand what or who he really was. And I couldn't either shrink my mind to accepting he is racist against whites, despite they being his closest relatives, including a mother he loved dearly. So as a member of the Crowd at Calvary, I'm accepting my inability to change the outcome, but I am going against the voices I hear. simply because I think they are wrong, biased and misleading, all for selfish reasons. Y'all have a Happy Easter!
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15:36
From: Words Much Like Poetry
Read This Entry & More At Words Much Like Poetry
ponderings of a virulent nature
flit with the delicacy of butterfly wings
through that which is the seat of my thoughts.
this exasperation is aimed at none other than myself.
because, once again, i have allowed myself to come in for a share
of a rapacious interlude, which has left me somewhat sated,
and disrupted for a spell
the perpetual season of my anger.
and, with the conclusion of our rarely practiced distraction,
there is now, within you, a sense of righteous dominance,
an assumption that i have yielded to your brand of careless love
and that guilt has no residence in the streets of your conscience.
but guilt ought have a comfortable shelter,an extravagant domicile even,in the vicinity of your soul,for the era of my pique,a frigid, unending winter of calculable years,was begun by the first strike you laid,in smarting fashion,upon the softly rounded curve of my cheek.o curse the inanity of my sense of judgement,curse my misguided faith in the bonding of the human form,i knew, i knew!
at the commencement of the affair,i knew that there was to you a savageness,your temper flashes made of your eyesa moisture bereft plainwhereupon a wildfire spreads and blazes intensely.but i thought, too, that you were civil enoughto reign in your violent tendencies,thought that within you there was to be founda measure of esteem for those who are fairer,those who are often weaker in the sense of the physical.i reasoned that since woman, as i, gave birth to youendured for you the terrible onslaught of labor,reasoned that since woman, as i, tended you to her breastwasted herself to sustain you...
a tear coasts a salty path down my originally insulted,and continually offended, cheek.i pull closer about me the sackcloth and ashesmy sheets and bedspread have become,they mourn with me the extent of my naivete,for though the glacial fury has descendedand restarted whatever timepiece tracks the course of my enduring ire,i tell myself that the hour of lamentation is done,three a.m. has become four, time to sleep.the babes will wake and they will need me,or whatever pathetic creature it is that wakes,angry and drawn, from the nightly lamentto a woeful existence
that is more than in her power to change.
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15:12
From: Words Much Like Poetry
Read This Entry & More At Words Much Like Poetry
this courtship of ours is tenuous
a frail reassertion, at best,
of my capability to feel emotions
i've long thought of a realm from which i'd been exiled,
and time and distance,
ocean and earth,
the passage of a multitude of years,
and the ever widening yawn of wisdom,
drawn from growth and experience,
are not things we can effortlessly overcome,
all have a way of making hard of heart
even the most genuine of optimists.
mother earth, as obstacle,
raises mountain and rolling hill,
sister ocean, with bluest smile,
beckons one to sink to her deep,
mistress time, unalterable course plotted,
makes of us misanthropes, whose ill intents,
are borne toward the roseate,
so done by the dawning of realization within us,
of her resolution to never return us to what was,
the dawning that never shall we return to simpler days,
also, that withered woman wisdom,
who gains us patiently her teachings,
reminds us with merciless fondness,
that one can no more dwell in ignorance of the ways of mortal mankind,
ignorant of our inconstancy and faithlessness,
than one can dwell in endless night,
for withered woman wisdom
is as the lustrous sun
in the way she brings to us the light of truth
and in doing so nourishes our souls.
so tempt not fate, sweetness mine,
for she, too, needs be overcome,
and fate, unlike time, is irresolute,
she does not stand firm,
as most folk believe,
upon the widely held theory predestination.
no, sweetness, i implore you,
do not cast carelessly aside
this most improbable of chances we have been given
to at last rid ourselves
of that malaise of the spirit
known well as heartache.
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14:32
From: You Missed This
Read This Entry & More At You Missed This
 I know you are all eagerly awaiting the new cabinet lineup with great anticipation. Whether the list is fair or representative is an argument that will last us the next two weeks. Whether the new list is a win/loss for PNU/ODM or Raila/Kibaki is a fight that is just about to begin. As we embark on further fracturing our country based on the impending cabinet list, please remember those who have paid the ultimate price. On a lighter note, please keep Omtata in mind. Whatever direction the country takes, it should be to appease none other than Omtata, a professional who joined the regular folk on the streets (unlike most of you who vegetated on the keyboard) without fear. Folks, this is a man of unchained valor and incredible light body weight. A man who vehemently displayed great defiance even when walking on thin air. Aluta Continua!! Update by Kumekucha I salute you Omtata, bado mapabano, the 2nd republic is not here yet. But you my brother have proved that just one person can make a difference. I take off my hat to you. -Kumekucha on behalf of the voiceless masses of Kenya many of whom are still in IDP camps-
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10:54
From: Kenya Imagine
Read This Entry & More At Kenya Imagine
It's funny how sometimes you think that you know the cause of a problem only to later realise that you really have had no clue all along and that you've been fighting the wrong demons. For the first time in a long while, I was overwhelmed by a deep feeling of despair, anger and as much as I hated to admit it to myself, an acute sense of desperation. After spending hours crying and beating myself up over the sorry state that is now my life, I finally figured out what the problem was. It was me. Read more from Monica Wangeci here.
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10:52
From: Kenya Imagine
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American presidential candidate Senator Barrack Obama takes on the challenge of the Pastor Jeremiah Wright association to addresse race in America and its impact on his candidacy. Published here is his speech.
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10:49
From: Kenya Imagine
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I refuse to accept that it is over. The hatred and the fighting is not over. No one can convince me that the less than 12 hour turn around on the choice between no negotiations and a coalition government came through the goodwill of our precious politicians at the helm. We should not be fooled into becoming clapping buffoons when the people responsible for bloodshed continue to leech us dry. We should not pat them on the back and say thank you for the resolution. Read more from Bee Dablewkay here.
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10:46
From: Kenya Imagine
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The scene from his hotel room screen in Nakuru still fills his mind. Let's call him M. He's from Muranga, he still drives the Datsun 120 Y that he bought in 1972 when he was a twenty two year old boy. He's got a family in the outskirts of Eldoret where his wife runs the family farm (cows and wheat) that he bought in 1982 from a white man fleeing the coup that "never happened," as he is fond of saying. "So I got the farm cheap." Read more from Tony Mochama here.
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10:44
From: Kenya Imagine
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Roman showed up at my mum's front door three days ago. I had last seen him five before that day. Five years ago I was 21 years old, ambitious, adventurous, working as a store manager for an Italian Cookware Company in the central business district of Mombasa Island, volunteering at a children’s home every weekend, playing soccer and diving in the ocean every Sunday afternoon, and was the naughty young lady engaged to be married to the minister’s son. Roman was older, strangely settled at 29 and eager for me to stop being bad and wild so I could be his wife. Read more from Juliet Maruru here.
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10:41
From: Kenya Imagine
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The world's financial press has a new obsession to succeed the "sub-prime mortgage" craze of autumn 2007: "sovereign wealth funds", those state-backed investment bodies whose accumulating assets (often fuelled by the high energy prices of the 2000s) are roaming the globe in search of businesses to invest in, partner - and perhaps devour. The enormous capital assets of these funds, and their potential influence on western markets and business, make the focus (and to a degree the fear) understandable; but some at least of the reporting and discussion about these new behemoths in the western media has a bias towards misunderstanding. Read more from Fred Halliday here.
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10:38
From: Kenya Imagine
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Published here is a speech given by the Commonwealth Secretary General Don McKinnon on February 22 to the Africa Investment and Finance Conference held at the London Stock Exchange.
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10:20
From: Kenya Imagine
Read This Entry & More At Kenya Imagine
With even Kenyans starting to lose interest in the Kenyan saga, Zimbabwe looks set to become the next African media darling. This time around, though, coverage will be more spotty; president Robert Mugabe has banned reporters from ‘hostile' Western countries-meaning all Western countries-from entering the country in advance of the March 29th election. Read more from Arno Kopecky here.
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10:17
From: Kenya Imagine
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"No other (ethnic)nation in Kenya is washing its dirty linen in public, why are all of you emerging young Kikuyu writers doing it?" the email correspondence began. I offered to respond in a well argued essay in public. My correspondent would have none of it. "...I hope you see why that would be similar to the whole 2005-2007 ‘outing of Kikuyu culture and issues'. Read more from Njoroge Matathia here.
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9:25
From: Kenyanentrepreneur.com
Read This Entry & More At Kenyanentrepreneur.com
That’s what I’m experiencing right now. I was trying to listen to the analysis of his speech last night, but after about 5 minutes, I switched off all the news channels. I couldn’t take it.
I heard someone say that it was the: “greatest political speech on race in his lifetime”! eh? Obama did what he always does; [...]
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9:18
From: My Life is...Mochalicious!
Read This Entry & More At My Life is...Mochalicious!
Gosh…..it feels like I have neglected my blogging duties badly.
Too much going on at once.
I have been busy attending baby showers and birthdays (March babies ni wengi..damn) that I barely have time to chill over the weekend.
To y’all in Nai enjoying with FG…….MUSHINDWE!!!!
So, Easter is upon us once again. I have to say, like Christmas…it [...]
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6:05
From: Mentalacrobatics
Read This Entry & More At Mentalacrobatics
White African and Afromusing have informative posts on how you can vote for the Ushahidi project on the Netsquared mash up challenge. If you had voted before, please go and vote again. This project really is ground breaking. Let me tell you a little bit why.
Report Acts Of Violence In Kenya
At the end of January I attended a media forum organised by Internews Network. The forum was for the media to examine the way local and international media covered the post election violence. A self-assessment session. It was a fascinating way to spend a morning. The room was filled with hacks. Newspaper journalists, TV reporters, radio presenters, from the broad spectrum of media houses in Kenya. The big national broadcasters, the vernacular radio stations, the religious radio stations, and yes even the bloggers. I was invited to attend and to speak as a blogger and I gave a presentation on the way the blogosphere had covered the election and the post election violence.
In a session towards the end of the forum the discussion moved on to what we all could have done better in terms of our coverage. One statement that stood out for me was a comment that a lot of the reporting of the violence by Kenyan reporters/bloggers read like it was done by strangers. Kenyan reporters/bloggers were writing about things in their own country like strangers. For example, we all talked about Rift Valley militias like they are some kind of abstract phenomenon. Who are these militias? Who is funding them? Where do they live? What were the doing the day before the election? What do they call themselves? What are the names of the members? As Kenyans journalists they felt that these are the things they should have covered from the beginning.
The same applies to the victims. We always complain about how Africans are reduced to statistics. Remember when Al Qaeda bombed the US Embassy in Nairobi and western media reports named the foreigners who died and left out the Kenyans, or when flight KQ507 went down and we heard international media reports which named a list of nationalities and ended with “the rest were Africans”? Well here we are in the middle of the greatest crisis our country has ever faced and we couldn’t even name our own victims.
A few reporters spoke out against this criticism. One reporter said that as a Kikuyu woman she would have to be mad to approach the family of a victim of “stray” police bullet to ask his name as the public felt the police were working to protect the Kikuyu, and would have to be completely bananas to try and interview members of any Rift Valley militia who were busy running around rounding up Kikuyus. Valid points perhaps but they were quickly knocked down. After all, the moderator remarked, as professional reporters you must have more than one way to find information. Just because you can not approach the family directly is no excuse not to be able to identify the victim of violence or to do a story on the identities behind the militias.
A couple of people raised another concern, that it was completely unrealistic for us to think that it is possible to name all or even most of those victims of violence. They felt that it was nice in theory but in reality it was unworkable. An Indian journalist who has been based in Kenya for the last few years as a foreigner correspondent told us about the example of Calcutta.
After riots in Calcutta left over 3000 people dead one of the newspapers, I think it was the Calcutta Daily Telegraph, launched a project to name each of those victims and it succeeded. 3000 people and they wrote all their stories. If they can, we can too.
It is unacceptable that people, our people, remain numbers. It is unacceptable that as Kenyans we can feel comfortable in the continuing anonymity of the ultimate victims of the post election violence. And let us be honest, we are cowards if we continue in this way.
It takes guts to look death in the face, to find out whom this person was, where they worked, where they went to school, to hold their children, to speak to their partners. To find out what their dreams were. It takes guts but it is necessary.
Take the example of James Odhiambo:
- James is 24 years old.
- James is the sole breadwinner for his family.
- James works at a petrol station as an attendant.
- One of his colleagues at the petrol station is called Brian Oluoch.
- James was killed in Lurambi at the junction on the way to Shikoti, Kakamega in Western province, Kenya.
- According to eyewitnesses he was shot by the GSU.
- The police were unable to pick James’ body, as they did not have enough fuel for their vehicle.
- James Odhiambo was buried on Sunday 13th January 2008.
- James was buried in Homa Bay, Nyanza province.
- Brian and other friends from the area travelled to Homa Bay to comfort the family.
- If you would like to help the family directly you can contact Brian on +254.724.912.015
The national media declined to run James’ story so how do I know about it? I know because Mr.Michael Arunga, who works for World Vision in Darfur, was on holiday in the area at the time and took pictures, which he allowed Afromusing to post on her flickr account. Afromusing then wrote a blog post with all the information above she put on her personal blog and on Ushahidi.
Report Acts Of Violence In Kenya
In one blog post of 399 words James went from being just another number. James went from being just another dead body in the “over 1000 causalities” of the post election violence in Kenya to being James. Afromusing’s post is disturbing and saddening. It is also powerful and necessary. Afromusing’s blogpost and Michael’s pictures humanised the death of a young man, personalised it, and made it real and relevant.
This is why the Ushahidi project is so relevant and so necessary. We as Kenyans are guilty of having short-term memories. Yesterday’s villains are today’s heroes. We sweep bad news and difficult decisions under the carpet; we do not confront the issues in our society and get shocked when the country erupts as it did two months ago. Ushahidi gives everybody, anybody, the opportunity to get his or her experience recorded. Through SMS, through email, through the internet, through meeting an NGO worker who will write down what happened and share it with us. Ushahidi is a project that has to be owned by those who use it; they have to believe in it. They have to trust it; they have to feel a part of it. Ushahidi is not the end but the beginning. We have the information, we share it, and people will run with it. Hopefully we will get the stories behind the numbers. Just as with James we can inject a little humanity back into the lives of these people who were killed because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The project is recording not just incidents of deaths, but of all the violence. The project is not recording just the negative stories but highlighting the doves who are working for peace in our communities as well. And the project needs all your help to survive. Ushahidi needs your help, needs your votes. Please vote for this project on the Netsquared challenge. You can find full details on how to do this here. After you vote, please get involved by submitting your experiences and those of the people around you to the database. Instructions on how to register to vote are here and here.
Thank you.
Report Acts Of Violence In Kenya
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5:20
From: Rants, Raves & Reviews
Read This Entry & More At Rants, Raves & Reviews
The SafariCon OFS is about to start. I am waiting for the prospectus before I make a decision.
Since the OFS has been hyped for so long, there is a huge local - and foreign - pent-up demand for the shares. The 'unchallenging' price of 5/- will push the OFS to all reaches of Kenya.
As discussed earlier, 10,000/- is affordable for many Kenyan households.
I have been asked what other shares look 'good' since prices have dropped as retail investors sell off other shares to apply for SafCon.
Olympia - Yesterday, it dropped 9.5% to 11.55 which makes no sense. OCHL's main business units are in the S.African region. The year end was 29 Feb 2008 and the results should be released by 31 May 2008. OCHL had a successful Rights Issue in 2H of last year.
Kenya Airways - It has been flirting with the low-50s. It is challenging to be an airline but KQ remains dominant in profitable E & C Africa. As incomes rise so do passengers. I hope the Kenya Airport Authority will expand the airport to cope with KQ's forecasts of 4mn passengers by 2010.
Equity - It just keeps on growing. I think it needs to drop further. Definitely worth buying at the rate of growth!
Barclays - They have expanded rapidly in 2007 and I expect further growth in 2008 with the new branches & aggressive expansion into alternative methods of sale/promotions.
Kenol - Aggressive growth in E & C Africa. Buying Kobil with mostly Kenya assets will be a drag. The gains from lower corporate costs as well single brand identity will benefit Kenol.
KCB - Get ready for the Rights. Regional growth is being ramped up in Uganda, S. Sudan & Tanzania.
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2:56
From: You Missed This
Read This Entry & More At You Missed This
By Shiko Of Mombasa A Kenyan complained in the Daily Nation recently that out of 421 short-listed applicants at the State Law Office, 124 (30%) were from the same community. We may not expect every office to accommodate every tribe but the arithmetic in this case is rather off kilter. If the 70% balance is to be shared by even a half of the other tribes, do the arithmetic and you’ll know why Kenyans are so bitter with one another. This situation is duplicated in many other instances. In the recent clandestine police recruitment that was later nullified, 80% of those accepted were from just 4 regions. Kenyans have no problem being from different tribes. They have a problem with inequality and such anomalies must be redressed if we are expected to live together as one happy family. What Kenya needs is not war cries and machetes but civilized mechanisms to fight the tribalism monster. One idea would be the formation of a commission mandated to oversee balanced ethnic, age and gender diversity in employment, both in the public and private sectors. Career progression could also be thrown in the mix to curb discriminative promotions. The commission would have to be well legislated with a strong constitution, otherwise some elites might use it as an avenue to enrich themselves and incubate worse bitterness among wananchi. With a head office plus regional offices country wide, and a strong database, it should periodically monitor recruitment and dismissals. At any one time it should be able to avail to Kenyans a general report on the ethnic, age and gender balancing of workers in organizations like KRA, Treasury or Local Government for example. Needless to say, the commission must itself be a representative of all the ethnic groups in the country and be completely autonomous (free from politicians and other interested groups). It should also have some powers to name and shame as well as impose fines on employers who do not tow the line. The commission would obviously have to take things gradually, starting with government and other public offices, and spreading to the private sector in the course of time. With time, it should have all major and not so major organizations in it’s database with the support of the law so that it remains in force even with change of governments. I’m not by any means suggesting firing and replacing of workers en-masse but I see no reason why it’s first job should be to oversee a thorough audit of the ministries and then a balanced inter-ministerial reshuffling. There are some government offices where everyone is considered Tribe X and addressed in language X until proven otherwise. It’s a behemoth task and a logistical nightmare, and I’ll be the first to admit that such a feat is not easy, but what is? A repeat of the recent fighting in future, albeit worse? Kenya does not lack for brilliant men and women who can run an organization of this kind. We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations. Kenya can choose either to use the opportunity to mend herself or bury her head in the sand and let things smooth themselves out. They’ve been smoothing themselves out since independence and see where we landed. The benefits of such a move will obviously not be immediately felt. Rather we’ll be laying good groundwork for our future generations. The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty. Why PNU evidence against Kalenjin leader is "useless."
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Stranger Than Fiction: The 2 Animals In Tsavo that hunted humans for food, even inside hospitals
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1:56
From: Mentalacrobatics
Read This Entry & More At Mentalacrobatics
Is there any person in America who hasn’t heard of Barack Obama?
Yes … and his name is DMX.
Q: Are you following the presidential race?
DMX: Not at all.
Q: You’re not? You know there’s a Black guy running, Barack Obama and then there’s Hillary Clinton.
DMX: His name is Barack?!
Q:Barack Obama, yeah.
DMX: Barack?!
Q:Barack.
DMX: What the fuck is a Barack?! Barack Obama. Where he from, Africa?
Q:Yeah, his dad is from Kenya.
DMX: Barack Obama?
Q:Yeah.
DMX: What the fuck?! That ain’t no fuckin’ name, yo. That ain’t that nigga’s name. You can’t be serious. Barack Obama. Get the fuck outta here.
Q: You’re telling me you haven’t heard about him before.
DMX: I ain’t really paying much attention.
Q:I mean, it’s pretty big if a Black …
DMX: Wow, Barack! The nigga’s name is Barack. Barack? Nigga named Barack Obama. What the fuck, man?! Is he serious? That ain’t his fuckin’ name. Ima tell this nigga when I see him, “Stop that bullshit. Stop that bullshit” [laughs] “That ain’t your fuckin’ name.” Your momma ain’t name you no damn Barack.
Q: So you’re not following the race. You can’t vote right?
DMX: Nope.
Halfway through this interview it becomes pretty clear that this cartoon lives in his own world. Thank goodness I grew out of gangsta rap a while ago!
Via Kottke
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0:51
From: Afromusing
Read This Entry & More At Afromusing
Today, I had to walk my friend through the ballot process for the NetSquared challenge. The 29! stars we are so very thankful for were part I of the challenge, we now need you to add Ushahidi to your ballot and submit 5 projects. This is the most crucial part of the mapping challenge. The following instructions (also blogged by Erik) should help.
How to vote:
1. Create an account (or Login if you already have an account) at NetSquared.org
2. Vote for Ushahidi by clicking here, then click the red ‘Vote for My Mashup’ button.
3. Vote for at least 4 other projects. Just make sure you choose a total of 5 minimum.
4. Click ‘View/Cast Ballot’, or click here: [www.netsquared.org]. Be sure Ushahidi is listed as one of your chosen projects.
5. Click ‘Cast Ballot’ on your screen. That’s it!”
(Via White African.)
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0:00
From: White African
Read This Entry & More At White African
[NOTE: This is different than the original time we asked for your help. We found out that was only to give us stars, but that vote doesn’t count towards the real ballot. Please go vote again!]
Ushahidi is an African initiated project used in Kenya to map reported incidents of violence during the post-election crisis. Our goal is to increase the scope and capabilities of Ushahidi so that it can be used by others around the globe who find themselves in the similar crisis situations. We need your vote in the NetSquared mashup challenge for a chance at winning some money to use in further development.
How to vote:
1. Create an account (or Login if you already have an account) at NetSquared.org
2. Vote for Ushahidi by clicking here, then click the red “Vote for My Mashup” button.
3. Vote for at least 4 other projects. Here are four that I recommend, but you can choose whichever you like. Just make sure you choose a total of 5 minimum.
4. Click “View/Cast Ballot”, or click here: [www.netsquared.org]. Be sure Ushahidi is listed as one of your chosen projects.
5. Click “Cast Ballot” on your screen. That’s it!
Thanks, and we’ll keep you updated on the outcome!
 
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