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22:55
The Right To Own A Gun (And Not Use It)
» For Love and Money The Right To Own A Gun (And Not Use It)
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20:09 80% of Kenya’s Budget Will Now Fund The New Cabinet!!
» Kenyanentrepreneur.com The Mars group has studied the financial obligations that will come with this new bloated government and they’ve determined that 80% of Kenya’s national budget will go into buying more mercedez benz’s and range rovers for these greedy, greedy, politicians. Yes, my friends, the cabinet will now cost the Kenyan taxpayer $1 billion [...]
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16:33
R.I.P. Aimé Césaire
» Black Looks Prophecy There, where adventure keeps a clean eye there where women shimmer with language there where death is beautiful in the hand like a milk season bird there where on bended knee the underground gathers a wealth of sloes more violent than caterpillars there where for nimble wonder anything goes there where vigorous night bleeds the speed of true vegetables there where bees [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "R.I.P. Aimé Césaire", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/04/rip_aim_csaire.html" });
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16:21
Curtesy
» Farmgal 
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15:03
Mungiki’s Violent Message to Government
» You Missed This So Mungiki has 'officially' called off visiting terror on Kenyans secure in the belief that they have cut a niche in marking their territory as a political force. That leaves one asking why didn't they announce the start in the first place. That the spokesman calls media houses without any fear of being apprehended exposes loads of complicity and incompetence.
It is time we put the twisted philosophy and identity of this murderous lot into its true perspective. For starters nobody with a heart can show his post molars in glee at the pain of others. With that declaration cleared we dive gloveless into the thinly clothed TRIBAL SUPERIORITY COMPLEX Mungiki is fashioning as cultural purity.
Mungiki’s orgies of violence are just the primitive version of wider GEMA ethnic thinking. They are simply attempting to violently institutionalize utter contempt for other Kenyans. You don’t need to think very hard to see the pseudo intellectuals contrasting Mungiki’s present bloodletting to JUSTIFIABLE protest against election theft. When other Kenyans demand their birth right they are branded lazy but that vice acquires an objective sheen when these crude extortionists suck other Kenyans blood.
Mungiki is reminding all and sundry by sending a political message that whatever and whoever is in the new coalition we are not going anywhere. With patrons in the right offices, the sect is simply pinning their mark on the political sand. Mungiki’s antics amount to nothing but unsophisticated peddling of superiority complex that has been plaguing since independence. When Jaramogi wrote NOT YET UHURU the same calculative lot demonized but on hindsight he saw ahead of time Kenya replacing the white colonialist with a native one.
Complicity and incompetence
There is industry and deception. Only in Kenya do we have the two meaning the same thing. According to these local masters the word HEAD START (unfairly dished of course) is being savvy and knowing when to make a kill by having the right nose to smell opportunities miles ahead of the rest.
Mungiki must be seen for what it is as the unpleasant face of a section of Kenya who believes the rest owe them gratitude for populating this geographical location. Kibaki’s election theft dovetails in that realm of thinking and saying otherwise to live in self denial. Kenya is at war with this calculative group who only makes you feel relevant when they want to ride on your back by globalizing a local problem. The plastic clarion call najivunia kuwa Mkenya was cleverly coined to make us bend our backs for the masters. Patriotism is never taught.
Even the conventional church has not been spared the expanding sphere and smell of deception and selective amnesia. This vice must be genetic. Just look at the present church and the hitherto vocal clerics and compare that with the late Muge and his steadfastness during Moi’s regime. Kenyans are only fighting back to reclaim their country from THIEVES and SCOUNDRELS in various shades masquerading as champions of cultural purity. -
Breaking News: Mungiki Call Off Terror Attacks
» You Missed This Njuguna Gitau Njuguna Says That They Are Answering Calls For Peace From The Prime Minister
News That I have just received indicates that the Kenya National Youth Alliance has this evening announced an end to their national terror campaign called to protest the killing of the wife of their jailed leader Maina Njenga.
The really shocking part of the statement called in to the media by the groups' infamous spokesman Njuguna Gitau Njuguna was that the group has made the decision to call off their protests in honor of Prime Minister Raila Odinga's appeal for peace. Sources indicate that Raila Odinga who was sworn in as prime minister earlier today has entered into dialogue with the group.
Njuguna appealed to matatu owners to return their vehicles to the road tomorrow morning (Kenyan time) without fear assuring them that there will now be peace.
Earlier today two more public transport vehicles were burnt in Nairobi's Dagoretti area. Meanwhile a serious fuel shortage loomed when Mungiki adherents distributed leaflets daring lorry drivers to try and deliver fuel to a major fuel depot in Nairobi's Industrial area. The leaflets warned that any lorry seen carrying fuel in the area would be torched.
Yesterday as a result of Mungiki terror a curfew was imposed in Othaya and Nyeri.
However it is now expected that after the strange statement this evening, all will be well and Nairobians who have had to contend with the virtual crippling of the public transport system can now go back to some sense of normalcy.
Love blossoms into the most unlikely couple
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Aime Cesaire: 1913 - 2008
» Black Looks The Martiniquan poet, novelist, playwright and activist, Aime Cesaire died today aged 94. I feel sad that the last of our literary and ideological [negritude] warriors is now gone. Sad that we people of African descent remain at odds with each other. Where the people who stayed behind have forgotten [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Aime Cesaire: 1913 - 2008", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/04/aime_cesaire_1913_-_2008.html" });
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12:04
I Need Your Help
» The Displaced African Enclosure: [download]
Hello hello hello,
I got to thinking recently and said to myself:
It would be really cool if one of my readers wrote a guest post.
So, in short, that is what I need help with. Now as I write this, I have already contacted a few of you and asked if you are ready, willing and able to contribute a guest post to tDA. Now I see some of you asking,
But Mwangi, whatever shall I write about?
I Am Glad You Asked
Seeing as this is the blog dedicated to happiness and peace of mind of Africans in the diaspora AND a lot of y’all, actually most of you reading, are in the diaspora, I would love to know about your experiences and especially the things you have learned along the way. Some of the formats that this article can take are:
a) Top 7 Things I Have Learned Living in Sydney/ Boston/ Coppanhagen etc etc
b) The Story of the Day You Knew You Were an African Immigrant
c) Story of a Day You Triumphed Over Adversity
d) Whatever you feel about writing about, as long as it teaches other people something.
But What If I Am Shy About Talking About Myself
If that is the case, then allow me to recommend that you write a rebuttal post to one of my more controversial posts. Feel free to call me a naive, badly chopped, lemon-head if you please, as long as your rebuttal helps other people. The more controversial posts in the history of the Displaced African are:
a) Jungle Fever: The Relationship Between African Men and White Women
b) Promiscuity Making a Man a Stud and a Woman a Whore IS NOT a Double Standard. Here’s Why?
c) The Empty Symbol That is Barrack Obama
d) For the Ladies: Stop Complaining
Anyway, I am really looking forward to seeing what people can come up with. My first ever guest post, 7 Barriers to an Immigrant’s Success, did very well and is one of the most read articles in the history of this blog.
Let me sign off here by saying:
If you are tempted by the idea and not quite sure whether or not you should. DO IT! I had no idea what I was doing when I first started writing this blog, but in retrospect it’s turned out pretty OK. Plus, I do not bite
To finish off: You see, people aren’t only ignorant about the complexity of Africa. Watch below and be amazed! Thanks Caustic Blonde for bringing this brilliant piece of television to my attention.
Be blessed and bless others,
Mwangi
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9:57
Aime Cesaire, 1913-2008 - Negritude, gender, diaspora
» Marian's Blog Aime Cesaire est mort aujourd'hui. Aime Cesaire has died today. We awoke to this news, 17 April 2008. He made it to age 94. The Martiniquan poet, novelist, playwright and former mayor of Fort de France and member of French...
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As Kenyans Continue With Their Petty Tribal Squabbles…
» You Missed This Wanjiku Tells Us Why the Kikuyu Are Deeply Ashamed Of Mungiki
I returned and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all. Ecc 9:11
Why Tom Mboya’s shadow still looms larger than ever across the country and in the US
History is clearly about to made in the United States as Kumekucha predicts that against all odds, Senator Barack Obama will win the democratic party nomination for president and go on to win the presidential race in November.
The amazing thing is that it would never have happened without the help of the two gentlemen seen in the photograph above who eventually ended up being both victims of an assassin’s bullet. It was the famous airlifts of the 60s initiated by Tom Mboya with the help of the then president John F. Kennedy that landed senator Barack Obama’s late father in the United States as a student. The rest as they say is history.
If TJ were to come back today and be told the amazing story leading up to the White House that started right at his door step, the most likely reaction would be for him to chuckle in that affectionate sincere way those close to him knew. But there is no doubt that he would have been utterly amazed at what his humble airlifts had done for the entire continent.
The really bizarre thing about all these developments concerning senator Obama is the fact that while the rest of Africa celebrates the fact that a man fathered by an indigenous African born in humble surroundings at the heart of Africa, is about to ascend to the most powerful office in the whole world, in Kenya support for the senator is split along tribal lines. For example while Kenyans living in Kisumu cannot get enough of Obama whom they consider to be one of them, many in Central province in the very same country would prefer a Hillary Clinton win for the democratic party and the presidency of the United States, not because they like wazungus but simply because of the part of the country where Senator Obama’s father came from. In other words there are too many Kenyans who do not look at the Senator as of Kenyan descent but instead as a man whose father was a Mujaruo.
That is how far down Kenyans have sunk, folks.
And yet if Obama were to be elected president the entire continent would benefit greatly. Not because President Obama would concentrate on Africa. Far from it, he will be kept busy serving the good people of America who will have elected him. But Africa will benefit because for the first time in history the occupant of that high office will be somebody who understands Africa extremely well.
Or let me put it in another way. He will surely be the only president of the United States ever who slept on a couch in a low class Nairobi estate at his step sister’s place in an effort to fully understand his roots. Many in the Kenyan cabinet have not had any such experience.
Let’s get our senses back, dear Kenyans before it is too late.
Oh, and about the scripture from the Bible that I quote above, it is the verse yours truly used in sending an appeal to the senator through his site to stand for the Presidency of the United States at a time when he looked like he had little chance of going anywhere with such a campaign.
P.S. The Grand coalition cabinet was sworn in today at State House Nairobi after which they were all invited for lunch by the president. In public they are all talking about service delivery and addressing the problems of unemployment, but in private the usual things are happening. Last week a bizarre incident happened where an aide to one of the cabinet ministers affiliated to the ODM side of the grand colaition was going around soliciting for information on how to supply some particular highly technical products and services to a certain minister. Almost four days later on Sunday, my source could not believe their ears when the very individual was named to that very ministry his aides were seeking supply information on. What does that tell you? Simply that the same old supply games are being played in the government ministries, only this time the problem has been multiplied by a staggering 41 cabinet portfolios.
Love blossoms into the most unlikely couple
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9:16
Sleepless in Ruaraka: Starring Michael Gichangi
» Kenyanentrepreneur.com Can somebody email Michael Gichangi (the head of the NSIS) and tell him to wake up. A new year has dawned and we are three months into it. The government is now admitting to being outwitted by Mungiki. The pattern of intelligence failures can no longer be ignored. Witness: The Sabaot Land Defense Force was operating long [...]
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9:04
Culture Meets Environment; A Kenyan Journey to Peace
» Kenyanpoet A Journey of Kenya trying to find peace through its culture, environment, diversity.
Contemporary Dance Piece performances by Kepha Oiroo
Environmental Discussions Chapter 1 & 2
&
A kenyan perspective on Global Warming - Wanjiku's Dream
At the Kenya National Theatre
April 2008
18th - 6pm
19th - 3 & 6 pm
20th - 6pm
Entry
Adult- Ksh. 1,000
Child -Ksh. 500
“As to the pure mind all things are pure, so to the poetic mind all things are poetical”
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Mungiki An Embarrassment To The Kikuyus
» You Missed This Somebody accused the house of Mumbi of being too silent on the Mungiki menace. Maybe it’s true but that’s not necessarily out of sympathy for the sect. I’d say it’s more out of embarrassment. As much as I’m not making a statement for the Kikuyu community, I believe I speak for the majority when I say that nobody wants to have a brother who beheads and skins people and then comes home for dinner. And nobody, regardless of tribe, wants to be beheaded or skinned. Majority of Kikuyu families are Christians and do not believe in or follow the Mungiki doctrines.
Blanket condemnation of the whole tribe as pro-mungiki and therefore deserving of the violence visited upon them by their sons is plain unfair. There are thousands of disappointed parents, brothers and sisters all over Central Kenya and beyond. Given a choice every parent would want their children to grow and make a meaningful life for themselves. Instead they have become the community’s worst curse. The whole meaningful life thing is increasingly becoming a mirage in this country due to poor levels of education, land grabbing, corruption and high levels of poverty among other things.
It’s not fun being a Kikuyu right now. Central Province is gripped by fear. In some areas it is safer not to even speak about Mungiki because you never know who is a sympathizer. Other than the obvious threats that have been spread through leaflets there are also the rumours doing the rounds that Mungiki will from now on start indiscriminately seizing young girls and circumcising them. There are massive losses especially for milk farmers and matatu operators. In my home village, the old faithful lorry that collects milk at 4.00 every morning has not shown up for some days now. Who will go out at that hour?
The thing is the average Kikuyu is as much a victim as anyone else. Many Kikuyus who were happy that Mungiki revenged for the killings in Eldoret are singing a different song now. Emotions were high then and they have since taken time to reflect on the heinousness of the crimes that their sons committed.
Finally it was an insult for Kiraithe (he of the Rambo Movie fame) to come on TV and tell Kenyans that they have allowed themselves to play into the hands of the Mungiki by keeping their shops closed and their matatus off the road. What in the name of the good Lord did the police spokesman expect the shop owners to do? Open the shops anyway? Bring the matatus into town and risk having them razed? It is bad enough for the police to be seemingly doing nothing about the menace but to then try to shift the blame to mwananchi? The same policemen who were running away from the Mungiki in Thika the other day?
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6:01
Mungiki and hypocrisy
» Mentalacrobatics The world did not come to a crashing halt at the beginning of March 2008. This would not be significant if it were not that in January and February 2008 many people in Kenya wrote, spoke and acted so irresponsibly that I could only conclude that they expected the world to come to a halt or at least to go through some great cosmic ctrl-alt-del sequence which would result in collective memory loss leading us all to forget what they said, wrote, did. But the world did not come to an end at the beginning of March 2008 and as I said at the beginning of the year, many people would look back at their words and actions and wish that the world would forget. Not so.
I have just driven down Ngong Road, in the heart of Nairobi, at noon on a Thursday and the road is practically empty. You may remember that this is not the first time this year that roads in Nairobi are clear of traffic, and perhaps more significantly, clear of any public transport, in the middle of the day. We have been here before. But this time it is different and this difference is what highlights the hypocrisy in Kenya today, which will make many people wish that Kenyans would forget their irresponsible words and actions.
This week Kenya is suffering (again) under the actions of the barbaric Mungiki militia. An illegal group whose preferred modus operandi includes, but is not restricted, to beheadings, forced female circumcision, public transport and rent extortion.
Mungiki has been around for a while (for some background information please read Kenyan Pundit’s post which links articles on Mungiki) and the group has been influential for a while. For example you could ask anybody who was student at JKUAT during the time of the 2002 Kenyan general election about the role played by Mungiki in Uhuru Kenyatta’s presidential campaign and you will hear some interesting stories. (JKUAT lies on the road between Nairobi and Uhuru’s constituency).
I remember driving up to JKUAT in August 2002 when election fever was rising to pick a friend who was studying there and driving into the heart of one of Uhuru’s roadside campaign rallies where Mungiki provided the “security”. They had completely taken over the whole road from Githurai to Thika and to say they were intimidating is to say the least.
What I like about Mungiki (and this is perhaps their only positive characteristic) is that in the reaction to their latest activities Mungiki helps expose the hypocrisy in Kenyan society today.
Take as a first example the reaction of the Kenyan police. In the past three months we have seen first hand and up close the brutality of the Kenya Police towards Kenya citizens who were trying to march peacefully and legally towards Uhuru Park in protest against having their votes stolen. Even non partisan groups were unable to march. A women’s peace group which had organised authorization from the Minister of Internal Security, from the Provincial Administration and had informed the police, were greeted with a ring of police officers telling them their peace match had been cancelled at the last minute when they were just about to set off.
Time and time again Kibera would be ringed by heavily armed police and you would be lucky to make it on to Ngong Road leave alone get anywhere near town. I recorded a show down between the police and ODM supporters in Hurlingham where an army of police officers was deployed to ensure that ODM supporters get nowhere near the city centre. Similar shows of force by the police were deployed on Thika Road and Jogoo Road as the police moved swiftly to ensure that all major roads into the city were in their control. The same occurred in cities and towns across Kenya.
How time changes things. Two months ago Ngong Road was empty because of a heavy police presence and their indiscriminate use of force (including live bullets). Today Ngong Road is empty as Public Service Vehicle owners withdraw their vehicles from the streets because the police cannot stop the Mungiki thugs who demand over 90% of each vehicles earning and burn your matatu/bus if you refuse to comply. You could say that in both cases the police are responsible for empty streets.
In a sentence: two months ago Ngong Road was empty due to a large police presence, this week Ngong Road is empty because the police is conspicuously absent.
Why is it then that the same police force that cracked down on the peaceful protests in the past couple of months are reluctant to take on a group that has openly challenged them to armed warfare?
I do not buy the popular opinion of the day that Mungiki caught the police napping, that the police had no idea what was about to happen. Come on now. Security analysts reveal on TV that the police received calls as early as 5am from members of the public who had seen Mungiki members begin their activities of destruction, 10am the police were yet to respond. This is the same police force that sent lorries packed with police in riot gear into Kibera on Saturday when a rumor went around that perhaps some people were considering starting a demonstration to protest at the lack of a power sharing agreement.
Internal Security Permanent Secretary, Mr Cyrus Gituai, told The Standard that the police had expected Mungiki to strike on Monday at 6am, but instead went on the rampage at 3am, three hours earlier.
So the police decided to stay in bed until 5am or what? Come on now.
These double standards are by no means restricted to the police.
For instance, why is it that some bloggers/commentators who were complaining about the post election violence in general and the inconvenience of disrupted public transport in particular, were largely silent on the violence Mungiki perpetrated BEFORE the elections and are silent on the violence and disruption perpetrated by the same thugs this week? Why is it that those same people who were cursing Raila for not controlling the thugs in Rift Valley are now silent? Have you noticed how the responsibility for the violence two months ago was laid squarely in Raila’s lap individually, “Kenya is burning”, we were told, “because Raila is power hungry”. I wait to hear where they will appropriate blame this time round but I suspect they will remain silent or those who do speak out will blame, “the entire political class” which of course includes Raila. That is the duplicity that Mungiki exposes.
That is not to say that the political class is not implicated as well.
Why are politicians who have been screaming (rightly) that the police should get to the bottom of the post election violence are now screaming that the police should “negotiate” with Mungiki? Why not extend this call for negotiations to include other militia groups such as the Saboti Land Defence Force for example?
Why is that politicians who were quick to call for the annihilation of any protestors in Rift Valley and Nyanza are now going to great lengths to explain that Mungiki rises out of a disadvantage upbringing. Aren’t many of the youth who rampaged against the government in Rift Valley disadvantaged as well? If Mungiki revolts because it is up against the wall with nothing to lose doesn’t this extend to youth from other communities? Why call for the arrest of youth in Rift Valley with no mention of their grievances yet call for negotiations with Mungiki and demand that the police investigate their grievances?
Lastly, why are those who cheered when the army moved against the Saboti Land Defence Force not calling for the army to deployed against Mungiki? If indiscriminate killing is seen as viable method to bring about peace in the Mt. Elgon region why is not also being practised in Kibaki’s hometown which has been under attack by Mungiki?
I will let you draw your own conclusions to these questions. The duplicity and hypocrisy displayed on this would be laughable if it was not so serious. What we do know is that when Mungiki falls there will be tremors all the way to the top of Kibaki’s administration according to the BBC. (To be fair I should mention that Kibaki’s Court Jester issued a statement in response to the BBC report.
© Mentalacrobatics for Mentalacrobatics, 2008. | Permalink | 5 comments
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4:42
Africa’s Looming Food Crisis can be Mitigated
» The Benin Epilogue Part I: Africa-Ready for Business 
Images of rioters in Egypt, Senegal, Cameroon, Burkina Faso and Mozambique (among others) clashing with police in protest against soaring food prices and Kenya’s abandoned internally displaced people all tell a similar story: Africa needs to ...........Click to Read MORE
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Sunday Salon - Featuring Four Readers
» Kenyanpoet Sunday Salon - April 20th
A Prose Reading Series Featuring:
MILLICENT MUTHONI
NEEMA NGWATILO MAWIYOO
ARNO KOPECKY
KINGWA KAMENCUFour readers, four unique voices
In a tranquil outdoor setting7-9pm, Sunday 20th April
“As to the pure mind all things are pure, so to the poetic mind all things are poetical”
Kengeles, Lavington Green
Entry Only KSh. 300
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3:51
Safaricom IPO: 7 Days to Go
» KA-INVESTOR Confused investors: there seems to be too much information flowing around (Brokers advert and bank loans) and many investors are left confused on what is right and what isn’t. The fact is, where money is involved the truth is usually the first casualty. Many applicants have been misadvised into taking loans without proper analysis (IPO euphoria), opening multiple accounts to ‘maximize’ on allocations and some are even wondering who’s telling the truth after read caveat emptor on the IPO from ODM and Africog. As Concept will put it, there is too much information noise to understand who is saying it right.‘Undugu’ keeps Tanzanians out: The Bank of Tanzania (BoT) barred Tanzanians against participating in the Safaricom IPO. The main reason being that Safaricom had not made any commitment to cross-listing at the DSE (I believe this could have been done later on). But it’s evident that brokers there are not taking it in good faith. They have questioned the legality of the directive by BoT. And even after the CMA chairman, Jimnah, tried to lure the BoT to rescind on its decision, Kenyan brokers are saying the Tanzanian snub will not dent the IPO hopes. But the rejection by BoT is a clear blow to the regions integration.
1.65 million applications … and counting: data available at Nation media indicate that over 1.65 million applications have been made for the Safaricom IPO, with 50,000 being online application. Taking into account the enormous amount of applications to be made, I preferred the manual application for my shares over the online one. With the inefficiencies our brokers have I’m skeptical that the online applications will be handled well. But let’s wait and see. One of the leading banks has also issued over ksh15 billion in loans to applicants (could this be Equity bank…and is it the reason behind the recent rally in its share price to Ksh.185?)
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WAPI Presents 'Self Mastery '
» Kenyanpoet 
Presents SELF MASTERY
Know Your Self First Before Anything Else
Hosted by Kenyan based poetess
featuring
ImaniKaz, Ligaya, Anto, Kimya, Tim Mwaura, Paramedics, Sisqo Dancers, Judge, L-Ness, Alex Okanda & DJ Joey
LIVE @ British Council, Upper Hill Road, Upper Hill, Nairobi)
Saturday, April 19th, 2008, 9am-3pmGRAFFITI BY UHURU, ESSEN, ABU, SHAN, HARI, SMOKILLA, BANKSLAVE & SCHEME
LIVE STREET FASHION BY IMANI FASHION HOUSE & URBAN PHUNK
LADIES & GENTS- Free Entry
“As to the pure mind all things are pure, so to the poetic mind all things are poetical”
