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23:47
From: The Diary of One Black Man
Read This Entry & More At The Diary of One Black Man
Folks
lets be honest. Africa outside of SA is screwed. Its a lumbering, tichy economied, geriartric colonial era leader ruled, tribal cesspool of incompetence. Folks in Africa in general and Kenya to be specific do not vote for policies or issues. If they did then folks like Wangari Maathai, Ochieng Aneko, Jean Marie Seroney and Bildad [...]
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23:08
From: You Missed This
Read This Entry & More At You Missed This
Murder it seems is in the air. Some people seem to have gotten pretty upset with this blogger for reasons that are still unclear and this comes shortly after threats on his life. Then yesterday something horrible happened that we can not speculate about yet. Two high ranking government ministers were killed in an air crash. (see earlier posts). Finally there is this murder enquiry nobody seems to be interested in (but mark my words is related to the reason why there seems to be murder in the air in Kenya.) I hate to say I told you so about this murder, but Kenyans need to wake up pronto. Investigations by the Kenya Police into the murder puzzle of photojournalist Trent Keegan seem to have hit a blank wall, sources close to the investigators revealed yesterday.
It emerged that investigations into the murder of the Irish national who was born in New Zealand, which are being carried out by Nairobi’s Central Division Criminal Investigations Department, have failed to unearth his killer(s) and the motive behind the killing. Although detectives have questioned several people in trying to piece together Mr Keegan’s last moments, they appear to have no credible clues that could resolve the murder mystery. Consequently, detectives have reverted to their original theory that the 33-year-old Keegan could have been knocked down by a hit and ran motorist, the sources said. The photojournalist’s lifeless body was found dumped in a ditch in Kenya’s capital city of Nairobi on the morning of May 27 and it had visible head and hand injuries. A wallet which contained some dollar bills and a driving licence bearing his photo were intact in his pocket. Police identified him using the documents and the photograph. In keeping with their tradition, the Kenyan police quickly came up with a theory that the world-renowned photojournalist could have been killed by a hit and ran car. They came up with the theory even before they had carried out any investigations into the circumstances surrounding the death. Many killers in Kenya often get away with the crimes they had committed because the Kenya Police are notorious for jumping into hasty conclusions even before they have carried out investigations into a crime or due to sloppy investigations. The murder was given a lot of attention by the international media. Surprisingly, the mainstream media like Daily Nation, The Standard, The Kenya Times, People Daily, NTV, KTN, KBC, Citizen TV etc gave it a blackout. The Daily Nation could only afford a news brief after the body was discovered but there were no subsequent follow ups. Only the popular Kumekucha has kept the story alive. But after it emerged that Mr Keegan was a renowned international journalist, the Kenyan police hurriedly changed their mind regarding the car accident theory and promised to pursue a murder angle. “We are treating the case as murder,” police spokesman Eric Kiraithe was quoted saying then. “It does not appear to have been a robbery. If it was a robbery, the logical thing is that the robbers would have also taken his money. Let us not speculate.” Police sources yesterday told Kumekucha that detectives appeared to have relaxed in their investigations when the murder failed to excite local journalists and their media houses and they had no one to pressurise them into action. Kenya Police are known for their laziness and shoddiness in carrying out investigations and the blackout the crime got from the local media was their blessing. During the funeral service for the photojournalist, Mr Keegan's "little big sister" Nikki McKinnon, said they had received numerous offers of help to find out what happened to her brother and she was confident they would soon know the circumstances surrounding his death. She said the New Zealand Consulate in Nairobi was liaising with the Nairobi police but as yet they had no new information. As it is a common phenomenon with other homicides in Kenya, Mr Keegan’s killers might roam the streets for the rest of their lives as they continue committing other string of heinous crimes with impunity. Even if Mr Keegan was killed by a car, why haven’t the police arrested the motorist and arraigned him in court? There is no doubt that police are either unwilling to pursue the murder theory to its logical conclusion or they are incapable of carrying out professional investigations like a modern police department.
Extra: Safaricom shares
It looks like today is my I-told-you-so day. Safaricom shares started off at Kshs 8 and have now dropped to Kshs 6.70cts the last time I checked. My prayer is that the rest of my prediction does NOT come true. I will be delighted to be wrong on that one.
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22:24
From: Kenyanentrepreneur.com
Read This Entry & More At Kenyanentrepreneur.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXzoroC5Wdc
Forward this video to minute 1:00.
I’ was watching this video and I was astounded. If Raila Odinga (as much as I dislike him) is the prime minister and if he has a security detail supplied to him from Kenya’s elite Reece squad, his security men should have the right to accompany him everywhere he [...]
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16:08
From: More to Life
Read This Entry & More At More to Life
Kudos to Hillary for actually verbalizing a concession, an endorsement and a "yes we can!" all in one very disjointed speech.
Pro-Hillary Women:
What is this "robbed" phenomenon going around in her blogs? How is it they conclude she was robbed of this nomination despite having lost fair and square from simple math; very basic addition and in her case occasional subtractions? And then these women will go out and declare they are being discriminated against. abused, undervalued, pushed out...? This is the problem I have with these kinds of women. if we as women are going to fight to be accepted and appreciated as worth our dime, we must become worth our dime. Which means we need to learn how to understand our processes, our situations and avoid sounding dumb to the masses, because within these masses lie the males that will need to make promotion decisions that involve us.
Fist bump terror:
Seriously? Fox news suggests Obama's fist bump to Michelle could be portrayed as a terrorist handshake/gesture? What are they smoking up in that place? Even if its absolute desperation, some limits? Some sort of pretense towards sensibility? Duh?! Well folks, y'all beware now. There are a whole lot of terrorists around you given this criteria...
Zimbabwe"
Could they be done with elections already?
Weather:
I'm guessing God is raging mad at somebody or some people or all of us! Floodings like crazy in the Midwest, heatwave in the east coast, snow in June and this in the heels of record high tornadoes already (season is far from over), record high deaths from tornadoes and not far from the shocks of Asia's catastrophes. Some scary stuff!
Gas Prices:
Had better stop playing. Like very seriously. And for the republican senators to block the vote to tax the excess profits and revoke their 17B in tax breaks this year... I'm just expressing my absolute disappointment at anyone who votes republican especially this year.
Economy:
Spoke to some who's who's on economic stuff and situations in this very USA. Turns out we're no longer really discussing a recession, that's a given. There's a new D word out there. Depression! That's right folks. Like in the 1920s. yeah, all signs are leading into that. If they are right, its about to be the biggest fall of a great nation in modern history.
Oh, the conspiracy theories: The bear sterns bailout, is supposedly a republican ploy to hold the markets steady through elections. And then it will collapse and send the markets reeling so badly (this is a scary scenario)... Plus there's the one on the Bush stimulus packages. As people enjoy this free money, they should be aware that it's real purpose was to bail out credit markets such as banks et al, who have had the worst 1st quarter performances in years, some in history. Pretty much, it was given to you so that you'd pay your credit card bills which many people had stopped paying because they injected that portion of their earnings into increased costs to their meals and gas. The agenda was to save the bank not you. I wondered about this. Is the way to get back at the government to instead use this money to take a vacation and leave your credit card unpaid? And would this be responsible and prudent behaviour? I mean, despite their ulterior motives, isn't this still a necessary and helpful bailout?
OPEC:
Should seriously consider a meeting where they allow all oil trade to be conducted in currency other than the dollar so that crude oil prices can go back to about $70 a barrel. This whole sit back and get rich attitude they've adopted while the rest of us give up basics such as the 3rd meal of the day... How did we human beings get here? That we can allow a small committee of rich but otherwise regular human beings to control so many of us significantly with just one law passed on all their contracts?
Otherwise, Go KG! Show Kobe how it's done!
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15:37
From: You Missed This
Read This Entry & More At You Missed This
 With the death of Ministers Kipkalya Kones and Lorna Laboso Kenya enters another mourning phase of its legislators. ODM must be smarting from serial human loses after the death of four of its MPs in as many months. The present tragedy wouldn’t have visited at the most politically trying moment given the shaky and untrusting Government of Grand coalition Kenya is grappling with. Granted, conspiracy theories abound. Add that to today’s five buy-elections and the tension couldn’t have been more palpable. The first question that comes to mind is why would two ministers fly in the same chopper given the past Marsabit experience that coincidentally happened 26 months ago to the day? Even in commercial flights they warn of unlikely events. And just how safe and airworthy are these choppers outside the military ones that our politicians ride in while running political errands? Well, these are politically charged times and the present tragedy only succeeds in opening more questions than answers. Painful circumstances are conspiring to prescribe constant electioneering mood for ODM. Their majority status in parliament is under constant threat. Add to that the clamour for grand opposition and you get is a party with her threads all stretched out at the seams. But again being the scavengers they are, the noisy politicians (specifically from South Rift) will be circling the empty seats even before the two late ministers are lowered six feet under.  Universal equalizer So are we jinxed or are the two Ministers simply unfortunate victims of elite death? Well, you don’t have to be superstitious to understand Kenyans’ general discomfort with anything left to the fate of official investigation. The stones are never touched leave alone lifted. Commercial aircrafts are exclusively owned by typical SURVVY Kenyan entrepreneurs whose forte is CUTTING CORNERS. So there you have it DECEPTION and all its variants is never too far away in our hell-for-leather philosophy to wealth creation. Death remains the universal equalizer and may the two late Ministers earn what they deserve in the life thereafter. They may not have been saints but fought the life war by serving their people the best way they knew how. We are no better either. We are left at the mercy of political vultures continuously scheming to feather their nests. Fare thee well Lorna and Kones. PS: True to the adage that calamities come in doubles, more than 100 people are feared dead Tuesday at Khartoum Airport when a plane burst into flames after skidding off the runway when landing from Amman Jordan in a stormy weather. And this is hardly a month after Sudan lost 24 people including a minister in a plane crash last May. Obtuse coincidence/s or are we dicing with death?
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13:04
From: You Missed This
Read This Entry & More At You Missed This
With the death of Ministers Kipkalya Kones and Lorna Laboso Kenya enters another mourning phase of its legislators. ODM must be smarting from serial human loses after the death of four of its MPs in as many months. The present tragedy wouldn’t have visited at the most politically trying moment given the shaky and untrusting Government of Grand coalition Kenya is grappling with. Granted, conspiracy theories abound. Add that to today’s five buy-elections and the tension couldn’t have been more palpable. The first question that comes to mind is why would two ministers fly in the same chopper given the past Marsabit experience not too long ago? Even in commercial flights they warn of unlikely events. And just how safe and airworthy are these choppers outside the military ones that our politicians ride in while running political errands? Well, these are politically charged times and the present tragedy only succeeds in opening more questions than answers.  Painful circumstances appear determined to conspire in prescribing constant electioneering mood for ODM. Their majority status in parliament is under constant threat. Add to that the clamour for grand opposition and you get is a party with her threads all stretched out at the seams. But again being the scavengers they are, the noisy politicians (specifically from South Rift) will be circling the empty seats even before the two late ministers are lowered six feet under. Universal equalizer So are we jinxed or are the two Ministers simply unfortunate victims of elite death? Well, you don’t have to be superstitious to understand Kenyans’ general discomfort with anything left to the fate of official investigation. The stones are never touched leave alone lifted. Commercial aircrafts are exclusively owned by typical SURVVY Kenyan entrepreneurs whose forte is CUTTING CORNERS. So there you have it DECEPTION and all its variants is never too far away in our hell-for-leather philosophy to wealth creation. Death remains the universal equalizer and may the two late Ministers earn what they deserve in the life thereafter. They may not have been saints but fought the life war by serving their people the best way they knew how. We are no better either. We are left at the mercy of political vultures continuously scheming to feather their nests. Fare thee well Lorna and Kones. PS: True to the adage that calamities come in doubles, more than 100 people are feared dead this Tuesday evening at Khartoum Airport when a plane skid off the runway in bad weather when landing from Amman Jordan. And this is hardly a month after Sudan lost 24 people including a minister in a plane crash last May. Obtuse coincidence/s or are we dicing with death?
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12:04
From: The Displaced African
Read This Entry & More At The Displaced African
Hello,
You know this article applies almost exactly to me. Though at present I am not a very big fan of esoteric or linguistically complex and philosophical pieces of writing, i.e. I like to dumb things down and like people who do the same, I can’t deny that this piece is introducing an idea that’s definitely one that’s worth thinking about and exploring through more pieces of writing, books, films etc. People like us African immigrants are an entirely unique entity unto ourselves and its time we began talking about our Afropolitan nature. Enjoy!
NB: I have quoted text from this blog post verbatim
What exactly is an “Afropolitan”?
Taiye Tuakli-Wosornu’s piece, pretty much inspired the very creation of this blog.
Bye-Bye Babar
by Taiye Tuakli-Wosornu
It’s moments to midnight on Thursday night at Medicine Bar in London. Zak,
boy-genius DJ, is spinning a Fela Kuti remix. The little downstairs
dancefloor swells with smiling, sweating men and women fusing hip-hop
dance moves with a funky sort of djembe. The women show off enormous
afros, tiny t-shirts, gaps in teeth; the men those incredible torsos
unique to and common on African coastlines. The whole scene speaks of
the Cultural Hybrid: kente cloth worn over low-waisted jeans; ‘African
Lady’ over Ludacris bass lines; London meets Lagos meets Durban meets
Dakar. Even the DJ is an ethnic fusion: Nigerian and Romanian; fair,
fearless leader; bobbing his head as the crowd reacts to a sample of
‘Sweet Mother’.
Were you to ask any of these beautiful, brown-skinned people that
basic question – ‘where are you from?’ – you’d get no single answer
from a single smiling dancer. This one lives in London but was raised
in Toronto and born in Accra; that one works in Lagos but grew up in
Houston, Texas. ‘Home’ for this lot is many things: where their parents
are from; where they go for vacation; where they went to school; where
they see old friends; where they live (or live this year). Like so many
African young people working and living in cities around the globe,
they belong to no single geography, but feel at home in many.
They (read: we) are Afropolitans – the newest generation of African
emigrants, coming soon or collected already at a law firm/chem lab/jazz
lounge near you. You’ll know us by our funny blend of London fashion,
New York jargon, African ethics, and academic successes. Some of us are
ethnic mixes, e.g. Ghanaian and Canadian, Nigerian and Swiss; others
merely cultural mutts: American accent, European affect, African ethos.
Most of us are multilingual: in addition to English and a Romantic or
two, we understand some indigenous tongue and speak a few urban
vernaculars. There is at least one place on The African Continent to
which we tie our sense of self: be it a nation-state (Ethiopia), a city
(Ibadan), or an auntie’s kitchen. Then there’s the G8 city or two (or
three) that we know like the backs of our hands, and the various
institutions that know us for our famed focus. We are Afropolitans: not
citizens, but Africans of the world.
It isn’t hard to trace our genealogy. Starting in the 60’s, the
young, gifted and broke left Africa in pursuit of higher education and
happiness abroad. A study conducted in 1999 estimated that between 1960
and 1975 around 27,000 highly skilled Africans left the Continent for
the West. Between 1975 and 1984, the number shot to 40,000 and then
doubled again by 1987, representing about 30% of Africa’s highly
skilled manpower. Unsurprisingly, the most popular destinations for
these emigrants included Canada, Britain, and the United States; but
Cold War politics produced unlikely scholarship opportunities in
Eastern Bloc countries like Poland, as well.
Some three decades later this scattered tribe of pharmacists,
physicists, physicians (and the odd polygamist) has set up camp around
the globe. The caricatures are familiar. The Nigerian physics professor
with faux-Coogi sweater; the Kenyan marathonist with long legs and
rolled r’s; the heavyset Gambian braiding hair in a house that smells
of burnt Kanekalon. Even those unacquainted with synthetic extensions
can conjure an image of the African immigrant with only the slightest
of pop culture promptings: Eddie Murphy’s ‘Hello, Barbar.’ But
somewhere between the 1988 release of Coming to America and the 2001
crowning of a Nigerian Miss World, the general image of young Africans
in the West transmorphed from goofy to gorgeous. Leaving off the
painful question of cultural condescenscion in that beloved film, one
wonders what happened in the years between Prince Akeem and Queen
Agbani?
One answer is: adolescence. The Africans that left Africa between
1960 and 1975 had children, and most overseas. Some of us were bred on
African shores then shipped to the West for higher education; others
born in much colder climates and sent home for cultural
re-indoctrination. Either way, we spent the 80’s chasing after
accolades, eating fufu at family parties, and listening to adults argue
politics. By the turn of the century (the recent one), we were matching
our parents in number of degrees, and/or achieving things our ‘people’
in the grand sense only dreamed of. This new demographic – dispersed
across Brixton, Bethesda, Boston, Berlin – has come of age in the 21st
century, redefining what it means to be African. Where our parents
sought safety in traditional professions like doctoring, lawyering,
banking, engineering, we are branching into fields like media,
politics, music, venture capital, design. Nor are we shy about
expressing our African influences (such as they are) in our work.
Artists such as Keziah Jones, Trace founder and editor Claude
Gruzintsky, architect David Adjaye, novelist Chimamanda Achidie – all
exemplify what Gruzintsky calls the ’21st century African.’
What distinguishes this lot and its like (in the West and at home) is a
willingness to complicate Africa – namely, to engage with, critique,
and celebrate the parts of Africa that mean most to them. Perhaps what
most typifies the Afropolitan consciousness is the refusal to
oversimplify; the effort to understand what is ailing in Africa
alongside the desire to honor what is wonderful, unique. Rather than
essentialising the geographical entity, we seek to comprehend the
cultural complexity; to honor the intellectual and spiritual legacy;
and to sustain our parents’ cultures.
For us, being African must mean something. The media’s portrayals
(war, hunger) won’t do. Neither will the New World trope of bumbling,
blue-black doctor. Most of us grew up aware of ‘being from’ a blighted
place, of having last names from to countries which are linked to lack,
corruption. Few of us escaped those nasty ‘booty-scratcher’ epithets,
and fewer still that sense of shame when visting paternal villages.
Whether we were ashamed of ourselves for not knowing more about our
parents’ culture, or ashamed of that culture for not being more
‘advanced’ can be unclear. What is manifest is the extent to which the
modern adolescent African is tasked to forge a sense of self from
wildly disparate sources. You’d never know it looking at those dapper
lawyers in global firms, but most were once supremely self-conscious of
being so ‘in between’. Brown-skinned without a bedrock sense of
‘blackness,’ on the one hand; and often teased by African family
members for ‘acting white’ on the other – the baby-Afropolitan can get
what I call ‘lost in transnation’.
Ultimately, the Afropolitan must form an identity along at least
three dimensions: national, racial, cultural – with subtle tensions in
between. While our parents can claim one country as home, we must
define our relationship to the places we live; how British or American
we are (or act) is in part a matter of affect. Often unconsciously, and
over time, we choose which bits of a national identity (from passport
to pronunciation) we internalize as central to our personalities. So,
too, the way we see our race – whether black or biracial or none of the
above – is a question of politics, rather than pigment; not all of us
claim to be black. Often this relates to the way we were raised,
whether proximate to other brown people (e.g. black Americans) or
removed. Finally, how we conceive of race will accord with where we
locate ourselves in the history that produced ‘blackness’ and the
political processes that continue to shape it.
Then there is that deep abyss of Culture, ill-defined at best. One
must decide what comprises ‘African culture’ beyond pepper soup and
filial piety. The project can be utterly baffling – whether one lives
in an African country or not. But the process is enriching, in that it
expands one’s basic perspective on nation and selfhood. If nothing
else, the Afropolitan knows that nothing is neatly black or white; that
to ‘be’ anything is a matter of being sure of who you are uniquely. To
‘be’ Nigerian is to belong to a passionate nation; to be Yoruba, to be
heir to a spiritual depth; to be American, to ascribe to a cultural
breadth; to be British, to pass customs quickly. That is, this is what
it means for me – and that is the Afropolitan privilege. The acceptance
of complexity common to most African cultures is not lost on her
prodigals. Without that intrinsically multi-dimensional thinking, we
could not make sense of ourselves.
And if it all sounds a little self-congratulatory, a little
‘aren’t-we-the-coolest-damn-people-on-earth?’ – I say: yes it is,
necessarily. It is high time the African stood up. There is nothing
perfect in this formulation; for all our Adjayes and Achidies, there is
a brain drain back home. Most Afropolitans could serve Africa better in
Africa than at Medicine Bar on Thursdays. To be fair, a fair number of
African professionals are returning; and there is consciousness among
the ones who remain, an acute awareness among this brood of
too-cool-for-schools that there’s work to be done. There are those
among us who wonder to the point of weeping: where next, Africa? When
will the scattered tribes return? When will the talent repatriate? What
lifestyles await young professionals at home? How to invest in Africa’s
future? The prospects can seem grim at times. The answers aren’t
forthcoming. But if there was ever a group who could figure it out, it
is this one, unafraid of the questions.
To hear more from the Afropolitan blogger known as Mwangi, make sure you stay subscribed to the Displaced African via RSS or email.
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9:33
From: You Missed This
Read This Entry & More At You Missed This
Unconfirmed news just in indicate that Minister for Roads Kipkalya Kones and Assistant Minister in Office of the Vice President Lorna Laboso both of the Orange Democratic Movement are reportedly feared dead in an air crash together with pilot in the Narok area.
More information to be published as police releases more details.
Update 17h45 Kenya Time:
Kenya TV news channels flashing breaking news.
Kones and Laboso, together with their pilot are feared dead. Light aircraft went down in Enoosupukia 100km from Narok Town. The duo were in the area to campaign for ODM candidates in tomorrow's by-elections in Kilgoris and Ainamoi.
Update 18h00 Kenya Time
Kipkalya Kones and Lorna Laboso have NOW BEEN CONFIRMED DEAD.
Kenya Police also confirm that plane went down at 14h00 local time.
It is still unknown how many passengers were on the aircraft.
Salim Lone confirms that the plane left Wilson Airport for Kericho campaigns.
The incident is has thrown ODM into a spin and Lone has described it as a devastating blow to the party and too bad to be true.
Update: 18h14
Police are at the scene of the air crash. There are no survivors. There has been bad weather in the lower Rift Valley area and the aircraft is reported to have crashed on a hillside.
ODM Captain, Prime Minister Raila Odinga is reportedly at a unknown location and said 'to be badly shaken' and cannot be raised on his cellphone.
Update: 18h25
Narok Officer Commanding Police Division (OCPD) Patrick Wambani confirms from the scene of the crash that there were three passengers of African descent plus one white Caucasian. The fourth African passenger is being assumed to be Kones' bodyguard.
Country in shock as police confirm deaths. Police suspect bad weather or mechanical fault as cause of plane crash. Raila and his wife Ida are said to be badly shaken by the news.
There has not been official government statement as at the time of going to press.
Update by Chris
What Is Going On?
The first question Kenyans must ask themselves is why two cabinet ministers were riding in the same plane. Basic common sense tells you that you never do that.
Somebody needs to answer that question before we discuss anything else about the death of the two ministers earlier today.
Still what has happened has happened and cannot be reversed. The right approach now is to remain calm as we await answers.
My hope is that the ministers did not die in vain and that Kenyans will now wake up to the full implications of the Kibaki succession and what it entails, knowing our politicians and those who make money from politics.
Update: 20h05 Kenya Time
Raila has read condolences on behalf of the ODM. Raila was flanked by the ODM top brass including, Ruto, Ntimama, Mudavadi and others.
ODM is urging it supporters to remain calm.
The party is also saying the by-elections scheduled for tomorrow should not be postponed and that wananchi should come out it large numbers to vote for ODM candidates.
Update: 20h30 Kenya Time
ODM top brass, reeling from the shocking tragedy, are reported to be locked in closed-door meeting. A statement is expected later tonight or early tomorrow morning. Some party officials have been dispatched to go and console the families of the deceased ministers.
The ODM statement is expected to shed more light about the ministers' ill fated trip and also about the condition of the aircraft which this blogger has been informed has been previously chartered for campaign purposes by ODM officials, actually as recently as this past weekend.
Update: 21h00
Bodies of the deceased are still lying at the crash site nearly eight hours after the crash. A parliamentary committee led by Hon. William Ruto has been set up by government and are expected to accompany a high powered government security team that is expected to travel to Narok early tomorrow morning to commence investigations and retrieve the bodies of the ministers.
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7:20
From: Kenyan Pundit
Read This Entry & More At Kenyan Pundit
Should be a great event, I will be attending and possibly speaking and registering for the event gets you an Ushahidi t-shirt and lots of other “schwag”…and you get to hear about possible opportunities to help with the next version of Ushahidi (we are trying to put African developers on the map, no pun intended..heheh). [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "BarCamp Nairobi ‘08", url: "http://www.kenyanpundit.com/2008/06/10/barcamp-nairobi-08/" });
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6:39
From: Kenyanpoet
Read This Entry & More At Kenyanpoet
Coders. Designers. Bloggers.  If you’re in Nairobi on June 21st, mark your calendar! We’ll be meeting at Jacaranda Hotel, going from 9am-5pm for Barcamp Nairobi ‘08. What is a Barcamp? “BarCamp is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos and interaction from participants.”
All you need to know is this: it beats the hell out of a normal conference. There is no pre-planned schedule of events, or speakers. There are set timeframes and rooms for anyone who comes in to sign-up for a time to speak in. You attend the ones you find the most interesting. It’s also less speaking than it is conversation and discussion around a specific topic. Ideas for Barcamp Nairobi ‘08
I’m sure you’ll come up with plenty of other items that are well worth having a discussion about. Here are some of the things on my mind that I hope to hear and/or talk about: - Local mapping (Open Streetmap, Green Map, etc.)
- Blogging tools and trends
- Mobile phone apps (Android in Africa, FrontlineSMS and RapidSMS)
- Using Google’s App Engine for building web and mobile services
- I’d love to hear from some of the EPROM guys that worked with Nathan Eagle
- OS curriculum for universities
- Studying users (mobile and web)
- Building into social networks
Of course, I’ll do a talk on Ushahidi. Not just Ushahidi though, but some of the really interesting and open areas surrounding the crowdsourcing of content in Africa using mobile devices. Then, augmenting that content with web services like Google Maps, Flickr, Facebook, YouTube, etc. Oh, I didn’t mention that Ushahidi will be providing free t-shirts for attendees. You have to be signed up on the Barcamp wiki to get one, so head on over! “As to the pure mind all things are pure, so to the poetic mind all things are poetical”
  
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3:42
From: KA-INVESTOR
Read This Entry & More At KA-INVESTOR
Here are some horrifying facts about inflation in Zimbabwe: - This month two years ago there was alarm in Zimbabwe because the inflation rate had reached 1,000%
- In January 2008 the inflation rate was 100,000%
- This month (June 2008) it reached 1,000,000%. That's over:
- 83,000% per month.
- 2,700% a day.
- 100% an hour.
- 2% per minute
- If you get $1,000 at 2pm today and spend it at 3pm the same day, it will be worth 50% less.
- According to the third source above, a small pack of coffee cost Z$1 billion last week. A decade ago, that would buy 60 new cars.
- A loaf of bread cost Z$200 million last week; enough for 12 new cars a decade ago.
Here's a 1994 Z$50 - now worth less than the ink used for the "50"
Here's a pre-Z$5 note - worth more than US$5 at the time; closer to UK£5. Here's a Z$ 2 note. You need 100,000,000 of these to buy a loaf of bread. 
Here's a Z$ 50,000,000 notes (check the expiry date) 
The Z$ 500,000,000 "bearer cheque" is the biggest denomination at the moment and a Z$1bn note will be issued in the next few days. The Z$ 500,000,000 note is now worth about US$0.20 at the official rate and 2c or so at the black market rate. To make maters worse the note expires at the end of June 2008 (just 5 months after being issued).
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1:42
From: You Missed This
Read This Entry & More At You Missed This
...Or did they already do it in December 2007?
Guest post by Barry O.
It is very interesting that in the United States political analysts and pollsters have not noted based on exit polls and other surveys that the majority of Democratic Presidential Candidate Barrack Obama supporters are considered wealthy educated Americans. Hilary Clinton who recently conceded defeat to Senator Obama, drew her support from America’s working class and rural voters.
Why is this worth noting?
Well to begin with Hilary Clinton is a educated and very wealthy American, who was able to loan her campaign some $11 million to keep it afloat. Barrack Obama on the other hand is by all means very educated having attended Ivy League schools such as Columbia and Harvard, he is however not wealthy.
In the United States as in most countries in the world higher education, particularly post-secondary education requires financial resources. In Kenya access to higher education is even more cumbersome and relative wealth is often needed to secure the fees necessary for a student to be able to afford higher learning. As they both share nearly the same views on most issues, from a Kenyan perspective one would argue that Hilary Clinton would be the more favourable candidate (her being a female notwithstanding) compared to Barrack Obama. The reason for this is because she is white first and foremost (from a Kenyan lense think tribalism), she is older, she is wealthy, she is very educated and she has a famous name.
Obama on the other hand only has his education in comparison, as he is Black (from a Kenyan lense think un-electable) he is rich, but not wealthy and he does not have a popular name. So how then does a man who lacks many of the characteristics Kenyan voters look for in their preferred presidential candidates win the nomination in the Democratic Party?
He takes a bold stand against a popular cause that he, like the majority of Americans feel is not right and takes up the cause for change. Americans have shown they can look past irrelevant issues and focus on what counts and matters. If the same thinking is applied to Kenyans how can you not vote for Prime Minister Odinga ( majority of Kenyans did vote for him in 2007 any way) when, this marriage of convenience/coalition government ends?
Who introduced the bill to make Kenya a one party state? Who argued for maintaining this policy when Moi indicated he was going to repeal section 2a of the constitution? What in heavens name has Uhuru done since he was plucked from obscurity by Moi to make him a serious candidate for President or even an MP? Kindly let me know because I know Raila fought for democracy, I know Raila exposed the Artur brothers, I know Raila led the campaign against the Wako Draft amongst others, I know Raila has been fighting for the de-centralization of government, I know Raila led the second liberation which was essential for Kibaki to become president in 2002. I know Raila is the only mainstream politician in Kenya who represents a cosmopolitan constituency.
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1:27
From: intricately me
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Why dont i ever get tagged for interesting stuff instead i get this... 1. Numbers: i like this show because of the concept behind it. to think that anything can be calculated is extremely fascinating to me. Life is not supposed to be calculable but according to this show everything is a math equation. Hmmmm... i like it anyway. 2. House: I love house. He is such an arrogant, pompous, annoying jerk and yet he is still a hero. A hero we would love to hate but he is still a brilliant surgeon and you cant help to love how hard he tries and succeeds. 3. Law and Order: I know i know...its pretty dumb to like law and order, but if you ever lived in New York you would realize that law and order is a wealth of information in a sense. You end up knowing where not to go and what stuff means... I know thats vague but hey. 4. CSI: I liked CSI but i don't really watch it anymore... it gets old after you watch all episodes of all three of them and then watch the repeats.... No fun. 5. Nip Tuck: To be honest i have only watched a few episodes of this but the first time i watched it i couldn't believe they would air something that racy on national television... Hey hey for free speech... and freedom the American dream. 6.All the Late night shows, the Jon stewart show, the view, the soup: i love these things i don't know why but i do. Perhaps its that wit or that dumbness... i dont actually watch them that often though. 7.Yes dear, one on one, three and a half men, my wife and kids:Again the reason i have so many in one is because i hardly ever watch them so... 8. Wow was so hard pressed to fill this list. Apparently i don't watch that much tv. Does basketball and football count? Maybe Aco or Mwangi do...?
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1:17
From: intricately me
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This guy has me in fits every time i watch him... take a look... I love the wit... Tell me he isn't hilarious.
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1:00
From: Kenyanpoet
Read This Entry & More At Kenyanpoet
(Re)Membering Kenya: Identities, Cultures and Freedom  Conference Series at Goethe Institute, Nairobi.
In cooperation with Ford Foundation Certain critical questions relating to Kenya, which have always been in latent existence, were forcefully thrust to the fore by the events that occurred before, during and after the 2007 elections. This series of public forums brings together Kenyan intellectuals, academics and non-academics, in order to raise publicly all the disturbing questions - and the level of debate about them. As servants and thinkers, Kenyan academics have lately been accused of providing cover for politicians and bureaucrats: they are perceived to have abdicated the role of rendering intellectual leadership in a time of dire need. This series is an attempt to get academics to re-engage more robustly with the rest of the nation. It is dedicated to the necessity of freedom of thought and will be a demonstration of the "engaged" intellectual. Twice a month, on a Wednesday, we will invite intellectuals and members of the academia to public discussions about core issues that define or militate against ideas and practices of Kenyanness. Wednesday, 18 June 2008, 6.00 pm Session 1 Identities - Between Ethnic and Civic Nationhood - Introduction to the Conference Series, by Prof. Wambui Mwangi - The Architecture of Ethnicities: The Ethnicity of the State, by Dr. Pius Kakai - The Economics of Identity, by Mr. Onyango Oloo - Representations of Identity in Kenyan Cultures, by Dr. Mbugua Mungai The session is chaired by Prof. Wambui Mwangi
Wednesday, 25 June 2008, 6.00 pm Session 2: Memories, Narratives & Debates of Nationhood - Gerontocracy & Generational Competition, by Dr. Tom Odhiambo - Negotiating Kenyanness: The Debates, by Dr. Peter Wafula - Engendering Identities: Sexualities & Power(lessness) in the Kenyan Political Economy, by Dr. Sophie Macharia The session is chaired by Prof. Wambui Mwangi “As to the pure mind all things are pure, so to the poetic mind all things are poetical”
  
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