Curse and hate like chicken always come to roast, so do blessings and love. Or simply put it that you always get back what you give (or are) and it somehow always comes back in a bigger measure.
Am a Kenyan by birth and by every other way you can think of, and I have been right here and many times in the middle of highs and lows of this country for like the last 20yrs. But I have never experienced hate in its full measure like I have in last seven months. In my quest to find out what this whole hate & curse thing is about … I got many theories and stories for their causes, but am yet to be convinced of any of them. Currently am at a point where I don’t care about the haterz any more, am more concerned on when we lost the love of each other as citizens of Kenya … and more on how to get the love back.
We currently have a generation of kids who learnt to hate when they were toddlers, and they learnt it from their parents. Many of the youngsters have learnt it as they were growing up and it has slowly become a part of their lives. And unfortunately, the adults are ensuring the hate lives on. In short we are in a hole that we have been digging and we still digging it. Funny thing is we are convinced that we doing the right thing and we have forgotten that two wrongs make no right … no matter what you do.
Injustices done in the past can’t be erased by us ignoring, cursing, hating and eliminating one another … that will never happen. We need to get our hands dirt and honestly get to the roots of the problems. And by that I don’t mean a legislation of anything … but I mean to get ourselves really dirty and painfully go through the roots of our issues and courageously uproot them. And this uprooting is not what has become the Kenyan way of uprooting by getting rid of the leaves. We have allowed some pple to get rid of the leaves of a tree and then cheering them on … forgetting we are in a semi-arid area where our trees get nourishment from the roots that run deep into the ground.
That means we have to sober up, a difficult thing if you ask me, but something we really need to do. We drunk from many things and beer/alcohol ain’t one of them. We drunk from hate arrogance, pride, greed, laziness, etc and we desperately need to sober up.
A good starting point is love for one another.
NB: Please pple lets not lie to ourselves that political leaders are to blame for our issues (which to me is a form of escapism), they are just a reflection who we are.
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22:53
East African - Errors Galore!
» Rants, Raves & Reviews So the story is about 'small' firms being able to list on the Dar Stock Exchange...
However companies that wish to enlist through the enterprise growth market will have to have been in operation for three years, and will require a capital of $200,000 million as a precondition before being listed as opposed to the $500,000 million that is required for the main market segment on the DSE. But in case a company is operating as a subsidiary in Tanzania but is listed in country of origin, then it will be required to have at least immovable assets worth $500,000 million in Tanzania.
Well... unless they are talking Zimbabwean Dollars... and that would not make sense either...
So according to the East African... a 'small' business has to have capital of $200,000 million ($200 billion)... this would mean the firm would be an immediate entry into the top 500!
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19:30 McKinney and Clemente Chosen by U.S. Green Party
» Marian's Blog The Green Party of the United States has voted former Georgia Member of Congress Cynthia McKinney as its 2008 and first woman and woman of colour presidential nominee. McKinney carried her historic political quest to the next level, asking New...
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17:01
Kibaki Attempts to Stem Political Bloodbath
» You Missed This Kimunya’s political death before he resigned has forced Kibaki to act albeit in arrears. With MPs smelling blood, Kibaki has finally realized that being aloof and leading by remote control can be politically fatal. This has seen him call a PNU meeting for Tuesday to help recoup some resemblance of an organized party despite the reality being the parts disintegrating from the plastic sum.
Kibaki’s attempt to take direct control of PNU comes with challenges that he must be ready to confront. For starters he is cleverly trying to manage his own succession. The wars so far pits his close allies and also threatens others who are left with no known party were PNU to disintegrate. Put with political egos ballooning at every party convention it will be interesting to see how the whole succession battle fans out. The war is on pitting four parties. The Karua axis believes they have boxed themselves into the ring and are left with choice but to fight. Jomo Jr. on the other side cannot afford to see his dream/deal shuttered right before his eyes.
The experienced and moneyed Prof. Kiarie Kinuthia Saitoti must also be having an ace up his sleeves against the loud political toddlers. Water Assistant minister Mwangi Kiunjuri completes the picture of rivalry and fight for post Kibaki political space in Central Kenya with Grand National Union party whose patron is none other than Daudi Mwiraria. Kibaki has a tough task to reign on the bloated egos and contain the suffocating ambitions of 5Ks -Karua, Kenyatta, Kiarie, Kiaritu and Kalonzo.
Taming egos of 5Ks
Granted, impunity and utter contempt can be effectively applied to a nation enslaved by a tattered constitution. While selective and selfish application of the law can afford you the luxury of auctioning a country to China and Libya, containing burning ambitions of fellow politicians scheming to succeed you is a different ball game altogether. With Ford-K having decamped when its value dramatically depreciated in the coalition, it will be interesting to see the direction Narc-K takes with the iron lady in the controls. Kalonzo’s too is not naive to the political dynamics and will want his commensurate pound of flesh when the right time for payback comes.
Leadership from the rear can be very expensive in the long run. One would have ordinarily expected PNU to have a meeting prior to Kimunya’s censor motion in parliament. But make no mistake. The present attempt to secure the stables after the horses have bolted has more to it than just political fire fighting. With the king exposed, he has to come out fighting to chaperon his troops in order to avoid any more leaks given that more deals with Libya need to be accomplished before Leader Gaddafi throws embarrassing and incriminating tantrums.
When you con your way into political office ridding on a tower of Babel you must be ready to have your skull kiss debris from the resulting ruin. Well, the duly elected has his job cut out for him. He must brace himself for the challenges of managing a patchwork of political edifices revolving around competing loyalties albeit with the common agenda to succeed him. Kibaki is simply paying the ultimate price of cobbling a party on the wrong premise and devoid of any structure.
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15:01
Interview with Political Activist, Speaker and Soulfege Band Member: Derrick Ashong (Part 1)
» The Displaced African Enclosure: [download]
The Interview
Things Covered
1) Brief snapshot of the earlier years in Derrick Ashong’s life
2) The relationship between Africans and African Americans
3) Derrick’s relationship with African Americans and Caucasians in his final years of high school.
4) How Derrick ended up in Harvard
5) Derrick’s experience as a major in African American studies
6) Most important insight that Derrick learned about Africans and African Americans after years of study
7) How did he end up becoming a professional public speaker
Who does he speak to as a professional speaker? What does he speak about?9) What intrinsic values does Africa have?
10) Great take on the tribal disparities in Africa
11) Why don’t more African youth participate in the development of Africa and its diaspora in a meaningful way?
12) Are we African immigrants doing enough?
Important Websites
1) Soulfege website: www.soulfege.com
2) Soulfege Facebook page: www.facebook.com/soulfege
3) Derrick Ashong’s famous Obama video:
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12:14
http://intricatelyme.wordpress.com/
» intricately me http://intricatelyme.wordpress.com/
So i moved over to wordpress and i blogged so go check it out....
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Kenyans & AGMs
» Rants, Raves & Reviews Sunny Bindra writes about AGMs becoming entertainment rather than serious affairs.
I have been to a few AGMs and most are pathetic where little business is done & hardly any serious questions are asked.
The questions revolve around food (or lack thereof), freebies, share registrars and food. Yes, Kenyans take their 'free' food seriously.
I think firms should follow the Jubilee system which gave out vouchers for discounted Life Insurance. This keeps the riff raff out. The firms that want to curry favour with the shareholders - so no tough questions are asked - include BAT & Nation.
The Nation AGM started late courtesy of a song & dance gig - Sunny doesn't mention it but that is what he is referring to. I did like the 'newspaper' giveaway which is a nominal cost to them but did they have to do the bag?
It is disgusting to watch certain shareholders - names withheld - who are worth 10s, if not 100s, of millions scrambling for food. We know who they are.
Then the question time... the same shareholders ask the same questions year in, year out. They are long-winded and take ages to get to the point. If they ever do!
Then there are the shareholders who get flustered when there are 2 AGMs at the same time. They literally run from one to the other not for the questions but the food & freebies!
I have written on the waste of time these AGMs can be.
So why do I go? While the scramble for the food is going on, I can corner the MD or FD...
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Cops Mistake Each Other For Thugs And Exchange Fierce Gun Fire In Nairobi
» You Missed This Kumekucha Weekend Special: Focus on the Kenya PoliceThe following hilarious incident that happened only last Monday (July 7th 2008) speaks volumes about the kind of police force we have in Kenya.
Two police units mistook each other for thugs and engaged in a fierce shootout where two passengers inside a matatu caught in the cross fire died on the spot. The ill-fated matatu was going to Eastleigh.
Police have denied the deaths and only said that the two passengers were seriously injured. My sources have however confirmed that the two innocent Kenyans died on the spot and the bodies were loaded into a police vehicle and taken away. This writer is yet to establish where the bodies ended up because they never arrived at Kenyatta National Hospital where police said they were taken “for treatment.” One police officer was injured and taken to Forces Memorial hospital where he was treated and discharged.
The incident took place in Nairobi’s Kariokor Estate and was confirmed by Central police station deputy OCS Richard Mugwai. He said the incident took place shortly before 1 pm at the Racecourse roundabout.
One of the police units in the shootout was from outside Nairobi and was unknown to the Flying squad officers who were obviously in plain clothes.
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Previous stories in this Weekend Special edition;
How Kumekucha was asked to strip naked by the Kenya Police
Unusual and bizarre methods of solving crime in Kenya
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This incident that has even been confirmed by police spokesman Eric Kiraithe illustrates the well known fact that the line between the police and thugs is so thin that sometimes it disappears altogether. Criminals are known to hire firearms from the police to commit crimes for a fee. The advantage in using police firearms is obvious. It means that the gun that committed the crime can never be traced.
Many other times cops are in partnership with thugs who share the spoils with them. The police then shoot them dead when they have outlived their usefulness and also to eliminate the possibility of the criminals ever “spilling the beans” and testifying against them. They then promptly move to the next upcoming gang of thugs and repeat the same process.
In such a situation the question arises as to whether the police will ever be able to win the fight against crime.
This series cannot be complete without repeating the often-told tale of what policemen do when they have no food in the house. The story goes that they grab their uniform and tell mama watoto to boil some water. Before the water has fully boiled they will usually be back with groceries including a kilo of meat. No they did not withdraw the funds from a nearby ATM, what they did was to elicit a bribe from the first person they met by threatening to lock them up for a charge they will figure out later.
Is there really any hope for the rotten society that is Kenya where money is so important that nothing else matters?
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Serial Rapists In Uniform
» You Missed This Kumekucha Weekend Special: Focus on the Kenya PoliceThere is this police station in Nairobi that used to have a police officer who was a well known serial rapist. The man was married with children and it is not clear where and when he picked up this sick mentality.
It has been suggested by some that he could not help himself because many women suspects offer themselves in return for various favors. This is of course a theory that is even crazier than this officer who is said to have been rather tall in stature.
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Previous stories in this Weekend Special edition;
How Kumekucha was asked to strip naked by the Kenya Police
Unusual and bizarre methods of solving crime in Kenya
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But there is more. Please brace yourselves folks.
Most reports of rape at this police station used to be referred to the said officer. Yes, the serial rapist himself. It is said that he would then take great pleasure in getting the “exact gory details” of what had happened to the victim reporting the rape. This included the actual penetration and all kinds of details related to it. It is not clear what the exact objectives of his actions were but I can assure you the information was never used for official purposes or to press charges.
Now if you are a man and reading this, you may be unable to understand a few things. Rape is NOT a joke. Indeed there is no crime as horrifying as rape. Most women would actually prefer to be murdered than to be raped. So you can begin to imagine the kind of traumatized state that a victim of rape is in as they arrive at a cop shop to report the heinous crime only to be confronted by a sexual predator of a police officer keen on getting some excitement out of their trauma.
Mercifully a lot has changed since this sick officer reigned a few years back, but sadly not nearly enough. The sexual offences bill was passed by the 9th parliament but is yet to be fully implemented.
I once personally witnessed a woman reporting rape to a police station in a well known Nairobi estate. There was visible evidence that the woman had been through a traumatizing experience similar to what she was reporting. To make matters worse she was carrying a child on her back. Right there in the crowded police station police officers loudly questioned her. She was clearly a very brave woman and somehow did not break down, because I am a man but I would have surely broken down in such a situation. The officers wanted to know if the rape happened when the child was still on her back. They obviously took great joy in questioning her. And nobody was even writing anything down. It was clear that the whole thing was just pure entertainment for the said officers.
As I left that police station one question disturbed me greatly. Did these police officers not have sisters, mothers, daughters and even wives who could be possible victims of rape one day?
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