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18:23
This Alien Legacy The Origins of “Sodomy” Laws in British Colonialism
» Black Looks Human Rights Watch have released a 66 page report describing the sodomy laws created by the British colonial governments and continued today in over 36 countries from India to Malaysia, Nigeria and Uganda. The report explains how one sodomy law imposed on India in 1860 formed the basis for all other anti-homosexual [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: " This Alien Legacy The Origins of "Sodomy" Laws in British Colonialism", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/12/_this_alien_legacy_the_origins_of_sodomy_laws_in_british_colonialism.html" });
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17:36
TSC Planting Big Parents-Teachers Tension
» You Missed This Kenyan institutions never cease to amaze with colourful blueprints that are purposely authored to generate plenty of heat and no light. So now the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has introduced the so-called radical measures to select, appoint and deploy head teachers.
Never short of lofty and high-sounding nouns, TSC has developed a policy document, Identification, Selection, Appointment, Deployment and Training of Head Teachers, in an attempt to improve the management of learning institutions.
Nothing wrong with this marvelous new policy if only it was meant to be implemented as authored. But alas, in Kenya you have to be overtly and covertly optimistic to divorce expediency in such grand schemes.
You don’t have to be a neurosurgeon to see the impending tension between communities left to build their own schools only for TSC to deploy a professional head teacher whose modus operandi is at odds with the local interests. Not employing their sons and daughters who may not be qualified is a definite source of tension and eventual fallout.
TSC has professionally proposed that heads of post-primary institutions only become eligible for deployment outside their localities and communities. That would be sweet music to educationists since the move would effectively sever the links of patronage and nepotism in addition to reducing pursuit of personal interests often seen in running matatus and kiosks.
Social integration among the youth at their formative ages would be a great leap into banishing retrogressive mindset moulded in ETHNIC SUPERIORITY. We have witnessed the perils of being a student of Chepkoilel primary school proceeding to Chepkoilel Secondary and then qualifying for Chepkoilel Campus. Him who is not travelled/exposed often thinks his mum is the best cook. Long gone are the good old days when Mr. Mwamburi was a revered teacher in Suneka Primary School his not speaking Kisii notwithstanding.
TSC’s new directive amounts to making micro fundamental policies in a flawed national fabric. Granted secondary education is the best platform to plat the seed of national cohesion among the numerous Kenyan tribes. But Moi’s ruinous ERROR witnessed populist expansion of education at the expense of quality and structure. 8-4-4 is a marvelous idea working flawlessly in Canada but Moi never left implementation of Mackay’s commission to professionals. The end product was to have specialized professions like music and art/craft bastardized to juvenile levels.
Slaying flies with a hammer
Apologists to the present political dispensation will readily jump to the cliche tokenism to use Moi's low bar for Kibaki. Education is such an important corner stone of a country's identity and prospect that must not be left at the whims of populism and machinations of scoundrels. The last six years have been no better as evident in populating the Ministry of education with the right DNA top heavy with dinosaurs.
It is not difficult to see the localized version of our quest to SUCCEED academically at whatever cost. Last years KCSE fiasco is a case in point where parents conspired with teachers to finance widespread exam cheating. Apologists may downplay that as an isolated episode but not for those conversant with Kenya’s steady decline in education standards over the past years. The nationwide cheating was only evident when the scandal gained CRITICAL MASS.
The TSC policy is a right move that only scratches the surface of a national affliction education with potential long term consequences. Kenya prides itself in her enormous human resources. But leaving educational infrastructure in the hands of villagers only to shove head teachers down their throats is a recipe of rural tension and subsequent downturn in quality.
Until we prioritize education and leave its policies to professionals, Kenya will continue living the national lie of being a regional hub of excellence. Inferior politics that never spares any sector its ugly claws is our bane.
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12:40
Fuel Shortages in Kenya
» Rants, Raves & Reviews On 26 Nov 2008, the pumbavus at Kenya Pipeline Corporation (KPC) made a huge deal of ‘commissioning’ the expansion (double) in pumping capacity by spending scarce state resources & inviting Kibaki & his entourage to the ‘commissioning’ in Makindu…
So… what really happened?
The bloody pipeline is NOT ready since it was but a scam for political mileage! Cut a few ribbons, cakes, drinks & cash all around. And all this wining and dining while the ‘expansion’ will not be ready until early 2009 at best!!!
Most towns in Kenya are facing fuel shortages as (1) Kenyans gear up for the holidays & (2) the reduction in fuel prices spurred consumption but the idiots at KPC claim that the shortages are the Oil Marketers fault while its KPC who can’t pump the required demand!
Though KPC has argued that it has enough fuel, and that it is the oil marketers who have not adjusted their volumes in line with the increased demand, the oil merchants are placing the blame on the pipeline operator.
Any wonder why I don’t believe the drivel KPC spews?
“Can some one explain why the Head of State was made to commission a project that is not complete?” asked Jacob Segman, the group managing director of Kenol. “Are we not deceiving the people of Kenya?”
Many ignorant (or stupid) Kenyans blamed Oil Marketers since the ‘government’ informed them that Oil Marketers were to blame!
There seem to additional problems at Kenya Refineries Ltd & Kenya Ports Authority since even many coastal towns don’t have enough fuel...
IT IS TIME TO PRIVATIZE THESE FIRMS. NOT ‘PARTIAL PRIVATIZATION LIKE KENGEN OR KENYA POWER & LIGHTING… COMPLETE… NO MORE GOVERNMENT CONTROL…
KenGenKPLCKPCKPAKPRL
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10:46
SCYLLA and Prison Break Season 4
» Couch Potato 
At episode 15, everything seems to have been turned around.
"Not everything is as it seems"
So it appears that Michael had a convenient revelation during his neurosurgery( done under very non-sterile grounds. Hmm Dr. Tencredi should know better than just walking into a theatre in thug-clothes.)... And maybe after all Scylla is a good thing?
Should we fall for the fact that the COMPANY is a good thing? All the evil and murder...
And what was that drug "series" that has been injected into Michael...has he been brainwashed?
And if that procedure was carried out on his mum is she alive?
and what the hell is TOMBSTONE that has Burrows acting as the General's BITCH?!
This season has been excellent, I will admit. SPOILERS:
-It's sad that Bellick got killed. Irony was he sacrificed his life after he was such an ass!
-The comp geek died
-and so did the BLACK bad guy is also dead
Season 4 has been back to back...though at episode 15 we can tell the story is changing. Sucre has called it quits. Alex is on the run again. Lincoln is working for the Company. And Michael recovering from his surgery has a new theory on SCYLLA!
I've really liked Gretchen! She so kicks ass.
T-Bag a.k.a Cole Pfeiffer has not disappointed so far!
Michael Rappaport is also wonderful as DON SELF!
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Evil should never be allowed to Triumph
» You Missed This Our country has come (and gone) through a lot of shakeups in recent times. And in all these circumstances we have realized that we are our own worst enemies. Yes, we are enemies to our very own existence.
Well, and the ruling elite has been doing very little to steer us clear off the path of self-destruction. In fact, our leaders have been out to aggravate matters. Some of the people we let sail into Kenya’s cockpit, the driving seat, have completely forgotten what the electorate mandated them to do.
Some of them have forgotten that the common man (the mwananchi) is their employer – at least we pay their salary by being faithful to paying our taxes!
They forgot their employer (and what the employer wanted done) the minute they stepped into the “job”. The job mesmerized them. They were inundated with all manner of “pressures” that saw them forgetting that their employer wants results and not just mere babble.
When in the House, they forget that they are discussing the future of their employer, you and me. They twist issues and pass bills to save their own skins (from the flip-side of their avarice!). They fight to continue living while subjecting their employers to a life of utter doom and heartache.
This is not right!
They do not want to pay taxes like the rest of us. They don’t want a dime of their fat cheques touched in the name of paying tax. This is a case of an employee being better than the employer in the employer’s office! Quite an incongruous state of affairs.
They forget that we cried foul when they were awarding themselves “plump” pay packets sometime back. They got their way then. It pained us. And now they do not want to pay taxes. This is too much!
Are they not Kenyans? Are they not supposed to pay taxes like the rest of us? Or are they trying to say that they are better than the people who pay their salaries? Are they better than the people they represent? Are they “more equal” than us?
Oh, my head is going round and round in circles.
They forget that people in this country have not fully healed from the effects of the post-election violence that characterized the start of this year. People who lost their loved ones, property, homes, livelihoods and …hope are yet to get a respite from the physical, emotional and psychological devastation that was “visited on them”.
But our employees, our leaders, pretend that everything is okay and that, because the violence is no more, then, everything is all right.
Everything is not okay.
There are so many people who are yet to be resettled but our leaders are not doing enough to alleviate the plight of the IDPs by presenting workable solutions. The very people who are supposed to come to the rescue of the mwanachi are closing their ears to our cries and pleas. A very sorry state indeed!
And the other day these same people, the voices (nay, “noises!”) in the House, passed a bill aimed at gagging the vehicles of information in Kenya. They want to make sure that their employer does not get to know what kind of people they (our leaders) are.
How will you and I get to know them well if they strangulate the editorial process? How will you and I get glimpses of “the behind-the-scenes” if (and when) they completely gag the media? If (and when) this happens, are we going to claim to be a democratic nation? Are the members of the ruling elite waiting for 2012 to start listening to us?
This can never be allowed to continue happening. We must stand up to decry their “tyranny”. Yes, and it should be done with the needed vehemence. I like what Edmund Burke says: The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
If we continue resting on our laurels and do nothing about anything, then, we could be in the same position even 100 years from today. Nothing will have changed.
You know if we continue doing things the way we have always done and then expect different results, then, if someone calls us crazy, we should take the punch humbly. It is preposterous to expect different results if we continue employing the same methods to achieve a certain goal.
The kind of people this country needs (both the employer and employee)
A time like this demands: strong minds, great heights, true faith and ready hands;
Men whom the lust of office does not kill;
Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy;
Men who possess opinions and a will;
Men who have honour; Men who will not lie;
Men who can stand before a demagogue;
And damn their treacherous flatteries without winking;
Kenyans, we have a long way to go. A long way to true freedom and truth.
So, vaa hiyo nguo ya kazi (put on your apron) for you should never wear your best trousers when you go out to fight for freedom and truth. It is murky business…
MPs be warned: Revolutions don’t just happen, they evolve
Ladies and their woes
The advantages of online job hunting
Be the change you so much seek
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5:07
Another One About Obama
» What An African Woman Thinks I’ve kept off this topic for a while so I’ve gone ahead and granted myself permission to go there again, briefly.
Rosabeth Moss Kanter of Havard Business School, has a list of the top ten ways Obama would shape a new culture.
No. 5 on her list is that students will aspire to be community organisers rather than investment bankers.
That would definitely create a different kind of world, if it should happen. But, even just a rapprochement between the ideals of making a difference and making money so that once in a while they can have coffee or dinner would be nice.
To be sure, social enterprise is already gaining momentum, especially in the wake of Muhammad Yunus’ winning that Nobel Prize. Still, it would be fantastic to see it rise to the next level, where it’s competing neck and neck in attracting the best brains globally with the bluest of the blue chip companies.
Speaking of competition for the best brains. Google thinks it’s in competition with Obama.
For the best talent.
Now that’s a bona fide compliment if ever I heard one.It's my window, but I don't own the view.“While we keep an eye on Microsoft and Apple our real competition is for the best brains. We compete with NASA and more recently the Obama administration to get the very best people into our business.”
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Harambee Stars Shoot Up in FIFA World Rankings
» You Missed This 
PIC: Kenya striker Allan Wanga (L) controls the ball as Namibia's Jammal Mohammed looks on during their 2010 World Cup qualifying soccer match in Nairobi September 6 2008.
Guys, things could never have been better for local soccer!
Sometime mid this year when this blogger decided to publish a story on this forum highlighting on the efforts of the Minister Raila Odinga to revive soccer and sporting in general, not many people took it seriously. At that time, many saw it from a myopic political point of view.
How wrong they were, because as I type these lines, it was announced yesterday that national team Harambee Stars’ FIFA ranking has skyrocketed to an all time high position 68th globally , 14th in Africa and the best amongst the CECAFA region. Needless to say, this is the highest ranking Kenya has ever achieved in history. As it is, Kenya are the biggest African movers in the FIFA world rankings table, jumping 17 places to 68th.
Even as we celebrate this remarkable achievement, politics aside, we should not forget that were it not for the personal intervention of Raila and his one-on-one meetings with Sepp Blatter of FIFA, Kenya could in all probability be serving an indefinite suspension from world football today.
What does the new ranking mean? It means that Kenya footballers can now sign for what is arguably the most exciting professional league in world football - the English Premier League - because the British government only issues work permits to players who originate from countries that have ranked 70th and below. Not only are players highly paid at this league, the standards of the game are very competitive and English teams regularly reach the finals, semis and quarters of the European Champions League – again arguably the most prestigious soccer competition in the world after the FIFA World Cup.
All this could translate into raising standards locally, like has happened to other countries whose players turn out for the EPL. Professional football is not just big business for agents, promoters, marketers and governments, it is also in today’s world a career in itself. The news comes at a time when Harambee Stars are poised to play final qualifying matches for the 2010 World Cup and also when the team have just reported to camp for the CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup to be held in Uganda from December 31. From the “Russia Stand” of the stadium, bloggers please join me in yelling Oliech, Obama, Odinga!!!!
Hongera to the Harambee stars and their head Coach Francis Kimanzi. Clap Clap Clap.
View Harambee Stars FIFA World Ranking History here
View the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking Table Here
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