Mashada Blogs » April 8, 2009

Words Much Like Poetry: Failing Illusions

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 20:20:00 -0400

castles built on illusion,
stones conjured out of thin air,
courtyards brimming with greenery and paradise charm,
brought to life by rivalry and chivalry.

relative reality spun, formed and reformed,
hollow clouds the mold for the whole,
adventure the ballast, together it holds
and royal romance sets a tale of necromancy.

and then the evil ruler from the west
sets the floating castles nigh,
empty stones tumble to endless depths
and always takes the queen for himself.

Photo from www.public-domain-photos.com. Author: Jon Sullivan

Afromusing: Support Maker Faire Africa

AfroMusing — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 18:18:59 -0400

Maker Faire Africa (MFA), a celebration of African ingenuity, innovation and invention, will take place August 13-15 at the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT in Ghana’s capital, Accra.

As one of the contributing editors of AfriGadget, I am incredibly happy to see this event come together. When I started pitching in afew articles on Afrigadget, it was partly because I really liked Emeka Okafor’s idea of ‘A Make Philosophy for Africa’

A MAKE for Africa will be a non-limited set of values and practical ideas that evolve, germinate, propagate and replicate with informed nudges…

The upcoming event is Ghana is one giant nudge, that I hope you can support either by spreading the word – grab a badge here, or by donating a small sum towards making Make Faire Africa happen.

The Goal & MFA Supporters so far

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make mine a double espresso...: Ready for Love... Or whatever the urban youth are calling it these days.

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 18:14:00 -0400

I have been single for longer than i'm proud of. Between getting over my ex, hating men, fearing commitments, one night stands, being a love sceptic and my bi-curious phase, i guess looking for love, or atleast embracing anything close to it wasn't on my to do list.

Now i find myself craving something more. I want the whole nervous when i get to meet his momma, head spinning, pulse racing, nervous sweating, feet pacing, mindless rambling, hand holding, phone calling, photo taking, love making type thing. I want that.

I want to meet him. Progress. I didn't say him or her this time. Yeah. Him. The one who'll make life a bit more pleasant, and make me a mix tape, (or atleast a play list on his ipod) the one who i talked about in my 'i want mine' post,
i'm in the middle of a potentially good movie. I'll get back to this soon.

The movie was cool. I thought it was. 'the great debaters' denzel washington is timeless...

Back to the post. I guess i wouldn't want or crave intimacy as much if i was home. I have an almost disfunctional relationship with my close friends. We are extremely close so i never noticed the void when they were around. We just had mad fun times, and we'd hate on other couples. They're single too. Go figure.

I just want something of substance. Something intense. I'm forgetting what it felt like. The whole being in love deal. It's not cool.

*Sigh*

You Missed This: Is Paul Muite’s Life Really In Danger?

kumekucha — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:03:00 -0400

I sat there frightened, lonely and confused in a foreign country away from home and felt completely and utterly defeated.

All these emotions had been caused by two simple questions I had been asked in response to my claim that my life was in danger back home in Kenya. The questions were; How do you know? And who wants to kill you? Although I had enough evidence (including emails) to prove what I was saying, I realized then how difficult it is for anybody to prove that their life is in danger. My situation was complicated by the fact that I always instinctively protect my sources of information and sometimes even go out of my way to disguise the direction in which my info came from. So as I listend to myself talk I knew how unconvincing I must have sounded.

Paul Muite: Running scared

Yesterday a frightened-looking Paul Muite held a press conference to tell the world that his life was in danger. But he went beyond that and named his world-be assassins. And in an even more drastic move he has written to the UN’s International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, asking them to investigate and prosecute President Kibaki over extra-judicial killings.

The question on the minds of most Kenyans is whether Muite is simply playing politics or his life is indeed in great danger? Actually to cut a long story short, Muite has cleverly moved very fast to save his life as his fears are fully justified according to my sources.

In fact if you carefully examine Muite’s actions you will quickly realize that they are the actions of a man who seriously fears for his life? What would you do if you got information to the effect that some people take your life? You would blow the whistle (this often scares off the would-be assassins) and then you would try and get on the offensive against the people. Now Muite’s move of going after the president is both interesting and instructive.

Sample the following. The Kwekwe squad is a professional hit squad and there is a very visible pattern in the way they operate in the executions they have so far been suspected of carrying out. The truth is that assassinating people is NOT as simple as it looks in the movies. You need lots of intelligence information on their movements, habits and so on to carry out a successful hit. No hit-man can afford to botch a hit. The interesting thing here is that the Kwekwe squad gets all its’ intelligence from the NSIS (National Security Intelligence Services). Now we all know that the NSIS reports to only one person, namely the highest authority in the land. Jijazie (fill in the dots).

There is yet another reason why Muite is NOT joking about his life being in danger. Some weeks ago I was informed about an alleged Kwekwe squad hit list (the list is in my raw notes) that consisted of a few prominent names mainly in civil society. Muite’s name was NOT on the list, however when you look at most of the names on my earlier list and then add Muite’s there is something in common that immediately emerges. Amazingly most of the people on the list are a threat to national security in the sense that their activities are bound to split the Kikuyu vote and thus frustrate plans of the executive and those close to him to secure their future by influencing succession politics and the next occupant of State House.

Related articles;

Major assassinations in Kenya that had “threat to national security” written all over them

How Standard raid was plotted and executed from State House Nairobi

Constantly Blundering NSIS?

Possible useful information

Have you dropped your laptop? Is it overheating? Do you suspect the hard drive has crashed?Kumekucha

Kenyanentrepreneur.com: The Kenyan Corporate Executive: An Endangered Species

kenyanentrepreneur — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:02:40 -0400

I’ve been perusing the articles in BD Africa and I’m beginning to see an interesting phenomenon. Well, maybe it’s a regular phenomenon with all jobs, but is this a unique pattern? What am I talking about? I am talking about seeing relatively young Kenyans, many of whom have been educated in the west, returning back to [...]

Kenyanentrepreneur.com: Liberia: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

kenyanentrepreneur — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 15:51:56 -0400

The president of Liberia has just written an autobiography about her life. The book is called, “This Child Shall be Great”. You can listen to an interview she gives about the book here. I have not read the book yet, but it is definitely going on my reading list. I’ve said before, that if you are a [...]

KA-INVESTOR: Equity Bank Suspended!!

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 05:33:00 -0400

Kenya's Central Depository and Settlement Corporation (CDSC) has suspended Equity Bank as a stocks agent for two weeks, it said in a letter to stockbrokers dated Wednesday...read more

up-date: this was later in the day revised by CMA after Equity banks appealed. (Something does not sound right here)

tHiNkEr'S rOoM: New Appointments

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 03:31:41 -0400

Good morning fellow Kenyans.

My name is Alfred “I See Dead People” Mutua.

Government would like to reassure its citizens that the recent resignation of Ms Martha Karua and Mr Danson Mungatana have not in any way caused it sleepless nights.

In fact, we are happy that they have gone so that we can put some fresh faces in the cabinet.

In light of this change I am pleased to announce the following.

The new Minister for Justice And Constitutional affairs is this plate of Weetabix.

The plate of Weetabix has promised to cleanse the bowels of justice.

Additionally, the new Assistant Minister for Medical Services is now this ham sandwich

The sandwich will be sworn to fill the bellies of the sick.

Both cabinet ministers will be sworn in next week and commence work at once.

Waiting in the wings to be sworn in are a glass of milk and half a pancake.

The new cabinet members are just as effective as the team they are joining, if not more. Let it not be said that there is not talent and intelligence in Government.

SportsKenya: Sports and Media : Can we take the cue ?

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 02:20:00 -0400

In February this year, the English Premier League executives signed a record TV rights deal while the rest of the sporting world was looking into ways of cutting down their expenses.
I must confess besides the usual serving which keeps me like the rest of the football fans glued to the TV, these guys are miles ahead of most sports marketing executives.
Back in the 80s, the then new Commissioner David Stern had quite a job to convince the TV channels to run the basketball games which by then were tottering down into the abyss badly in need of a clean image and an appeal to audiences in the US. An arduous task which he handled well and we started noticing the NBA Play-offs match-ups pitting legendaries such as LA Lakers vs Boston Celtics. Who can forget what has now become one of the most watched event across the world,the NBA All-Star Weekend?
The same can be said of FIFA and IOC executives who saw the potential in this and quickly followed the cue. Since the late 1990s we have seen exponential growth in sports broadcasting, with some slots for main sponsorship partner easily running into over US $100 million.
Africa has also developed a lucrative broadcast powerhouse in the name of MultiChoice/ Supersport which has revolutionised sports coverage in the continent. They recently won exclusive rights for the World Cup 2010 as they enjoy the goodwill of having it at their background. They enjoyed a bit of a scare when GTV launched 2 years ago but we all know what happen to the blitz they had...
Back in Kenya, I wonder what is ailing us with broadcast houses still touching sports with a long stick. Most usually cover one event and leave off once the Games are done. Others still try to capitalise on the hype around an event e.g. the recent World Cup qualifier against Tunisia.
A replica of what might be the first station dedicated exclusively to sport is the Radio Jambo currently run by (Radio Africa Broadcasting- they who run Kiss 100 FM and Classic 105.2 FM). Too bad most of their information dwells on European Leagues where they can get info from the Net, rather than making more relevance by building capacities locally and regionally.
If we are to become a serious contender for sporting events in Africa, media is one area we cannot afford to ignore. One or two media-houses may come up with something for that reason. We can learn a lot from MultiChoice's SuperSport and with their recent entry into the market,it's as good a time as any !

Inspired by Sportbusiness.com