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15:31
From: Kenyan Pundit
Read This Entry & More At Kenyan Pundit
The incriminating clip can be watched here.
Where is Alfred-full-page-color-press-ad-against-war-criminals Mutua? Not to mention politicians from both sides? This is the kind of loose talk that will get the country into trouble a few months from now.
Don’t the police have nothing better to do rather than arrest and [...]
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9:45
From: dkFactor
Read This Entry & More At dkFactor
For the last week or so, I’ve been pondering a thought provoking article in the July 2008 issue of Wired - ‘The Petabyte Age,’ by Chris Anderson. I call it thought provoking because Anderson asserts that current statistical and theoretical methods will be trumped by the availability of HUGE amounts of data - PetaBytes (1000’s of terabytes), and the ability to process it. The basic idea is that with enough amounts of data, the numbers will eventually speak for themselves. I suppose the other reason this peaked my interest is that about a month ago I wrote about 'Crowdsourcing and the future of crisis reporting'. With enough data, you’d be able to ‘quite possibly’ predict future human and environmental disasters! While large amounts of data exist, the problem to date has been how to process it, and that’s how cloud computing comes into place.
Cloud computing is a relatively new word. Some people have used the term grid computing to refer to the same thing. It basically refers to the outsourcing and consolidation of computing services and resources. I’ll explain some more so that you can understand. The biggest nightmare to most companies IT departments has been dealing with scalability and the processing power or storage that is required to address it. Enter cloud computing companies - which would basically provide you with on-demand capacity as you grow. Some big companies you know have already been providing such services for the last few years; Amazon, Google, IBM and many more, each striving to be the next general-purpose computing platform. Basic services like Google Docs and Amazon S3 are modest examples of cloud computing.
Lately I’ve been following Google’s forays into Africa. Especially interesting has been the introduction of the Google Global Cache (You can read more about it on White African’s blog). Google in their infinite wisdom has come up with a way to deal with the voracity for data on the African continent. Because bandwidth demand surpasses supply, they would store the web on their servers and serve it up to users based on the shortest path to location, thereby improving performance. Some would call this cloud computing at its best. This would save on bandwidth costs for ISP’s, and improve performance for their customers. Wow!
If you don’t already know by now, that ‘Wow!’ in my last paragraph was meant to be sarcastic. While I applaud google’s efforts, google is inherently a corporation whose goal is ultimately profit. Google China is a prime example of how this all comes into play. Search results for ‘Tiananmen Square’, ‘Falun Gong’ or ‘Tibet’ yield far different results within China than outside it. The fallacies of cloud computing start to become clear. If a whole continent outsources its computing needs, isn’t this data then open to manipulation by the 3rd entity (Google) and other political and profit motivated interests?
Don’t get me wrong, I think Africa stands to benefit a great deal from ‘this’ faster access, but I think this means we need to step up our efforts to increase bandwidth instead of depending on a 3rd parties for access to information. We are at the dawn of the age of information, opening up new paradigms of thinking (some jokingly call it the age of mis-information). Just as happened during the industrial age, new products and integrated services are jostling for attention and marketplace attention. Ultimately there will be just a few winners.
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21:29
From: dkFactor
Read This Entry & More At dkFactor
 Friends, readers - Africa’s sovereignty is at stake.
I am - as always, indisposed to dipping into politics on this blog, but I feel that something has to be said about the situation unraveling in the heart of Africa. Before I go on though, I’d like to issue a disclaimer. “I by no means support Mugabe’s autocratic regime.” This article is also not about the constitutional and human rights that have been so blatantly violated - enough has already been said. By proceeding I’m well aware that I’ll be opening myself up to intense criticism, but I’ll take my chances.
Canada’s prime minister John Turner said “… once you yield the economic levers of sovereignty you eventually lose the political levers,” in response to the controversial NAFTA agreement. Turner felt Canada had sold out to the USA. Sadly it was the truth. In 1980 (the same year as Zimbabwe’s independence), the IMF began to impose Structural Adjustment Programs (SAP’s) on African debtor nations. SAP’s generally mandated:
- The removal of protections in the manufacturing sector
- The elimination of government subsidies for food and some other items
- Trade liberalization;reductions in barriers to trade, as well as foreign investment and ownership
- Increased role of the private sector in industry, which were previously owned by the government
- Reductions in government spending on health and education
The results were disastrous and the reverberations are still being felt today. Africa’s poverty grew at an exponential rate, along with increased dependency on richer nations. This in effect lowered the standard of living of most Africans and set a stage for an era of neo-colonialism (yes I said it).
So you ask - what does this have to do with Zimbabwe? Zimbabwe (and Mugabe’s) problem is 3-fold:
- Land Reform - The 3 month Lancaster House Conference of 1979, which concluded with Zimbabwe’s independence failed to address the most important item - land reform. Mugabe was pressured to sign and land was the key stumbling block. Both the British and American governments offered to buy land from willing white settlers who could not accept reconciliation (the "Willing buyer, Willing seller" principle) and a fund was established, to operate from 1980 to 1990. The Conservative Party led by Former British Prime Margaret Thatcher and later John Major agreed to fund the program, which was immediately crushed by Tony Blair’s Labour government. Some can still remember the letter from Tony Blair’s minister - Claire Short that said "I should make it clear that we do not accept that Britain has a special responsibility to meet the costs of land purchase in Zimbabwe. We are a new Government from diverse backgrounds without links to former colonial interests…” - A smack in the face of a fledgling nation. In 1996 Mugabe took the controversial stance of supporting the seizure of white-owned land without compensation in order to reverse the economic imbalances that disadvantaged the majority blacks.
- Rejection of the Structural Adjustment Programs - Abandonment in the late '90s of International Monetary Fund-mandated "structural adjustment programs" was ultimately the beginning of Mugabe’s problems. This is a stance few 3rd world countries have won. This too poses a threat to vested Anglo-American interests as SAP’s require intense privatization.
- Involvement with the SADC - The South African Development Community includes all the southern African countries - from South Africa to DR Congo and Tanzania. In 1998 Zimbabwe, along with Angola and Namibia sent 6,000 troops to Laurent Kabila’s Congo to save a fellow SADC member country from an invasion by Ugandan and Rwandan troops (backed by the US and UK). This inadvertently or not was yet another provocative move against the west, and there would be a steep price to pay. I’m starting to hear echoes of Patrice Lumumba and Mobutu Sese Seko - but that is a story for another day.
At this point I should step back and state that Mugabe is no different from the other despots Africa has had since the 60’s. Corruption and violation of human rights are the order of the day. Beyond that, the indirect (and direct) involvement of the west in Africa’s affairs after independence remains deeply disturbing. Africa’s claim on the future depends on it being able to handle its own problems.
Zimbabwe’s debacle is a lose-lose situation at this point. The 'Great Hope' - MDC’s Morgan Tsvangirai has been bankrolled by a combination of western governments, corporate enterprises and ex-landowners. His stance on increasing foreign investment and supporting fair land reform sadly suggests we’ll see a return to structural adjustment programs, and NO land reform - this issue will expectantly be postponed for another decade (or longer). I should also point out that land reform is an open wound in countries like Namibia and South Africa, and continually threatens to rear its ugly head.
Finally, the continual meddling of foreign powers in Africa puts its sovereignty in question. Sometimes, I wonder - are we truly independent nations? Zimbabwe exposes Africa's true problems and the Wests deepest fears. Zimbabwe is the dog that went rabid and bit its master after years of having a chain around its neck.
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11:10
From: Kikuyumoja's realm
Read This Entry & More At Kikuyumoja's realm
There’s this story going round that the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) tapped an Afghan Ministry - which stirred up some dust on their work. The issue came into limelight when journalist of the SPIEGEL realized that they were also being monitored due to conversations they had with an Afghan Minister in the past.
Now, I am not the person to deliver any facts or details on this particular story, but I really have to wonder about some fellow Germans who apparently think that there’s anything wrong about this procedure…Well, is it?
I leave it to you to decide if an Intelligence Agency (responsible for foreign affairs) *should* use all available technical facilities to monitor all electronic communication. Obviously, this also is a a) a political decision and b) if *they* think it’s appropriate, they will do it - with or without a political or legal mandate.
What really worries me though is this new law in Germany that gives so much more power into the wrong hands and which enables them to monitor all electronic (communication) data within the country.
Only ~ 30.000 ppl out of ~ 80 Million registered with a lawyer in Berlin to impeach the Government on their behalf on this issue. I am one of them. We all HAD the chance of taking the Government to court on this stupid and dangerous law, but only a relatively few took the opportunity of doing so. Main excuse: “I don’t have anything to hide..”. As IF that was reason enough to accept this law without regarding the personal consequences this really implies. I did have some nasty conversations - even with relatives - on this issue and it always appeared to me that they never really wanted to understand the impact this will have on everyone of us in future. Ppl just dont’t want to understand it.
Oh, terrorism? “Terror(ism) is what they do to us”.
My colleague Chris also blogged on this in English earlier this year in a very comprehensive article.
Now, according to this article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), all e-mail traffic of the named Afghan Ministry is said to be done via Yahoo!.
And this is exactly where I thought: WHAT THE….why-o-why are they still using Yahoo!?????
Take Afghanistan and replace that word with any other country. ANY! I am sure there are hundreds or thousands of potential victims out there (including me) who haven’t yet really protected their online activities or who don’t even know about how to engage protective measurements.
We do have a Federal Office in Germany - the Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik - that provides directives and trainings on how to secure your online activities. Only, they are not being applied in this particular case, because if they were serious on this, they could have told the Afghan Ministry to stop using Yahoo! & other free (unsecured) webmailers. And politicians often aren’t the ones who think in IT-security terms. Hell, who does? So if they don’t know, it’s easier to spy on them. Simple as that. Besides, everyone knows that everyone is spying on everyone.
Case in point: I’ve seen many many fellow ppl working in the Government of Kenya who were using free webmailers. If you were interested in monitoring them, just wouldn’t need advanced equipment. And with the Government having access to GSM monitoring equipment, even cellular phones aren’t fully protected.
I believe there’s no 100% secure concept out there to protect you from any tapping or DDoS, so it’s up to you to decide what and to which extent you want to communicate online.
Another analogy to Kenya:
Six of the 20 Afghan cabinet ministers had spent part of their lives in Germany and spoke German, the newspaper said. Farhang holds a doctorate from the University of Cologne and taught at the University of Bochum before returning home. (source)
As long as there are interests and investments at stake, there will always be a monitoring of other parties, governments or just indivduals. With or without a political mandate, with or without any moral obligations and regardless of any “good relationships” with deployed politicians. Raila of course knows this, but hey: as long as the GoK keeps on buying Mercedes and strucks some maintenance deals for the fleet - why worry?
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2:30
From: tHiNkEr'S rOoM
Read This Entry & More At tHiNkEr'S rOoM
The gaffes I make,
the faltered steps,
the misses.
The wounds I caused,
the gloom I wrought,
the misses.
The tears I brought,
the sadness on,
the misses.
Poor choices made,
bad paths taken,
the misses.
Missteps taken,
bridges broken,
the misses.
Now my ship has sailed,
and I remain
in pieces …
ShareThis
© M :: tHiNkEr'S rOoM, 2008.
Comment On The Misses …
Category: Politics, Reflections.
   
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14:18
From: Kenyan Pundit
Read This Entry & More At Kenyan Pundit
Details from one of the people who took part in the march can be found here. I’m happy to see that civil society is keeping up the pressure. I hope other Kenyans, especially middle-class Kenyans and those who have the luxury (responsibility?) of shifting our political paradigm but who are only too happy to [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Kenyans teargassed for demanding lean Cabinet", url: "http://www.kenyanpundit.com/2008/04/01/kenyans-teargassed-for-demanding-lean-cabinet/" });
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8:20
From: Kenya Imagine
Read This Entry & More At Kenya Imagine
Something is clearly wrong with our leaders. First, they plunge contemporary Kenya into the worst crisis it has faced with their never ending battle for power. Now they are convincing us that they should have 44 out of the current 220 ministers. That makes 20% of the government’s National Assembly. Just how much do we need ministers? We have operated with only 17 in the last 3 months noone even noticed! The only people required to run ministries are the Permanent Secretaries. Ministries should, in fact, be consolidated not split. More from Wanjiru Kamau here.
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10:49
From: Kenya Imagine
Read This Entry & More At Kenya Imagine
I refuse to accept that it is over. The hatred and the fighting is not over. No one can convince me that the less than 12 hour turn around on the choice between no negotiations and a coalition government came through the goodwill of our precious politicians at the helm. We should not be fooled into becoming clapping buffoons when the people responsible for bloodshed continue to leech us dry. We should not pat them on the back and say thank you for the resolution. Read more from Bee Dablewkay here.
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21:52
From: Kenya Imagine
Read This Entry & More At Kenya Imagine
Is the failure in Kenya- now that we have been proved not so special- and in Africa, really a failure of leadership or this there other, perhaps justified, extenuation? Musing through recent events, the apparent suspension of the ongoing mediation most of all, some questions are impelled on one's consciousness. Is there something (beer voucher to Ken Opalo for setting off this train of thought) to Chinua Achebe's thesis that the poverty of our leadership is the main obstacle to African progress?
Participate in this open thread here.
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0:59
From: Kenya Imagine
Read This Entry & More At Kenya Imagine
Unlike, apparently, rather a lot of the people I like and respect, I think that the boycotts strategy announced by the ODM is a disastrous move, one that can only lead to greater pain. Let me explain. John Lonsdale somewhere distinguishes between political tribalism and moral ethnicity. (Never mind that I've always thought it a slightly tenuous distinction - everybody thinks the same of most distinctions they didn't first think of themselves.) Political tribalism is the constitution of an ethnicity by competition for state power and largesse against other, similarly constituted, ethnicities. Moral ethnicity on the other hand is a set of assumptions about public virtue for people like us. Political tribalism is inevitably adversarial; moral ethnicity inward-looking. Read more from Daniel Waweru here.
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15:33
From: Kenya Imagine
Read This Entry & More At Kenya Imagine
If you are, as I suppose is likely, Kenyan, the content of this article may be a little bewildering. So let's start by saying that what passes for good and even holy in Kenya, is in most other places unpalatable. The topmost class of Kenyan politics is mostly peopled by persons with truly dirty histories. Many of them have hands sullied to the elbows in the filth of corruption, constituting as they do a billionaire elect that has made millions in corrupt gains off of what passes for public service within our borders. Of this same political class are several politicians, many of whose political fortunes are in no small way built on the most tyrannical and divisive politics, promoting hatred, violence, exclusion and ethnic division. Read more from Khadija Mohammed here.
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7:47
From: Afromusing
Read This Entry & More At Afromusing
Today is an even sadder day. I am trying to keep my tears in check…but cant. Town was quiet in an eery, uneasy way. The hopelessness is palpable and the sadness in people’s eyes is overwhelming. Some streets are deserted, shops are closed and Eldoret as we knew it is gone.
There is an appeal for blood donations at Moi Referral and Teaching hospital
There were funeral arrangements being made for Lukas Sang, an athlete who was burned.I do not have all the details yet, but will update once i get more info.
What is Eldoret without Paul’s Bakery?
For many of the displaced, this was the only home they knew. where have they gone, and will they be able to return?
- Mr. Limo of Limo House Hospital, and a leader in the area; taped a peace message to air on Sayare TV station (The ban on live broadcasts is not helping, because the peace appeals need to be heard and seen as many channels as possible) Cant listen to local radio. How can we listen to music at this time?!
- Fewer people at the cathedral on Uganda road.
- Shortage of vegetables
- Airtime is expensive - double the amount actually. For Ksh100 worth of airtime it will cost you Ksh200
Watching the news, seeing the military on the streets of Nairobi…this has got to end. We can never ever talk of normal again. Their is no normal. Stability? Of what sort? Honestly, i am afraid to say what i think on this blog as I will be in Kenya for a few more days. Whatever little hope I had that our country could rise to the greatness it was on a cusp off…is dwindling. AG Wako’s call for retallying of the votes (as seen on NTV afew hrs ago), seems like an avenue to be explored immediately. Kenya is on the brink, Kivuitu, ECK and the Kibaki Govt need to ask themselves…to what end is all this? Till when? and How? If you anyone of them calls themselves a Kenyan, a retallying of the votes, a lift on the live broadcast ban, and immediate resolution of this state of affairs is needed. Anything else is just denial, excuses and cowardice. Stand up, lead and save our beloved country. People have lives to get back to. Work, school, businesses…How is that ever possible when sections of the country are unpassable? Will we have to get different ID’s for every tribe possible? It just isn’t sustainable, its madness.
Let me stop here…Be safe, and God Save Kenya.
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12:36
From: Afromusing
Read This Entry & More At Afromusing
- Where to begin?! Perhaps the basics
-Town itself was calm today.
- Fuel available today,
- uchumi and other supermarkets open. Credit also available in Uchumi though restricted to 400 shillings worth per person. MPESA/safaricom office was closed.
- Food availability is so-so, bananas being sold, some kiosks open.
- Airport operational, actually there was alot of air activity today, saw many small planes, military choppers heading to old eld airport. If you want to charter an aircraft it could cost over $7000. To leave today, you would pay Ksh 15000, next available flights probably saturday or beyond and can cost between ksh 6500 or Ksh 6800 (Jetlink and fly540) - One way to NBI. It is jam packed there.
- Convoy of cars and buses left from the police station…probably Nairobi bound. Heard that people were being airlifted, but cant confirm this for sure.
-Whatever you have to do, you do it during the day before 5pm.
- Word is if you are driving, cant get past Naivasha if you are from western (i.e not kikuyu) cant confirm this though.
- Friends (of different tribes btw) were stuck in a place called Ndalat for 2 days, not able to get through because of roadblocks at one point escaped death from machetes (gosh this is terrible). These are not conventional roadblocks, they are manned by desperate youth who ask for your id, and also for money. There is a guy who parted with ksh1500 between town and the airport.
-Friends telling a kikuyu friend pole (sorry) because his house was burned. The thing is the people doing the burning are not even known to the people in the area, they are coming in from other places. I feel sick about this whole mess, cant even get myself to type the tribes kikuyu, kalenjin etc when typing this post. people are people. Because we are supposed to be ONE KENYA, this is shocking and utterly…shit, i cant find the word.
I have to go…
more pics here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/afropicmusing/sets/72157603613781227/
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2:52
From: Afromusing
Read This Entry & More At Afromusing
- hi everyone, in Eldy, lots of tension though it has eased as it is daylight now, some people sought refuge in churches and police station last night and are still there this a.m saw some people carrying their belongings, will upload pics shortly if i can.
Yesterday, saw a mob of youth >300 crossing through farms, walking in a single file line. They later walked back after a few hrs.
Later in Kapsoya there were screams and people milling around.
-Just received an SMS from Safaricom that reads
“The ministry if Internal security urges you to please desist from sending or forwarding any SMS that may cause public unrest. This may lead to your prosecution”
-Continued media ban on live broadcasts
-Houses were burned in the last two days, things seem calmer now, though in Langas, people are still fighting and supposedly even more killed last night. Talked to a guy who lives there, says the leaders need to come there, one rep of the following languages: Luhya, Kalenjin, Kikuyu, put up a white flag and appeal for peace. “Radio appeals do nothing to calm that particular part of Eldoret”. In addition people’s heads are supposedly lying about and it is terrible.
-Govt spokesman’s words seem very hollow considering the situation on the ground. Long queues at Uchumi in Eldoret, some parts of town completely deserted.
-No fuel.
-I think Eldoret airport is still operational (as of confirmation yesterday)
-ATM’s still working though - Barclays on Uganda Road.
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4:41
From: Afromusing
Read This Entry & More At Afromusing
Here are some shots i took yesterday at a few polling stations around Eldoret.It was so hot, but people braved the heat and queued in order to vote. By and large it went smoothly in some stations, though in the hospital ward, it was quite inefficient with lines snaking around the corner. There was alittle tear gas in the air from fracas on the previous day but people still soldiered on.
I am a bit bleary eyed as we were camped around the radio after the fuel for the generator ran out. Cant do live updates, been checking
KenyanPundit
and
Mentalacrobatics
on my cell phone.
Twittered the elections a little and will add more periodically during the day
[twitter.com]
Btw - Nicholas Biwott is out in Kerio south
- Peris Chepchumba elected as MP Eldoret South despite intimidation and insults from men
Other women in Rift Valley made it through and might constitute a chunk of women MPs in the next parliament.
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16:27
From: Kikuyumoja's realm
Read This Entry & More At Kikuyumoja's realm
I had an urgent desire this morning to blog about something that would prolly come close to a *what-if-Raila-wins*-scenario, dealing with questions like “Who will organise the opposition then?”, “Who will organise the Intelligence Network?”, “How will Kenya benefit of such a situation”, etc. - but then I am not really the right person to blog about such questions and ask for answers.
So I took a quick glance at a well known internet forum specialized on Kenyan politics and realized - once again: Politics are a beautiful waste of time.
Besides, there’s no reasonable analysis possible if 99% of the stuff you get to read online is based on gossip and other propaganda. I sometimes even think it’s some kind of “judgement day” - the upcoming elections on December 27th - a day on which Kenyans want to settle a few very personal issues with this and that male or female politician.
Atiriiri…with all these questions in mind (and the more you think about it, the more stuff comes up), I can already picture myself being squeezed between two Nairobi characters: one from the Koigi/rural farmers section with huge hats & the obligatory pickup parked outside and maybe the other one a retired academic from channel ‘O’ who - both drunk - would yell some gibberish into my ears… OH! This reminds me of the Kenyan Bar I wanted to check out here in Frankfurt. Hmmm. :-)
So, instead of answering these difficult questions and joining other fellow Kenyans on these hectic days of election campaign debates and “breaking news: candidate abc is stepping down for xyz (and was given a lump sum of xx mill Kshs.)”, I will instead focus on much more important matters:
Luggage!
Seriously, have you ever noticed that many people with nice looking briefcases often have nothing else inside their luggage but only something like a newspaper or an apple?
On the other hand, though, those who are really in need of decent luggage and have to carry at least one laptop, 3kgs of paper and 2 books as well as other obscure office stuff for maybe a business trip often have the oldest, smallest, dirtiest and ugliest backpacks ever seen.
Dito shoes, suites, desktops.
Coming to think of it…politics aren’t that much different.
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18:01
From: Kikuyumoja's realm
Read This Entry & More At Kikuyumoja's realm
“Chinas Industrieplaner wissen was sie tun: Wenn die europäischen Steuerzahler das Satellitennetz aufgebaut haben, wird das Geld in der Navigationsbranche vor allem mit den Empfangsgeräten und Diensten verdient. Die könnten dann aus Asien kommen.”
(src: FTD , 5. Dezember 07, S.29)
Zum Vergleich:
europäische Investitionen = mind. 6 Milliarden Euro Aufbaukosten
chinesische Investition = 200 Millionen US-$ in 2003
Wer profitiert?
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10:06
From: Kikuyumoja's realm
Read This Entry & More At Kikuyumoja's realm
A message to those who think they can misuse the blogosphere, internet forums and even someone’s mobile phone to spam the electorate with “the truth” about this and that political candidate:
*yawn*
Get a life.
(filed under: Kenya, elections, Kibaki, Raila)
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14:06
From: Kenyan Pundit
Read This Entry & More At Kenyan Pundit
…is slowly creeping up on KP will almost certainly be in full swing by December. Here’s a link to an interview I did this week with Joshua Wanyama of African path.
AOB: Former Clinton strategist Dick Morris is now working for ODM. Supposedly pro bono (hhmm). Seeing the [...]
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5:25
From: Kenya Imagine
Read This Entry & More At Kenya Imagine
Amir Ibrahim argues that the courting of Muslims by politicians is not only unfair to Kenyans of other faiths, but also dangerous to the Muslim voters themselves as a perception of them as a fifth column, self-serving and inimical to the needs of other citizens is created and reinforced. He also argues that there really is no such thing as an Islamic constituency and pleads that Kenyans come to a universal conception of rights that are due to all citizens regardless of race or religion.
Read more here.
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11:04
From: Kikuyumoja's realm
Read This Entry & More At Kikuyumoja's realm
[free-burma.org]
About “Free Burma!”
International bloggers are preparing an action to support the peaceful revolution in Burma. We want to set a sign for freedom and show our sympathy for these people who are fighting their cruel regime without weapons. These Bloggers are planning to refrain from posting to their blogs on October 4 and just put up one Banner then, underlined with the words „Free Burma!“.
/irony off
PLEASE…how pathetic is that?
disclaimer:
- Burma hasn’t only been under siege by a military regime since last week
- Blog activism is a good practice
- Nothing will change for the better except maybe that a few uninformed blog readers will become aware that there’s a state called Burma (Myanma Naingngan)
- I am generally having a problem with this….ah…“Live8-approach”
- Dear Burmese, you’re having my sympathy…oh wait, Internet access has been cut of, so you won’t be able to read this. Sorry. Again, my sympathy for these circumstances.
- It takes such a situation to come up with some political activism within the otherwise so often unpolitical (German!) blogosphere? oh c’mon..
- It is easy to criticize and while I won’t take part in this activism (well not on Oct 4th), I also admire how some other bloggers around the world took some of their time to prepare an online action plan for October 4th. I wish we could also use this kind of activism for some other, sometimes also urgently needed, actions that require some community feedback.
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20:26
From: Kenya Imagine
Read This Entry & More At Kenya Imagine
Even as they go into the elections in strong support of one side of the other, few Kenyans will have been impressed by the delivery of most of their politicians. In our question of the week this time, we offer an opportunity for the exoneration from blanket guilt of any politician who has proved himself worthy of the tag, leader. Please give a specific reason here for your backing of this particular politician whether in parliament or at the local government level, and the reasons for which he can be distinguished from the prevalent view that all politicians are greedy, selfish and self-seeking charlatans.
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2:03
From: Kenya Imagine
Read This Entry & More At Kenya Imagine
Kenya is badly crying out for leftist thought, for leftist ideas, even if this was merely outside parliament. The people's minds are totally caught up in the cultural hegemony of the religious priests and their tribal lords who are without exception corrupt billionaires. Many of them, shamelessly clothed in Marxist garb mouth platitudes about the need for reform, all the time directing our gaze away from the fact that they are complicit in the rape of our nation. Few of them were there to put up the scaffolding of the corrupt state, but they are very busy today supplying the steel and concrete for the Black Iron Prison, standing idly by but just as often abetting and participating in the disenfranchisement and empoverishment of the working masses. Read more from Tim Norwood here.
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16:28
From: Kikuyumoja's realm
Read This Entry & More At Kikuyumoja's realm
To add a political side to this half German blog - considering that most German blogs are far far away from any political content - I could mention the recent…uhmm…let me call it “drama” where some German politicians actually tried to sue a few journalist on publishing a few confidential documents which were initially released by an inquiry board on a rather unimportant issue.
Unimportant, as the actual subject and content of the published material isn’t even mentioned these days. What matters is the assault on the free press, and how politicians are using the judiciary to silence a few unpleasant voices.*
Also, these politicians are the ones that send out experts to foreign countries to lecture about democracy. Yeah, right.
But I am not political. Instead, I will leave you with a memorable quote I found in an interesting paper that tries to implement a waste management concept on the United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON) compound (dated November 2004):
“As UNON policy permits the use of white toilet paper only, Multiple Wastepaper Collectors (MWC) purchases white toilet paper for UNON. However, the toilet paper provided by MWC is not sufficient to meet the needs of the UN compound, so UNON procures additional white toilet paper from Chandaria or Pegant.” (source)
(* = That’s what the press says. I guess it actually is the other way round, as these politicians tried to hide a few issues from the masses and wanted to detect the leakage by bullying the press in the first place. But then…what would the world be without some valuable whistleblowers? Also: a free press is the best indicator for a working system.)
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12:40
From: Kenya Imagine
Read This Entry & More At Kenya Imagine
Kimani Njoroge writes on Kenya's former vice president Jaramogi Oginga Odinga's Not Yet Uhuru. The book, Njoroge asserts, is as relevant today as it was 40 years ago. It strikes me that the very governance issues that he was addressing in 1960s, 70s, 80s, and early 90s are still rife today. The last Chapter, titled, OBSTACLES TO UHURU, reads like an address to today's breed of politicians. Read more here.
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15:04
From: dkFactor
Read This Entry & More At dkFactor
 Celebrities like to portray it as a basket case, but they ignore very real progress.
It's a dark and scary picture of a helpless, backward continent that's being offered up to TV watchers and coffee drinkers. But in fact, the real Africa is quite a bit different. And the problem with all this Western stereotyping is that it manages to snatch defeat from the jaws of some current victories, fueling support for patronizing Western policies designed to rescue the allegedly helpless African people while often discouraging those policies that might actually help.
Read More >>>
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21:44
From: Kenya Imagine
Read This Entry & More At Kenya Imagine
Doris Sadera speaks against Kenyan Members of Parliament who have refused to speak out against Mungiki. No one in Kenya can claim that they and their family are completely safe from Mungiki, but the leaders whose job it is to protect us are busy posturing to save their necks, both physically and politically.
Read the rest here.
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9:21
From: dkFactor
Read This Entry & More At dkFactor
 The Kenyan economics expert James Shikwati, 35, says that aid to Africa does more harm than good. The avid proponent of globalization spoke with SPIEGEL about the disastrous effects of Western development policy in Africa, corrupt rulers, and the tendency to overstate the AIDS problem.
Shikwati: If they really want to fight poverty, they should completely halt development aid and give Africa the opportunity to ensure its own survival. Currently, Africa is like a child that immediately cries for its babysitter when something goes wrong. Africa should stand on its own two feet.
Read the SPIEGEL interview here
development aid, globalization, imf, spiegel
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2:48
From: Mentalacrobatics
Read This Entry & More At Mentalacrobatics
From 13.30 GMT today (16.30 Kenya time) Reuters will be holding a Newsmaker Debate centred on the crisis in Darfur. There is still time for you to submit your questions and comments for the panel. Have a look at Ndesanjo’s post on Global Voices for some background information. Bloggers have played a vital role in keeping the Dafur crisis at the top of the news agenda.
The panel (Ann Curry, NBC News, Mia Farrow, Actress & UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, Jean-Marie Guéhenno, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, United Nations, Lauren Landis, Senior Representative to Sudan, U.S. Department of State, Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamad, Sudanese Ambassador to the United Nations and John Prendergast, Senior Adviser, International Crisis Group) does not have a large African presence to say the least. Let us be heard through our blogs.
© Mentalacrobatics for Mentalacrobatics, 2007. |
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5:29
From: Kikuyumoja's realm
Read This Entry & More At Kikuyumoja's realm
I have just taken a 3hrs ride by train only to realize that no one is around. The ladies at the administration office are on holiday - both of them. Well, what a coincidence.
Which gives me some time to read and comment on a few articles. You know there’s this G8 summit taking place on June 6-8 2007 in Heiligendamm, which is Germany’s oldest seaside resort.
I read an interesting comment in Germany’s (left-wing) daily “die tageszeitung” this morning about the summit - heck, there are so many stories on this G8 event alone, and while it remains interesting to ask whether the leaders of 8 economic powers should meet and discuss various topics of interest, the actual debate seems to be on how the State actually excludes it’s citizens, and how democratic rights are waived for dubious security reasons.
This isn’t about a meeting of economic powers anymore, but about democracy and how we are supposed to do something for others if we can’t even demonstrate against such an event. The quality of a democracy clearly shows during such events.
This whole event is one big ******* lie to me.
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16:34
From: Kikuyumoja's realm
Read This Entry & More At Kikuyumoja's realm
There was an article in the local newspaper the other day where the State of Bremen asked its readers to volunteer for today’s election day. I quickly downloaded the application form from the inet and applied for that position as I always wanted to do that kind of work.
Such a one-day job actually includes arriving at the polling station as early as 7.30 am and supporting the election official until all votes are registered, which means you’re home at about 9 pm.
Despite of being interested in that kind of work, I also wanted to see WHO actually lives in this area which had been my interim home during 1983-1990 - and since I had just returned to a familiar place for the first time in my life, a place I am sometimes ready to accept as my “base station”, I thought it would be great to see some familiar faces from the past.
Besides, there’s EUR 30,- incentive at the end of the day, and in my Kenyanesque brainstructures, this equals to around Kshs. 2700/= for a day of just sitting on a desk and making sure that ppl drop their votes. Dude, could I ask for more? Simple!
So what’s the difference?
Besides of different procedures (voters get their electoral card sent through normal snail mail and have to deliver either this card or their ID card in order to vote), one thing remains as an amusing fact.
Well, can u see that long bench in the middle of the floor? We used it to divide the room into two areas for each electoral district, but ppl here - for some peculiar reason - apparently saw this as a challenge to change lines a.k.a. districts and consequently line up for another district. They just jumped over the bench as if they were back in school (the building is a primary school).
==> Whereas you’d probably see an askari with a rungu in Kenya, making sure that ppl keep order, there was no order here, just unbelievably “smart” people (~ 5% of them having a PhD) who apparently thought to be smarter than the rest by jumping over the bench the line. Idiots.
Needles to mention that the majority of the electorate in this district voted for a very conservative party. I guess this goes to show the actual meaning of permanent head damages (phd). ^^
The problem with many ppl is their inability to think in juristic terms - putting your vote on a piece of paper isn’t voting but instead dropping that vote into a sealed box and getting your name registered as having voted. The consequence of this misunderstanding is that they put every emphasis on marking their cross on that piece of paper, but when it comes to the actual process of registering your vote, many voters today just wondered about this extra hassle.
And yes, it was a nice experience today and I would do it again any other day. It’s a good feeling to be living in a society where ppl actually care about each other, and despite of these somewhat peculiar relicts of German history, I appreciate being part of the system, even if its just for one day.
Of course I just had to close the day with Bremen’s best product: Beck’s Gold! :-)
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7:37
From: Kikuyumoja's realm
Read This Entry & More At Kikuyumoja's realm
“Wenn heute schon ein Kasten Bier den Regenwald rettet, wieso nicht auch ein cooler Gig am Maschendrahtzaun von Heiligendamm?”
Danke, SPON!
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11:11
From: dkFactor
Read This Entry & More At dkFactor
 Every enthusiast needs a skeptic around to keep them balanced. The power of positive thinking is immense—but so is its capacity for error, unless you take the time to answer the skeptics before committing yourself.
That said… I'll get to my point. The 'Cell Phones Are The Future' statement is very heavily clichéd at this point. It is said that the mobile phone is the one pervasive device that has penetrated some of the poorest economies due to the overwhelming demand for any form of telecommunications. Sure, but If you're an entrepreneur thinking of leveraging this mobile platform, consider the following:
- The mobile phone companies have invested billions in notoriously difficult economies in Africa and are currently raking in sweet profits. Trust me, they're not about to share the loot with just anyone after pouring blood and sweat into the current infrastructure. The barriers to entry are extremely high at this point… and I'm almost tempted to say that the current companies have ganged up in a cartel-like structure to protect themselves.
- Africa is the wild west. Interoperability issues are sure to be a big problem especially where m-commerce is concerned. Interoperability aside, I can't even begin to fathom the imminent fraud quandary.
- Seriously - all cell phones are go
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