January 23, 2012
Fleecing The Kenyan Diaspora Cash Cow
They came ‘home’ for Christmas — to eat ‘real’ food, drink ‘real’ beer, hitch up a daughter or son of the soil and inspect development projects. They arrived with excitement in their hearts but flew back enraged, some in tears.These are Kenyans who live in perpetual distress overseas. They battle chilling winters, loneliness, racism, cultural and economic setbacks. They do anything and everything to put ‘development’ on the ground back home, only to get conned by relatives.That was never the case. In the days following Independence, our fathers left the comforts of their villages for Nairobi — to look for jobs. They religiously sent monthly cash remittances via clansmen who worked on commuter buses. The money always got home and was prudently saved by relatives because within a short period of time, they could afford to pay dowry, buy pieces of land and sometimes build homes.
Not today. Omari was born and raised in Mombasa. By a stroke of luck, he landed a valid working permit in the USA. Before he left for the States, his parents swiftly arranged a marriage for him to Fatmah, a pretty girl of modest education. Upon arrival in the States, Omari landed a comparatively lucrative job that accorded him relative comfort and money to spare.He, however, experienced many moments of anxiety with his American line managers and colleagues who routinely made him an object of ridicule. In addition, he was subjugated by ethnocentric managers who verbally insulted him, wrote him memos with racist undertones and, on several occasions, denied him his official holiday leave.He endured all this and routinely sent part of his income to Fatmah, his wife in Kenya.
Apartments
In three years, his contract was controversially not renewed. But he was not a worried man since he knew he had been remitting money to his wife regularly and that she had bought several plots in Mombasa and was now building apartments for rent. In fact, she had been updating him with photo images of the project.Last Christmas holiday, with no work and lots of time to spare, he packed his suitcase and travelled to Kenya. He was, however, shocked beyond imagination to discover that Fatmah had ‘invested’ his money in a tiny plot of land in the crowded Mishomoroni area.
Paraffin
The piece of land had no title deed and the only legal ‘paper’ signifying land ownership that Fatmah had was an ‘agreement’ signed by a village elder. On the plot, Fatmah had built a Swahili house and had installed four tenants. In one of the rooms, she had set up her little duka selling groceries and paraffin.Omari quickly realised that the Sh8,000 income from the tenants could not sustain him in Kenya. In short, the $250,000 (Sh21.8 million) he had remitted to his wife for investment had been misused.Emmanuel’s story is no different. When I met him at a popular restaurant in Shanzu a week after his arrival, he shed tears as he narrated how his younger brother, Joseph, currently a Module Two student at a public university in Mombasa, had been using his money to “booze and patronise popular discotheques in town with women instead of developing my plot”.Worse, he needed to re-sit several papers, hardly attended classes and his fee was in arrears, never mind that Emmanuel had sent the money upfront. What particularly irked him — and others who have suffered similar fates — is the relative ease with which his hard-earned cash was thrown around in bars and flushed down the drain.
Unruly
Charles teaches Mathematics at a state school in one of the poorer sections of USA. The students are rude and unruly. Last summer, while at the front of the class, he noticed two students chatting away, oblivious of his presence. He politely asked them to be quiet so that he could begin the lesson.But one of them hissed, “Hey, can’t you see we are trying to have a conversation here?”He swallowed his Kenyan pride and didn’t kick the young lad’s butt because he knew that would land him in trouble and that several people back home depended on his paycheck.Charles, however, says, “It’s painful when you learn that a sibling you sent cash to pursue a degree course dropped out of college because of drug addiction. Or a daughter you have consistently supported used the money to entertain peers and is now pregnant. Or one’s spouse is in a relationship with a younger man on whom she showers your money. Not after the struggles we go through overseas.”Kimeu, a swimming Instructor in China, sent cash remittances to his sister in Nairobi. She bought a plot on his behalf and the two siblings settled on a structural plan from a reputable firm that looked perfect on paper. In a short time, the council authorities approved the building plan. Kimeu’s sister oversaw the construction of the house alright, but she cut costs by engaging cheap, poorly skilled labour and pocketed the balance.
Ugly patches
When Kimeu came home over Christmas, the hot water pipes beneath the bedroom floor were broken, causing water to leak through the lounge floor.The cheap floor tiles had started peeling off, the ceiling in the house was basic and because the roof leaked, it was covered with ugly patches. Some of the rooms were ridiculously tiny and the locks, doors and fittings were cheap and tacky.Worse, the neighbourhood had neither a sewerage system nor street lighting and roads were dusty and potholed. For a man accustomed to the finer things in life, Kimeu was hurt, disappointed and angry.Other relatives just steal the money. Benea, who also resides in the US, bought a house in Nairobi and asked his brother to collect rent on his behalf. But when he came back, there was nothing in his bank account. It turned out that his brother had bought himself a matatu.What gulled him was that that notwithstanding, he found a horde of relatives waiting, arms outstretched for alms, including the same brother who had practically stolen his money.
Holiday home
But the saddest tale is of Maureen, a Kenyan lass who met and married a retired British engineer in Mombasa. When they relocated to Britain, she convinced her husband that they needed a holiday home in Kenya (she wanted to have a base from which she could look after her ageing parents and siblings).Her husband gave her money, which she dutifully sent to her elder brother. Unfortunately, her brother began playing tycoon with her money — boozing and handing out large wads of money at every fundraiser. He even married a second wife.In the meantime, he bought a plot from someone he met in a bar and paid for it in cash the next morning. He engaged workmen to dig up a pit latrine and fence up the premises.These were friends who were driven to the site in a taxi and who, after a day’s work, would be wined and dined in expensive hotels.When the latrine was up and the property fenced, the plot’s rightful owner turned up with policemen and evicted them. But in any event, even if the plot had been genuinely acquired, the lout had drunk and wasted the money meant for its development anyway.You could, therefore, say Kenyans in the Diaspora are the latest cash cow in town. In some cases, people even simulate funerals to squeeze money out of them.Our politicians, ever opportunistic, have not been left behind. Nearly all presidential hopefuls are roaming all over America and Europe with begging bowls for a piece of the pie. They are seducing our brothers and sisters overseas to sow on barren rock.
November 10, 2011
Athuri Njohi Ti Therapy
Njohi Ti Therapy andu aitu.We cannot continue drinking alcohol as a form of ‘treatment’ ignoring the far reaching effects on psychological,emotional,social and overall well-being of self and others.
Wambui Kung’u is an anti-drinking campaigner!!…God Bless You!
November 8, 2011
Harry Thuku:Munene wa Nyacing’a
Harry Thuku, one of the pioneers of African nationalism in Kenya, was born in the Kambui region of the British colony in 1895. In 1907, the Gospel Missionary Society build a mission center in Kambui, employing Thuku as a herd boy and houseboy. During his childhood employment at the mission center, Thuku learned to read and write. He left for Nairobi in 1911, but at sixteen was sentenced to two years in prison for check-forging.After serving his two-year prison term, Thuku was employed at the Leader, a colonial newspaper, when he became interested in local and national political affairs. Through the paper he learned of the infighting among European settlers in Kenya over the colony’s future. By World War I he was employed at the colonial treasury where he increased his circle of politically-inclined friends and associates.
Thuku became involved in the East African Indian National Congress and Young Buganda Association. Thuku eventually led the Young Buganda Association, renaming it the East African Association (EAA) and broadening its appeal. His work with the EAA persuaded Thuku the colonial system and colonial oppression must be challenged by Africans regardless of ethnic origins. His own emerging “pan-Africanist” views were reinforced by his contact with prominent anti-colonialists such as Marcus Garvey, the head of the U.S.-based Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA).
After touring African districts and seeing colonial officials neglect African welfare, he denounced the Kenyan colonial government and encouraged Africans to stand up for their rights. He was especially active among Kenyan women, encouraging them to boycott British products and programs. Kenyan women gave him the name Munene wa Nyacing’a, or chief of the women.
As Thuku became more popular British authorities imprisoned him again on March 14, 1922. His supporters went on strike and demanded his release. A clash on March 16 between colonial police and a crowd of 8,000 of Thuku followers took place outside a Nairobi police station. Twenty-one people died in the attack. Thuku was released and exiled to Northern Kenya from 1922 to 1930.
When Thuku returned home, he became president of the EAA’s successor organization, the Kikuyu Central Association. But because of internal disagreement on policies, he left and established the Kikuyu Provincial Association (KPA) in 1935. Despite his earlier anti-colonial stance, the constitution of the KPA pledged loyalty to the British and supported colonial policies. Thuku became increasingly conservative as the anti-colonial struggle advanced in Kenya. He became a wealthy coffee farmer and eventually became the first African member of the Kenyan Coffee Farmers’ Union. In 1952 and later in 1954 Thuku denounced the Mau Mau Uprising. He afterwards removed himself from Kenyan politics.
Harry Thuku died in Nairobi, Kenya in 1970
Harry Thuku: An Autobiography ASIN: B0006C2H26 Biography available on Amazon
November 4, 2011
Kenya’s Shilling Biggest Weekly Gain On The Dollar
Kenya’s shilling headed for the biggest weekly gain in three years to the dollar as investors refrained from buying the greenback on bets the currency will climb further after the central bank raised rates to a record.The currency of East Africa’s biggest economy strengthened as much as 0.7 percent to 96.55 and traded 0.4 percent up at 96.80 by 10:55 a.m. in Nairobi, extending its increase this week to 3.1 percent, the biggest rally among more than 170 currencies tracked by Bloomberg. The shilling is headed for its best weekly advance since the five days through Nov. 7, 2008.
Kenya’s monetary policy committee increased the key lending rate by 5.5 percentage points to a record 16.5 percent on Nov. 1 as it battles to contain inflation spurred by the worst regional drought in 60 years and higher fuel prices.“The strengthening of the shilling is due to low dollar demand as the market expects the shilling to continue clawing back lost ground to the dollar on accounts of the monetary policy taking effect through reduced money supply,” Bernard Matimu, chief dealer at Nairobi-based NIC Ltd., said by phone.Kenyan inflation accelerated to 18.9 percent in October from 17.3 percent in September, the Nairobi-based Kenya National Bureau of Statistics said in an e-mailed statement on Oct 28, compared with the central bank’s 5 percent target.
October 22, 2011
Racism:Time Magazine Coverage Of Africa
Response to Kenya Invades Somalia. Does It Get Any Dumber? by Alex Perry TIME’s Africa bureau chief, covering everything south of the Sahara. Perry has been a TIME correspondent since 2001, reporting Asia, the Middle East and Africa from postings in Hong Kong, New Delhi and Cape Town.
Dear Mr. Perry,
Thanks for an alternative opinion. I hope you have a follow-up article with suggested alternative actions which Kenya should have taken in the fight with Al Shabaab.In your article, you have insinuated that Kenya is starting a war to bolster its “reputation for safety and security”. You could not be more misinformed. Below are some facts:
Kenya has borne the brunt of the collapse of Somalia since the 1990s. The infamous American Embassy in Kenya bombing in August 1998 was planned and carried out by terrorists from the Al Qaeda cell based in Somalia; so was the follow-up bombing in Mombasa in 2002. Insecurity in Kenya is now an ever-present reality due to the proliferation of small arms from Somalia. These arms have fueled crimes in practically every corner of the country.Piracy by Somali pirates off Kenya’s international waters has seen a great reduction in the number of cruise and commercial ships offloading tourists and cargo respectively at the seaport of Mombasa. The negative impact on the Kenyan economy cannot be understated.
There is a big community of refugees from Somalia a big number of whom found their way into Eastleigh estate – a residential area just 15 minutes from the Central Business District of Kenya’s capital. This area is a hotbed for local Al Shabaab activity and poses a great risk to Nairobi. It is said that most of the war-lords from Somalia are living in the relative safety of Eastleigh. The difficulty in carrying out a purge is that many of Eastleigh’s residents are also bonafide Kenyans of Somali descent. All this information you can find in the “UN Report of the Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea”.Now with all this intelligence, what has Kenya done? Our government has pleaded incessantly for a concerted effort by the International Community to weed out the Al Shabaab menace. All that has been done is token support for the African Union Forces in Somalia (mainly composed of Ugandan and Burundian soldiers). Destabilisation of the Kenyan society and economy continues. Mind you, Somalia and Kenya share a 682 km border.For a long time and as recently as last month, the Kenyan president has made impassioned pleas to the UN General assembly to provide Somalia with the resources needed to prevent al Shabaab insurgents from regrouping. These pleas have, sadly, not been taken seriously as evidenced by the continued deterioration of Somalia. With no mineral resources like Libya, Kuwait or Iraq, Somalia has failed to warrant the level of involvement by Western governments seen in those countries.
Mr. Perry, in view of the above situation, what would you have recommended that Kenya does? Sit back as our economy continues to deteriorate as a result of the disorder in Somalia? Call the Al Shabaab Warlords and plead with them to stop their unwelcome activities? Or to do all we can (like the Humming Bird in Nobel Laureate, Wangari Maathai’s memoirs) and to do it the best way we can?
No matter the outcome of Kenya’s push into Somalia, the finale is already written, you will find it in the resolute chi that our celebrated freedom fighter, Dedan Kimathi bequeathed to us, that it is better to die on our feet than to live on our knees
Michael Kirumba
October 14, 2011
I Say to You: Ethnic Politics And The Kalenjin In Kenya By Gabrielle Lynch
Available on Amazon 296 pages | 2 maps, 14 tables | 6 x 9 | © 2011
In 2007 a disputed election in Kenya erupted into a two-month political crisis that led to the deaths of more than a thousand people and the displacement of almost seven hundred thousand. Much of the violence fell along ethnic lines, the principal perpetrators of which were the Kalenjin, who lashed out at other communities in the Rift Valley. What makes this episode remarkable compared to many other instances of ethnic violence is that the Kalenjin community is a recent construct: the group has only existed since the mid-twentieth century. Drawing on rich archival research and vivid oral testimony, I Say to You is a timely analysis of the creation, development, political relevance, and popular appeal of the Kalenjin identity as well as its violent potential.
Uncovering the Kalenjin’s roots, Gabrielle Lynch examines the ways in which ethnic groups are socially constructed and renegotiated over time. She demonstrates how historical narratives of collective achievement, migration, injustice, and persecution constantly evolve. As a consequence, ethnic identities help politicians mobilize support and help ordinary people lay claim to space, power, and wealth. This kind of ethnic politics, Lynch reveals, encourages a sense of ethnic difference and competition, which can spiral into violent confrontation and retribution.
- “How did the Kalenjin, an ethnic group that did not exist before the 1940s, come to dominate Kenya in the 1980s? It is a remarkable story, and Gabrielle Lynch tells it well. The social imagination of ethnic community is one of modern African history’s most contested themes. Lynch shows how much it depended on a rumination on past history, but she also appreciates the importance of creative political intrigue. Her combination of the two makes for a thought-provoking read.”—John Lonsdale, University of Cambridge.
- “This is an indispensable guide to understanding the distinctive place of Kalenjin nationalism in Kenyan politics and the recent post-election violence as well as the role of ethnicity in Africa more broadly. I Say to You traces the work of indigenous intellectuals and independence-era political leaders in shaping a larger sense of collective kinship among people sharing a broadly similar language and culture, though often with sharply diverging senses of connection. Lynch is superb in explaining both the persistent dissension within the Kalenjin as well as the way unity was achieved in the context of the ethnic logic of Kenyan politics, the dynamics of which she has exceptional insight into.”—Adam Ashforth, University of Michigan.
- “I Say to You is a richly detailed and insightful analysis of the dynamic and open-ended process of ethnic construction and politicization that focuses on one of the most recent and important ethnic communities to emerge in Kenya in modern times. Lynch’s adept weaving of political, cultural, and economic factors in a compelling historical analysis of the Kalenjin and their position in Kenya’s contentious ethnic politics has much wider theoretical and methodological importance for understanding the process of ethnic politicization in not only the rest of Africa, but also in other non-Western societies subject to the double historical wallops of colonialism and globalization.”—Bruce Berman, Queen’s University
*Gabrielle Lynch is senior lecturer in Africa and the politics of development at the School of Politics and International Studies at the University of Leeds
October 14, 2011
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October 12, 2011
Kenya/Nigeria-Currency Stability
Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda bucked a global trend by raising interest rates to record levels in the past week as they struggle to protect their currencies and curb soaring inflation.Nigeria’s central bank boosted its key rate by 275 basis points to 12 percent on Oct. 10 at an emergency meeting, less than a week after Kenya and Uganda lifted their policy rates by 4 percentage points each. The currencies of the two East African nations have lost a fifth of their value this year, the worst- performers in the world, according to Bloomberg data.
“Central banks are going to try to look after their currencies to steer inflation away from increasing as significantly as it has,” Celeste Fauconnier, an Africa analyst at Johannesburg-based Rand Merchant Bank, said in a telephone interview. “The only way they can sort of manage the issue is through monetary policy.”Before Nigeria’s rate decision, the naira slumped 7.4 percent against the dollar on the interbank market this year, reaching as low as 166.60 on Oct. 10. The currency surged as much as 4.6 percent the day after the rate announcement.The worst drought in 60 years in East Africa fueled inflation in Kenya and Uganda, driving investors to abandon the currencies just as risk aversion globally picked up, compounding their plunge. Inflation in Uganda surged to 28.3 percent in September and reached 17.3 percent in Kenya.
Rate Cuts
Brazil, Turkey, Switzerland, Israel and Indonesia have cut borrowing costs since August to support their economies as a debt crisis in Europe threatens the global recovery, while the U.S., U.K. and Japan have kept rates near zero. India is the only large emerging market nation to raise borrowing costs in the past two months, lifting its repurchase rate by 25 basis points to 8.25 percent in September.The central bank in Kenya raised its benchmark rate to 11 percent on Oct. 5, while Uganda boosted its rate to 20 percent the day before, with both indicating they will increase borrowing costs further to help support their currencies. In Rwanda, which borders Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and Democratic Republic of Congo, the central bank increased its key rate for the first time in almost three years to 6.5 percent on Oct. 7.Price pressures may increase in Nigeria after the naira weakened and the government prepares to remove fuel subsidies next year. Inflation slowed to 9.3 percent in August, staying below 10 percent for a second consecutive month, the statistics office said on Sept. 14.
Price Stability
“Maintaining exchange rate stability, especially in times of global uncertainty, is crucial to the mandate of price stability,” Nigerian central bank Governor Lamido Sanusi said on Oct. 10.The naira was little changed today at 158.85 per dollar at 8:24 a.m. in Lagos. The Kenyan shilling weakened 0.1 percent to 106.22 per dollar, while the Ugandan shilling was little changed at 2,882.Oil-price declines and high dollar demand at twice-weekly foreign exchange sales have depleted Nigeria’s foreign-currency reserves, making it more difficult for the central bank to support the naira within its targeted 3 percentage-point band above or below 150 per dollar. The reserves of Africa’s biggest oil producer have declined 9 percent to $31.4 billion in the 12 months through Oct. 6, according to data from the Abuja-based central bank.
In Kenya, the weaker currency is driving import prices higher, reducing personal spending and investment and threatens growth, Charles Robertson, global chief economist for Renaissance Capital in London, said in phone interview. Higher rates may help draw investment back to the region, he said.“In a world of zero percent rates in the West, these sort of levels are likely to help stabilize currencies,” Robertson said. “When the global markets get more confident, which I imagine will happen in the next two or three months, you will see a rally in these currencies.”
October 8, 2011
US warns fans in Kenya about attacks
American citizens and foreigners in Kenya were being warned Friday that an al Qaeda affiliate in neighboring Somalia is planning to target locations broadcasting sporting events, a US official confirmed.The feared attacks from al Shabaab, which was behind suicide attacks last year at venues in Uganda broadcasting World Cup soccer matches, could target places showing the Rugby World Cup, with finals matches commencing Saturday and running until October 23, and a soccer match between Kenya and its western neighbor Uganda being played Saturday.
The Uganda strike by al Shabaab, which killed 76, was considered an indicator that the group was going “more global” in its targeting and may be capable of hitting US targets, FOX reported.An alert by the US embassy warned, “The US Embassy in Nairobi has received credible information about a potential threat to Americans and other foreigners linked to international sporting events, such as the Kenya-Uganda football match on Saturday, October 8, or the upcoming Rugby World Cup.
“American citizens are urged to avoid public venues, such as sports bars, night clubs, and restaurants, which will be broadcasting these games, as well as public transportation, such as buses, to and from the events.”ABC News reported that Osama bin Laden had urged al Shabaab to target the US after learning that a number of US-born Somalis had joined the organization. They include Alabama native Omar Hammami, also known as Abu Mansoor al Amriki, an al Shabaab spokesman who is wanted by the FBI for “terrorism violations” including “providing material support to terrorists.”
October 4, 2011
Book Review:Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness By Alexandra Fuller
A Mother’s Long Love Affair With Colonialism
Alexandra Fuller recalls in her electrifying new memoir that her mother — “Nicola Fuller of Central Africa, as she has on occasion preferred to introduce herself” — had always wanted a writer in the family, “not only because she loves books and has therefore always wanted to appear in them (the way she likes large, expensive hats, and likes to appear in them) but also because she has always wanted to live a fabulously romantic life, for which she needed a reasonably pliable witness as scribe.” When her self-dramatizing mother assessed her life, Ms. Fuller goes on, she “matched it up against the kind of biography she hoped to inspire, something along the lines of ‘West With the Night,’ ‘The Flame Trees of Thika’ or ‘Out of Africa.’ On the whole, she was satisfied.”
In “Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness,” Ms. Fuller gives her impossible mother her due. As readers of this author’s fierce 2001 memoir, “Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight,” will recall, Nicola Fuller was a larger-than-life figure in her daughter’s childhood, and in this volume she emerges as a sort of African version of Scarlett O’Hara: a beautiful and spirited young woman, who lived through war and refused to look back; a woman who would lose three of her five children; a woman who grew up in Kenya, attending fancy-dress parties, and who, by the end of the war in Rhodesia in 1979, had become a survivor, capable of riding shotgun in a Land Rover protecting her children from ambush with an Uzi.
Writing in shimmering, musical prose, Ms. Fuller creates portraits of her mother, father and various eccentric relatives that are as indelible and resonant as the family portraits in classic contemporary memoirs like Mary Karr’s “Liars’ Club” and Andre Aciman’s “Out of Egypt.” She describes how her parents met and fell in love and traces their peregrinations across the continent of Africa.She writes about Auntie Glug, her mother’s sister, who would garden “until midnight while teaching herself Spanish,” and her maternal great-grandmother, who lived on the island of Skye in a grand old house that was so cold she “always wore at least five cardigans, the longest one on the bottom, layers and layers of shorter ones on top of that and a thick shawl around her shoulders.”
As her daughter tells it, Nicola Fuller was Macdonald of Clanranald on her mother’s side, a clan that actually had a “war cry” that translates from the Scottish Gaelic into English as “Gainsay who dare.” Her mum, the author writes, “holds dear to her heart the values of her clan: loyalty to blood, passion for land; death before surrender. They’re the sorts of values that lead you to kill and that get you killed, and in every important way, they were precisely the kind of stubborn tribal values that you needed if you were bound and determined to be White, and stay White, first during Kenya’s Mau Mau and later during the Rhodesian war. They were decidedly not the values of the Johnny-come-lately White liberals who survived postindependence in those African countries by declaring with suddenly acquired backbone and conviction that they’d always been on the side of ‘the people.’ ”
As in “Dogs Tonight” (which her family refers to only as “that Awful Book”), Ms. Fuller manages the difficult feat of writing about her mother and father with love and understanding, while at the same time conveying the terrible human costs of the colonialism they supported, reminding us that when white Rhodesians like her parents talked about “Our Freedom,” it “was a funny sort of Freedom that didn’t include being able to say what you wanted about the Rhodesian government or being able to write books that were critical of it,” and that “for the majority of the country, Freedom did not include access to the sidewalks, the best schools and hospitals, decent farming land or the right to vote.”In fact, Ms. Fuller adds, when her mother speaks of her long-lost childhood in Kenya — where she had tea parties with a neighbor’s pet chimpanzee and entered show-jumping competitions with her favorite horse, Violet — it’s as if she were “speaking of a make-believe place forever trapped in the celluloid of another time, as if she were a third-person participant in a movie starring herself, a perfect horse and flawless equatorial light. The violence and the injustices that came with colonialism seem — in my mother’s version of events — to have happened in some other unwatched movie, to some other unwatched people.”
History and unforeseen accidents, however, would tear through Nicola Fuller’s celluloid dream. Her first son, Adrian, would die of meningitis; by the time the baby got to the hospital, it was too late. Her youngest daughter, Olivia — who somehow survived the perils of wartime Rhodesia, including land mines, ambushes and kidnappings — wandered off and drowned in a neighbor’s duck pond. Her second son expired days after his birth because a medical device needed to fix his palate did not arrive from South Africa in time.
The accumulation of losses, Ms. Fuller recounts, would tip her mother over into madness, and she would spend an interlude “strapped down in the mental ward” of a hospital and given “various doses of mad pills, happy pills, panic pills and sleeping pills.”Had her parents not decided to stay on in wartime Rhodesia, had they followed the rest of their family and many friends back to Britain, Ms. Fuller suggests, things might well have been different. Few, however, she adds, “have the wisdom to look forward with unclouded hindsight,” least of all her parents, who clung to the idea of a colonial Africa with perverse tenacity.
Most of us, Ms. Fuller writes, “don’t pay so dearly for our prejudices, our passions, our mistakes. Lots of places, you can harbor the most ridiculous, the most ruining, the most intolerant beliefs and be hurt by nothing more than your own thoughts.”Although Ms. Fuller would move to America with her husband in 1994, her own love for Africa reverberates throughout these pages, making the beauty and hazards of that land searingly real for the reader. She describes the dangers there — the cobra in her father’s office that killed three of their Jack Russell terriers; the python that got their cat — but she also conjures the richness of life on her parents’ new farm in Zambia: “Emerald-spotted doves” calling to one another, frogs “bellowing from the causeway,” the air boiling “with beetles and cicadas, mosquitoes and tsetse flies,” and egrets “white against the gray-pink sky” floating “upriver to roost in the winterthorn trees.”
Both her parents, she writes, want to be buried on that farm, when the time comes. Her father has picked a baobab tree above his fish ponds for the site of his grave. “Just wrap me in a bit of sorry cloth and put me deep enough in the ground that Mum’s bloody dogs don’t dig me up,” he says.Her mother, who had picked another tree nearby, has rather different expectations. “I expect a big, elaborate funeral,” she tells her daughter. “Sing ‘The Hallelujah Chorus,’ wear large expensive hats and fling yourself into the grave after me.”
September 26, 2011
The Agikuyu We Rise-Poetry
You may re-write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.
Does my biashara(s) upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
’Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries?
Does my communal love offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
’Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own backyard.
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.
Out of the huts of history’s shame -I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in Mau Mau pain-I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind the Kiambaa nights of terror and fear-I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear-I rise
Bringing the gifts that God gave my ancestors-I rise
I am the dream and the hope of Gikuyu & Mumbi -I rise
I rise-I rise-I rise.
September 19, 2011
The Phantom Mungiki Praetorian Guard At State House
Observing the measly performance of the prosecution at the confirmation of charges hearings in the case of William Ruto, Henry Kosgey and Joshua arap Sang, I was left wondering whether we should not have globally legislated standards of idiocy.With the likes of Moreno Ocampo in the prowl, we need to have the benchmarks of idiocy so that the world is saved the valuable time we need to solve the problems of hunger, poverty, disasters, hurricane Irene, global warming etc. I concur fully with defense counsel Kioko Kilukumi at the hearings that the only good thing with Ocampo is creativity.
Which brings me to the most ridiculous allegation that Ocampo makes in the case against Francis Muthaura, Hussein Ali and Uhuru Kenyatta, namely that the symbol of our nationhood, the official residence of our Commander-in-Chief was the mobilisation point for Mungikis, where they were issued with military uniforms and military vehicles.For the un-discerning, State House has a staff contingent of over 1,000 staff from all the communities of Kenya. How such a massive undertaking can take place without being noticed by any staffer can only be attributed to Ocampo’s award winning creativity. Among the dates the Mungikis were supposed to have held a guard of honor at State House is December 30, 2007.
It is imperative to note that this is the day that President Kibaki was sworn in. I was one of the guests at that swearing-in. I was driven to State House in the official vehicle of Hon Martha Karua. At State House I recall meeting so many people including Mwai Kibaki, Uhuru Kenyatta, Francis Muthaura, Peter Kenneth, Martha Karua etc. With reflection, I am pretty certain that when Ocampo refers to Mungikis in State House he may be referring to me and Peter Kenneth while the military vehicles must be confusion with Martha Karua’s Green Prado that drove me to State House!In any case, by invoking State House in his theory, the good novelist that is Ocampo has inadvertently changed this case into one involving a state party. I do believe that the competent defense lawyers will raise this issue with the court so that the architecture and conduct of the proceedings can be modified to be in line with cases involving state parties.
I reiterate what I have said in this column for the last one year. Ocampo’s brief is to achieve a certain outcome in Kenya. His sole mission is to remove some actors from the 2012 General Election so that Raila Odinga can have a very easy win against Raila Odinga.
That is why he ignores such statements by Raila like. “Generals do not go to battlefront” when he was asked in 2008 why he was not on the ground with the protestors. On January 3, 2008 , Raila said on KTN ” What is happening is genocide being perpetrated by a Mungiki gang operating from State House led by Uhuru Kenyatta.” For Ocampo to repeat such claims in his case leaves one with no doubt as to where he gets his brief from.There is also the issue of double standards at the ICC. By the established definition under the Rome Statute, it would mean that those involved in the London riots are also perpetrators of crimes against humanity. There may be some distinctions between the post-electoral violence in Kenya and the London rioters, but they are nuances, matters of degree.
One cannot draw a bright line between them.It will be argued that in any event the British justice system is dealing very aggressively with the London violence, and that as a result the crimes would not be subject to prosecution on the basis of complementarity. The British justice system is ‘willing and able’ to bring those responsible to justice.But here we encounter another problem with the way the Rome Statute is being applied. The judges at the International Criminal Court have tended to an analysis whereby it is not adequate that perpetrators be tried for any crime in order for complimentary to be addressed.The theory is that they must be tried for the precise crimes under the Rome Statute. Are any of the teenage hoodlums in London being prosecuted for crimes against humanity? Is Britain failing in its duty to adequately describe the nature of the crimes – and thereby deprive victims of the justice they are entitled to – by labeling the acts using ordinary criminal classifications, such as assault, mischief, theft, arson, vandalism and so on?
Of course we all know that riots in Nairobi and riots in London are not the same thing. Should anyone be surprised that so many of us Africans think the court is focusing its attention unfairly on our beautiful continent?
Finally, I have read that a group of Ocampo’s supporters have threatened to take Pope Benedict to the ICC for the victims of mistreatment by Catholic Priests. Where it comes to my Catholicism, there is no compromise. If that comes to pass, we will tell Ocampo, in the famous words of Robert Mugabe to keep his Falkland Islands, we keep our Church
Moses Kuria :The author is the spokesman of the Party of National Unity. The views expressed herein are his own.
September 14, 2011
Kikuyu Wisdom
“Uthaka wa mundurume ni mbeca! -A man’s beauty consists in having money. (kikuyu Proverb) Dont waste time being a metro-sexual, Make money”
September 13, 2011
Closer Sino-Kenyan Cooperation Can Counter Food Crisis
The worst drought in the Horn of Africa in 60 years has sparked a severe food crisis in the past few months. Close to 13 million people are threatened by the famine and many died of hunger. In Kenya, the number of the people facing starvation has reached 3.5 million people. The worsening condition facing famine victims in the region in general and particularly in Kenya has caused great concern among the international community, the Chinese Government and people included.Such are times when a friend in need must become a friend indeed.
The Chinese people and the African people have formed traditional friendship of reaching out to each other and pulling together in times of trouble. Much as China has had a share of natural disasters, in particular drought and floods this year, the Chinese Government donated 90 million RMB (about 1.36 billion Kenyan Shillings) worth of emergency food aid to the affected countries in the Horn of Africa last month. To ensure that as many lives as can be saved are rescued from starvation, the Chinese Government has announced an additional 353.2 million RMB (about 4.94 billion Kenyan Shillings) of emergency food and cash assistance to the countries affected by famine in the region.
So far, the assistance from the Chinese Government to the region amounts to 443.2 million RMB (about 6.2 billion Kenyan Shillings). Meanwhile, the aid to Kenya has increased from 30 million RMB to 130 million RMB (about 1.82 billion Kenyan Shillings).China’s Ministry of Commerce has started the delivery of the food aid destined for the Horn of Africa region last month. Most of the food aid will be shipped to the affected countries through bilateral channels, while the aid in cash to Somalia will be delivered through the United Nations World Food Program. The onus to purchase and distribute food to Somalia will be WFP’s. We hope to deliver the food aid to disaster areas by the end of next month.
The Chinese Government is keen and has put appropriate measures to ensure that all food aid reach the affected people the soonest possible. China is also ready to provide drinking water, medicine, medical equipment and tents at the demand of the affected countries.The people of China and NGOs from China are participating actively in offering humanitarian support to the Horn of Africa. The Red Cross Society of China, for instance, has allocated 8 million RMB (about 112 million Kenyan Shillings) of humanitarian aid to drought-affected areas in East Africa. Of that aid, 2 million RMB (about 28 million Kenyan Shillings) will be donated to the Kenyan Red Cross. This particular aid was donated by charitable organisations, NGOs, companies as well as ordinary people in China. This is their way of expressing their friendship with their African brothers and sisters.
Disaster may be merciless but human beings are intrinsically attuned to affection. Nothing proclaims this better than the initiative dubbed ‘Kenyans for Kenya’ supported by the media, corporate organisations and individuals to feed the people of the hunger-striken northern Kenya. The Chinese companies, small business owners and expatriates in Kenya, who regard this great nation as home, have also made their donations to the victims in order to fulfill their social responsibility by reaching their Kenyan brothers and sisters. So far, the donations from the Chinese fraternity amount to over 22.5 million Kenyan Shillings.One old Chinese saying goes, ‘Food is the base of people’s lives’. Food being key to survival, the Chinese Government has always attached great importance to the grain production and done its best to promote the all-round development of the rural areas. That’s why China can feed 22 percent of the world population with only 7 percent of the planet’s arable land and achieved basic self-sufficiency in grain.
To solve the food crisis sustainably, the key lies in boosting the development of rural areas. African countries have superior natural conditions for agricultural development, with abundant fertile arable land and plentiful rainwater in most parts of the continent. Besides, Africa is not short of labour force. On the other hand, Africa also faces many challenges in the area of agriculture. To find the solutions to food shortages, African countries can borrow a leaf through enhanced international cooperation.
In my view, there are broad prospects for agricultural cooperation between Africa and China. As the largest developing country in the world, China has been traditionally dependent on agriculture. In the course of time running into thousands of years, China has gathered critical experience and forged technologies to boost agriculture development.Africa, a continent with the largest number of developing countries in the world, is now in need of ways of raising its grain yield. Indeed, with regard to agriculture, there are many avenues for knowledge and technology transfer, an area of cooperation that begs development.
To start with, China and Kenya can strengthen exchanges and collaboration in the fields of agricultural policies, water conservancy and irrigation, agricultural technologies as well as processing. Another key area is marketing of agricultural products, itself a suitable suitable road towards agricultural development. Innovation in agricultural production and marketing will, no doubt, benefit the African farmer and make major contributions to human development on the whole.
Chinese Ambassador to Kenya Amb. Liu Guangyuan
September 13, 2011
Black Is Still Beautiful
Leila Luliana da Costa Vieira Lopes (born February 26, 1986) is an Angolan beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Angola 2011 and Miss Universe 2011.Lopes, who stands 1.79 m (5 ft 10 1⁄2 in) tall, competed as one of 21 finalists in her country’s national beauty pageant, Miss Angola, held in Luanda on December 18, 2010,where she obtained the Photogenic Award and became the eventual winner of the title, gaining the right to represent Angola in Miss Universe 2011.
She was crowned winner of 2011 Miss Universe in São Paulo, Brazil on September 12, 2011, becoming the first Angolan Miss Universe. Lopes received the title from the former Miss Universe titleholder, Ximena Navarrete of Mexico. Lopes became the fourth African woman to win the title, and the second black African woman to win following Mpule Kwelagobe, Miss Universe 1999 from Botswana. Lopes became the first woman from Angola to win a “Big” beauty pageant.
September 9, 2011
Renaissance Plans Congo City Bigger Than Kenya’s $5 Billion Tatu City
Renaissance Partners, the investment unit of Moscow-based Renaissance Group, plans to build a 6,400- acre city in the Democratic Republic of Congo as it seeks to benefit from Africa’s urbanization.The Russian firm is working on a master plan for the new urban center after securing the land outside Lubumbashi, the country’s second-largest city, Arnold Meyer, Renaissance Partners’ managing director in charge of real estate in Africa, said in an interview in London. Renaissance is considering similar projects in Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Rwanda, he said.
“The West has peaked in terms of economic growth and the new markets are in Africa,” Meyer, 39, said. “And the main drivers of this growth in Africa are going to be cities.”Renaissance’s Lubumbashi project will be more than double the size of Tatu City, the $5 billion center that the Russian firm is building from scratch outside the Kenyan capital of Nairobi. The Moscow firm, headed by Stephen Jennings, plans to take advantage of Africa’s economic growth and emergence of a growing urban middle class demanding better infrastructure.
In Nairobi, where the population has been increasing about 4 percent a year over the last decade, one in four residents lacks access to piped water and about 40 percent of people use open-pit toilets, according to Kenya’s statistics agency. Tatu City, a 2,500-acre site about nine miles north of the capital, will eventually have 62,000 residents and include a stadium, technology park, hospital, shops, office towers and playgrounds, the firm said in October, when it started the project. The Nairobi Stock Exchange is in talks with Renaissance about relocating there, Meyer said.
Tatu Construction Schedule
“We’ve had two meetings with the stock exchange, and we have another presentation in two weeks,” Meyer said. “We created a zone which would be ideal for them.”Renaissance is now installing electricity and water lines in Tatu, which will function as an independent municipality, and expects the first buildings to be erected by the end of 2013, Meyer said. The firm will sign an agreement with Kenya’s government next week to include Tatu in the country’s Vision 2030 plan, designed to boost infrastructure.Renaissance is in a legal dispute with a local partner over the ownership of coffee lands north of Tatu, some of which Meyer says could be used as an extension of the city. The dispute hasn’t affected the Tatu development itself, he said.
The firm is also working on the design of two projects of about 2,500 acres each outside Accra and Takoradi in Ghana, Meyer said. It is considering buying land near Port Harcourt, Nigeria’s oil harbor, as well as near Dakar, the capital of Senegal, and Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, he said.“In 1980, you had 400 million people on the continent,” Meyer said. “Last year they went through the 1 billion barrier. And in another 30 years, that doubles to 2 billion. Imagine the combined energy.”
August 29, 2011
[Silly Season]Reply to :Njonjo Mue’s THE GIKUYU NATION – KENYA’S FIRST BORN- Email that is doing the rounds
Did you ever notice that there are no Jews going around the world saying, or writing about, how awful Jews have been? Given that the Jews have dominated the economies in the US,Canada and Europe. Why has there been no Jewish Njonjo Mue ?Are there any Chinese writing books about the absence of Chinese soul-searching or expressions of sorrow over their economic expansion and zest for investment and economic expansion ? Has anyone ever encountered any Chinese and Jewish remorse for economic dominance ?The answer, of course, is no. In fact, among all the world’s peoples, only Kikuyus produce individuals who have greater sympathy for those who blame their poverty on their own peoples hardworking and entrepreneurial nature .
Some in this small urban kikuyu community loathe everything Kikuyu (they love their own agenda and their own vision of what Kenya could be over their own people ).They have contempt for the average hardworking Kikuyu choosing to spend time spreading baseless stereotypes that we want to lord over the rest of kenya and that we have grabbed. There are no comparable self-haters in any other country,This newly minted young Kikuyu Intellectuals (sic) are often the leaders in anti-Kikuyu kamukunji(s) ,demonstrations and movements.The Kiai’s and the Njonjo Mue’s devote much of their lives to trying to harm our community and expressing deep hatred for Kikuyu hardwork.They reinforce false stereotypes against Kikuyus held by other communities with wild claims of being a first born that will not let others have their share.This self-loathing on their part is all the more remarkable when you consider that those who support and fund them strongly affirm their own cultural and ethnic identities. For example, while Njonjo ceaselessly attacks his own community Neo Liberals from Nyanza and elsewhere ceaselessly defend their own communities in the race to aqcuire wealth and establish political and economic dominance
How, then, to explain this anomaly of new Kikuyu self-loathing? I offer one explanation.Many of the haters are political rejects,political wanna be’s driven by anger and selfish ambition .Anger that is similar to adolescent anger at a parent who claims very high ideals and turns out to be slightly flawed. Many of the haters are angry at Kikuyu’s for being ‘imperfect’ in accepting their liberal values/lazy socialist(less working and endless flossing) values and are therefore disappointed by the majority in our community .There may be other explanations. But what is certain is that Kikuyu self-hatred is a unique phenomena that plays a particularly destructive role as designed by those who fund it conspicuously always just before an election.It gives fodder to those who are for the destruction of our community.What better way to promote early anti Kikuyu propaganda than to have one of them spew it in the guise of speaking the truth one year before the election.
Yes, we may agree with parts of your opinion that some Kikuyus(and the elite in almost every community) have a past with leadership and grabbing.Even worse is the amnesia that the grabbing has never been a communal but rather an individual thing,so the solution Mr Mue is not to criminalize every hardworking Kikuyu by promoting and spreading anti Kikuyu propaganda and political agendas.We as Kenyans and younger Kikuyus can move on with other Kenyans without having to bow down to these forces or their stale ideas that somehow Kikuyus control everything to the detriment of others .
Joe. M Ndungu
August 29, 2011
Kenya’s Shilling Slips
Kenya’s shilling depreciated the most in almost three weeks against the dollar after the central bank moved to reduce the rate at which lenders borrow funds.The currency of East Africa’s biggest economy lost 1.6 percent to 94.33 per dollar by 11:16 a.m. in Nairobi, the capital, the biggest decline since Aug. 9, when the shilling reached 95.1. That was the weakest intraday level since March 1994, when the nation abolished exchange controls.
From today, the central bank will include a factor ranging from zero to one based on “the specific liquidity conditions in the interbank market” when calculating its overnight discount rate, it said in an Aug. 26 statement on its website. The bank will also use a moving average of interbank lending rates over a longer, unspecified period to work out its overnight borrowing rate, instead of applying the previous day’s rate. The bank stopped publishing the rate on Aug. 19.“Having previously resolved not to publish the discount rate, the new circular has introduced yet even greater uncertainty in the market,” Phumelele Mbiyo, an analyst with Standard Bank Group Ltd., wrote in an e-mailed note to clients today. The bank’s Aug. 12 resolution resulted in lenders not being “assured that they would be eligible for funds. The new circular also ensures that on any day banks will not know what the current discount window rate is, thereby rendering the current level of the discount rate irrelevant as a potential anchor for setting interbank rates.”
Rate ‘Penalty’
The bank on Aug. 12 said it would increase the charges for banks using its overnight window to tighten money supply and shore up depreciation in the shilling, which reached a 17-year low on Aug. 9 as the cost of importing food and fuel pushed inflation to 15.5 percent in July, more than triple the bank’s target.Average interbank rates leapt to 26.4 percent by Aug. 25, compared with 8.34 percent before the new rules were introduced. The bank started applying a three percentage-point “penalty” on the benchmark rate or the interbank rate, whichever was higher, on borrowing from its overnight window starting Aug. 15.
The Aug. 26 rules represent a “relaxation of the monetary stance,” Mbiyo wrote. “With the shilling failing to receive much support even as the increase in interbank rates became disorderly, perhaps due to the policy stance being viewed as not credible by the market, the shilling is likely to depreciate if interbank rates decline.”The central bank loosened the requirement regarding the value of deposits lenders keep in reserves. Banks will need to maintain the cash-reserve requirement of 4.75 percent over a monthly rather than daily basis, as long as daily holdings don’t dip below 3 percent, it said.
August 21, 2011
Keep Me From Evil
Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, “I gave birth to him in pain.” 10 Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request.
1 Chronicles 4:9-10 (New International Version)
Jabez was honorable above his brothers; but his mother named him Jabez [sorrow maker], saying, Because I bore him in pain.10Jabez cried to the God of Israel, saying, Oh, that You would bless me and enlarge my border, and that Your hand might be with me, and You would keep me from evil so it might not hurt me! And God granted his request.
Amplified Bible (AMP)
August 20, 2011
50 Wisdom Keys: Mike Murdock
1. Every problem is always a wisdom problem.
2. When your heart decides the destination, your mind will design the map to reach it.
3. What you respect, you will attract.
4. The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine.
5. Your rewards in life are determined by the kinds of problems you are willing to solve for others.
6. What you make happen for others, God will make happen for you.
7. An uncommon seed always creates and uncommon harvest.
8. The word of God is the wisdom of God.
9. The clearer your goals, the greater your faith.
10. Your focus decides your feelings.
11. Your self-portrait determines your self-conduct.
12. Your respect for time is a prediction of your financial future.
13. Your decisions decide your wealth.
14. The instruction you follow determines the future you create.
15. God’s only pain is to be doubted; God’s only pleasure is to be believed.
16. Your goals choose your mentors.
17. Your success is decided by what you are willing to ignore.
18. The atmosphere you create determines the product you produce.
19. The size of your enemy determines the size of your rewards.
20. Your assignment is always the problem God has designed you to solve for others.
21. What you are willing to walk away from determines what God will bring to you.
22. Your future is decided by who you choose to believe.
23. Changes in your life will always be proportionate to your knowledge.
24. The reward of pain is the willingness to change.
25. Anything permitted increases.
26. Anything that keeps your attention has become your master.
27. Your life is whatever you choose to remember.
28. When you want something you have never had, you must do something you have never done.
29. What you repeatedly hear, you eventually believe.
30. All men fall, the great ones get back up.
31. You cannot correct what you are unwilling to confront.
32. You will only be remembered in life for two things: the problems you solve or the ones you create.
33. God never consults your past to decide your future.
34. Any movement towards order create pleasure.
35. If you insist on taking something God did not give you, He will take back something He gave you.
36. The evidence of God’s presence far outweighs the proof of his absence.
37. Never complain about what you permit.
38. Go where you are celebrated instead of where you are tolerated.
39. One day of favor is worth a thousand days of labor.
40. Warfare always surrounds the birth of a miracle.
41. The broken become masters at mending.
42. Prosperity is simply having enough of God’s provision to complete his assignment in your life.
43. One hour in the presence of Gods will reveal the flaws of your most carefully laid plans.
44. Anger is the birthplace for solutions.
45. The willingness to reach births the ability to change.
46. Never give more time to a critic than you would give to a friend.
47. Access is first a gift, then a test, then a reward.
48. The magnetism of your kindness will outlast the memory of your genius.
49. When you let go of what is in your hand, God let’s go of what is in his hand.
50. Never rewrite your theology to accommodate a tragedy.
August 19, 2011
Kenya Central Bank Governor On Economy
Kenyan central bank Governor Njuguna Ndung’u said he’s confident inflation will slow in coming months after being pushed higher by surging demand for food from tens of thousands of Somali refugees fleeing famine.
“We should see a significant decline in food prices by October,” Ndung’u, 52, said in an interview yesterday in his Nairobi office. The cost of corn, Kenya’s staple food, has begun declining after the humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa rekindled concern over food shortages and worsened the inflation outlook, Ndung’u said. The drought in the region is the worst in 60 years, according to the United Nations.Kenya’s inflation accelerated for a ninth month in July, to 15.5 percent, driven by a 24 percent surge in food prices. The jump in price growth has led to a 13 percent decline in the shilling this year and a warning on Aug. 12 from Fitch Ratings that a failure to lower inflation and stabilize the exchange rate would bring downward pressure to bear on its credit rating.“A turnaround in inflation is expected in the next few months,” according to notes provided by Ndung’u during the interview.The central bank aims to keep inflation within its 3 to 7 percent target range. Growth in East Africa’s biggest economy is expected to slow to 5.3 percent this year from 5.6 percent in 2010. That compares with a government target of boosting annual growth to 10 percent and sustaining it through 2030.
Somali Refugees
Food prices in Kenya have risen as refugees fled Somalia to the Dadaab refugee complex in northeastern Kenya, the world’s biggest such facility with more than 400,000 people. The UN has declared a famine in five regions of Somalia and predicted it may spread across the country’s southern region and persist until at least December.
“Food prices are coming down,” he said. “But even when they are coming down, we have seen more hungry faces crossing the border from Somalia and Kenya to compete for the already constrained supply.”The Central Bank of Kenya in March predicted inflation would decelerate to 7.5 percent by year-end. Ndung’u wouldn’t comment on what the bank’s current inflation forecast is. Food costs in the domestic market may start declining as early as September or more likely in October, he said.
Food Prices
Global food prices are close to the peak of 2008 and are contributing to the humanitarian emergency in the Horn of Africa, the Washington-based World Bank said on Aug. 15. The World Bank’s food-price index surged 33 percent in July as the price of corn, sugar and wheat jumped.Kenya’s food and fuel-price inflation may stay “elevated” for the rest of the year, heightening wage demands, said Celeste Fauconnier, Africa analyst at Rand Merchant Bank in Johannesburg, who forecasts the overall rate may range between 13 percent and 15 percent through to October.“Supply side factors are going to remain prevalent and we also expect demand pressures to increase with minimum wage demands,” Fauconnier said in a phone interview today. “Inflation is a significant concern.”Cyclical waves of inflation in Kenya are often triggered by drought, and intensified by bad roads that make it difficult to transport food from farms to the hungry, as well as the failure to build up stockpiles during bumper harvests, Ndung’u said.
Rate Increases
Kenya’s central bank has increased the key lending rate twice this year to head off inflation generated by rising global oil prices and food costs. It left the benchmark rate unchanged at its last meeting in July, saying that further rate increases would do little to tame supply-side pressures.The central bank tightened its policy again this week by imposing a penalty on commercial banks borrowing from its overnight discount window. That may reduce liquidity and lead to a stronger shilling, Africa’s second-worst performing currency this year, after neighboring Uganda.“The depreciation has supported tea and coffee earnings, but raised the shilling cost of fuels and other inputs as well as famine-related food imports,” Ndung’u said. “The depreciation in theexchange rate could also ease balance-of-payment pressures from rising imports.”The shilling is expected to stabilize as tourism earnings and remittances climb and Kenyaninterest rates attract short- term investment, Ndung’u said. Kenya’s three-month borrowing costs rose to a nine-year high of 9.258 percent on Aug. 18.
Weaker Shilling
The shilling weakened 0.1 percent to 93.15 against the dollar as of 12:03 in Nairobi today, compared with a close of 93.05 yesterday. On Aug. 9, the currency weakened to 95.10, its lowest level since March 1994 when foreign-exchange controls were removed.“The importers are complaining about the exchange rate,” Ndung’u said. “The exporters are so happy.”Kenyan imports jumped 32 percent in June to 104.3 billion shillings ($1.1 billion) from a year earlier, while exports grew 30 percent to 41.4 billion shillings, according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.Under the rules introduced on Aug. 15, the central bank applies a three-percentage point penalty to either the previous day’s interbank rate or the benchmark lending rate, whichever is higher.The bank had previously applied its so-called Central Bank Rate, currently at 6.25 percent. The overnight discount window rate rose for the fourth straight day to 17.89 percent yesterday, according to data on the central bank’s website.
Fitch Ratings as a B+ rating on Kenya’s long-term foreign- currency debt, four levels below investment grade, with a stable outlook.
August 17, 2011
Out of Africa:Foreign aid is part of the problem
Between 2002 and 2008, sub-Saharan Africa started growing again, buoyed like much of the rest of the world by the global commodity boom and Chinese investment. Thus ended one of the most dismaying periods in the continent’s recent history, a generationlong stretch during which most countries in the region saw per capita incomes fall, sometimes to levels not experienced since the end of colonialism.The turnaround signals the possibility of new opportunities for Africans, yet the past year’s astonishing drop in commodity prices as a result of the global recession suggests how fragile that upswing is. Nor is it clear that a political corner has been turned. The growth years have seen the outbreak of a horrific war in the Democratic Republic of Congo that has claimed more than 5 million lives, another smaller but equally devastating conflict in northern Uganda, a humanitarian catastrophe in Darfur, and the continuing tragedy of Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe.
In the West, the causes of and remedies for Africa’s development failure have mostly been debated by white men like Jeffrey Sachs and William Easterly, who have argued for and against massive outside assistance, respectively. Sachs has gotten help from celebrity advocates like Bob Geldorf, Bono, and Angelina Jolie. So it is refreshing to have some fresh analysis from two African women, Kenyan Wangari Maathai and Zambian Dambisa Moyo.They are not cut from similar cloth at all. Maathai, a legislator who lost her seat in the 2007 parliamentary election, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her opposition to the regime of former Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi, and for her environmental advocacy in founding the grassroots Greenbelt Movement. She is obviously courageous: Moyo, by contrast, left Zambia to attend college in the United States, and after receiving degrees from Oxford and Harvard, went on to work at the World Bank and Goldman Sachs.
Their books would seem to bear little resemblance as well. In The Challenge for Africa,Maathai offers a diffuse array of conclusions. She argues that there is no inherent trade-off between economic growth and environmental protection and that African governments should pursue both. She blames Western colonialism for devaluing African identity and culture but blames Africans as well for their bloody attachment to fractured “micro-nations.” She criticizes aid dependency and yet has no strong objections to the Sachs-Bono agenda of ramping up Western development assistance. She believes that change will have to come through grassroots activism and that Africans must embrace their own traditions.
Moyo’s book, Dead Aid, by contrast, has a very simple message: that outside development assistance is at the root of Africa’s underdevelopment and ought to be stopped quickly and totally if the continent is to progress. She is in favor of private-sector development, even if it comes from China, and inveighs against agricultural protectionism in the North that prevents trade from becoming an engine of growth. Not surprisingly, her book will appeal to a crowd very different from those who awarded Maathai the Nobel Peace Prize. Maathai and Moyo might indeed seem to be headed for a polarized Sachs-Easterly style shootout over approaches to development.
But the truth is that these books have more in common than their authors may admit. Both women see sub-Saharan Africa’s fundamental problem not as one of resources, human or natural, or as a matter of geography, but, rather, as one of bad government. Far too many regimes in Africa have become patronage machines in which political power is sought by “big men” for the sole purpose of acquiring resources—resources that are funneled either back to the networks of supporters who helped a particular leader come to power or else into the proverbial Swiss bank account. There is no concept of public good; politics has devolved instead into a zero-sum struggle to appropriate the state and whatever assets it can control.
All of the region’s other problems derive from this destructive dynamic. Natural resources, whether diamonds or oil or timber, have quickly turned into a curse, because they greatly raise the stakes of the political struggle. Ethnicity and tribe, social constructs of often dubious historical provenance, have been exploited by political leaders in their quests for power. The advent of democracy has not changed the aims of politics but simply shifted the method of struggle. Only thus can we explain a phenomenon like Nigeria, which took in some $300 billion in oil revenues over a generation and yet saw declining per capita income during that same period.
So the question is: If bad politics is at the heart of Africa’s development problem, how did it come to be that way, and how can the region evolve in a different direction? Here the two authors, obviously, differ markedly. Dambisa Moyo is ready with evidence to back up her lengthy indictment of foreign aid as the source of bad government. She notes that during the Cold War, aid was given out indiscriminately to rulers like Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, who flew his daughter to a wedding on a Concorde the moment Western donors agreed to reschedule a loan. Were it not for the continued availability of concessional loans, she argues, African countries would be forced to get their acts together and meet international governance standards so as to be able to access global bond markets.
There is a lot to this argument. Foreign assistance in the past has simply fueled the patronage machine and helped keep corrupt rulers in power in places like Somalia and Equatorial Guinea. African governments, many of which receive upward of 50 percent of their national budgets from international donors, find themselves accountable not to their people but to overlapping and contradictory echelons of foreigners. Even seemingly benign interventions like humanitarian food aid can undercut local farmers or be used as a means of strengthening the ethnic base of particular politicians.
But Moyo’s case that Africa would have good government if it weren’t for the influx of aid stretches credulity. The roots of Africa’s political malaise go far deeper than the post-independence foreign-aid regime. Unlike East Asia before its encounter with colonialism, more than half of sub-Saharan Africa was not governed by a state structure at the time of the European scramble for Africa that began in the 1870s. The Europeans built colonial institutions on the cheap, seeking to govern vast tracts of territory with skeleton administrations. The big man of contemporary African politics is in many ways a colonial creation, since Europeans sought to rule indirectly by empowering a series of local dictators to carry out their purposes. And, finally, colonialism imposed a set of irrational borders on their colonies. South Sudan fought a 30-year civil war with the regime in Khartoum only because a long-dead British administrator in Cairo didn’t want to offend Egypt by giving it to Uganda, where it more naturally belonged.
Moyo’s blanket condemnation of foreign aid also fails to discriminate between, say, military assistance given to Zaire during the Cold War, and anti-retroviral treatments dispensed by the Global Fund or PEPFARS (the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, initiated by the Bush administration), which get virtually no mention in her book. The fact is that the aid business has learned something, particularly since the end of the Cold War. Fewer blank checks are given to dictators and more relief is targeted at areas like public health, which have produced measurable results. Were aid to stop as she suggests, a whole lot of Africans would die prematurely. Other programs, like the Millennium Challenge Account, created by the Bush administration in 2004, are targeted at better governance and anti-corruption. They may not be sufficient to fix African politics, but they hardly contribute to the underlying problem.
If ending foreign aid will not cure Africa, does Maathai’s Challenge for Africa present a better alternative? Grassroots activism can galvanize local solutions and put pressure on governments to perform better. But civil society is ultimately a complement to strong institutions and not a substitute for them. Toward the end of her book, Maathai points to the need for visionary leadership and nation-building from the center, as Julius Nyerere did when he knit Tanzania’s multiple linguistic and ethnic groups together through the use of Kiswahili as a national language. But historical nation-building projects have often required much stronger medicine than she or most other contemporary Africans are willing to contemplate, including changes of borders and the sometimes forceful incorporation of “micro-nations” into larger wholes.
If neither of these books provides wholly satisfactory solutions, both at least focus on the real core of the problem, which is the region’s level of political development. In this realm, solutions are going to have to come from within the region itself. It is a positive first step for the discussion to shift away from what the outside world owes Africa and toward what Africans owe themselves.
By Yoshihiro Francis Fukuyama
August 15, 2011
The ANC Youth League Wants “Regime change” To Remove ‘White’ Botswana Government
Boksburg – The ANC Youth League’s national executive committee is to send a team to Botswana to consolidate local opposition parties, its leader Julius Malema said on Sunday.”Botswana is in full co-operation with imperialists…and the government is undermining the African agenda,” he said at the committee’s closing meeting in Boksburg.
“We are not going to sit with neighbours that conduct themselves like that.”
Botswana needed a progressive government, and the current opposition was not consolidated “properly” enough to topple it, he said.The team of NEC members would teach and train campaigners and volunteers of a possible “coalition party” that might be formed.The youth league believed that since former president Thabo Mbeki’s departure as chair of the Southern African Development Community, the African agenda was no longer a priority.”The ANCYL is of the view that there is a vacuum on the ideological and political leadership of Africa and the sub-regions, and this is reflected by how the issues of Libya and Ivory Coast were mishandled,” he said.
The league planned to convene “progressive youth formations” across Africa to “re-assert” the need for the continent’s independence and economic freedom.The NEC said it would fight for economic freedom, particularly for the nationalisation of mines, the expropriation of land without compensation, and the provision of free quality education. Sapa
August 15, 2011
R.I.P “Pastor Zach”Tims
The shocking news that megachurch pastor, Zachery Tims, died at the age of 42-years-old has left many saddened and stunned; but none more so than members of his New Destiny Christian Center congregation. Charisma Online was one of the first outlets to break the story and had reported they received confirmation from New York authorities that someone by the name “Zachery Tims” was found deceased in the W Hotel located at Times Square. My Fox Orlando reported that church members began gathering at the Apoka, Florida church to grieve. Other members are leaving their condolences on Tims’ official Facebook page
I, like many people are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Pastor Zachery Tims. Pastor Tims was senior pastor of approximately 7500 member New Destiny Christian Center in Apopka, FL. My condolences go out to the Tims family and to the NDCC church family.Most people in the Christian Community recall the scandal that rocked NDCC and the Tims Family just a few years ago. Some people stood by Zachary Tims and some could not. I am not here to judge either party. I believe that most people on this planet are doing the best they can every day of their lives. Whether people decided to stay or to leave is a decision made between themselves and God.
What I believe is important now is that I hope Pastor Tims is in Heaven. I hope that he truly rebuilt his relationship with Christ and that he is speaking with Jesus even now. As human beings—as Christians, we all have the opportunity to mess up and some of us go so far that it looks like we will never make it back. We all know the story of David who went so far that it seemed there was no turning back to God for him. But even after his missteps God welcomed him back. God had a plan for his life before he sinned. ‘And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave their testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfill all my will.’ Acts 13:22.After David sinned he repented in earnest, asking God for forgiveness. Read the beautiful Psalm 51. A beautiful Psalm especially to those of us have sinned and truly prayed for and received forgiveness.The most important thing that we as Christians can do besides spreading the good word of God is to be ready when it is our time.
August 9, 2011
London Riots -”Chrysanthemum Revolution.” …What Revolution?
If it had happened somewhere else, the chaos would have been given a name, such as “chrysanthemum revolution.” Instead, it was described as overnight violence followed by looting in local media.Probably the only logic is since the chaos happened in the UK, the reaction to it by British media was more muted.What happened in London on Saturday,Sunday & Monday night had all the elements that stimulate the media: an allegedly unarmed man was killed by police, justice-seeking crowd, angry protestors, police vehicles set afire and confrontations between demonstrators and police.
No “oppression” took place of course, police were simply doing their duty. According to a statement from 10 Downing Street, the police and public faced “aggression,” and the property damage that occurred was “unacceptable.”British media are neither deeply troubled by the ethnic tension in London, nor are they interested to guess the impact it will have on authorities.No human rights organizations expressed their concerns about the conditions residents of north London are experiencing.
Pictures at the riot scene are used correctly, instead of showing the angry faces of people from an unknown place.The British media duly pointed out that the place of the riots, Tottenham, is an economically deprived area where high unemployment has long been a plague. Rioters threw petrol bombs at police, but they are not “suppressed people yearning for their rights.”Since economic recovery is a long-term challenge to the British government, there is no need to worry that “economic growth might enlarge the income gap which could mean more unfairness for minorities.”Violence similar to that which London experienced at the weekend can be found in many other places, from Africa to China.
Not everybody benefits equally from economic growth, or suffers equally in an economic downturn. Dissatisfaction can be brewed, and a large confrontation may be triggered by a small event.Authorities everywhere will rush to quell the situation from getting worse when in the same situation. Police would be dutifully at the scene to calm the situation and protect the public and property.But there could seemingly never be a “revolution” in London. If there could be an explanation, perhaps it is that British media are overly worried by what happens outside the UK.
August 8, 2011
Travel Advisory:London Riots 08/08/11
London’s emergency services were on full-scale alert on Monday night as rioting, fires and pitched battles with police erupted around the city from late afternoon.The Metropolitan police poured hundreds of extra officers on to the streets as trouble flared in the north, south and east of the capital.In Hackney, east London, masked and hooded youths smashed up shops and threw missiles, planks of wood and wheelie bins at riot police. Several abandoned vehicles were set alight. There were also violent scenes in Lewisham, south-east London, where petrol bombs were reportedly thrown at officers, and shops looted. A bus was torched in nearby Peckham as police struggled to respond to the spread of sporadic violent incidents.Witnesses said a 100-strong mob cheered as a shop in the centre of Peckham was torched and one masked thug shouted: “The West End’s going down next.” A baker’s next door was also alight. One onlooker said: “The mob were just standing there cheering and laughing. Others were just watching on from their homes open-mouthed in horror.”The unrest had spread beyond London with West Midlands police confirming outbreaks of disorder in Birmingham city centre. Shops including a branch of Louis Vuitton had windows smashed and were looted. Extra officers were being sent into the streets of Britain’s second city.
Muigwithania 2.0 Issues Travel Advisory Against Non Essential Travel To UK
- We advise against all but essential travel to low /middle income areas of London,City of Birmingham including all township or areas, which experience high crime levels. See Safety and Security - Crime.
- Large public gatherings and demonstrations occur from time to time in the UK and these should be avoided. Any rally, even if advertised as peaceful, could potentially turn violent. You should check local media reports for information about any planned demonstrations.
- There is a high historical threat from terrorism in London. Attacks could be indiscriminate, including places frequented by tourists and foreign travellers. Previous attacks have included a bomb attack on the London Underground(subway) & bus service, which resulted in significant loss of life.
- The London Metropolitan police have encouraged extra vigilance against possible attacks by vandals and anarchists on public places as a result of current heightened conflict and riots in city.
- There has been past fatal incidents involving police shootings of foreign nationals (Brazilian shot in London train), although the racial motivations and circumstances remain unclear. None of the indiscriminate police action has so affected Kenyan nationals.
- We advise against all but essential travel to within 30 km of London and the city of Birmingham . There have been attacks on civilians and fires reported .
- You should take out comprehensive travel and medical insurance before travelling.
- No part of Britain should be considered immune from violence and the potential exists throughout the country for hostile acts.You should be vigilant and take extra care, particularly in and around landmarks and places where large public crowds can gather. Hotels, shops and restaurants used by the international community have been attacked in the past and it is likely that there will be further such attacks.
You should take out comprehensive travel and medical insurance before travelling. Medical facilities, including ambulance services, outside major cities are very limited, and your insurance should cover you for the possibility of medical repatriation;. Check any exclusions and that your policy covers you for all the activities you want to undertake. Leave your passport in the hotel safe, but carry a photocopy for ID purposes.Register with The Kenyan High Commission service to tell them when and where you are travelling or where you live abroad to allow for consular and crisis staff provision of better assistance to you in an emergency.Kenyan nationals visiting the United Kingdom for more than a month and/or travelling to riot areas are recommended to register with the High Commission using the on-line consular registration service. If you are unable to access the internet you should contact the High Commission in advance or on arrival.
In Case of Emergency Contact
The Kenya High Commission
45 Portland Place
London W1B 1AS, United Kingdom
020 7636 2371
London W1B 1AS, United Kingdom
020 7636 2371
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consular@kenyahighcommission.net |
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London Riots -”Chrysanthemum Revolution.” …What Revolution? »
August 8, 2011
Politics In The Social Media Age
The internet has radically changed modern life in ways unimagined even a couple of years ago. Over the last few months, the world has witness these radical changes in the form of revolution and social upheaval. As a response to the recent uprisings in the Middle East, many have began to explore the role of social medial in the political sphere and how these cultures have use it for the advancement of their political agendas.Did Twitter and Facebook “cause” the Tunisian Revolution and the protests in Egypt? Not according to Malcolm Gladwell, since he and others have questioned the role of social media in social change in North Africa. But he’s not there, and neither are most other Western observers weighing in on the subject, giving their debate a whiff of the abstract and the academic.
Fortunately, the people who change the world these days get to tell their own stories, and on January 26th I was lucky enough to hear one of them. Despite a snow storm that shut down the District of Columbia, a few dozen of us made it to a presentation and discussion at NPR’s headquarters led by Rim Nour, a young Tunisian protester. Organized by social media guru Andy Carvin, Social Media & Tunisia’s Jasmine Revolution: A Firsthand View provided fantastic details on how Tunisians used technology to accelerate their revolution, and in the process gave us a preview of how other people around the world might do the same.
Nour’s background in technology and public policy not only makes her uniquely qualified to speak on these questions, but she was also on the street as the revolt happened, risking the consequences of standing up for her beliefs and the rights of her people. In her eyes, social media tools didn’t CAUSE the revolution — it was a Tunisian Revolution, not a Twitter/Facebook/Wikileaks revolution — but they definitely seem to have speeded it up. Plus, they let the rest of the world watch and offer such support as we could. And as the country risked descending into chaos, digital tools also helped people organize themselves to protect their communities and the political gains they had won.
Background
Tunisia was fertile ground for an internet-enabled uprising. Despite a well educated population (with a median age of 24), the country had not created enough jobs for the vast number of young people obtaining secondary and college degrees, particularly in the interior and western parts of the country. Tunisia’s 10 million residents and two million expatriate citizens are avid users of technology, however: 85% of the population has cell phones (5% smart phones), and roughly two million of them are on Facebook. At the time of the Revolution Twitter had a far smaller footprint, with perhaps 500 active users within the country’s borders, but as we’ll see, who was tweeting mattered more than how many people were doing it. In practice, these were the only Web 2.0 tools available for activism, since other channels such as YouTube were government-censored.According to Nour, the Revolution unfolded in three basic phases. First, protests broke out in the interior of the country after a young man burned himself alive to protest his treatment at the hands of the authorities. A brutal police crackdown resulted, providing activists with shocking imagery to spread online and generate unrest. Second, as protests spread to the more affluent parts of the country, people poured into the streets of cities like Sfax and Tunis and began to organize themselves with cell phones and Facebook. Finally, as President Ben Ali fled and the country risked disorder and random violence, people across the country used social media to dispel misinformation and organize themselves to counter security forces, regime-supporters and looters alike.
The Initial Protests
Actually, the events in December and January were preceded by a spontaneous campaign against government repression in May of 2010, in which people reacted to an opposition leader’s attempt to start a protest march by posting supportive photographs on Facebook, a development that Nour believes emboldened cyberactivists. But the Revolution really began in mid-December, as civil unrest broke out in the interior of the country after a young street vendor named Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire — to protest mistreatment by a government functionary, but also likely as a deep expression of helplessness in the face of a lack of opportunity.The protests started in his own city of Sidi Bouzid, far from the centers of Tunisian power, but they quickly provoked a violent response from the government’s internal security forces. As protesters marched and police beat them down, political organizers traveled to the area and started using digital video and Twitter to spread the word throughout the country. They had plenty of ammunition, from police brutality to acts of self-sacrifice inspired by Mohamed Bouazizi’s example. At this moment, the fact that only a few Tunisians twittered didn’t matter — those who did were experienced activists primed to use new media tools to make sure that the violence didn’t go unnoticed in the broader population. Within a day of Bouazizi’s immolation, they were already organizing around a common Twitter hashtag.
The Uprising Goes Viral
Within two weeks, and ominously for the government, protests began to spread to the more prosperous parts of the country, including the cities of Sfax and Tunis. It was then that the movement became almost a viral phenomenon, and as it drew more and more people, the center of online action moved to Facebook. A much more popular medium in Tunisia than Twitter, it was also a more visual one — photos and videos posted on Facebook made the protesters’ case in a visceral way (for instance, Nour said that it was an online video that provoked “a physical response” that persuaded her to make the jump into open activism) as they spread through people’s online social circles.At this stage, the outside world began to play more of a part. The Tunisian expat community was heavily wired, for instance, and Nour descibed it as having an echo effect — when in-country Tunisians slept, the outside world took over the role of sharing information and persuading. For instance, the Netherlands-based organization Nawaat.org (whose founder had created a Google Map of secret Tunisian prisons a couple of years ago) would post videos originating on Facebook (and no doubt mostly shot with cell phones) to its posterous blog, where activists would find them and spread them through every online channel imaginable. And of course, this amplification effect went far beyond the extended Tunisian community itself, with activists in many countries and from many backgrounds helping to promote the cause.Television also came into play as the protests spread, though not the heavily-censored domestic channels. The satellite/cable channel Al Jazeera in particular began taking videos posted to the web and broadcasting them to a mass audience, something that Nour mentioned was crucial in spreading the revolution beyond a younger demographic: as long as anti-government messages were restricted to personal internet channels, the protesters’ parents and grandparents could ignore or dismiss them. But once they started showing up on television, they became real.Finally, as the government pushed back via mass media, the internet provided a way for protesters to poke holes in stories promulgated through official channels. When video of a counter-protest in favor of President Ben Ali was shown on television, for instance, activists could post their own footage of the same event that showed that very few people had actually attended — the television cameras had been carefully placed to give the illusion of a large crowd (a tactic common at political rallies in the U.S., too).
In another example, activists were able to show that cars parading in the streets in support of the government were actually rentals, not exactly a sign of a spontaneous event. More tragically, they posted videos of people killed by police only minutes after the president declared that the government would no longer respond with violence, including one of a young woman shot in the head as she came back from the market with a carton of milk — she had wrongly trusted that it was safe to go out.Throughout the last days of the street protests, social channels also helped people come to consensus quickly as the situation changed from hour to hour. When bloggers, activists and musicians were rounded up and taken into custody, protesters could switch their emphasis to arguing for their release. Every time the president spoke, people would write in mass numbers and reach an agreement that demonstrations need to continue. And when the country’s Prime Minister attempted to invoke the country’s constitution on January 14, lawyers and others were able to show that he was citing the wrong part of the document and hence was trying to act illegally, a move that backfired.
Self-Organizing Against Chaos
As the Revolution came to a head, the president prepared to flee the country and the police began to pull out of the streets, simple chaos became the greatest danger. Here again, social media channels gave people a way to organize themselves to protect their neighborhoods and stop the spread of destabilizing rumors. Some gathered on Facebook to form teams to clean up streets and shops, others organized to ration out food and bread. Meanwhile, neighborhood watch groups relayed information on snipers and armed militia groups or spread the word about looters so that they could be intercepted and thwarted.Online channels helped people fight more insidious enemies as well: rumors and disinformation. Claims might spread of massive shootings in a neighborhood, for example, but people in the area could pipe in and say what was really happening. In other cases, rumors of poisoned water or cutoffs of electrical power might threaten to spark a public panic, but again Facebook and text messages let people pass along the truth. Overall, online social tools helped activists counter those who were trying to terrorize the population, helping to calm the entire situation down — they spread the message that people were helping to keep things in control.
What’s Next
After the Revolution comes the hard part: creating a new society. And as Tunisians use social media (and the newly freed mass media channels) to communicate amongst themselves and collectively write the next chapter of their history, it seems clear the internet’s ability to make anyone a publisher played some role in what may be the first of a wave of revolutions in North Africa and the Middle East.Again, social media didn’t cause the Tunisian Revolution, but they enabled it — without the ability of a small number of activists to pass along shocking news and imagery from the first wave of protests, they might have fizzled out as so many street demonstrations in so many countries have in the past. Without the means to counter official propaganda through digital distribution channels, the government’s spin on the situation might have become conventional wisdom. And without ways for people to organize themselves and dispel rumors before and after the president’s fall from power, the entire situation could have descended into chaos — something that would have given the government an excuse to take just about any actions imaginable in the name of public order.Revolutions are risky — anyone who acted online in Tunisia was potentially trackable, which the government knew. And though officials didn’t shut down the internet, they did try to hack into the Facebook accounts of organizers and others (they were thwarted by Facebook itself, fortunately). But in 2010 and 2011, Tunisians were a people armed with the tools to fight back — including proxy accounts and other means of hiding online activity that had become common in the days of web censorship. Most importantly, they were armed with the will to speak out in public even at the cost of their own lives and livelihoods. In the end, they won their country, and let’s hope that they keep it. And let’s also hope that their example inspires despots around the world to consider other job opportunities now, not later. This world needs no more kings.
August 1, 2011
Report of the Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea PDF
Following are some other highlights from the report:
AL SHABAAB FINANCES
Somali rebel group al Shabaab earns money from taxation and extortion; commerce, trade and contraband; diaspora support and external assistance, the report said.The UN Monitoring group conservatively estimates that al Shabaab generates $70-$100 million a year from duties at ports, taxes on goods and services, taxes in kind on domestic products, “jihad contributions” and extortion.Al Shabaab also earns millions of dollars a month trading charcoal, sugar and other contraband. The trade cycle is dominated by Somali businessmen in Gulf Cooperation Council countries, notably Dubai, the report said.”In a very real sense, al Shabaab is becoming a business: a network of mutually supportive interests in Somalia, Kenya, the Middle East, and even further afield. Even businessmen who are not ideologically aligned with al Shabaab have little incentive to see the Islamists displaced by a predatory and corrupt Transitional Federal Government,” the report said.
ETHIOPIA
Ethiopian troops entered Somalia in late 2006 to fight Islamist rebels holding the capital. Addis Ababa has supported the Transitional Federal Government in Somalia since it was established in 2004. It also supports authorities in Somaliland and Puntland, all eligible for help under UN resolutions.The report states that Ethiopia also supports the sufi militia Ahlu Sunna, and while this is a group that could be considered eligible for assistance, Addis Ababa has never sought authorization from the Security Council to do so.The Monitoring group also said that Ethiopian troops have frequently crossed into Somalia to help government troops and pro-government militias fight al Shabaab. In March, Ethiopian troops set up a base with Ahlu Sunna fighters inside Somalia.
“Whereas Ethiopian support for Somali security sector institutions should be addressed as a compliance issue within the context of Security Council resolution 1772 (2007), the presence of Ethiopian military forces on Somali soil constitutes a violation of the general and complete arms embargo on Somalia.
AMISOM WEAPONS
The report includes evidence that weapons and ammunition supplied to the African Union peacekeeping force in Mogadishu, known as AMISOM, are sold on the capital’s main Bakara Market, which is in an area controlled by al Shabaab.”Diversion of arms and ammunition from the Transitional Federal Government and its affiliated militias has been another significant source of supply to arms dealers in Mogadishu, and by extension to al Shabaab,” the report said.”Of the 11 varieties of ammunition observed in Bakara market, 8 bore the same lot number as those found in AMISOM ammunition stocks. Moreover, among the six varieties of ammunition seized from Al-Shabaab, four were of the same lot number as AMISOM ammunition.”The study of the weapons was carried out between January and April 2011.
ONLF/ERITREA
The report states that a group of fighters from the Ethiopian rebel group, the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), captured in Ethiopia in September 2010 had weapons originally supplied to Eritrea by Bulgaria.Rocket-propelled grenades seized by the Ethiopian authorities were assembled in Bulgaria in 1990-1991. Bulgaria confirmed they were part of a consignment sent from Port Bourgas, Bulgaria, to Eritrea in March 1999. The end user certificate is included in the report.UN investigators questioned the captured ONLF fighters. The ONLF rebels said they had been trained in Eritrea and deployed to Ethiopia via Somaliland.
SARACEN INTERNATIONAL
A Lebanese-registered company called Saracen International has significantly violated a U.N. arms embargo on Somalia and represents a threat to peace and stability in the country, the UN report concludes.Between May 2010 and February 2011 Saracen provided military training and equipment and deployed armed, foreign security personnel on Somali territory. The report includes pictures of a Saracen base, vehicles and personnel in Bosasso, the main city in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland.”The most egregious violations of the arms embargo during the Monitoring Group’s current mandate were committed by the Hong Kong-registered company Southern Ace, and by the Lebanese-registered company Saracen International, together with affiliated companies registered in South Africa, Australia and Uganda,” the report said.”Saracen’s presence has increased tension in north-eastern Somalia because its operations are perceived as a military threat by Puntland’s neighbors, as well as by some parts of the Puntland population.
Full report:http://www.scribd.com/doc/61447283/July-Report-of-the-Monitoring-Group-on-Somalia-and-Eritrea-PDF
July 28, 2011
Kenya Shilling Back On The Ropes
Kenya’s shilling is likely to fall against the dollar, and may even hit a new record low, after the central bank’s surprise decision this week to keep its main interest rate on hold at 6.25 percent despite galloping inflation.The import of more than 230,000 tonnes of maize at a cost of more than $100 million to ward off the worst effects of a food crisis in east Africa’s largest economy will also put pressure on the currency, traders said.”At the moment, all signs are that the shilling is on a downward trend against the dollar. We expect it to continue depreciating,” Solomon Alubala, head of trading at Co-operative Bank, said.At 1200 GMT, the shilling traded at 90.80/91.10 against the dollar, weaker than last Thursday’s close of 89.95/90.05 and closing in on a record low of 91.90 plumbed on June 22.
Even though it expressed concerned about inflationary pressures, the central bank said on Wednesday it considered any further tightening of monetary policy counter-productive.”If you do maintain a low interest rate regime, then you would expect depreciation of the currency,” Alubala said. “For now I think we’ll look to 92.1. It will attempt to touch the year’s highs,” Alubala said.The end of the month typically sees elevated dollar demand, putting further pressure on the currency.The only respite might come from revenues from tourism, which is now at peak-season, although early bookings mean some of those flows may already have been accounted for.
“We expect some compensation from the tourism sector so I really don’t see a weaker or strengthening shilling. I see it in a range of 90.30/91.30,” said Kennedy Butiko, deputy head of treasury .
July 25, 2011
U.S Drunken Driving Deportations Way Up
Huge increases in deportations of people after they were arrested for breaking traffic or immigration laws or driving drunk helped the Obama administration set a record last year for the number of criminal immigrants forced to leave the country, documents show.The U.S. deported nearly 393,000 people in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, half of whom were considered criminals. Of those, 27,635 had been arrested for drunken driving, more than double the 10,851 deported after drunken driving arrests in 2008, the last full year of the Bush administration, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement data provided.
An additional 13,028 were deported last year after being arrested on less serious traffic law violations, nearly three times the 4,527 traffic offenders deported two years earlier, according to the data.The spike in the numbers of people deported for traffic offenses as well as a 78 percent increase in people deported for immigration-related offenses renewed skepticism about the administration’s claims that it is focusing on the most dangerous criminals.President Barack Obama regularly says his administration is enforcing immigration laws more wisely than his predecessor by focusing on arresting the “worst of the worst.” He promised in his 2008 presidential campaign to focus immigration enforcement on dangerous criminals.
As recently as May 10, Obama said in a speech in El Paso, Texas, that his administration was focused on violent offenders and not families or “folks who are looking to scrape together an income.”Most of the criminal immigrants deported last year had committed drug-related crimes. They totaled 45,003, compared with 36,053 in 2008. Drug-related crime – described as the manufacture, distribution, possession or sale of drugs – has been the No. 1 crime among immigration for years. Drunken driving had the third highest total number of immigrants deported with that crime.
An illegal immigrant from Bolivia, Carlos Montano, is awaiting trial in Virginia on charges of involuntary manslaughter in a drunken driving accident that killed Benedictine nun Denise Mosier and injured two other nuns. The case fueled national debate over deportations of criminal immigrants because Montano had two previous drunken driving arrests, in 2007 and 2008. He was not held by ICE or deported after the arrests. An ICE report concluded that new federal immigration policies would have prevented Montano’s release.But the rise in traffic offenders in the deportation statistics and in some other categories worries immigration advocates, particularly because traffic stops are largely made by police, sheriff’s deputies and state highway patrol officers. Local law enforcement has become more involved in immigration enforcement because of new programs that encourage it.Officers “are using their new authority to remove as many unauthorized people from their jurisdictions as they can, and that frequently means going after traffic violators instead of serious criminals,” said Muzaffar Chishti, director of the Migration Policy Institute’s office at New York University Law School.
The institute is a Washington-based think tank on migration.Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano noted that most people in the United States are arrested for misdemeanor offenses. But she told the AP that the percentage of felons deported will change over time.”The more serious offenders are still in prison,” she said in an interview Thursday. “We’re not going to see them reflected in the numbers until we can begin to remove them.”The issue is one Obama is trying to carefully navigate in his bid for a second term as he relies on the record deportations numbers to bolster his tough-on-enforcement stance while trying to convince immigrant and Latino voters he deserves more time to get a comprehensive immigration bill through Congress.
Marshall Fitz, immigration policy director at the liberal Center for American Progress think tank, said some of the people being counted as criminals have committed traffic violations that would usually draw a traffic ticket. But when the driver can’t produce a valid license, the officer pursues questions about immigration status.Illegal immigrants caught in traffic stops often are pressured into signing an agreement to leave the United States and to pay a fine or somehow acknowledge responsibility for the traffic offense and thereby end up in the statistics as criminals even though they never went to court, Fitz said.Kumar Kibble, Immigration and Customs Enforcement deputy of immigration, said in some cases people picked up on traffic offenses are found to have committed other crimes. But ICE attempts to categorize each deported immigrant in its statistics based on the worst crime in the person’s record. ICE says the statistics involve only people who have been convicted of a crime.Darrel Stephens, executive director of Major Cities Chiefs Association, an organization of sheriffs and police chiefs, said the data show ICE is deporting criminals.He noted that even though traffic offenses have more than doubled, they are just 7 percent of the total criminal deportations. Meanwhile, dangerous drugs and drunken driving deportations comprised 23 percent and 14 percent of the criminal deportations, respectively.
The drunken driving deportations are particularly important, he said. Fatal drunken driving accidents involving illegal immigrants often cause outrage in communities where they occur.”That’s a crime that people look at in a very serious way right now,” Stephens said.There are an estimated 11 million people in the country illegally, 7 million to 8 million of whom are believed to be adults.Kibble said the numbers show his agency’s system of giving priority for deportation to people who pose a public threat is working. Last year, 36,178 criminals were deported as a result of the Secure Communities program, now in place in more than 1,400 jurisdictions, up from 14 in 2008. It’s expected to be in more than 3,000 jurisdictions nationally by 2013.Secure Communities is the Homeland Security Department’s system of identifying immigrants for deportation through fingerprints taken by local officers when booking people on criminal charges. The local law enforcement agencies routinely send the prints to the FBI for criminal background checks. The FBI shares the fingerprints with Homeland Security to look for potentially deportable immigrants, who can be in the country illegally or legally.”The numbers are going in the right direction,” Kibble said.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement: http://www.ice.gov
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July 21, 2011
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July 18, 2011
United States Debt Ceiling
Credit rating agency Moody’s dinged a key backup plan to raise the debt ceiling Monday, and said the United States would be better off if the ceiling was eliminated entirely.Lawmakers appeared to make little or no progress on the debt ceiling over the weekend, and the deadline to raise the country’s legal borrowing limit is now just over two weeks away.
July 16, 2011
X-Men: First Class Review & Edi Gathegi As Darwin
Story:
In 1962, at the height of the Cold War, two men from different backgrounds pool their resources to bring attention to the plight of those with genetic mutations, some that give them extraordinary powers, others that make them look different. Professor Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) is an academic in genetic mutations, while Erik Lehnsherr (Mike Fassbender) is a Holocaust survivor bent on getting revenge against those responsible for his parents’ death in the concentration camps. In particular, he’s after Klaus Schmidt (Kevin Bacon) who years later has turned up as a wealthy power broker known as Sebastian Shaw, who has become involved with playing both sides of the conflict between the United States and the Soviets.
Analysis:
Fans of Bryan Singer’s work to bring Marvel’s not-so-merry mutants to the big screen should be thrilled by his return to the franchise, this time overseeing the prequel as a producer while allowing “Kick-Ass” director Matthew Vaughn to bring his own creative personality to the mix. Together, they’ve created a movie that fits well into the context of the other films without worrying so much about continuity, making for a satisfying prequel.
This is a true origin story showing how Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr first met and how they worked together until the formation of their divergent ideologies led them to create warring mutant factions. In his movies, Singer used mutants as an analogy for the persecution of homosexuals, but here they’re thrown into the context of the Cuban Missile Crisis and impending Space Race between the US and the Soviet Union with the government playing just as an important part as Charles tries to work with them to find and train mutants. There is a certain feel and language Singer created in the original “X-Men” in 2000 that helped set the standard for all the superhero movies that have come since then, and Vaughn thrives in the prequel’s 1962 setting to create something that incorporates influences ranging from James Bond to “Mad Men” to “Dr. Strangelove.”
The first half hour cuts between Charles and Erik each making their way in this world following their early epiphanies, Erik essentially turning into “Erik Lensherr: Nazi Hunter,” as his anger drives him to violence in order to find the man who killed his mother, while Charles focuses on his studies to become a professor of genetics.
Casting for any comic book movie is crucial and Vaughn could not have done much better than having James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender playing the roles made famous by Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen. There’s little question that the conflict between Professor X and Magneto is the core both of the comics and earlier movies, and the rapport between McAvoy and Fassbender is certainly on par. McAvoy brings a great deal of charm to the table showing younger Xavier to be more of the ladies’ man we’ve seen in the comics; Fassbender oozes a far more dangerous “bad boy” energy, as he turns to Charles to help control his anger-driven magnetic powers. The way this relationship is established and evolves over the course of “First Class” is absolutely perfect, and the thought of seeing Magneto when he was still young and vibrant plays a large part in what makes this such a strong reboot (of sorts). (It’s fun to watch Fassbender’s mastery of languages, but it’s unclear why a Polish Jewish immigrant would have a British accent… or an Irish one, as Fassbender’s own accent sometimes slips in.)
Another revelation in casting is Jennifer Lawrence as Raven Darkholme aka Mystique, Charles’ earliest mutant discovery and childhood friend who plays an enormous role in the division of the friends. Lawrence is a stronger actor than Rebecca Romijn, so we can actually see her transform from a fairly innocent teenager to the seductress she’ll later become. The fourth cog in the wheel is Nicholas Hoult as Dr. Hank McCoy, not quite in his blue and furry phase just yet, but he is already the group’s genius inventing things like early incarnations of Cerebro and the Blackbird. Hank adds an intriguing dynamic to the love triangle because Raven finds a kindred spirit in a mutant who must hide his mutation to be accepted. This subplot introduces the early vestiges of McCoy trying to find a cure for mutation, a brilliant tease for some of the comic storylines as well as the main plot of “The Last Stand.” The casting works well because you can truly believe these are the four characters that will go on to be the ones in Bryan Singer and Brett Ratner’s movies.
I wasn’t as thrilled by Kevin Bacon’s portrayal of Sebastian Shaw, maybe because other than his powers, he’s nothing like the character from the comics and more like a stock comic book villain. Likewise, January Jones gives a fairly lifeless performance as Emma Frost, though her deliberately cold delivery may be what’s necessary for the character. Jason Flemyng’s Azazel has cool teleportation powers that will appeal to fans of Nightcrawler – it’s not a coincidence but who knows if they can connect the two characters with what’s been established in this movie?
On the other hand, creating a connection between Shaw and Magneto by having the former being the Nazi who killed Erik’s mother doesn’t make a lot of sense, especially once Shaw shows up with no accent and with mutant abilities that were nowhere to be found during his earlier scene. It makes you wonder why bother including the Hellfire Club in there at all, because here, they’re just another group of mutants with none of what makes the group so distinctive in the comics.
At times, the movie tends to drag, because it takes so long to get to the part most X-Men fans will be waiting to see, which is Charles and Erik joining forces to assemble and train the first team of young mutants. Due to decisions made in earlier films, the movie X-Men are already a mish-mash of characters and storylines from the comic books, and “First Class” follows suit, pulling together mutants from all fifty odd years of the books, some more esoteric than the others. The two mutants that will bring comic fans the most thrills are Lucas Till as Havok and Caleb Landry Jones as Banshee, and they offer some of the best moments in an extended montage showing them learning to hone and control their powers. The decision to include Darwin and Angel (the Grant Morrison one) are both odd choices, especially since they’re characters who don’t seem that necessary to the story.
Oddly missing is the international diversity of the group that was so prominent in comics. Banshee isn’t Irish, for instance, nor is Rose Byrne’s Moira McTaggert Scottish. In fact, she isn’t even a genetic scientist, instead being the CIA agent who first discovers the existence of mutants and becomes Charles’ government liaison. Byrne’s character thrives in the first section of the movie when it’s all about secret agents and “Mad Men”-like settings, but she is almost forgotten once Charles and Erik join forces.
Despite introducing so many characters, Vaughn somehow manages to keep the story tightly focused using a slightly conventional structure broken up into four distinct sections. In fact, it’s fairly impressive what he’s created in terms of the scope of this world and the scale of the set pieces considering the comparatively short production window. With FX designed by John Dykstra, who performed similar duties on “Star Wars” and “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” they find cool ways of depicting the mutant powers with Emma Frost’s crystalline form being one of the few that just doesn’t look right. Even so, they do clever things to make what may seem like the more innocuous psychic powers of Frost and Charles Xavier interesting to make up for them not being as visual. Some of the practical make-up also looks a bit funky at times.
Placing the movie firmly in the early ’60s creates its own set of problems because none of the younger actors really look or act like kids of that era, instead bringing their own MTV-influenced teen angst to the movie. This is a fairly minor quibble, but it does show inconsistencies in Vaughn’s attempt at setting the story within a realistic historical context of the times, essentially building up to a reworking of the Bay of Pigs invasion to include a battle between the two groups of mutants.
The Bottom Line:
Fans of the comics may be confused by how disparate elements from the books have been tossed together, but fans of the movies should appreciate how Matthew Vaughn has established characters they love in a unique setting with a strong cast and set pieces just as big and impressive as the other movies. It may not quite reach the level of perfection of “X2,” but it does a far better job introducing the characters than Singer did in his first movie, and that alone is something worth commending.
Edi Gathegi as Armando Muñoz / Darwin
Edi Mue Gathegi (born March 10, 1979) is a Kenyan-American film, stage and television actor. He is best known for his recurring character Dr. Jeffrey Cole (aka “Big Love”) in the television series House, as Cheese in the 2007 film Gone Baby Gone and as Laurent in the films Twilight, its sequel The Twilight Saga: New Moon and Darwin in the new film X-Men: First Class.Born in Nairobi, Kenya, Gathegi grew up in Albany, California.As an undeclared undergraduate at the University of California, Santa Barbara, he was more interested in playing basketball and was good at it, until he injured his knee; This plunged him into a depression so he took up an acting class as an “easy course”. That is where he discovered his love for acting.Afterwards, he attended the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University for a graduate school acting program.Gathegi’s career began in theatre,and his stage credits include Two Trains Running at the Old Globe Theatre, As You Like It, Twelfth Night, Othello,A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Cyrano de Bergerac, among others.
Gathegi’s first professional role was the Haitian Cabbie in the 2006 film Crank. Though he had originally auditioned for the role of Kaylo, the producers gave the role to Efren Ramirez and instead offered Gathegi an appearance as the Haitian Cabbie. He was dubious at first about performing a Haitian accent, but was coached by a Haitian friend. In 2007, after guest-starring on Lincoln Heights and Veronica Mars, Gathegi went on to star as Bodie in Death Sentence, Darudi inThe Fifth Patient and Cheese in Gone Baby Gone. He later had a recurring role as Mormon intern Dr. Jeffrey Cole on the television medical drama House, and guest-starred on CSI: Miami, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Life on Mars in 2008 before being cast as Laurent in Twilight. When Gathegi first auditioned for the 2008 film, adapted from the same-titled first book in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series, he had not heard of the series and was not aware that his character was a vampire.He now has read the whole series and calls himself a hardcore fan.He will play A-Guy in Son of Magnet. He portrays Eddie Willers in Atlas Shrugged (2011), based on Ayn Rand’s novel of the same name.
July 13, 2011
The Bold and Reckless Life of President Obama’s Father [Sally Jacobs Interview]
Before there was Barack Obama, the intellectually supple, epoch-setting president of the United States, there was a brilliant young Kenyan economist, also named Barack Obama, his father. Yet the son never really knew his father—Obama Sr. left the family early in his son’s life, and he squandered his promise in a succession of failed political bids and, more damaging, a sea of drink. In many ways, he set only a negative example for his ambitious young son. But not for nothing did that son write a book called Dreams from My Father.Sally Jacobs, a Boston Globe reporter, spent years researching and writing The Other Barack, interviewing family members and retracing the elder Obama’s career across continents. We spoke to Jacobs about her account of the president’s father.
What prompted you to look so deeply into the life, quite evidently a troubled one, of Barack Obama Sr.?
The story of Obama Sr. seemed to me to be the great untold chapter of President Obama’s life. He himself grappled in his memoir with the conflicting versions of his father presented to him by his mother and the reality he later discovered when he traveled to Kenya as a young man.
But Obama goes only so far in his explorations, perhaps unwilling to learn too much about his father’s chaotic and ultimately tragic life. When he became the first African-American president, it seemed critical that this piece of his heritage at long last be unearthed. To me, the biography of Obama Sr. is a vital piece of American history, one that I hope will contribute to a greater understanding of our current president.
What moments in the life of Obama Sr. seem to you the most telling or most important in reaching that understanding?
There are two events in the life of Barack Obama Sr. that I consider pivotal to his development as a man. The first was his abandonment by his mother, Habiba Akumu, in 1945. Obama’s father, Hussein Onyango, was a notoriously abusive man, prone to wielding his four-pronged hippopotamus whip with vengeance. After a particularly fierce argument between Barack’s parents—during which Onyango threatened to cut his wife’s throat and throw her into a grave he had dug for her behind their home—Akumu decided to run away.
Several days later she left, having urged her children to follow her. Barack, then age nine, and his older sister did just that, walking barefoot and only at night so as not to be discovered by adults. When they arrived in the village of their birth, their father was summoned and fiercely punished them. Obama never fully recovered from the loss of his mother. For the rest of his life he struggled with a sense of unworthiness that made it difficult for him to commit to anyone, and especially his wives and children.
The second incident occurred when Obama was forced out of Harvard University in 1964. Although Obama had come within inches of getting his Ph.D. in economics—he had passed all his exams and had launched his dissertation—school administrators grew alarmed that he had multiple wives and abruptly insisted that he leave. Shattered by this unexplained rejection, Obama returned to Nairobi and began a downward slide that lasted for years.
In the great nature versus nurture contest, do you see any of Obama Sr.’s qualities or characteristics in his son?
The two Baracks share many things in common. Both possess a daunting intellect that in many respects defined their life’s course. A boldness of ambition enabled each man to envision a life far beyond the limited circumstances of their birth. Each man displayed a hubris, some would say arrogance, that allowed them to recast their life in sweeping terms. And both struggled with the absence of a parent, trying to understand their lives without that anchoring presence.Despite their many differences, I feel sure that if the two Baracks had run into one another on the winding walkways of Harvard University where they both spent critical years of their lives, they would have recognized aspects of their own selves instantly.
Do those who hold that Obama Sr.’s death was the result of a conspiracy have any basis for that view?
Obama himself believed he had been targeted by forces loyal to Kenyan president Jomo Kenyatta as a consequence of his testimony in the trial related to the assassination of Tom Mboya, a prominent Luo politician. On a July morning in 1969, Obama happened to run into Mboya minutes before he was gunned down on a Nairobi street. He later boldly took the stand in the trial of Mboya’s killer—widely believed to have been a front man for Kenyatta—and forever after believed that he was punished for doing so.Obama told two of his friends that he believed he had been targeted by the regime for assassination himself. Whether there is any substance to that claim is unclear. On the night of his death, Obama had been drinking heavily at his favorite bar, and it seems more likely that it was alcohol rather than a political enemy that led him into a collision with a eucalyptus tree.
In the course of researching your book, what discovery surprised you the most?
When I first wrote about Obama Sr. for the Boston Globe before his son was elected president, I was unable to travel to Kenya and get to the core of his life’s story. As a consequence, I believed that many of his problems stemmed from his chronic drinking and arrogance. I did not fully grasp all that had happened to Obama, both personally and in the context of Kenya’s unfolding political story.What I learned about the losses he sustained—his mother’s abandonment, his rejection from Harvard, the erosion of once great hopes for newly independent Kenya—gave me a far richer understanding of his at times chaotic life. The surprise for me—which perhaps should have been no surprise at all—is how complex and layered a human life can be.
July 9, 2011
Facundo Cabral UNESCO Messenger of Peace
From the most humble of beginnings he came to inspire millions around the world through his songs, poems and 66 books. He walked 3,000 km at the age of nine to look for work to support his mother and six siblings after his father abandoned them. When he left his mother told him “This is the second, and last gift I can give you. The first was to give you life, and the second one, the liberty to live it.”
He wrote music that inspired millions. He met Mother Teresa and Jorge Luis Borges. He performed in over 165 countries in 8 different languages. His wife and one year-old daughter were killed in a plane crash in 1978. He was nearly blind and crippled, and a terminal cancer survivor as well. He once said: ‘Siempre le pregunto a Dios, ¿por qué a mí tanto me diste? Me diste miseria, hambre, felicidad, lucha, luces… vi todo. Sé que hay cáncer, sífilis y primavera, y buñuelos de manzana’ (I always ask God, why did you give me so much? You gave me misery, hunger, happiness, struggle, lights… I saw everything. I know there is cancer, syphillis, and Spring, and apple fritters.)
“Forgive me Lord but sometimes I get tired of being a citizen. The city tires me, the offices, my family and the economy. Forgive me Lord, I am tired of this hell, this mediocre market where everyone has a price. Forgive me Lord but I will go with you through your mountains, your seas, and your rivers. Forgive me Lord but sometimes I think you have something better than this for me. Forgive me Lord, I don’t want to be a citizen, I want to be a man, Lord, like you created me.”
He was shot and killed today during a tour in Guatemala City
Facundo Cabral (May 22, 1937- July 9, 2011) ”I’m not from here, nor am I from there”
But don’t worry, theses sweeping allegorical readings only play lightly in the background of Michael Bay’s latest super-blow ‘em up, super shoot ‘em up, super-charged summer blockbuster. Transformers is derived from the Hasbro line of toys that became popular in the 1980s, garnering its own television cartoon. Coming off a dismal sequel to a well-loved reimagining of the Transformers story, with Transformers: Dark of the Moon director Michael Bay seems intent on getting the roller coaster ride back on track.June 28, 2011
8th Biennial U.S.-Africa Business Summit
The African continent is among the fastest-growing economic regions in the world, attracting foreign direct investment from businesses small to large from around the globe. According to the Harvard Business Review, Africa and Asia were the only continents to grow during the recent economic recession. Africa’s growth rate increased to nearly 5% in 2010 and is likely to reach 5.2% in 2011. If Africa continues to grow at this pace, consumers will buy $1.4 trillion worth of goods and services in 2020—slightly less than India’s projected $1.7 trillion but more than Russia’s $960 billion. Africa offers a higher return on investment than any other emerging market, according to UN data; and is home to a tremendous market of more than 900 million potential consumers. The continent is seeing increasingly higher levels of investment in industries such as infrastructure, natural resources, telecommunications, agribusiness, health, energy, and others.
What an important time for your business to explore investments in some of the world’s key emerging markets. Partnerships between U.S. and African businesses will be formed, during The Corporate Council on Africa’s (CCA) 2011 U.S.-Africa Business Summit. Businesses of all sizes, representing various industries will be in attendance, eager to find new opportunities to grow and positively impact their bottom line.Join CCA and more than 1,500 of the private and public sector’s top leaders to find out about business and investment opportunities in Africa, the very place where some of today’s major business deals are taking place.
When: Wednesday, October 5 – Friday, October 7, 2011
Where:
Marriott Wardman Park Hotel
2660 Woodley Road, NW
Washington, District of Columbia 20008
USA
Click the ‘Banner’ below to input your contact information to register for and receive upcoming updates on the 2011 U.S. – Africa Business Summit.
June 28, 2011
As Parliamentarians Pay Tax:We Still Need Tax Reforms
Even as MP’s start paying taxes, Kenya Revenue Authority[KRA] needs a Lesson in some simple economics.To help them here is a simple lesson.Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to 100 KSH…If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this.The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.The fifth would pay 1KSH.The sixth would pay 3KSH.The seventh would pay 7KSH.The eighth would pay 12KSH.The ninth would pay 18KSH.The tenth man (the richest) would pay 59KSH.
So, that’s what they decided to do..The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve ball.”Since you are all such good customers,” he said, “I’m going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by 20KSH”. Drinks for the ten men would now cost just 80KSH.The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes.So the first four men were unaffected.They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men?The paying customers?
How could they divide the 20KSH windfall so that everyone would get his fair share?They realised that 20KSH divided by six is 3.33KSH. But if they subtracted that from everybody’s share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer.So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man’s bill by a higher percentage the poorer he was, to follow the principle of the tax system they had been using, and he proceeded to work out the amounts he suggested that each should now pay.And so the fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% saving).The sixth now paid 2KSH instead of 3KSH (33% saving).The seventh now paid 5KSH instead of 7KSH (28% saving).The eighth now paid 9KSH instead of 12 KSH(25% saving).The ninth now paid 14KSH instead of 18KSH (22% saving).The tenth now paid 49 KSH instead of 59KSH (16% saving).Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But, once outside the bar, the men began to compare their savings.”I only got a dollar out of the 20KSH saving,” declared the sixth man.He pointed to the tenth man,”but he got 10KSH!”"Yeah, that’s right,” exclaimed the fifth man. “I only saved a dollar too. It’s unfair that he got ten times more benefit than me!” ”That’s true!” shouted the seventh man. “Why should he get 10KSH back, when I got only 2KSH? The wealthy get all the breaks!”
“Wait a minute,” yelled the first four men in unison, “we didn’t get anything at all. This new tax system exploits the poor!”The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.The next night the tenth man didn’t show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had their beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn’t have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill! And that, boys and girls, journalists and government ministers, is how our tax system works.The people who already pay the highest taxes will naturally get the most benefit from a tax reduction.Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore.In fact, they might start drinking overseas, where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.We need to reduce the amount of Tax we pay particularly the amount paid by investors local and foreign,industry and other job creators
For those who understand, no explanation is needed.For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.The Tax brackets maybe slightly off but the concept is the same
Permissions beyond the scope of license may be available at http://Muigwithania.com/muigwithania2-0-copyright/
June 28, 2011
Kikuyu District: The Edited Letters of Francis Hall 1892-1901
Dear Editor
Ni kwega.
Kikuyu District is a book consisting of the edited letters of Francis Hall who commanded Fort Smith near Kabete and who died in Mbirri in 1901. The colonial government changed the name to Fort Hall in his honour and of course now it is Muranga. The book is an early colonial record of life in Kenya (1892-1901) with interesting accounts of interactions with Kikuyus and Maasais.
I am now working on a screenplay of the same name and I am in need of an authority on Kikuyu history around about that time. I am trying to establish the name of a famous mundu mugu, or perhaps a mrogi called Kahiga I think. In fact when I googled Kahiga I found your website.
Can you help by putting me in touch with somebody with knowledge of those days? I would be grateful for any assistance. And would you consider publicising the book on your website? It is available in many bookshops in Nairobi and there is also a Kindle version at Amazon.
I attach an image of the cover of the book.
Ni wega
Paul Sullivan
*To get in touch with the writer Paul Sullivan or provide information he requires-please contact blog editor or post comment
June 23, 2011
Kiambu County:Luxury Living/Golf/Industry/Agriculture
Kiambu County is an administrative county in the Central Kenya. Its capital town is Kiambu. The county is adjacent to the northern border of Nairobi and has a population of 1,623,282 and an area of 2,543.4 km².Ten years ago, Kiambu was agricultural zone with green lush vegetation of coffee and tea plantations, but the region has lately opened up for development with developers invading prime land to build homes for either sale or rent to an already bulging Nairobi population.Located 22 kilometres from Nairobi, its population density is relatively increasing due to the influx of reidents.
According to the Kiambu County Council Chairman Mr MacDonald Goko, there are tens of construction sites within this county, a key indicator that many farmers have resorted to real estate investment as an alternative to the agricultural farming as an economic activity.He further noted that the demand for rental units has shot up by more than 100 per cent in the last three years making the construction business a gold mine for the council. Besides being a solution to the high demand of houses and giving good returns to the investors, real estate gives our county an appealing look hence attracting more investors, which is positive for our economy,” he said.The booming housing business is now threatening the areas economic activity, agriculture as many farmers are now selling off their land to developers with others cutting down their coffee and tea bushes to pave way for the now booming construction business.
Attractive climate
Dr Mbira Gikonyo, the Managing Director of Home Afrika, the developers of Migaa Estate, however defends the replacement of the coffee and tea plantations with real estate saying the returns on investment of real estate as compared to that of agriculture is much higher and attractive.”The international coffee prices have been on a downward trend but in real estate, we are not disappointed by the returns,” he adds.Kiambu is now experiencing the upsurge of self-supporting neighbourhoods. Migaa, Edenville, Fourways Junction and Jacaranda Gardens are now the new landmarks in Kiambu, with the Sh200 billion Tatu City causing quite a stir. The real estate project expected to house 62, 000 residents is one of the most exciting projects Kiambu county is awaiting.
Kiambu is preferred for its location, proximity to the city centre and its attractive climate and landscape. Another factor has been its closeness to the United Nations offices in Nairobi and the leafy Runda and Muthaiga suburbs. There is need, however, for land-use planning because the agricultural productivity of the land is being wasted.Notes Dr Gikonyo: “At the moment we have sold out our first phase yet we are at the ground breaking stage.”The real estate boom has benefited the town, with the major banks such as Equity bank, Cooperative Bank, Family Bank, Barclays, Standard Chartered and the Kenya Commercial Bank having their presence here.The presence of shopping malls, infrastructural development and employment opportunities are key indicators that even the commercial developments have gained ground in this town.
As concerns services, Mr Goko notes that Kiambu boasts provision of clean water to most of the residents. “We have a reliable water supply system coupled with the best infrastructural network and we are hoping that the completion of the Ruiru-Limuru bypass will further open the area up to the investors,” he says.Another developer Mr John Ngecha notes that the competition amongst developers has impacted positively on the real estate growth in this county as each developer tries to outdo the other.”We have seen tremendous improvement in terms of design, facade appearance and finishings as developers try to catch the attention of the ever so choosy buyers,” he notes.Ngecha notes that while they, the developers, are selling houses off the plan, the only challenge they face is the soaring land prices and high cost of building within this area.
“We have to buy most construction materials from other places and transport them. We get stones fron Thika and cement and most other materials from Nairobi. However, we are enjoying quick sales, especially from the Asian community and the elite who mostly buy these homes for investment,” he adds.He further adds that most residents want to own, not rent homes in Kiambu, and thus the disproportionate amount of houses for sale and for rent.Kiambu county is the home to the Kabete Kikuyu but as Nairobi is growing rapidly it has added a healthy mix of culture and people from all over Kenya,Africa and the world.Kiambu is now the home of golf,luxury living,industry and agriculture. -Invest in Kiambu
Kiambu County On The Web
http://www.migaa.com/about/about-overview/
• KIAMBU CLUB • LIMURU COUNTRY CLUB • NDUMBERI GOLF CLUB• RUIRU CLUB• SIGONA GOLF CLUB• THIKA SPORTS CLUB
• VET LAB (VETERINARY LABORATORY SPORTS CLUB) KABETE• WINDSOR GOLF & COUNTRY CLUB
http://brackenhurst.com/bicc/index.php?brackeninfoclass=1
*[The most southerly of the three Kikuyu groups- Metumi [Mũrang’a] and Kabete [Kĩambu] and Gaki [Nyeri]
June 19, 2011
ODB:Dad’s Hat
Amid the celebration, there was tragedy. It was the opening ceremonies of the 1992 Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona. One by one the teams entered the stadium and paraded around the track to the cheers of 65,000 people. But in one section of Olympic Stadium, shock and sadness fell as Peter Karnaugh, father of United States swimmer Ron Karnaugh, was stricken with a fatal heart attack.Five days later, Ron showed up for his race wearing his dad’s hat, which he carefully set aside before his competition began. Why the hat? It was the swimmer’s tribute to his dad, whom he described as “my best friend.” The hat was one his dad had worn when they went fishing and did other things together. Wearing the hat was Ron’s way of honoring his dad for standing beside him, encouraging him, and guiding him. When Ron dove into the water, he did so without his dad’s presence but inspired by his memory.
On this Father’s Day, there are many ways to honor our fathers, as Scripture commands us to do (Eph. 6:2). One way, even if they’re no longer with us, is to show respect for the good values they taught us.What can you do for your dad today to show him the kind of honor the Bible talks about? We’re thankful for our fathers, Lord,They’re special gifts from You;Help us to show we honor them By what we say and do. —Sper
June 17, 2011
Kenyan Currency Reserves Declined to $3.98 Billion
June 17 – Kenya’s foreign-exchange reserves fell to $3.98 billion this week from $4 billion last week, the Central Bank of Kenya said in its weekly bulletin.Commercial lenders borrowed 56.4 billion shillings from the central bank’s overnight window in the week to June 15, compared with 30 billion shillings last week, “reflecting tight liquidity conditions in the money market,” the Nairobi-based bank said in an e-mailed statement today.The average interbank rate in the period was 6.22 percent compared with 5.98 percent last week, it said.
- The Kenyan shilling lost earlier gains against the dollar on Friday after the central bank said it would stay out of the foreign exchange market and traders said the shilling could firm on tight liquidity.At 1012 GMT, the shilling was quoted at 89.90/90.10 against the dollar — weaker than its earlier Friday level of 89.60/80 — and the same level it closed at on Thursday, when in touched a record low of 90.85 to the dollar.
The Central Bank of Kenya said it was in the market to mop up 1 billion shillings through repurchase agreements or repos — which basically tightens the shilling’s liquidity in the market.The bank has twice this week sought to mop up shillings through repos, but did not achieve this aim after one did not receive bids from commercial banks and the other central bank turned down all the bids.”Liquidity is a bit low in the market and we expect banks squaring off their positions ahead of the weekend to help the shilling,” said a trader at African Banking CorporationSome traders said the central bank was sending mixed signals to the market by mopping up shillings through repos, but still lending out more money through the overnight window.
The shilling fell 2.48 percent to its intra-day low of 90.85 before clawing back some losses as banks took profits to close at 89.90/90.00 on Thursday.Traders said comments made on Friday by Kenya’s Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta that Treasury was closely watching the shilling but would not intervene had had no effect on the local currency.
Analysts say Kenya’s central bank may need to do more than increase interest rates to counter a vicious inflation shock that has driven a 10 percent slide in the shilling this year. They say a pause in controversial purchases of hard currency from the market may be needed to turn sentiment around in the short term.”We expect today to be slow on liquidity issues. At this level the prices are a bit restrictive and only clients that must trade will be in the market,” said Jeremiah Kendagor, head of foreign exchange at Kenya Commercial Bank.
Meanwhile:
Ethiopia plans to purchase tanks from Ukraine, a government spokesman said, without providing details.The vehicles are necessary to protect the country from hostile forces such as its Horn of Africa neighbor Eritrea, Shimeles Kemal said in a phone interview today. Eritrea and Ethiopia fought a 1998-2000 border war that killed 70,000 people, according to Brussels-based International Crisis Group.
“Ethiopia is doing its level best to achieve rapid development in all aspects,” Shimeles said from Debre Zeit, Ethiopia. “This is among other things, building the national defense system and ensuring the safety of its people and preserving its territorial integrity.”Ukrainian-based news agency Kommersant reported on June 10 that the deal included 200 tanks for about $100 million.Ethiopia plans to increase its national budget for the fiscal year beginning July 8, Shimeles said. Defense spending has only seen a “slight increase,” he said.
June 16, 2011
A Greek Tragedy
Everything is not all right in the world economy. And things are going to get much worse, insists Gerald Celente, publisher of Trends Journals. “The economy is on the threshold of calamity,” he says. “Wars are spreading like wildfires. The world is on a razor’s edge.” When it comes to the state of the world economy, Celente argues world leaders and mainstream media can’t be trusted to tell it like it is. He warns people “to expect the unexpected and prepare for the worst, which in these perilous times could be a declaration of economic martial law.” He also advises them to remember his Three-G survival strategy: “Guns, Gold and a Getaway plan.”
Arming yourself, of course, may not be the best way to deal with market turmoil, despite the fact that Celent has been called a modern Nostradamus. Nevertheless, some investors might soon wish they bought into his rants about a looming financial system collapse, especially the bullish ones who ignored what is happening in Greece and went on an equities buying spree on June 14.According to simplified newspaper logic, that short-lived market rebound was fueled by the release of better-than-expected data related to U.S. retail sales and Chinese industrial production. But those economic indicators may not amount to a hill of beans if thousands of Greek citizens get what they want, which is an abrupt end to the austerity measures being forced upon the fiscally-challenged nation by its troika of masters: the International Monetary Fund, European Central Bank and European Union policy makers.
Credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s recently slashed Greece’s rating to CCC, the lowest amongst states with a sovereign debt rating. “The downgrade reflects our view that there is a significantly higher likelihood of one or more defaults, as defined by our criteria relating to full and timely payment, linked to efforts by official creditors to close an emerging financing gap in Greece,” the agency said.To secure enough external funding to prevent a default on its debt, which could topple banks around the world, the nation needs to get its fiscal house in order via tax hikes, spending cuts and privatizations of state assets. But the political will to do what is required is weakening thanks to growing public unrest.How bad is it? The Greek situation is so dicey that the Financial Times bought and published a rumour that said local government officials are so afraid of the angry masses that they ordered an escape route readied out of old tunnels that link Greece’s parliament to the port of Athens.
Whether the escape plan exists or not, avoiding the public is not a bad idea for Greek politicians. Indeed, more than 25,000 anti-austerity protesters hit the streets of Athens on June 15, when they attempted to blockade politicians from attending a scheduled debate on state asset sales and another round of cutbacks needed to secure more bailout funding from international creditors.Protesters attacked police with everything from home-made bombs and stones to yogurt. Police fought back with tear gas and batons. The ongoing battle for Greece, where labour has launched a general strike, has already claimed the lives of three people, who died earlier this year when a bank was set ablaze.
Prime Minister George Papandreou’s Socialist government, which was forced to abandon a pledge not to impose new taxes to appease creditors, has seen its popularity plummet. As the BBC reports, a recent opinion poll gave opposition conservatives a four-point lead over the Socialist party, a first since 2009. ”You have to be as cruel as a tiger to vote for these measures. I am not,” said MP George Lianis, a MP who recently defected from Papandreou’s ranks, leaving the ruling majority only 155 of 300 seats in the Greek House.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the cost of insuring Greek debt hit record levels as violence roiled Athens on Wednesday. But there is no question that a debt restructuring will happen, says Stern School of Business economics professor Nouriel Roubini in a Financial Times essay. The only question, he argues, is how and when it will happen and whether or not it will be disorderly enough to put an end Europe’s monetary union as we know it today.
And if history is a good judge, Papandreou’s plans for an orderly solution to Greece’s debt woes will fail, says Dani Rodrik, Harvard University political economy professor, who thinks the world needs to remember how politics played a role in dealing with international creditors in interwar Britain, and, more recently, of Argentina and Latvia.
“For the Greek program to have any chance,” he say in a newspaper commentary on Greece, “the Papandreou government must mount a monumental effort to convince its domestic constituents that economic pain is the price they are paying for a brighter future … not just a means to satisfy external creditors.”After all, as Rodrik notes, “when the demands of financial markets and foreign creditors clash with those of domestic workers, pensioners, and the middle class, it is usually the locals who have the last say,” at least in a democracy.
In other words, there isn’t a tunnel long enough to allow Greek politicians to avoid the will of the people, whether it is justified or not.
June 9, 2011
War is not porridge
Mbaara ti ûcûrû. (Gikuyu)
Vita si uji. (Swahili)
War is not porridge. (English)
Gikuyu Proverb
Background, Explanation and Everyday Use
Traditionally among the Gikuyu people in Kenya porridge was the main beverage and was usually used to welcome visitors at home. It was also used as breakfast before people dispersed to attend to their various chores. As such porridge taking was a common, everyday experience. Indeed, whenever there was extra left over at any one sitting people were encouraged to take more of it to their fill.
Reflecting on war, the Gikuyu people concluded that unlike porridge war should never be encouraged but be avoided and therefore be made a less frequent affair. This is the moral of the proverb whereby war, a destructive and non-beneficial thing, is contrasted with porridge, a good thing. The proverb is therefore asking people to seek peace which has every benefit and that people living together can enjoy. On the one hand the Gikuyu proverb can be applied to discourage (prevent) people from making war. On the other hand it can be used in efforts to stop (reconcile) warring parties and encourage possibilities for the consideration of peace.
The teaching of the proverb compares well with the message of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount where he says: “Blessed are peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Matthew 5: 9). In other words Jesus, like the Gikuyu proverb, urges the need of peace seeking and the avoidance of mindless, non-beneficial conflicts. In the case of Jesus, the benefits of seeking peace are our heavenly inheritance as God’s children.On the secular front the proverb can be applied at almost all levels starting from the family to the community and even internationally among nations. Once again the application here is direct in that it’s asking to take the step of preventing potential conflict and also to emphasize the need for seeking resolutions to on-going ones, if only to avoid the obvious costly consequences of war. The Kenyan proverb is talking about the need for human beings to avoid wars and encourage peaceful co-existence. So the proverb can be used in almost all situations warranting comment on non-violence and intolerance.On the religious level in sermons it can be used to by preachers to (1) encourage cohesion of members where there are schisms in the church and (2) preach values that encourage family unity among members of the church. In everyday conversation it can be used in quarrelsome situations that arise when people are staying together. There are many instances of intolerance when people are together that need to give peace a chance. This can be done by using this proverb. The proverb is telling people to know that they have a responsibility to talk “with” one another rather than talking “at” one another if the culture of peace is to be encouraged. In articles and conferences the proverb can be used to condemn aggressors and their violent tendencies and commend the initiatives of peace seekers. This includes getting concerned about the many innocent people on whom violence is meted.
Other areas where this Kikuyu proverb can be used are in social institutions like the family and school. These are institutions that are critical in shaping future members of our society through socialization. Here the manner in which we socialize our children will determine what kind of human being they will become after growing up, i.e. peace seekers or aggressors. Therefore the proverb can be used in education for non-violence and the promotion of the culture of peace among all humanity.
NOTE: See the reference to this proverb on page 194 in the section on “Gikuyu Proverbs on Peacemaking and Violence” in Gerald Wanjohi’s The Wisdom and Philosophy of the Gikuyu Proverbs (Nairobi: Paulines Publications Africa, 1997).
June 8, 2011
Kenyan Budget: Citizen’s Guide
June 7, 2011
Editorial-Mutunga Hearings:Disgust &The Cruel Necessity Of Truth
I would like to speak briefly and simply about a serious national condition. It is a national feeling of fear and frustration that could result in national moral suicide and the end of everything moral that we Kenyans hold dear. It is a condition that comes from the lack of effective leadership in either the Legislative Branch or the Executive Branch of our Government. I write as briefly as possible because too much harm has already been done with irresponsible words of bitterness and selfish political opportunism. I write as briefly as possible because the issue is too great to be obscured by eloquence. I write simply and briefly in the hope that my words will be taken to heart.
I write as a Christian. I write as young Kenyan I write as a Blogger. Kenyan politics has long enjoyed a long and respected history deliberate politics, well over 48 years But recently that deliberative character has too often been debased to the level of a forum of hate and character assassination sheltered by the shield of position in society.It is strange that politicians can verbally attack the church in a public confirmation hearing without restraint and with full protection, yet they hold themselves above the same type of criticism from a tired tax paying Kenyan public.
I think that it is high time for the Kenyan Parliament and its members do some soul-searching—for them to weigh their consciences—on the manner in which they perform their duty for the people of Kenya—on the manner in which they use and abuse their individual powers and privileges.Those of them who shout the loudest about democracy and freedom yet are the quickest in making aspersions against the moral standing clergy .So called champions of democracy who are all too frequently by their own words and acts, ignore some of the basic principles of democracy:
The right to criticize;
The right to hold unpopular beliefs;
The right of independent thought.
The exercise of these rights should not cost one single clergyman or woman his or her reputation.Many Kenyan Christians are sick and tired of being afraid to speak their political minds lest they be politically smeared as “Anti reformist” or “blockers of the constitution ” by their opponents. Freedom of speech is not what it used to be in Kenya It has been so abused by some that it is not exercised by others.The Kenyan people are sick and tired of seeing THE CHURCH smeared and the morally guilty people whitewashed. But there have been enough proved cases, such as the REFERENDUM HATE SPEECH CASES,to cause the nationwide distrust and strong suspicion that there may be nothing to the unproved, sensational accusations by parliamentary chatterboxes like Budalang’i MP Ababu Namwamba and Gwassi MP John Mbadi.
As a Kenyan, I say to our leaders -Today our country is being psychologically divided by the confusion and the suspicions that are bred in Parliament and spread like cancerous tentacles. A tragedy of “know nothing, suspect everything the Church says” attitudes. Today we have a political system that has developed a mania for loose talking and even worse loose thinking & zero ideas. History repeating itself of another civilization death happening in slow motion.
As a young man I am not proud of the way in which the parliament has been made a publicity platform for irresponsible sensationalism. I am not proud of the reckless abandon in which unproved charges have been hurled at the church and others opposing the Mutunga confirmation by people like Gwassi MP John Mbadi. I am not proud of the obviously staged, undignified counter charges that have been attempted in retaliation to serious concerns that have been raised against Dr Mutunga.I don’t like the way some parliamentary committee members have made a rendezvous for vilification, for selfish cheap political gain at the sacrifice of church reputations and national morality. I am not proud of the way MPs smear the Clergy.As a Kenyan, I am shocked at the way MPs alike are playing directly into the selfish design of “confuse, divide, and conquer.” as exhibited by questions asked by Rachael Wambui Shebesh .
As a Kenyan I don’t want a judicial “whitewash” or “cover-up” any more than a want a smear or witch hunt.It is with these thoughts that I have drafted what I call “Cruel Necessity Of Truth”.Because it is that truth I speak and hope for .Let it be on the record as Kenyans we have a right to hold different views and it is high time for the sake of democracy that some of our leaders accept that .Today’s [Monday]hearings were nothing but a farce.It seems today parliament was not interested in the Church’s opinion and only sought to have hearings to rubber stamp Dr Willie Mutunga as the next Chief Justice regardless of what those who oppose his nomination had to say.
As a young Kenyan I tell you .It is time politicians put aside all foolishness,grandstanding and arrogance.Apart from Sophia Abdi and chairman Abdikadir Mohammed incidentally Muslims who showed respect for the church the rest of the committee members present on Monday were a complete and total disgrace.
Joe Ndungu
June 3, 2011
Irredentism &The Curious Case of Karura Forest
Karura Forest Reserve is an urban upland forest that lies on the outskirts of Nairobi; it is managed by the Kenya Forest Service (KFS). This remarkable geographical location is one of the largest urban gazetted forests in the world.Covering an area of about 1,500 hectares (ha), the forest is an amazing site of its kind. It offers eco-friendly opportunities for Kenyans and visitors to enjoy a leafy green respite from the hustle and bustle of the city to walk, to jog, or simply to sit quietly and experience the beauty of nature in all its diversity.It must however be handed back to its original owners just like Maasai Mara or any other community resource in Kenya.
Understanding traditional Kikuyu land law and custom is relevant to modern times and understanding the irredentist claims to Karura Forest and other future claims to lands in northern Nairobi.First, briefly, who are the Kikuyu? The people of this name appear to have been established over 1500 years ago on the eastern slopes of the Aberdares in Muranga.Given the similarities of language and custom, they had clear connections with the Akamba, and the people of Meru and Embu. They also had close relationships with the Maasai.Radiating out from Muranga, the Kikuyu spread north and south along the forested lower Aberdare slopes. By 300 years ago, some had crossed the Southern Chania river into what are now Kiambu county,Dagoretti/Karen(see Karen Blexen borders), Westlands (Kirungi) & Kasarani(Gatharaini).How did they get land? Misty folklore and oral evidence implies that south of the Southern Chania land was purchased from Dorobo (probably Ogiek – or Agumba a group akin to them?)By Kikuyu law, buying land was complicated. The currency was goats or their equivalents.If the seller was not a Kikuyu, before any negotiation could be concluded, the ground had to be set so that the legitimacy of the transaction would be recognised by both the seller’s and buyer’s societies. So, both had first to become members of one another’s societies.Thus the Dorobo seller was adopted as a Kikuyu and the Kikuyu became a Dorobo, so that both became bound by one another’s laws. These steps were directed by the law-interpreting elders on both sides.Once the Dorobo seller was a Kikuyu, he was protected by Kikuyu law and could appeal to the arbiters of Kikuyu law for protection in the event of any “breach of contract” or agreement. From that point on, while still a Dorobo, he had the rights of a Kikuyu; in effect, he had acquired dual nationality.
These adoption procedures were the route whereby the Kikuyu not only bought land off the Dorobo, but absorbed them and their families into Kikuyu society.A point of great importance is that if the proper ceremonies supervised by the appropriate elders were not performed, then no land transaction would be recognised or protected by Kikuyu law.Land was bought from the Dorobo by individual Kikuyu or by several in partnership. Such acquisitions were sometimes substantial – up to 50,000 hectares – and included all the assets such as the trees on them unless (as was the case with certain salt-licks considered essential for the community’s livestock) specifically exempted in the sales agreement.The land bought was known as the new owner’s githaka (estate) and he became its mwathi (plural athi).A landowner could sell or give all or part of his githaka to other individuals or partnerships.He could stipulate (before the appropriate elders) that upon his death, part or all of should pass into the sole ownership of another person – most usually one son – or other people or specific parts of it to different sons.Each person became the mwathi of what he had been bequeathed. In this manner, individual private land tenure could be passed down through successive generations.
Where, for example, land was purchased by or willed to several brothers jointly, the right of disposal was vested in the senior brother, though his siblings had some say in the matter, and an individual in a partnership could dispose of a part of the estate proportionate to what he had contributed towards its purchase.Yet, as in British private company law, he had first to offer his portion to the other owners, giving them the option to keep the estate intact.Such clear-cut wills and bequests were not common. More usually, a landowner died without making one. When this happened, his estate became the property of his descendants or mbari (sub-clan) and was controlled by the first-born sons of the deceased’s widows. They were bound to provide cultivation space for their wives, widowed mothers and younger uterine brothers.
Whether land was owned privately or by an mbari was immediately apparent in its title: that in individual tenure was referred to, for example, as “the estate of Njoroge” while that which had passed into the possession of an mbari would be “the estate of Njoroge’s mbari .”As can be imagined, once ownership was vested in an expanding mbari and controlled by its adult male members acting in council, its management became progressively more complicated and litigious with each succeeding generation.Kikuyu land law therefore recognised both private individual land ownership and communally owned land in the restricted sense ofmbaris only.
In Facing Mount Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta stressed that all land was owned by individuals or mbaris and not was held communally in the sense that everyone had equal access to it.The Kikuyu people certainly had a sense of what constituted “Kikuyu country,” in which settlement by non-Kikuyu would have been resisted, but they did not apparently have commons open to all.Of extreme historical importance was the fact that ownership was not restricted to land in actual use and did not lapse when lying fallow.Some githakas contained substantial tracts of virgin forest and the fact that it was undeveloped in no way diminished ownership of the land.
“…Kikuyu law provided for the formation of what would now be called forest reserves… Owners of large stretches of land had the absolute right to prohibit the felling of trees… Another reason for the prohibition of forest felling was the desire of some landowners to retain forest land for the use of their descendants. For this reason, a man who had bought a large area of forest sometimes left a deathbed curse prohibiting any of his descendants from ever bringing tenants onto the estate. This meant, of course, that much more of the forest land could be left undisturbed.
“Among forest patches that were preserved by the Kikuyu by means of definite curses before 1900, and which are still at least partly virgin forest today, may be mentioned the Karura Forest Reserve lying between Nairobi and Kiambu, and the Nairobi City Park. The former was made a reserve by four landowners jointly, their names being Tharuga, Gacii, Wang’endo and Hinga. The City Park was originally preserved by a man whose name was Kirongo, and who, by his own wish, was buried there when he died.”
The curses had to be made publicly in the presence of the appropriate elders. An oath or curse broken would deeply offend the spirit world in which the Kikuyu believed implicity.Spirits would punish not only the person who broke an oath or curse but also that person’s relatives as well. Consequently, all relatives tried to make sure that a person did not make curses and oaths lightly and once made, that they were not broken.Thus, while not having written contracts, the Kikuyu had an effective system of making sure agreements and wills sealed by curses were not broken.Based on the following facts it is only reasonable that Karura Forest Reserve should be handed over to the Kiambu County Government as soon as it is elected and comes to power.All revenue currently earned from the forest reserve must and should be submitted to Kiambu county coffers and held in trust for the Tharuga, Gacii, Wang’endo and Hinga mbaris or their respective Anjiru Clan.Community rights must be respected be they Maasai,Samburu or Kikuyu.All forest reserves,game sanctuaries,parks and reserves must be reverted back to their traditional owners and community guardians once county elections are held and governments established.
